Sam in Málaga: October 2016

Elder Hirst Post week 61

Monday- went to plaza de España again with some other missionaries (the place where part of Star Wars 2 was filmed) and that was fun. That evening was awesome, we taught our #1 investigator named Marta from Nicaraguan. She is going through some rough times but she's awesome. We taught the lesson in the house of another YSA member so that was good. Then later we taught some of our Nigerian investigators Andrew and Sonia, and it was sad, they are really facing some hard times right now. We taught them the Book of Mormon and told them we know the book could always help them.

Tuesday- district meeting in the morning. Our district leader is a Chilean and as you know I trained elder Esparza who is Chilean I love Chileans. That evening we visited a less active and watched a conference. Later we had a cool miracle. We had to take a bus to go to the church from where we were and we saw it pulling into its stop from far away, so we just sprinted there and we have no clue how but we made it. We got on and there was a Bolivian girl who had lost her bus card and had no money to pay for the bus so the bus driver was going to just kick her out, but I had a little extra on my card so I was able to pay for her. She was super grateful and we were able to talk with her, then she was going to the same direction we were, so we walked with her to the church and showed her the church and she seemed like she'd be willing to learn more so we hope to really see her soon because all things worked out so that could happen so that was a cool miracle.

Wednesday- we weekly planned in the morning. Then that evening we first had a wonderful lesson with a progressing less active, Maritza from Bolivia. She recently moved here and has been having some difficulties. Then we had a great lesson with our #1 investigator, Marta, in the house of a family in the ward. It went super well, we had a great talk about taking steps of faith. Then we basically looked for new people to teach and we had another cool miracle, when a lady from Paraguay called out "hola elders!" And we talked with her and she's new here in Spain and said she met with missionaries in her country so we hope to meet with her soon.

Thursday- I had to go down to Fuengirola for the last time doing my residency. It's a long complicated process, so that's why you have to go down a few times. While there we ate at this American burger place called Taxi Angus Burger and it was so so incredibly good. Easily the best burger I've had in Spain. We got back pretty late to Sevilla that night so we just planed for the next day and then hit the hay.

Friday- that morning we just went looking for people but not much happened. Then we were able to see our less active Yesus and invite him to church and he said he'd come. Then we went to the church because of this week every day from 5-9 we had a church open house and so we went and helped out and contacted a ton of people outside the church. It was fun

Saturday- I woke up dizzy as could be and with a super crazy fever. We went to correlation with our ward mission leader but I felt like passing out so we went home and I basically slept the entire day. Oh, and it was raining super hard all day, and Sevilla flooded to the point where it was about knee deep outside. I'm not kidding, I have pictures. So i was super sad I was sick because it would've been fun outside in the flooded city.

Sunday- I woke up feeling better (which was just deceitful because later I felt worse than ever) so I ate a ton (terrible idea) because I hadn't eaten for like a day. We went to church and my fever came back and then I got terrible stomach pains and then let's just say my system started clearing itself out... I spent about the entire 3 hours of church in the bathroom (that's why eating a ton in the morning was a terrible idea). Luckily some members drove us home after the meeting and I rested more. But I'm just happy I didn't miss church, I've gone 1 year and 2 months without missing church and I wasn't about to do it then. Anyway I was just sick the rest of the day

7:45 AM
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Elder Hirst post week 60

Monday- Monday wasn't too exciting. It was one of the elder in Sevilla's birthday and he wanted to go to a Chinese buffet and we did and it was alright. Then we just had other stuff to take care of that day. That evening we went and told some investigators who weren't progressing that unless they kept their commitments, there was no point for us going to visit them. They agreed and said that maybe in the future when they have more time they will start studying with the missionaries again, so it went well and we left them on a great note so missionaries in the future will find them prepared for the gospel.

Tuesday- that morning we just contacted a lot of people and we actually met some very wonderful people. We were later invited to eat with a less active family so that was great. Then we had an online capacitation that evening in order to prepare our mission to receive a crazy new app on our iPads where basically our whole lives as missionaries is planned with an app.

