Vaya a freir esparragos!

December 30, 2013

DEAR FAM!

Where to even start..?? Haha I have no idea! Doesn´t it feel like it was forever ago that we skyped? I can´t believe that it was just a few days ago. Weird how Christmas never fails to just come and go evvvery single year! You all have no idea how hard I was bawling. Hanging up was really so hard! Like you wrote dad, that really brought back all of the emotions from just about 6 months ago taking off for the first time. It was a really such a peaceful feeling though! I can´t even describe. We came out of the locotorio and you know what?? The skies were FLAMING. One of the prettiest nights I have seen so far here on Tenerife. Flaming oranges and pinks and reds. I am telling you as I walked away I just felt this BLANKET of warmth come over me. It was the biggest tender mercy. I still felt sad from having to say goodbye another time but I also felt so ALIVE and happy to be where I am. We all have hard things in life. It is a part of life! It is why we are here! But Heavenly Father will never give us things that we can´t do. He loves us sooo much and knows us PERFECTLY. He knows us better than we know ourselves.. and for that everything that we have in our lives good and bad are for our benefit and our good! That Christmas day was weird. Ha it was really weird! But it was also one of the most peaceful and spiritual Christmas that I have ever had. Being able to focus solely on Christ and his love is so great. He is our best friend and with Him we can be happy. On this mission I have learned so much about Christ and his atonement and just really who this perfect person is! He is my best friend and He will ALWAYS be there. I am telling you it is the coolest thing being able to be a representative of Christ. How different the world would be if we all knew Christ. I have just the strongest testimony without a doubt that He is there, running to us with arms outstretched! We just have to come to him. He can carry us to places we never thought we could. I love Christ. There is a quote by Elder Holland talking about missionary work and it says something like "let your missionaries know that when they are yelled at, scourned, spit upon... that they are standing SHOULDER TO SHOULDER with best that ever lived on this earth." I love that. It gives me courage to push on and know that when people may reject our perfect message.. that I am standing. RIGHT there. Next to Christ. It is powerful and I am so grateful to have Him as my best friend.

This week was a crazy one that’s for sure! Lots of food, lots of gained weight haha.

I cannot believe how fast this transfer is going by! Next Monday is transfers... we shall see! EVERYONE is telling me that I am leaving. Investigators, members, EVERYONE. Hahaha I am just like THANKS ALOT I love you too! The only person who has faith in me staying is Hermana Money and cute Rita. We will see! I have decided that either way I will be so excited! It may be time for me to bid farewell to good old Tenerife.. but that’s okay because I just know that there is SO much awaiting me in Madrid. Plus I love Madrid, it’s in my blood! We will see!

This week one of my highly thought through goals is learning Spanish "dichos!" Haha Spanish sayings! I mean okay can you imagine someone trying to learn English and just being about to whip out weird expressions here and there?? EXACTLY. For those who you who know me know that I am one to use weird sayings. It just makes life that much better!

ENTONCES... soo

I have committed myself to learning and memorizing a Spanish dicho every day. Thus far I have learned AND used:

vaya a freir esparragos!

(go fry asparagus...aka go fly a kite or go jump in a lake!)

pan comido

(eated break.... aka easy as pie!)

Quien te ha visto y quien te ve!

(I can’t think of a literal translation)

Estoy sin blanca!

(I am broke... ps MOM I need more money on my card haha)

los parades oyen

(the walls listen)

peces gordos

(fat fish.... aka big important people!)

AND that’s it haha. You will all be so proud to know that have used all of these dichos one way or another. People think it’s hilarious! Hahahaha

OTHER THAT THAT... life it great! The work is great. I have eaten a ton of sea food this week and guess what... I liked it... haha things are changing big time in my life huh! I will attach some of the pictures. I have never eaten so much shrimp and stuff in my life. I liked it. And I learned how to properly shell one. Cool stuff!

HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD ONE!

I LOVE YOU!

Hermana Nydegger

Monologue

Demember 15, 2013

HI!!!

First off Mom you mentioned something about a monologue and I am so sad to say that I don´t even REMEMBER what that even is! Ha! I am literally forgetting everything including certain things in English aka spelling/grammar. Just be happy that I am learning how to do it correctly in Spanish over here! I promise you that I will come back from my mission with the education of a 3 year old I am not even kidding.

