September 15, 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Hello all!

Well I am going to be honest, I have been dreading writing this email. I´m not quite sure what to say in it. This last week has been great. I will start off with the great things. 

I had splits with Hermana Cameron and it was so much fun to be together once again. We went on a really long run in the morning all around Jaén, and it was a perfect way to spend one of my last mornings there. Running through those streets thinking of all the wonderful memories there and what a special home it has been.

We also had a wedding this week with some investigators that have been waiting for about 2 years now for their papers to get married so they can get baptized. Well it finally happened and they got married. It was so fun to be there for them and to see how happy they were. They will be baptized next month which is something they have been looking forward to for a loooooong time. Miracles happening I´ll tell ya!

The rest of the week has been full of goodbyes...and hard ones. Yesterday in Sacrament it was awful! I gave a talk and it was so hard to look out at all those people who have become my family and think that I might not see some of them ever again. It is awful! At the end, they all stood up and we sang God Be With You Till We Meet Again. Whew, that one sent me over the edge! It was all so perfect. Now we have a couple more people to see before I leave on Wednesday. This ward has been such a blessing. I have had so many good experiences with them. I have had good experiences with all the people in Spain in the areas I have served in. I have been so blessed to be with all of them. They have given me the testimony that the Lord really does send you where you need to go on a mission and to the people who will help you most to grow. The people here in Spain have helped me in ways they will never know and I will forever be grateful to them for it. I wish I could put them all in my bag and take them back with me! It´s interesting because for members of a ward, missionaries come and go and it is normal for them. But for us missionaries, our wards in which we serve in become our families and our homes. It is so hard to leave these people who have made such a difference in my life in such a big way.

Well, I just want to thank you all for everything. Really thank you all for your prayers and your support. Coming on a mission has been the biggest blessing in the world. My love for the gospel has grown in ways I never knew were possible. My testimony of Christ and all he has done has increased because of the little tender mercies that the Lord has shown me during this year and a half. He is so mindful of every single one of us and wants us to be happy so bad. I am so grateful for the love that He has for all of us and how often He shows it. I look forward to continually grow in the gospel and use all the the Lord has taught me here to continue on. Gah, I don´t want to end this email, but I will leave it at that. Just know that I love this gospel and all it has to offer for families and I know that it has a power that will bring true happiness. I´m so grateful for the blessing I have had to serve the people in Spain and for the many, many, many blessings the Lord has given me here with people, experiences, miracles, everything. The mission is amazing! Thank you all for everything, and I love you!!!!

Hermana Kunz

Hermana Cameron and I once again in action!

My beautiful Jaén and I!

Luis and Ester who got married :)

My sis Sara and I

Love Jaén!

Hermana Fumero and I :)

Virginia. Greatest girl in the world!

The Cruz family. Definitely will miss them.

September 8, 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Hello todos!

Another great week here in the beautiful city of Jaén. Feeling more and more like a home Ward every week. This week we had to help the Elders a lot with moving. They are moving apartments and well, they are boys and have no idea how to properly clean or organize a new apartment so we had to add some womanly touch.

We had a great Family Home Evening with Antonia in the house of Manolo and Elisa. I´ll tell you what, this woman is going to get baptized soon. I haven´t talked about her in a while but she is the one whose husband got baptized 30 years ago and she has been investigating on and off ever since. Well about a month back, we got her to get into the habit of reading the Book of Mormon with her husband and her daughter, who is also baptized, as a family and then pray afterward all together. You wouldn´t believe the difference. She has been coming to church every week and participating in the lessons. It is incredible progress. In the Family Home Evening, we talked about eternal families and the temple and we invited her to prepare to go to the temple. Of course baptism came up, but we more focused on how her goal should be going to the temple to be with her family and how baptism is just a part of getting to the temple. It was a great lesson. She is close. I haven´t seen her this close yet so we are very excited. The day they go to the temple as a family and get sealed will be a party in the heavens!

