ABC

Alegría: happiness or joy
Back to the Basics: to return to an essential foundation or starting point
Carnival: typically during the week before Lent in Roman Catholic countries involving parades, music, dancing, and the use of masquerade.

Lleida District.
Elders Alder, H. Johnson, Christensen, Jacobson, Woodmansee, and Byington. Hermanas Gutoff and Een

As it turns out, I'm still rather bad with directions. I'm never quite certain where something is, even though I've been in this area for a couple of months now. The good news is that everything is familiar and I haven't gotten too lost. New eyes have helped us see miracles in the area and meet some good new people. We're planning to follow up with all of them in the coming days.  We've done some good things: taught English class; did a favor and taught a mutual class about the lost sheep to the ONE girl who showed up (a little ironic); lots of contacting and pass-bys; had some great visits with menos active members (one who promised to make us the traditional African dish, Foofoo); had a couple of great lessons scattered in and finally.... Got caught in another Spanish festival. I have all the luck.
We walked out of a visit and were met by a mob of costumed kids and families. If I had a dollar for every Ana and Elsa I saw that night, I could easily take care of that pesky college tuition. There was a parade route with little floats and confetti throwers and we almost got stuck in the middle of it. Thank heavens for Spanish side-streets.

We're working out the kinks of a new companionship and seem to be doing pretty well. Open communication is key, and we've got that part down. A fun little miracle happened on Wednesday morning- the first full day of our companionship. I had read all around in personal study: the next chapter in Alma, continuing working through PMG (Preach My Gospel: A Missionary Resource), a conference talk someone suggested that I hadn't gotten around to yet, etc. it all seemed pretty scattered and I felt a little bad that although everything I had read was good and edifying, hadn't really prepared for the lessons or plans we had for the day. Then came the part in companionship study where we share what we learned. She went first and mentioned some of her insecurities and problems, some of the things she was struggling with. I listened, a little shocked, as every word and every point she brought up related directly to something I had studied that morning, and I was able to really, truly help her. God is in the details.

Hermanas Wiseman and Een at Concilio

Sunday night I left for Concilio (missionary leadership meeting) with a special joy in my heart. Why? Because (thanks to the recipients list on a leadership email) I knew that Hermana Wiseman would be there. That welcome hug was long awaited and gave me a small taste of what a reunion in heaven would be like.  Concilio was incredible. We clarified, brainstormed, talked about negative thinking, taught, learned, and testified. Confession: I wanted to train in these, my last two transfers. I wanted that newbie fire to keep me going. I wanted that focus and those fundamentals. And in a way, I'll get it. We've decided to go through the training program as a mission- focusing on the fundamentals and getting back to the basics. After presenting it, President Dayton said, "Did you see that? You all just became trainers!"
God is in the details.

Hermana Fenn and I tried to match and were going to be "Hermana Feen" with the chapa and everything... But it was on loan to Hermana Arauco.

The ABC's are the building blocks of our language, the three simple letters we start with. As Spanish-speaking missionaries, we had three other vitally important building blocks as letters. We call it "OLA."
Orar: pray
Leer: read
Asistir: attend church.
These are the little things we do to build our testimony. It's as easy as 1,2,3, simple as do, re, mi.
I testify to the importance of these three simple things, as we learn to waltz to the beautiful music of the gospel.

Love you all and hope you have a great week!
Hermana Een