Interesting Phone Call....

So last night at like 11 at night I get a call from President, I figured it was for my companion (ya know about sister training leader stuff) so I pick up and this is how the conversation goes:

"Hermana  terrazas, we need your help"

"Okay, with what?"

"There's an Hermana who has to go home, we need you to go to Granollers, and the Hermana who's there will be transferred in 2 weeks so we need you to learn the area."

"Uhhh..okay when do I leave?"

"Wednesday morning"

So I'm being transferred to Granollers mid transfer! It's super heart breaking, not going to lie, but it'll be good. We all had our good cry (like literally all 4 of us). It's just sad to not be able to say goodbye to the members or my recent converts, especially D. who JUST got baptized Sunday! I'm worried for my area seeing as the Hermanas from barrio 2 and Hermana graham will be in a tripanionship and our areas are NOT close at all. The zone leaders were upset too haha they said they didn't approve, but they all also told me that I was the only one who could do it(which I KNOW is not true) but they told me that President doesn't just pick willy nilly about these things which did give me peace.

My heart hurts so much, but I'm excited for this new adventure! Apparently the bishop of Granollers is AMAZING and Elder Davis told me the ward mission leader brings us fast food every coordination :) haha I mean besides the getting fat thing I'm not complaining! So today/last night has been a bit crazy, we're going to see some members to say goodbye tonight which will be super fun! It's sad cause us four in our piso are all just super close, they're just like my best friends so I'm actually really sad to leave them, like honestly they've become such close friends of mine that it's so sad knowing I won't live with them again or probably see Graham and Lamoreaux until after my mission!!! But that's okay we're all for sure hanging out after, we have it planned.

Today since it was only the 4 of us and the zone leaders who had preparation day (they had conselio yesterday) we went and rented this bike thing and rode around and took pictures and then got the good burger :) it was the FUNNEST preparation day!!! Mostly because it was so spontaneous like we were just walking and we saw the bike things (I'll send pictures later) and we're like yup doing it! Funny thing is we were in skirts since it was not planned, and now I feel for all the Hermanas in biking areas!!!! Haha

Well besides that craziness that went down this week has been a GREAT one!!! D. got baptized on Sunday! It was super cool we had one of his friends from the ward baptize him and a girl in the ward who can speak French give her talk in French! It was way cool! The missionaries sang a Child's Prayer! Did you know how hard the children's songs in Spanish are? Cause they're hard! But it was nice, there was a guy who came up to us afterwards and gave us a really sincere compliment, he told us he saw a light in us 4 Hermanas that he doesn't see in most missionaries!

We also had zone conference this last week! It was super sad cause it was President and Hermana Paces last conference with us all, but it was such a good conference! I just love being with the Paces. They're so humble and so committed to being missionaries. I have a couple zone pictures I'll send as well! One from the conference and one from the preparation day before! We all played sports as a zone and signed a Valencian flag to give to the Paces!

Okay I'll send pictures now! I hope you all have a fantastic week! I'll let you know what my new address is and stuff when I get there tomorrow :) love you all!

Love, Hermana Terrazas

Zone!

Grahammy

D.'s Baptism!

Today!!!

Mission Birthday

Hello family and friends!!!!

Man this week went by SO FAST!!! So I officially have 6 months in the mission and 21 years in life. What the?! Craziness. Well my birthday was FANTASTIC! Thank you all you for the birthday wishes and what not! They meant the world to me! Also Grandma for the card :) and Daddy :) and For the birthday packages Mom and Bekah Sarah and Nannie :)

Rundown: got woken up to Hermana graham and lamoreaux singing happy birthday...yes that picture is a stack of bread. We do what we gotta do as missionaries, haha. I was pretty confused at first.


So that awkward moment when the iPad decides to freak out and only send the first paragraph of my letter! It was a good one too!!! But no I don't have much time, so I'll try to summarize:


The hermanas decorated the piso and made me breakfast and Stephanie (the Americans) made me a huge delicious dinner and that beautiful cake :) and she gave me a huge bag of Spain candies! :) it was super sweet of her!!!

