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 😜🇪🇸❤️

Short and SWEET (x3)

Hello everybody!
It has been a super great week here in Alicante, and Hermana Peters and I are seeing so many miracles!

1. Two of our investigators, Gabriel and Antonio, are doing well! We taught them the Word of Wisdom and are making a plan with them to stop smoking and drinking. They are so funny because whenever we teach them, they always tell us "We know, we know.... We just need to keep reading the book!" They love the Book of Mormon and read almost every night. (:
2. 2 months ago we contacted a super awesome guy named Edgar - he's like 24 years old - and he just is so ready for the gospel! Well, 2 weeks ago we taught him for the first time and then haven't been able to contact him since. But yesterday, we walked past dominoes where he works and it was completely empty. Except for him standing at the cash righter waving at us! So we went in and talked to him and set a cita for today! Yoo-hoo! We are going to teach him lesson one and I hope all goes well. (:
3. We are teaching a man named Moises and he is by far the hardest person I have ever taught.... But the other day we went and taught him Lesson 3 - about the gospel of Jesus Christ - and I have never felt more strongly that the spirit was working through me. That when I opened my ,out hit wasn't my words coming out, but really the words that the Lord needed him to hear and was saying to him. I don't even know how to describe it other than incredible but I know the Lord really does work through us. That we are his servants and He needs us to be obedient to be able to do His will.

There are so many other wonderful things that happen, I wish I could just tell you about every single thing that happens but.... It's fine. Just know that the mission is the greatest and through all the good and bad things, I know the Lord loves us and is so aware of us in every moment.
Thank you all for everything you do for me, for writing me and sending me cute little notes of love. I love being here in Spain and sharing the gospel! YOO-HOO!!
XOXO, Hermana Hauber 😘❤️🇪🇸

PS:
Hey y'all, just so you know... We have iPads and can email but we can't use iMessage. So if you wanna talk to me, shoot me an email! 💻 Or write me a letter. 💌
Thanks!! 🙃😘

Yummy smoothies

Sarita and her family in Badajoz got sealed this weekend!

Cool pics from the castle!

Short and SWEET (again)

Hey y'all!
It's been a good week! Transfers, ice cream and rebajas! Just real quick, here are some things about this week....

1. My sweet Hermana Swenson went home and my new companion is Hermana Peters! She is from my same group (we came into the mission at the same time) and we actually met in the airport the day we flew to Madrid. So that's cool. (: She is amazing and I am learning so much from her! I'm so grateful I have another 5 weeks to learn from her example and serve with her. (:
2. When it's summer here, we eat a lot of ice cream soo..... This is why half the pictures have ice cream. (;
3. Rebajas! There are a couple times a year when Spain has giant sales in all of their clothing stores and basically everywhere. #iloveshopping
4. Miracles! -Gabriel and Antonio came to play soccer with us on Saturday! They loved it and Gabriel brought his son too. Afterwards we taught them the Plan of Salvation and they really liked it. They are still reading in the Book of Mormon too and they love it! -Gregorio, our investigator from Colombia, has a baptismal date in August! YAY!!

Things are going great here and I am loving being a missionary! I made a goal at the beginning of the year to just share my testimony every single day and I love it so much. People here NEED the gospel and I feel so blessed to be able to share it with them. Have a wonderful week and do the little things because they make such a HUGE difference. (:
Love y'all!!
Hermana Hauber ☺️🇪🇸❤️

Short and SWEET

Hi everybody!
Soo.... We had a zone p-day today and just played all day long and now I have left myself with no time to email so.... Here are a few highlights and some fun pictures from our lives.
1. We had intercambios with the Hermanas from Crevillente and basically killed it! We found lots of cool new futures and taught some really good lessons and I got to work with my sweet "sister" in the mission.
2. One of the members gave all of the Hermanas here fans to keep us cool. It's so Spanish and I love it.
3. Transfers this week!! I'm staying here in Alicante and my comp, Hermana Swenson is going home to casa! So my new compi is Hermana Peters and I'm stoked. She is from my group and is a champ. So we have been saying lots of goodbyes to people here with Hermana Swenson.