Wednesday- it decided to just pour in Sevilla. But we met with the recent convert Gabriela and she's doing great. That was basically the only interesting thing in the morning. Later we met with a less active who we are helping reactivated and truly it's just personal issues that prevent her from coming but we really are going to make sure she's there on Sunday. After the appointment she asked what we were going to do and we basically just said knock doors and talk with people and so she felt bad and started thinking of any person we could visit. She knocked on her neighbor's door who wasn't interested, then she called a bunch of her friends but they couldn't meet, so she said another time she would help us with the work but the truth is, she's a super good member missionary. She wants to spread the gospel. That evening we had nice dinner with some members who had invited some less actives and it went wonderfully.

Thursday- we had zone meeting and it was great. The Sevilla2 zone is killer! Then right after a random guy walked into a church and me and my companion taught him the restoration, and he truly was one of the elect of the lord, prepared to receive the gospel. He had been studying so many churches but he felt like none of them answered his question about where the true church was. He felt like there was an apostasy and that he needed to find the church that claimed to be the true church of Jesus Christ. Truly a miracle, but he'll pertain to the other missionaries in the other ward, so we passed him to them. Later we went back to our wonderful area and taught a great Nigerian family who were very nice and said they want us to come back. I love Nigerians. On our way though, we had some gypsies kind of following us (probably not with great intentions) so the fact that this Nigerian family was home and let us in probably saved us from being robbed or something. But man, there was some anger, just tons of gypsies were yelling at us to go away and that we weren't going to "have any Mormons here" and blabla. We got pretty close to sprinting out of there, but luckily we were left alone. Then we had a family home evening and we invited Claudio, the Italian dude. Also, one of our investigators Silvina came. Claudio still wants nothing but Silvina does want to get baptized, she just feels she's not prepared yet, so we'll be working with her.

Friday- we did weekly planning in the morning. Then that evening we went and did some visits down in tres Míl to some less actives and we actually found some people who haven't had contact with the church for a long time and that the only reason they didn't go is because they didn't think anyone even remembered them. So we plan on going back sometime to be able to help them come back. On they way to our next appointment with our ward mission leader to plan our mission sacrament meeting, we helped a Nigerian man who was on the way to his Nigerian church for a party. He had very many heavy things and we helped him carry all the things. So we carried these things to his church and ended up seeing a bit of this church party. It was pretty sweet, there was like a whole jazz band in front and the pastor in the shouting many things from the podium. They wanted us to stay, but we had to go and we felt bad. But the man we helped was very very grateful and the church told us that they will always help us if we need anything. Very great people.

Saturday- we had correlation meeting with our ward mission leader. Then that evening we went to go visit all our Nigerian investigators in tres Míl with our member Morrison, who is also Nigerian. It went so well, Morrison was a beast!!! Sometimes the people we taught had trouble understanding us, so we basically left the discussion to be taught by Morrison, and he did so well. He taught the lesson and bore his testimony and invited all the people to read to Book of Mormon and come to church and said "I have read the Book of Mormon cover to cover, and I know it is the truth! You come to my house and we will read the Book of Mormon together. You will also come with me to church." Haha it was an awesome night. That night we saw something craaaazzy. We heard rumors that there are very very nice cars in tres Míl (which i remind Is one the most dangerous neighborhoods in all of Spain), but you only see them at night. Well technically we have to be out of that area by night other wise we can get in some sketchy situations, but we had a lesson go long and it was already night by the time we wanted to leave. So when we left we were surprised when we saw Lamborghinis and Ferraris racing up and down. It was crazy.... We started taking pictures, and that was terrible idea...we learned from that mistake but we got out all right. Then we went to deliver a bible to a Nigerian woman, and she was very very grateful. She wanted nothing to do with the Book of Mormon though, but she at least accepted one.

Sunday- church was good, nobody we are teaching ended up coming to church which is always sad. But anyway, it was a good Sunday.

Missionary work is the best and I love every moment of it. Each day Brings new learning opportunities, chances to see god's hand in this work, and plenty of funny and crazy stuff too. I have no other way to say it other than that this time of my life has been the best time ever, and I know each day can always be better. Life may be hard, the mission may be hard, but we always can find ways to just appreciate what god gives us and enjoy it and always thank him for it.

9:50 AM
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Elder Hirst week 59

Monday- we had a fun p- day, we went to the plaza de toros (the bullfighting rink) to take a tour of the museum and see the whole stadium, it was way Cool. That evening we taught a Nigerian couple and they were good, but they are having a rough financial situation.

