Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Badajoz!!!

Hola family!!

How are y'all?? Guess what?? I'm officially in the mission field! We left the CCM at 6:30 this morning - took a bus to the train station and then took the train to Málaga. We met President and Hermana Anderson at the station and they are just tiny and wonderful and amazing! We walked to the church building in Málaga and that's where we had all of our meetings and I had a short interview with the president. We had Domino's pizza and I got my trainer!! Her name is Hermana Watson and she is FABULOUS! We are for sure going to be best friends and I will be able to learn so much from her! Fun back story with Hermana Watson.... So the Squire's are good friends with her family and Amy gave me her email before I left so we had been emailing already and I wanted to meet her so much! Well I found out she was training and then a few hours later we were assigned to work together with her as my trainer!!! YAHOO! We were literally both so happy and I'm so grateful. We will be working in Badajoz which is pretty north in the mission. Like I literally traveled from Madrid to Málaga and am going to be almost all the way back up to Madrid in a couple hours. But that's okay!!
I will tell you more about the branch and what not next Monday when I email. I love you all so much!! I'm exhausted but so happy! #worthit I love you TONS and will talk to you next week!
xoxo Hermana Hauber

Hermana Stephen (CCM comp) and both our trainers!

Me and Hermana Watson

Monday, September 28, 2015

Leaving the MTC!!

Hi y'all!! I´ve been given 10 minutes to email you and tell you that I leave the MTC first thing in the morning!! Our bus leaves at 6:30 to take us to the train station and then I should be in Málaga by 11ish I think. I don´t know when I will get to email next, but Monday should be my next p-day so hopefully then at the latest. I have LOVED being here in the CCM and am so sad to be leaving all of my hermanas in my zone and especially the elders in my district and the teachers I have had. I have learned so much from them and Hermana and President Lovell and I will love them all forever. This is truly a place of learning and growing and love and I´m grateful for the time I have been able to spend here. But I am SO STOKED to finally be going to Málaga to serve the people there! I know that the Lord will make up the difference in what I am lacking in Spanish and Gospel knowldedge, but I also know that I know enough to get started. I can´t wait to meet my president and find out who my trainer is and all that good stuff. This mission is so wonderful, I can´t wait to see what the next 17 months bring! I love you all tons and will talk to you soon!! Much love!
xoxoxo Hermana Hauber

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Last week in the MTC!!

Hey hey everybody!!
So I´m officially in my last week here at the MTC and I can´t believe I´ve already been out for 6 weeks!! That is crazy to me. But, I´m so stoked to get out in the field, a little bit nervous, and also a little sad to be leaving all of my friends here. But, all good things!
Last week for p-day we went to the Real Madrid Stadium. I pretty much died of happiness, it was huge and beautiful and I loved it!! I love that we get to go into Madrid and see cool things and walk around and experience the city a little bit.
Also, this last week, the native spanish speakers came for their two weeks here at the MTC! we weren´t sure what it would be like, but they are so cool!! And they are so patient to speak Spanish with us. Because they were here, we did all of sacrament meeting in Spanish and I understood almost everything! Blessings. This last week too, in church my district sang the EFY medley with another district and it was the coolest thing. Music brings the spirit so strongly.
Something I have been thinking about a lot this week is Matthew 16:25-27 and losing myself in the work. The two elders in my district who taught sunday school talked to us about who we are as missionaries and how we have to lose our lives, give everything we have, our will, our talents and time and ourselves to the Lord. One of them shared this ¨"We only have 2 years/18 months to serve our mission. But we have all of eternity to think about HOW we served". When I look back on my mission I don´t want to have regrets. I want to be able to say that I gave my everything and didn´t get distracted by dumb things, didn´t waste my time, I want to be proud of the mission I served. I LOVED that!!
My week at the park was good too!! My companion last Saturday was Hermana Melton, she is STELLAR. We really tried to focus on our purpose of inviting others to come unto Christ and talking to everyone about who we were and why we are here. It was discouraging because not a lot of people were there... I finally told her that I just wanted to testify to someone, tell them what I believe and why I love this gospel. Just after that, We had a couple of awesome conversations and felt the spirit so strongly. I KNOW that our Heavenly Father is aware of us and He will bless us as we are faithful.
Anyways... I think that is it. I´m positive this will be a weekend full of tears and good memories as we make the transition from the CCM to the mission field.
I love this gospel and I love my Savior! I know it is true with all of my heart and I can´t wait to teach it to people and help them feel this joy!!
xoxo Hermana Hauber

At Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

My brother Jeremy's favorite player, Cristiano Ronaldo

This is my district (minus two) at the stadium last week

Literally, this is the sunset we see every night from our classroom. I LOVE IT.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

I Love Spain!!!

Hola Everybody!!
So I don´t really know what to tell you is new.... every week is the same here in the MTC. Howevwer, in less than two weeks I will be in Malaga! WOOHOO!!!
Every Sunday, we sing hymns in Spanish and occasionally english in front of the Madrid temple and it is pretty  much the greatest thing ever. People walk by and listen and take pictures and it is like sunset and beautiful. I just love it. If you think English hymns are beautiful, listen to them in Spanish because WOW.
This week, one of the Elders in my district let me borrow the talk called The Fourth Missionary... it is AMAZING! My favorite part was when it talked about how instead of striving to be a great missionary, we should strive to be a faithful servant of God. Even if you aren´t a missionary, or have already read it or whatever. Go and read this again. It will change your life and how you look at things. It is seriously so great. Anyways, i then was studying adn came across the story of Ammon and he talks about being a faithful servant and doing wahtever is asked of him that is good. LOVE IT.
Last week for p-day we went to the Museo del Prado adn it was cool! I´m not much of an artsy person, but I know that some people enjoy that. haha. I mostly just like being out in the city, and out of this building. And today we are going to the soccer stadium! >That I´m super excited about. Also, I´m just gonna throw in a plug for how grateful I am for my district. It is hard sitting in a classroom all day long and only having one companion to be with all the time. But 6 dorky boys around makes it a little better.
But I am loving it here! I love being a missionary and I´m so grateful for all of the people I have met already. I can´t believe that I will be leaving them soon. I love this gospel and I love my Savior. Life is good.
Love you all!!
xoxo Hermana Hauber

All the sisters in my zone
My district on p day
Teaching in the park 
Singing in front of the temple

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Halfway through the MTC!!

Hola everybody!!
So this week, two days ago, I hit my halfway point of being here in the MTC. It´s actually kind of crazy because I feel like I just got here... But also I feel like I have known these people forever and how could I have only been here for 3 weeks?? This week I also kind of just.... hit a wall. The first couple weeks were hard and it is still very hard, but this week I just kinda felt exhausted mentally and hit a wall, not feeling like I was progressing or learning or anything. But, looking back, I can see so many little blessings and experiences showing me that ALL IS WELL. And that I can keep going and that I have to keep going, not just for me, but for all of the people I will get to help. And that is a good thought. (:
One cool experience from the week was on Saturday at the park. So I was paired to work with Hermana Weaver - who, by the way is AMAZING - and we had some interesting conversations. One was with this guy who was running but stopped to talk to us. One thing that he mentioned to me was how he liked the fact that when he went to bed at night, he didn´t have to answer to anyone or feel bad about anything. He could just live his own life. And that made me think HOW GRATEFUL I am to have someone to talk to at night and to be accountable to and to have the knowledge that when I pray, my Heavenly Father is listening to me and will do everything he can to bless me and help me learn and grow. Guys, prayer is so important. Our Heavenly Father wants to bless us but we have to ask him and talk to him and have the relationship with him in order for him to do so.
Alright, I´m off my soap box. I love being a missionary and I love working hard and learning spanish and I love this place and the people here! Also, last week for P-day, we went shopping and it was fabulous. If you ever come to Spain, things are super inexpensive but still good quality. Also, the churros and hot chocolate here are amazing.
I love you all!
xoxoxo Hermana Hauber

