Life is great!

Monday, February 24th, 2014

Okay. I literally don´t know where to start and today we have less time than normal thanks to the elders who made us play ping pong with them in the church. Time flies when you are playing ping pong? YES. anyways.. so this week sure was a good one. I can´t even express to you how much I love it here in Torrejon. At first it felt like I was just on some extra-long intercambio and that I would be heading back to Las Islas any day but now I really feel like Torrejon is my other home! Torrejon is a new home for me (even if I still can’t pronounce it perfectly due to my paralyzed tongue that can´t roll rs). ALGUN DIA!!

So where to start.

I WENT TO THE TEMPLE! ohhhh my! I haven´t been able to NOT think about it all week. We went on Wednesday and it was the first time in like 7 MONTHS! How does that happen?? … when you are stranded on an island without temple capabilities.  But let me tell you... it was just the most incredible thing of about my entire life. I wish I could go twice a day! so great. I was so teary throughout the whole thing! I loved it and was so happy to be able to go again. How lucky are we! It really made me feel sad for those who don´t get the opportunity to go so much. The temple is the greatest thing ever and for anyone who is reading this.. do all that you can do always to be worthy of the temple. Do all that you can so that you can enter one day! It is the greatest blessing and greatest strength I feel that we are offered in this life. I can’t wrap my brain around it and can´t wait for next transfer to roll around so that I can go again. It is so worth it to be worthy of a temple recommend. It is something not of this world!

GUESS WHAT. So C. is on date. And she has been doing great. She is set to baptized on March 8th.

We had an AWESOME activity for mutual. My companion and I were in charge and it was SO fun. I felt so happy throughout it all. It just makes me excited for things in the future. They asked the missionaries to do an activity for the youth once a month on missionary work. We planned it out and it was so fun. We gave each of the youth a mission call and then gave them like a scavenger hunt sort of thing! We gave them a list of things to do in the street such as sing a hymn in the street to a stranger, contact a missionary in English, pass out cards and pamphlets, teach the restoration, get references... ya know, MISSIONARY THINGS. aka most fun things ever haha. Let me tell you though.. my goal was to get the youth EXCITED about missionary work! Help them understand that it is the most enriching thing in the world and how FUN it is. So after they all got their calls they headed out to the streets and worked. Each challenge had different points and whoever got the most won. So as they go out my companion and I couldn´t help but stalk them all on the way and see how they would do! haha We watched them from a distance. I don´t know why exactly but the whole thing really just WARMED my heart. I loved it. I loved it because I love missionary work and if it was my way I would have every one go out and be missionary. But it was the coolest thing. Especially watching the cute young women go out. Man are they powerful missionaries! And they have guts! Wow, to go out and contact in your own neighborhood requires boldness.. Don´t know if I could have done it! But these girls did and it was the most rewarding thing to watch. It also absolutely broke my heart when they would get rejected. As missionaries we are used to getting rejected every day!.. but seeing this cute girls.. it just made me want to run up to them and hug them and tell them “IT’S OKAY! - keep going and keep smiling!” an hour later we all came back to have a little testimony on the experiences that we had. It was so cool! The spirit was so strong as we all sat in this little room and shared how we felt sharing the gospel. And how fun it was! 

This darling young women - N. - is one of my favorites. She is 17 and I love her! She is such a good friend of mine and she has such strong desires to serve a mission. Wow, just thinking of this next generation of missionaries makes me so so so happy and so excited. My whole body just TINGLES. haha. Really though! because I know how much a mission has changed my life and I know how much it will change their lives and the lives of sooo many others. The youth here are few, but they are strong. N. asked to come out and work with us on friday! There isn´t a better thing than going out and embarking in the service. Like DC 4 says if you have desires you are called to the work! it doesn´t matter WHO you are or what you know. if you have desires then you are qualified. Missions are hard but they are fun. 

Life is great! Hermana Christian forwarded me the letters from the first Christmas package and I loved it! Late is better than never ha.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! sorry i am out of time! until next week.

Hermana Nydegger

Hermana Phillips goodbye party...Hermana Cabrera, my little sister and H. Phillips final daughter.

Lighten UP!

Monday, February 17th, 2014

Helllllllo family..

