6-25-18

Hello! Sorry not tons of time today it's transfers and we are running around all over Madrid. It was a pretty good week! We are starting to really work with the members a lot more and it is the best. The members are starting to love us. They have been feeding us a ton! And slowly but surely introducing us to some of their friends.
The time has come for me as well I think I have to swallow my pride and start wearing sunscreen haha!
We had a really cool lesson this week with one of our friends who is this cute 16 year old Spanish gal, we taught her that God was her father and it was incredible to she that for the first time she recognized the spirit. We were teaching her in a park and afterwards she just didn't want to leave because of the peace she was feeling... So who knows how long she sat there in that park but it was awesome. It reminded me of an experience that I had when I was about her age and it was just a real sweet experience to share with her. The mission rocks.
There is lots of changes going on right now and my mission is about doubling in size. Also our new mission president comes this week. Haha I love seeing how much change makes everyone squirm. I'll be staying in Alcalá but Hermana Willden left this morning and tomorrow night I'm going to pick my comp up from the MTC. I'm super excited it will be so much fun having a new comp!
Life is good! Have a great week!

Hermana Simmons 

6-18-18

Well summer came this week in full swing. I will just say this once and let it apply till about September. It's hot.
Haha. It was quite the week. It's amazing how adversity excelerates the learning process. I learned some really cool and valuable lessons this week for sure.

We have a friend named Yemina who has incredible parallels to a young Joseph Smith, she has so many questions and really feels she is in a war of words and opinions. We sat down to teach her this week and along comes this man looking for a good Bible bash. Haha, it was too funny, he kept bringing his buddies over too and I just had to chuckle to myself why all these 50 year old men just could leave us two 19 year old girls alone. Sometimes the adversity that our investigators face is very real and visible to us. 

Afterwards poor Yemina expressed her frustration and confusion as she told us how many people have come up to her like that this last week. We just focused on the Book of Mormon and we were able to promise some really cool and specific blessings.

Guys pray for her! She just needs to read but is having trouble getting started.

Aah! It hurts the soul a bit! Just read the Book of Mormon, the answer to all trials, temptation, adversity! The difference it makes is immeasurable. 
Haha I just need to record myself ranting about this and re-watch it after the mission when I have 7.30 class and every excuse not to read for just 5 minutes. 

I learned this week as real as opposition is so is the heavenly help. 
I learned the impact of just listening. 
I learned that if you are too busy today to chose to do the small and simple, you will always be too busy. 
I learned to more shamelessly rock pit stains. 

Life is good! 
Have a great week! 
Hermana Simmons

6-11-18

I'm doing well. Haha diligence. That about sums the week up. Learning the heavenly virtue of patience!
Cool story this week. Something really incredible is that in the work of the Lord we have the right to expect miracles. So we did this week. On Saturday we had an appointment set up with a woman we met in the streets but she was not responding to our messages or answering her phone and we didn't know where she lived, however I was SET on teaching this woman! Haha! I knew we would. So we got on the bus, showed a little faith, and went over to where we met her. We got there and sat on a bench to try calling her again when guess who walks around the corner. That's right. Miracle. Boom. They happen.
We were able to teach her and some of here family, even though I'm fairly sure the cousins were all a little intoxicated. Haha. Anyways moral of the story, have faith, act, and look for the miracle.
Keep praying for us!
Love you all!

Hermana Simmons ️

It Rains in Spain 6-4-18

We spent a whole lot of time roaming the streets this week! Haha too much fun! Nothing like learning the beauty of the virtue of diligence!
Yesterday we had an incredible first lesson with this super cool guy names Oscar. We are working with tons of young people right now. It's the best! Afterwards we had a super fun activity and tons of students who are here on a study abroad came and Oscar couldn't believe how cool and normal we Mormons are..... That's what I keep telling these people!

Anyways, it was a good week. I love the mission work. It's awesome.

Hermana Simmons

1. My ego permits me from bringing an umbrella with me in June. So I had to get creative on the rainy days.

2. We went to this super random park today with replicas. Of tourist sights all around Europe

5-28-18

Wanna here about a miracle.
So we were walking to catch a bus this week and we ended up taking a few wrong turns and we missed the bus, the next bus didn't come for an hour so we kinda changed our plans and started heading over to the university but we went a new way and it appeared like not a great decision because there was seriously one person on the street, so classic, we talked to the one person. It ended up being a girl studying about our age. We got taking and she told us that this week with her congregation she was doing a special fast and prayers ever 6 hours.. Even in the middle of the night.. To find the truth as she said.
She was really interested and was thrilled about the book of Mormon, also her long lost friend is a return missionary from a neighboring ward. We got in contact with the friend and she is going to help us teach her.
It was incredible! I got the chills after just thinking about how precise of timing that was for her to have put in our path. We had to miss a bus and walk down a random street, but I know we needed to meet her.