Second off in case any of any of you are wondering, SISTER CHRISTIAN and I are alive! We survived the tormenta. Seriously you would not have believed the weather just this past week. It has been as loco as Utah weather! Tuesday morning during comp study we get a call from our bishop telling us that the entire island is on red alert or something. HAHA can you believe it?! Anyways, three islands were on alert for about 3 days. Needless to say were stuck in our piso for a long time. It was so weird. Really just the weirdest thing! It was hard not being able to work. My companion probably would have rather died than be locked up in our piso. But we had no choice! And the times that we were able to escape were spent cleaning up the flooded chapel. It was crazy! But a super cool experience on the mission. We were able to see some awesome miracles through the whole thing. Where we live, the tormenta actually did some damage! The roads were like mud rivers for a day… it was crazy. It ruined the roads too! There is quite a bit of clean up now.. but it’s cool. Still glad to be on the Canaries at this time. People here though are such babies about the weather! It’s hilarious. If you think that it is cold here, take a nice trip over to Utah and then tell me what is cold! Haha hope you all are surviving out there.

Third off... I HIT MY 6 MONTH MARK! Crazy how time is on the mission! I totally forgot that it was my cumplemez until weekly planning that day. Let me just tell you that it was the weirdest thought ever! I still feel like a baby on the mission. It feels so good though! The thought that I will be home this time next year blows my mind. I also can´t believe that it is Christmas in like a week! It is weird spending Christmas not only in the mission but on an Island. it still feels like July here! It does not feel like one bit of Christmas here. Occasionally I will hear Christmas music and that is a weird thought but other than that, I can´t believe it is Christmas. And that I will be skyping all of your lovely faces! It just seems so surreal to me. But I am so so excited! You all are the greatest and I just love you all so much.

I want to tell you about N! N. is the cutest girl that Sister Phillips and I actually found through the English dan joning last transfer. She is the cutest! She is from the canary islands. She is 32 years old but looks like she is barely in her 20s! She is really just the nicest. We have finally been able to teach her! I love her so much. She is so open and just such a respectful person. Not so sure how much she understands but she is so great and I know that she will be baptized soon, hopefully. She really is so open and receptive! She invited us over to her house yesterday after church and made us the cutest Canarian dinner. It was good! I still am amazed at the food that I am able to eat without any problems here on the mission.  Ha, but this stuff, I really did like. Anyways she is great! I made the mistake of telling her my first name and now that is all that she calls me.. but I love it! She says it in the cutest accent. But yeah we are planning on teaching her the Plan of Salvation tomorrow night and I hope that it all goes well. She is a miracle and I have high hopes for her!

T. is doing great. We are learning that she really has zero knowledge about religion. Plus she is from Cuba and is over 80 years old so, I am not really sure how much she understands! We asked her who God was and she told us "hijo de jesucriso?" Son of god?? You should have seen the look on our faces.. we had no idea how little she knew! Especially because she has always been there with us, with R. the whole way through.. But we have been trying our best to help her grasp a sense on God and who He is as her Heavenly Father. We finally got her to pray last night to ask if God loves her. She did it. I sure felt the spirit come in and felt how much Heavenly Father loves her. I hope that she felt it too! I know she did.  She had too! I love her so much also and just want her to be happy like her cute daughter R.

M... we are still waiting on him! His mom has kind of shut off with us again which is super sad. But we finally got her to meet with us next Sunday! I am just praying that her heart will open up again and that we can finally get Mateo into the baptismal waters.

We are finding many new people which is great! I am excited. Lots of new investigators with potential.

I LOVE YOU ALL!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I will see all of your beautiful faces in just a few days and I look so forward to it. I miss you all so much.

Remember the true meaning of Christmas as you serve others. I have been reading the Living Christ every day and I love it so much. So powerful.

Hermana N

Sunburn of December 5th

December 9, 2013

Hi all!!!

I am here to tell you that ALL IS OKAY. Weather is back to normal. I just feel bad for all you Utahns who are suffering.. or so I hear. Speaking of weather in Utah I heard that there were tornados or something? My J-dubb friend raymond was telling me that the other day. I don´t believe him, ha. But really I heard that it is cold in Utah. To be honest I really miss it! You miss what you don´t have! I miss the cold. We will see if that comes back to bite me if I get transferred back to cold Madrid. I am still completely blown away at the fact that I am still getting hot sun in DECEMBER. I literally am still getting tanto sol casi cada dia. It gets a little chilly at night though! I bought this cheap little sweatshirt for the nights.. and I am wearing it right now! It is goes great with proselyting clothes.. kinda, kinda not.