So Friday we had a crazy day full of miracles and fun adventures. We set a fecha for baptism with An.!! And we met a lot of new people to teach who are super awesome! One of them, Ad., said he wanted to go to church on Sunday so we arranged to pick him up! Then we got out late of our cita and missed our bus soooo we either had to get home SUPER late or take a taxi...we took a taxi haha adventure! But we made friends with our taxi driver! We've made it a goal to make friends with the bus drivers too! They're always super nice super interesting people! It's super fun to talk to them!

Saturday we decided not to go back home for mediodia cause it's a 45 minute bus ride each way so we definitely had language study in a bar haha but it was super great! Also it was super weird day like it was sunny but raining like crazy. Like POURING!!!! We were with Belen and we didn't want to leave the building cause it was going crazy so we called two people who we were in the street to come into the building for shelter and then just got to talk to them!!! Also we were walking down the street and this guy yelled something at us but I didn't understand so we went up to him and he was like "why do you Americans never understand our broken African English" we died haha it was so funny! He turned out to to be coolest guy, super smart and super happy! And he's a member!!! From forever ago!! So we're friends now! Also right before we left he was like, "be careful around here, and if anyone tries to do something to you, tell them Fidel is your tio. They won't touch you." First off, thank you that actually makes me feel better. Second, uh why is everyone in Oriolls afraid of you Fidel...? Haha we've seen him a couple times since then too! It's nice having lots of friends in Oriolls cause sometimes it's super sketchy but it's small so our friends are always nearby! I love it!

Sunday we went to go pick up Ad. and first off he was still sleeping haha at 3 in the tarde! Soooo we missed our bus..and he was like that's okay we'll go in my car, but we can't go alone in a car with a man so we called a member and she came and went with us. It was super awkward to explain but funny! He just laughed at us a little and waited patiently for her to come haha gotta love the mission :) but really. There's always an adventure and I'm always learning more :)

I love you all and have a great week!!!

6 Months!!!

Well. This week was a tough one I'm not going to lie. I had a hard week, emotionally. My Spanish actually got made fun of a lot. And that was hard. I already get frustrated and beat myself up about it, but that's okay. One time was at consejo de barrio and they all literally just laughed and made fun of my Spanish. That was the hardest. I barely kept it together. When we left apparently our ward mission leader yelled at them all. So that's nice. He also happened to be in a cita where the man flat out said I had bad Spanish and laughed at me and I cried afterwards. So he already knew I was struggling. Which is weird. I've never had people be rude to me about it before and even my companion was like I don't get it your Spanish isn't bad..but it's just a trial!

Then on Saturday morning I got an email saying my fhe brother passed away the day before from a car accident. So it's been a rough couple of days. I just bawled all Saturday night but luckily I have an amazing companion who stayed up and talked to me and really helped me calm down. She's been such a blessing. I've been praying to have a companion that I felt was like a real friend and I could talk to and be the real me, and I got one. I'm so grateful. She's so much fun and she helps me not dwell on the bad moments but to just always be having fun! Of course while working super hard! She told me after everything on Saturday "I won't bring anything up but if you want to talk about it I'm here" that was so nice to hear that she's not dwelling on anything or making me dwell on anything but when it gets brought up she talks to me about it.

So now that I've complained enough (sorry) can we just say...6 MONTHS TOMORROW?! How crazy!!!!! These have been the longest shortest months ever. It doesn't even make sense. Funny thing is I used to think missionaries with 6 months were like old and knew what they were doing. Man was I wrong!! Haha I still feel like a baby in the mission!!!

And then 21??!? I'm going to be 21!!!!! How crazy is that?? Not gonna lie I'm freaking out a wee bit. It's just weird. It'll be hard to be away from home but my piso is so much fun that I know I won't be able to be sad! I just love my hermanas. They're so great. We had a sleepover last night in our room (it's the only bedroom with ac and its hot!!!) and it was so much fun! I think my favorite part of the mission is the relationships I get to make with people. They're different then the type I would make just at home being normal Ruth (not that I'm THAT different but still) but on a mission the relationships are everything, with my investigators, my members, my companion, and other missionaries. And why are they so different? Love. Seriously, me and hermana graham have talked about this topic a lot lately. In a mission conference Elder Dyches told us:
Love is the most powerful tool we have been given.

1 John 4:19 "we love Him because He first loved us"
We love Him [Christ] because he first loved us. He suffered the Atonement for us.

