Welcome to Sevilla!

Hey y'all!

It has been one crazy week because we had transfers!!
So I started did the week in Alicante, of course and we had lots of goodbyes. It was hard to leave the investigators, the sweet members and of course my wonderful compi, but I made it through. Something that I love about leaving or going to a new area is the opportunity to share my testimony and tell the, how much I love the gospel. Of course, that is something that I do every day in citas and anytime we talk to anyone, but it's really special to be able to get up and share it with the whole ward. And well.... Now I'm in Sevilla! It's definitely warm but we are working hard. My comp is really sweet and I'm already learning so much from her!
I don't have much time, but here are a few pictures to sum up my week. (:

I saw my sweet trainee and HER trainee on transfer day! Yup, my trainee is training.. #proudmom ☺️🎉

I met my new district and afterwards we went to eat at this yummy Bolivian restaurant. FOOD. FOR. DAYS. 🍛

We are teaching this cute family from the Dominican Republic and the kids came to church with us!! 🙃

Aaaand today we went to Plaza de España for p day and had a picnic and saw some sweet things in the centro of Sevilla. 🇪🇸

Also, back to speaking of Alicante.... GREGORIO GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!! 🎉☺️🎉 Obviously I couldn't be there, but President allowed me to see it over Skype and it was so super special. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to teach him and be a part of his journey to finding the gospel in his life. ❤️

And that's all I have time for! 

I know the church is true and it doesn't matter where you are or who you are with - the church is true and God loves us. I love being a missionary and sharing that with everyone. 

¡Feliz semana a todos! 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Hauber 😘❤️🇪🇸

Sevilla is beautiful!

Hermana Taggart, a new best friend

Transfer day!

Lots of goodbyes in Alicante...

So much food...

10th transfer, 8th compi

Well y'all...
It's the week of TRANSFERS!!! So I kind of already knew last week that I would be leaving Alicante because my zone leaders told me. However, I didn't really want to accept it and I was kind of in denial because I don't feel ready at all to leave Alicante. However, Friday came and we walked out of a cita, and I saw that I had a missed call from President and when we called him back he told me I would be leaving Alicante, and that I would be going to "the frying pan of the mission"...
That means SEVILLA!! I have a lot of emotions all mixed up about this and I will explain myself.

1. Alicante has been amazing. I have learned so much here and worked so hard. Honestly, I feel like in Badajoz, I found my love for the mission and here in Alicante, I just let it grow and develop and blossom and I LOVE the mission! I have had ups and downs and tears and laughter and awkward moments and miracles and I just don't feel like 3 transfers was enough time here.

With the Bishop and his wife

2. So our awesome investigator Gregorio. He is getting baptized this weekend!! I am so incredibly happy for him. It has been the biggest blessing to find him and be able to teach him and prepare him for baptism. I am heartbroken that I won't be able to be here to see him on his special day, but I'm really just trusting in the Lord that He knows what is best. And I'm so so so happy for Gregorio. 

3. Hermana Peters. I cannot tell you how much I love this amazing Hermana. These short 6 weeks with her have changed me - but so much. This Hermana has so much love. She loves obedience and she loves the investigators, she loves making goals and becoming better, she loves ice cream and she loves Nephi, she loves running and she loves being a missionary. Being with her and made me want to be better and has taught me so much about being a true disciple of Christ and a consecrated missionary. I wish we could have more than one transfer together. But what's important is that we did have at least one transfer and now we will be friends for life. ❤️

4.So I'm going to Sevilla! it's hot but as all the Spaniards tell me, "es precioso!". So it's fine, I might be suffering in the heat but at least I'll be in a beautiful city. And maybe I'll finally break out some sunscreen. 😎 Also, my new companion will be Hermana Anderson from Draper, UT. I don't know her very well, but I do know that this is her last transfer so I will be sending one more Hermana home. It will also be fun to be there because when I was in my first area, we went there a lot for exchanges and meetings so it will almost be like going to an old home. 

Okay, apart from transfers, we had a pretty good week. The days just fly by. 

Update on Gregorio - still as amazing and hilarious as ever, still always talks about how much he loves the lord and how much he loves his wife and can't wait to see her again. He got his white shirts on Saturday, had his interview yesterday and is all ready to be baptized on Saturday!!!! It has been so amazing to be able to see how much the Book of Mormon has touched his heart and really allowed him to see and feel the difference between this church and all the others. Just the love and the passion he has for life and for God are so contagious and everyone he meets can't help but love him. He is a 65 year old man who always wears checkered and plaid shirts coordinated perfectly with bright colored pants because "the Lord wants his children happy." He's been through so much more than I could imagine yet I've never seen him without a smile nor has he ever failed to make everyone around him smile!🙃

We also had our last district meeting and really good intercambios with the Hermanas from Albacete. 

