A Mormon Fox in Spain: October 12, 2015 Letter

Hi!!

I was working on this email and then somehow the draft that I was typing got deleted... Ughh. So frustrating!! So I'm gonna have to be brief with a few asuntos of interest, I'm super sorry! I'll answer the questions as quick as I can and then tell you about my week.

Ok this week was really good! It started off with Concilio. We had to get on a train last Monday at 8 in the morning and we got to Madrid at around 3:30. When we got there, we realized we had a little bit of time to go and have an adventure, so we went downtown (my companion and I) and just enjoyed being back in our home city of Spain. It was really fun. I love being there. We then did splits with the Hermanas in Alcobendas, a pueblo outside of Madrid where President and Hermana Pack live, and I enjoyed that a lot. We found a really prepared lady in the street and I'm hoping that the Hermanas can continue to teach her. Then, on Tuesday, we had our Concilio de liderazgo. It was a 7 hour meeting of just pure Spirit. I loved it SO much. I gained a testimony of, you're not gonna believe this, folding my clothes. We talked about personal grooming and cleanliness and I realized that having wrinkly clothes is not the best. We also learned a lot more about the Sabbath Day and about finding people. It was SO spiritual and I loved it so much. We then planned our zone training meeting that we give with the Zone leaders, hopped on a train at 8:30 that might, and went to Leon, where we stayed with the Hermanas up there. On Wednesday, we did intercambios with the Hermanas. Hermana Jimenez and I were together and it was awesome. She's only got a week in the mission field but she's just such a natural! Perks of going out with the missionaries before the mission. She's from the South of Spain and we just had a blast. Such a spiritual day. We found a golden family on the street, which was exactly what we had prayed for as we left the apartment. Our companions were together, as well, and they had an equally miraculous day. It was so cool. One of the best intercambios EVER.

Then, on Thursday, we had our zone meeting! It went really well. All of our zone came up and we trained them what we had learned in Concilio. It was really cool. My companion and I talked about keeping the Sabbath Day holy and how it really is what makes the difference between strong families and falling away from the church, eventually. It was a really good thing for me to study for in depth and gain a greater testimony of. We then ate together, packed up, and headed for the bus station with the Elders from our area, SO ready to get back to Gijon. We were thinking we were gonna get on the 5 o'clock bus, but jokes on us, it was sold out by the time we got there. So we're freaking out, super stressed, and we realize that there isn't another bus that leaves until 9. So we're stranded in Leon until 9. We were gonna go out and work again with the Hermanas, but we didn't want to interrupt their schedule or anything, and we also had our luggage with us that we would have had to haul around. So we sat down with the Elders and proceeded to play UNO for 4 and a half hours. In a bus station. In Leon. It got pretty competitive... Between everyone else. I only won one time. My uno skills are lacking! It was such a weird day but, hey, they come around every once in awhile. We FINALLY got to Gijon at 11 that night, were asleep by 12, and then proceeded to work the rest of the week. Luckily we were able to meet with a lot of people and see progression in a lot of them. We ran from cita to cita to cita. It was amazing and it felt so good after almost a full week of traveling outside of our area. We met with a Lot of members and investigators.

One of the coolest experiences was with R. She's an active member and was coming with us to a lesson that we had set up in the capilla with F. He ended up not coming because he got called into work at the last second, so we asked R.if we could sit down and teach her a little lesson, because we have the goal of teaching all the members about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, seeing as the apostles are focusing so much on it as of late. We got to know her so much better and she ended up opening up to us about some insecurities that she has as a mom. She's an AWESOME mom, but she is just so down on herself about little things, like having to work and not being able to make homemade cookies for her sons class and not being able to go to his performances. It was so sad because it's so obvious to us how wonderful she is. So we left the cita that we had with a plan. We went during Medio dia, bought some cookie ingredients, and whipped up some cookies for her. Then, at church the next day, we brought the cookies and had her son secretly write her a note about how much he loved her and how grateful he was for her. Then we gave him the cookies at told him to give them to her when he got home. She was SO happy. She texted us and was just really grateful. It was a really sweet little moment. It taught me, again, that what we do as missionaries can take a lot of different forms. R. isn't MA, she's not an investigators. She's an active member with a great testimony. But she's a daughter of God and she needs help, just like the rest of us do. We all have our issues, and as missionaries, we're here to invite people to come unto Christ so that He can help us through our issues that we have. We do that through serving, following the Spirit, and opening our mouths. Im so grateful for the chance that I have to teach Gospel principles, to study them, and then to serve people and help them see the changes that the Gospel brings into our lives. I see it in my own life and it's so cool to see it in the lives of others. I'm praying to see Paola and Fernando get baptized before I leave here, but I know that if I continually do my part, I can accept the Lords timing. :)

I love you so much! Thank you for all that you do for me, mom! You're an amazing mom and person and I'm so blessed to have been sent to you. I'm doing the best I can do be the best I can be and I know that the Lord, thankfully, is patient with us. I love you! Have a great week! I'm ponderizing Mosiah 2:22 this week- exact obedience in everything.

Love you!!

Love,

Sam