Dani is going well too. He comes to almost all the activities including ones with the Stake and is getting to know a lot more young people in the church. He is doing awesome.

This week we have splits with the Sister Training Leaders, and guess who is coming to Jaén to be with me!!! Hermana Cameron!!!! Once again we can be together. I haven´t really seen her and talked to her for a year ever since I was training her in Elche so we are beyond excited to work together again for two days.

I have to give a talk next week in church again. I just gave one I feel like! Time goes too fast. Well that´s about it for this week. Hope everyone is doing well and I love and appreciate you all! Thanks for everything!

Hermana Kunz

September 1, 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Hola todos!!!

Well, smarty pants me forgot my agenda to remind me what to say so we´ll see how this turns out. This week was great though. We´ll start off with something funny...

The Elders had splits this week with the Zone Leaders and so we decided to play a little joke on Elder Easton. Juan Rubio is a guy in our Ward that was baptized a couple of years ago. Before getting baptized, he was a drug lord. He has tattoes everywhere, bald, and is a huge guy. He is quite scary to tell you the truth. So we talked it over the night before, and on Friday we told Elder Easton we had to go up the hill from the church to meet for a lesson, all four of us. We are walking up and Juan comes out from the car and goes to Elder Easton asking for money. Elder Easton says no and Juan Rubio looks at him for a long time with a look that makes you want to shake. Juan asks him if his parents have money and then points to a tattoo on his arm and says, ¨ You know who this is...it´s Satan.¨ At this point Elder Easton wanted to die. Juan plays around with him a little more and asks for his name tag and Elder Easton tries to give him a mormon.org card. His hand was trembling passing it over. Juan looks at it and says,¨ Oh you are Mormon...I am too! I´ve been to the temple and all. And guess what, these three and I are playing a joke on you.¨ It was awesome. Elder Easton took a little bit to believe him and to realize that it really was a joke. It was perfect.

So anyway, Dani is going so great. Haha, he came up to us on Tuesday in our lesson and was asking us all sorts of church history because he has gotten into watching church movies. We didn´t know much so he felt like the king of the world. He just keeps opening up and opening up. Sometimes I think it´s all part of a crazy dream.

Saturday night was awesome. Our last lesson of the night was with a family that we found the week before. The mom´s name is Eva and she has a son and a niece that live with her. The niece and her friends had come to a few activities we had this week and on Saturday, the Elders gave Eva and her two year old son a blessing because they aren´t doing too well with their health. It was really cool to be there. Especially for the little boy. There is a strong spirit when a blessing is being given to a little child for health. She really loved it. After the blessing, a couple of her friends showed up and we asked if they wanted to join in on a lesson we were going to give. Turns out that the husband had been baptized when he was younger and use to go out with the missionaries. It was a perfect tender mercy to end the week.

We also found a woman in a cute town outside of Jaén that was baptized in 1995 that didn´t know where the church was and we are going to start teaching her again.

So like I said, great week this week. The Lord is really blessing us big time. Alright, well shoot I can´t think of anything more. Sorry I forgot my agenda. Hope everyone has a fantastic week and love you all! Thanks for everything.

Hermana Kunz

Couple pics from the cathedral today:

 

August 25, 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Hello everyone!

Fantastic week this week. Hermana Fumero and I are pretty dead but we had a great week. Lots of cool little miracles that the Lord showed us. 

Dani is doing awesome. He is involving himself more and more with everything. It´s so cool to see him coming to church in his white shirt and tie now. Before, he would never do it but now, he loves it. Yesterday he blessed the Sacrament too! He was awesome...he kept getting confused with what to cover and what not to and when to do everything. It´s so stinking awesome to see him continually progress. Plus, he joined us in a lesson with an investigator and gave his testimony. I know I say it over and over, but that boy is a miracle.