I am so happy to hear about CB who was baptized this past week! That is so cool!  This will for fact change his life and the life of soooo many others. Missionary work is so important! It really is a huge part of our purpose here on the earth! We have been blessed SO much and now it’s our turn to share it. And there are countless blessings awaiting those who embark in this service. This special Christmas time is such a great time and opportunity to share what we know about the LIGHT OF CHRIST. By example, by word, or by music. I have been studying and learning a lot about the light of Cristo lately. I am loving it. It is the coolest thing. You all HAVE to watch all 3 videos of David Bednar and the Light of Christ. That’s all. I am really excited to be able to be a missionary during this holiday season! It is really different and hard at times.. but I am excited. There is not a better season to be able to share the gospel and happiness that we have!

Speaking of the light of Christ. I had a cool little experience the other day on the bus!  We were catching a bus to go out to eat in Adeje with fun little Ana and Mario, the Italians, like we do every tuesday during medio dia. So we catch the bus and this random guy in front of us starts attempting to talk to us in English. (many people here by the way will randomly just come up to us and start spitting out the 4 english words they know. It’s hilarious.) So this Jose man starts to talk to us! Of course when we tell him we are from the United States, he says “hamburgers!” ha typical! But then I ask, "Usted es una persona que cree en dios?" Are you a person who believes in God? Then Jose goes on to tell us about how he doesn´t and all of the bad things in his life. It breaks my heart every time when I hear this! As he is talking to us this cute girl who was sitting by herself just turns around and says, "Yo creo en Dios!" “I believe it God!” with just the biggest smile and light in her eyes. Wow, it was such a cool experience for me! It just testified to me so strongly that there are people in this world that have this LIGHT! There are goooood people out there who have faith! We just need to help and share this light to all. I got her number and am excited to call her!

The work is going great! It kind of feels like we are whitewashing again because we are started from practically scratch again in a closer area.. but I am excited.

Spanish is coming! Poco a poco. Like everyone says! Little by little it is coming. I am speaking even more spanish with my new companion and feel like I am understanding even more every day.

I love you all! Have a good week. Find joy in the journey and remember who you are!

Hermana N

Foto… picture I snapped in Adeje after a week of rain storms!  So pretty!

23 Days Until Christmas

December 2, 2013

Hi Family!!!!

How are you all???  I really don´t know quite how to describe this week!  It was crazy.  Honestly just another big change.  Holy cow can I just tell you all HOW MUCH I missed you all and everything this week!  Thanksgiving with the change of transfers and everything just hit me hard... but I hope you all had a great time!

So Thanksgiving... NADA! Haha, I am not joking.  We didn´t do anything!  We were invited to go up with the other missionaries up north in Santa Cruz and La Laguna but then we weren´t able to get permission to leave our area and go... sad huh!  Yes.. I was a little bit bitter about it, haha, but no pasa nada todo es bien!  Instead I had a nice and long 3 hour planning session with my new comp Hermana Christian trying to explain all there is to know about our GIGANTIC area of the Los Cristianos ward. Seeing that the area is huuuuuge... I think that we are going to try to divide the area amongst the 6 of us missionaries here. Which means that my companions and I will only be working in the areas closest to us! Ha, it kind of feels like starting all over.. it’s kind of sad because that means we will have to pass our other investigators over to the other elders that have a car. It will be hard and different! But I am excited also because I know that it will make missionary work more effective in the long run, ya know?? They are hoping to be able to split the ward in a few years and for that they need a lot of members on all parts of the island and not the areas that we have been working in.... if that makes sense.  But, yeah looks like Sister Christian and I will be focusing our work here in the Los Cristianos and Las Americas area... which are pretty touristy but I am excited! Our plan is to just toooocccaarrr aka knock! that way we can hopefully find people that live here. I am excited! Sad because things are really changing big time but excited. Sister Christian is a really hard worker which is so great!

So the weather this week has been absolutely CRAZY! I am not even kidding you... cats and dogs just POURING all day. And hard too!  It has been a wet and cold adventure this week seeing that all of my winter stuff is in Madrid.  I am just praying that it lasts just this week! Apparently it is.  All I know is that I am soaking wet.  Haha, I need to buy a coat or something because I don´t have anything. I am about to just go to one of the chinos and buy a `poncho.  But everyone I talk to says that this weather isn´t normal!  So we will just have to see.

