Sam in Málaga

Tuesday- They day began with our district meeting.  It was very good and I love my district so much.  The San Fernando District is the best district in the best Mission in the world!!! :) We had some great discussions and learned a lot, and after, just for fun, we had some deep doctrine discussions.  Sure it's not sometimes the best way to use your time on a mission, but it's kind of fun to discuss some of the more complicated gospel principles that we don't ever get to discuss very often.  Then we returned and did some studying.  We then had a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader Antonio and we discussed some very good way to help some less actives and investigators.  Then we met with a less active and her non member daughter Adriana and Adrianita.  They are from Mexico and they are super cool, it was great to finally be able to meet them and teach a little.  Then we had a family home evening planned, but when we arrived, there was a huge soccer match between Barcelona and someone else, so they asked if we could reschedule it.  Hahaha these Spaniards sure take their soccer seriously.  Then we visited our less active and her non member husband who have a son on a mission in England London.  The didn't have time to meet tonight, so we set another appointment with them later.

Wednesday- Man, this day ended up being a little disappointing.  All of our appointments feel through with investigators and we only had 1 appointment with a less active member in the morning and 1 appointment with another less active member in the night.  All of our plans called and changed on us.  It means we have a busy week ahead, but today just sort of fell through.  We did a little street contacting in a park (which i've really got to work on) and some other contacting but nothing was working out super well.  I guess not all days can work out perfectly, and that's okay.  We taught english classes as well today and that was fun as always, but nobody in our class is really interested in the gospel, but that doesn't mean we can't at least share a gospel message after.  

Thursday- today was just our regular weekly planning schedule. Then we had our regular Thursday lunch with Juani who always feeds us until we can't move.  Especially me, because I'm apparently too skinny and need to get bigger.  Haha, it is always great to eat at Juani's but just a little difficult because I have to physically prepare myself to be able to eat that much food.  Then we had this awesome lesson planned out with our 17 year old investigator Javi, we even had one of the young men in the ward the same age come with us, but Javi cancelled the last second.  So we did our back up plan and visited a recent convert and that went well.  Then we had another lesson planned again with our investigators from Mexico, but when we arrived, they weren't there!! All these plans falling through.  So we did some back up plans and tried to get some new investigators but we didn't find much success. Then one of the families here invited us to do a family home evening with them and that was really super fun, we had a great time.  And they all said that I apparently look like David Archileta ( I don't know how to spell that) which was a new one. I guess I've done my hair Kind of differently now and apparently it's made me look famous. 

Friday- Today was a little rough.  Literally everything cancelled on us except for one lesson with a less active and none of our contacting ended up being very successful. But I'm going to look at the positive in this.  One, it's a good character builder, a good reminder that not every day is going to work out and that this mission isn't supposed to be easy.  We're always supposed to be learning something and recognizing our weaknesses so that we can remember to be humble.  Two, we have really good hopes of rescuing (The term for reactivating a less active into the church) the less active we taught and we're really excited for that.  A rescue is often just as important as a baptism in a mission and that's great that we've worked with her very well.  She attended church last week and we hope she will again this week.  So not all the work we did yielded no results.  It eventually pays off in ways that, if we choose to recognize, are marvelous.  Oh, and we also were asked by the young Womens president during the day to help prepare the ward building for a huge baby shower they were throwing that night.  And that was pretty fun, although we weren't really invited to attend as it was an all women thing, so... yea.  But it was still great to help!

Saturday- So we once again played some Futbol this morning as our saturday morning tradition with friends in our ward.  I have to say, playing with these Spaniards all the time, I feel like I'm getting a little better, but I'm still not super good.  We saw our 17 year old future we have hope for and he said he'd come to church tomorrow.  We hope he really does.  Then after that, our church was holding a huge family history activity at the ward so we helped set that up and do stuff there. It was fun and a lot of people showed up and were working really hard doing all sorts of family history stuff, because their trip to Madrid for the temple is in the first week of December so they're getting prepared for that. And our less active Alisia who we've really been trying to 'Rescue" was there so that was cool!! We really think she's going to start being active again and we're happy about that.   Then, once again almost all of our appointments called and cancelled on us.  So we visited some less actives and invited them to church and some said they'd try to come.  Then we did some contacting, but weekends here in Cadiz are a little crazy so sometimes it's not the best time to contact.  Especially in the streets... and nobody is every really home weekend nights so there wasn't a lot of success there.  

