Helado!

Las Hermanas

Seedy Reading

Ward Karaoke night

  

   Did you know that the most common food I eat here is ice cream? Its terrible, haha I don't think I will ever eat it again when I'm home. Members here ROCK they are always wanting to feed missionaries but then they like overfeed you. Last night I came home from having dinner with a member and was feeling kinda gross and yeeep threw up. Haha how splendid. But no seriously members here are really great and the food (besides the abundance of ice cream) is really great too, My favorite thing to eat is actually not from Spain, its from Bolivia called like.. saltenas. SO GOOD.

  Did Catalan get independence? I have no idea. I feel weird sometimes because people will talk about the news or whats going on in the world and I'll be like what? what? what? A couple days a go a man stopped us in the streets going off about what Obama said. All I could do was like nod my head and be like that's nice, because the truth is I have no idea what hes talking about. Yes I'm from America but I could not be farther from it psychically or mentally at this point.

(but I still have pride for my country)

Good news, bad news, in between news.

Ramon doesn't want to dejar las cosas en su vida, entonces ( Ramon does not want to let the things in his life go so...) he wont be getting baptized :(.   It is sad to say the least when you see someone get soooo far, and then stop right when they're at the finish line. Don't you know how many great blessings are awaiting you?! But this experience has taught me a couple things, like the need for diligent and continual prayer and scripture study and church attendance. Yea you may laugh, but the little things really are what makes it or breaks it in this life. I've seen it seriously CHANGE peoples lives, and I've also seen how when they stop doing it, they return to the person they once were. "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass"

We met a girl named Daniella though, who is just amazing. She was in an accident a year ago and miraculously survived. She was telling us she knows its because of God she survived and now she wants to dedicate her time to learning about him. We went over and taught  her about restoration and the Book of Mormon and she loved it and told us to come back. The second time we came back she had her friends there and so we taught about the plan of salvation and they all told us to come back haha. So we are going back this week to see them.

Not much has been said about my lil girl C lately.  That's because I haven't seen here because of SCHOOL.. ugg school. but she called us (what eight year old girl does this?) and was like I miss you guys when am I going to see you again? So we are coming by Wednesday. and even more her birthday's Saturday so holla we gonna party. 

Well life is good, life is grand. The work rolls on and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in my life right now. I'm grateful that coming back to Spain was a part of my plan because its just the best country on earth and I'm basically in love with it. 

LOVE YOU ALL. xoxox Hermana Cragun 

PS.Yesterday I taught a girl who told me that she thinks her daughter was a cat before this life (oh ya i forget to mention she believes in reincarnation)

 Anyway the reason she thinks that was because when she was pregnant a herd of cats use to follow her around and sit at her feet meowing, and shes sure it was because they 

were like meowing at her daughter. lol. I just sit and imagine some girl walking through the street with cats following behind her. She also thinks that before this life I was a nun.

 Weird, but I mean, Ill take it. a nun named Catalina, Cati for short. She has a lot of details on me before this life, I dont know how she knows so much. Shes really cool though. 

Catalan Flags all around

Zone Meeting and mission office

  Catalan flags out everybody because it is like Catalan pride week down here. Everybodys wearing them as capes, backpacks, you name it and they´ve though of it. Why? Because this next week everybody gets to vote on whether or not the Catalan region becomes independent! WOOOO. can you imagine? hahaha the catalan region becoming its own pais ( country). Wow. I actually think it might happen though. I think they´ll have to rename my misson if that happens. Who knows.

Anyway! update for this week. The week of walls basically. It was slooowwww on finding and on progressing. 

But am I discouraged? ummm no. Maybe one month ago this would have really gotten to me, but I'm really learning patience and trust. Sure its a little frustrating, but honestly it makes me want to work even harder this week.

I'm also learning that when your circumstances are at their worst, and when you think things cant get any better, that's when God shows up. With God, what seems like a hopeless situation is not only possible, its favorable. His power is made perfect in weakness. 