Not much to report on this week... M. baptism fell through. We are trying for next Saturday hopefully! We had an AWESOME lesson with cute T.  T. is R's. mom!  She is going to get baptized soon.  As soon as we get her to pray first, ha! We had an awesome lesson on families and baptism and happiness. It actually was all over the place! But definitely it was lead by the spirit. The spirit was so strong. She was so cute! She is got to be the sassiest 83 year old that I know. But I just love her so much. Just like her cute daughter R. They are so great. But the lesson was powerful.

I hope thanksgiving and everything was so great for you! Know that I love you all so much and that I pray for you each day. LOVE YOU!

Hermana Nydegger

Sancocho

Dear family...

guess what?

ME QUEDO... seis semanas mas por lo menos!!!

I am staying HERE on Tenerife... hallelujah!

I feel really lucky:) I will take as many as I can get here on the Islands. It’s getting cold in Madrid! But yeah I am so happy to stay here! Life is so great here. I am going to miss my old companion a TON though. I am sad that she has to go back to Madrid! But it will be really exciting for her seeing that she only has 2 transfers left.

So this week flllleeewwww! Not to mention I was on a different island so there goes a big chunk of the week. But it was a good week! All in all a great transfer. Time is flying! I can´t believe that I will be hitting my 6 months soon. Crazy and I can´t decide if that is exciting or scary! Haha, but yeah life is great.

I am excited for a new comp! Her name is Sister CHRISTIAN and she will be serving with me in Los CHRISTIANOS. Ha! Well I am currently waiting for her right now! She should be landing any second now. I am kind of nervous, haha! But I am super excited for the change.

So Zone conference was SO FUN!! Annnd I got to see Hermana Fowlers.. my ccm comp and that was so fun. On the islands we get to go to zone conferences on other islands every other transfer which is so cool! Haha I am not kidding you.. this is the coolest place to be serving a mission.  Zone Conference was so fun. We had to go up to Santa Cruz on Sunday Night.. sleep over with the other sisters (what a bummer! haha NOT) catch the ferry early Monday morning.. and head over to Gran Can.. We spent p-day there.. and watched 17 miracles later that night.  We had conference the next day... and then headed back later that night.  We arrived at Santa Cruz around 10:30 so we got to sleep over again.  We finally arriving back to Los Cristianos on Wednesday medio dia. SOUND FUN? Haha it was. Seriously so fun! All with amazing food also. I got sick on the boat haha yay motion sickness! Dad, you and I always don´t handle those events very well.

So how are you all doing?? I can’t belive that it is thanksgiving this week! crazy! I think that all of the missionaries are having thanksgiving together on Thursday at the Andersons so that should be fun. This should be a fun transfer! by the way 29 days until Christmas and til we get to skype!

Also mom you were asking about the daughters of A! A. is probably the most incredible woman I know. Man it feels like everyone I meet here are the most incredible people I know ha. But she is great. She got baptized in June. And slowly but surely I just know that her entire family will be baptized! She has the strongest testimony in the world and is just so Christlike. Anyways we have been teaching her and her family with the elders through noche de hogars about once every week. AND she gives us a huge bag of groceries.. not to mention little gifts here and there! She is an angel! They are always so great! She is the best member missionary! Always inviting her friends. But yeah 2 of her daughters got baptized last weekend and it was a really cool and a special night! See the attached picture!

WELL! I just got the text that my comp has officially landed... wish me luck! I LOVE YOU ALL! have a good week and a good thanksgiving!

Hermana Nydegger

Grannnnn Cannnnn!

FAMILY! 

Hey!  Guess where I am at the moment... in GRAN CANARIA! Cool huh? I love my life. I am here for zone conference!  All of the missionaries from the islands are meeting here, sleeping over tonight, and then having zone meeting tomorrow. THE CANARY ISLANDS ARE SO FUN! I never want to leave haha.  Anways so here I am! We caught the ferry this morning around 7am and just arrived.  We only have about 30 minutes to email... so SORRY It will be a little short this week. And I have to email the president also... soo... I will try to write a quite lil guy. NEXT P-DAY, that is if I am not on an airplane back to madrid..transfers are next week..., I will write a super long one with pictures and all.

THANK YOU alll so much for your emails. I wish I could respond to each one but it is nearly impossible! Know that I love you all so much though and that you all give me so much strength.

So as far as this week... IT FLEW. Whats new haha!

1. I learned how to make a daaaang good spanish tortilla from a true spañiard. Mom. I can´t wait to show you next Christmas. You will just diiiiie it is so good! 

