Sam in Málaga: September 2016

Week 57

Monday- we went and cut our hair, then we went and ate at a great burger place in Spain called Good Burger with some other missionaries of Sevilla, than me and elder Reseigh went to the monument of Sevilla called Las Setas, which means The Flat Topped Mushrooms. It's just a giant cool looking monument In the central and you go up it and can see all of Sevilla. It was cool. Then we basically spent The whole night searching for people, and just for the fun story, we were walking in one of the sketchier parts of a neighborhood, and we saw what appeared to be a drug trade going on, and then it appeared to go badly and a big fight started so we decided to walk away and act like we didn't see anything. Also, we taught a less active we've been working with, and he's just not making much progress.

Tuesday- district meeting in the morning was really great. We ate dominoes buffet after. That evening, we did some home teaching for a Brazilian family in our ward, and it's a little hard because the mom speaks only Portuguese. We can understand Portuguese just fine, but speak it...no idea. Well, we luckily have one of the most awesome members in our ward named Rafa and he's Brazilian as well, and speaks English perfectly (studied at Utah state) and of course Spanish, so he accompanied us and helped a ton. That evening there was a Sevilla vs Betis (the two big soccer teams of Sevilla) game in the Sevilla stadium (we live about 10 minutes walking from it) and it was crazy!!!! Sevilla is red and Betis is green, so it was just red and green everywhere. But there were tons of People and almost nobody wanted to meet unless we were going to watch the game with them. Luckily, we were able to squeeze in a family home evening with some members, and we were able to invite our Nigerian member, Morrison, too, so he got some more interaction with ward members. Still is working on the Spanish though... anyway, it turned it was a great family home evening, and later we found out Sevilla won 1-0 which is what most people expected because Betis isn't doing so hot lately.

Wednesday- we contacted some awesome Nigerian guys this morning! We hope to meet with them they seemed way cool. That evening we taught the recent convert Graci and unfortunately, she's moving for work to a pueblo of Córdoba so she will pertain to the branch of Córdoba. We'll miss her, but she'll be a great help to that branch.

Thursday- we taught Gabriela the recent convert in the morning, all went well. Then we did weekly Planning. After, we did exchanges with the missionaries in a pueblo of Sevilla called Dos Hermanas. I was with Elder Recio from Madrid (but his parents are from Paraguay) and we were working in the north part of our area. He's such an awesome guy, he's been in the mission for only 6 months but he's such a great missionary. We saw some awesome amazing miracles. We taught our new investigators from Bolivian, Jonathan and Yamil and we had a super super good lesson with them! They said they felt a ton of peace as they heard the message of the restoration. Then we had a lesson with a less active that is progressing named Yesus. He said he's coming this Sunday to church as well, and we talked about how if he continues coming, he will be able to be ordained a teacher. Then we had a family home evening with some members and their non member friend from Milan Italy. Man, the dude is way closed minded, but I just love talking to Italians, they make me laugh and I love the way they speak Spanish, it's super funny. We had a great day.

Friday- that morning we found a new investigator by accident! We knocked on the wrong door and it was this Dominican guy who had lived in New Jersey for a long time (he spoke English with a strong jersey accent). He had met the missionaries a while back but had no time to meet with them, but now he has said he has more time to meet. We taught a quick lesson and he seemed receptive so we hope to go back. Later we just kind of contacted and talked with great people, and then went home. From our new investigator, i learned that of Spain's top 10 most poor neighborhoods, 7 are in Sevilla. 5 of theses neighborhoods are my area. That evening was good, we met with a less active we had just found in the street from El Salvador. He's 26 and basically had to flee from his country and is here in Spain working as a waiter. He's really going through some difficulties but he opened up and we just listened. I think it helped him more than anything, he doesn't have friends or family so we just felt listening was more important.

