December 30, 2013 - Dos Hermanas, Espana

Hola todos!!!

Wow, was Christmas awesome! Holy cow! Hope everyone had a great Christmas. We had a blast. For Christmas Eve we were at a member´s house and we ate well, sang karaoke, and did a lot of talking/shouting. It was my kind of Christmas Eve. Then for Christmas day we went to an American couple´s house and spent the day there. Holy buckets, are they the best! We got there and they right away gave us Elmo and Cookie Monster PJ´s and told us we had to spend the day in them. It was just like Christmas at home. I couldn´t have asked for a more special Christmas.

Now we come into New Years! Crazy that it is already 2014. Time sure does fly.

So this week after Christmas, we went on splits with the sister missionaries in Huelva. I went there to be with Hermana Johnson. It was awesome. She is from my same group that came out together and she is a crazy good missionary. It was cool to learn some new things from her. We had the most insane experience ever. She was told that there were people in the forest that would listen to us. So we go, and it was literally into the depths of the forest. There were all these big boxes with tarps over them. Then we saw that people lived in them! Literally boxes. It was insane. There were hundreds of these boxes everywhere. A few people came out and we sat in chairs talking to them and then it just started to pour rain. We were getting soaked. Well, we found out that the people were Muslim, and we had a great conversation, especially the fact that we were women. It was quite the missionary experience. I felt like I was in Africa...actually the city calls it Africa of Spain. It was awesome.

But, it was a great split. I always love splits because you can learn so much from each other. 

One of our less active members finally came to church yesterday! We went to pick her up and she had just gotten out of bed, but she told us to wait and then she got her kids and came! It was awesome. She had a good experience.

We also found a cute mother and two girls that we are going to start teaching English and the gospel to. She is pregnant and due in January 9th so it might start out slow but they are the most perfect family in the world. We are really hoping they go somewhere.

Alright, well that´s all for now. Hope everyone has a great New Year! Watch the video, New Years: Look Not Behind Thee. It´s awesome. Love you all and thanks for everything! All of your support helps me in this great work!

Hermana Kunz

Caroling  :)

Christmas Eve!

Christmas morning with Hermana Wilcox and Laura (and Scott) Beu, the American family who we celebrated with. They gave us Christmas pj's and stockings with lots of Christmas goodies and fun.

December 23, 2013 - Dos Hermanas, Espana

Feliz Navidad todos!

Holy cracker jacks, Christmas is the best thing in the world!!!

Well, we made our goal as a mission this week for finding 800 new investigators. Complete miracle! Hermana Wilcox and I worked really hard and found some new people. We are excited.

Yesterday, we ended it in an awesome way. We took a VERY long time to cut out a ton of snowflakes and make signs for members, investigators, and less actives and we went around putting them on their doors and running. The best part was that we wore Santa hats and I put my speakers in my jacket and and played Christmas music the whole way. It was so fun. And tonight we got a group together and are going to go caroling! See...Christmas is the best.

Yesterday we played soccer and based on what one of the members said who is a doctor, I am very lucky to not have any broken bones right now. Haha, I took a bad fall. Everyone is calling me superman cause I was flying. I have some pretty bad scrapes and bruises but no broken bones and that´s what matters!

We went over to a guy Newton´s house this week..the Hermanas and the Elders. He is a really cool guy from Africa. Well, he wanted to say the prayer at the end and wow. It was quite interesting. He started shouting and speaking in a language that nobody had heard of. It was crazy. After, we were all so grateful for prayer and to know how to correctly pray. We felt the Spirit immediately when we knelt down that night.

Let´s see what else....we had a Christmas party for a group of 8 year old girls. That was fun.

Well, that´s it for now. The Christmas Spirit is strong here. I love being here for Christmas. It really causes me to focus on what Christmas is all about and to find the real spirit of it. Serving everyone here at this time has been so awesome. Well everyone, I hope you all have a great Christmas and remember the reason for the season. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!!!! Love you all!

Hermana Kunz

December 16, 2013 - Dos Hermanas, Espana

Hola todos!!!!

Well, another week down and let me just say, I stinking love Christmas!!!! The Spirit of Christmas is the absolute best. Everyone is in a better mood.

Well let me just say that the Hobbit came out. Whew, I wanted to die that morning. It was tough. So I decided that if I couldn´t see the Hobbit, I was going to be one instead. So I put on the most Hobbit colors I had and then I cut out a leaf and pinned it on my shirt and then took my Lord of the Rings one ring keychain and made it into a necklace. To finish it off, I drew hair all over my feet. Then we made a Hobbit hole and slept in it that night. Well, we went out and we had a straight up miracle day. Holy smokes, it was so awesome. We found a new inactive guy who hadn´t been to church in forever and he told us it was time for him to come back. Then we found a new person to teach whose mother died not too long ago and when we bore testimony of the Plan of Salvacion...whew, was that Spirit strong! So we are excited about him. We also got in with 2 people who we have been trying to contact for 3 weeks now. It was such a miracle day! Then we came home and the Elders put up one of those huge wall posters of...yes, the Hobbit. It was awesome. So what I thought was going to be the worst day of my mission turned into an AWESOME day. Haha, it´s cause Heavenly Father knew it was going to be hard so he sent me some blessings to remind me why I love being out here as a missionary instead of watching the Hobbit. My whole Ward is not being very nice about it though. They all love letting me know that I can´t see it for another 9 months.

