#IDontEvenKnowAnymore

Hello,
     It's not really hot anymore. I don't even understand but something about clouds from Africa and storms from the north. I don't really know what to say. I am just tired.

For Pday we went to the Torre de Oro

     We are teaching this girl named Paola and I really like teaching her. She is 20 and her questions like make sense to me. They are the same kinds of things that I would ask if I didn't, you know, already know. The story on how we found her is really cool as well. A few weeks ago we didn't know anybody or any thing in our area, so we picked a handful of names and addresses that the elders left behind and we went out and hunted the addresses down. There was this one old teaching record of this old investigator named Stanly and one day we knocked on his door. This woman answered and she acted like she expected us. We asked for Stanly and that confused her. She asked if we recognized her #no. #awkward. She said she had been at church on Sunday. She's a member and she just moved here from Ecuador. Magali is her name. We had both been completely distracted on Sunday and had completely missed her. She invited us in and introduced us to her non-member friend Margarita and daughter Paola (see above). Well we asked if we could share a message with them now that we were there and all, and they agreed. We had a super spiritual lesson about The Book of Mormon. It was way cool. And they agreed to let us come back later in the week.
     We have now visited about four or five times. Mostly we just teach Paola now. Magali told us she had been praying for a way to share the gospel with her daughter because she knew that she wouldn't listen to the missionaries if she had been the ones to invite them. But this was perfect because we didn't even know the mom before we randomly went to their house. I don't know what happened to Stanly, but by small and simple things great things come to pass .

Well that's all I have time for. I love you all
Hermana Hannah Ashby

Pedro and Me

Pday at the Torre de Oro

Us and Carmen, an Australian/Spanish newly baptised member that lives in one of our pueblos

Enviado desde mi iPad

La Sartén

Hi,  
     It's really hot here. But like really hot. I'm dying. They call Sevilla "la sarten" or "the frying pan" because it is just so dang hot. And our brand new piso doesn't really have air conditioning. Death. I've invested in water bottles (many) and fans. Like the classic Spanish hand fans. That's what all the women in Sevilla are doing
these days.
     We had zone meeting. Hence the pictures. We are all very modern now with our iPads. It's super weird. I don't even bring scriptures around with me anymore. My bag is a lot lighter.
   
 I also went on intercambios this week. Last intercambio of my life (hopefully). I normally really hate intercambios, but I actually had a lot of fun this time. We found a few new investigators and took a ton of selfies. At the end of the day Hna Hurtado wanted to celebrate everything so we went to buy chicken and the lady at the counter was asking us about who we were and telling us about how missionaries used to visit her when she lived in Ecuador and then she gave us her number and address. Miracles come in the weirdest times and places.

We are actually doing really well in this new area. We have found a total of 10 new investigators this week. Not bad.
     Okay I've wasted a lot of time.
   
 Thank you everyone for emailing me this week. It was way cool to hear from you during the week. I love you all and I pray for you daily. Have a good week and keep updating me on your lives.

Love,
Hermana Hannah Ashby

La Mudanza

     Hey, guess what! I'm sitting here, writing you all from McDonald's.
What? How is that possible? Unless, wait, I have an iPad. That's
right. I have joined the ranks of those who have technology.