Saturday- that morning, we did lots of contacting and trying to find some less active members. We were walking and this little 9 year old Romanian girl with her friend stopped us and said "your companions saved my dad's life." Apparently, her father had very bad cancer and the missionaries had known them and went over and gave him a blessing and he was completely healed two days after. She asked if we could come back to her house that evening and we said yes and then she looked at the Book of Mormon in my hand and said "can I have that book? We had one as a family but my cousin took it when he left and I wanted to read it." I gave her the book and immediately we saw her little friend look at the girl with longing in her eyes and we asked "would you like a book too?" And she just completely lit up and nodded. They both went and sat down on the ground and started looking at the picture of Christ in the cover and stared reading the Introduction together. That was enough to bring tears to the eyes. Later We stopped by the less active Gustavo and helped him with a little cabinet project he's working on in his house. We passed back by the Romanians and Well we went in to teach them, and I've never seen such humble circumstances. They are a family of 5 children and the mother is struggling a lot with many things and the father can't find work so he begs for money and food on the street. The little girl told us she had already read 3 pages of the book and wanted to learn how to pray so she wouldn't have fear of not having food. It caused me so much pain to see this, because there's not much we can do to help them financially. But we certainly will be praying for them and trying to help them receive the gospel because that will truly help them including in a physical sense, and I know it. The rest of the night was contacting and we met some great people.

Sunday- good day at church but it was a disappointment to see no investigator came to church. We tried really hard to get people there, but It just didn't turn out that way. But it was good nonetheless.

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Week 55 and 56

Week 55

Monday- we had a great p day. Unfortunately one of the biggest heat waves of the summer is hitting Sevilla right now. But we went to the cathedral with the hermanas and 2 members and went up the tower and took pictures and it was way cool. We also ate fast food which I love.

That evening we worked a ton. We went to an appointment that failed us and contacted people, but later we had a cool miracle. We stopped by this Nicaraguan lady we had been told to stop by by our ward mission leader and she was really receptive and really wanted us to teach her and stuff but we couldn't enter because there was no guy in the house, so we taught her in the door and she seems like she's going to be super super good! We asked her to say the prayer before we went and she said in her prayer that she feels like it's a sign from God that the missionaries have been sent to her

Tuesday- one of the hottest days I've experienced in a long time. The city had measured outside in the sun, with the heat of the wind (which makes it worse) about 51 C (124 F) at around 3:00. We had district meeting in the morning and it went great. Later, when we left at around 5:00 to go work again it had cooled down to a nice and fresh 47 C (117 F) . We carry around water bottles always, and about an hour into being outside, it feels like we had just boiled water and carried it outside. We probably could and it wouldn't make much of a difference. Anyway, we taught a less active and we were able to understand a lot better where some of his needs and problems are.

Later, we taught a recent convert here, Gabriela, and we talked about her doing institute this year and also going to the temple. We got home that night, absolutely drenched in sweat. But you know what, there's no complaints, nothing will stop this work, not even extreme weather conditions!

Wednesday- it got a little bit cooler but a lot more humid, and that Didn't help much. We went that whole morning with a member, she's the YSA leader of the ward and a return missionary of a bit over a year, so we had some plans to go by and teach, but they all cancelled, so we went and knocked doors with her! We found 2 really awesome people, one family from Peru, and one from Bolivia, and we were able to share the restoration with one of the Bolivians. That evening we went with another YSA member who's a convert of just over a year as well, and we had some plans that also failed us, so we also talked to people in the street, but eventually were able to share a message with Graci, the recent convert of a month and it went great. She's still progressing a lot in the gospel.

Thursday- I went down to Fuengirola to renew my Spanish residency (mine is expired now) and it was way fun, I got to see a bunch of people from my group including my MTC companion who I haven't seen once during the mission, Elder Whiting! Then later we had companion exchanges in Málaga with the APs and that went well. I was with Elder Bussell who had been my zone leader like 25% of my mission, so it was really fun to be with him again, he's a really great guy. We taught one of their investigators who's Bolivian and brand new in Spain, and he's having a rough time so we had a powerful lesson about Gods ability to help us.

Friday- we continued with the exchange and the morning wasn't too exciting, and that afternoon we left and went back to Sevilla and we had a lesson with a member who we home teach who's going through a rough time. Later, we visited a less active member in tres míl who's name is lady, and she is from Sudan, and Morrison, the member from Nigeria, came with us because we are also both of their home teachers, so we got lots of home teaching completed so far this month! We have 8 home teaching assignments... It's great though. While we were there, a gypsy lady got very angry at us so that was fun.