What else...oh we saw two robberies in one day! We were walking down the street and this guy came shooting past us with a box in his hand and was followed by 3 people from the store running. Crazy! The other wasn´t as exciting.

This week is a week of finding. As a mission we have a goal to find 800 new investigators. Well, I don´t know how other missions are but that is a VERY high goal for this one. So everyone be praying for us. We will need it!

Today we made gingerbread houses!!!! It was so awesome. Well, I think that is it for now. Love you all and hope all is well! Thanks for everything.

Hermana Kunz

 

Ice skating!

Carriage ride!

Hobbit hole, hehe

What the Elders put up in the house

The making of gingerbread houses

Final products!

 

December 10, 2013 - Dos Hermanas, Espana

Hola todos!!!

Wow, Christmastime is just the best! There are lights everywhere here and it is incredible. The Christmas spirit is like nothing else. Everyone is so much happier here. I love it!

This week we had a great week. We had our Christmas ward party and that was a blast. I went on intercambios with a new missionary from Chile. It made me miss training so much! I wish I could just train the rest of my mission. It is so cool to see how they grow within the first 12 weeks.

Yesterday we had the best pday in the world. We switched our time of pday so that we could have the night off and work in the morning because the cute American couple from Thanksgiving wanted to take us all out to eat in Sevilla. We met up there and walked through the Cathedral there (wow that church is incredible) and then they took us out to dinner. After that, we seriously were living in a dream. We went ice skating on an outside rink with lights everywhere and then we went on a carriage ride around Sevilla. Holy buckets it was amazing! The only thing missing was snow! We all thought we were literally in a dream. Great day.

Hermana Wilcox is an awesome missionary. I feel so lucky to be with her here. There is so much that I can learn from her and so little time to do it! She is truly amazing. And Hermana Hodson leaves to go back home tomorrow. We are soooooo sad!!!! We don´t want to see her go. I have so enjoyed serving with her. She is a wonderful missionary and will do great things at home. The only thing I ask of her is not to get married until I get back :)

Alright, well I would love to write more but we couldn´t write yesterday so we have just a short amount of time to get an email out and then we are off. Thanks for everything everyone! Hope the holidays are going great! Love you all!

Hermana Kunz

December 2, 2013 - Dos Hermanas, Espana

Hola todos!!!!

Well, my comps and I decided that the Lord really does love us. Thanksgiving was THE BEST!!!! Out of all of Spain, we just so happen to be in one of the two wards where there is a military base which means there are American families. Which also means that we got invited over to a real Thanksgiving feast! We went to a couple, Laura and Scotts´ house. They have a cute little girl Alana and we had all the wonderful Thanksgiving food. Plus Laura even got stuff for gingerbread houses and we made those!!! I couldn´t believe it. It was the best thing ever. That was the biggest tender mercy ever. So it was a fantastic Thanksgiving.

We have two less actives that are miracles. They have been inactive for a very long time but are starting to come back! One is Gloria and the other is Manuel. Manuel is starting to get into genealogy and it has really sparked his testimony. He is doing whatever he can to get to the temple now. It is the most amazing change to see in him after being so far away for so long. He has a way to go, but like I said, he is doing whatever he can to get to the temple for his family. He is a real inspiration. Then there is Gloria who everyone says is impossible. She is definitely pretty hard to get through but just recently, she told us that she wants to come back and that she wants us to teach her 13 year old son! We are seeing big time miracles with her too. Gosh, it is so cool to see these people change. They begin to remember what the gospel did for them in their lives and once they get a little taste of it again, they will do whatever it takes to get it all back. So cool to be a part of.

The family is doing well. We are moving into talking about the temple with them. They think that baptism is this huge step to take and while it is a big step, it is not the final one. We want them to focus on the temple and make that the goal so that they see that baptism is just a step they have to take to get to the big goal. We are excited.

It is now officially Christmas!!!! I´m so excited! All the lights are up here and we are singing Christmas everyday. The trio is going great. We all have a lot of fun together and are working hard. Everything is awesome! Alright, well we have to jet to Málaga for a meeting so thanks everyone for everything and hope you all ate a lot of pie! Love you all and thanks for everything!

Hermana Kunz

Gingerbread fortress! We decided to make one big one...way better!

Mom...just for you.  ADVENTURES!

Trio, hehehe!

November 25, 2013 - Dos Hermanas, Espana

Hola todos!

Happy Thanksgiving week to start off on! What an awesome week. It is a little sad not to be in the States because here they don´t celebrate Thanksgiving, but we got to have it!!!! Haha it was awesome. On Saturday, the Elders and us started out at a member´s house to do service. We got to paint his house which has been one of my dreams since being on the mission. Well, it finally came true and no surprise I ended up with paint all over my face and in my hair. It was the best. We ate a huge lunch at their house and then we had to go to a Thanksgiving dinner. There are a few Americans in our Ward because there is a military base near Dos Hermanas so they invited us over and I about died with the food. Stuffing, yams, mashed potatoes, gravy, homemade rolls, turkey, cranberry sauce....everything was there. Oh, and of course pie. Best thing ever. So I was happy to get my Thanksgiving.