Basically in the mission, there are a million opportunities to learn. Every single day, and something that I have realized is that we can grab hold of them and love them and be humble and learn, or we can let them slip away and not progress and not take advantage of them. And life is like that too. So I just want to invite y'all to look for those opportunities and take advantage of them! Don't be prideful, accept help from others and search for opportunities to grow and learn more. 

Also, this week we hit our one year mark... AAAHHHH. But it's fine, even though everybody tells us we are basically done, that isn't true we still have lots of time to work. Would you believe we celebrated with getting shakes? 😜🍦🎉

Alright, I'm sorry this is so dang long. Thanks for all being so wonderfully supportive and loving. I love being here and I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father and help others learn about the gospel. 

Have a great week!

XOXO, Hermana Hauber ❤️🇪🇸☺️

Ups and Downs and 1 year old

Hey y'all!!
This week has been so full of ups and downs. I wish I could just email home a bottle with all of my emotions and feelings and thoughts and things I learned so y'all could FEEL what I feel but.... well.... it doesn't quite work like that. It's just, being on a mission is something incredibly different from anything I have ever experienced in my life and it is by far the greatest decision I have ever made.
First of all, this week we hit our one year mark of being in the mission. My sweet companion and I have been so blessed to be together this transfer because we are feelings like the exact same things and it has been a huge blessing to be able to celebrate and cry and freak out and just be missionaries together.
I want to tell you about one of our investigators, Moises. So he is an awesome investigator and just the investigator that when we go visit him, our citas are long and super spiritual and you leave feeling like you have just finished running a spiritual and mental marathon. He sometimes has a hard time accepting the things we teach when they aren't exactly what he thinks and we do a lot of scriptrue reading and intellectual talking. But he is awesome. He believes in God and has his own way of believing and doing things but is so willing to learn even though it is hard for him to accept the things we teach. Well, this week when we went to teach him, we were trying to find a member to go with us to his house and we couldn't find anyone! We called so many women in the ward and nobody could! However, the last one we called ended up being able to come and it was perfect! He brought up a concern with us as we taught him and we ended up changing the lesson completely right there on the spot which with him, is kind of a scary thing, but we focused on his doubt and what he didn't understand and went on with the lesson. He shared some past experiences and it helped us understand why he had this doubt and why he had some beliefs that he does. Turns out that this member had also had similar experiences and she was able to relate with him PERFECTLY. She shared her own experiences and her testimony and helped him come to an understanding - and I KNOW the Lord helped us out with that. I know that the Spirit truly works through us when we do our part to be prepared. Even though Hermana Peters and I had studied to teach something completely different, the Spirit really guided us to be able to teach him what he needed to hear in that moment. And it was incredible that Gaby was the last person we called to come with us, but ended up being the one we needed that could've helped him the best!! AND at the end of the lesson he told us that what we were teaching was starting to really make sense and have meaning for him. And then he thanked us for everything we are doing to help him! In this lesson, I think I realized what it means when they say "Teach people, not lessons". We maybe had gotten too caught up in making sure we had our scriptures prepared and doctrinal facts straight that I wasn't spending enough time on just LOVING him. On seeing him as one of God's children who is a little lost from the pathway. So it was humbling to remember that and change my focus to loving and serving instead of "being right". The Lord truly works miracles and changes hearts! Those of investigators but also my own.
We also had interviews with President Andersen this week. There is something so special about the relationship of a missionary with their president. I look up to him so much and am so grateful for the advice and counsel and encouragement he gives to all of us missionaries.
So there is a less active member that we go visit every week and her name is Alicia. This last week when we went to go visit her, I had the coolest experience. So we usually read in the Book of Mormon with her and then show her a mormon message. There is a mormon message called Our True Identity by Elder Uchtdorf that talks about the Ugly Duckling and relates it to how even though we may feel like an ugly duckling, we all have divine potential as sons and daughters of God. Well, after we watched it, my amazing comp started to testify about how much God loves us and that before this life, we knew we would leave Him to come down here and be tested and that even though we would go through hard things, we had the knowledge that He would be with us in every moment. I felt the Spirit so strong and just started to cry and could not even talk. It was incredible. I KNOW that God loves us. He is our Heavenly Father and He lets us pass through hard times to HELP us.
Gabriel and Antonio and Gregorio are all doing well! And we have started working with a few more new people - so many miracles! Transfers are next week and I have a feeling I'm going to get transferred but... We will see what the calls bring on Saturday.
I know this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. That even though there are lots of good things in the world and lots of good teachings and people, that there is only ONE WAY to get back to our Heavenly Father and live with Him again. And the good news?? He has shown us the way! He has given us every single thing that we need to be able to follow Him!! It is up to us to have the faith and take the steps and persevere, but He will even help us with that!
I love being a missionary, I love the Book of Mormon I love this gospel, and more than anything, I love my Savior Jesus Christ.
Con mucho cariño,
Hermana Hauber 🇪🇸🌴❤️

My favorite scripture of the week:
Ether 3:4 - And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man...

Pretty Alicante, p day fun!

 

We bought matching bags!