I cant wait to see what this week has in store for us :) I love this lil mission of Spain, I'm laughing and learning everyday and what more could I ask for than that?

love you all! xoxox Hna Cragun

no clue what week but there is a Fiesta to celebrate

   FIEEESSSTTAAAAAAAAAAAAA happenin´ here in Sabadell. Shops shut down, streets closed off. Confetti and music and roller coasters set up in the street. IT IS CRAZY, Every night they do fireworks and it sounds like World War III going on outside, haha I love it. Whats the reason for this fiesta? I have no idea. I'm beginning to learn from my time here in Spain that the people here like any reason to party, and their holidays generally last for a couple of days at a time. Hermana Stott summed it up best this week when she said, "Four days for fiesta Mayor? No wonder the people here are in a crisis."

But I think its the best thing ever. I don't blame the people for wanting to party all the time! I'm with them! 

  Ramon update: Baptism in a couple weeks. Progressing very well. Satan tempted him that awful lil serpent with something from his past. But Ramon just declined, pulling out his Book of Mormon saying that he was studying from this book and it had changed him into a different person so he couldn't. I think the person felt embarrassed after that, and Ramon could tell, so Ramon left them with a prayer to make them feel better. Basically... I feel like a proud parent. No just kidding, I really feel humbled. The book of Mormon isn´t just a book full of printed words and pretty stories, if we choose to read it, and actually apply the principles into our lives, it has the power to change us. Ramon said that himself this week. I feel so honored to have been able to witness that tiny but important lesson this week.

Intercambios with the Hermanas from Barcelona this week. Hermana Lee came down and worked with me. Shes a contacting queen from Korea, I don't know how she does it but she gets everyone to listen. She told me this week though to be brave because she thinks a leadership position will be thrown at me faster than I think. I think I still have a while till it happens, if it ever would. The idea kinda freaks me out still to be honest, but at the same time, the Lord is teaching me sooo much that he makes weak things become strong, and I know all things are possible with him so I'm not afraid. 

Anyways. the work goes on here in Sabadell, we got two new miracles this week, but you're just going to have to wait till next week to hear about them cause I'm out of time.Before I left I felt like 18 months seemed like a long time, now I'm feeling like my time here wont be enough. I love this work, and I want to use every second of it. I've got my hand to the plough and I'm never lookin back.

Lots of Love, lots of kindness, lots of ice-cream and good thoughts comin your way from Sabadell. Love your fav lil missionary, Hermana Cragun

   Well there was a little bit of Provo  and a ton of rivalry here in Spain this past week, as the BYU basketball team came and  destroyed the European team last Monday. I don't think I've ever been more invested in a basketball game in my life before, and I don't think there has ever been such competition between missionaries before in the history of ever. Dont worry, still good Christ like competition that is. But anyway it was so much FUN!! It was almost like I was back in the states cheering on my college team again. But probably better because this time around I'm a missionary in SPAIN. and it doesn't get better than that.

  Well this week was one for the books, lots of work and lessons and contacting. I feel like every week I learn something more, something new. And I love that! 

One of our investigators from Gambia is doing soooo well! I remember when I was in the MTC my teacher telling me one on one, that I would never forget the experiences I would have on the mission. That there would be moments here on the mission that I wouldn't have anywhere else in my life, one of those would be to hear your investigators pray. Maybe that sounds like such a simple thing but there really isn´t anything sweeter than hearing someone pray for the first time. Seedy has such simple and pure faith, and I love the spirit he brings when he prays with us. Ugg africans are just the best.

  Anyways Ramon and Carla are both doing great still :) Carla's family wants us to spend Christmas with them this year. Haha even though that's still months away I kind of hope I'm still here in this area because the truth is I love that family and the people here. I really think I could serve the rest of my mission in this one city and be soooo happy.

Well thats all for now. One last thinggggg. I was reading a scripture from Mosiah about the atonement it said "and with his stripes we are healed". And something came to my mind, even though this experience isn't from my mission I wanted to share it anyways. 

A couple months ago I got to go to Dachau in Munich Germany. ( When she was on study abroad).  Dachau is a concentration camp that I'm probably spelling wrong right now but that´s okay, anyways its pretty heavy, meaning its really sad. To see all the inhumane things that happened there and the way the people were so brutally treated...Well on that same trip my friend Cassie and I planned to go to church in Munich. We spent a couple of days in Zurich and planned to take the bus back to Munich, well long story short we almost missed the bus back to Germany. I remember praying soooo hard and running with everything I had to make the bus and by some miracle we did. A couple hours later we were sitting in the congregation  in Munich. 