Transfers are this week and since Hermana Hodson is going home in two weeks, we are going to be a trio for that time. Hermana Wilcox is coming! I am so excited for her to get here. She has had a lot of time on the mission and is a rockstar missionary. We are very excited.

The Elders in our ward had a baptism with a mom and two kids. Holy cow, the Spirit was so strong. The mom has cancer, is going to die soon, so it was so special to see her baptized with her kids. Mistake on my part by playing the piano at the baptism last week because I had to play again at this baptism. But, it turned out really good because we had some singers with beautiful voices...drowned out my playing a little!

We are still working with the family. They are completely ready. Tonight we are going to see what happens cause we are going to teach them a bold lesson. They need to do it soon because they have such a strong spirit with them, and if they don´t act soon, that spirit is going to drop. So we are praying for a miracle.

Splits this week were so fun. I went to Valdepeñas which is up North. I was with Hermana Israelson which made us both very happy. I learned a ton from her. That´s what I love about this position. I feel like I learn more from the other sisters than they learn from me. 

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!! Eat an extra plate for me while you´re at it! Love you all and am so thankful for everything.

Hermana Kunz

Splits!

Paint fight!!!

November 18, 2013 - Dos Hermanas, Espana

Hola todos!

Wow, what a week. It has been an interesting week. So on Thursday, I got pretty sick. My stomach was having some major issues. I couldn´t move out of bed and my body ached everywhere and I was absolutely freezing. It was the worst morning ever. We had to go to a ward baptism that night, and when I got there, they asked me to play the piano for the musical number and the opening hymn. Haha, for those who know my piano ability, you know this turned out pretty interesting. I practiced a few times before real quick and it didn´t turn out too bad. Haha -  the Lord helped me out so I wouldn´t ruin a baptism. I´m also playing the piano in ward choir sometimes which is fun.

We also had splits with Sevilla and they went awesome. I love going on splits cause I learn so much from everyone and it pushes me with the sisters´ investigators. I have been becoming more bold which I need.

There was a ward activity with all the couples. It was a dinner and and a dance. Us missionaries were in charge of food. It was so fun to watch all the older couples out on the dance floor having fun. The parents of our investigator family went too! It was a great activity.

Our 9 year old investigator Alba really wants to get baptized, but her mom won´t let her. It´s a bummer! We are working it all out, but the mom lives in Barcelona so that makes it hard.

I told Elder Gomes that it was my birthday to get him to come to soccer and he actually believed me. Then he told people in the ward and at the activity that night, everyone sang to me. Then several missionaries called me to sing happy birthday. Ya, definitely learned my lesson on that one. Way embarrassing!

Well, I think that´s it for now! All is great over here! Hope all is well over there and thanks for all your love and support. It is so cool to be serving a mission and seeing the miracles of the Lord in this great work.

Hermana Kunz

November 11, 2013 - Dos Hermanas, Espana

Hola todos!

Well we´ll start off with last Monday. We got to go to the mission home for a conference. The zone leaders and sister training leaders were there, and boy was it awesome. Seriously so much fun. When the President was talking to us, the Spirit was insane. So incredibly strong. I am so grateful to have a President who cares so much about the work and especially his missionaries. We mostly talked about what areas could be split or opened because there are too many missionaries for areas. How awesome is that!!!

Zone conference was also this week and unfortunately Hermana Hodson and I had to give the main part of it. Lucky us. It was good practice but I was scared out of my mind most of the time. It went well though. We taught on how to teach our investigators repentance and why it is so important to teach them it. It was a good topic to study beforehand. Learned a lot.

We have to be in our ward choir for the Christmas concert. There aren´t too many of us so she assigned me to sing alto. I´m the only one so far and don´t know how to sing alto...yet. It´s going to fun, haha.

The family is still having problems. I have never seen people more ready to get baptized in my mission, but they are having marriage issues so they don´t want to get baptized until they figure it out. We keep stressing that if they put the Lord first, everything will naturally work itself out. We are still working with them because their testimonies are so strong right now! 

Everything else is great here. The city is beautiful and the Lord is blessing us. Thanks for everything everyone! Hope all is well and that everyone is getting ready to eat a lot for Thanksgiving! Love to everyone!

Hermana Kunz

November 4, 2013 - Dos Hermanas, Espana

Hola todos!

This week has been great. Today, Hermana Hodson and I travel to Málaga for Leadership Council. It should be fun. Plus we get to stay at the mission home which is always awesome.

So I hope everyone had a great Halloween! We sure did. Hermana Hodson and I stole our Elders´ ties and we dressed up like them. It was actually super legit! We made name tags that were their names and bought mustaches. Best thing ever. Haha, if people did look at us on the streets before weirdly, they sure did on Halloween! But it was awesome. Elder Woodford and Elder Love were pretty excited when they saw.

The family is doing well. The mom Yolanda got a blessing of health cause she isn´t doing too well. After she got it, she bore her testimony on the Priesthood and it was so powerful. She talked about how right when the hands touched her head, she got shivers and she could feel that the men had a power. She is so sure of the Priesthood. It is so cool to see her grow. The family is coming along but due to some family issues, we are still working on a date for them. They want to do it in January, but they are completely ready. They could get baptized tonight if they wanted to.

It truly is amazing to see people changing their lives for the gospel. And when they change their lives like that, they are blessed beyond measure. It´s so cool to see! I love being a part of it.

