Hermana en España: "Obey. Don't Question The Doctrine!"

July 6, 2015

First things first: transfers!!! Hna Santiago and I are staying together. I'm so excited to have the opportunity to be with her another 6 weeks. It was actually something I was praying for. I think

we both need it. :) Second off. Here's the ground shaker: in our district consisting of us and the 2 elders only 2 missionaries are staying. And I'll give you a hint. They wear skirts. Yep, Hna Santiago

and I are gonna be the only missionaries in our ward. We'll be taking over the elder's work and ours. And here's the kicker. The closest missionaries are 1-2 hours away from us in the north of the island. We have no priesthood holders! We're both a little nervous, but this will really force us to rely so much more on the ward. And if we weren't traveling enough already, we'll now be traveling to Santa Cruz (1-1 1/2 hours away) or to La Laguna (1 1/2-2 hours away) every week for district meeting. Travel. Gotta love it. We're actually really considering asking president for a car. Holla! First sisters with a car ever in Spain! Yeah! Fingers crossed. Prayers appreciated. It would actually really help with the work.

Next: anybody remember "L."? Our inactive friend who's attracted to his same sex? Just a refresher he is very convinced that the church will soon change its stance on gay marriage and make it legalized. He's actually written a few letters to Salt Lake. Saddest part: he served a mission, but just for 1 year because he was waiting on his visa which never came. So we had a lesson with him this week. I think it's gonna be our last. Actually I know. We had decided after our lesson two weeks ago that we had to have a DTR. So we sat him down last week and made a pact with him. He was gonna receive the lessons once again starting from the bottom up. Just like an investigator. Read. Pray. Come to church. Well, when we met with him this week he told us, he didn't actually like the deal. We can still do everything, but he's not coming to church. I don't think he gets it. We're trying to make him active. Anyway. And here's why: you know in Abraham when it talks about intelligences? He thinks that he and hiss three other less active friends are on a higher intelligence level. He still believes in the church and everything, and studies everyday with his little group. They've come to the conclusion that everybody else in the church still needs to go to sacrament to obtain the spirit and take of the sacrament, but if you reach this higher intelligence level, apparently you don't have to go to church anymore! Especially if the prophet still hasn't received the same revelation about marriage that you have. All in all we ended up calling President. I don't think we'll be meeting with our little apostate group anymore. Sad day. I really did like him.

Obey. Don't question the doctrine! - Elder Dallin H. Oaks

On to happier experiences. We had the coolest Thursday! We really need new investigators and we've really been wanting to see a miracle with the Book of Mormon so Thursday we hit the streets in the town we live in and another that is a lot less touristy with our bags full of BoM's. We had a goal to give them all away. We had written our name and number in it and are so excited to speak with some of the people we taught that day. Honestly it was a great experience. I was so impressed when so many people told us they would read it and not just try to read it. If nothing else it was so wonderful to have a whole day sharing my testimony of the BoM in a new way, applying each testimony to the person we met. I love the BoM. What a wonderful little book. I'm so grateful for the testimony we have of the restoration of the church, found in the Book of Mormon.

LOVE, Hna Finch

PS. While talking to people this week, we realized that a lot of people have heard of the church...kinda. This was generally our conversation:

"Have you ever heard of our church before? Or Mormons?"

"Oh yeah, yeah! They're like the ones with beards and they don't use technology, right?

"No....that's the Amish..."

Or we also had a really good one.

"Yeah! We're missionaries!"

"Really? What church?

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons?"

"Really? But you guys don't look like them? They look so weird and unhappy!"

I love you all! I was saddened to hear about the loss of Pres Packer and of the recent governmental changes.

Challenge of the week. Let's make sure everyone knows we're Mormon and not Amish and that we don't look weird and unhappy. :) Just slip it into a conversation.

Sooooo heeeey I'm Mormon