My First Sunday

My first sunday was wonderful. I love the people and the church and the atmosphere and ALL OF IT! The church schedule is different than what I am used to. Church started at 10:30 a.m. and we had Relief Society first. R.S. is small and so cute. Whenever any of the ladies wants to comment on something the teacher said, they just blurt out- it's great :) A lady came up to our group and said hi to us at the beginning of R.S. as she was going to sit down. I could tell that she was from the U.S. and I figured that she was here on a mission with her husband. I realized later that the they were the Madrid Temple President and Matron! I was able to meet both of them which was very cool. In R.S. our teacher (the president) taught from Elder Cook's conference talk. She taught of the power of women and their strength. Today is "Día de la Madre" here and she tied the talk in with this very special day. http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/lds-women-are-incredible?lang=eng


After R.S. we had Sunday School. S.S. was fun and we had a cute teacher. Today we learned and studied John 9-10. It was actually very powerful for me. Chapter nine was about a blind man and the faith he had to go put clay on his eyes and that he would be able to see again. It was powerful in class but it became more powerful in Sacrament Meeting- but I will tell you about that later. Anyway- there are not many kids in the S.S. class and we took up 80 percent of the space in the room. 


After S.S. we had Sacrament Meeting. There is ward here- but hardly. It is so cute though! There are about fifteen primary kids (who all sang to their moms today :)). They are not very many youth- maybe 6 or 7? They are, however, quite a lot of little kids! It was a loud Sacrament Meeting but it was awesome. There was a baby blessing today and also a young man was confirmed. Powerful. During the Sacrament I had the impression to research the topic of humility. Of course, I always need to work on that, but the impression was more strong than just "look this up and work on it"...it was "LOOK IT UP. RESEARCH IT. ABSORB IT. BE IT. LEARN. GROW. PROGRESS. CHANGE." So, I looked it up in the Spanish bible dictionary. This is what it said: "La condición de ser manso y moldeable, o hacer que alguien lo sea. La humildad lleva implícito el reconocimiento de que dependemos de Dios y el deseo de sosternos a su voluntad." Then, it all came in a big rush of the Spirit when I started thinking about the lesson and then my impression. It is like the blind = prideful. In my notebook I wrote ciegos = orgullosos. Have the faith to be healed from your blindness and be humbled. It was incredible. I also found a scripture in 1 Nephi 17:3. It said that "if we keep the commandments, God will strengthen us and provide a way to accomplish the thing which He has commanded us." I know that the Lord will always help me and put His confidence in me if I will work to change and progress and be different. I am so grateful for this gospel and that I have the opportunity to be here in Spain. I know the church is true. 


This is my cute church and our first day of church picture! :)

I love my family and this church!

Love always,

Natalie Christine