First off, I want to thank the family for informing me that Brittany and Geoff were going to have a baby before it happened. hahahaha!! Tell them congrats!! I read that and I was like what!? They're having a baby?? hahaha. I'm sure girl's camp was SO much fun!!! That's super cool everyone was saying how funny Hannah is! Doesn't surprise me one bit:) That's sweet!! Does tanner just drive in to Momentum or what? Holy cow it's already scout camp time. crazy stuff!! Hope Hunter has a great time!! It's super cool every one is getting into tennis!! Tennis is so much fun!! Super cool for all the people getting the mission calls!! Tell them all congrats if you see them and keep me updated on who continues to get calls!! Oh man, Janzen gets his call!!! I am so pumped!!!!!! Spain Madrid baby!!!
Yeah, we heard from some members Spain got destroyed in their first game. Keep letting me know how the World Cup goes. We don't really know anything about it. hahaha! Just occasional scores we see on the metro system. I should receive the package soon!!!! I will let you know when I get that!!! Thank you so much!!!:) Speakingof packages, you all should be receiving a giant one in 6-8 days from Toledo and it may or may not be the Sword of Laban. We went to Toledo this morning and this sword is SOOO COOL!!!! Gold plated handle. Massive. It says the Sword of Laban on it and has an outline of Spain and says "mision españa madrid" on it. Oh my gosh. It may be the coolest purchase I have ever made. So please take really good care of that for me. It should be getting there soon!!! I'll send a picture of me with it. Oh and mom, I got you a Toledo bell :)
Well as for last week!! It was a really good week. Nothing too crazy. It started out with just a couple good lessons Monday night. One with Graciela and then with the familia Bueno. They have been returning to church and he (Hermano Bueno) is helping us out with all sorts of lessons so it's been super cool. Tuesday morning we taught Rafael. Oh my goodness. A reference machine. We were walking by this guy and Rafael said to him, "Hey what's up? these are my friends, the Mormons, and they have a message of the word of God you need to listen to. Can they teach you?" It was a friend of his and he let us teach him lesson one. He didn't really have much interest but Rafael still has the fire to share it. Then we taught Rafael lesson 3 and it was amazing. He's so ready. He couldn't come to church this Sunday because of work but he's planning on coming this next week. So we are extremely, extremely excited for him!!! That night we met with Javier and then Graciela. Javier came with us to Gracielas and shared his testimony on dropping coffee. Because she hasn't had any coffee in a while but was getting frustrated and didn't know if it was worth it. Javier came in with the clutch and it was just amazing. Javier's wife still hasn't listened to us. Still working on that but it will happen. Keep praying your hearts out for them, especially for her to open her heart!!! It will happen. I know it will.
Wednesday we had zone meeting and it took FOREVER to get there and back so we didn't have a ton of proselyting time but it was a really good meeting, as always, it was very powerful. We talked about the gift of discernment and how we need to prepare ourselves before lessons to be able to receive it. Super good. We taught Alina (a recent convert) and we had a chat with her on modesty in dress. She doesn't like it because its not "elegant" but we are working on convincing her and helping her understand it's what God wants. So little by little. But in other news, she went to Dublin Ireland and she got us shotglasses from Dublin. hahaha Super funny, but super sweet. haha she's really cool and is just kinda like an older sister to us. Just doesn't dress modestly. But!! That's gonna change and we´re on that! Thursday we had Graciela's interview for baptism. It was interesting to say the least. She kept saying, "I'm in a hurry, I have to go. They lied to me this is longer than 15 minutes!!!" (to help you understand Graciela: she is very feisty. She is prepared for baptism, but she is just very pushy and wants everything to go her way. Just a very strong personality) The interviewer finally had to call President for some things and she was mad but he calmed her down and things went good from there. It all worked out in the end. She passed the interview. We had another lesson with Javier and then went to a member's house that night and ate and worked on getting the non-member daughter-in-law to listen. She's cool and eventually she´ll listen to the missionaries.
Friday, the greatest thing happened with Rafael. Oh my goodness. I was with one of the assistants on an intercambio and we were teaching him when one of Rafael's friends came up and Rafael said to her, "Hey you should listen to them. They're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the Mormons. They're called Mormons because they have this book!" He went on to explain the Book of Mormon, where it comes from and everything. Then says to her, "You can take this book and then another day they will come teach you more and help you know more about the word of God." Oh my goodness, who is this guy!? It's incredible. Friday was a longer day. Not much happened apart from that experience with Rafael. Saturday, we met with a girl who is so ready and is super open!! She has a friend serving a mission in the U.S. and really wanted to know why we had a second book and now she is going to read it on her 2 and a half month trip to Peru. Yeah, shoot but I should still be here when she gets back so hopefully we can get a hold of her in August/September. (fun fact: if you look at the pictures of Madrid City you will see the big giant buildings and then the two leaning towards each other, those are in our area and we taught her underneath the two leaning towers. Pretty sweet!!!) That night we had a lesson with Javier and Anahi and she was kinda upset about the whole modesty thing. She thought it was too extreme and we were explaining it to her but then said, "What does your father think?" He said, "Well those on the street, they don't know the Laws of God. It may not be right but they don't know any better but you sweetheart know better and you know what God wants. You'll know what to do." She was being a total teenager and was complaining about it but we got a text from her that night that said, "I want to tell you what just happened. I was kinda angry and never have I questioned a commandment but I knelt down and prayed to the Lord and I asked why and right as I did it I heard a voice, my own voice. and it told me it's for your protection. You may not understand now but you will later on looking back and I knew right then I needed to follow it. I have never felt so connected to the Lord before. It was amazing!!!!!" Wow. It was amazing. That girl and her dad are incredible. The Lord is so happy with them right now. Absolutely amazing.