This week we were teaching a lesson to this 9 year old girl Alba, and in the room next to us they were watching Lord of the Rings. Oh my heck ya, it was impossible to focus on the lesson. Heavenly Father probably thought that was hilarious.

Alrighty all, that´s it for now! Thanks for everything and I love you! Stay strong!

Hermana Kunz

 

Companion and I making a delicious Halloween cake!

Elder Woodford, ¨Elder Woodford¨, ¨Elder Love¨, Elder Love

Look at those handsome men

Elder Woodford and I celebrating the 5th of November

 

October 28, 2013 - Dos Hermanas, Espana

Hey there everyone!

Alright, so I forgot my piece of paper that says everything I want to email about so this might be a little scattered.

This week was great though. I did splits in a city called Huelva. It was super good. I found that I am a lot more bold with investigators that aren´t mine, haha. They have this investigator that they are starting with and we talked with him for a while and invited him to baptism. And he accepted! It was super cool. Plus, the city there is beautiful! I was really lucky to go over.

So, we have a family of 5 that we are teaching that is absolutely wonderful! They have to get baptized. They have been coming to church every Sunday and they are really reading in the Book of Mormon and gaining a testimony of it. It is so cool to see the changes they are making. They will get baptized soon for sure. The Spirit that is in the lessons there is always so incredible. One I have never felt before with investigators. It is so cool.

One of our lessons with them was with the Bishop here and we talked about the Atonement. WWWWOOOOOWWWW. I felt like I wasn´t even on earth anymore talking about it. When the Bishop bore his testimony, everthing went totally still and quiet. Something I can´t even explain. Everyone´s testimony of the Atonement grew by 10 in that lesson. It was so amazing. During lessons like that, I really never want to end my mission. Such a cool experience.

Alright, so today was probably the coolest thing ever. We went to Plaza España for p'day. That is the place where they filmed the last battle part of the first Star Wars. And you can bet that I made a light saber and went crazy there. Haha, I didn´t really have anything so I used a broom handle wrapped in a red shirt. It was still awesome. I put some pics on here of me killing a few people. It was so awesome. Best thing ever.

Everything else is going great. We are having a lot of fun here. This week is Halloween! Hermana Hodson and I stole some of our Elders´ ties and we are going to dress up like them for Halloween. They don´t know yet. It´s going to be fun. Hope everyone stays safe and has a great Halloween! Love you all!

Hermana Kunz

Eating dinner at a member's house

My companion and I

Star Wars!

Battling my way through...

Watch out for the Jedi Hermana

Watch out for the Jedi Hermana

October 21, 2013 - Dos Hermanas, Espana

Well, here in Dos Hermanas! It is a great city. If you want a true Spanish city, this is the place. All the streets here are exactly how I pictured Spain. It is really cool. Plus I am back into a smaller place which I love. It makes me feel like I am actually in Spain instead of just another huge city.

I will tell you all what though...I miss Elche like crazy! I miss everything about it. The members, the area, the investigators, my companions....especially my companions. Hermana Cameron will never understand the impact she made on me. I love her to death. I was so stinking lucky to serve with her.

But, now I am here in Dos Hermanas. The first few days have been great. One of the members had a baptism with his 8 year old little boy and actually he is American. So he had a huge BBQ after and it was an American bbq! I never thought I would eat American food on my mission, but it happened. I was dying. It was so stinking delicious. Really good first weekend, haha.

We teach English class in this bar and we have to use this huge, black, metal door to write. It is pretty awesome I have to say.

This coming week, we will be doing splits with the girls. I am pretty excited for it. Should be a good experience. But, oh boy, I have to work on my teaching, contacting, just about everything, skills. Good thing I have an experienced companion. She will be finishing her mission in December so she will end with me. That means she has a lot of experience under her belt. I have to take advantage of it.

Well, that´s about it for this week. It´s been good. It´s been hard to change because I love Elche so much. Really hard to say goodbye there. But the Lord needs me here so this is where I will serve. Love you all, and thanks for everything.

Hermana Kunz

October 14, 2013 - Elche, Espana

Hola todos!!!

Well, here is the news. Haha, looks like I was wrong about taking a break. The Lord never lets us as missionaries do that. I am scared out of my mind for this next adventure. So, I am going to Dos Hermanas. It´s a town right outside of Sevilla. I am going to be companions with Hermana Hodson and we are the Sister Training Leaders for that side of the mission. I am not going to lie, I am pretty nervous about it. But I know the Lord will help me. The cool thing is that I will be doing splits with all the Hermanas in the area of the mission so I will get to see new places and work with new people. I just hope I can help the Hermanas over there in any way cause I feel like I have way too much to learn still. I will just have to kick it up and work harder. It will be good for me. So that´s the news on where I´m going. The cool part is that I have been there before! I went on splits with the Sister Training Leader there when I was serving in San Fernando. So it´s kind of cool! I´m excited but I am really sad about leaving here. I can´t stand thinking about leaving my companions. Every time we talk about it, we start crying. It is going to be the worst thing in the world to leave them. Gah, I don´t want to! But it´s where the Lord wants me.

So back to this week. Kind of funny...we were a reference for Jehovah's witness. It was super funny. They came to our door and told us that people had recommended us to talk with them. The best part was when they saw our badges. Oh, their faces were priceless!!! They pretty much flew out of there.