This week has been a good one! Well all weeks are good if you make them right? Something that I am learning 100 times is how life is really what you make it! Whether you have 10 successful appointments or a day where evvvverything falls through, you can still have fun and feel GOOD. I feel like my emotions have been triggered weirdly lately! Don´t know if that makes sense, but I have been so stressed sometimes with trying to train a new girl and help her become her own missionary on top of opening an area... it has been made known to me that I need to LIGHTEN up a little! Find the joy in things while youve got them. Work on those  Christlike attributes. The mission is probably the greatest thing in the world. It's something that everyone says, but at least for me it took a little while trying to understand that and apply it. It really is the greatest thing in the world! BUT what makes it great is what YOU make it be and how much you give. This past transfer has been a breeze! Time is flying. I hit my 8th month mark on Wednesday and that was weird. I said 'bye' to Hermana Phillips and that was even weirder. I feel like I have all these things coming at me right now and just like SHOUTING into my ear how limited the time is on a mission! That I need to LIGHTEN up! Have even more fun and be even more happy because in 10 short months time is up!

It was interesting this week at a members home for an eating appointment. There names are G. and S. (the cutest parents with devil little boys who are loco).  We were sharing a spiritual thought about LOVE within families. As we sat that and talked, S., the dad began to give us what started out as advice and ended up a speech. It was awesome, I loved it. This guy has talent and should definitely go into public speaking. Anyways something that he shared was how one of the biggest things that he has learned in his life is not to let himself get mad for more than ONE MINUTE. Don´t let yourself get mad for 60 seconds! That hit me HARD. The mission and LIFE is full of its ups and downs. There are plenty of downs, that's for sure. But should that give us an excuse to feel down? no. As S. was saying this, I just had the STRONGEST feeling that what I am doing right now is preparing me sooo much for the future. Obviously that comes across oour minds a lot as missionaries.. but for some reason on Saturday it hit me hard. I just KNOW that the mission is preparing me for so much. I am being prepared right now! actually EVERYTHING that we have ever experienced in our life whether it be good or bad is preparing us for the future. I felt like he was talking directly to me. And it has become my goal.. to not let myself feel down or mad for more than one minute. To develop patience and charity on an even higher level. Cool thing is that when we do this.. we are promised that his spirit will be with us. 

Valentines day was greeeeeaat! acutally probably one of my favorites that i have ever had!

Here is how the day went:

1. making a bajillion rice cripies (people LOVE them here. Who knew.. ha something so simple in America turns into a huge hit in spain!) 

2. cutting out hearts

3. taking them to everyone

4. meeting with CONSUELO

5. seeing the familia Silva right after their sealing

It was so fun! and so great and rewarding. Holidays can be tough on the mission.. but they can also be the GREATEST. Again.. it's what you make it! I have learned that when I lose myself you can truly not be happier! Sister Carroll and I felt great after and were in shock as we realized how simple it really is! LOVE others and serve others! Forget about yourself and enjoy where you are in life!

I don´t know if I ever told you about one of our investigators - C.? She is a CRAZY. Ah I don´t even know how to explain her. She has given us 3 different phones numbers everytime we see her.. AND her phone is always off. We see her on the streets all of the time, but guess what? We finally met with her officially this week. 3 times! We got her to come to the church and we gave her a tour and then had a little lesson with her and taught her right there the restoration. She is really catholic but she loved it. I felt the spirit so strong with her there! She has had a really trying life and I couldn´t help but feel of the love that Heavenly Father has for her. I couldn´t stop talking about how much I loved her for the rest of the night haha, ask my companion! But I really do love her! she is catholic and I don´t know why, but I have the slightest feeling that she may not be quite there seeing that she has had one crazy life.. But I love her and have high hopes for her. We met with her again and showed her the Joseph Smith movie and I felt the spirit even stronger. I know she feels it too because she just gets this cute twinkle in her eyes and you can tell how hard she is listening. I don´t know why but I just feel this STRONG connection to this lost lady! She is one of the people that I would just bend over backwards to help... and lose so much hair along the way. That even includes waking up early to go with her to a catholic mass...yeah. By the way which was the creepies thing ever and I just felt like crying throughout the whole thing. Thank goodness for the restored truth we´ve got. She came to church on sunday and was pretty awkward to say the least haha.. but little by little she´ll understand.

