Paella in the Parking Garage...

Hola a todos!! 

I hope all is well! I love getting your emails and hearing about what is going on so thank you!  

Last week we went to Gandilla for preperation day so I didn't have much time to email. It was super fun though! We went on a hike and visited a palace of some dukes of Gandilla. The architecture and history that is in Spain amazes me everyday! 

This week has been good! Our amigos are killing it! We are also teaching some new people and they are so fun! We have also been able to teach the kids in our ward a mission prep class and they are such good kids, I love them. I am continually inspired by our amigos and how they are so willing to change because they want to come closer to our Savior. They are such an example to me of strength and humility! 

Ok to explain my subject line a little... Saturday me and my compañera were in the church doing some studies and two old men from another ward show up saying they need to make paella for a niño activity in Valencia. We let them in to the kitchen but it's too small for their HUGE paella pans so they decide to go into the parking garage. We weren't too sure about it but they seemed like they knew what they were doing so we went back to our studies. A couple minutes later we hear a huge bang and one of the old men rushes all frantically upstairs and tells us to come downstairs. We see the other old man on the ground grabbing his leg. The garage door also is being propped up by a piece of the garage door that is now broken. We are freaking out! We asked what happened cause we thought this guy was gonna die and ther other guy tells us that something happend with the van and it crashed into this guys leg and the garage broke. (We couldn't really understand him cause he was freaking out) the man on the ground starts trying to get up and we just tell him to wait and we ask if we need to call an ambulance but he refuses so we just grab some water and help him sit up. Then he continues to give us directions to bring all the ingredients down and help him make the paella. Guys it was crazy. This guy was just like "Los niños necesitan la paella!!" He felt a little better after a couple minutes so he stared to make the paella and he was just limping around throwing ingredients everywhere and saying that the niños needed their paella. This guy was determined to make this paella. We helped as much as we could but this old man was pretty controlling. Needless to say, it was a crazy morning. We still dont really know what happened jaja. 

Ok for something a little spiritual I wanna just share a scripture from El Libro de Mormón. 

"And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led."

-1 Nephi 17:13

I love this scriprure! Christ has our backs. He knows what we need and is so willing to lead our way if we follow him and keep the commandments. He lives and loves us. He is our older brother, our savior, and reedeemer. I am so grateful that he suffered for me, as imperfect and stubborn as I am, he took upon him my sins because he loves me. Wow. How lucky we all are to have Christ on our side. 

Well I love you all! Have a semana maravillosa!! Adiós hablamos pronto! 

Love,

Hermana Ross 

The best District!

Palace in Gandilla

Palace in Gandilla

Our Jóvenes

¡Vamos a Alicante!

Hola a todos! 

This week was a good week! It has been RAINING!! ITS A MILAGRO!! We have been needing to find some new amigos so we have started trying diferent ways to meet people. We started offering free cooking class where people can learn how to make American desserts! We already have 2 students, a tiny Spanish lady and a big urban Hungarian man (the kind a man that wear scarfs and sits in Starbucks reading a book) I'm so stoked jaja. Our amigos are doing good! It was a little hard in the beginning cause Alexander "broke up" with us saying he doesn't have time to meet anymore which was really rough but we've seen some other amigos progressing so well! 

Along with the work coming along, we got to go to Alicante for a zone conference with the 3 zones in the south. Guess who I saw?!?! Hermana Heitonga, Elder palmer, and elder harbor!!! Some of my old district! It was so fun to see and talk to them!! Zone conference was SO good! We talked a lot about church history and family history! Super interesting! 

One of my favorite things I heard was that there is power in finding out more about our ancestors. They are part of us, they are cheering us on, they love us. We need to do our part to find out more about those who have passed on so we keep remeber their legacy. We were challenged to write a favorite memory we have with a grandparent, aunt, uncle, great grandparent, parent, anyone! We were challenged to write it down so we can remember it and that story won't be lost. I challenge you all to do that too. I know that there is power in knowing where we came from and who were are. I can testify that we are all children of God and have the families we do for a reason. I know that when we feel alone and weak we can look to our ancestors and our father and heaven and they will help us along. I've seen this in my own life and have felt so much love and peace as I do my family history work,  it's amazing. 

