Better late than never! Here are excerpts from Holly's emails about her time in Torrevieja! Enjoy!
July 1: okay so get this. I´m still in Valencia right now, but i´m on my way at 4:20 to.... TORREVIEJA! The farthest south that a missionary can go and it´s on the BEACH and so beautiful (so i´ve heard!). Oh man mom. Valencia is my home away from home. SUnday it was so hard to say goodbye to everyone. I cried. Made lots of promises to come back and visit. Took lots of pictures. Prayed hard. and then left it all behind. Wow. What a life. And in about 3 hours, i get on a train to enter a whole new world of adventures in Torrevieja. It´s SOSOSOSOSOSO hot there. it´s the hottest part of the mission.
July 7: it´s been a rough week. we are in a branch of 40 active members. church is run in english and i translate to spanish for the 2 active spanish families. i already have to give a talk next sunday. we have no investigators and i have never been so tired in all my life. it´s going to be a rough few months a head of me. i´m trying to love it here, and i think its just cause the week has been kind of crazy, but it was so much easier in valencia! i guess this is what i needed. and i´ll do whatever the lord needs me to do. i knew that valencia was just too easy! i needed a challenge. well, i got one!
July 14: Wow. This week has definately been an adventure. And yes, we have had some better luck this week. Man there is so much to tell! Well, it turns out that i am a rebel and i flat out REFUSE to speak english here in SPAIN. It´s funny cause a lot of the members actually speak a little so they are starting to speak more cause i only speak spanish.
we live literally right next to the beach. you walk out our front door about 6 minutes and we are on the beach.
almost everyone we talk with is from other parts of europe and don´t speak spanish or english. i am learning the language of smiling and just waving at our contacts. it´s pretty crazy. what else?
it´s not so hot, but really humid so we drip with sweat all day long.
there is a park by our house and all the old women love us cause we always walk by and say hi. we´re like their grandchildren adn we always give them pass along cards and pictures of christ. they love it and it makes us really happy.
we spend a lot of time going from city to city trying to reactivate inactive members. it´s really fun working with inactives, but really hard to get them back to church, especailly cuando it´s not even run in their own language. but there are so many people here that need help.
i had a dream the other day about going home from the mission and not being able to speak spanish all day and i woke up sweating! haha. it was really funny.
My companion is Hermana Lunt. She´s really great and I think that we are going to have a lot of fun together.
I don´t know how i am going to be able to thank everyone that has helped me be able to serve a mission. It´s the best thing I ever could have done, and will continue to do. I don´t think there is anyone more blessed than I am in the entire world to have so many people who really care for me and for you and for the whole family. Wow.
there are 17 different nationalities in our branch... scottland, england, belgium, sweeden... all sorts of differnt ones.
did i already tell you that we teach spanish and english here? and there are about 47 people that come to all three of them. its a fun way to share the gospel.
my talk was great on sunday. i did it in spanish and it was only about 4 minutes (that´s what they asked). then we sang, (hna lunt who sings like an angel, me and our investigator marina, who sings like a soul sister, you know one of those black halaluja type voices, but shé´s from spain)... haha. it was an adventure.
July 29: wow. so much has happened in such little time. i don´t even know where to start! we have been so busy that i haven´t even written it down in my journal and now i am kicking myself for it. i have to be better at that.
so, there is this one woman that we are FINALLY going to be able to teach cause she is the wife of a member who has decided that she wants to recieve the charlas and that she is going to let us come over and teach her. she is from china slash the philipines and she lives here in spain but speaks english. what a mix! this is what i love most about torrevieja is that we have so many nationalities that it´s really like i am serving all over the world!
August 4: wow. almost an entire other transfer has gone by and it feels like i arrrived here in torrevieja yesterday.
MOM! Wow. so much to say and so much time to say it today! so, here is what is going on. Ivonne, the sweedish chilean that we are teaching is officially getting BAPTIZED!! On the 6 of September. Yep. In spite of all the trials that we have been having, once again, God has reached into this work and helped us big time. she is so great. we teach her in english cause she has lived in sweeden almost all her life. she is divorced and has 2 cute little kids.
you would not believe the sun here. i am so tan! my feet especially. my face not so much cause i smother it in sun screen! in fact the other day, i had white fingerprints all over my face cause i had rubbed it on in a hurry and so the places that i had missed were burned and the places i had not missed were white! it was really funny!
August 12: Transfers! Hermana Lunt and I are still here in Torrevieja. It´s getting so hot i feel like I am starting to melt. Wow. So much to say, so little time to say it. oh lets see, i made a list. so, Ivonne is still on for her baptism. we ate with her on friday and had a cita with her last night and she is so excited.
oh yeah. now i remember. so get this. marina, the spanish investigator that we have, works in a pakistani restaurant and she invited us to eat with her on thursday. so, she took us even before the restaurant opened, and fed us like QUEENS! you think that mazza is good, whoa. watch out. i´ve had the real, authentic stuff. oh man. so this is what it was, this excelent flat bread like stuff that we ate 2 loafs of, i has spicy potatoes, eggplant something, lemon rice, a potatoe patty and a whole platter full of apetizers. it was so good that i couldn´t stop eating. i don´t think i´ve ever liked any other food like this. it is the BEST! and when you come, i am taking you there. oh man. tell april that she better be jealous. haha.