A couple of cool things happened this week too. We were trying to find an old investigator that was in our records that caught our attention. We went to the apartment and the lady opens the door and looked like she was going to die from being so overwhelmed. She did NOT want to see us there. We asked about her, and found out the woman we were looking for moved a long time ago. She kept looking around trying to get us to leave and then something awesome happened. We started talking about how the Book of Mormon would help her change her life and her face completely softened. There was a complete change in her eyes. It was incredible. After we were done testifying, all she said was, ¨Tell me what to do.¨ We were all very surprised. It was so stinking cool! I wish I could work with her, but Hermana Hubbard and Cameron are going to do great.

Also, a menos activo named Johnathan who has never listened to us all of a sudden told us he wanted to get baptized. He told us he wants to change his life and start new, but he doesn´t feel worthy for anything. It was so cool! Repentance is the best. So we are working with him too. Awesome miracles!

Haha, another funny thing, we came back to the apartment at night and I kept digging and digging and digging in my pocket for keys to the house, but holy mother of gondor, there were none. I forgot the keys!!!! And it costs 50 euros to call a guy to do open the door lock. So we rang our neighbor and I asked if it were possible if we could jump his outside wall to get into our house. He looked at us like we were insane. But he let us. So we got a ladder and I climbed up and jumped over to the other side and climbed through our window. It was quite the Laura adventure.

Alright, all well, that´s all for now. Thanks to everyone for everything! All of your prayers and support really help me out here. I love serving the Lord and serving the people here in Spain. It is such a blessing! Love and miss you all!!!

Hermana Kunz

Three generations

Pamphlet pic

October 7, 2013 - Elche, Espana

Buenos dias a todos!

Well, holy conference!!!! How awesome was that?!?! Blew me away! I just love conference. Now we have to start another paper chain for 6 months! There are so many things I could say about conference. We haven´t seen the last session yet. But the first three were amazing. We might watch it today for pday...and maybe in English this time! I do have to say that conference is much better in English than in Spanish. It just isn´t the same not being able to hear the voice of the prophet. I really loved President Eyring's talk about how people are put especially in our lives because Heavenly Father knows we will be able to love them no matter what. How many times do we see that in our lives. It is truly amazing how people are put into our lives. Heavenly Father knows exactly what he is doing. It was cool because we got to watch Saturday and Sunday morning sessions live so we were all singing and praying together! The only time in the mission where we will be doing the same thing. I felt just a little closer to home. It was a pretty special moment for all of us missionaries. What a great weekend. LOVE CONFERENCE!!! Hope everyone watched it and was filled with guidance in their lives.

Next week are transfers. I am absolutely in no way at all looking forward to them. Hermana Cameron and I will be split. The thing is is that we don´t know which one of us is going to leave. We have both been here the same time so it could be either one of us and the other will stay with Hermana Hubbard and finish her training. There aren´t any new Hermanas coming in this transfer...our mission has hit its maximum...so no matter what I will have a normal transfer for the first time! Haha, pretty crazy. I have to stay though, I have come to really love Elche. At the beginning it was difficult cause I wanted San Fernando so badly again and was not ready to leave. But I have really grown to love this place. I could spend a lot more time here. I am hoping I will stay cause I am definitely not ready to leave these people and this area. I have been so stinking lucky with my mission.

Let´s see what else besides conference. I can´t think of anything else cause our focus this week was so much on conference. Haha, the ward here knows me as the earthquake. They all call me it. Whenever I walk in they go, ¨The earthquake has arrived!¨It´s pretty funny.

Esmeralda is doing good. She had some great questions last time we met on where power comes from in other churches. When people from other churches preform miracles that actually work, where does it come from? It was a great lesson. And it is going to continue the next time.

Gracia came to conference for the perfect session. Especially Elder Holland talking about depression. She has been struggling with this a lot in her life so I think that really hit home for her. She is so awesome. I can't wait for her to get baptized.

Well shoot I can´t think of anything else for right now. If you haven´t watched conference yet, GO WATCH IT!!!! It´s stinking amazing. Miracles come from it.

Love you all and thanks so much for everything. Hasta luego!!!

Hermana Kunz

September 30, 2103 - Elche, Spain

Hola todos!!!!

Well, how is everyone doing??? This week was great. It wasn´t as exciting as the last week so there won´t be much, but it was still great.

Esmeralda is doing well. We went over to her house and I can´t believe how happy she was. All of us could tell. It was really cool. She was laughing more, she wasn´t sighing as much, and she was excited about the lesson. So cool to see people progress in the gospel.

Gracia is doing well too. She has a baptismal date but is struggling with reading. She will get it though. She works a lot right now...morning and night with two jobs so it´s hard to meet with her. But she comes to church every Sunday and yesterday, we were looking for this guy we met in the street, and what do you know, there was Gracia! In all of Elche, we met her right there in this small alley. Haha, I asked her what she was doing and she said nothing, so I may have invited us over to talk with her. But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do when it´s hard to meet with people! It turned out to be a great lesson too. She had a lot of questions on why getting baptized was so important right now.

Oh, we had zone conference this week so it was so cool seeing everyone. I saw Hermana Stark and Hermana Jarvis...my two moms! We took a generation picture with my two comps. It was so fun.