I love you all! Have a great rest of the week! 

Hermana Ross

"I am electricity!!"

Hola a todos! 

This week was pretty good! We met a lot of kind people. To explain the subject of this email...we met with a man and his family to teach them English. We were teaching the verb "to be". We taught them how to say their jobs, he is an electrician. We went around in a circle and introduced ourselves. He said, "hi my name is ----, I am ----- years old, and I am electricity! He was so proud of himself and I had to bite my tongue so I didn't laugh jaja. Good times. 

This week I have been learning to be patient. I just want to have something to do all the time and have someone to meet with all the time. This isn't realistic because people need to progress and move at their own speed. I cant control others so I just need to be there to offer my love, support, and testimony. When people are ready to learn more about their savior it's an amazing experience to be able to be apart of. You see the peace that comes from knowing that we have a loving Father in Heaven and a Savior who knows us perfectly. 

This week, I've also realized what an impact one kind person can make. We honestly had a hard couple days. People can be really mean... on Sunday we decided to stop by an older couple in our church and share a little message with them. They welcomed us in and made us bocadillos (sándwiches) and postre. They talked to us about our week, our amigos, and our families. They gave us encouragement and advice that really helped us. We walked out of their home so happy and ready for the week ahead. This experience showed me that I just need to be kind no matter what! We dont know who is having a bad day or who might need some extra comfort so just be kind all the time. 

I'm truly grateful for all of you! Thank you for your prayers and emails!! Have a great week!! 

Our amiga Sol who painted our nails😍

Hermana Bates y yo

Bomb poke bowl

Me with some artsy tile

Milagros Pequeños

Hola a todos! 

Como estamos? I miss you all! Estoy agradecido por sus correos electrónicos y sus oraciones! Gracias! 

This week nothing too exciting happened. Most of our amigos are doing great! We had some good sitas and some discouraging ones también! Spainsh is hard guys. Its been hard to speak this week. The mission can be really hard sometimes. There is always a sense that I'm not doing enough or living up to my full potential. I know that we all feel that at times. It's hard and discouraging. I know that as we push on, it will get better. 

I was having a hard day this week. I felt bad about myself and I was frustrated with our amigos. I just kept working though. We kept walking and eventually those feelings went away as I kept doing what I was supposed to.

I have realized how grateful I am for the little milagros I see everyday. They aren't really miracles but they are things that make me happy and so I call them that. This week I saw a super cute baby, a puppy in a baby shirt, and heard Thrift Shop blasting from a car #milagros! It really is the little things that we all should focus on to help us keep going. We cant have a crazy amazing experience that makes us feel like everything will be great everyday but as we seek out those little blessings we will find the joy and strength to push on. 

I know that my Heavenly Father helps me recognize those milagros pequeños everyday. He wants us to be happy. He loves us. 

The mission is amazing, Spain is amazing, the people and the things I'm learning are amazing! I really love it here! 

I'm grateful for all of you! Have a great week!! Remeber that God and Christ live and love you! 

Nos hablamos, adiós, chao,

Hermana Ross 💛💃🏼

Our Friendly Neighborhood Cerdo

Hola a todos! 

We had zone conference which was great (and long). I learned a lot and it was such a blast to talk to my president and his wife! 

We have met some new amigos which has been awesome! We met the sweetest mom and her son yesterday who fed us pizza and coke (I haven't had soda in FOREVER and for some reason that coke just hit the spot, madre mía!) Ya they were super sweet and seemed really interested in our message. We also met an older shorter man named napoleon who wanted to buy us food and take us to the beach... fun times! Oh we also met a guy that invited us to his rice farm! Yay, score!! This one guy we met with asks us if the jóvenes flirt with us a lot cause we are 2 young chicas from America. We told him that it's really only the old men who seem interested which really boosts my confidence! 

It's still been really hot here but today there has been a nice breeze so I'm hoping that means that it will start finally cooling down. 

This week franco set a date for his baptism! He is so awesome and I'm so excited for him and his family! Him and his wife recently got married and they have the cutest little son! I know his decision to take this next step in his conversion will truly bless him and his family.