Moments like that just make me realize really how much God's hands are actually in our lives. I think we may not actually be able to realize it to the full extent in this life but He is! We try to do what's best, try to make our own  good decisions and He'll make up for what wisdom we lack.
So next time you miss a bus or get lost or something bigger, a major change of plans in life.. Don't even sweat it, sometimes that's just how God works.

Anyways being a missionary rocks. It's really the best.

Today my district went to Segovia. It was a dream. Spain really is that beautiful. The pictures don't even capture it! How lucky am I no?!

Love you guys!

Hermana Simmons

1. Just 3 of 167 Segovia pics

2. This week we had lots of random rain storms haha! 

3. The lady who took the group picture insisted we take a picture with her dog.... Look how well I've learned to fake liking dogs... 

5-7-18 Sunny Week!

Wow. This week was just weird.

So we met this lady named cacilda, And somehow instantly became best friends. She calls us one morning and said I have a gift for you. So we meet up in this place and she gives us a little present and then takes us to this place where they give free massages and they were having a giant potluck. And she introduced us to all her friends.
I know that story doesn't make any sense and seems so ubrupt but the truth is the experience didn't make any sense and was incredibly random.

Also this week we got invited to go see an investigators 10 year old twins sing... So we thought. Wow. This could be a good way to support them. So we go. And it ends us being an incredible orchestra! Seriously it was insanely cool! We kinda thought to ourselves... Hmm... Should we be here but we had like front row seats and couldn't get out. Afterwards we had to sprint home. To make it home on time! Not our best 

We have been finding alot of people lately and teaching a lesson or two and then they stop meeting with us. But we met this lady named Annette and taught her this week and had a really spiritual lesson (even though we met in a bus station and there was a jackhammer going the whole time) and it was incredible to feel the difference between those who are really searching for more and those who just kinda stumble upon the truth. I think that applies to everyone in the way we do the little things. Doing things for the sake of doing it doesn't do much but it was so cool to see the effect real intent can have.

I don't know about this 'the mission is really hard thing', it's been kinda awesome for me....

Have a great week! Love you all!

Hermana Simmons

1. Us and our gallega grandma. She makes the best tortilla

2. Our new BFF Cacilda. She unfortunately just moved to London for the summer, 

3. We made candy posters for some people for mothers day

4-30-18

Hello.
This week we went to Vigo again for intercambios. I love vigo. I love Hermana Rodriguez too. She is about to finish her mission so we had some fun! We taught her the phrase in English "go nuts" and that was pretty much the theme of the week.
Some highlights of the week. We went and sang to our old friend Mari Carmen. Haha she is a hoot. We sang come come ye saints and then I told her about how awesome the life after death is going to be and she go so excited she just pulling me in and started kissing me face. I got lipstick all over my cheeks! Haha! She is the most dramatic old woman on earth but I think we will be good friends haha. We were leaving her Piso and walking down the stairs and she is 'whispering' to us how her husband is a monster and her life is miserable and he is right behind her like yelling I can hear you! Then and we are walking down the stairs she yells out "don't forget me!" I can see how from the description I just gave she may seem slightly crazy. She's not. She's just reaaaaalllly old. But she's super awesome.

This week this woman called us out of the blue looking for a missionary who taught her over ten years ago. We hoped on a bus and went out to her pueblito where we were able to teach her whole family.... Haha and find this old missionary on Facebook . I loved seeing how really all the good things we do really do make a difference. Small means really do bring about miracles. Most of the effects of our actions we don't see but it's kinda fun that way!

I love serving. I love this place. I love the Spanish culture. I love that the sun is out and now on Saturdays we play fútbol with our investigators. I love that I see the beach every day. I love that this whole city smells like sea food and cigarette smoke. Life is good!

Have a great week!

Hermana Simmons

1. Evidence of how much Mari Carmen loves me 

2. Eating ice cream in the sunshine

3. Eating ice cream in the rain

4. Some of our friends who called us out of the blue after 10 years.

5. Vigo