Our favorite Colombian bakery on intercambios!

Our new ward mission leader!

Someone gave us real American mac&cheese. HEAVEN.

6 month missionary email.........

How to be a Consecrated Missionary

Hey y'all!!
This has been a jam packed week, so I´m just going to give you a few highlights with lots of pictures...
We started off the week in Málaga for consejo and then splits with the SHE leaders there and it was so amazing! In our meeting we talked all about being consecrated and sacrifice and obedience and it was such a powerful meeting. We talked about how we as missionaries strive to be consecrated, right? We strive to be dedicated, focused servants of the Lord during our time here. But really, WE cannot consecrate ourselves. As much as I focus and strive to do my best, I cannot consecrate myself... The Lord is the one who consecrates me. Only through the power of the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ can I become better and truly consecrated to this work. So really.... we have to do all that we can AND turn to the Lord. And that is the only way we can truly be consecrated to the Lord and serving Him in this life. So I don´t know if that makes sense, but I thought it was really cool and that definitely has changed my perspective a bit.

All the Hermanas at consejo...

Also... we are coming up on our 1 year mark! So me and the other
missionaries from my group took a picture to celebrate. Basically
 the only way to celebrate in the mission is eating or taking pictures. (;

We also had a super good zone meeting!

Aaaannddd.... we taught some solid lessons with Gabriel and Antonio and Gregorio! They are all doing well. (:

AND! We had 6 investigators at church this week! Talk about incredible!!

Here in Alicante I have really learned to just LOVE THE MISSION. It doesn't matter if there are ups or downs or weird things or good things or whatever might happen.... The Lord has a plan and it is such a blessing to be involved in the work of the Lord. 

I'm healthy and doing well and I love being in the mission!! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

XOXO, Hermana Hauber (:

Intercambios with the SHEs

Elder Boston!

THANKS A MILLION!

Fish ate our feet

We carried all this heavy stuff a mile through Malaga...

Consejo

Being a Consecrated Missionary

Hey y'all!
So this week, our leaders sent us some different talks to read about being consecrated missionaries. One of them, some of you might have read it, is called Becoming a Consecrated Missionary. It talks about different things that we need to sacrifice (i.e. Disobedience, negativity, pride, etc.) to really be entirely focused and concentrated on the Lord's work. Well, my comp and I after reading it decided to really focus on not being prideful. Claro, this is the Lord's work and in order to serve Him and really make the most of these 18 months/2 years, we need to completely dedicate ourselves to being the servants and the representatives that He needs. Aaaand we can't do that if we are being prideful. Soooo..... I studied a lot about humility this week and tried really hard not to say sarcastic, prideful things even in joking. And ya know, even though I am nowhere near close to being completely humble, I know the Lord has blessed us in our efforts because we have seen so many miracles this week! I want to share just a few of them with y'all. (:

1. Last Saturday, we taught Gabriel and Antonio about the word of wisdom and committed them to live it - but of course, little by little because they both smoke and drink a fair amount. Well, when we taught them again 4 days later, we got there and entered and sat down and Antonio tells us this, "Hermanas, I have stopped drinking. I haven't had coffee or alcohol for 2 days." Say what!? We were amazed! It was incredible to see him APPLY the teachings and he knew he was doing the right thing. We made a plan with the both of them to help them stop smoking and then had a really powerful lesson on the importance of reading, praying and coming to church.
Something else incredible about these two men is that they LOVE the Book of Mormon. They know how important it is and say they feel peace when they read it. They usually read in the evenings, but Gabriel told us this week that one day he read in the morning and noticed how he had a really good day the whole rest of the day! I love seeing them develop their own testimonies of how much Gos loves them and especially that the Book of Mormon is true and is the word of God.

us with Gabriel and Antonio

2. We had an awesome lesson with Gregorio this week! He is the one planning to be baptized on the 13th of this month. He is super great and loves the church and what we are teaching him, but hadn't really been feeling a difference between this church and his other church. But this week, as were talking he expressed to us how he felt something really special when he has been coming on Sunday's. He still is progressing and learning but honestly, hearing him say that wS a miracle! He is so excited to keep learning and wants to bring a friend to church the next week! Yahoo!

Those are just a few of our friends and how have seen them learn and how the Lord has touched their hearts to prepare them for the gospel. We also have seen so many other little miracle blessings from the Lord this week - I have felt my own faith in the Lord grow. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. There is nothing more precious than spending every day testifying of my Savior and helping others come to know Him better. What a beautiful life.

I love you all and I hope all is well at home. Remember to do the little things everyday - miracles are just for missionaries and they aren't just seen on missions. Our Heavenly Father is literally always wanting to bless us and as we consecrate ourselves daily just a tiny bit more to Him and to His gospel, He will bless us for our efforts and MORE! So keep on doing the little things and keep on doing the things that will help you come closer to Him.

Have a happy week!!
XOXOXO, Hermana Hauber 😜🇪🇸❤️