Tuesday- we had a good district meeting in the morning. That evening we taught Gustavo, the less active and he's progressing really well. Later that evening, we had to help a bunch of missionaries arriving to Sevilla get to their areas with all their bags and stuff.

Wednesday- it was transfer day so we were in charge of helping with that. Sevilla is one of the big train hubs in southern Spain, so we were just helping missionaries in and out of Sevilla between the train and bus station (which are quite far from each other) carrying tons of suitcases here and there. That Evening we just searched for some people and not too much happened

Thursday- we had weekly planning in the morning, and then made a super good lunch because we have a BBQ. Also one of the sets of hermanas here in Sevilla2 didn't have any food because of the transfers so we made them lunch and gave it to them. We spent the whole evening working hard and I honestly don't remember too much of what happen, but I think we just kind of got rejected by people and plans canceled and stuff so nothing too great.

Friday- that morning we taught the recent convert Gabriela and she's doing well, we just talked about the temple. That morning we had passed by some others and set appointments for next week which appears like it'll be a great and busy week. That evening we taught finally a really good investigator!!! (My whole time in Sevilla, we really haven't had progressing investigators). She's from Nicaragua and her name is Marta. She was taught by missionaries before I arrived but kind of just disappeared. We found out she had gone to a pueblo for her work for a month and we had actually written her number down wrong by one digit. She's back now and she had read the pamphlets she was given and also had watched a little bit of conference! We met with her briefly and she is excited to learn and wants to really know the truth. She also said she'd come to church so that'll be great. Later, we ran into our friend from Granada, Manuel, who we contacted a while ago. He's an ex military paratrooper and he had found the Book of Mormon 3 years ago on the ground. He had picked it up, brought it home, and read it a little bit. He forgot about it, but when we met him about a month ago it sparked his interest again. We talked about the story of the Book of Mormon and taught a small restoration and he seemed quite interested.

Saturday- we had a lot of appointments set in the morning and they all failed us. Hard. But oh well. We talked to a nice man who had actually been to salt lake and seen temple square and wanted us to come over one day so he could show us the tabernacle choir video he has. That evening we had correlation with our ward mission leader, then we had a baptism for one of the hermanas investigators who my companion and I had met when he just randomly walked into the church one month ago. It was wonderful.

Sunday- church was a good but it was a bummer, no investigator showed up in the end. We tried so so hard to get someone there but no one came. But after we had a good lunch with some Ecuadorian members. That evening was way funny, we contacted some Nigerians on the bus and they were coming back from their Nigerian church and they basically ended up contacting us! They asked for our number and invited us to their church and gave us all these pamphlets and everything, it was way awesome. We gave them some stuff as well. But Then I get a call 5 minutes later from them asking when we plan on going to their church and the truth is, we probably would go if it wasn't at the same time as our church, but it was a funny experience nonetheless. I love the Nigerian people a lot.

Sorry if my letter is kind of lame this week, but I just want to share my testimony about how important the Book of Mormon is and how grateful I am for it. With it, the Bible, and other scriptures I can see what I need to do In my life to find joy and peace. The Book of Mormon is the key stone to my testimony of the savior and of god and I know that it can always strengthen our testimonies. Just think of the sacrifices that have been given on this earth to have the scriptures in our hands today. We truly are so privileged.

9:30 AM
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Elder Hirst Week 58 update

Monday- we went and did shopping and stuff, then that p day we ate together with some other missionaries of Sevilla and it was good. Later we went to the really fancy Spanish equivalent of Nordstrom called Corte Ingles and looked at stuff because it's all fancy. We didn't get to do any touristy stuff though just for lack of time. That evening we went to Tres Míl to really start on a big task from the ward. Basically, we have a ward list of almost 700 members and about 70 in attendance every week and we only know very few of who the rest of the people on that list are, so we have go through this list and pass by all their addresses to see if those people are actually there so we can update this list. It's going to be a long process but we plan to work hard on it. We passed through person after person in tres Míl until it started getting dark then it gets too sketchy so we left.

