¡Hola!

       The members in Santander are so awesome. We were invited to a family's house, who are from Columbia, for thanksgiving, and they went all out. We had pumpkin soup, stuffing, salad, mashed potatoes, and instead of turkey we had chicken. It was so fun. 

        The morning of Thanksgiving, my companion forgot to grab the keys to our apartment. We quickly called the elders, who have the spare. We went to their apartment building to wait for them. Someone let us into the entry way, and so I took that as an opportunity to hide behind a wall so I could scare the elders. That plan would have worked had an elderly man not come in two seconds before the elders and started talking with us. I'm just glad my companion was at an angle in which she could see who was coming in or else that old man might of had a heart attack from me jumping out from behind the wall.

        The Christmas lights have been put up all around Santander and this week they were turned on. We are now in a Christmas wonderland and it's getting so cold here! My poor companion is getting sick again. We had to get flu shots on Tuesday after a zone conference we had with our mission president. Shots don't mind me, but my companion refused to get a shot and so she is paying for the consequences now.... Just kidding, it's not the flu that she has.

        Transfers are next week. Maybe I will be leaving...

     On Tuesday and Wednesday it was raining and there was a lot of wind. I was on exchanges in Bilbao and our umbrella ended up breaking, and so we walked around for two hours getting soaked. I have an Idaho coat though, so I wasn't too soaked. We found four new people to teach though! Three of them were a group of girls from Nicaragua who had just recently arrived in Spain. They were grouped together and the member who was with us suggested to talk to them. So, being the blunt person I am, I walked up to them and broke up their conversation. They started listening and accepted to have an appointment with us. The rest of the day we just saw a whole bunch broken umbrellas in the garbage cans around the city.

       We are going to have a baptism of Alba this week!!! There will be pictures next week.

    My ponderize scripture for this week is in 1 Nephi 13:37 -"And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be."

       When I normally think about building up Zion, I usually think of the stakes in which we live in, but as I was studying the verse, it came to mind that the best place to build Zion is within the walls of our own home. D. Todd Christofferson said, in his last general conference address, "we must remember that in the beginning, the Church was the family, and even today as separate institutions, the family and the Church serve and strengthen one another."

     I am so grateful to have been born into such a wonderful family with parents who taught me correct principles and made Christ the center of our home that helped me to strengthen my testimony in our savior, and now I have the opportunity to share this message with the people here in Spain. I'm so stinkin blessed! 

    

I hope you all have a great week!

Hermana Schmidt