Stuck in an elevator.

Dearest family,

Hola buenas dias todos! ¿Como estan? How are all of you? It sounds like you are all having a pretty good summer! Thanks for your all of your love and support. I have the best, most good looking family around. I missed you this fourth of July!! It sounds like you had a good time! It was weird to be somewhere where the fourth is not celebrated. So in order to do some celebrating we sang the national anthem a few times throughout the morning, dressed up in all the red, white, and blue we had, and we even made an "American" lunch. For lunch we ate hot dogs, chips, watermelon, and lemonade. It was a great time. I love it here but sometimes I miss America haha. 

This week Ali (our investigator from Pakistan) had us over for medio dia and he made us a traditional Pakistani meal. It was a little nervous but it was actually really good. He made this chicken with all these different spices, and I think there was some curry in there too, with rice. Super good! Haha and then we brought brownies for dessert. It was really nice of him to have us over. He is really great and would make a great member of the church. He is still waiting to recieve an answer from God about baptism.... But it seems to me that he has already recieved many answers. So we are working on trying to help him recognize answers from the Holy Ghost. It´s really interesting because he has told us that he wants to be baptized like Christ was and he wants to feel clean from sins... But he needs an answer. I hope he recognizes these answers soon! I have faith that someday soon Ali will be baptized! 

So yesterday was fast Sunday and a really cute member named Paola invited us over to eat after church. We got to her building and all got in the elevator (note... the elevators are tiny here) and it got stuck!! All six of us were stuck in the elevator for about an hour. It was a little stressful to say the least haha but it was so cramped with all of us in there and yesterday was a pretty warm day. Haha I tried to keep people calm... including myself haha. We were all a little on edge because of the hunger levels, heat, and cramped space. And then we said a prayer... and then we called the 911 number here hahaha. It was semi embarrasing that we had to call the emergency number because we were stuck in this elevator. While we were waiting for someone to rescue us we sang a few songs haha and shared a spiritual thought with the member. Good missionary times. Then some guy finally came and opened the door for us and all was well! And then we went and ate a really yummy meal with Paola!

Hmm I´m trying to think what else. Oh okay so the other day I was on a split with one of the Hermanas from Pamplona. And guess what, she is even newer than me! Weird, I still feel like I just got here. But anyways when we were together we saw so many miracles. So many people were just put right in our path. First we went to visit a less active and it turns out we went to the wrong appartment but these two women let us in so we talked for a little bit and prayed with them. They are potential new investigators. Then we ran into this cute family from the Congo who we talked with, gave a Book of Mormon too, and prayed with. They are really cute and I´m excited to meet with them again. Then we ran into two American girls, which never happens! They were really nice and we ended up giving them a card and inviting them to churhc. And then we went and met this reference from the Elders. And it turned out that he and his friend just wanted to Bible bash... Haha in Spanish. But the miracle to this incident was that I understood what they were saying and we were able, in a christ like way, have a conversation and leave them our testimonies and The Book of Mormon. 

Missions are great and I´m grateful to be here in Spain. I learn so much everyday and my testimony is strengthened everyday. I know this gospel is true. I know that as we obey God´s commandments we are blessed in many ways.  Yo se que Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador y mediante El podemos recibir perdon y mas paz y consuelo en nuestras vidas. Se que Dios nos ama much. Somos hijos de Dios. Digo esos cosas en El Nombre de Jesucristo. Amen. 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week! I hope to here from you soon! Un besaso! 

Con amor,

Hermana Benson 

Hola everyone!! I hope you have all had a fantastic week. The work here in Bilbao is going so great. I am happy to be here and I love my mission more and more everyday. This last week was sooo great. Guess what?! Fredy from Argentina was baptized!! Ah it was such a special day and I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to be a small part of it. The best part of the baptism for me was when Fredy shared his testimony. Wow is all I can say. I feel like my companion and I hardly did anything because he is so so prepared by the Lord. But the worst part of the baptism haha just kidding not really was when Fredy decided he wanted me to give a talk haha. Oh man a talk all in spanish. Wheeew I´m glad it´s over! I was pretty nervous but I think it went okay! Back to his testimony... He talked about before he was without belief and how this has changed his life and that baptism was the best decision he has ever made. The spirit was so strong and I know that Fredy and his cute family have so many blessings in store. Haha and when he was closing he was trying to remember en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen but it didn´t come to him, haha so he just said por Jesucristo (for Jesus Christ). Ah it was the BEST. Oh and President and Hermana Pace came to the baptism and it was so cool to have them there! They are wonderful! I´m grateful the baptism went smoothly because we had a few "technical" difficulties before hand... A few hours before the baptism Hermana Goodman and I were at a relief society activity and right before we were going to leave we decided to check out the font to make sure everything was good. And we walked past the bathrooms towards the font and we just started smelling something awful. And we opened the door to the font and the smell just continued to get worse. Like so bad I was semi gagging haha. So we look into the font and there is straight up pooooop in the font! Sewage had come up and out of the drain at the bottom of the font! We quickly found Elder Herrero (husband of the senor couple who we serve with) and just told him that something was wrong with the font and that he NEEDED to go look. Haha so him and Hermano José (ym president), who is eating a dessert, go up and to look... Haha we stayed back because honestly I couldn´t hand the smell. They come back out and Hermano José just quietly throws away his dessert haha and Elder Herrero comes out with a disgusted look on his face and leans over to us and says (in his awesome spanish accent), "Hermanas... That is big fat crap (he may have used a different word)!" Haha I was in such shock and aw at whole situation that I just could not stop laughing. Like seriously of all things like could happen before a baptism... Poop in the font?! But it all turned out to be okay. Hermano José so kindly cleaned out the font while Elder Herrero sent us to the store to go by febreeze to spray all of the whole church. And the best part about the whole thing is that Fredy had and still has no idea of the events that transpired before hand! It really did turn out to be such a great night and I am so happy and excited for Fredy! He recieved The Holy Ghost and the priesthood on Sunday. And today we are going to teach him about temples and eternal marriage/families! His wife and kids get back from Myorca in a couple weeks! :) 
Well I hope you got a good laugh out of the story like I did!  I love you all and I hope everything is going well! Thank you for your love and support! Hope to hear from you soon! :) 

xoxo,


Hermana Benson

P.S. Attached are some pictures from Fredy´s baptism. 