I read this this morning in a talk about the Atonement:

Some years ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley told “something of a parable” about “a one room school house in the mountains of Virginia where the boys were so rough no teacher had been able to handle them.
      “Then one day an inexperienced young teacher applied. He was told that every teacher had received an awful beating, but the teacher accepted the risk. The first day of school the teacher asked the boys to establish their own rules and the penalty for breaking the rules. The class came up with 10 rules, which were written on the blackboard. Then the teacher asked, ‘What shall we do with one who breaks the rules?’
    “‘Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,’ came the response.
      “A day or so later, … the lunch of a big student, named Tom, was stolen. ‘The thief was located--a little hungry fellow, about ten years old.’
      “As Little Jim came up to take his licking, he pleaded to keep his coat on. ‘Take your coat off,’ the teacher said. ‘You helped make the rules!’
      “The boy took off the coat. He had no shirt and revealed a bony little crippled body. As the teacher hesitated with the rod, Big Tom jumped to his feet and volunteered to take the boy’s licking.
      “‘Very well, there is a certain law that one can become a substitute for another. Are you all agreed?’ the teacher asked.
      “After five strokes across Tom’s back, the rod broke. The class was sobbing. ‘Little Jim had reached up and caught Tom with both arms around his neck. “Tom, I’m sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was awful hungry. Tom, I will love you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever!”’”


The biggest thing that stuck out to me is the love that Little Jim felt for Tim.

Why do I love being a missionary? A sister? A daughter?

Because I love who I am when I'm doing it.

So if you don't love who you are or what your doing, change. Use the Atonement! It's there for us. He loved us first.

Sorry those are just my random thoughts that I wanted to share with you all this week! I'm gonna send pictures now!!!


I love you!

Love, Hermana Terrazas :)

These are my piso mates :) we had a sleepover!!!

And that's all of us praying haha

Valencia! 

This tower you have to climb 207 stairs... Like steep spiral staircase!

Celebrating my birthday!!

Transfers Done!

This week was a long one but super good! I got my new companion and I love her!! hermana Graham she's from Texas and we get along super great. We're going to have a blast while working super hard! She has 1 year in the mission and her spanish is awesome. People don't believe her when she says shes american ahah so she's helping me a ton! And because she's a Sister Training Leader I'm am going to be with Hermana Lamoreaux companion 1 day every week and then when they have concelio!

So Hermana Larsen is Hna Lamoreaux companion and is brand new! So it's super fun cause I get to work with her!!! We were together sunday night and all monday! it was cool to see that I can speak the language and run an area. Like just to see that I was capable of doing it! And I loved helping her out! I would translate to let her know and then teach her things to say during our citas! It was super fun! We're gonna have a bunch of fun!

Also I'M GETTING AN IPAD TOMORROW. BOOM. I know because well Hermana Graham already has hers because in concilio they all got them. How crazy!!! I'm super excited! They're super nice to have, and one thing thats cool is we're allowed to read emails just only respond on preparation day. So it's like letters! I can read them whenever I just can't respond! How fun! I'm excited!

So this week I had been praying to find service in spain it's super hard to find service but one day we were in orriols and we had just been in the street talking to people for an hour so we decided to stop and get a postre and then people started like sweeping the streets and it was like a group and they were talking about keeping orriols clean so we walked over and I was like "hermana we have to find a way to join" aand then this lady waves me over! So I went over and she handed me a broom :) So we join this muslim church cleaning the streets of orriols! And we got to talk to a ton of people about who we are and why we're here! We met one guy and he is friends with one of the members and has a book of mormoN! He gave us his number and address and wants to come to church :) How cool!!!! From serving we found someone :) It was so awesome!

It's been crazy busy week but so much fun! D. is not getting baptized this weekend anymore which was a little hard for me but we're changing it to the 21st and hoping he's ready by then :) he's so cute he bought us pizza and watermelon and coca cola! He's the sweetest. haha. I love you all!

Have a great week! Sorry this is short and scatterbrained!

Love, hermana Terrazas

This is our new district! We're the only companionship not in training haha

the pizza well...we got pizza one night. So good.

the fries was today we went to this place with the zone leaders