Sunday- Today was a good day at church and we had a couple less actives attend so that was good.  But no Javi :( And then we had a great eating appointment with our first counselor and his family and that was a lot of fun.  Then we went back and we did some studying.  Then we went and did some contacting with not huge amount of success.  Then with a member we visited our recent convert and our investigator who still won't really progress.  The Word of Wisdom can be a big problem here in Spain.  So that was it for this day.  Today was day light savings in Spain, so we've gone to a new schedule of everything being pushed back a half hour.  If you didn't know with this mission, we wake up at 7:30 and our bed time is 11:30, but now our winter schedule is up at 7:00 and in bed at 11:00. So this might be difficult to get accustomed to, but oh well.

Overall, the week was a little difficult.  We didn't have enormous amounts of success as far as numbers go, but it's great that we've been helping lots of less actives.  The goal is to invite all unto christ, not just baptize people in the church.  Retention is just as important as baptism, and i guess that's where we've been really coming in.  I'm so grateful for the awesome ward that I'm in and for being in such a cool place such as Cadiz and the Malaga Mission. I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon and I can say that it's probably one of the main reasons I'm on my mission. I know it to be the word of God.

Elder Hirst

Throwback to my dad's mission in South Africa!

Fun fact! Cadiz is mentioned in the Bible and BOM! It used to be called Tharshish/ Tartessus- 2 Nephi 12: 16. 1 kings 10:22 

Monday- we had my first p day in the field!! :) we woke up and went to the ward to watch the Sunday afternoon session with the hermanas. Then second Counselor, most awesome guy ever, Jorge took us to a really cool Pueblo (village) called Vejer. Jorge drives a very nice Citroen C4 which has many cool things. I like seeing all these European cars. :) And Vejer was way way gorgeous. After P day ended (it ends at 6:30) me and Elder Stephens had a tough night. All our plans fell through so we did our back up plans which fell through but we just kept on going. But we found no success. You must know the bad to know the good! :) but we had a good plan set up for the next day. 

Tuesday- Today ended up being a very busy day, we had so many plans for teaching and finding.  We taught our less active member Jose Gomez who has had a very difficult life, and then we taught our super nice and humble member Ana.  She has so little, yet she still always wants to feed us.  We told her that we didn't want her to feed us because we know she has so little, but she said she really wants to because it makes her feel happy and closer to god.  Her humility amazes me. Then we had lunch with Member Juan who was as usual, very nice.  Then we randomly got called and said that President Andersen and his wife were in Cadiz and wanted to interview us.  So I had another interview with President Andersen and talked with his wife a lot.  It's funny how they've really only been here one more transfer than me, so they're both still in the learning stage as well.  They said that it's hard because it's more "saint seeing than sight seeing" which when your in southern Spain is very difficult.  Then later we met with members Merche and her less active husband and her brother Jesus.  Jesus is mentally challenged, but I've never seen someone with such a sweet spirit and he loves president Gordon B Hinkley that's all he wanted to talk about.  Funny story, I totally forgot my tie on the way to that appointment so Merche gave me one of her husband's and told me to keep it.  I will always love that tie.  Then on the way home, we got stopped by some Hooligans in the street who told us we were in the Ghetto or something like that (I still don't understand anyone).  I thought we were about to get robbed, but all they wanted was to learn more about the church, so that was fun.  

Wednesday- the day started off a little rough. We woke up (having not slept much) and both mine and elder Stephen's bodies were covered in big red marks. We turned on the light and there were about 15 Mosquitos covering the wall. So we took some spray And rolled up paper and got to work on them. So today was some big festival of some virgin here in Cadiz so our whole ward invited us to celebrate by going to an amazing Pueblo called Ronda. It was absolutely stunning as you will see in pictures. We just explored the city and its beauty and it was so nice. Pictures will not do it any justice. The feel of it, the peace and the surrealism and the entire ambiance of this small village nestled in the mountains of Spain, It was absolutely remarkable. I also got to talk with a lot of the members so that was fun. We returned late at night and went out to do some contacting with not much success. 

Thursday- Today was weekly planning in the morning which went well.  We've set some high goals for the coming weeks but we know we can achieve if we really work hard and rely on the spirit.  We also finally got Elder Stephens credit card to work!!! So we finally got to buy some compras (groceries) which was nice.  Then since we always play soccer every Saturday morning, which is a great way to obtain new investigators and teach a lesson to a huge group of people, I bought some new Soccer Shoes!! They were normally 45 Euros but were on sale for 9 which was crazy!!! We'll see how long they actually last. Then the rest of the day was lessons.  We had our regular Thursdaylunch with Juani who is the nicest lady.  Then we went and taught Domingo and Llolanda.  Llolanda is a member and married Domingo, a non member, a bit ago and she actually has a son in the London mission Named Elder Thomas.  Domingo really wants to get baptized but he wants to wait for Elder Thomas to get home which is a problem because that's 14 months away.  But we're hoping to gain his trust more and help him feel the spirit to be baptized.  Then we went and visited David, a member, and his wife who is a devout catholic, and his wife didn't want to join in our lesson.  But one day, she will. I know it. 