This DARLING menos activo family got sealed on valentines day! talk about CUTE haha. It really is just the happiest thing seeing families get sealed together. Just an awesome reminder that it doesn´t stop at baptism.. We gotta take em to the temple! Sadly we were not given permission to go.. but we were allowed to go to their little reception party after. And let me just tell you.. these people know how to have FUN. And not only that but how to DANCE. People here have no shame.. they are party animals. I love it. It was so fun and so cute watching this cute family and the whole ward dancing. The culture here is just so different. Sister Carroll and I loved it! We couln´t stop talking about how things like this would never EVER happen at a church activity in America. These people have PRIDE and they love their country and the music and dancing that comes from it. And their food. Also I came to another realization that I am an awkward sister missionary as we just had to stand there and awkwardly watch. ahaha all we could do was eat their food and smile encouragingly as they danced there little hearts out. Love this life. 

The first transfer of opening an area is always the toughest as you just find and find and find in hopes to get a teaching pool! I am so excited for a new transfer and a new fresh start! My baby and I are staying which was predicted and Hermana King is going to Tenerife to open the northern part la laguna to sisters! By the way I amost cried of happiness for her when I found out! I would do ANYTHING to go back there and la laguna is gorgeous. It was weird getting transfer calls and just thinking back to how things were 6 weeks ago when I felt like I got hit by a train... and how much things have changed now! weird! Come what may and love it! I remember being so scared coming back to Madrid..but now that I am here I learned that there isn´t really anything to be scary about. other than things are pretty much staying the same which I am grateful for. I love Torrejon! The ward is so great.

Training is still a wild and crazy adventure every day and I am being pushed every day even more out of my comforts. But I feel like I have grown a ton within the last 6 weeks. Just a testimony to me that Heavenly Father doesn´t set us up to fail. I feel like the Lord really blesses trainees and trainers... perhaps more than normal missionaries haha because let me tell you.. we NEED all the blessings we can get. 

I wish I could remember every detail of the week because some wild things go down every week without fail. Wild and funny things. Oh well! maybe it will come to me. The work is going great. The language too! Thank goodness for the gift of tongues. Sister Carroll and I pray for the gift of tongues in every prayer and its is a powerful thing let me tell you.

I love you all. have a great week.. don´t let yourself feel down for more than 60 seconds! find the happiness because IT IS THERE. I love ya'll

Hermana Nydegger

you just know SOO many things don´t you!

Monday, February 10, 2014

QUERIDA FAMILIA..

It has been such an interesting week! I feel like I have been soooo busy but at the same time not getting hardly anything done with investigators failing us time after time after time this week! I can´t tell you how many people failed us this week! ah it is heart breaking! We plan our days well but I feel like time is wasted as we wait for lessons only to find out that they fall through. Its just that part of the cycle though in the work! It's crazy that is is the last week of the transfer! Still, I feel like I just barely got here...

THIS WEEK. I got to go back into the MTC because my companion had to take care of all of this residency stuff and let me just tell you it was the most AMAZING and weird thing ever. The smells and sounds and everything just brought back the most crazy memories. It was the biggest tender mercy though! Because there is a rule that you are not allowed to go back... probably for distraction purposes, BUT we were able to go back because Sister Carroll had to meet with this residency guy there. I LOVE that place. I loved seeing the teachers who really just changed and impacted my life so much. I popped my head into one of the classes of Hermana Martinez and she was SO excited and happy to see me! I just LOVE this lady with all of my heart and more! She is the most angelic person on the planet. And the weirdest thing is that she was speaking to me in Spanish and I understood everything. How times have changed! It was great to see actually how far I have come! As a missionary you tend to look at yourself day to day and it can be really hard to see progress if any at all. But when you get the chance to see something long-term you can see how far you really have come! 

Haha, random side note.. Rita used to always say - Quien sabe??? DIOS SABE. Haha who knows?? GOD KNOWS. I miss that girl and her way of life

The work is doing great and mornings are the same but are getting better now as my companion and I scream every morning as the alarm goes off..

MIND OVER MATTRESS!!