Well Sunday!!! We had an incredible day at church and then we had the baptism!! So it almost didn't happen. If you knew Graciela personally it would make sense. We gave her the jumpsuit because it's all we have. There is like no baptismal clothing at all. She put it on and the sister missionaries were in there with her and she started to get angry and said no. No way and started to take it off. She was like I will not get baptized if it's what I have to wear. So they came and told us and we were freaking out trying to figure out what to do. She was refusing to get baptized because the clothes were ugly. It was crazy. Finally we calmed her down and started the baptism 45 minutes late but it ended up being extremely powerful. She bore her testimony and started crying and said, "I know without a single doubt that all of this is true." I was fighting back tears it was SO powerful!! and worth all of the hard, hard work to get her to that point. It finally happened and she has a testimony. Our God is a God of miracles. So basically what I learned this week is the women in Europe do not like to dress modestly or in jumpsuits. It is horrible outside with what the girls wear or more of what they don't wear. But oh well this world is just a scary place sometimes.
Wednesday we had zone meeting and it took FOREVER to get there and back so we didn't have a ton of proselyting time but it was a really good meeting, as always, it was very powerful. We talked about the gift of discernment and how we need to prepare ourselves before lessons to be able to receive it. Super good. We taught Alina (a recent convert) and we had a chat with her on modesty in dress. She doesn't like it because its not "elegant" but we are working on convincing her and helping her understand it's what God wants. So little by little. But in other news, she went to Dublin Ireland and she got us shotglasses from Dublin. hahaha Super funny, but super sweet. haha she's really cool and is just kinda like an older sister to us. Just doesn't dress modestly. But!! That's gonna change and we´re on that! Thursday we had Graciela's interview for baptism. It was interesting to say the least. She kept saying, "I'm in a hurry, I have to go. They lied to me this is longer than 15 minutes!!!" (to help you understand Graciela: she is very feisty. She is prepared for baptism, but she is just very pushy and wants everything to go her way. Just a very strong personality) The interviewer finally had to call President for some things and she was mad but he calmed her down and things went good from there. It all worked out in the end. She passed the interview. We had another lesson with Javier and then went to a member's house that night and ate and worked on getting the non-member daughter-in-law to listen. She's cool and eventually she´ll listen to the missionaries.
Friday, the greatest thing happened with Rafael. Oh my goodness. I was with one of the assistants on an intercambio and we were teaching him when one of Rafael's friends came up and Rafael said to her, "Hey you should listen to them. They're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the Mormons. They're called Mormons because they have this book!" He went on to explain the Book of Mormon, where it comes from and everything. Then says to her, "You can take this book and then another day they will come teach you more and help you know more about the word of God." Oh my goodness, who is this guy!? It's incredible. Friday was a longer day. Not much happened apart from that experience with Rafael. Saturday, we met with a girl who is so ready and is super open!! She has a friend serving a mission in the U.S. and really wanted to know why we had a second book and now she is going to read it on her 2 and a half month trip to Peru. Yeah, shoot but I should still be here when she gets back so hopefully we can get a hold of her in August/September. (fun fact: if you look at the pictures of Madrid City you will see the big giant buildings and then the two leaning towards each other, those are in our area and we taught her underneath the two leaning towers. Pretty sweet!!!) That night we had a lesson with Javier and Anahi and she was kinda upset about the whole modesty thing. She thought it was too extreme and we were explaining it to her but then said, "What does your father think?" He said, "Well those on the street, they don't know the Laws of God. It may not be right but they don't know any better but you sweetheart know better and you know what God wants. You'll know what to do." She was being a total teenager and was complaining about it but we got a text from her that night that said, "I want to tell you what just happened. I was kinda angry and never have I questioned a commandment but I knelt down and prayed to the Lord and I asked why and right as I did it I heard a voice, my own voice. and it told me it's for your protection. You may not understand now but you will later on looking back and I knew right then I needed to follow it. I have never felt so connected to the Lord before. It was amazing!!!!!" Wow. It was amazing. That girl and her dad are incredible. The Lord is so happy with them right now. Absolutely amazing.
Well Sunday!!! We had an incredible day at church and then we had the baptism!! So it almost didn't happen. If you knew Graciela personally it would make sense. We gave her the jumpsuit because it's all we have. There is like no baptismal clothing at all. She put it on and the sister missionaries were in there with her and she started to get angry and said no. No way and started to take it off. She was like I will not get baptized if it's what I have to wear. So they came and told us and we were freaking out trying to figure out what to do. She was refusing to get baptized because the clothes were ugly. It was crazy. Finally we calmed her down and started the baptism 45 minutes late but it ended up being extremely powerful. She bore her testimony and started crying and said, "I know without a single doubt that all of this is true." I was fighting back tears it was SO powerful!! and worth all of the hard, hard work to get her to that point. It finally happened and she has a testimony. Our God is a God of miracles. So basically what I learned this week is the women in Europe do not like to dress modestly or in jumpsuits. It is horrible outside with what the girls wear or more of what they don't wear. But oh well this world is just a scary place sometimes.
Spiritual thought this week!! I have been thinking a lot about how the Savior really was the ONLY one who could have brought about the atonement. In the first chapter of the Pearl of Great Price the Father says to Moses. Mine Only Begotten Son who is and shall be the Savior. This was before the time of the Savior and I love the fact that the Lord not only said shall be, but used the present tense IS. He really was foreordained to His great work and the Father knew He would never falter. He walked a road none of us have to walk and did it knowing He was the only one who could do it. If He had failed, or faltered once it was all over but He was perfect and I know He was. He had the full trust of the Father from the beginning and I hope we can all strive to gain that trust of the Father. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can! I know we can!! I love you all! Have an amazing week!!!!!:)
Love,
Elder Anderson
¡El Reino de Dios o nada!