His grandma Juanita had an eye operation this past week and now this week, she is getting a tumor removed. Pray for her everyone cause she needs it. She is amazing though. We visited her in the hospital and she asked us for 10 pass along cards and a Book of Mormon cause she is talking to all the doctors and the people in her room about the gospel. And she can´t see anything! I´m telling you, she is a champion. If everyone were like her, the gospel would be absolutely everywhere, haha.

We had a great lesson with Boubou. We had a Family Home Evening in some members´ house and Boubou was not feeling too hot. So Rafa, the dad offered a blessing to Boubou. Well, Boubou had never heard of giving blessings, so Rafa explained it all and gave a beautiful blessing to him. The Spirit was strong and Boubou felt it. It was a cool experience for all of us.

Well, that´s it for this week. Hope everyone is doing great and thanks for all the support and love. Happy last week of August!

Hermana Kunz

August 18, 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Hello everyone!!!

Well, we had a baptism this weekend! My word it was so stinking awesome. We had it in Juan Rubio´s pool which was special. A ton of Dani´s family came to support him and his dad, who hasn´t come to church in years and years and years, said the closing prayer at the baptism. It was really special. We had a lot of work to do with him this week because we had to finish teaching him a lot of little points, but we did it! And he was baptized on Saturday. The Spirit was on fire, let me tell you. So strong there. Then yesterday he was confirmed and the blessing that they gave him was powerful. He is going to be a great leader in the church. It was cool because he has always been so quiet, but oh boy yesterday he was a different person. We went to his uncle´s house afterward to eat, and Dani was dancing and saying funny things, it was just awesome. What a cool experience. He is a miracle that boy.

What else this week...Ha, we were so crazy busy with Dani that I can´t really remember all that happened. We had a fun Ward activity in the mountains. We invited a couple of investigators and we played games, had a water fight and got to know the members more. I´m telling you, I am so lucky to be in this Ward. They aren´t just the people I work with, I feel like they are my family Ward now, haha. Love them to death.

Anyway, I think that´s all for now. My comp and I are doing great. Very happy and ready to work to find more people! Thanks everyone for everything and hope all is well at home. Love you all!

Hermana Kunz

"The best sister"

Sara and I up by the castle

Jaén is beautiful!

Ward activity after a water fight

More Games

Dani's baptism!

After Dani's confirmation! Happy day!

A few of my chillins :)

Hermana Fumero and I

August 11, 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Hello all once again!

First week with the new companion. It was more than difficult to say goodbye to Hermana Volpe. Possibly one of the hardest goodbyes yet. She is going to kick Cadiz´ butt though. Hermana Fumero is great to have here. We are having fun so far. We just hiked up to the castle here in Jaén with the Elders and a few members and enjoyed the beautiful mountains.

Dani is still ready and set for this Saturday. We had an awesome family home evening with him and his aunt and uncle who are members and we explained a few of the commandments. We are praying super hard that everything works out this week. We are going to have to meet with him every day in order to get everything in. We can do it! Keep praying for this one. We are excited for him.

To be honest, that is just about it for this week. We did a lot of walking this week trying to find new people. After Dani is baptized, we will be stuck with very little work. But that´s okay, that´s why we´re here!

Alright well that´s all from me this week. Hope everyone is doing great and thanks for everything. We are doing great here in Jaén and are loving our area. Adios!

Hermana Kunz

August 4. 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Hello all!!!

Wow, what a week! First off, start with the good news. Dani has a baptismal date!!! He is set to be baptized August 16. It was an insane lesson. We went in there planning on teaching the importance of the scriptures and we didn´t end up even mentioning it. It was amazing. A lesson completely by the Spirit. We put out the date of the 16th and he said it was too fast. So we told him that he should pick it so he could feel comfortable. He wasn´t sure so we talked about baptism and how it works and a little about Christ´s baptism, and after talking we asked him when he wanted to do it and he said the sooner the better. So he chose the 16th. Pray for him everyone! He has a huge fire for baptism and we don´t want him to lose it.