2. I ate my first tomato that I liked

3. Our branch officially became a WARD on Sunday. Best Sunday ever.

4. The daughters of A. finally got baptized!

5. I sprinted to catch a bus again.

HAHA thats a reaaaaally bad summary but I promise next week it will be 100 times better with pictures.  The last few p days have just been crazy! especially this one because I am on a different island haha. But hey life is life!  I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH.  The church is true I love you!

Hermana Nydegger

Aladdin

No letter this week but this is Emily's letter from last week.  Sorry I am behind in posting! 

November 4th,  2013

What is upppp family!?

THIS PAST WEEK WAS THE BEST WEEK EVER.

EVER.

Wow, it was incredible... and it flew by! Time really is flying by. It is incredible! Every transfer just goes by faster and faster.. it’s true.

Anyways.. I don´t have a ton of time today unfortunately.. I am actually in Santa Cruz again to switch off for intercambios for the next few days. I am dropping off Sister Phillips and picking up Sis Judy to bring down with me to work in Los Cristianos! It will be fun. Change is always good! Although I will miss my comp.. haha, but this will be fun! It will actually be my first time completely leading the area so that will be cool.

First off - Rita

IS OFFICIALLY BAPTIZED! Wow, I swear I have never been more happy in my life.

This work is cool

Ain’t notin’ better

You guys! Her baptism was incredible. It was so spiritual. I can´t even begin to explain how special it was and how spiritual it was. Wow it was just so cool! Hermana Phillips and I had to go over to the church at 2pm to fill up the font and chill there for like 4 hours.  All was smooth sailing! The baptism started at 6pm. A ton of members and investigators came too which was such a tender mercy for us and for Rita! I was worried that people wouldn´t come because it was a holiday and a Friday night.. But people came! Seriously EVERYTHING about the baptism was just perfect. The talks were amazing, the music was perfect, and the testimonies were powerful.

Cute Rita asked me to do a musical number so that was fun! I did an arrangement of cuando me bautice (sorry I can´t remember what it is called in English.. look it up - it is a primary song haha!) Anyways, so I was able to do that which was amazing. I love music so much especially the spirit that it brings. It is so incredible how much music can touch a soul. Music is such a blessing from God! It is powerful stuff! "A song of the righteous is a prayer unto me". Sharing music is another way of sharing a testimony! And with that I love having the opportunity to share it so often here in Spain! It seriously brings the spirit like no other. I had a really cool experience as I was able to play on this special, special night! Right then as I was playing I seriously felt the love of Heavenly Father and Christ just flood into my heart. I don´t know why exactly but WOW I felt something really strong. Tears just began flowing! I can´t describe how I felt completely that night, but let you tell what I felt was real. The spirit is so real. I just felt an indescribable feeling of LOVE for everyone. For Rita! For my companion. For the ward! For evvvverything. For all of you guys back home! But most importantly for my Father in Heaven who has given me this true gospel and this opportunity to share it to all that I can. Wow I still am completely mind blown at how cool this work is. Rita shortly after got baptized which was an even more amazing feeling and spirit. Seeing her in the waters all dressed in WHITE! Wow I felt such a strong love again. We came back after and had a heartfelt testimony meeting. Rita has SUCH a strong testimony and devotion to her Savior and she bore such a simple and clear testimony which was amazing to hear. Ha, it honestly felt like a parent listening to a child! Your investigators really become your children and your love for them is so indescribable! Rita was so happy and so pure and so clean.

It is the coolest thing being a part of this work. I feel so lucky to have been able to see the fruits!

I hope you all have a good week! I LOVE YOU! Remember who you are and who you can become:)

Hermana Nydegger

PS... see our new cool Aladdin pants? Yeah you could say I fit right in now. I need to buy you all a pair of these pants because they are seriously the most comfy things in the world

58 days til Christmas!

Can you believe that it is just about 58 days until Christmas?  You know what that means...

SKYPE (speaking of which... am I supposed to set that up or what?)

I can´t believe anything that in just a lil bit I will be hitting my 6 months and skyping with all of your lovely faces. Time is weeeird! I don´t understand. Hahah I probably say this every time! But it is true! Every time P day comes around I can´t believe it. I can´t ever tell if time is going by fast or slow! I can´t believe that I have been out here on an Island for over 100 days. I feel like I just got here but then again at the same time I can´t like remember life not being here. The mission is definitely a time warp I´ll tell ya that.

So how are you doing? Ready for Halloween?? I can´t believe its cold and stuff and halloweenish in Utah. Here it honestly just feels like summer! But hey I can´t complain. I'll take it while I´ve still got it ha!

So speaking of Halloween... guess how I will be celebrating? (well kind of..) The day after Halloween you can bet that I will be celebrating with...A BAPTISM!