(And some bonus bits from the family email)
Okay so I talked about the runner guy in the group email. Please read again because I loved it. Also, for p day last week, I got two skirts at a thrift store for 4 euros total! yeah that was awesome. Also, this week I learned a lot about exact obedience. There are rules like not chewing gum or not playing full court basketball or little things like that but they are all so important because only when we are being exactly obedient is when the blessings and miracles come. Sundays are amazing!! I love them and this last one was fast sunday so we had testimony meeting. I love beings surrounded by so mmay people with such strong testimonies. Also, on Sunday I got a blessing from the elders in my district and the coolest thing was having all of them stand around me in a circle... it was like a wall of the priesthood just protecting me. it was amazing to see 6 rowdy boys as priesthood holders in action. LOVED IT. Also, we gave3 a lesson this week about the first vision and I have itmemeorized in spanish and got to say it and let me tell you, nothing is more powerful or brings the spirit more than that lesson. Read it, study it, know it and have that testimony beccause it is true and we need to know that as members of the church. Can someone tell me if Taysom Hill broke his foot?
Also, I learned about the imperfect tense of verbs and that combined with preterit makes me want to just stop learning any language at all because it doesn´t make sense. With more time hopefully it will. Also, I have one teacher who is amazing!! her name is Hermana Griotti and I love her to pieces. More about her later.
Also, one more thought... it isn´t about what the people do, it´s about the things I do as a missionary. For example, even if my people don´t commit to be baptized or whatever, what´s important is that I´m doing the right things and being obedient. I love you guys tons!! Only 3 more weeks here in the MTC!! YIKES!

the temple with my companion

churros and chocolate last week

This is me and Hermana Weaver at the park last week

we sing outside the temple every sunday!

Thursday, September 3, 2015

HOLA from ESPAÑA!!!

Hello Everybody!! My oh my how happy I am to have some email time. Last week we only had 30 minutes but today we have 50. It´s the little things that make a difference, I´ve learned.
In other news.... I´m in Spain and I LOVE IT!!! The MTC my first week was so so hard and it still is, but I have learned so much about Spanish, about the gospel, about myself and about my Savior Jesus Christ. Let me tell you my friends. He loves us. It is so real.
Each week on P day we get to go to the temple because it is literally across the courtyard from the MTC. It is amazing!! I´m grateful that at least for these 6 weeks I will still get to go often. Also, every week on Saturdays, we get to go to this giant park in Madrid called Retiro parque. We walk all over the park and contact people and talk to them about the gospel and it is one of my favorite things. Really hard because well, I only have a couple weeks of Spanish under my belt, but still so fun. Last week we had this cool experience with a guy who was examining a tree when we walked up and we told him who we were and he thought it was great! He proceeded to tell us about how some religions believe in a tree of life or something like that. So we pulled out a Book of mormon and showed him Lehi´s vision of the tree of life and he loved it! We got his info and I don´t know if the missionaries contacted him or if anything will come of it, but it was a cool experience to just talk to him and teach him what we blieve.
Something awesome about this place is that we have something chocolate at almost every meal. That keeps me in pretty good spirits. (; Also, Spain is just beautiful, we watch the sunrise in our room every morning and the sunset from our classroom every night and I remember how BLESSED I am to be here.
I don´t think I have much else to say, I pretty much sit in a classroom all day long and study... haha. But I am learning so much. My teachers are amazing and my district is awesome and even though things are hard, I wouldn´t trade this experience for anything in the world. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!
Love you all tons! And even though I don´t have much time to email, I would love it if you sent me a letter cuz it´s true, missionaries love getting mail. (;
xoxoxo Hermana Hauber


My comp and I on the beautiful streets of Madrid!

My district in front of the Royal palace last p day