Oh, which brings me to the next point. Hermana Volpe is leaving for Cadiz. We are all VERY sad. I don´t want her to leave at all. She has been exactly what I need these past few months. I will miss her tons. And so will the Ward. My new companion is Hermana Fumero. She is from Bolivia I believe, but has lived in Barcelona for a few years. I´m excited to have her, but oh boy it will be different without Hermana Volpe. I don´t think I have laughed so hard during my mission as I have with her. She is one special missionary and will do great things in her mission.

I also got to go back to Dos Hermanas this week! WOW it was AMAZING! We were running the whole time trying to go see people. I was with Hermana Moreno and she was awesome to let me see some of the members there. It was a definite pick me up. I missed all of them so it was good to see them and be able to walk those streets. Like going home after a long vacation.

Well that´s about it for this week. Keep Dani in your prayers please! We are so excited for him. Thanks for everything and hope all is well. Have a fantastic week!

Hermana Kunz

Super cute...they threw a little surprise party for me in Dos Hermanas. Love them!

Back in Dos Hermanas with the fam!

Dani, Hermana Volpe, and I

July 28, 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Hola todos!!

Well, it´s been another fast week as usual. It´s getting super hot here. I think I mentioned it last week or the week before, but it is normally 95 degrees at 10:30 an night here. Whew! Doesn´t seem to ever cool off but we are alive so it´s a miracle, haha.

Dani came to church again this week! Every week he seems to pay more and more attention to the lessons and the talks. We are excited for him. He is still a little hesitant on the whole baptism but he reads what we tell him to and is praying and coming to church, so it will happen. We love seeing his progression.

A member in our ward, Rafa, gave an excellent talk. He talked about afflictions and how everyone passes througfour them and how nobody ever thinks they are prepared for them. He talked about the Spain soccer team. Before the World Cup their heads were a little high and everyone thought they were going to win including themselves. Well as you all know, they didn´t win a single game. There was an interview with one of the head trainers and he said that it is when everything goes wrong that you see the real man for who he truly is. I loved that. It´s true...when we go through trials, our real self comes out. Something to think about.

Yesterday we had breakfast at the church. Us four missionaries got there before church started and made pancakes and ate them before the meetings. Perfect way to start a Sunday.

This week we have splits and I get to go back to Dos Hermanas!!! I´m super excited. Just to be back in that area again...it´s like going home!

Everything else is going great. I´m becoming a lemon bar queen here. I made them one time and now practically every time we go to someone´s house to eat, they ask me to make them. I guess it´s my new calling in life :)

Well, I hope everyone is doing well and you all enjoy the last week of July as we move on into August. Thanks for everything and talk to you next week!

Hermana Kunz

 

This week, it´s just food, haha...

This tortilla de patata is famous in the whole mission made by this lovely woman, Capilla

This chicken is just about the most delicious chicken in the whole world.

July 21, 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Hello all!

This week went way too fast. It was a great and a busy one. To start things off, I ate snails!!!! It was interesting. They weren´t too bad though. The family gave us a cup full of them in their shells and you just had to slurp them out of there!  The secret to eating them was not looking at their little face before slurping. 

Boubou unfortunately can´t get baptized right now. Because of his family and him being Muslim, he can´t do it. But he said he wants to in the future when there aren´t problems. He will definitely be baptized some day. He is progressing a lot and is gaining a testimony of Christ. It´s cool to see him progress through it all.

We had an awesome lesson with Dani this week. We talked about the need for the Atonement in everyone´s life and he asked the perfect question. ¨How can I use the Atonement right now in my life?¨ Ding ding ding!!!! After that question, the Spirit was strong and it took us through the whole lesson. It´s so crazy to think of him when we first started meeting with him and looking at him now. I will be honest, the first couple times we met with him, I gave up hope, but he is doing so stinking well now. Just shows that you never know and we can never give up with these people. It´s a slow process with Dani, but he is moving forward.