Saturday- we had mission correlation and that was good. That evening we had our YSA mission activity and it went great, everything went super well. Some members shared some amazing stuff, one member said "what would happen to Ward 2 of Sevilla If the prophet all of the sudden said we aren't going to have missionaries anymore?" I think it helped the members realize the importance of sharing the gospel. And that was about it! Something I also love that me and elder Reseigh do is that we always talk with someone every time we get on a bus (and that's very often). So we have to opportunity to talk to so many people and take advantage of every moment to share the message of Christ. We try and not let a moment pass us by!

Sunday- we had a sweet miracle in the morning. As we waited for the bus, we talked with a columbian teenager and we started talking of religion and he said he was very believing in God. We invited him to church and he said he didn't want to because he was too tired, but later we testified that God loves us and wants us to pray, and he all the sudden looked at the ground for a moment, then looked back at us and said "alright I want to go to church with you guys." He rode the bus with us and we showed him the church. He unfortunately couldn't stay long, but we were able to pass the reference to the other elders in the Sevilla 1 ward because he lives in their area. Church was good.

Then we took a member to go work, but our set appointments all failed so that wasn't fun.

Something that's been super awesome about my experience here is that we have the opportunity to teach and meet many Africans (mostly Nigerians). The thing about Nigeria, is that they all speak broken English, but every single province has their own language: Igbo, Benin, Housa, Yuroba and if you can speak even a little bit of their language, they love you. So me and elder Reseigh have been studying lots of Igbo (because many Nigerians we meet are from the provinces that speak that) and it's been super fun. So for langue study, we always use some of that time to study Igbo. Here is a good Igbo proverb for you "Huwoh onñyeh werrenti ya nurrú onya na wehyinti Nya lafu." It means "he who hears, let him hear, but he who does not, let him leave". Anyway, random thing to share, but I just love the African people so much, they have such faith in God and they really respect us for being missionaries and we respect them a ton because of how well they treat us

Week 56

Monday- we had to wake up at 5:00 am to take a train from Sevilla to Málaga for mission council. Elder Craig Zwick from the quorum of the 70 and of the church mission executive committee is with our mission this week so he lead the leadership training and it was way way good, i learned a ton. We learned the importance of church and mission councils, as well as working with church leadership better in our wards. After, he asked me and elder Reseigh to have personal Interviews with him and it was way cool! We got back late that night.

Tuesday- that morning it just poured! Like, it dumped buckets, it was so nice. The heat is over in Spain! (Knock on wood) I'm so done with the heat! Nothing too much happened in the morning, cuz it was really raining. That evening, we had one of the greatest members in missionary work help us, Lucero. We were able to stop by Morrison (the Nigerian member) and he had some non member friends there. It was cool, because lucero doesn't really speak a ton of English (mostly just what she learned on her mission), but she really made an effort and bore her testimony and shared some awesome stuff and it was powerful. We stopped by some more people that night and were able to get ahold of our Chilean ping pong champion investigator (like he's literally in Spain right now on ping pong competition, he's insanely good) and he had some other friends there too. We invited them all to church and they all said that they are going to go this Sunday!

Wednesday- we had to wake up at 3:40am to take a rented bus from our mission from Sevilla to Málaga for a Mission conference with elder Zwick. All missionaries from Sevilla, Extremadura, and Huelva took this bus. Anyway, we arrived and it was a great mission conference, I got to see a ton of friends from the mission, including my trainee elder Esparza and I was so happy to see him. It was amazing to hear from elder Zwick again too. We got back that night at like 8:00, went to give a member a blessing at 8:30, they offered to feed us, we ate, and went home and planned, and fell in our beds already asleep before we probably landed.