HOLA everyone,

How is everyone doing?! Thank you for your sweet emails. Everything is going good here in Spain. Today I am up in San Sebastion because my companion had to go to Barcelona so I am up here staying with the sister here. It´s about 90 minutes away from Bilboa. And it is so so so beautiful here. It´s right on the coast below France. This morning we went on a run on the boardwalk! Mom you would have loved it! I wish you were all here with me. I head back to Bilbao tonight. The work is going well! And guess what?! We have a baptism this Saturday for Freddy. He is the dad from the family from Argentina. He is so great and prepared. His wife moved to Mynorca for a month to work so maybe he will baptize her when she gets back! The missionaries are going to keep teaching her there. It is so exciting to see some of the fruits of our labors! We are also still teaching Ali. He is doing well we just need him to start coming to church! We are still teaching  Mildret as well. Her and her parents are still deciding on a baptismal date for her. Sorry this is so short I have to run! But I love you so much! xoxo

Hermana Benson 

Some pics of Brooke's apartment and city.

   
                                       

Dearest family,

Hola everyone! How is the good old SLC? Ahhh I can´t believe that it is almost June and school will soon be out. That was always my favorite time of year growing up. How is the weather? Warm? I would really love some warm weather right about now. It has been pretty rainy and chilly here. I have been rockin my rain jacket, paragua, and my boots a lot. But I actually really like the rain. It make everything seem more magical haha. I just love how green and foggy everything looks here. The other day my companion and I were trying to find the house in this pueblo called Urribarri. And Urribarri is just up on the hillsides of Bilbao and let me tell you it is so cool. The streets are really narrow and steep and it is very lush and pretty. I might have to live there someday. We were pretty wet by the time we found this house. And Fideles ( the investigator that lives there was not home.. bummer but we will hike up there again soon). I will attach some pictures that we took! The street that he lives on is called the Ciudad de Jardine. So beautiful. 
This week I went on an intercombio for a couple days (I think that is an exchange in englais?) to a city called Zaragoza.... Pronounced tharagotha :) It is the fourth largest city and about 4 hours away from Bilbao. I was companions with a hermana that was in the CCM with me. It was well interesting because we are both so new. But we had a couple of miracles occured while I was there that I want to share with you! The first one occured when we were headed to a cita. We were just walking down the street when I woman approached us with a big smile on her face saying (in español) I believe in you... I believe in you. Hahaha and I was like that´s ¿Si? hahah muy bien. Yo tambien. She then asked us if we would pray with her for her friend Pablo who doesn´t belive in God. So we went of to a nearby bench and prayed with her for her friend Pablo. Then we were able to get her contact information so that some missionaries can start teaching her (she was from Minorca)! It was a really cool experience just because we never really get approached by people and it was awesome that she had so much faith in us. Okay the next miracle... We were teaching a woman named Helen and her two children. They are from Nigeria and have been recently going through some hard times. Her huscand just left her a few months ago and she is without a job. They Lord prepares people for us to find and teach. This was the first time they had met with the missionaries so we were teaching the restoration. The spirit was really strong during the cita and towards the end I felt like I needed to invite her to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. Right way she said yes, yes i would like to do that. As we were leaving she told me I feel so happy right now! This is what the spirit and the gospel bring into our lives! I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to share this with my brothers and sisters. Being a missionary is great. 
It is good to be back in the lovely Bilbao! The memers here are great and I love them a lot. The ward really has a spirit of missionary work. June is the month of invitations so they are all working hard to invite friends and family. We have some really great investigators right now. Maria Reneé will be baptized this saturday (hopefully!). She is a really cool woman from Bolivia. She loves american stuff haha. So when I call her she likes me to speak to her in english a little bit like Hello, how are you and she responds hi, i am fine haha. Oh and she also knows how to say I love you haha. We are also still teaching Ali, the guy from Pakistan. He is not proggressing as much as we would like. His fecha is for the 1st of June but he needs to find a new piso because he is living with his girlfriend and that doesn´t work. But we were so blessed to have two new investigators this week! Freddy and Veronica are from Argentina and their accents are just the best. They are the cutest little family, they have a three year old and a one year old. That babbbyy is so cute. He has the chubbiest cheeks and the biggest dark eyes. They are so receptive and have a baptismal date for the 8th of June also. Freddy came to church yesterday but Veronica had to stay home because the baby was sick. The Elders that are in our ward found them will they were out contacting. So cool! We are also teaching Mildret. Her parents are recent converts who are super great. Mildret has some disabilites so are going a little more slowly with her but she will probably be baptized within this next month :) 
The work here is great! The Lord is preparing people to hear the gospel. Be thinking and praying of who the Lord has prepared for you to share the gospel with. I love you all so much! I have the best family everrrr :) 

xoxo


Hermana Benson