Emily - Last Day MTC Madrid

Well today is Thursday the 17th and its 2:30 so that means that it is 7:30 in the morning for you and actually you are probably headed to an airport on your way to Utah. It is really funny to me that tomorrow I head to Bilbao to start my mission and Wednesday Logan starts the MTC training. I am so happy that he got his visa. I actually kind of knew that he had it because they told us a huge group of missionaries got theirs and I figured he was one of them. You are probably wondering why I am writing right now. President is giving us the rest of today to pack, clean and write our families since we don´t know when our p-day will be in the Bilbao Mission.

Oh ya my Dad is making me start off all my letters in a new way...hold on I have to look at the example. Here we go..Dear Family/Friends:Thank you to the following for your letters:Grandpa Gogarty: I loved your story about the coat. I also enjoyed the scripture that you shared with me, thank you. Your letters mean so much to me. I love you! Grandma Gogarty: I have to admit I have been wondering why I haven´t heard from you more. I can´t wait to get to Bilbao and read your letter. Thank you so much for your e-mail, it made me cry. I agree with everything you said. It is amazing to me that Heavenly Father really does know each of us by name, He loves us so much. Grandma and Grandpa you are both such beautiful people. I have learned so much from both of you and I´m thankful to have you be such a big part of my life.

As I sit with President and Sister Hill I think so much of both of you. I pretend to be sitting at your table with you. They have had many adventures like yours. Its funny how much they remind me of you. I didn´t think I was going to be able to get to President Hill, like I did Grandpa. I´ve had such a short time here but in the last couple of days I´ve been able to get him laughing pretty hard, its great!Grandpa took weeks for me to understand but I think I got some extra help with President since I was only going to be here for a few weeks. Sister Hill is just kind, warm and loving like Grandma. I can get her laughing pretty hard too. People can´t fool me, no matter what their age! I love you both so much.

Mom: I got your letter with the pictures from your trip to Canada! I love all the pics. you send. I think I am receiving a lot of blessings from Jessica´s mission. Mom and dad feel bad about everything they forgot to do for her so I´m pretty well taken care of. I love your letters so much and I love to just hear what is going on in your mind, your so funny. Your letters are like no one elses. Dad: I about pee my pants when I read your letters. I always have to share parts of your letter with my Elder comp. I hope I have a comp. some time on my mission that would appreciate your humor as much as I do. I loved what you said about Dansko but can you wait till I get back to egg the building, I want to help. I´m hoping my first comp. will help me find some. Don´t worry about sending any.

Sisters: As always I love hearing from you. Jess I believe in one of your letters there was some lame excuse about how you would write more but it is so EXPENSIVE and then later on in the letter you told me that you bought a 350 dollar stroller. WOW you guys sound really POOR! If you are buying a 350 dollar stroller for your first baby you can handle paying 0.80 cents for a stamp. Do I make myself clear? Also sister Sarah, your a homeschooler. No more excuses from you either!

Okay now I´m really going to start my letter. I could go on forever but I want to tell you about some really neat experiences that I´ve have in the last couple of days. Every Saturday before we go to the park the teachers put up a chart on the white board. The chart has four categories: BofM, lessons, refrences, and pamphlets. We are suppose to write our goals of how many we are going to give out. Well I dread this because I hate numbers and the whole time I´m at the park I worry about giving something out. So before this Saturday I prayed a lot for help to have a different perspective and different attitude about the park. Well before we left we had a devo with President. My prayers were definately answered. He said he came into the room Friday night and was looking at our goals on the board. He knew that something needed to be changed. He gave a wonderful messgae and then told us to forget the numbers on the board and instead make a goal of talking to a certain number of people instead. Everything he said I totally agreed with and it helped me so much. Instead of worrying about what I was going to give the people so I could make my goals I was worrying about talking to people and then giving them something according to their needs.

I can finally say that this Saturday was one of the best missionary experiences. One of my teachers Hermana Ganaza came with us, she is a sweet heart. She is so good with people and she talked with everyone. With her confidence I was able to talk and share the gospel, it was wonderful. We talked to one guy who didn´t believe in God, it broke my heart. He went on and on about if there is a God then why is there so much suffering. I was so scared to speak up because he was talking really fast and he had so many negative things to say. My heart almost jumped out of my chest, when I felt the prompting to talk to him about families. I asked him about his family and he calmed down a little. He turned his attention to me and I could tell he was very curious to see what I was going to see. After asking him a few questions I told him that I could see his family is very important to him. I told him that my family was very important to me too. I said my family is very far away from my right now but I know that we will be together forever. I bore my testimony about families and how much God loves us. I know he felt the Spirit I could see it in his eyes. It scared him and although he was quiet during my testimony, he went off again. We listened and then he said goodbye.

We also found three girls from Texas about my age. One of them knew who we were because her babysitters when she was little were LDS. They were Christians and they had beautiful testimonies. It was neat to share more with them about the Book of Mormon. They actually had some questions and between the three of us my comp, Hermana Ganaza and I, we answered all of them. They asked about Joseph Smith and I started to tell them and then realized that I had never memorized the first vision in English. I just started saying it and the words just flowed out of my mouth. I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. I know they felt the Spirit too. We happened to have an English Book of Mormon in our bag and we gave it to them. I hope they read it and pray about it. It was fun to teach in English and be able to say everything I wanted to say.

So many little things have happened in the last two months that keep reminding me of how mindful Heavenly Father is of me and each of His children. I can´t even explain it all but just the little things each day, that prove to me, He is there. I know He listens to us and He knows what we need even though we think we know. Miracles do happen Grandma, I agree. Heavenly Father loves us so much. The church is true(Sister)

I had my departure interview last night with President Hill. He told me that I have a real gift with the language. He said some missionaries take a long time to get it down but he thinks I will be able to progress very quickly and therfore concentrate in other areas. He told me to be myself with my mission presidnet and let him know who I am. He said, Of course not in a prideful way but share who you are. I think he realizes that I started to open up a lot more in the last week. I´ve had a good time here but I´m ready to get out my classes.

Okay of course I have to share some funny stories now. Dad made me start the letter off all serious with the to whom it may concern crap or what ever it was. Anyways I can´t tell you how many times I have been called Sister Fowers this week. One time it was by President Hill, so funny. His wife caught him and was like um its Sister GOGARTY hunny. My teacher also calls me Sister Fowers and every time someone does it they are so akward about it. I just laugh and try to get them to move on to something else. They get so confused, its hilarious. We are together so much that we confuse everyone in the building. When we taught lesson 3 together this week our teachers told us that we teach really well together. They also said that we are going to freak out when we hear the same gender teaching with us. S

o I leave at 7:15 tomorrow morning and then I think the flight is an hour long. I stay the night at the mission home and head out Wednesday morning. On Tuesday sometime I am told I will e-mail you to give you the address of my first area. I can´t believe its really starting. Well I have a lot to do to get ready to go, I guess I better get off. I can´t wait to tell you all about my first companion and my first area.

I love you all so much and I´m thankful for your letters and I´m especially thankful for your love for me. Brother I will be praying for you on Wednesday. Pray for peace in your mind and in your heart. It is a big step and I know how hard it is. But I also know that Heavenly Father will bless your mind and although it will be hard to leave you will feel an overwhelming peace about your decision and what your doing. I love you so much! I can´t wait for you to get to Spain. I´ve already told everyone all about you!I love you ALL!Love, Em (Hermana Gogarty)