We also had a good lesson with the Cruz family. They are inactive in the Ward and the dad never listens to us. This time, we taught the 10 commandments to the kids with fun hand signals and we made the dad read the commandments. Well, afterwards when we were just talking, he kept the Book of Mormon and was reading from it the whole time we were talking. Hermana Volpe and I were just smiling at each other the whole time. It was awesome.

Let´s see what else...two of the new investigators we found this week are named Alejandra and Celia. They have lost just about every member of their family possible. Alejandra is Celia´s grandaughter and their story would have just about anybody in tears. They explained how they have lost all faith they ever had before, but that they would love to have it back again. We are excited to go back to them and teach them to help regain their faith. They are prepared.

One of the families in our ward got sealed on Saturday. The parents and five kids. Plus, another couple just had a baby! Great week in the ward of Jaén. 

Well, that´s all folks. I´m going to try to get some pics this week cause it hasn´t worked the last few weeks. Hope all is well there at home and thanks for all your support and prayers. Love you all!

Hermana Kunz

PHOTOS! For the months of June and July - Jaén, Espana

Sara´s birthday!

What us sister missionaries do ('novios' means 'grooms')

Helping painting a house...impossible to stay clean

4th of July!

A HUGE sandwich

Results of a successful talent show

Dora the Explorer with her parents (Bishop and Bishop´s wife)

Dora with the chillens

Ice cream with Sara...it´s 89 degrees here at 10 at night. Yikes!

That right - there is straight up what we ate

Yesterday we forgot that we had to wear our choir uniforms (white shirt, black skirt, and a blue scarf) so we went into the closet of the baptismal clothes in the church and threw on some man clothes and asked two guys if we could use their blue ties for scarves. The choir director wasn´t too happy, but it worked, haha.

July 14, 2014 - Jáen, Espana

What a crazy week!!! It´s gone way too fast. We went to Málaga for a zone conference and it was awesome. Fun to see a ton of missionaries. Plus I got to see Hermana Folsum! Way too long. President focused a lot on ¨Two times white.¨ Baptism and temple. It was good to hear him talk about how the temple was important too because many times, it seems like we talk only about baptism which is just the beginning.

We also had our ward talent show on Friday. Whew! I have to say, I´m not sure that I have been more stressed in my whole mission than I was for it. I think I mentioned last time that the Bishop asked me to choreograph a dance for the ward choir. I know that all you who know me and my insane skills for dancing are thinking what the heck was he thinking. I was too, but I did my best to teach them something out of this world awesome and they did a pretty dang good job. They also asked me to be Dora the Explorer for this skit. It came from a video on Youtube with Dora eating with her parents. The Bishop and his wife were my parents and I put on a wig and all sorts of songs and dances. It was kind of embarrassing, haha. Then after, all the kids wanted to take pics with ¨Dora.¨ I felt like a Disney princess. Us missionaries did a funny skit as well and ended up with ice cream and shaving cream all over us which is always fun. It was a great night. 

Dani came to the talent show and then he came to church. He seems like he is progressing so much. It´s amazing. It definitely goes up and down with him, but this week was an up week. He told people at church that he was going to continue coming every week so we are praying real hard for that.

Boubou is good too. He told us that he was going to pray about baptism which is a huge step for a Muslim. He is really feeling the Spirit though. He says that he knows that Christ died for us and that he wants to follow him.  He is so humble!

Well, that´s all I got for this week. A cool thought that I read in a talk was that no matter what religion we are, be it Mormon, Catholic, Buddist, whatever, when we see Christ on the other side after this life, we will all be simply children of God and nothing else. I love the sound of that. 

Have an awesome week everyone and thanks for everything.

