Week 72 - CHRISTMAS

This is what they have traditionally - without a Christmas tree. They
call it a Belen, and I know it as a Nativity on steroids. That is all
handmade by a member, handpainted, held together by glue and wire.

Pretty cool, right?

Week 71 - Preparing for Christmas

I've got Skype on my IPad all set up already with you as a contact and
I don't have P-Day next week. So I won't be able to email until
Christmas. Is there any reason why we shouldn't plan on what we did
last year? I call you at around 8:00 your time, or 4:00 mine. We can
talk for 45m to an hour, because this time my companion's parents
aren't divorced and I won't have a bunch of time to burn. Send me any
additional instructions cause I'll have wifi intermittently throughout
the week. Oh, and I do have news about my package - its here, and it
cost 40€ to get it out of customs. Dang Spaniards. I'll get it and the
bill Christmas Eve at the Madrid-wide Christmas devotional.

You're right about the need to work extra hard at Christmas - all
though people are a little more open during this time of year, they're
a lot more pressured to be moving here and there and fast and presents
and buy and sales and get out of my way I love Jesus but I don't have
time. It reminds me of the first little bit of the "He is the gift"
vídeo. Maybe it's the mission, but I didn't think that back home we
were so materialistic at Christmastime. I mean, we're not perfect at
all, but think about it this way - ask all the kids what they got for
Christmas from Santa last year. Even better, ask what they ASKED for.
And then ask them what we do for Christmas every year. I'm fairly
confident that even Charlie, who's had the least amount of experience
with the Maxfield Family at Christmastime, could tell you all of our
traditions - which are either Christ-centered or family-centered or
both. And I just don't see that in the average Spanish folk, which is
really quite sad. They need the gospel.

We had a family home evening the other night, and we talked about
giving and receiving. And in the Elder Maxfield Christmas message,
here's my thought on giving and receiving, take right out of the mouth
of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, "What can I give him..... I can give
my heart."

Elder Maxfield

Week 70 - A crazy week

Wow! This week was nuts. I think I worked in Alcalá a total of 10
hours. Monday, after P day, I had a planning session with The Elder
Bailey and we worked out ideas for Zone Meeting. Then, we got
up early and went to the mission home. It was a great concilio! We
talked the whole time on how to be good leaders and how to enable
those we serve. Really a stellar meeting. Hermana Pack had the winner
thought when we talked for a while about feeding the flock - and after
we had several non-committal responses on the need to be sincere and
to love et. Etc., she pulled out the big guns - "Elders and Hermanas -
specifically, HOW do you feed His sheep?" And then we had an excellent
discussion that gave me lots of great ideas on what we really needed
to do.

After that, Elder Bailey and I kept planning in Alcalá and got some
Dominoes to make the planning go faster, we went to the
temple, and that was great - An excellent session. I know it's the
same every time, but I learned a lot. After that, we had some lunch
with some Canarians in Azuqueca, and then, FINALLY, I got to work in
Alcalá again. We spent our time with Maria, who got baptized a month
or so ago, and in a Family Home Evening with some amazing
Argentinians. The Gurreas. We came in, and I could tell that something
was off. Nothing crazy, but it had been one of those days, you know,
when the kids are a little crazy and not all the errands got done and
not everything goes the way it should, and to top it off, you're
coming off a cold and people are coming over? Maybe I'm wrong, but it
seemed like a day where everyone was a little short on temper. I'd
like to say our special spirit and a scriptural thought changed it
all, but no. I've learned that the best way to help people is to do
what's expected, and then a little more. We had showed up with 30
fresh chocolate chip cookies for the appointment, and that is what
made the difference. A good cookie in the right place at the right
time is powerful. Anywho, it changed the whole dynamic and we were
invited over again. Wednesday night, we slept over in Azuqueca, and it
was a party. 4 elders in one apartment is always a good time.

Thursday morning, we filmed a video about how NOT to teach to use in
Zone Meeting. That went great - it was pretty funny. We were going to
explain some things about how to teach (not that we're perfect) but to
do so, we filmed a charla that probably many missionaries have had -
Decent explaining, but without questions or effective understanding on
either part. Our goal in Zone Meeting was to change that. It worked
well - the meeting was fantastic.

Then, I went on an intercambios with the office elders again -
including Elder Weiss! I love that guy. We talked a lot about
prioritizing and time usage, which was the main goal, but we also
spent some time in the office. I just shredded papers and pretended
not to hear about the transfers they were all waiting for. And then,
Saturday, we had transfers! I will be staying here for another 8 weeks
(which means Christmas with the Schwartz... Yessss) and Elder Avila as
well. What's great is I'll be able to work with Elder Bailey again
this transfer, and we have a lot of great plans. This makes 3 areas in
12 transfers, or 6 months per area. I am one lucky duck. But I'll
probably be gone next transfer, but I guess you never know. This
transfer they took out a set of Hermanas and are going to put in some
Elders, so I'm excited to have some fun with those guys.

