Happy Thanksgiving!

(No group email from Hermana Hauber this week but here are some highlights from the family email. She also sent a lot of photos, including some of her district having a Spanish Thanksgiving!)

Que tal back home?? I hope everything is going well. Happy late Thanksgiving also! I have seen the new Christmas video and we are excited to start using it in lessons and such!
Good news!! I finally bought a winter coat today!! I also bought some warmer tights. The only thing I lack is boots, but that will have to wait because I didn´t find any today. But that's okay. I´m also realizing the beauty of scarves and I am so glad that I brought so many with me!! They definitely are helping to keep me warm.
It sounds like you guys had a wonderful weekend with yummy food, pretty music and good family experiences. I love it. Here it is starting to feel like Christmas! They have decorated all of Badajoz with lights and there is Christmas music playing on Calle Menacho where we walk a lot. It is so fun. Christmas is in 3 1/2 weeks and we will get to skype!! woohoo!! I´m glad you were able to figure out the skype so you can here my very american sounding spanish in a couple weeks.... haha. All jokes. But not really. (;
We had a good thanksgiving here! we went up to Caceres and had lots of yummy food, including a broccoli salad that I LOVED: mom, dad, you guys should be so proud of me. hahaha.
Alex - Thank you so much for your contacting advice. Honestly, that is one of the hardest things for me to do out here just because I hate stopping in the street and it is super scary. But I´m getting practice and I definitely will try some of the things that you told me about. It´s dumb because half of the people here are either old guys who are creepers or old women who are very catholic and the other half always have prisa. which means they´re in a hurry. But I know that there will be some people who are ready, we just have to work hard to find them!! Thank you a million for your help.
I love you guys and hope you have a great week! I will talk to you soon!! Love you!!
xoxoxo Hermana Hauber

Hermana Watson and Hermana Redd and I last P-day!

My district at Thanksgiving!

I still love nightgowns and now she does too!
And her mom sent us socks so we shared (:

Cool Things

Hey so I just had some cool thoughts this week that I wanted to share with y'all. (:

So on Sunday we had the primary program in church where all the cute little niños get up and bear their testimonies and sing their little hearts out and share scriptures and stuff and it was awesome! Our little primary of ten did a beautiful job. I also had the opportunity to play piano for them. With this I had a couple thoughts. First of all, how beautiful and pure the testimony of a child is. The spirit you feel when a little kid tells you how they know their Savior lives is truly amazing. Also, we have talents to share them! I love piano, but have never played for others, mostly just for me. But here, I have learned real fast how to play in meetings and songs I've never seen and I love being able to share that talent!!

Also, I have thought a lot this week about Nephi and his brethren. Our zone leaders challenged us to focus on contacting and receiving futures this week, and to be honest, this is something that is really hard for both my companion and I. We set a high high goal to reach of futures we wanted to receive and although we didn't reach it, we definitely improved from weeks past, which is encouraging. I have discovered that I love having conversations with people in the streets and getting to know them and sharing this wonderful gospel with them, but it is oh so hard to initiate it and to stop people or approach people.

As I have struggled with this all week long, I have definitely seen the Lord's hand and felt the guidance and encouragement of his spirit with me. However, I also have seen that in order to receive this, I have to be willing and ready and WANT to do those things I know I should do. I have pondered a lot on Nephi and his brethren. They were all asked to do the same things and they all experienced trials together during their travels in the wilderness. However, the difference in their experiences was in their attitude, their faith, their willingness and trust in the Lord in doing those things that were asked of them. I love in 1 Nephi 2:19 where the Lord tells Nephi... "Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart."

So Nephi was blessed because of his faith, diligence and humility in doing God's will. Man, is it hard to have these three things every moment of every day. I know I won't be perfect at it, but my goal is to be a Nephi. To work as he did and to be blessed and trusted by the Lord as he was so that someday, when I finish my mission, and when I finish my time on this earth and I stand before God, he will tell me similar words.... "Blessed art thou, Amber, because of thy faith, for though hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart."

