The Real Work Has Begun

 
Greetings from Valencia!!! Holy smokes, I am officially out of the MTC and am wandering the streets of this beautiful City!! I couldn't have asked for a better area to serve the Lord. The people here are so humble and caring, and the work is absolutely flourishing. Oh and I have thee best companion and trainer in the whole entire world!!!! Long story short, we actually went to school together, and have quite a few friends in common... we just never had the opportunity to meet. But she is WONDERFUL. She is such a strong Disciple of Christ, and she is showing me what it means to be a great missionary. I am learning  how to work and serve the Lord with all that I have. She is an amazing example to me, and all those around her. The Lord knew what he was doing when he put her in my life.
 

 

Well, I experienced my first holiday out in the field, and it was kind of weird. Spain doesn't celebrate Halloween, but it is slowly becoming a thing out here. There were a fair few people with the orange and black decorations, and festivities. It was so exciting to me when I would see a few kids running around the streets all dressed up!! It was sad not seeing the holiday in full swing, but there was just enough to make me feel at home here. Me and Hermana Gillette, tried to make the most out of the day and had some fun with costumes that consisted of some super sweet cape socks!!! Our costume was only possible because of my wonderful missionary moms, Thank you guys so much!! You helped us have an amazing day!!!

Even with the holiday, this week has been super crazy busy!!! I mean traveling to Barcelona from the MTC, than from Barcelona to Valencia, and then desperately trying to unpack.... which still hasn't really happened. And then being thrown straight into the work from the minute I got here. it's been a lot but I love it!! My fantastic companion is a sister training leader so she had to go back to Barcelona two days ago and spend the night there for meetings, so I was left with Hermana Greggory for 2 days. Well that was interesting, she is only one transfer ahead of me so in other words neither of us speak Spanish and neither of us know how to navigate the city yet.... soooo basically we had a huge adventure with trying to go teach lessons with investigators haha it was so great though. we made the most of it and simply relied on the Lord to help us as we tried to do his work.  

We did have a relaxing day on Saturday, our district goes and plays basketball every Saturday. It's a way to try to involve and meet with our investigators better. It was so much fun! It was relaxing and yet hard work because we had to try to show off our American sports skills to our investigators hahaha we are all fairly terrible, but it was still a blast. Going to church was different... Bishop had me get up and bear my testimony hahah you better believe my comp was a champ and she went and stood at the pulpit with me to help translate the things I couldn't say.... I am not sure if that is

typically allowed, but we made it work. I guess I did a fairly good job, because my new ward fell in love with me after!!! Uhh I have had a few dinner appointments already and luckily they have all been yummy... I get super nervous every time though. but mission life is great! P-day has been a huge blessing to me. as much as I love the work, it is exhausting, so a day to recover was well needed. We had to clean our piso this morning before we did anything, and that is what we do every p-day, and mom, I just need to thank you for teaching me how to clean properly!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! As nice as our piso is, it is old. and the Hermanas living with us are clean people, but they aren't really sure how to do a nice deep clean... I scoured the snot out of our bathroom and it was disgusting!!! I can proudly say that it is sparkly, shiny, and more than anything, it is truly clean now. I have you to thank for that mom. It makes a difference!! Now I just need to teach these other sisters that I live with how to clean hahaha wish me luck with that. I love Spain, I love Valencia, and I love this gospel.... and I am slowly, oh ever so slowly learning to love the language. But thank you all for your prayers and love, it helps so much!! I am so sorry this email is crazy and sporadic, I promise that next week I will have more to fill you in with!!! 

 

Love,

Hermana Stilson

 

 

 

Someone took a Tumble!