Isn´t it just so crazy how much our bodies can have control over how we live our lives? Something that I´ve learned is that it is SO much more worth it to not let natural man things take over in our lives! How are we supposed to live life if we are always sleeping through it? Waking up has been a struggle on the mission and I always feel like the alarm goes off just seconds after I finally fall asleep. Yet I have always been able to get up with the strength of the Lord. Mind over mattress... mind over life! 

The ward here is AMAZING. Here I am meeting amazing people. It's so cool how there truly are amazing people every where I go in my life. The ward here really cares about the missionaries. We get fed every. single. day. it's a blessing but also a problem seeing that missionaries have no choice but than to get fat. 

Interesting fact that I have noticed and loved the past little while.. There are SO mannnny families here! Isn´t that crazy? You see families out on walks all of the time. it makes me so happy! Mom remember when we were listening to that thing of returned sister missionaries who served in Spain after I opened my call? and how they talked about there being parks on every block and how much the family was a big part of life here in Madrid? It's TRUE. Its great being able to see it first hand here in Torrejon.

I ate some more tomatoes the other day... things are rough with them still. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever REALLY like tomatoes. I remember one time on Tenerife I did and that was weird, but here they are bad. Yesterday I had to eat a pure tomato salad. I chewed really fast and swallowed really fast and drank water immediately and lo and behold, I did it. It may sound silly, but I really feel like the Lord has blessed me in so many ways on the mission so that I can accomplish what I have been called to do.

Happy valentines day! I actually love holidays on the mission because it gives you a great excuse to make someone cookies and drop by casually. My companion and I are excited! we are going to make valentines day a big deal and take everyone and their dog a valentine. Have fun with it and remember what it is all about! LOVE. Love can open hard hearts!

Speaking of hard hearts, we are teaching a Spaniard man who may have the hardest heart of all time. His name is A. He doesn´t really believe in God or anything due to things in his life, but we have been trying so hard to show him how there is light in this world of darkness! If we turn to god and align our will with his there is happiness and light. We go very slow with him and have been trying to help him build his faith. After talking about faith and watching Finding Faith in Christ, we asked him if he thinks that one day he could believe in this. He always responds no.. and is always SO hard ha!  He is a funny and interesting guy.. he will literally POUT in lessons haha. He will squint his eyes shut and look up to the ceiling and breath in and out really heavily. Kinda like max pouting at times. But he always comes! Whether he denies it or not I know he comes because he feels something! I will bear my testimony to him time after time and everytime he will just either laugh and roll his eyes or pout. I bore my testimony to him and he was like you just know so many things don´t you! I responded, We don´t know everything..but I know that God lives because I have prayed about it. Little by little he will one day understand. I love how merciful the lord is and allows everyone to find their way in their due time. Pray for A! Pray that his heart may be softened.

Love you all and hasta luego!

Hermana N. 

HERMANA MARTINEZ...Warms my heart!

dia de la tortilla

Monday, February 3, 2014

I am glad to tell you all that today, February 3, is the Day of the Tortilla here in Spain. Happy free tortillas to all the spaniards and happy no mail to the missionaries.

Only Spain would have a day for the tortilla. When we found out that today is a festivo we were just like... seriously?? I am tellin you Spain will do anything to have a holiday! There is like at least 10 every month i swear! and every time there is a festivo everything shuts down ands its a really fun time. Haha here is my challenge to you all for the day:

1. turn on some spanish music (spaniard acordians.. spanish guitars..ect.)

2. go onto youtube

3. learn how to make a true spanish tortilla

4. hagalo

5. eat it in celebration 

My hija and I will be doing likewise this night. I love the spanish tortilla! The best part it the flip. Good luck it can be tough! Que distruten!

So this week... TIME. FLIES. Wow time literally is flying! Its true like they all say. Days are weeks and weeks are days! I can´t believe that I have already been here in Torrejón for about a month. It blows my mind! Can I just tell you how much I love the fact that Hermana Phillips served here exactly a year ago? I find my self thinking so much sometimes about what she was like here a year ago! It really is a great motivator. Everybody here just ADORES her. And I feel so proud to be able to say that she was my trainer! She really is the great and most incredible example of love and humility. Wow I LOVE the things that you can learn from companions here. Companions really can change your life! Sometimes I don´t quite realize that until after we get split up. But I truly have learned so much from every single companion I have had and for that I am so grateful! Hermana Phillips has just about finished her mission. She goes home in a few weeks! Next P day she is coming to torrejón and the ward here is throwing a goodbye party for her! I can´t wait.