#selfie

There are so many restrictions on here that really I can only email, study Spanish, read scriptures, and watch Mormon messages. But it is pretty much literally the coolest thing I have ever done. Yesterday we taught Sunday school with the online manual and a video. And we taught an investigator a lesson using the kid's pamphlets app. Everyone thinks we are really cool now. We have become way more exciting all of the sudden.
     Ooo another thing, I can now read my email whenever I want. I can only reply on Monday, but I can read it whenever I want. So you should all send me a bunch of emails throughout the week so that I can feel cool every time I go to the church or walk by a McDonald's.
     Well anyways about transfers. It has officially come to pass. We are #whitewashing (I have an iPad, that's earned me the right to use hashtags)(are hashtags even like a thing anymore? Are they even a fake thing? #outdated)) Triana. This was probably the most tiring week of my life. But hey, you should all Google search Triana. It's pretty cool. And the part of the centre that we have has all the cool old
stuff. I mean, that also means all of the touristy stuff, which means
all hotels no apartment buildings, but, like alls good.
     We had to move pisos from the other side of the city. What a pain. And
this "new" pisos is the most chungo piso that I have ever been in. The
beds are basically in the kitchen. The pots and pans are stored under
the sink (where the mold grows) and the bathroom door doesn't open.
Oh, it closes just fine, the problem is opening after it's closed. We
have each locked ourselves in the bathroom like five times. But it's
okay, because we figured out that if the companion that is not locked
in the bathroom hands the companion that is locked into the bathroom a
knife through the window in the kitchen (yes, there's a window from
the kitchen to the bathroom) the one that's in the bathroom can jam
said knife into the crack between the wall and the door handle and pry
herself out. These are the kind of skills I am developing on the
mission mom and dad.
     Needless to say my new companion and I have had some really good
bonding experiences.
     Hermana Seoane is super Spanish, but don't tell her I said that. A
couple of members freaked because she is from the same town as Franco
(#googleit) but hearts were healed after she declared she always liked
South America more than her own country. #imayneverunderstandspain
but I like her. She cooks well and likes to contact. All I could ask
for in a killer.
     We've had a few serious miracles happen. Yesterday alone we found four
new investigators. (People that the elders didn't know before.) It's all
very exciting. I am being forced to work hard until the end.
#exhausted
Well love you!
Hermana Hannah Ashby

Italica

Salutations,
     Okay stuff that has happened. Let's see. We actually have more than one investigator now. I know, crazy stuff.
      After a successful classic gifting of American cookies, we have started to evengalize our neighbours. They actually are taking it pretty well. Manuel and Manuela. We have had three real lessons now and the last time they asked us to please continue to come (we had a good time lapse between visits and I think they got worried) and they literally said they were very interested. Now you don't really hear that very often coming from peoples' mouths. Even from those that actually are interested. They did however say they would probably never convert but you know that's what they all say.
     We contacted a man (German) on the street a few days ago and he had us come over to his house a few days later and it wasn't a fake address or anything. He and his wife (Jessica) and their four small children sat and listened to us explain The Book of Mormon. I am so exctied to be teaching a family. German's whole family our members in Ecaudor apparently and he used to play basketball with the Elders as a little boy. They were very attentive listening to us and had some great questions. They are kind of a miracle actually.
     Pedro is still going strong. The treatment is making him quite sick but he has seen some major improvement. He can now put his legs in the water up to his knees. Miracle. We all just keep praying.
I have to go right now. Time is cut short this week. I love you all so much.

Hermana Hannah Ashby

Agua

To All Whom It May Concern:
     It is ridiculously dificult to send pictures here. I realize that have failed miserably and continue to fail in sending picutres, but know thaat I put in a good effort every Monday.

Sevilla 1

     Well, the feria was sweet. Everyone was dressed up in fancy flamenco dress and riding horses and dancing and eating paella. And drinkng and smoking, of course. Probably the most Spanish experience I have ever had. We even rode on a ferris wheel and got an amazing view of the whole city. It was really spectacular.
     So I have a cool story about real missionary work and stuff. I would have shared earlier, but it is kind of delicate and I wasn't really sure where this was going to lead.
     We have an investigator whose name is Pedro. The story goes that when Pedro was a baby he had a bunch of weird sicknesses like polio and stuff and at three months old he went into a coma-like thing. He stayed in said coma for eight years. He was in a vegetable state. Then nurses who didn't really know what they were doing (imagine medical care 60 years ago in europe, I shudder) put him in a bath and turned on the hot water. The water reached almost boiling temperatures and severely burned young Pedro. And Miracle of all miracles, Pedro screamed for the first time in years. Well fast forward Pedro is confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life and is entirely unable to touch large quantities of water without going into epileptic fits, but otherwise has very little problems later on in life. He becomes a psychologist, gets married, has two sons: all is good. Until He runs in to the mormon missionaries - Now this is about 25 years ago. The missionaries continue to teach him off and on for years and he goes to church pretty regularly. Only problem, he can't get baptized without touching the water.
     So I get here and he is our only investigator and naturally his story fascinates me. But the more I teach him the more I kind of doubt that he has an actual testimony. Like, I knew he liked the church, but I didn't really think he knew it was true and kind of doubted that he really would get baptized if he could. So we decided to put him to an ultimatem: he gets baptized or we stop teaching him. I realize that probably sounds bad without all the details and the missionary aadvise of being bold and dropping investigators who don't progress. But we felt like it was time. We asked him if he believed that this was the true church. He said yes. If Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Yes. If he believed in miracles. Yes. If he would be baptised. And he agreed. April 25th. We were shocked. And then we terrifiedly promised him that if he would put is full effort in that God would open up a way for him to be baptized. Then for the next few weeks we very solemnly prepared Pedro to enter the waters of baptism.
     We re-taught him all the lessons, we talked him through the interview. He set up appointments to meet with doctors to find out what the worse that could happen would be . He assumed death, but he wanted to know for sure. Okay, insane I know. But honestly I was surprised it was going so far. So we decided to call President. He discussed it with us and advised us to proceed with caution, and to follow the doctors' advice. and to offer him a priesthood blessing. Wednesday we roped the Elders into coming to a cita with Pedro. They gave him a beautiful blessing and promised him that God would help him follow his commandments.            Thursday morning Pedro recieved the results from all the tests the doctors had run. Today, Monday he is going to start a 40 day (notice the symbolism) treatment program. He will go to a center with a pool every morning at 6am. He will recieve some heavy medications and be heavily montiored but they predict that he will indeed be able to touch water normally by the end of it all. He is puting in the effort and the solution will come. What a relief. So the new fecha is June 7th I think. What is the Sunday forty days from today? I think it's the 7th. Well, anyways. He could use your prayers.
     And there is my life. Keep you updated. Have a good week.

Love,
Hermana Hannah Ashby

Feria de abril de Sevilla

Hannah was not able to write this week (20 April 2015) because of this festival in the city she is in. Check out this website for a few more details, and enjoy these pictures of things she might be experiencing while doing the work of the Lord:

El Arie Sevillano

Dear Todos,
     Either my life has gotten very boring or my perspective has changed. I need to start looking for cool things that happen so that I can write exciting letters.
     We just spend a lot of time walking around trying to find investigators.

     This guy contacted us on the street a couple of weeks ago and wanted to meet with us, so we set up a time and place but he didn't show--so then we kind of forgot about him... awkward. But then he called us this week, apologized and set up another meeting. We met with him and the lesson actually went really great and he swore he would come to church, but then he didn't. We called him and found out he doesn't actually even live in our area. He lives in one of the random Pueblos that we don't actuallly work in. So off to the Elders he goes. It was a cool experience though. He'll probably get baptized or something.
     My companion has decided to define me as an old native elder. Soooo if you have ever wondered what kind of missionary I am... that's it. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
   

 It's transfer week but nothing is happening to us.
     I just read over this email and I sound depressed or something. I promise I am not. I am very happy... I just can't think of anything to say.
     Sevilla is really pretty. Especially as the weather warms up. Spain thrives in the summer. The people all open their doors and sit on the proches and sing and gossip. There are orange trees and daisies everywhere.

It smells almost overwhelmingly of orange trees and incense (a nice catholic touch). Oh, but don't forget the cigarette smoke. I've almost become immune to cigarette smoke. I don't usually smell it anymore. But I know that it is there :)

Well. Sorry for the uneventfulness. Being a missionary really is the best thing ever.
I love you!
Hermana Hannah Ashby

Semana Santa parte 2

Querida Familia,
     It was Semana Santa! For us that baisically just means we worked in a ghost town all week. Our area is kind of isolated from the rest of the city so everyone just took off and went to the city center for the celebrations and what not.
     We have a couple of peublos (little towns) that are also included in our area so we tried to focus a little bit more on those this week since no one was in Pino Montano (the section of Sevilla that we have). We did some fun exploring and searching for the menos activos that have probably never been visited. These pueblos are super pretty. They look like what I pictured Spain would look like before I actually came here. White painted villages.
     We met some people that have a lot of potential also. Everyone in the streets gave us funny looks. They are obviously not used to foreigners or missionaries visiting. So that meeant they were really curious when we talked to them. It was kind of cool. Spaniards are naturally very open and talkitve people when not suspiciouly trying to shut down all attempts of talking about "other" religions. I quite enjoyed myself. But it does make things kind of complicated for the future because getting the pueblo people to the city for church is not an easy task so we are still going to do most of our work in Pino Montano. Una lastima.
     And don´t forget! It was Conference weekend! Best weekend of the year! This time I got to see all sessions in English. They set up a little english room for all us English speakers. We even got permission to stay up and watch half of the Sunday afternoon session. We got to see up to President Uchtdorf do his announcement in German before we had to take off. It was very difficult to leave.
     Easter is beuatiful. Christ lives.

That was my week. I love you all!
Hermana Hannah Ashby

Break Through

Hola!
     I feel like finally this week we have got the work actually going. I have no idea why it took this long but I am feeling relieved. This week we found investigators, invited people to be baptized, got into inactive members' houses and everything else that sumarizes missionary work. We really are just getting it started though so I don't know if I have any cool stories or fun details.
     Okay heres one: Remember Santos? The alive guy? Welp story: Like Monday or so a member (Amalia) called and told us she wanted to visit him, with us. We thought it sounded like a good idea. Thursday we waited for her in front of Santos' house when she arrived with another member and her husband. We were surprised to see so many people and were worried that Santos didn't expect us all to just show up, but boy were we wrong! He had a whole array of snack items set out for us and we realized that this was not a missionary vist, it was a convention of sorts. With the leaders of the more experienced generation of the Sevilla 1st ward. The Old People club. Se llama Nuevas Miras. I do not know how we got an invite but my companion said she has never seen me in such a natural state. My natural habitat= old Spanish folk. They discussed their goals for the year, asked for donations (I excitedly pitched in a euro) and at one point we were holding hands in a circle singing Flamenco music. Then we did a group improv skit about old people complaining about young people. We took a group picture

and I read them one of my favorite new scriptures in which Paul calls the saints fellow citizens in the family of God. They almost shed literal tears. All while sipping on our Salmorejo. So so so cool.
     They want to take a group trip to Cádiz to visit all of the old folk there andI gave them some references. There going to make a book. I'll oder a copy, don´t worry. I don't know if I'll ever have an experience that tops that one so I'll probably just end with that.
     Last week we had trizone conference and I got to see Hna Evelo and Hna Read(from the mtc). And other friends. That was fun too I guess.
Welp have a good week, friends!
Love,
Hermana Hannah Ashby

Dead or Alive

Hey!
     We had a week of searching for people. It will continue.
     Best stroy I have: Last week we were in ward council and it lasted for like two hours and towards the end I completely lost my ability to pay attention and was in the back chatting with my comp when I heard the second counselor to the bishop say something like "I heard he was dead." So I decided I should probably listen closer-- some ward member had died afterall. The counsel commenced a discussion with how to deal with funerals and comforting the family and what-not when the Young Women's president piped in and said "He isn't dead, I saw him on the bus yesterday." Well you can imagine the commotion that started. They all argued for a good twenty minutes about whether or not this man was dead when the Bishop called for order and then turned to us and asked, "Hermanas, is Santos still alive?" Welp awkward. I may or may not have been wondering (and judging) how in the world the ward could not know if this was person alive or not and at the same time I might have thought it was kind of funny. (In an ironic sense of the word.) I was not aware that we had responsibilty over him. Apparently, he is a recent convert that was baptised a few months ago but stopped coming to church almost right after his baptism. Neither of us had ever heard of him. We were given the assignment to find out if he was dead or alive. Thus ended the ward counsel.
     Wednesday morning we dedictated to hunting him out. We went to the address that we had for him but it did not exist. So then we called some people and wandered around until we found his real address. finally we knocked the door, a man in a wheelchair answered and ordered us to come in. (We were keeping another Hna company while she was waiting for her companion to travel so there were three of us.) We tried talking to him but he wouldn´t let us. He just kept gong on about how he was in a wheel chair and couldn't walk and apologizing for how he didn't have any food for us. We were confused but finally we got him to admit that his name was indeed Santos! He is very much not dead. Case solved. And miracle he came to church on Sunday for the first time in a long time. Because the ward wanted us to see if he was dead, we visited him. Oh what a mess. God works in mysterious ways. Honestly kind of summarizes my week.
     Well. I love you all. I pray for you. God loves you.

Que tengan una buena semana!
Hermana Hannah Ashby

Mapas

Mi Queridisma Familia,
     Once upon a time my companion got Bronchitis and we spent a ridiculous amount of time in the piso waiting for her antibiotics to kick in. I have never felt more restless in my life. I was however able to super organize the Area Book. The missionaries before me did not own a map of our area so we went on a hunt searching for a good one and I spent the week in piso matching up peoples' addresses and everything to the map. Not fun, but necessary. Now our work is going to be a lot easier. My companion has officially been healed so we have been freed from the green cube we call our piso. It feels nice to breathe.
     And Hermana Garcia really is great. We've made fast friends. I'm very, very hopeful for the rest of this transfer.
     Candela was baptised. The service went very beautifully. The spirit was strong, and all of her classmates and nonmmber family members were there and enjoyed it.
     Sevilla is beautiful. Just a pretty city; lots of ancient things everywhere. The people are very recpetive--I just feel very blessed to be here.
     I can't think of really anything else that has happened... so talk to y'all next week!

Hermana Ashby

PS Here are some pictures that Antoni and Amaila sent to me:

Sevilla

Hola!
     Here I am. Chillin' in Seville. No big deal.
     Transfer weeks are the weirdest because baisically your world changes within just a few days. Leaving Cádiz was just so sad. I miss it. Just a gorgeous little beach town. Sigh.
     But Sevilla is honestly awesome. It is giant. At least compared to Cádiz and Peurtollano. I'm trying to remember how Granada was. Probably a similiar size but there were less missionaries therefore we covered a bigger area so it seemed a whole smaller. There are a ton of missionaries here and I am not used to it. And two wards. The ward here is probably twice the size as the ward in Cádiz was. And it is super stable. And there are so many interesting people. It is very diverse. A woman from Australia made us binofy (honestly no idea how to spell that) pie. There are multiple families from the Philippines. The Bishop's family is the cutest thing ever. Ooo! Almost forgot to mention, we are going to have a baptism this weekend. Like sort of. She is nine. Her mom is a member but she is super hippie (complete with dred locks) and she decided that primary didn't teach her daughter enough and she wanted her to take all of the missionary discussions before she got baptized. It has taken over a year now but finally we have finished and the baptism will be on Friday (the 13th). And it now counts as a convert baptism. So no complaints. A very, very cute little girl named Candela. I am excited. We are brainstorming ideas on how to make a nine year old baptism really meaningful for her. We will probably buy here a journal and write our testimonies in it. We made her a sticker calender so that she can mark when she reads in The Book of Mormon and prays. It's fun.
     Welp, That's all folks.

Talk to you next week!
Hermana Ashby

Gofres!

Mis Seres Queridos,
     I don't even know what happened this week. Not much I guess. We had a gofre (waffle) party on Thursday. The señor couple that's on the military base near by made them for us because most of our district is going to be changing this transfer. It was awesome. I can't even remember the last time I've had a good gofre.
     Saturday we recieved transfer calls! I am headed to Sevilla! (aka Seville in English) Sevilla Ward 1. Yes, there is more than one ward there. Weird, right? My new companion will be Hna Garcia. I've met her once. She is very sweet. The last name sounds Spanish but she was def American when I talked to her. I don't know what that's about, I'll figure it out. I am sad to be leaving Cádiz though. It's a good place. Hna Smith is coming to take my place here. She's young in the mission but I´ve heard a lot of good things about her so I am excited for hna Evelo. Even though it's sad to leave her. Hna Evelo is the best.
     Also, Saturday night the Elders had a baptism. She is a little old lady. It was super precious. She walked in when hna Evelo and I were filling the font and she was super worried that she would drown or the water would be cold so we talked her through it all and let her feel and choose the water temperatura. Super adorable.
     Antoni came to church yesterday even though we told him he didn't have to if he didn't feel up to it. He is super dedicated. They bought all kinds of coffee substitutes and are testing them all out. Amalia is still afriad. She told us this week that it all just scared her so much because when she me with us she really just expected us to have a very basic knowledge of the Bible with an emphaisis on families based on what she had heard before. But instead we know everything that she has studied and discovered on her own and more and that freaks her out. She has a hard time accepting that there really is one true group out there. It's kind of frustrating for us because she literally has no problem with any doctrine at all. I think she is just wondering if we are a trick coming from Satan or actually from God. Time will tell?
And that's all for this week. I love you all.
Hermana Ashby

Tarshish

Buenos Días,
     So I just found something out. It's game changer. Cádiz is Tarshish in the Bible. Look it up, it is in the Bible Dictionary, but specifically you should look up Isaiah 66:19. It says that the gospel will be preached to the gentiles in Tarshish in the last days. I am fulfilling prophecy. No big deal. Also, it is the city that Jonah tried to escape to before a whale ate him. Also, not a big deal. Lies! It's a really big deal.
     Hey, so update on the investigators Amalia and Toni. They've tried to drop us a few times since I mentioned them last but we decided to ignore that unless they told us that we weren't welcome to come back. They were just afraid of committment. So Friday we were suppposed to meet with them and then Toni calls right before and tells us that Amalia's having a bad day so maybe we could come Tuesday and that'd be better. I told him "no, we´ll just call on Saturday and see how she is." And then we decided to go and leave a post-it note on their door with a nice uplifting scripture also saying that we hope she feels better soon. Then at 3 in the morning we get a text from Amalia that they got our note coming home from the hospital. Toni had a heart attack a couple of months ago and had to get open heart surgery and was in recovery but on Friday he was having chest pains again. He told us it was Amalia because he didn't want us to worry. Also, Saturday morning we called very concerned, obviously, and they told us that at the hospital they didn't have any room to admit him so he was to come back on Sunday (Spanish medical care), Also, the doctor told him to cut anything stressful out of his life which they decided was us. But he still told us that we could come over whenever we wanted.
      We offered the Elders to give him a blessing, he accepted and then we made cookies, met with the Elders and the Ward Mission Leader, and went to their house to give him a blessing. They reacted very well and we told them to call us on Sunday when they knew what was going on.
     Sunday afternoon they called from home telling us they had just gottten back. He had little veins around his heart that were destoying themselves-I don't know how to phrase that in English. It's not anything big I guess. But here comes the good part! He told us that he had just told his wife that he had decided to enter. I'm assuming that means to get baptized. He said he is throughroughly convinced that our doctrine is true, and even more, that we have shown him that our doctrine is true through our example and how we weren't willing to leave them. My heart melted. They are the best. We told them to rest and we would call today. We will see how things go from here.
     And that is all the exciting stuff that has happened this week.

I hope you all have a good week!
Hermana Hannah Ashby

Carnaval

Howdy!
     So nothing really happened this week. Also, I awkwardly wasted a lot of email time. Sorry.
     Umm, we helped a member learn English beefore a test. It is super weird to teach English. I don't know English.
      It was Carnaval. I still don't know what Carnaval is. It was super crowded for a few hours in our party of a city but then everyone migrated so it didn't really effect anything. Okay, I really have to go.

I love you all!
Hermana Hannah Ashby

Ropa Vieja (It means old clothes) This is a Cadiz classic!

Baptismal dates

This couple was celebrating their 35th anniversary and invited us to lunch

Leones

Hey!
     So this was a really weird emailing week. I'm trying to get a lot of pictures to you so this email is going to be very brief.
     Last Monday I got my haircut! Woohoo. Sort of a scary experience getting your hair cut in spanish. I was only able to tell her very generally what I wanted, but it turned out fine and is easier to mange now. it's really not all that different.
     We had zone meeting on Friday. That was fun. They fed us hot dogs and mac and cheese. A delicacy.
Oooh! A member fed us sea snail things. mmm. Pictures will be included.
     Played soccer on saturday and then aslo today. I am def a pro now. Mas o menos.
Okay now for the pics.
Love you all!
Hermana Hannah Ashby

Paintballing

One year pizza

Gibralter

Me and Hermana Watson

Tranky papers. Can you feel the terror?

Carnaval

The super cool futbol pitch we played on