That’s my NEWS! This Friday at approximately 6 in the afternoon.. my dear friend Rita will be getting baptized. YES! My first baptism here! Ha, someone that Sister Phillips and I found and taught from the beginning. What a blessing! Seriously!!! We are getting to see the fruits of our labor this 3rd transfer and it is so cool. Rita is probably the most prepared little lady I have ever met in my life and I just know there are SO many blessing that are ahead of her! WOW..She has gone through so many things in her life.. especially being from Cuba. She has such an incredible INCREDIBLE testimony of Jesus Christ. Wow I have never met someone who is so devoted to her Savior and Lord. Rita is an angel. She really is! She has the biggest heart and the most pure desires. I can´t tell you all how much I love her. Also she asked me to speak at her baptism and do a musical number so I am excited about that. This will be a good week. I am excited. It’s cool getting to go all of the way with her!

So I came to a cool realization one night this week.. just about how COOL missions are. Holy cow. They are pretty dang tough but they are the coolest things in the w o r l d. I truly believe that there is nothing better that you can do than serve a mission! This work is so important! There is nothing better. Anyways walking home one night from the bus stop we were contacting right down by the beach (haha how LUCKY AM I) of Los Cristianos. We were talking to evvvveryone trying to finish off the night strong. It was during this moment that I had the super cool realization of how cool a mission is. And how it truly is a once in a life time chance! How many times are you going to be able to literally talk to EVERYONE up and down the streets with the most incredible message to share?! It made me think of a testimony Ruby Matesen shared at the last fast and testimony meeting for me in Utah. She spoke about how excited and happy she was to serve a mission! How EXCITED she is to literally run up and down the streets with the most happy message for all! I am so excited for all of these girls who are embarking in this work. It give me chills. It was cool. As we talked to everyone from all different places that night I was able to realize that I...Hermana Nydegger...am living that life right now. It hit me hard! After this short 18 months you can still do incredible missionary work don´t get me wrong.. but you don´t have that same authority and spirit. You can´t just run up and down the streets talking to everyone like a mad woman! (haha well unless you want to be a weirdo) Really it just hit me hard. In a good and happy way! Seriously how lucky I am to have this opportunity to be a representative of Christ e v e r y d a y. I am going to continue to cherish these moments and not ever come home with regrets. Being a full time missionary is a blessing. Missionary work is thrilling and invigorating! It is changing my life.

Most awkward act / Bold act of the week/mission:

Haha, okay so this week me and Phillips got our creative thinkin’ on with a new finding activity. I don´t know if I ever told you but here we teach English classes! It is such a simple service that we do every week. Not too many people have jobs.. it’s really sad! And for this a lot of people will do ANYTHING to learn English! Their chances of getting a job goes up like 80 percent if they know English. So we teach them for free in the church! Haha nothing better for them than learning English from American mormon missionaries in the Lord’s home! Also we have found SO much success with these classes. In fact it is how we have found a majority of our investigators! So we made a ton of flyers to go put up everywhere to spread the word. So we were doing that one morning after studies and we decided to go to an employment center and pass them out. We walked right into the building and breezed right past a room FULL of people waiting. We make eye contact, read each other´s minds, and turned around. Haha, we turned around and walked into this huge room and guess what we did...

"Hola que tal! Somos misioneras de la iglesia de jesucristo y estamos aqui enseñando clases de ingles.. GRATIS! Sabemos que es muy muy importante hablar ingles en los trabajos. Tenemos las clases cada martes y viernes a las 7 y nos encantaria ayudar a ustedes con su ingles!! Sabemos que estas clases ayudaran sus vidas muchisimo! Ustedes tienen interest??"

Yep. THATS RIGHT! Ha we made an announcement to about 50 or so people. We told them who we were and what we were doing and then asked them if they had interest in learning English. Here is where it gets awkward. First of all it is hard enough making an announcement in ENGLISH to people you don´t know.. imagine trying to make one in Spanish to about 50 Spaniards just staring at you.

Right after we were bold big girls and made this announcement in Spanish....

*awkward silence*

Pretty sure I saw tumble weed rolling in the back

Picture us just standing there just smiling hoping someone will break us free from this awkwardness.

6 long seconds go by and all of a sudden a girl raised her hand and says

"yo quiero!"

Sooner than we know it the whole room turns from a quiet waiting room into a chaotic jungle!!! (I have never seen a setting change so quickly in my life) EVERYONE begins asking for flyers and begins giving us their numbers like it was no tomorrow! Haha, I literally THREW my planner to some man across the room for him to write down his info while I talked to this other lady!

