Skibby sent the following email and photos on Monday, July 24, 2017.  I was away at girls camp all last week and wasn't able to update Skibby's blog until now.  Sorry it's late!

Date:  July 24, 2017 at 10:47 AM

Subject:  Exciting news to come!

Hey! This week has been awesome. We have been stressing and prepping and everything has gone really well. 

Cool experience: about 2 weeks ago we fasted. It was a Wednesday. It was really hot and we were really thirsty. But it was really good. I prayed to find someone ready for the Gospel that day. Well I didn't find anybody. But I did make a few calls of some people I had contacted before. At first Lourdes hung up but, I called again and set up an appointment. Well we talked with her later that week and she was really, really awesome. She's had a really hard life and believes a lot in God. She was sad that she wouldn't be able to come to church the next day. Well lo and behold she came!!! We were sitting in Sacrament Meeting and saw her there all by herself! So I went and sat by her. Miracle of the fast. Hna White also received a family miracle from that.

Best thing: Marta got baptized on Saturday. I really, really wish I had pictures, but I don't. Her 3 kids came from Alicante and are so cute and so happy to be with her. She gave a really strong testimony at the end. It was a great day. She was confirmed a member yesterday.

Our English class is growing. It's fun to teach and I think they're learning.

Gabriela dropped us. She's not ready.

Jose Luis-- the older Venezuelan-- tried to drop us on Saturday. But we weren't letting him go that easily. He said he wanted to stay Christian. We explained that we were Christian and helped him understand that there were many more blessings in store for him (see su potencial su privilegio --Mormon messages for more information) he agreed to continue reading the book of Mormon.

Hna White was transferred to Alcobendas! Wow, it's been a great, hard, fun transfer.

Love you all!

Tune in next week for more news

Hna Christensen 

Also, Mercedes in Barrio 3 was baptized on Saturday. Wow.

Gabriela, Skibby, & Hna. White

Marta, Hna. White, & Skibby

Hna. White, Jose Luis, & Skibby

Skibby sent the following email & photos on Monday, July 17, 2017:

Date:  July 17, 2017 at 10:59 AM

Subject:  Live what you believe people!

Well, I was gearing up to write a great long letter, but I don't have time for that!

This has been a great week. We are playing volleyball and bringing people. We had intercambios. It was awesome.

We talked to some people on the street. They said, "Yeah, I'm Catholic, but I don't read the bible."

Then one of our elders was telling us about someone they are teaching. He said, "Yeah she's Catholic. But she doesn't believe in God."

Is there something wrong about those 2 sentences?

We should live what we believe. If not, I think we are living a lie. But I guess we also live a lie when we believe in things that aren't true. Everyone needs to convert to the truth. 

It was Hna white's birthday this last week. 

Love you all! Have a great week.

Hna Christensen 

Left to right:  Hank & Kristy Nelson (friends from Riverton who are serving a mission in Spain,  working in the Madrid Temple), Skibby & her companion, Hermana White.  The Nelsons sent us this cute photo. :)

Skibby sent the following email & photos on Monday, July 10, 2017:

Date:  July 10, 2017 at 10:53 AM

Subject:  When it rains, it pours

The pros and cons of the week.

Pros:

-We found Libia and Marta.

-Libia was avoiding us. But we had been camping outside her piso a few times. And we'd just decided to leave, but then we saw a little white head walking over to her piso. Haha! That was a miracle. So we ran over there and talked to her and got everything straightened out. 

-That was the 4th of July. We bought some watermelon for the jovenes [young boys] when we played volleyball 

-We taught Gabriela English and she is really awesome! She had read a little in the -Book of Mormon and came to church on Sunday.

-Marta. We decided to stop by again even though she never picked up the phone. Woohoo! She was there, and her phone hadn’t been working. So we've been going to visit. We brought flowers and played Uno. And shared some spiritual thoughts.

-Thursday we went and did a service project moving houses.

- We taught Ivonne and her kids the plan of salvation and the Gospel. Ivonne says when she comes to church she feels warm and comforted and protection. Like someone is hugging her.

- We met some rappers on the metro. They were really good. They just made everything up on the spot. I was gonna join in with the ukulele, but I don't have one, so I couldn't. We saw them the day later in the metro. They're from Barcelona and were only here for a day, but they asked me a question after rapping about my name, and I shared the Book of Mormon with them. They were like, "wow, they don't teach you that in school (yeah cuz all schools are catholic)" and they kept the book.

-IT RAINED SO MANY TIMES THIS WEEK. And it hailed. It was really fun. 

Cons:

- We lost Libia again. We almost got her to have a phone. So we'll just have to find her again and activate the phone

- We didn't eat the watermelon.

-Gabriela said she wouldn't come back to church. We are teaching her English and the restoration on Tuesday.

- We missed a lesson with Marta, but we'll find her again this week.

- The service project took 4 hours longer than planned just because the truck didn't come to load the moving stuff. But we talked to a girl named Marline for awhile.

-There is no one on the streets when it rains..

Anyway, it's been a good week. We feel like we see little miracles every day. I'm grateful to be serving a mission and to sub in sacrament meeting when no one can play the piano. I know the time we have as missionaries is precious. I'm trying to use it wisely.

Hope everything went well with the fourth of July. In 2 days I complete a year. That is what we call in Spain a maravilla [wonder]. Un año de maravillas y momentos incómodos. [A year of wonders and uncomfortable moments.] Woohoo!!

Have a great week!

Skibby with her companion, Hermana White

The Rain in Spain!