 Well I barely speak english and spanish, and I definetly dont speak German, so I think its fair to say I had NO idea what was going on in sacrament that day. But one of the speakers looked out and saw us there, and in his best english told us the general confrence talk he would be speaking about. Cassie and I opened up to that talk and immediantly my eyes went to the scripture... "and I know my sheep and they are numbered". Well the spirit hit me so strongly in that moment. I knew that Christ knew me, he knew my situation, he had known my fear of missing the bus and being left in a different country. More than that he cared about me. He had me numbered.

  I learned so much about the atonment from that five day trip. Jesus Christ lives and loves us, we are his sheep and he is our shepherd. Sitting in that congregation with people I had never met, in a language I didn't speak, in a country I had never been to before, I had never felt more loved and more at home.

 I know that Christs atonement heals us from every sorrow we will ever feel. From our personal Dachau´s to our smallest moments of almost missing the bus, Christ can heal us. I am so happy to be his representative here on the mission and so lucky to spread this message of hope to all these people here in sabadell.

LOVE YOU ALL!!! xoxox Hermana Cragun

 loves her choc milk

 actual snail mail being sent

 but milk doesn't like her- going lactose free

 Ramon with the Hermanas

 little C and a letter she wrote her

Dear World,

I hope you know that this little town of Sabadell and the inhabitants there of, have a special place in my heart, as well as my companion/sister/mom/best friend Hermana Stott. I feel like the Lord has blessed me by putting me in the most amazing area with the most amazing people and culture.

Ramon has a BAPTISM DATE PEOPLE! Prayers and fasts truly do bring blessings. He didn´t want to be baptized till January,  I reminded him that God said if you love me, keep my commandments, so why don´t we start living the commandments today? He just stared at me stunned and then laughed and said, wow you´re right! He thought for a second and agreed that he needed to be baptized earlier and we set a date in Sep. 

This week I also learned a lesson about not being afraid to listen to the spirit. On our way to district meeting I saw this lady and thought I should talk to her, but  I wasn't sure if it was the spirit or me just wanting to talk to her. So I didn't do anything. At district meeting we talked about the importance of listening to the spirit. A quote was shared by Elder Bednar "whether it's the spirit, or your own thoughts, IT DOESN'T MATTER". Well I vowed to always act on those promptings. Later that day we were headed somewhere and were running late, I saw a different lady and felt I should talk to her. We were late, and I knew if we stopped to talk to her we would be even more late but those words came back into my head. I told Hrm Stott we needed to talk to her and as we stopped her, she clapped her hands and said! "YAY! I have been wanting to talk to you!" okay WHAT. that never happens here haha. but just goes to show you should ALWAYS act on the promptings of the spirit. 

Well that's all for now. Also, if you want a chance to see me and my comp and our two friends Seedy and  Rafa in action, tune into the BYU v. European Academy game tonight (or really today your time). Cause we'll be there. So who knows, you might just see us. Thaaaank youuuu President and Hermana Dayton. GO BYU. 

xoxo

Hermana  Cragun

Obedience brings blessings

 Maddie and little amiga C

 Cragun y Stott with the Elders and youth from ward the ward

 Sunset in Sabadell

SURPRISE!

Its me writing on Tuesday. I forgot to mention that the week of transfers preperation day changes, im sure everyone was very worried. Don´t be, Im still kicking it out here. Me and Hermana Stott are still comps this transfer (thank goodness) and still in Sabadell, which is good because I feel like my work in this city isn´t done yet!

This week was great :) lots of teaching and door knocking and contacting. It´s awesome because I feel like slowly, very slowly, we are beginning to see the fruits of our labors. My first day in this town we had zero investigators haha I remember riding on the train and Hermana Stott nervously telling me that we had like no one to teach. But now we have a ton I dont even know how many, and a lot of them are progressing. The menos activos we visit are beginning to re activate. The best is when you walk into the church and see them sitting there and they just wave at you knowingly :) best thing ever. Two of the boys we visit even are beginning to consider a mission, I really hope so, I think they would be amazing if they served.

Our investigators are doing great :) Little C oh goodness my darling little girl. She is the one I'm especially proud of this week. We were sitting in class when an Elder stuck his head in and was like ¨Hermana! someone is here for you!¨ So me and Hermana Stott walk out and see little C with her dad C at the door hahaha. Little C begged and begged I guess to come to church this week so her dad came and dropped her off. I got to go to primary with her and what not. My eight year old girl  comin to church on her own :) All the ward members think we look alike though, they kept stopping me and asking me if she was my sister. Nope. I wish though! 