Well gee I´m sorry this one is so short. Makes up for last week since that one was pretty long. Everything is going well though. Oh, remember the woman who knows Moses and has 80 brothers and sisters. Well, we met with her this week and it turns out she saw someone who got resurrected. Haha, the member present had a word or two to say about that one. Oh how fun the mission is.

Alright well I hope everyone is doing great and is getting ready for Halloween! I will probably dress up as a missionary this year and go trick or treating to people´s homes and ask for their time instead of candy. Almost the same thing. Love you all!

Hermana Kunz


1. Ice cream!
2. Beautiful or what!!!
3. Wow new hair!!!
4. Work of art by Hermana Kunz

September 23, 2013 - Elche, Spain

Holy week of miracles!!!!!

Holy cow, I am so excited to write this email I can hardly punch the keys on the keyboard!!!!

So I hit my 6 month mark on Friday and guess how I spent it? Let me tell you....

So, I mentioned last time that our investigator Esmeralda told us she finally wanted to move out so she could get baptized. We were so excited. We set a date for Friday. Nothing was coming up. There were no apartments for her and her two kids. So plans changed and she told her boyfriend that he should move out. He tried looking for a room, but because he is Muslim, nobody trusted him. It´s pretty sad actually. He found a lot of rooms but nobody wanted him because of his religion. So it was Thursday night and we hadn´t found anything. Then we found out a member of the ward was renting out rooms so we called him and he said he would talk to Esmeralda about her boyfriend moving in. We went to Esmeralda´s and nobody would tell the boyfriend so I had to work up the courage to tell he had to move out. I thought it would be the death of me telling him. But, tender mercy of the Lord, he said he would if it was what she wanted. So the next day we didn´t know what was going to happen. Then Esmeralda called and told us that her boyfriend didn´t have residency here in Spain and the police found him so now they might have to ship him back to Moroco...keep in mind that this could have happened at any point in the last 8 years, but it just so happened on the day of the baptism. She also told us that she went to the doctor because she might be pregnant. Holy smokes I was freaking out. I tell you what it was so hard to have trust in the Lord at this point. But we decided to keep going with the plan. She had her interview, we called everyone from the Ward to tell them about it. We called the mission leader and he made all the programs and called everyone about giving talks and all. It was 4:00 and the baptism was at 8:00 and we still didn´t know. We went over to the church to fill up the font. We were just having faith that everything would turn out. Everything was done. We just had to wait. We finally got a call from Esmeralda and she said that her boyfriend moved out, she was not pregnant, and he went to a lawyer and was getting everything figured out to stay in Spain. She was getting baptized.

Eight o'clock rolls around and we picked her up, but she really wanted her boyfriend to be there to see her baptized. He didn´t get off work until 8:30. So we stalled a little, but it was time. We started. We got through the talks and he still wasn´t there. Then the mission leader called me up to speak to make more time. Oh man, I wasn´t expecting that! I got up and talked to her and of course me and my good old self got a little emotional, and her and I ended up crying. Then we missionaries sang a beautiful song. We sang ¨Lord I Would Follow Thee,¨ and it was so cool because she was crying the whole time. And I´m telling you...we had angels singing with us because it didn´t sound anything like what we practiced. It was so stinking cool. So it was time to get her baptized and the boyfriend still wasn´t there!!! She walked into the bathroom to go in, and he walked through the door. Aaaahhhhh, how awesome is that?!?! So he got to see her baptized. She got out of the font and I ran into the bathroom. It was one of the coolest sights I have ever seen. She came out holding her heart, crying. She could hardly get her breath. I, of course, broke down again. The Spirit was so strong. We all hugged her so tightly and all got soaked.

It was one of the coolest miracles I have ever seen. To not know three hours before if it was all going to work out and to have the Lord provide a way. It was truly a miracle. To do all that we did in just a couple of days was not just good luck. God wanted her baptized and He knew she was ready. It was so cool to see her come out of that water. After all this time of investigating, she finally took the step. She changed her life. When she got the Spirit it was so cool. Her smile on her face was something I will never forget.

Miracles do happen everyone!!! God is a God of miracles. Such a cool experience. My testimony grew so much from this. Gah, it was so awesome. Well, this was the big thing of the week. We also taught a class on missionary work to the ward and that was fun. And let´s see...Spaniards love snickerdoodles.

Thanks everyone for everything and hope you are all doing well!

Love, Hermana Kunz

September 16, 2013 - Elche, Spain

Hola todos!!!

Well, here we are again. Hope all is well over there in the States. Cool things happened this week. The biggest news is Esmeralda. I´m not sure if I have talked about Esmeralda a whole lot, but she is the woman who wants to get baptized but lives with her boyfriend and has a child with him. She doesn´t love him at all and has wanted to get out but doesn´t have anywhere to go. Her mom floats around house to house cause she doesn´t have one of her own and Esmeralda just met her dad a month ago. She has a tough situation. So we went into a lesson with her on Friday and she said she has some news. She says she wants to move out and get baptized. So today we are going over to her house to go over the baptismal questions and we are going to help her move tomorrow into her dad´s. And she said she wants to get baptized this Friday. I was in complete shock when she told me. Blown away! I really hope it all works out because she made the decision so fast so I could see it all blowing up... especially because the adversary is really going to be working on her. GAH, so scary!!! I want her to just have a happy life. She has gone through just about everything. She needs peace. It´s pretty cool though...changing her life for a better one. We are very excited about everything! Good things happening!