So there you have it! English class is about to get real and DONE in here haha.

I gained a testimony that if you just be bold and endure the awkwardness you will see miracles.

Three words to describe a mission.

awkward

bold

thrilling

LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Nydegger

Loving Life

I AM LOVING LIFE. Really who knew being so far away could be so hard, yet so fun? I am amazed every day.

But first...

My good friend Ursula informed me and showed me a picture of Miley Cyrus the other day. Needless to say my world is SHATTERED. What is happening in the world? Sometimes I wonder if prophets from the Book of Mormon saw her when they were having visions of our day... something I have been thinking about, ha.

SO this week has been so fun and so great. Basically I am just so, so, so, so happy to still be here Los Cristianos with Sister Phillips. We work hard and we have fun! I seriously am so grateful and love Sister Phillips.  She is one amazing person. 

This week I have gained such a strong testimony of prayers of faith. Prayers of faith are ALWAYS answered! It is so incredible. I know with all of my heart that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us, hears our prayers, and answers our prayers. I had the coolest week that confirmed that truth to me more than it ever has before.

First off.. M. Remember him from a while ago?? Yes. M. is the 9 year old boy that we found through reactivating his mom! He was supposed to get baptized like forever ago.. we had him set on the 28th of September. We began to give him the lessons and everything when randomly his mom J. wanted to take him off date. She still wanted him to have the lessons...but she didn´t like the idea of him having a baptism date!! It was the weirdest thing. She started to act really weird with us for some reason and it literally broke our hearts. Cute M. wanted so bad to get baptized so badly and for one reason or another Jaqueline wasn´t crazy about it. It was so odd! It confused me because literally her heart just closed right up in front of me. But for the past month we have been praying so hard every single day. We have been fasting so hard. We just have been doing every little thing possible trying to get M. and J.  to open back up to us! This went on for about of month.. we kept trying and trying yet she wouldn´t give us any sort of info why or what her doubts were. We kept the prayer of faith in our hearts despite the fails though.. we left her two weeks ago though with the commitment to pray and find a day that she would feel good about for M.s baptism! We hadn´t heard anything from her UNTIL yesterday night. We went over to have a noche de hogar with her and some of her Colombian friends and as soon as we walk in... guess what happens--

"Me voy a ser bautizado el 30 de Noviembre!!"

I AM GOING TO BE BAPTIZED ON NOVEMBER 30TH! says little M. 

You can picture the surprise on our faces! It was a miracle. J. literally had a change of heart. It was SO cool. She turned completely 180 degrees!! Talk about a MIRACLE! At that moment I gained an even stronger testimony that Heavenly Father is looking out for all and that he hears and answers our prayers. It was a defining moment for me as a missionary! The power of prayer is incredible. It is real. There have been so many times on the mission when I have quickly said the hardest prayer pleading with Heavenly Father for the spirit to open up someone’s heart.. and you know what? I am always able to see miracles from those specific prayers of faith. Basically I learned not to ever give up in the work of missionaries. We have the best and most loving Father in Heaven who is looking out for us! I have been thinking a lot about the prayer of faith this week. It is so powerful.. I can´t even comprehend it! Faith is so powerful and it is something that we can all have! I know that if we pray and have FAITH that anything is possible. Especially with missionary work.

Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.

Doubt your doubts before your doubt your faith! Faith in Jesucristo is so real and so powerful. I love how all we need to start with is a desire. In D&C 4 it says he who has a desire is called to the work. All that Heavenly Father requires of us is a desire! That’s ALL. I invite you all to take whatever desire you have to Heavenly Father! Take your desires of your heart and counsel with him - He will give you an answer. Maybe not in our time.. but he willlll give us our answer. When we have that desire to do good. And when we have the faith to do that good. WE will see miracles. I know that with all of my heart.

I wish that I had more time to tell you about the other miracles that I have seen this week! But I will just have to wait until next week. And being my forgetful self... I forgot my camera cord. HA next week I promise.

The church is so true! Never doubt your prayers of faith. Never give up. Find joy in the journey!

I love you all!

Love,

H. Nydegger

Hallelujah!

I am so happy that I have more time this week finally send you a nice and juicy email of my life. The past few weeks.. actually the last transfer has been CRAZY on p-days! So glad to have more time. So hopefully this email will do justice in giving you my update. I wish that you could see what every second of every day is like out here in the mission but it’s impossible! I ESPECIALLY wish I could give you every detail about every investigator but that is even more impossible! Mainly because things are changing so much all of the time.

First off.. TRANSFER CALLS. 

Transfer calls were this week! It’s true... they really are like the Reaping from Hunger Games plus opening up a mission call all over again. Needless to say they are AWESOME. But also insane. I am talking sweating bullets insane! Your district leader calls you Saturday night and gives you the news.. They don´t tell you until Saturday night that way you don´t blow your last week with goodbye visits and such.. but at the same time it still is distracting because it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to not think about it. Anways... so yeah all of Saturday was super long. Sister Phillips and I felt like we wanted to throw up just thinking about it. Ha seriously.. biggest butterflies you get in your stomach. Similar to opening up your mission call. Especially when you are on the islands not knowing when they are going to boot you off.. So if you are all wondering..

I AM STILL HERE! All of the worrying was for nothing. Haha I felt so weird and stupid after! We got the call.. I felt like I was going to puke.. and then we found out that we would both be staying together. All that nonsense and waste of worrying for nothing! But I am so happy to still be here. Just like opening up a mission call, you get the great confirmation after that you are or will be exactly where the Lord wants you. Everything is so inspired! I love it.  It is so cool.

Speaking of inspired things..

DID YOU ALL JUST LOVE CONFERENCE?? Wow it was so great! It made me so homesick though! Conference weekend is the best. It was so good as a missionary though too! I luckily got to watch half of the sessions in English up in Santa Cruz! It was so funnnnn. We got to watch the Sunday night session up with all of the other missionaries so it was a party let me tell you. And the amazing Sister Anderson made us all food. It is so fun being on the Islands! The coolest missionaries are here and I just love each one so much. But conference was so cool. I loved how almost every talk was about missionary work. I am excited for the Ensign to come out so that I can really study each talk. Especially the ones that I had to watch in Spanish haha. BUT I was so surprised though at how much I was able to understand in Spanish though! Really though!!! I understood so much. My Spanish is progressing and it FEELS. SO. GOOD. Remember how last time I told you about how I can speak more than I can understand haha? Well now I think I can understand more than I can speak! Either way.. I am progressing. The gift of tongues AMAZES me. It is so real. Missionaries are so blessed.

So as far as investigators... I will tell you about my two favorites! (not that I have favorites or anything haha) But these are two amazing ladies. And out of our investigators they are progressing the most!

First, Rita. Remember Rita?? She is the darling lady from Cuba that we found through English class advertisements. She is my miracle! She is so so so great. And so receptive. Every lesson that we have with her is so spiritual! Haha and she cries at practically everything that we tell her. And everytime at church. I love it! She really feels the spirit so strong and it is so cool to be able to watch her just soak it all in. And she is a saint. She is in her 60s! She has lots of problems with her body.. and she lives really far away. But she is a saint and never fails to miss anything we invite her to. She takes the bus everywhere and walks a long way also.. but she never fails to come. She is a huge example to me. Yesterday we went out to visit her! And guess what.. she is going to be baptized on the 2nd of November. I can´t wait! She is such a Christ-like person and I know that she is prepared. She has been waiting to find the church her whole life! And now she has finally found it. Miracle.

Second, Gloria! Let me just tell you I LOVE Gloria. She is also so great. And she is hilarious. I don´t even know how to explain her! She comes to English class. She also is so incredibly receptive. We just started teaching her a few weeks ago! She is from the Evangelical church which is kind of scary.. but it’s okay because she loves what we have been teaching her. Especially the Plan of Salvation. Anyways.. I LOVE HER! And she is committed to be baptized also on the 2nd of November. So I am really excited!

We are teaching a bunch of other people.. our teaching pool has gotten so big!! It is so cool. And it’s cool because we white washed the area. Every person that we are teaching are people that we have found through our own efforts. Mainly off the streets! So it so cool! And it’s another reason why I am SO happy to be staying here for the next 6 weeks! In missionary work there are always 3 steps. Planting seeds, cultivating, and HARVESTING! It’s cool to be able to stay in an area long enough to see and participate in all 3 parts. I am loving being a missionary here in the Canary Islands. Life is so great!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Line of the week:

Gloria: Wow, que linda su nariz! (Wow, how cute your nose!)

Me: MY NOSE? Hahahaha best compliment ever.

A visit to Teide National Park with all the Tenerife Hermana's and the Anderson's.  Teide is the highest peak in Spain and 3rd largest volcano in the world. .