August 18: Vaya. I can´t belive that it´s almost been an entire year!!!! Yesterday after church, we were looking at all the videos that we have in the church and there was one about going on a mission and it reminded me of everything that happened to me for going on the mission... getting the letter, opening it with the family, leaving for the mtc, getting the orange sticker... it was crazy and i almost cried remembering us all being there! this year has gone by so fast! i just keep telling myself that the next six months is going to fly by! after this transfer, i´ll only have 4 more left. that is just so crazy to me. i can´t hardly belive it. wow.
so did i tell you that we teach english to a little buddhist family? yep. and last time we went to teach english, debi, is the mom´s name, gave us little jewels to put on our foreheads inbetween our eyes and we took lots of pictures. it was so cute. she is so sweet. we are teaching them how to pray and the last time we went she did it! it was so sweet.
the weather here is starting to get a little little better. its starting to get dark earlier and i keep getting reminded of when i started the mission in palma. the other day it smelled like grass and i didn´t realize how much i miss grass until i actually smelled it. i almost craved it. not to eat, but to feel and to just get out of all this chaos. there is no space here anywhere. it´s just piso after piso and it makes me feel claustraphobic a lot. i am so greatful that we live close to the mountains and that there i sopen space so close to our house. wha. i really miss it.
well, i love you. the gospel is true. we are so lucky to be who we are and know what we know and have what we have. my favorite scripture this week is in Philippians 4. it´s paul talking and he says, for i have learned, in whatsoever state i am, therewith to be content. i am going to sum up the area that i am working in with that scripture! animo! fuerza! paz, y felicidad. todo mi amor. te quiero mucho y te echo de menos. hasta la semana que viene.
August 25: les amo a todos. la verdad es que españa es lo mejor que todo. tengo el privilegio de ayudar a dios de llevar el evangelio a las personas aqui en españa, aunque parece que estoy sirviendo en inglaterra aqui en torrevieja, estoy contenta. sé que esta es la iglesia verdadera. tengo la esperanza de volver algun dia a los estados unidos y seguir compartiendo el evangelio con todas las personas alla. sé que dios nos ama un montón y quiere que tengamos la felicidad. sé que por medio de cristo nos podemos salvar y obtener la vida eterna. amo a todos ustedes y espero que todo vaya bien y que todos sigan fuerte en la fe. les quiero mucho a todos y les agradezco por el apoyo y amor que me dan dia a dia. hasta la semana que viene,
September 1: yesterday we had the funniest cita. so there is a woman from brazil that always comes to our english classes. and the other day we were talking about how we go to peoples house and teach them the gospel and she was like i want you in my house! and so we set up a cita for sunday and we went and she made ups chocolate cake and these really amazing brazilian cheese balls. sounds groos, but it was soo good. we taught them the restauration and invited them to pray about joseph smith. i hope that they will come to church one day.
it´s getting a little bit cooler down here. i can´t wait for the fall, but am dreading the winter. i am thinking that i will be up in the barcelona area, crossing my fingers, but that means a really really really cold winter. yikes! so i am going to have to buy a really nice coat.
the mission rocks my socks. god really answers prayers. i love it here and can´t believe that i only have 6 more months! ahhh!!!!
September 8: i crave peas. how weird am i? AND suddenly i love beats. the mission is mixing meso up! on friday we bought 6 avocados for 2 euros. that is out of this world inexpenseive. it´s still hot here. my hair looks permed.
September 15: wow. so ivonne is getting baptized on saturday!!!! yay! yep. it´s a miracle. we had a cita with her last week on friday and she said i want to do it on saturday! my cute little companion is going to see her first baptism! ¡que bendición! i am so excited for you to be able to meet her and her cute little kids. luna and emil they speak only spanish and swedish...
i´´m really starting to love torrevieja. things are starting to happen here. i love it. there are so many miracles that are happening every single day. The lord really is blessing me with being able to see so much success. last jueves was when i completed 1 year here in spain. i was thinking about coming over on the airplane and how i felt like i was riding on the stars cause they were so close! and it´s gone by so fast.
next weekend are transfers, but i´m not going anywhere. don´t you worry. hermana lunt has been here for 6 months. wow. that is a long time. and we have been together for 2 transfers, so it´s time for her to go. i´m most likely going to train again.
life is good. the weather rocks! on saturday ivonne is getting baptized. probably i´ll be in barcelona next time i write to pick up a new companion. wow. that´s exciting.
i love moroni 10:32, and mosiah 5 and jacob 3:1 and mosiah 7:33...