Oh, and we finally contacted this guy we have been wanting to forever. When we run in the mornings, we always see this guy walking so we talked to him a while ago and then we ran with a Book Of Mormon every morning. But he went on vacation. So we were running with this book every day for a week. Then FINALLY we gave it to him! It felt great. I hope it goes somewhere cause he is really cool.

We had a lesson with Diego...the miracle that we found a few weeks ago and it was good. Haha, but I should definitely never say the prayer with him again. I started saying the prayer and he started chanting when I would say his name or God. And for all of you who know me, this was not a good situation. I coughed a lot during the lesson let´s just say, and my face was very red. It took everything in me not to burst out. It´s just that he was saying the craziest things! He will learn though. It´s going to be great.

We had a family home evening with Gracia and watched The Restoration. Wow, was the Spirit strong. I always feel the Spirit when talking about Joseph Smith. And it´s funny how the lesson can be going so bad and then when someone says the first vision, the person can´t take their eyes off you and the Spirit is just like PSHEW!!! I love it!

Everything else is great. Had a good zone p'day today. Played some ultimate frizbee...forget how to spell that.... and basketball.

All is well over here. Hope all is well over there and stay safe!!! Love you all!

Hermana Kunz


1. Hermana Kunz being Hermana Kunz
2. While making a movie on p'day
3. Running in the morning!
4. How a missionary studies
5. Hermana Kunz in Elche
6. Random kinda cool pic

September 9, 2013 - Elche, Spain

Hola todos!

Another week in the mission. Well, I´ll start with our new Hermana! Her name is Hermana Hubbard and she is from Arkansas. Pretty cool, eh? She is great. We are all going to have a great transfer I can already tell. Our new district is fantastic. I´m really looking forward to this transfer.

We went to zone meeting this past Friday and who is there but Hermana Flanders. Amazing!!!! It´s so cool. In the MTC, Hermana Flanders, Guymon and I would never leave each other´s sides. We got out to the mission and we all ended up in different areas and now we are on the other side of the mission in the same zone!!! We are VERY happy. There may have been some tears upon seeing each other again. Hermana Guymon is officially in Elche and it is so cool to have her here!

So let´s see...super cool thing that happened. There is an inactive man named Danny and he comes to our English class every Wednesday. He has been inactive for about 20 years and has not wanted anything to do with the church. He has gotten very sick lately and he is only in his 40s. The doctors don´t know what is wrong with him and it is pretty scary. So yesterday, he came to church! He came and said he wanted a Priesthood blessing! It was so cool. It was so cool that after so many years of not wanting the church, he still knows the power of a Priesthood blessing. I wasn´t there for the blessing, but Elder Webb said that as soon as the prayer started, Danny started to weep. Afterwards, Danny said he has never felt anything like that before. Gah, the gospel is so cool!!!

Also, Gracia is progressing pretty well. She is very stressed right now with work and financial problems and she said on Sunday that she had to go figure some financial things out. About 15 minutes before church, she calls me and is panting and says she is coming after all. She showed up sweating bullets and completely out of breath, but she made it to church. It is so cool to see the change in her. She is getting close to baptism. The word still scares her, but in her prayers she prays for herself to be prepared. It´s really cool.

Well, that´s about it for now. Oh, we went to an inactive man´s house and he had his friend over and we went in and started talking. His friend was angry from the beginning and kept giving us the Spanish finger shaking it back and forth, and he was pacing around the house like a crazy person. He kept telling us his beliefs and telling us why we were wrong. Here was the interesting part. He kept asking us questions, and without giving us room to answer would say we have no way of knowing that. But the interesting part was that no joke, every single one of his questions could be answered in the first three lessons we teach. It was crazy for me to see that. Even when we answered his questions he would stop and listen and the Spirit would be there for a split second when all was quiet and he would think, but then he would shew it away and say there is no way of knowing. But it was a cool experience for us to see. Haha, and kind of a funny part was that during the prayer, their dog almost had her puppies. She had a very large contraction under my chair and then hobbled off. Whew, that would have been quite the adventure!

Well, I love you all and I know this is the work of the Lord. We see miracles every day. They may be small, but they are big enough to strengthen our testimonies in the Lord and to trust Him every day a little more. We are very excited to be in this trio. Now we are a triple threat to the people of Elche!!!!

Thanks for everything and hope all is well with everyone!

Hermana Kunz

Pics:
1. Hermana Cameron (and me via my name tag) picking up our newest Hermana Hubbard from Arkansas
2. The triple threat: Hermanas Hubbard, Cameron, and Kunz
3. Gumby and Pokey in the Elche palms
4. Hermana Guymon and I with crazy delicious Spanish food.
5. Ummmm, the MTC dorks reunited - Guymon, Kunz, Flanders.
6. The new trio.

September 2, 2013 - Elche, Spain

Hello all!!!