Friday- Most of our morning was occupied by our Zone Meeting which we held right here in Cadiz. It was absolutely amazing and at the end of the meeting the couple missionaries (who leave next month)  made some chile which was way good. The meeting was all in Spanish which took some major focusing for me to know what was happening. I've decided that I can understand when Americans speak Spanish, but as soon as a spaniard speaks Spanish, I have no clue what they are saying (our zone leader is from Spain). The accents and how fast they speak, man it's so hard to understand them. But it was a good meeting. Then we had a meeting with an 86 year old lady named concha, who is a devout catholic, but her son is actually a member and the first counselor in the stake presidency. She was very nice to us and gave us food but she is very very set on her beliefs, and that's okay. Then we had a perfect appointment set up and had even set it up with a member and everything with our great investigator Mariam from Dominican Republic, but when we arrived she wasn't there. We called her but nothing so that made us sad. So we visited a less active member Adriana and her non member daughter who is 13 and set up a appointment for next week to teach which is awesome. They are from Mexico and Mexicans here are the best because I can actually understand their Spanish!  Then on our way home, we ran into the same hooligans in a different area though and they were really nice again. They had more questions about the church and God so that was fun.    

Saturday- we started the morning playing some Futbol! :) that is always way fun and I'm slowly getting better. We met a 17 year old kid during it named Javi and he is very interested in the church. But Wow does he have a hard accent. I've decided the younger they are, the harder it is to understand because they talk a lot of slang and they talk very fast. So hopefully we can start teaching him in the future. Then we studied lots. If we don't have appointments, from 2:00-5:30 (which is siesta or it's more called medio dia in Spain) then we are supposed to do extra study in the piso during that time. So we did that. Then we had a big family home evening planned with the Coen family who are amazing members and the Hermanas and some of their investigators. That was really fun but it got a little out of hand at one point. A little argument broke out between a member and an investigator about some word of wisdom issues. I didn't understand most of it (when spaniards get mad, they speak super super fast) but it all was okay in the end, I think. Then we had lots of food!!!! 

Sunday- my first day in church in the mission field. It was fast and testimony meeting but me and Elder Stephens couldn't bare our testimonies because it seemed the entire ward was wanting to that day. I will be honest, I had no clue what was happening most the time but I still felt the spirit. Me and elder Stephens were also asked to teach nursery that day!! That was really funny and I enjoyed it a lot. It was a great day though, we have an amazing amazing ward and stake here In Cadiz and everyone is so nice and wanting to help us. Then we returned and studied lots.  Then we went out to find some old investigators but we found no success there.  So we visited our investigator Bartolo and the member Ana.  Unfortunately, Bartolo is not progressing, as he is not willing to overcome his addictions.  But God will always love him no matter what.   Then we passed by our dominican investigators Miriam and Rosa and it was crazy!!! All of their cousins who live all around Spain were there and they invited us to eat a huge dinner with them!! We shared a lot about what we do as missionaries with those who hadn't heard of our church and we talked a lot about religion.  We invited them to learn more but unfortunately they said no, saying that they always work and don't have time to meet with missionaries.  That was really disappointing.  But we will continue trying with Miriam and Rosa (who are sisters and live in the same apartment building) and their kids.  We ate with them and had some amazing Dominican and Peruvian food and I've never been more full in my life.  They wouldn't let me say no!!!! So i just had to keep eating.  And it was way spicy so that was crazy too.  So that was that day.  

All in all it's been a wonderful week.  It's hard because the work is starting a little slow and some people are not willing to change.  But the goal is to always keep trying.  That's all we can do, we ask the lord for help in our work, and then we just try.  Our goal is to bring others to Christ and if that means helping lots of less actives and facing lots of rejection from investigators, then that's what we will do.  But there are reasons for all things and we just have to keep trying.  

Something I've learned this week:  If you're ever new at something, always observe the example of those who know what they are doing and ask yourself what you can learn from them. President Lovell from the MTC always told us that The first step in being a good leader is being able to be a good follower. 

My Address:

 Elder Hirst
Calle de torre 12 bajo izquierda
11003 Cadiz, Espana