Thursday- we woke up exhausted... I don't think I had ever woken up so tired in my life. But that's okay because God gave us some huge miracles today! Well, we had our apartment owner come in the morning to do some repairs on some broken tiles and also put some grout to seal cracks in our kitchen where ants kept coming from, and well, he did a lousy job, so my companion (having worked in construction for a long time) fixed and cleaned it all. Elder Reseigh is a very talented person. Later, we weekly planned. That evening, we were proselyting, and talking to some people in the street, when a random young guy came up to us to talk. Usually when that happens, we assume they're crazy or they want to try and rob us, so we were a little skeptical but he sincerely said he needed help and just wanted to talk but that he wasn't going to be a Mormon or anything. We felt we should go and sit on a bench and talk with him and he just broke down and expressed just everything that had happened to him recently and that he was hitting his breaking point in life. We talked with him, we taught him about the love and mercy of Christ and what changes he needed to do in his life, and we prayed with him. It ended up being one of those just super powerful spiritual moments. Later, we ended up finding 3 Bolivian teenagers in their house. We had met one brother knocking some doors a week ago, and we stopped by and his brothers were there too and let us go in and teach them quickly. It was very cool. Then we taught Graci, the recent convert, that night and it went well.

Friday- that morning we did lots of contacting. Met some awesome people though, hope someone can become an investigator. Then there was a missionary who had served here 15 years ago and he was passing through Sevilla and wanted to take us out to lunch. We weren't opposed... We ate in a super Spanish restaurant. I had 5 fish. And it wasn't like a fish fillet, it was just 5 medium sized fish, Heads and all, looking right at me. It was very very good though. That evening we had good lesson with a girl on the bus who's from Sevilla, but was studying down at the university of Cadiz, so it was fun to talk all about Cadiz with her and stuff. She seemed way open to our message, so we hope it turns out well. Then we taught a Nigerian man in tres míl, while we were knocking some doors (not always the best idea, but we decided to do it). He basically wanted to argue the whole time, and I believe he's the first atheist Nigerian I have ever met. Anyway, it was annoying, so We just got up at one point and said thanks for everything, and we hope that you're happy and call us if you need anything. Later we had a family home evening with a family in the ward, and they invited two non member friends. One was incredibly receptive!!! She doesn't live in Sevilla, but she lives in one of the pueblos fairly close to where there's a church, and she sincerely has a desire to learn and loved our message. The other was actually from Milan Italy, and wasn't as receptive, but hey, I'm teaching someone from my cousin Will's mission so that's cool!

Saturday- we had correlation with the ward mission leader. He was gone in Málaga for 2 months for some medical stuff but has returned and wow... his name is Manolo and he's just absolutely amazing. We would talk about some progressing Investigator and he'd ask "when would you like to have a family home evening in my house with them? I'm available at any point." Or we'd talk About a less active and their problems and he'd ask "alright I'll give them a call today to try and see when I could go visit them with you guys this next week." While he was out of town he called our recent converts on their birthdays, and organized what we could do to revise the ward mission plan in missionary work. Just a complete machine of a member. Later we taught a less active teenager who's the only member of his family named Yesus, and at the end we invited him to come to church and he said he would and we organized how he could get there with the ward mission leader Manolo. Then we went to a baptism of the other wards because they wanted some help with their musical number. It was great. Then we met quickly with the bishop and his family and They are great people.

Sunday- church was so awesome. Every month, the missionaries are in charge of sacrament meeting. This week, I gave a talk and we also had a musical number of "Grand Eres Tu" (how great thou art) and I played clarinet and the bishop's daughter who also played clarinet played with us, and the other missionaries sang and it went very well. There were tears in the audience! Then, me and my companion taught primary, and that was crazy! But it was fun. In the Sunday school class, we had a super great class. There was the hermans new investigator who's from some African country that speaks French. Anyway, he's been here for a little time and doesn't speak English or Spanish, so we can't talk with him at all. (One of The hermanas (as in the missionary) that found him is from Paris so she is the only one who can). But every time we see him, we just always are all bros with him and we speak our very little French that the French hermana teaches us. But he just always smiles when he sees us and he's super cool, and man, he's going to get baptized I hope. In the class he bore his testimony in French and the hermana translated and it was a very powerful testimony. Unfortunately, we had no investigators in church but we had a less active young man Yesus who we brought and he passed the sacrament so that was awesome!

Well that was the week. I'm just loving the mission a ton, I never get bored of it. I think every day of how much the mission truly means to me, and the people and the places that I serve. I love knowing that what I'm doing truly can help any person. The gospel is really a medicine for everything and will help all those who accept it.