And, I confirmed Lizandro, Maria's boyfriend, a member. It
was a great blessing, and all signs are that he'll continue strong in
the church. Afterwords, we had a Christmas concert at the temple, and
THAT was great. There was one old Spaniard that played the piano so
well, and it was all Christmas music.

And in short, that was my week. I slept in Alcalá with my own
companion 2 out of 7 days. But it was great, and the Lord blessed us.
Sorry about last week - we just didn't have time after P-day to get
any decent letters out. The church is true, and next transfer will be
nice and tranquilo.

Who am I kidding.
Elder Maxfield

Week 69 - Thanksgiving and a letter in pictures

Week 68 - This is true and I owe everything to it!

Was pretty interesting. Tuesday we had a GREAT meeting, transmitted
from Germany. Elder Ballard said that our Area's area plan was the
best in the world - it's the size of a pass-along card and it only has
three goals; Bring a Friend, Become Self-Sufficent, Find an Ancestor.
The idea is that all the members can easily remember what is wanted of
them. Oh, and I'm finally legal in the country - the other day we went
to the government and Elder Weiss got everything all done. Just in
time to get home, haha. Thursday we had a great meeting - elder
Christensen from the ward and Elder Dyches from the area presidency
came and it was one of the few meetings where missionaries get to be
the receivers - most of the time our meetings are either run by us or
designed to make us work harder. But for this one few times, the
meeting was all about the atonement, and was just for the purpose of
uplifting the missionaries. And then, we had a member meeting later
that night, and that was GREAT! They both speak Spanish, and they just
pumped up all the members to do the area plan! Elder and Sister
Christensen didn't recognize me, but that's ok. They gave great
testimonies about the Book of Mormon and how it's the best way to
teach the atonement. We had an ex- Seventy, Faustino Lopez do some
translating (he's one of my favorite members, going to his house is
always amazing). And he was going great until he said, "Sin la
Expiación, no hay propósito de tener ni Navidad ni Eeeester.... Que es
el Eeeester?" And then Elder Christensen whispered, "pascua! Pascua!"
And we Made it though ok.

Elder Bailey (Azuqueca, the other zone leader) and I had an excellent
meeting  with all the district leaders, and we shared our vision for
the zone - Get off the streets! In the mission people think that
diligence is street contacting - when there are SO many more ways to
do more effective missionary work. It was a good meeting, with lots of
great ideas and plenty of chocolate croissants - that's one of the
great things about this country, there are chocolate croissants
EVERYWHERE.

I had a small fight with the ward mission leader the other day.... I
know it's not good to do that, but I kinda lost my patience. He told
us we weren't doing any work, when I know exactly how hard we are
working - we just had a tough week. So it was just a little
frustrating when someone who's supposed to be my link to the ward
starts comparing our numbers with the Hermanas and tells me I'm being
lazy.... Whatever, we're over it. Just another detail to our week.

Today, we organized a zone - wide P day in Torrejon - we played
soccer, basketball, volleyboll, and then finished it off with a
potluck lunch. There were plenty of potato chips and no salads, which
was perfect. I made a Spanish tortilla, and it turned out nice. Oh,
and as for thanksgiving, I'm covered. For the third area in a row,
there is a matrimonial couple, the Schwartz. And they invite us to eat
a lot, and this week they've promised us an American Thanksgiving,
complete with pumpkin pie and a 14 pound turkey - I've managed to get
spoiled AGAIN :). And yesterday, Hermana Schwartz came up to us in
church and said, I was fooling around with crust recipes last night
and I made a lemon merengue pie, would you like to come over and see
how it turned out? Would we ever! Side note - Can you send me a recipe
of a fairly simple chocolate cake from the cake Doctor book? Like just
a way to not cook it like the box.