Hermana Kunz

July 7, 2014 - Jáen, Espana

Hello everyone!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Here it was awesome. Hermana Volpe and I dressed in all red, white, and blue and celebrated to the max. We made real American cheeseburgers and at night since we couldn´t see fireworks, we burnt a few things on the roof. I had to give her somewhat of an American holiday. It was awesome. We had a great 4th.

The new investigator Boubou from last Sunday is doing awesome. He is already doing missionary work. He brought one of his friends with him to our lesson and told us that he wanted other people to hear us. It complicates things a lot, the fact that he is Muslim, and it is quite dangerous for him to be learning from us, but we are trying to figure it all out. He really has such great desires to learn about Christ. He came to church and met more people so he is feeling comfortable. We are really excited. He just keeps telling us that he wants to learn more about Christ. We´re doing our best! His friend Dani is really awesome too. He didn´t come to church but we had a good lesson on the Plan of Salvation with him. Hopefully we can get him next Sunday.

This week will be busy. We have to go to Málaga on Wednesday and Thursday for a zone conference and then on Friday we have a ward talent show. We are helping a lot with it. Our ward choir wanted help with the dance because they don´t know what the songs are saying in English, so it´s been fun working with them. I´m telling you, we have the greatest ward in the world here. Hermana Volpe and I are always so grateful to be with them.

Well that´s about all this week. Hope everyone is doing great and I´m so grateful for this time I have out here. It truly is life changing. Thanks for everything and we´ll talk to you next week!

Hermana Kunz

June 30, 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Hola todos!!!

Well we had a miracle this week! Well lots of them of course, but two really good ones. We were struggling this week. Lot´s of walking and little success in trying to find people. We went and saw Dani with a guy named Santi who is 25, just about Dani´s age and it went super well. Santi invited Dani to come to church and he came!!!! It was so stinking good to see him there. Everyone was freaking out because they have all heard about him. And the stake president came to visit and during his talk, he said that he wanted to talk specifically to those who have not been baptized. He said that he invites them all to go home that day and pray to know if they need to be baptized and he promised they would get an answer. Then he bore a really powerful testimony on prayer. It was so good!!!! So we were really excited for Dani. I know he felt the Spirit. It was impossible not to feel it in the room. We will see him again tomorrow and I can´t wait to ask him about his experience.

Plus later that night, we went to the church and a member told us that her friend was coming to see the church and he wanted to know more. He showed up and his name is Boubou. We sat down with him and he told us that he sees us almost everyday and has always wanted to ask us about ourselves because he sees something different about us but has always been too nervous to do so. So when he found out that this member was from our church, he took action so he could meet us. He is Muslim but is so open to everything. He said he really wants to know more and wants to meet with us. It was so cool!!!! So God really did bless us yesterday after a hard week. Testimony definitely grew about enduring through the hard times because we will be blessed for all of our efforts.

The ward here is just amazing. I wish you all could meet them. We feel a part of them. And they feel comfortable with us. We are so lucky really. I´m so grateful to be here in Spain on a mission. The Lord is blessing us and will continue to do so. Thank you everyone for all your support and love while I´m out here. Hope you all have a fantastic 4th of July!!!! 

Hermana Kunz

June 23, 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Hello there everyone!

Another week in the beautiful Jaén. It´s been a good one. We had a great lesson with Dani again which is a relief. He prayed again, and we know if it was a good lesson if he prayed. We decided to simply talk about faith with him. He told us that he didn´t understand why it was important to have faith in God. I stinking love it when investigators ask questions like these because we know exactly where they are at and where they need to go. The thing with Dani is that his doubts are not just surface ones like I don´t get the word of wisdom or law of chastity. His are very deep feelings that he has. It´s really good though. Makes for great lessons.

This week I had splits with Hermana Blake. It was so fun to talk to her because she and I have both served in San Fernando and Dos Hermanas. So of course the whole time was us talking about the people and the area. It was great.