Ok to explain the subject of this email... we go to this park almost every night to contact and meet new people and every once in a while this pig comes and runs around the park. This pig is HUGE and it's so funny to see. I just wonder where they keep it. It probably has it's own room in a piso jaja. 

Ok so a quick spiritual thought for y'all... I was reading in Mosiah about repentance and he used the phrase "sore repentance". I really like this phrase cause when we exercise we are usually sore the next day. It can be uncomfortable but it means that our muscles are growing stronger and our body is changing for the better. When we repent, it may be hard and a little uncomfortable but this means that we are working to change into someone closer to what our Heavenly Father wants us to be. I love that because when we feel like things are too hard we need to remeber that it may hurt at first but we will always come out stronger. I know that when I repent I feel closer to christ because I am striving to let go of mistakes and learn and grow from them with christ's help. Repentance is super amazing and such an amazing gift we all have. I know our savior loves us and desires for us to come unto him because he is just waiting with open arms to welcome us and help us grow stronger. 

I love you all! Thanks for all your support! Ustedes son los mejores!! 

Adiós, nos vemos, venga, 

Hermana Ross 💛💃🏼

Zone Conference

waiting for our train in the heat of Catarroja

Our good friend Mr. Piggie 

Hermana Bates and her self portrait of me (resemblance is uncanny)

Heladoooo where a few seconds after this picture my hair was all up in that cone and it was awful…

Cool Cathedral in Valencia

Semana de Horno

Hola a todos! 

Thank you for all your prayers and emails!! They help so much! So our amigo Alexander has a fecha de bautismal for SEPTEMBER 7TH!! I'm so excited for him!! I see the joy that he has from learning about the gospel, its amazing! 

Nothing much else too exciting happened this week. Just a lot of heat. On Friday it LITERALLY felt like that moment you open the oven and all the hot air rushes out but that feeling ALL DAY! One of our amigos told us Friday was the hottest day Catarroja has seen in 100 years. I don't know how true that is but it sure felt like it. Nothing much else to report this week except that I think I am a melón addict. They have these Spanish melóns here and made mía, they are so good!

Ya that's all folks! I'm grateful for the mission and all I'm learning! The church is true and God and Christ live! 

Love,

Hermana Ross 💛💃🏼

Amigo de Oro

Hola a todos! 

How's everyone doing? I miss you all! Just a quick shoutout to my little bro Drexel! I'm SO proud of you for your decision to be baptized this past Saturday. I know this decision will bless you for the rest of your life buddy. I know that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are super proud of you!! 

This week has been good! Hot, humid, tiring, etc... but way good! Not too much progress but the amigos we do have are solid! 

A quick miracle I saw this week was with an amigo named Alexander. He was interested in clases de inglés so we met with him for that. After we shared a message of the book of mormon. He was super interested and agreed to read. We checked up on him and he said he has been reading and had some questions. We invited him to come play fútbol with the ward and we could answer his questions there. He agreed and has a great time. He asked us what time church was and said he wanted to come!! He walked into the capilla clean shaven with a white button down and khakis!  He loved church and said he learned so much!! Next step for him I think is baptism!! So cool!! This work is true and brings so much joy!! 

I love this gospel guys, it's great. The mission is great too. I'm learning a lot. Sometimes I have these mini panic attacks where I remember where I am and how crazy a mission actually is but then I just tell myself its gonna be ok jaja.

This week I had intercambios which is where I go with another hermana and teach and learn in her area. I learned so much about finding new people so we are trying some new ideas out in Catarroja this week. We also ate with a family from Brazil and the food was SO good madre mía!! Im gonna try and collect some recipes so I can take them home and try them out! 

Today we had día de preparación because we had a zone activity! We went to Xátiva where there is this super beautiful super old castle from the b.c. times! It was wild! So cool to be able to walk around and see the history there. 

Well nothing else too exciting this week. I hope all is well! Talk to ya next week! 

Adios, chao, venga, nos vemos,

Hermana Ross 

jaydn.ross@missionary.org