September 23: Mom! I´m in barcelona picking up another new missionary! it´s been the best adventure of a life time! it took 2 days to get up here we had to go to murcia first and then take a train 7 hours to barcelona. it was so beautiful. oh man. and last night we had our training meeting and we are going to be picking them up so soon! i am so excited. i bought her a flower to give to her, like i did for hermana grant. i am so so so excited. we had so much fun together my last new missionary and i.
and yes! Ivonne was baptized on FRIDAY! in my branch presidents swimming pool. oh mom. she looked like an angel. she was all dressed in white and so beautiful. i was so touched by the spirit when she went under the water. she was so ready and now she is a beautiful member of the cburch! we are teaching her 10 year old son emil so that he too can be baptized. yes. torrevieja is booming. i am so excited to be there. and i think that this is my last transfer and then i move to my LAST AREA!!!
it is so cold up north here. and guess what? i think that i am going to be here for the winter. super excited to come up north. wow. time flies when you´re having fun eh?
be good and know that i am here in barcelona about to pick up the new hija. i´m in labor again! ahhh!!! haha.
September 29: It´s official. I have given birth to another bouncing baby girl! haha. Hermana Grimm from Holiday Utah. YAY! My first companion from Utah. Isn´t that crazy? Besides my MTC companions. They don´t really count. We basically like to do the same things. Run, mountain bike, hike, the mountains, run in the mornings, eat good food... It was a great match. She likes to work hard too so we are going to be really busy this transfer running all around this little town. I think this is my last transfer here, so I am going to make the very most of my time here.
we had a miracle cita. so helen, is a woman that was in our spanish classes. and last planning day we called up penny and invited her to share the gospel with someone. to pray about it and let us know. and you know what? she did it! that, in and of itsself was a miracle. so anyway, we set up a cita with her for friday and she invited us over for lunch. we watched finding faith in christ, you should see it! and Helen afterwards (seh´s from england) said wow. this is what i grew up believiing. i didn´t know that the mormons believed this. she was shocked to find out that we believe in christ. so we gave her a book of mormon and she said thanks so much adn so we´ll see what happens. i knew that i could see a light in her eyes in our spanish class. really. i think that something is going to happen with her.
October 6: So, we are in Murcia, once again. Conference was in Cartagena and so we are spending 4 days in Murcia cause our bus doesn´t get us back in time. We will go back to Torrevieja Tuesday night. Yikes. Conference was the best ever. I LOVED President Monsons talk on finding JOy in the journey, and finding it NOW! it was so powerful. I like the talk by the young womens woman on virtue and how we should strive to be more ¨fit for the kingdom¨ instead of more ¨fit for the world¨. that really touched me and helped me to refocus a little bit on the work here in Sunny spain. I LOVED president Hollands talk about Angels cause I thought of you and how you are my mortal Angel. Thanks! Of course, i loved elder Wirthlins talk on being Happy and LAUGHING! I almost cried laughing at the story he told about the daugher his going on a date. that was so funny. haha. made me think of all the stupid things that i have done in my life and laugh at myself.
we have been having lots of success finding new people. we also taught a man from ecuador who loves the book of mormon and another girl named laura who loves the book of mormon. we started our spanish classes and english classes and we had 24 people in spanish and it was so much fun! only 6 came to english, so not so much, but it´s fun. we´re excited about it.
October 20: So get this... we have 3 baptismal dates. Yep. Emil, Ivonne´s son, Mercy, a woman from Ghana, and Silvia, a woman from Nigeria. I sure do love those Africans! haha. Mercy is the sweetest thing ever. I think I told you a little bit about her a while ago. She was the woman we found randomly knocking doors one day. Sylvia is the woman that we have been teaching from Nigeria for so long, but i haven´t said much about her cause she was kind of just like a side person that we taught, but didn´t really think that it was going to go anywhere. So suddenly, she is so excited to be baptized and is going to do it on the 8th of November with the other 3 people. Que bien. I am super excited. But i probably won´t be here for their baptisms, cause we have transfers on the 2nd and i probably am going to leave. I could stay, but it would be very small chance. That´s okay though. I´m ready for another change... a change up north cause i´ve been at all the corners of the mission... now i just need to go north. we´ll see what happens.
this week i will complete 14 months on the misson. wow. time is so flying. 4 more until i hit my 18 month mark.
October 27: We´re starting to teach a new woman from brazil that is in our english class. we taught Mercy the law of tithing and she was so excited to pay her tithing. she is an angel. really. i was shocked after we had taught her about it cause she was just like. yep. i´ll pay it. and i´ll do it cause i love my savior. it was amazing. i still can´t believe how righteous this woman is. i´m so glad that the lord led us to her.
after church yesterday we had a really yummy dinner with a family from scotland. i felt better after we ate ice cream. my comp and i are having a lot of fun! we´ll see what happens next week. i don´t dare hope for anything cause if i stay here it´s going to be a challenge for me, but if i go somewhere else, i´ll just have to face new, unknown challenges. whatever Heavenly Father wants for me, i´ll do it!
The last photo is the view from the mountain across to Benidorm. Wowzer! That is one beautiful Mediterranean Sea and city of Benidorm! I can see why they nicknamed it Beniyork, for all the skyscrapers.