Speaking of the ward.. I love the ward. The other night I was flipping through this folder that I have from little things from tenerife.. when a random ticket from a torrejón concert popped out from where I randomly put it earlier. As i picked up this little ticket and looked at it I had the sweetest feeling in my heart! I felt like i was at home. that has happened a few different times since i have been here.. and they are truly just little confirmations from heavenly father of how LUCKY i am. how lucky i am to be in spain as a sister missionary for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints in 2014 as a 19 year old girl! I love spain, my family, my friends, and this gospel more than anything. I think that we have trials in our life to open our eyes a little. We have tender mercies to let us know that we never have to do this alone! Is is so worth it to come unto Christ, it always is! When we do is when heaven is with us.

Something that they do here in spain is kiss everyone twice on the check to say hi or to say bye! I love it. We aren´t allowed to to boys though and its the funiest thing because these people literally get offended if you don´t. But I think that it is the cutest thing when all of the little kids kiss their moms! But it is normal life here. We probably kiss 20 people a day I am not even kidding. But i love it! It really showes how warm this culture is! Maybe you already knew that from the latinos in new jersey:) Anyways we call it ´besoing´ in the missionary lingo ha. (the verb to kiss is besar) I was telling this girl the other day how we don´t besar eachother in america... how normally we either wave, hand shake, or hug. And she was BLOWN away. She hated it! Haha it is so funny how different things are here! I have been having this weird feelings lately about how much I am going to miss Spain when my time is up. But funny story! The other night I was saying goodbye to a whole line of girls. Anyways so you just besar them and move on from girl to girl haha. Little did I know a member named Roberto was in this line of girls. Long story short I accidentally besoed roberto and the whole ward saw hahaha. awk. and now the whole ward won´t stop bugging me about it haha! I am like OKAY great! Now I am the new sister missionary who comes in and besos the high priest president guy. woops! Really though its pretttty embarassing haha. So thats my awkward story of the week from the life of a sister missionary.

   

We are finding SO much! I love it. I love trying to say knew things! Trying to learn how the spirit works and what I can say to get better. Its cool. I love seeing the reactions from the people on the street. We get many rejections not going to lie. But time from time we find people who truly have the desire to come unto Christ. Whether they know it or not! They are chosing Christ and its great. I love teaching people about how we have a perfect gospel for imperfect people and how we have a savior who makes up for the rest when we fall. Its a challenge learning about how to teach it! But something that I have learned is that the Lord used imperfect people to teach his message. And that it really is him teaching the message! We are really just intruments and its cool. The more I learn about how every person a child of god, the more i want them to know it for themselves. I challenge you all to think of someone that you know this week that may not know that they are a child of a heavenly father and to think of someone way that you could share your testimony with them! Let them know that you know who your are! about how knowing your identity helps you in your life! There is such a need in the world today for this. And if you do this i PROMISE you that you will have this spirit with you and that you will be able to rely on that!

My companion and I and sister king were able to so a musical number for a baptism on saturday. they sang and I played the piano to a version that we put together of How great thou art. The spirit was so strong! It was so thick! Many people where crying and it was such a beautiful experience! I am so grateful to be able to be apart of this!

Sorry I feel like this email was kinda all over the place! My email next week will be better with more details. I just have a bad memory:)

I love you all! Have a good week okay??

Hermana Nydegger 

FAMILA QUE TAL!!!

Monday...January 27, 2014

FAMILIA QUE TAL!!!! (haha I love Spanish and think that it is hilarious)

A year ago from 2 days ago I opened my mission call! WHO knew then that I would be where I am now a year ago!

This week was a crazy one! Full of hard and rewarding work. I am continually amazed at how much I feel like I am learning here on the Lord´s time. Sometimes I wonder if I even had a testimony before the mission because I feel like I have just become really different. Wow am I so grateful for the mission. Sometimes when I am having a hard time and just feeling pretty down I say a quick prayer in my heart and I feel the sweet confirmation that I am doing what I need to be doing! Often times I forget how cool it is that I am even on a mission as just a 19 year old girl! I will never forget how great it is to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord! I am learning what true joy and happiness is and how we have to share with others what we hold so close to our hearts.