And lots of other things but time is gone! I'm sorry I didn't email anyone back, but I do still love you all. My fam will post more pictures on the blog so go look there if you want. I love you all. I love being a missionary. And I will be better about writing next week. 😜

all my love, Hermana Hauber 😘🇪🇸❤️

I guess I like cats now? This was just a perfectly timed picture...

We went to a farm to visit...it was cute

intercambios!

My "sister" in the mission. Hermana Watson trained her too

And transfers begin!

#classicallyspanish

Some of our menos activo JAS made us lunch!

Us and the elders in our ward

Sister Reeves at consejo!

yummy smoothies!

With President and Hermana

American burger restaurant in Fuengirola

Feelin' Good!

Hey y'all!!

Happy July! I hope you all are doing something fun for the 4th today... like having a barbeque or something. This last week has been an incredible week. But really. I know we have awesome weeks and we have hard weeks so that we learn and so that we improve and continue working hard and well.... this week was definitely a good one.
We started off the week by teaching new people!! We wanted to focus this week on teaching investigators with members in their lessons too and so we worked really hard and reached the mission standard for that this week! #improvement #todayiscelebrationday But anyways... we taught some cool new people and it is just amazing to see the Lord´s hand in every moment.
-Gabriel is doing well! We were only able to teach him one other time because we were out of our area for 3 days, but he brought his friend to the lesson too so he could learn more and get help from God too. I loved it! So Antonio and Gabriel are currently reading in the Book of Mormon and just trying to start developing faith.
-Alex came to church again!
-The zone leaders passed us a reference for a guy named Moises. Man oh man... he believes in God, but also believes in some other crazy things. We went to visit him Saturday morning and honestly it was the most challenging, intense, exhausting lesson of my entire mission! We taught lesson 1 about the restauration and he had so many doubts and questions... but I KNOW that as we were teaching him that the Lord just filled our mouths with what to say and what to testify about. He guided us in every moment of that lesson and I´m so grateful for my rockstar of a companion and the sweet member who went with us.
-Rafael. He has met with missionaries in the past, but it is hard for him to give up his sunday to come to church. So we are really working on helping him see the importance of that. And we are helping him quit smoking!! Poco a poco.
Can I just say, I love helping others better their lives and come to know God all by helping them understand the atonement!!
Okay, the other half of our week we were in Malaga! We went from Tuesday to Thursdayfor consejo in the mission home and then for exchanges with the Hermanas there. At our meeting, Sister Reeves from the general relief society presidency came to visit as well as a few other people and the spirit there was incredible!! We talked a lot about a lot of things so here are just a few things that I learned/that I want to share...

-What would I do different right now in my mission if I could see where I would be in 30 or 50 years? This question made me think a lot. So before the mission, I prepared to come here and then now I am here preparing for the rest of my life. We are constantly preparing and performing and the Lord always gives us exactly what we need to be able to progress in this life. SO... I just want to be the kind of dedicated, focused missionary that follows the Spirit always.
-We invite all to come unto Christ adn be baptized to open the door to the Celestial Kingdom to all the sons and daughters of God and we are the only ones who can do that!!!
-As hermanas, we tend to get pretty down on ourselves. So we did an exercise about being positive and remember that we are given trials to become better, not as punishments.
-Look up to God to know to improve instead of looking sideways to others and compare yourself!

This is just a tiny part of everything.... but I hope maybe something from that helps you like it did me. Also, kind of a funny note. So we usually have all of our meetings in Spanish, right? But we had people there who didn´t speak Spanish and so it was all in English. That in itself was awkward. But then they asked me to say the closing prayer and I said it in English... now, that was a lot harder than it sounds and I prayed really slowly to make sure I got it all right and made it to the very end when a spanish word slipped out!! AHHHH I was so close to saying an entire prayer in English! hahaha. #thestrugglewasreal #ispeakspanish
Okay, well, this was our week in a short email. I love being a missionary and teaching others and helping others come unto Christ. There is no other greater work in the world than helping people learn and live the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope y'all have a wonderful week!!
XOXO, Hermana Hauber

Classy at consejo. 😎

We ate giant hamburgers.... Well, I ate almost all of it!

President me Hermana Andersen came for a visit!