Well, what a week. It started out pretty awesome. We went to a less active woman´s house that we randomly found. She hasn´t been to church in over 20 years. Pretty awesome. So we are starting fresh with her. We started by getting to know her a little more and she has 80 brothers and sisters!!! Hahahaha, I asked if they were all from the same parents and sure enough they were. 40 brothers and 40 sisters....this woman is a little bit old. So we start the lesson and mention how Moses was a prophet. She goes, "Oh yes, Moses! I know him. He use to teach me with his big tablets." That was the end of it. I couldn´t hold it in. Hermana Cameron and I were in tears trying not to laugh out loud. It hurt so bad trying to keep it in. It was totally silent for about a minute cause we were trying to get a handle on ourselves. We get through the lesson and we ask her to say the prayer and all in one breath she goes, "No I can´t, it won´t come out right. Ready, dear Heavenly Father...." We were pretty confused. It was a pretty great lesson. Haha, she will be fun to teach.

Let´s see, what else...we made brownies for English class and everyone loved us. It also rained buckets outside. It was so much fun. Running in the rain is the best feeling ever.

I finished the Book of Mormon this week! I love that book. I´m so glad I get the opportunity of sharing my testimony on it every day of my mission. I was reading through it and marking all the tender mercies of the Lord that I saw. Boy are there many! It is so cool to see how the Lord really does have His hand in everything that they did and everything we do. Something stuck out to me and that is all the bad things that happen in the end of the book. Here in Spain, it seems that everyone has the problem that there are too many bad things in the world and why would God let this happen. But I think that part of the reason that God does it is to see who His real disciples are. We have to trust in Him that even through these bad scary things that go on, He is always watching over us and we just need to trust. It´s hard at times, but we can do it. It was cool.

Oh, before I forget...President called on Saturday. It´s transfer time and we were not expecting a call but sure enough, we got one. So, I am a mother of two now, haha. We will be in a trio and training a new missionary! It will be quite the transfer. Three missionaries who are all still pretty new. We have to go pick her up from Málaga, but only one of us can go, so we are thinking Hermana Cameron can go since I have had the experience twice and she hasn´t. It´s crazy. Training two missionaries. I am definitely going to need the Lord more than ever now. It will be fun though. We will all need patience and love. It will be a great experience. Hermana Cameron and I are excited.

Well, I think that´s it. Oh wait, guess who is taking the spot of Hermana Isrealson in the other ward in Elche?!?!?! HERMANA GUYMON!!!! Holy cow, I practically cried when I heard the news. I am so excited to see her again and to be serving in the same city as her!!! My Hermana Guymon. Love that girl.

Well, thanks everyone for everything. Hope all is well, and thanks for your love, support, and prayers. Hope labor day was a blast for all!

Hermana Kunz

August 26, 2013 - Elche, Spain

Hola todos!!

Well, we had our week of miracles...that´s what the mission called it. Last email I think I mentioned how as a mission, we had a goal of 555 new investigators. Well, they counted it up last night and the final total was...558!!! Holy cow, it was crazy. This is the first time this has ever happened in the history of the Málaga, Spain mission. Maybe for other missions, this number would be child´s play for a week, but for here, this is an enormous number. Truly a miracle. After experiencing this, nobody here can deny that the Lord didn´t have His hand in it. Super awesome!

One guy we found is named Kley. He was a reference of a member named Alexandra. We went over there and talked about how families can be together forever. We then asked if we could come back and he said yes. That night, I was talking to one of the Elders and he was asking about our new investigators and I mentioned Kley. Elder Webb didn´t believe me. He kept telling me that he knew I was joking. Turns out, many missionaries had tried talking to Kley but he wouldn´t let anybody say anything to him. He is a very strong Catholic and didn´t want anything to do with us. So the fact that he listened to us was a true miracle. Really awesome.

And a miracle with Gracia. We taught her about faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost and we invited her to baptism. She was a little thrown off and said it was way too early for that. We invited her to a baptism that went on last night and she came and after, we asked her how she felt. We asked her if she could see it sometime in her future. She explained how she had butterflies in her stomach the whole time and she said that she knew it would be in her future. She just doesn´t want to rush it. Words can not describe what emotions came over me. It was so cool! It´s cool to think that we started teaching her a little after we got here and she is progressing! She is bettering her life for Christ. That is what a mission is all about! It´s a great feeling.

Another cool miracle was we went to visit a reference we had and nobody was home. It was an apartment complex so there were many different places in there. Because it was a reference we had no clue what this guy looked like...only that his name was Diego. So nobody was home. We looked in the distance and saw a man with his son walking down the street and we decided to wait and contact him and then leave. Well, he got closer and closer and then he came right to the door we were at. We asked him his name and he said Diego!!! Now you tell me that in all of Elche and in all the times we could have come and it just so happened to be the same time he came home that the Lord didn´t help us out. So we talked to him for a while and then gave him a Book of Mormon. Wow, was he excited to take this book. It was so stinking cool! Gah, got to love the tender mercies of the Lord.

Well, there were many cool stories from this week, but I won´t mention all of them. The important part was that we really did see the hand of the Lord in missionary work. It was a cool week to be a part of.

That´s about it for this week! My companion is just about the coolest person on the planet earth. I wish we could spend our whole mission together as companions. We Idaho girls gotta stick together!

Thanks to everyone and love you all!

Hermana Kunz


Photos:
1. Crazy fruit here
2. One of many...
3. District party with the fireworks.
4. Little bit of Utah in Elche.
5. Big group on top of castle in Alicante
6. Queen of the world
7. Haha mother daughter pic...showing her the way hahaha...
8. Oh boy!
9. Cookies!
10. Pretty Elche at night.