I just asked her, who was Christ if there was no sin?

June 6, 2016

Dear family,

Wow what a week we have had here, just another crazy one here in Murica! Well... kinda in Murica. Also yet again I am in the car on the way to Malaga, so I am sorry if this email is a little scattered, but just know that we are jamming out to hymns through the south of Spain again!

So I already told you that we went to the chapel Monday morning and played basketball for one last time as our old district. It was funny because Elder Garcia was like, " Well goodbye Hermana Smalley!  Everyone else ,we will see you tomorrow!" But it was a super fun game. Then we headed to the bus station and I hopped on the bus to Malaga. When I got on the bus, I met up with Elder Rojas and Elder Rivero! It was such a fun bus ride. Elder Rivero and I talked about old times and just had a grand old time. When I got to Malaga, I met up with Hermana Martin and guess what!? I got to work in my old area in Malaga! It was seriously the best present of my life!

Hermana Martin didn't make plans that night and just asked me where I wanted to go. So we headed straight to see A. When we got there it was a little late ,but she opened her door and just screamed and gave me the biggest hug.  Right when I left she had told me she was pregnant but now she is so big! She looks so good and is doing so well. It was probably the best thing I could have asked for. After we had to head home and I got to walk the normal path by baptism hill. As we were walking past my favorite ice cream place I saw two people sitting in white shirts sitting eating ice cream. As we got closer I saw that it was Elder Reid and Elder West sitting down. As we walked up Elder Reid said, "Busted, give him a break!  It's his last night in the mission!  Hermana Smalley, what are you doing here?"  We laughed and then we bought some ice cream and walked home together. Elder West and I took a picture together and he promised to show it to Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday, so I hope you saw it.

Then I slept in my old piso, I woke up super super confused. But then we headed to the train station. Hermana Martin trusted me when I told her we could take the bus. But the bus took longer than expected so we got there with 10 min to spare.  We got her to her platform and put all her suitcases on the train, then the bus driver told her it wasn't her bus and he sent us across the bus station (5 min to departure) and we put all of her stuff on the next bus.  But then that bus driver refused to let her on. We ran to the help office (time of departure) it's closed!  I grab some random worker and demanded to know her bus. Well he sent us back to the first one. I got there and the bus driver was freaking out telling us it wasn't her bus. Then I freaked out and told him she needed to go to Granada and she was going to get on that bus. I managed to convince him and she got on. That left one very out of
breath Hermana Smalley all alone.

So I headed into the train station, still feeling weird from being all alone, and ran into our President Anderson and the ayudantes waiting for the new missionaries to come in from the CCM!  So I got to crash that party. Everyone was a little confused as to why I was there, but hey, it was fun. Then I met up with HERMANA BROWN and ELDER REEDER and HERMANA ROLLINS And we hopped on the train to nearby Fuengirola. When I got there we had a Cadiz district reunion because all the trainers were there and just had a grand old time.

It was so fun to be back with my group and just have fun together and mess around again. Of course we went and bought ice cream:)  Anyway, a day of pictures and Taco Bell adventures later ,we dropped Hermana Brown off, and I was yet again companionless.  But to put it in Elder Reeders words, "No problem! We have one big guy and two brown guys. Your safe Hermana Smalley."  So we stayed at the train station until the SHES from Malaga 3 came to pick me up. I stayed with them that night working in Malaga 3. It was funny because rewind 8 months I went to the same exact homes but with Hermana Estes. But I got to see some old friends and we had a really good time.

Then the next morning we woke up and got on the bus to go back to Murica. On the bus ride home we saw Hermana Asay on her way to Malaga. When I got back to the train station, I met up with my new sweet companion Hermana Gale.  I stepped of the bus and then all the sudden SHE responsibilities came back and there were 20 elders asking me where they needed to go and what to do. So we got that all sorted out and then it hit me that I hadn't slept in 3 days. (Craziness with transfers ext) but I was running on about 6 hours total. And I just about died.

Elder Mitchell walked up to me and asked how tired I was on a scale of 1 to 10 I told him -3 he laughed and I went and got a Powerade. Then we worked the rest of the night and saw some awesome miracles. We got to teach K, who has been loving what she has read in the Book of Mormon, and is really just the cutest young mom. We also saw a miracle when we taught R. He was an investigator who had gotten lost in the area book and he told us he was really interested to learn more but he had lost contact with the missionaries.

Thursday we had weekly planning and then we walked to Carrefour with the elders and bought some much needed food and that night we headed to Alcantarilla and managed to not get lost so  yeah!

On Friday we got to teach M. And during the lesson he said, "I am sorry Hermanas here is the food then I have to go soon. I have water polo practice. I died right there on the spot! We had an awesome conversation which ended in him inviting me to practice. I went. No joke! I told him I couldn't and he told me he would play for both of us.

Saturday was a day of miracles. We got to work with our members all day and we taught a lot of awesome lessons! We taught one really stong lesson to an investigator who has been a little lax on his goals recently. When we walked out, R and Hermana Gale both said they didn't wanna mess with me and tell me they didn't fulfill a goal! Then we headed to another investigator - as we taught the plan of salvation she told us she didn't believe in sin or Satan. I didn't quite know what to say, but I felt like I should just ask her who Christ was if there was no sin. It opened up a perfect opportunity to testify of Him as our Savior, the reality of sin, the reality of Satan and that beautiful glorious truth that Christ can save us if we rely on him.

Sunday we had a conference for all of Europe which was awesome! Then we did numbers and ate lunch at the chapel with the elders. Also we saw so many miracles that night!

We taught a future and as we were teaching him a lady walks up and just starts listening. Feeling a little uncomfortable, we asked who she was. She told us she was a member and she didn't believe that he was actually meeting with us so she came to see. Turns out she is a less active, so we asked her to bear her testimony to her friend. As she did, another member walks up and tells our investigator he needs to be baptized. It was the strangest coolest thing. Turns out the random man we had contacted a week earlier, was the boyfriend of this member!  We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. But he lives in the elders area so we had to change it.

Also we set a goal to do 5 burpies per lesson that we didn't ask for references. Well 6 lessons later we were doing 30 burpies. We had to go do the numbers at the chapel. But our mission president asked us to be out of the chapel by 10. Well the zone leaders were late on their numbers, so we locked ourselves outside and sat waiting. So we decided to do some of our burpies. Then our bishop walks up. We died of embarrassment!  But we had a good laugh at the silliness of the situation.

Anyway the mission is one grand adventure. I love it and this wonderful chance I have to serve and see some wonderful changes in me!

Love Hermana Smalley