Tuesday- district meeting. We practiced teaching a lot and it was fun. That evening we contacted a media referral who had ordered a bible. She ended up being a Nigerian lady who ordered an English bible because she didn't have one, but wanted absolutely nothing to do with us or the church. Then we passed by our Romanian investigators with some materials in Romanian to give them. Then we went by an Nicaraguan lady who we had met and we taught her the restoration in her door and it went well.

Wednesday- in the morning we did lots of walking and talking. In the evening we taught 4 less actives/ recent converts. For lunch, we ate with some members and Gabriela the recent convert. Later the guy from El Salvador who was just contacted on the street and turned out to be a member who had just arrived from his country. Then, a lady from Bolivia who had contacted us on the street a while ago and she too was a member who had just arrived from her country. Then we taught Graci the recent convert for the last time, because she's moving to Córdoba.

Thursday- weekly planning in the morning. Me and elder reseigh had a great BBQ and we cooked up some huge awesome burgers with caramelizad onions and fried egg. It was amazing. Then we had exchanges with the elders from a pueblo of Sevilla called Alcalá de la Guadaíra, and I was with Elder Landeen who was with me in the bottom half of our area. We also had The member Lucero accompanying us all night which was great. We went by Morrison, our Nigerian member, because he had invited a friend to his house. We went and taught about prophets and the general conference and then at the end, they brought out huge plates of Nigerian food, one item called muy muy. Muy muy is made by taking refried beans, some random fish, and hard boiled eggs, putting it in an old soup can, and heating them up on the stove. They all end up just kind of blending together. It's pretty good. Lots of protein, but I almost exploded of food that night. Then we passed by some other people and were able to teach one of our investigators from Columbia and it went well.

Friday- we spent most the morning contacting. Lots of rejection but we talked to a nice lady from Peru. That evening we passed by our Romanian investigators, and we found out the son got put in prison that day, so they had just dealt with their sorrows in a less than productive matter and well they weren't in the mood for talking... we then had an awesome lesson set up with a member and everything to teach the lady from Nicaragua we had taught in her door Earlier that week, and she failed us, so we were way bummed. Then we passed by our Bolivian teenage investigators and they kind of told us that they don't want anything. Then we got a call from our new family of Investigators who were sooo good and they were going to come to our family home evening that night, but they said they can't because they are moving to another pueblo outside of Sevilla the next day. So im not going to lie, this day was really terrible. We basically lost 6 investigators in one day. But we eventually had our ward family home evening and there was a cool surprise there! Our investigator (more of just a friend) from Milan Italy was there! We didn't even invite him or anything. I mean, he basically said he still doesn't want anything but that he just wanted to see what the activity would be like. Hahaha I love Claudio he's a fun old Italian guy.

Saturday- we stopped by Gustavo, the less active we've been working with and he had read 4 chapters of the Book of Mormon! He was so excited to share with us what he learned. He honestly went from questioning if God even existed, to sharing to great things he learned from Nephi's example. We've committed to him that if he reads the Book of Mormon everyday, we will help him frequently throughout the week learn English. Then we had mission correlation and ate some Amazing mission leader who is a retired chef. That evening, we watched the Saturday morning session of conference and it was so good!

Sunday- in the morning we watched the priesthood session, then later we watched the Saturday evening session, then the Sunday morning later. We have to see Sunday afternoon at a different time. I loved conference so much this time. They just get better and better every time! I powerfully felt the spirit through the simple testimonies of the prophet and apostles in topics such as prayer, the Book of Mormon, and the plan of salvation. General conference gave me so many answers to questions or doubts that I had. I loved it. Then that night we just frantically wrote reports.

I'm so happy to be a missionary of this great church. I love sharing the message of the plan of happiness god has created for us and testifying of the restored truths as taught in the Book of Mormon. I maybe have not had so much outward success in my mission that I've been able to see, but I can say that my testimony of this church has been strengthened as I share it with other people. My goal is that hope that at the end of my my mission I can look back and say that I tried sharing my testimony of the gospel of Christ with as many people as I could. I know I must continue sharing it. Something I try and wake up and tell myself every day is "today is the beginning of the rest of your mission, so take advantage of it and testify!"

10:44 AM
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Sam in Málaga

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Elder Hirst Post week 61

Elder Hirst post week 60

Elder Hirst week 59

Elder Hirst Week 58 update

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