Flirt to Convert, But not in Spain!

Hola mi familia y amigos!!!  I hope every one is doing well!!!  I will be honest, this week has been very hard.  Every single day is a good day but I definitely had some struggles with believing in myself but fortunately for me, I have a wonderful companion that is there for me when I am a mess.  I´ve loved the MTC so much and it is going to be extremely hard to say goodbye to everyone.  But I know it will be okay.  I am so grateful for all of the opportunities I have had here. I can´t believe how many things I have learned in such a short period of time.  I love that I have finally seen more of the culture in Spain!!  I don´t think it has hit me yet that I am in another country, haha.  I love learning about the gospel.  It is absolutley fantastic to learn things that you thought you already knew.
Yo sé que Jose Smith fue un Profeta moderna.  Yo se´ que el evangelio es restored.
Alright I can speak better than I can write.  I love hearing all the Elder´s and other Hermana´s testimonies.  Everyone is so strong here. It is so scary to be only 18 or 19 and go out and talk to people about the gospel in a language that you do not know how to speak.  I´m sure you can imagine how frightening it is.  But I am so grateful for the Retiro Park experiences i have once a week because now I already know how to contact before I even go out in the field!!! This Tuesday I´m going to the field and I cannot wait to find out where my first area will be!! So the subject of this email is Flirt to Convert, but not in Spain..... so last week at the park, me and my companion talked to these to guys who talked with us but didn´t want un El Libro de Mormon.  We ended up giving them a pass along card with the temple on it though.  We started to walk away and then suddenly that started running after us!! I was like yes!!!  A referral!!!!!  They asked us if we had a number we could give them in case they ended up having more questions well.... we were like no we don´t have personal phones but here is a pamphlet with the number to contact other missionaries.They said never mind and then left.  So then me and my companion were like Oh wait, they wanted like our phone numbers!!! hahahah if I wasn´t a missionary I don´t think I would've been that oblivious!!! hahaha
Anyway.  I will talk to you guys later!!! I love you all!!!
Have a good week!!

Love,
Hermana Fresa, Frambuesa, Berry, etc.

Just some Pics

Week 5

Hola amigos y familia!!!!!  I hope you are all doing well!! I am doing just fine here in Madrid, Spain!!  Although it is FREEZING, everyone´s warm hearts keep me warm.  Just kidding, that was really cheesy, haha.  So this is my 5th week here in the CCM which means I have one more week until we go out in the real world, into the field!!!!  Aaaahhh I can´t believe it!! I feel ready to leave, but at the same time its going to be SO hard to say bye to everyone.  My companion and I were saying how it will be tough not be allowed to hug all of the Elders that we deeply care about.  So a very firm, sincere hand shake will have to do I guess.

 So I have mentioned some things about a park I go to every Saturday.  Go look up Retiro Park in Madrid and you will see how massive it is.  It is so beautiful.  Last Saturday I had an amazing time contacting people.  It was a wonderful way to spend my Valentine´s day, but sharing how much God loves everyone.  We get paired with a different companion every Saturday and after we walk around contacting for about an hr and half, we meet back at the fountain and sing Spanish himnos for people to come listen to us.  It is so fun!!!!  Everyday I can see myself growing and I know it won´t stop here!  The last few weeks at the park I have met several people that are from the Canary islands and i just get this weird feeling that I might go there!!! yay!!

 Food isn´t that great at the CCM but the gorgeous sunrises make up for that, because they are absolutely breath taking and I see them every single morning in my classroom, so be jealous.  I love being in an MTC that only has one transfer group because it we are able to get to know mostly everyone!!  I have a personal relationship with The President which I'm so grateful for.  There are about only 45 or 50 missionaries, so we all bonded very quickly.  Something really cool about this religion is that we believe that we have the restored truth, and you are able to recognize in history the bits of truth that were there.  I got the really cool opportunity last week to visit an archaeology museum which had all sorts of christian artifacts.  This week we went to the Prado museum (a very very famous art museum, look it up so you can feel cool as well).  It was so amazing to see all of the Christian artifacts, paintings, sculptures, etc. that showed the past Christian´s faith.  In the Egyptian mummy section at the archaeology museum we noticed some things that the Egyptians practiced that we do as well.  It was super interesting to notice these things.  I´ve enjoyed these last 2 weeks focusing on the apostasy and restoration because that is what our religion is all about!!! I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet, and I am beyond grateful for his sacrifices he and his family endured just so we today can know of the truth.  I love being here on a mission, and I am so happy that these hard things are going to shape me into a better person.  I encourage you all to read the scriptures every day because there is always something you can get out of them!!! When you pray with a sincere heart, I promise you will receive an answer, it is so awesome!! I have seen a lot more of Madrid so yes I can now say it is very beautiful!!!  I love all of you!!! 