I love being here on the mission. It is worth the cold, tired, hungry times we are walking around, the times when nobody wants to stop and listen to us and the times people straight up reject us. I know that I'm making a difference. I'm serving the Lord and trying to do His will as I share the gospel with the people of Spain. Is is His work and I know He has a plan for me and for every single one of his children.

Anyways. I love you all and hope you have a great thanksgiving! Always remember to be grateful and look for the little blessings God gives us each and every day. 

Xoxoxo Hermana Hauber 

Us and the Badajoz elders before P day! We went to some castles
 and this cool museum and to a river!

These little figures are made entirely from PAPER!!! #amazed

The Plaza del Toros in Olivenza, one of the oldest in Spain!

Transfer Dos en Badajoz!

It almost rhymes but that's okay.... Well, I'm in Badajoz with my trainer for another transfer!! It will be a short 4 week transfer because of Christmas but good things are going to be happening!! A couple exciting things happened this week!
We received Elders here in  Badajoz!! I'm very excited and I know it will make the work better and stronger and move it right along. We did have to split our area though which was kinda sad but at least it is only one branch so we still see everyone on Sunday's!!
Also, because this transfer is only 4 weeks, our zone leaders have this plan to focus on our key indicators. So this week we are contacting to receive futures! This terrifies me. I love talking and having conversations with people about the gospel, but it scares me to approach them and like initiate it ya know? So this week I will be learning how to do that and how to open my mouth! Time to put my talking skills to good use!!
Also, the branch here welcomed home a missionary who had been serving in Barcelona! We had a big welcome activity and it was so fun to see everyone so happy. It literally is just like one. If giant family here and I love it.
So one of our investigators this week asked us about the priesthood and about the difference between men and women, etc. we explained to her that marriage is between a man and a woman and that they both need each other for support and to become more like our Father in Heaven and our Savior. We talked about the responsibility of being a mother and also the purpose of the priesthood to bless others. I have just been pondering on this s lot because there are so many things in this world telling us otherwise. I am so grateful for my parents and for all they do for me, for my mother and for my father!! So my invitation to y'all is to tell your parents how much you love them his week!! Parents make the world go round. Anyways. Badajoz is wonderful and I love the people here and the opportunity I have to be a missionary!
Love you all!
Xoxo Hermana Hauber

Literally we are 10 minutes from Portugal...
so we (our cute district) visited the border!

So much happiness... The new elders here in Badajoz and
the newly- returned home elder!

Rainy rainy Badajoz

(No group email from Hermana Hauber this week, it sounds like she had a zone meeting, but here are some highlights from the family email!)

Hola!!

Life in Badajoz is good!! The Columbian investigator is good also... haha.  I think wants facts to prove his testimony if that makes sense and so we have been struggling with that. But once the elders get here on Wednesday, he will be their investigator so we won´t teach him anymore. Which is sad, but also i think it will be okay. 

I can´t believe it is already that cold there! Actually, I guess I can, I just don´t always remember it because, thank goodness, we haven´t had to worry about snow or freezing cold yet. On Monday, we went to lunch with president (of the rama) and Cecilia (his wife) and Samuel (their son) and as we were walking home, we literally got drenched in the rain!! But it was so fun. The rain has been great and oddly enough this week it actually hasn´t been too rainy. I´ll just take whatever comes until it snows. Then I will have to take some time to adjust... haha. I sure don´t miss the freezing cold though!

We are going to have a Thanksgiving dinner with our district I think so that should be fun! And I have no idea about Christmas yet, we will have transfers again before then. Transfers are this week and then we have a short 4 weeks until the next transfers. But for now, Hermana Watson and I will be staying in Badajoz!

Something that I loved from my studies this week was Alma 26. This is when Ammon is praising the Lord and really it is just awesome. I have been trying to be aware of little things every day to be grateful for so that I am more positive and more grateful during the week!! God really is so good and so mindful and merciful, it is amazing!

xoxoxo Hermana Hauber

So this was when I was super glad I had a rain coat....
it´s kind of a shame you can´t tell how drenched I really am... (:

Same rainy day as above. We loved every second of it. (:

Intercambios with hermana Benavides in Sevilla!
 She is awesome and I found out Dunkin Donuts exists in España!

Miracles and all things Wonderful!