This week I went on an intercambio with Hermana Mather! It just so happened to be pouring rain that day but we had fun. It felt weird for the both of us! We couldn´t believe how we left the MTC 7 MONTHS ago. 7 months ago... really? Is this real life? I ask myself that all of the time! She is one incredible missionary. I feel like I learn so much! She is just so good at loving the people. Sharing what she knows and being personable to people she just barely met! I hope to be able to have that same love! I feel like one of the main reasons I came on a mission was to love the people. And it can be hard to have that same connection in a different language. But it’s there and they can feel it when it comes from the spirit. I am amazed at how you just learn to love people in a different way. And it’s because it is a spiritual love. I swear you become so close to people on your mission. It’s hard now thinking about Tenerife and the people who I love so much there! But I am hopeful and faithful that I will get those same relationships with the people here. And I already am. Every day I am finding myself loving the people more and more.

As we were trying to find the address to a referral that I had from the other day and as we were standing in this tiny Madrid street... just SOAKING in freezing rain... in the old street light surrounded by redbrick buildings.. I realized how I felt happy. How I love my life. Where I have come from, where I am, and where I will go. I felt overcome with many emotions. We were standing in this tiny road just LAUGHING so hard.. when we realized that it was exactly a year ago that we opened our calls. WHO knew and who could have pictured us a year from then put together on a cold Spain night soaking wet standing in the street light. Speaking Spanish! Trying to share with as many as would receive this beautiful message we carry through Jesus Christ. I know I say this in about every email but I truly love being an instrument in the hands of the Lord! I want to learn even more. The more I learn about this gospel the more I love it and want to share it and the more I learn I understand how firmly we need to be attached to Christ.

This week has been great. We are working so hard. We are exhausted! But we are loving it! It has been the coolest blessing being able to train because I get to see the great faith and testimony of a brand new missionary. I get to see how we both get the same spiritual promptings in lessons whether we are on the same page of Spanish or not! It is cool. I love Sister Carroll. She is one great missionary. I just hope that I can be a good trainer for her as much as Hermana Phillips was a great trainer for me. I feel so much for her now that I get a taste of what it was like from her side!

We saw miracles this week! The one that I would love to share with ya´ll is about probably the coolest person named B.

B. is a cute lady from Bolivia. She has a daughter named A. and a dog named Kiwi. We met them off of the street about a few weeks ago and FINALLY were able to meet with them last night! I don´t even know how to describe it, but you guys, this girl is PREPARED! We had such an awesome lesson last night about so many random things! But over all we talked about the Book of Mormon. She is catholic but has been searching for the truth. She told me last night that she is searching for something that will fill her heart. How sweet is that? She told us that a few years ago she realized that she has hambre espiritual. SPIRITUAL HUNGER! How sweet is that? This darling and cutest lady is prepared. Sister Carroll and I really felt GUIDED by the spirit last night. it was the coolest thing. We walked home just smiling the whole way through. I am so excited for her! She is really busy but I just pray that she will find time to meet with us again soon. B.had such a good and warm spirit that I could feel strong in her piso. You know what? I felt like I was at home! It was crazy. Last night, I finally felt like I was at home here in Torrejón. 

I KNOW with all of my heart the Lord hears and answers our prayers! Usually in ways that we wouldn´t think of. But He does and He loves us so much. He knows us better than we know ourselves! And because He created us he knows what makes us truly happy. And He will give it to us when we let Him into our hearts.

The members here feed us every day. It’s rough, haha. I am gaining weight by the second. Let’s just hope that people don´t have to roll me to my next area. I am scared. Hermana Phillips told me that this is the area that she gained the most. So yeah...

I love you all so much! Joe glad you finally got your permit. It’s about time. There is a girl here who is 14 and wants to marry you by the way.... haha so add that to your list of options.

I LOVE YOU ALL

watch this

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2009-10-38-lifting-burdens?lang=eng

H nydegger

ps foto... this is the very center of el sol aka the heart of madrid! the heart of the world according to them spaniards ha.