Also, I accidentally made a lady run into a pole this week. hahahaha I feel so bad. The thing is, the culture here is to kinda just keep to yourself, so when I say hi to people on the streets its really surprises them. Ive had people just stop dead in their tracks and look at me honestly confused and be like... ¨do we know eachother?" Well this week I said hi to a lady, and she just kinda stared at me as she kept walking and well...ran right into a metal pole. Anyone thats heard me laugh knows that its not very quiet, so I had to exhort everything in me to keep it together. Poor lady.

Well anyways that´s it for this week, just one last thought though before I go. 

People often write me and ask how did you know you were suppose to go on a mission? The truth is, I never felt like I received a solid "answer" that I was for sure suppose to. There was even a moment in my life where I thougth that a mission wasnt the right thing for me. This week I was reading a talk called Obedience Brings Blessings, I came across one line where it said that "to obey is better than sacrafice". I dont know what it was in this phrase but something just hit me strongly. I could feel the spirit telling me in that moment that I had been obedient to His will. I realized in that moment that Heavenly Father really had given me an answer to go on a mission, he had given it to me years ago. I had always grown up wanting to serve, I had always grown up feeling like I should. I didn´t receive an answer at 18 to go because he had already told me years and years before.

If you want to serve a mission, GO! If you are considering a mission and feel like you haven´t received an answer, really stop, pray, and ponder about it. Maybe you like me have already received your answer, but you weren´t aware of it. And lastly, if you have a call and your life is falling apart, don´t give up. Like President Holland once said "Cast not away thy confidence". A mission is the best thing. The hardest thing, but the best thing. I know more than ever now that the Lord wanted me to go on a mission, he had told me at a young age, Im grateful I choice to be obedient to his will even if I didn´t fully understand it at the time because a mission really is the best thing ever. 

AAAHH. long letter this time sorry. Love you all though and hope you are doing well! xoxox Hermana Cragun

Opposition in all things

  When you get called on a mission, your call tells you that "greater happiness awaits you than you have ever experienced." Truth. Right there. What they didn´t write, or what I guess I should have put together was that there is "an opposition in all things" therefore, with happiness never yet experienced is also sadness, haha never yet experienced.

  I think discouraged was a good way to put my feelings for this last week. In shortest terms, Aaaaaanything, anything that could have gone wrong this week, did.  As we got back to our piso last night, we sat down, and well, cried hahaha.  But we knelt down and we prayed and we still thanked Heavenly Father for all the blessings that we had. And as we prayed I realized there were so many blessings I had been given I hadn't seen before.
   Henry B. Erying said that, "If we have faith in the Lord the hardest, as well as the easiest times in life, will be a blessing". I loveeee this and believe it with all my heart. If we put our trust in Heavenly Father, if we put our trust in our Savior, our trials can be turned to strengths. Maybe the hardest times won't be the happiest of times, but they will become some of our most valuable of times. We can truly be refined through our afflictions if we submit to the Lord, we can become someone we never thought we could be, someone that He wants us to be.

  That night our district leader called us and congratulated us on our week. (Shocking right?) I guess between everything that was falling through I hadn't actually stopped to see the work that we had done. He told us that currently we are leading the district right now. I hadn't even realized it but Heavenly Father had not only helped us meet almost every goal we had set this week, but he had also helped us exceed past them. We had accomplished more than we thought we could.

"R" also called us, he told us he was sick and that was why he wasn't able to come to church. He also told us that he had been praying, and that he knew someone was listening, he could feel it. He told us he realized that he had been baptized Catholic, and that if he died right now, he would die a Catholic, haha he told us he didn't want that. He told us that he knows the Book of Mormon is true, and that he wants to be baptized. :)

I am grateful for my Savior and my Heavenly Father. Sometimes it's hard to see it in the moment but our trials really are a blessing. At least they can be if we turn to the Lord. I know that trials are given to us to help us, that our Heavenly Father loves us and is more than aware of us and our situations, whatever they might be. If we put our trust in him, he will shape us into the person we are meant to be.

TE QUIEREMOS!

xoxox Hermana Çragun