Something interesting that happened...our investigator that has been investigating for a year now who wouldn´t come to church we found out has been robbing the member who has been helping us. This whole year she has been robbing her. We felt awful about it but the member is a saint and says that she is just praying for her that she will repent so we can continue teaching her. The problem is that I'm not so sure she wanted anything to do with the gospel, just the money. I wish you all could meet this member. I have never met anyone like her. A literal saint.

We were a bit tired this week from being at the Alhambra last Monday, but we are ready to go! We are excited for this transfer. We are going to see miracles for sure. I love Hermana Volpe. She is one special missionary and I´m so grateful to be with her for this time. She is going to do great things in her mission. Good thing I have a few more weeks with her! 

Thanks everyone for everything and hope you all have a great week!

Hermana Kunz

June 16, 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Hola todos!!!

Well, we are just getting back from The Alhambra here in Granada. Whew, what a day! We had to come late last night because we had to wake up at 5 this morning to hike up to the Alhambra. All the tickets are sold out but if you go early, you have a chance of getting in. So a big group of us did it. It was totally worth it, but my eyes are about to shut! Beautiful place though. Your mouth is open the whole time.

This past week has been great. Just plugging away. The Elders had a baptism and we did a musical number that was really cool. It´s called ¨Follow Me.¨ Four women sang and I played the piano. Amazing how much music can bring the Spirit into a baptism.

One of the coolest things I have to say about teaching is when you teach an athiest who feels the Spirit. Their entire countenance just changes and they can´t deny it. We taught one of the members in our ward and her son was there who is an athiest. It was the coolest thing in the world. When we were done, he wanted to know all about prayer and where to find it in the pamphlet. I loved the Spirit he felt.

Dani is doing well. We really want to involve more people his age in the lessons, but we don´t have all that many people in the Ward around the age of 20. It makes it a bit more difficult. But he is doing well. We are trying to teach him the importance of asking questions in prayer. He thanks God for things which is great but he won´t ask if this is the true church. We think he is scared to get an answer because then he really does have to act. We´ll see how it goes this week.

Well everyone, sorry i have to cut this one short. Our day has been full today and we have to catch a bus ride back to Jaén. Love you all and thanks for everything!!!!

Hermana Kunz

All pics of La Alhambra! So pretty!

June 9, 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Holy todos!!!

Well this week was a bit long and lots of walking for us, but hey we are missionaries. We started off with a birthday party for me and an Elder who are one day apart. We got our faces stuffed with cake and the whole 9 yards so I would say it was a great birthday.

Yesterday we were eating with some members and the wife made this delicious flan. Well it was in about a 9X11 pan and we ate half with everyone that was there. The husband is a jokster so we always go back and forth and I ended up betting him 5 dollars that he couldn´t eat the rest of the flan. So knowing him, of course he takes the challange. Wow we were all watching him ready to throw up ourselves but he totally did it. At it all. Whew! I will never bet with him again that´s for sure.

Dani is going well. He had some doubts this week about everything because he talked to some people, but we still have some good hope for him. He keeps talking about a desire that he has but doesn´t want to tell us what it is. Guess we´ll have to use the Spirit on that one! We are looking forward to seeing him this week because we made some pretty strong promises to him if he did his part.

On Saturday we were trying to find new people and we knocked on an old man´s door and had a great experience with him. He was 92 and wasn´t too interested in learning more, but we got to talking and found out that his wife had died about 2 years ago. I can´t even tell you how great it felt to testify of the Plan of Salvation and that he would see his wife again. He got big tears in his eyes and got a picture for us to see. It was something we all needed. Even though he won´t meet with us now, I know we helped him a little that day and that was worth everything. I can´t wait for him to get a testimony himself.

Well I think that´s about it everyone. Yesterday in my lesson it was about the Priesthood and boy did we learn a lot about it. We went into the whole life of a person and talked about how we use the Priesthood throughout every age of our lives and how our life is one big circle. It´s cool to think that without it, there would practically be no purpose for the creation. I´m really enjoying teaching that class. Learn a lot from it.