Hola everybody!!
My oh my what an awesome week it has been!! Something that I learned this week is that there are always miracles to be found. You don´t have to be a missionary, you just have to be looking for them! This week in Badajoz though, the Lord blessed us with some awesome experiences.
Monday started off with our interviews with President Andersen and can I just tell you how much I love my mission president and his wife?? Being with them is just the best thing. I know that they are called of God and that they are doing wonderful things here in the Spain Malaga mission. I was super grateful for the opportunity to meet and talk with them both. And I learned a lot about the Brother of Jared. Okay, so last week, my comp and I used the story of the Brother of Jared to teach some people about making a plan and taking it to the Lord in faith. But as i have continued to study it and discuss it and think about it with my companion and even with my mission president, I have learned so much!! So, my invitation to you this week is to go read about the Brother of Jared and study and pay attention to how the Lord answers our prayers and helps us with problems in our lives. Guys, the scriptures are literally like a treasure chest and the more you look around and connect things and ponder, you just can find new gems every single time!
Also something cool that I forgot to tell you guys that I´m kind of freaking out about is that there is a tv show here in Extremedura called mujeres.son and they want to do an interview/show thing on Hermana Watson and I. Long story behind how that happened but basically I´m gonna have to speak in Spanish on tv. No big deal. Aaaahhhh!
Also, an old investigator that we were able to meet with this week told me I looked just like her daughter who lives in Peru, so that was pretty cool. Also, someone asked me if I was half-black this week and I thought that was pretty cool. I´ve gotten hawaiian, mexican, latino, etc. but never that one. (:
Okay, let´s talk about one of many miracles this week. So on Wednesday, Hermana Watson and I were crossing the street when we heard a man call out ¨Hermanas!¨ We go over to talk to him and find out he is from Colombia and just moved to Spain like 15 days ago and you guys - He is amazing! He had been trying to find the church building but couldn´t and had been praying to find a member or the missionaries and He found us. I know that God is involved in every aspect of our lives, because there is no way that he found us by chance. #prayersanswered. he has known the church since the 80´s... so like thirty years! And loves missionaries. He has read the Book of Mormon 7 times. SEVEN TIMES! And has also read the Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, Jesus the Christ and other assorted church books. Well of course we were thrilled to meet him and we set up an appointment with him. We got to know him better and boldly asked him why he isn´t baptized already. He told us he has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, but has some questions about other things and he has never officially had the missionary discussions. So. We are going to meet with him and teach him and I have faith that soon he will make that choice and come unto Christ and be baptized because he is already so prepared!! Woohoo! So cool.
This week we also had a Halloween activity in our branch here in Badajoz! We taught everyone how to carve pumpkins - which they loved- and then just played games and ate yummy food. it was way fun and some people from our English class came too! not investigators, but they definitely have potential and I loved that they came to hang out with us. (: One cool fact about Spain is that when we do food for parties, it is all out and it is so delicious. I love it.
Okay, one last thought for this week. I have been studying general conference and this week one of the talks I read was Gary E. Stevenson´s and I loved it! He shared with us an impression that he had recieved that he said comforted him and it comforted me as well. He said ¨...focus not on what I can´t do but rather on what I can do. I can testify of the plain and precious truths of the gospel.¨ There are so many times already in the past 2 months that I have felt inadequate for this mission call. People ask me questions that I don´t know answers to and I can´t fully speak the language or understand it. But. I need to focus on what I can do. No, I am not fluent in Spanish, but I do know enough to bear simple testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. I know enough to tell the people that the Book of Mormon is true, Jesus Christ is our Savior and we are children of a loving Heavenly Father. And in reality, that´s what I was sent here to do.
I love this gospel. I love being a missionary. It is a privilege to be serving my Heavenly Father and be able to dedicate every moment of every day to Him and His work.
xoxoxo Hermana Hauber

For p day a couple weeks ago we went hiking with the elders in our district,
 isn´t the view awesome! 

At our halloween activity with all of the pumpkins that people carved.

The elders, us, and then Santi (a menos activo that we are super good friends with)
and his coworker Encarna who came so there was another woman. haha.

This is beautiful Merida! On a not rainy day. (: