Hermanas Conference in Malaga

So I am finishing up my last few days here in Ciudad Real. It is such a strange feeling to leave this area. I feel so excited to move on to Dos Hermanas, but at the same time, I am really sad to leave behind all of the people I love here in La Mancha. There is really something special about La Mancha that I do not think I will find anywhere else in the mission. This past few days, as I have started saying my goodbyes, I have realized how much I love these people and how much they love me. They are literally feel like they are family members. The members here are so impoortant to me--I just pray that they will see a baptism here soon so that they can get excited about missionary work again and really have more hope that the branch will grow.

This week we went to Hermana´s Conference in Malaga! It was sooooo fun! We were there for about 2.5 days and it was just great to see my old companions and also to meet all of the hermanas in the mission. President and Hermana Clegg do not have to have an Hermanas conference, they just do it because they want to. They are sooo wonderful! I feel so blessed to be in this mission!

Here are a few pictures from theSpain Malaga Mission Blog!

Twins!!! Valerie and Hermana Clegg have matching Swarovski earrings!

All 20 Hermanas in the Spain Malaga Mission at Hermanas Conference in Malaga.


Hermana Letendre meeting her new companion, Hermana Collett.
Hermana Collett & Val pointing to Dos Hermanas!!! Dos hermanas in Dos Hermanas, Spain!! How very cool!

Hello! Hello!

So, transfers is this week! My companion is getting transferred to Malaga. She leaves on Wednesday, so we have a TON of things to do. we have to clean a lot to get ready for my new companion, Hermana Carter. Hermana Carter is coming from Sevilla where she has been training Hermana Crowder! I just got some interesting news today..... On Wednesday, I will be going to Sevilla to stay the night there!!!!! wow!!!!!! how exciting!!!!! I guess hermana Carter cannot leave sevilla on wednesday because she has some residency things to do there... so i get to go there for a night! that means that I get to see hermana crowder!!!! and i get to see sevilla!!!! how cool!!!!!!!! i will be taking the train to sevilla with elder white, an elder from la mancha who is going to be transferred to sevilla. then i will come back on thursday to ciudad real! how exciting!! Ill take a bunch of pictures!

This past week was great. we met a few really great investigators.

This week in church was the pri9mary presentation! it was great!! we dont have many children at all, but they did a wonderful job, and the spirit was so strong!!! it was soooooo great! we had 3 investigators at church and they LOVED it! one of them is from Cuba! how cool! she just arrived in spain about a month ago, so she is very new here... but i thinj its so interesting that she is from cuba!

Soo this week we also had a fun time at the home of a less active member, Nieves. Nieves has two children... ages 22 and 25. her daughter is 25 and is studying law! we get along great. that is the home that i am going to for christmas eve! it should be really fun!! so dont worry about me, i will be having fun! im not sure what i am doing on christmas yet, but we have a p-day so if i dont have plans i get to just hang out at home!!! thats exciting! there are some single mebers of my ward that dont ghave family here, so we are going to try to do something with them! it will be fun!

Happy December!!

This week was good. we had a lot of great citas with members and less active members this week. We still dont have any baptisms planned, but we are still working hard, and have had some good lessons with some investigators. we have one man who would be ready to be baptized if he could come to church! his name is luis. i have told you about him before. his work schedule is going to be changing so he said he will be able to come to church starting in january!!! well wait and see what happens! he is such a great man!!!!!

This week we also got to play soccer with two of our younger investigators and a less active member!!! It ended up being really really fun! we got to play with a bunch of other people who were in the park, and we ended up getting 3 people´s phone numbers who want to come to our english classes!!! elders play soccer with investigators a lot and also play with people in the community to meet new people, but usually the hermanas dont! it was really fun to do it!!!! the less active member that came to play too used to be a professional soccer player in peru!!! he is now a soccer coach for kids here in ciudad real! it was so much fun!!

Anyways, things are going great! i miss you all!

Another Week in Ciudad Real!!

First off, thanks for sending me a ferw pictures this week! I loved that in the picture that dad sent, "I" was eating black olives!!! hahaha I eat so many olives here... mostly green though. And a cool thing is that the olives are starting to turn black on the trees now! it is cool, somtimes you can just see them walking around in the streets!!!

So I will first tell you about my thanksgiving celebrations!! yes, plural! we celebrated thanksgiving twice. I will attach pitures of both celebrations! First, last p-day, we celebrated with all of the missionaries from our district! each missionary companionship was in charge of cooking one dish and bringing it! we had such a great meal! it was like a real thanksgiving... even though we had chicken instead of turkey! (turkey is a little hard to comeby here!). Hermana Sturgess and I made an apple pie and a greenbean casserole! I thought of Meme when I was making the greenbean casserole! It turned out really great even though we had to make it in a pinch because they dont even sell things like cream of mushroom soup here!!! Along with the things we made, other elders made mashed potatoes, a sweet potato casserole, and the cleggs made chickens, stuffing, a pomagranite salad, and a soup! Oh, we even wre able to get cranberry sauce from a specialty store in Malaga!!!!!!! wow!!! it was soooooo good! we had such a great time. After the meal, we all went around and said what we are thankful for. It turned into a really spiritual experience. All of the missionaries in our district are amazing and they are all so grateful for the gospel and so grateful to be missionaries. What a great bonding experience!!

So, our second celebration was on Thanksgiving night at Presidente and Hermana Sanz´s home (president of our branch). They had never celebrated thanksgiving before, but they really made a special night for us!!! We taught the kids how to make handprint turkeys, and told them the story of the first thanksgiving! We then ate! we had little pizzas, salad, and toasts with cream cheese and salmon for appitizers!! then we had chicken and mashed potatoes for our main dish!!! it was soooo nice of them! we even had a candel lit on our dinner table! they really wanted us to feel like we were at home!!! It was so sweet! we have a great branch fmily here!!!

This week i also got to eat at my neighbor, Isabel´s home! Isabel is 91 year old woman, and our friend Myra takes care of her. They invited us over for mediodia, and we had a very spanish dish... Migas!!! Migas are kind of like stuffing, but kind of taste fried! you eat migas usually with some kind of fruit because otherwise they are very dry! you should look it up. they are quite intereting! it was so fun eating a really spanish mediodia with them! isabels son was visiting from Mardid, so he was the one who cooked with us! Isabel is an amazing woman. She lived through the rise and fall of the dicttor, Franco, and was an orphan t the age opf 15. She has seen a lot in her life, and loves it when we come over. She is extremely catholic and tries to convince us that we should pray to the virgin mary.... haha. But she is always willing to let us shre spiritual thought... she thinks the scriptures from the book of mormon re beautiful!

Things are going well here. We are still teaching and working hard. No big news on that front. We through we would have some baptismal dates set this week, but it just hasnt worked out! I heard tht my MTC companion Hna. Crowder had her first baptism in the mission!! thats so exciting for her! She is in Sevilla!.

Anyways, things are going well! I love ciudad real and the members here. Thanks for sending me the pictures and things!

Greetings from La Mancha!!

Hola!

I am in my first area! I was called to serve in Ciudad Real, which is in La Mancha (Home of Don Quixote)!!!! It is great. It is a smaller city. It is small enough that we can just walk everywhere and do not have to take much public transportation. The buildings are mostly relatively modern. Our apartment (piso) is pretty nice. We even have a balcony where we do our nightly planning! La Mancha is the hardest district in our whole mission. It is a district, not a stake...so there are not many members. There has not been a baptism in Ciudad Real for a year...but we can feel it changing! We are teaching some great people and we are working so hard! We are praying so hard that we will see a baptism here by the end of the month! I am so happy to be here in a difficult area. We as missionaries have to do a lot for the members as well as our investigators...to keep them strong and to make sure that the branch runs smoothly. I met some of the members yesterday when we went to General Conference! It was great!!

My companion is Hermana Sturgess! She is wonderful! She is American, and she has been in Spain for about 9 months. Her Spanish is amazing and she is such a loving and kind person. I love being with her! She is teaching me so much, and even though my spanish is not great, I have been participating a lot in lessons and also in street contacting.

So Don Quixote is everywhere. In the Plaza Mayor here in Ciudad Real there is a clock and on every hour, the bells go off and Don Quixote comes out!! Haha it is so cool! I will send photos soon. I forgot my card reader today! BUT go on the mission blog to see the photos of when I was at the mission home. I looked at it this morning! it is soooo cool! My companion Hermana Crowder is in Sevilla.

SPAIN MALAGA MISSION BLOG

Take Care,

Hermana Letendre