Well thanks everyone for everything and hope all is well! Have a great week!

Hermana Kunz

Sunset!

 

Birthday

Sharing my birthday with an Elder

Only one way to eat a birthday cake!

Silly comp and I  :)

June 2, 2014 - Jaén, Espana

Well hola todos!!!!

Incredible week this week! That guy Dani that I was talking about last night is so awesome. We set a baptismal date for him for this month and we are really hoping and praying it goes through. We had a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and he prayed at the end and wow was the Spirit strong. He has been reading and praying on his own and is getting answers. I am so excited for him. It is a true miracle to see him change his life like this. We always look forward to meeting with him.

We also met with an old investigator Jorge from a while ago who is literally a member, just not baptized. He always answers all the questions in church or at activities and participates in everything just like a member. So we decided to ask him the baptismal interview without him exactly knowing. And what do you know, he answered perfectly. We told him afterwards that those are the questions one asks before getting baptized. We wanted him to realize that he is ready for it. It shocked him for sure but he still came up with an excuse. We did find out more why he is afraid to just do it, so now we have something to work with. He will get baptized soon though.

What else....everything is going great with Hermana Volpe. We love serving together. I´m learning to cook better which is a real bonus. We made possibly the best pizza I have ever eaten. I am definitely learning more from her than she is learning from me!

Life is great. We love being here in Jaén. Starting a new month. It´s going to be getting hot. Whew, bring it on!!! Thanks everyone for everything and hope you all are doing great. Love you!

Hermana Kunz

Best homemade, authentic Italian pizza ever made!

May 26, 2014 - - Jaén, Espana

Hello all!

Well, the weeks just keep going by and I don´t know where the heck they go. This one was great. Hermana Volpe and I are doing great here. We love the time we spend together. Sometimes I think we have a little too much fun, haha. It´s great. Well, Manolo has come back to church and they gave him the Melchizedek Priesthood. It was so awesome to see him in church again. He was so happy. I love going to his house with his sister Mercedez. It´s interesting because it is him and his sister that live in the house alone and they literally NEVER leave the house. Always always there. Since they don´t get out too much, not too much is going on in their lives. When we go over, sometimes it takes a bit to get a conversation going, but I´ll tell you, haha, I think that I feel more successful when I make them laugh, than I have in my whole mission. It sounds weird, but really, I stinking love making them laugh. They don´t get to all that often, so when they really are laughing, it makes me the happiest person in the world.

Anyway, also this week we found two new investigators that seem really great. One is the wife of a less active member. She is interested and wants to know more. The other is from a text message that we got saying that she ordered a Book of Mormon online. We went over and gave it to her and she said she wanted to read it. She found out about the church through a woman in the ward, Juanita. Juanita is the greatest person I´ve ever met. She is like 85 and no joke talks to every living thing on the planet about the gospel. Bus drivers, doctors, EVERYONE. Well, most of the time to be honest it doesn´t work, but sometimes you get people like MariJose who is prepared. To me it just shows the importance of talking to everyone about the gospel because you never know when someone is ready for it.  

Also, we have this guy Dani. He is the grandson of this same Juanita in the ward. He is 23 and we just started teaching him. Well, he had an accident a while ago and had to get surgery on his leg. He had to go through a lot to get it. The last time we met with him he expressed his feelings on it all. It was super cool. He told us that he truly believes that God made him go through that so that he could shape up his life and get it into order. Now he is having tons of great experiences with prayer. It´s like the Spirit is teaching him before the missionaries. We´re really excited.

Well, that´s about it for now. The work is going well. Actually we just changed areas a bit in the city so we are dealing with a whole new area. I feel like I am opening again a little, but it´s fun. New territory, new people. Thanks everyone for everything and love you all!

Hermana Kunz

Beautiful plaza here! Love Spain!