The Dream Team Goes to Birmingham

Yup, you heard it here first ladies and gentleman,
Hermana T and I are in the LORNA SPANISH BRANCH!!!!

Heavenly Father answers prayers.

And is SOOO mindful of our individual needs.

We have been waiting for this day for our entire missions...

a) to be together again

b) to actually speak espanol!

It is a DREAM.COME.TRUE. Ü

ok, so looonnnngggg story, but basically we got two hours to pack and then we drove an hour and a half on friday night to Bham. It wasc.r.a.z.y. But all is well! And we live with two other sisters and it's a blast!
Here's our address:

202 Chace Lake Pkwy

Hoover, AL 35216

We ♥ mail!

We don't know exactly what we're doing yet, but it'll all get under control soon! So for right now we're just along for the ride :)

It warmed up a little bit this weekend which was so nice! We were just out talking to people without a jacket. It was fabulous! Hermana Torgersen is adjusting to the big city :) She's been in small towns for the past 9 months. 

Change. is. good.

Saturday we got to do some service by setting up for a wedding reception!
It was so much fun but also so weird! It looked gorgeous though and we all decided that we are not ready for all that business yet.
Good thing we don't even have to think about it for 9 more months.
Like for real.
Total anti-boy/love/marriage right now.
As it should be, right?

We also got to go to a baby shower for a lady in the branch. So fun! The hispanic people are just the sweetest! Lots of laughter and lots of new people to meet!

Sunday = best.day.ever!!!!!!!

seriously.

It could not have gotten any better!

So we got ready and went to church. 

For almost a split second we felt like we were in another country.
All the hugs and kisses and spanish.
Plus the 10 missionaries...all gringos. Woo!
It was a lot to take in but the best part about it was that we felt completely at home. We just fit right in and felt so incredibly blessed to be there. These people are absolutely amazing and have so much faith and are so loving and such great covenant keepers! They have such strong testimonies too! 

Let's be honest, I understand a lot more than I can speak, but even just being around the language is so cool! We felt like we were completely fulfilling our purpose as spanish speaking missionaries. Yay us!

And to finish off our crazy week, we had the opportunity to go to the Hanks last night.
Can I say, "luckiest sisters in the world!" 

So here's what went down.

President comes and picks us up and then makes me sit in the front seat because he has done enough chauffeuring of kids in his life haha!
Windows down, jacket off, completely chill mission president.
I am seriously so grateful for that man!

So we get to the mission home and help Sister Hanks finish making dinner and it was amazing!
And President was excited because he says he never gets fed this good haha! So we're just talking and laughing and enjoying each other's company like we've all been best friends for years.
It was unforgettable!

And then we got to play the piano and violin for a while. We're definitely going to do a musical number in church sometime soon! (after we practice more)
It was so nice to touch the strings of a violin again! Sister Hanks and I are going to do a duet sometime too which will be so fun! She already reminds me so much of Sister Gehring, it will just feel so good to do something like that! 

We then watched the CES Devotional. Sister Burton of the General Relief Society Presidency spoke about recognizing the spirit in our life. I love learning about this topic. #confessionsofformersisterblackner: sometimes I would actually just study talks and scriptures about the spirit. I don't know why, but personal revelation has always been really interesting to me and something I feel like you can never know too much about!

So here's her 8 steps:

one. pray sincerely

two. act promptly to answers

three. search the scriptures daily

four. live the law of the fast

five. be worthy and worship often in the temple

six. don't trifle with spiritual things

seven. be prepared to move forward with faith

eight. let the Lord decide what details He gives and when He gives them
It was very uplifting :)

Then we ate ice cream, played more music, and had family prayer! I can't even imagine being a mission president but he said that this was the most fun they've had in a long time! A whole night where they didn't have to worry about anything and didn't have to go speak anywhere or deal with some missionary in a crisis. It was the perfect sunday!

Get ready for lots more spanish and a whole new side to missionary work! We are just so lucky to be here and to have the opportunity to bring the gospel to the people here in Hoover! Stay tuned 'til next week!

♥con muchisimo amor,

hermana blackner (officially hermana Ü)