Love, Hermana Berry 

Week 4: "It was a mucho bueno dealio"

Hola Familia!!!!
Thank you again for all of your guys´ emails!!! I love hear from
everyone!! Today is Pday which means we went to the Madrid Temple in
the morning and then later today I am going to go to an archaeology
museum.  Last week I went to Puerta Del Sol which is downtown Madrid,
and it was very pretty!!  It is sooooo cold here, I cannot wait until
it warms up!!!  The time is flying by here so quickly, and everyday i
learn something new.
The park pictures I sent this week was a very
good day at the park!!  The last two weeks I had dreaded going to the
park because contacting people scared me to death.  But something
special happned this week, me and my park companion, Hermana Ingram
(whom i adore) found this man who was jogging and talked to him a bit.
he spoke english and was from the Canarie Islands!  We testified about
the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and the spirit was so strong!!!
he was so sweet and loved listening to us.  We also talked to two
ladies who loved listening to us.  It was an awesome experience!!!
Everybody thinks you come to the MTC and you magically can speak the
language. Well that is false, you have to work so hard!!!  I
definitely can´t speak it yet but everyday I am learning more.  I only
have 2 more weeks here which makes me sad because I love everyone here
and all the teachers are incredible!!!! If any of you didn´t get a
reply from me, I will try to write back next week!! I love you all and
I know the church is true!!!
Love, Hermana Berry

Hola Familia

    Hola Familia!!
I miss everyone but I am not homesick, because the longer I'm here, I know that there´s no where else I should be right now.  The MTC food can be good, but I´m soooo sick of it though, haha. It is cafetieria food, but I bet the food will be good when I go out in the field.  I still CANNOT believe that I only have 3 weeks left, it´s gone by so fast yet I've feel like I've been here forever considering all the people I've bonded with. The teachers are incredible, you can really tell they treasure this gospel and care about us.
My district is awesome!! It´s me and my companion, and then 6 elders.  So a lot of the time the 18 year olds here act like 18 year olds, But seriously when they share their testimonies, the spirit they bring is so beautiful.  I´m so grateful for the opportunity to meet all these wonderful people. My companion and I have learned a lot from each other this week.. The MTC is so hard but it is because you are constantly learning things from the spirit and other people.  It is so refreshing to study this gospel that I know to be true, and to really start from scratch and find out the things that I need to study more about.  We watch Devotionals every week broadcasted from the Provo MTC and they have been so awesome!!!  Teaching our mock investigators has been a real challenge for me because it is testing my Spanish, doctrine knowledge, and companion unity.  But I've already learned a lot from it and I´m happy that they do this so we can have a lot of practice before we leave.
I think I've briefly mentioned this last week, but every Saturday we go to this HUGE park to proselyte/contact people.  Now just imagine you only being a missionary for 2 weeks and trying to tell people about your church in a language you only know about 20 words. It is absolutely terrifying.  We also have to contact people on the metro.  Both times, the spirit has guided me and showed me tender mercies to meet people that I believe I was supposed to talk to.  After the park every time we come back and then share special experiences about it.  Its pretty cool.    Last Monday 2 of my favorite sisters who were learning Russian flew out finally to their mission.  They were the sister training leaders and they were the 2 of the sweetest people I know.
So guess what!!!! Me and my companion, Hermana Hansen, are the new sister training leaders!!!! ¿WHAT??? YEAH. weird. The President told us that it's who the Lord needs.  It´s funny because on Sunday I prayed as asked for a way to help me be selfless towards others.  I've learned a lot of Spanish but definitely I still have a lot more to learn.  I will send some pictures of me at the park.  I love all of you!!!
Have a good week!!