We sat down and had a classic pity party

May 30, 2016

Dearest family,

Man what a week it has been!  I guess I can just tell you right off the bat about transfers. They are taking Hermana Asay away from me! I mean I guess we knew the whole time at there was no way on earth that we would stay together, but we can dream right? She is headed to Malaga to be a SHE over there. And I am staying here in Murcia with cute Hermana Gale. She is awesome! I am so excited, she is just what I need and just what Murcia needs.

Anyway so last Monday, back when we were sick;) we have a super great district leader.  This whole time Hermana Asay was sick nothing sounded good to her except smoothies. So we bought everything we needed for smoothies and then found out our blender didn't work!  I thought Hermana Asay was going to cry, so we called district leader
Mitchell and they promised they would make smoothies on p day. So that's how we finished our day of rest.  I also learned cutting a mango is harder than it looks, much harder!  When we went out to work, all our citas (appointments) failed us, but we gave it some heart and did our very best.

Tuesday morning we went out to work and taught one cita, to be honest, it was the worst lesson I have ever taught! We both just could not focus -  it just did not go well.  After the lesson we went back to piso so my companion could rest and I got some more personal study. Then for the afternoon we had another cita in a pueblo, so we went and honestly, another not so great.  After that, Hermana Asay wanted to keep working even though she was dying. Then I realized, she was doing exactly to herself what I did to myself in San Fernando. I pointed that out to her and we had a nice long chat with her and basically commanded her to go home and rest so she could get better so that's what we did. When we talked to Elder Mitchell about it later he said, "WHAT!? Hermana SMALLEY convinced you to go home?" He then ranted about how stubborn I was in San Fernando about not going home. But here's what I have learned, I am perfectly willing to push my own body, but when it is my companion, Different story! You protect your companion.  So we went home and rested. 

Then Wednesday we stayed in all day to rest so my poor companion could finally get better. So yeah not much to report there. Towards the end of the day Hermana Asay wanted to go outside to get some air, so we decided to walk to the chapel. That took a lot more effort than I expected. So we kinda died there and we both just broke down a little bit. We sat down on the floor and basically had a classic pity party. We both felt awful, I had caught what she had, and felt so bad for not working and we both were laughing/crying at the silliness of the whole situation. Well to make it even worse right in the middle of said pity party Elder Mitchell and Elder Garcia walked in. My oh my!  That was a low of my life. But they took one look at us and ran for the door. That got us laughing and we managed to
pull ourselves together and go home. Haha -  super funny!  You probably had to be there, but feel free to not include this embarrassing story in the blog.  (But of course, I had too!)

Thursday I turned one year old in the mission. What the heck! That literally seems impossible. But here we are.

What an adventure it has been! That morning we weekly planned and then did a small evaluation of our lives. We both decided we were not acting like ourselves and that the Lord helps those who help themselves. Feeling sorry for yourself never really gets you anywhere but sad, so we went out and worked. I seriously love Hermana Asay. We are both just super similar and get along super well! We had an eating cita during mediodia with a returned missionary.  She invited some friends and it was awesome! Then we went out and taught some new people and finished the night with correlation. It was super fun because halfway through, the ayudantes and ayudantas got there and I also got to see my first bishop from the mission! I didn't think that he would remember me because I was only in Alicante 6 weeks, but he looked at me and said, " I could never forget that smile!"  It made my day. But then poor Hermana Asay died. She tried so hard all day but just wasn't doing super well. Roberto and the elders wanted to get me a cake for my year mark, but I just took my companion home. That night Hermana Hansen and Rowley stayed with us and we had a fun time singing and laughing ext.

The next morning we had zone conference. We woke up early and played soccer with the elders, but it wasn't super fun just because we were both still feeling under the weather but hey. Then we went with a big suitcase to the market and bought fruit and just filled the whole suitcase. We got some weird looks but it worked. Then we went to the conference. It was so good!  They played that clip from Facing the Giants where the coach makes Brock do the dead crawl the whole field.  I loved when he said, where am I? I have to be at the 30. And the coach just said forget the 30! You promised your best!  Just give me your best! I love that. Sometimes we get so caught up in the markers that the world gives us for our success, but we forget that we just need to worry about giving our personal best to our Father in Heaven. Not being content with just doing well, but really giving my all despite the results.

We also talked a lot about why we served missions. I feel like mine is a story, too long to really get into right now, but it really got me thinking. Hermana Andersen also made the point that we were here because we Covenanted to give our all. We also Covenanted to be obedient to all the commands of the Lord. So that means mission rules.
And when it comes down to it, I Covenanted to keep these rules, a covenant between me and God, so why on earth would I not do it?!

Also funny part of the conference, the mission nurse stood up and talked to all of the missionaries about how if they are sick, they need to call her and not wait a month. Hermana Asay turned bright red as everyone turned and looked at us. Then we also talked about setting goals. We put our health goal as "don't die"!  Well, there was a whole taller about how we can't make goals that aren't specific and that we cannot control. So we all laughed a little bit about that.

Saturday we worked all day! It was a miracle. We started playing some great basketball to finish out our time as a district. Then we taught a great lesson to the boyfriend of a member. At the end, the member said, " alright so we will see you at 2 right?" We were super confused, but turns out, I was scheduling citas while I was sick that I forgot about. So we went and ate with them. Then we had stake conference that night. It was so good. The stake president talked about how he didn't understand why people left the church and how it is our responsibility to help them stay. Then we finished the night talking to U. It was a rough goodbye for Hermana Asay.

I wanna tell you really quick about the faith of U. He lives in a pueblo really far from the church and on Sunday he comes walking or riding his bike. We are still working on getting him a ride. But last week he got hit by a car on the way to church. After people told him to go to the hospital and he said, "No I'm going to church!"  And he still came.
He is wonderful!

Sunday morning we had stake conference again. One of my favorite talks started by talking about the reality of Christ - the truth of his physical existence and that of our Father and Mother in Heaven, that they are real palpable beings. Then he simply said, "Brothers and Sisters, knowing that, how can we not pay our tithing? Knowing that, how can we not live the law of chastity? I loved that. We know of their reality. So how can we not do as they ask?

Sunday afternoon we worked and then met up with Elder Mitchell and Garcia to go to familia S to eat. It was pretty rough. They always do this to say goodbye to missionaries - they invite all of us over, and we get permission from President and then they give us huge plates of food and we do a testimony meeting. It was super sweet and
really fun.

Today we woke up and played soccer one last time then headed to the train station and helped some Hermanas get on their way and then Hermana Gale came back to the church with us. We then played probably the best basketball game of my life with everyone. It was super fun! Then we went back to the train station because wait for it... I have to go to Malaga to do residency. So I'm actually on the bus right now headed there. Saying goodbye early to Hermana Asay was not fun! But hey, I'll be seeing her soon.

Anyway that was my week! I love you all so much

Hermana Smalley