My other favorite experience this week also came from Jesus.... We
were talking about the gospel and the restoration, because he doesn't
really understand the import of what we're telling him. I had a pretty
fuerte lesson where I said, "Look. There can only be one true church.
The Mormons can't be only part right - if the Book of Mormon is true,
there is only one path to salvation and that is through the restored
Church of Jesus Christ. If it's wrong, I'm going to hell for even
suggesting you read it." So as we kept going, I invited my companion
(who is a convert) and Elder Schwartz (who is 64) to both bear their
testimonies on how this gospel has changed their lives and why we want
Jesus to participate more fully in the atonement. And then it was my
turn. As I told Jesus that the gospel has changed my life and I
wouldn't be anywhere without it, the Lord ever so briefly opened my
eyes - and I saw exactly where I would be without the gospel, and I
was overwhelmed - I almost had to stop taking. I felt the spirit
telling me that THIS IS TRUE AND I OWE EVERYTHING TO IT - and just
like dad told me when I left on the mission, it's another one of those
experiences too powerful and too spiritual to just throw out the
window someday when something goes wrong. This last paragraph doesn't
need to go on the Internet. I don't know, sometimes I just want to
share my spiritual experiences with Mom and Dad, even if the rest of
the email is silly and superficial.

I am doing just fine.

Week 67 - Learning Finances and the gosple

 I guess if I get a long email, I can respond like it was a conversation, something I don´t do very often. I sent you an email with some suggestions from the office, but as for "needs".... I don´t really have any specific ones. Surprise me! By the time I get the package it´ll be my birthday anyways :). Actually, I bet it comes pretty fast. When I was in the islands, the package had to make it through spanish mail, through the office, to the Concilio, to the zone leaders, to the zone training in the island, to my district Leader, to me. Vaya problemas. Now, thanks to my new responsibilitiy, I can cut out about 3/4 of that process out - Elder Weiss is working in the office. He´ll make things happen. 

So, even with my new 25 year old companion, I am learning a new "mom" strategy - Teaching finances! I mean, we live on a fixed income and never have any emergencies so it shouldn´t be very hard to budget.... but you´d be surprised. We´ve got half the month left, and my companion has less than a quarter of his money. And every time he mentions how little money he has, he follows it up with, "Let´s go buy a gym membership." or "When we go grocery shopping, remember I need some chocolate filled cereal - but not the generic brand, that stuff tastes like cardboard." "No, Elder, you don´t understand. If we go buy Dominoes instead of cooking, we will actually save money." "Do we have any frozen pizzas in the piso? I want one." And today, we went to go buy laundry detergent, and I explained the principle of buying in bulk and buying by the pound - although the price might look more expensive, it´s only 9 cents a wash instead of 30. Like I said, we´re learning finances, along with the gospel.

My favorite story of the week. We teach a guy named Jesus, who I think I´ve mentioned in a letter or two. He´s a pain in the rear, and last Saturday, I repeated the same lesson I´ve repeated four times now - COME TO CHURCH! Sometimes it´s the intentional topic, sometimes we stumble onto it. For a long time I´ve been avoiding it, trying to get him to progress in other ways so that this doesn´t become a wall. He always has excuses, and when we offer to fix them, he doesn´t like our solutions and he leaves with, "church just isn´t that cool anyways." We bore our testimonies, and I left thinking that it was a waste of time.... again. Seriously, this guy has been investigating for months and he won´t do anything unless it fits in his schedule - and sunday mornings are for sleeping and nothing else, just like the past 28 years. Sunday came, and we were talking with some members before church started, and I had completely forgotten the lesson, because it always ends the same way. And I hear the door open and lo and behold, JESUS! He came! He sat down and started a lovely discussion with the First Counselor´s wife. I was just dumbfounded. I´m very accoustomed to peopled saying they´ll do something and not doing it - but saying you won´t do it and then actually fulfilling your commitment? I almost lost it. We´ll see what happens in the lesson tonight, but THAT, mom, was a miracle. Mormon 9 - miracles only stop because people stop believing, the fact is that miracles do happen in our days!

Sorry about the shortness, I had to plan a blitz, plan for flu shots, plan for some reports, and plan for getting legal in the country... finaly! I love you mom!

Elder Maxfield

Week 66 - a GREAT week and a new companion (from Portugal)

Well, we finished off our last week hard! We did our best to find as many miracles as we could, but man, it was hard. I was only with Elder Wagner the last three days of the week. Elder Nash and I had a GREAT concilio - we talked the whole time about training district leaders and working with the members, my two favorite things we talk about. Who needs to talk about clean pisos anyways? And then, we had our zone meeting on Thursday, and the spirit was so strong. We had the despedidos of three missionaries and a great discussion on how to do better. And, as a favor to Hermana Orrego who´s headed back to Chile, I played the violin. It was really cool, because I felt like I should pick three hymns and ask and answer a question; "Dónde Hallo el solaz", "Un Angel del Señor", "La Barra de Hierro." It turned out very nice, even though I haven´t practiced in a while. Turns out - that first one is her favorite. 

It´s a new transfer for me - I´ve gotten a new companion and Elder Wagner is headed off to Parla. I´ll be here in Alcalá with Elder Ávila. He´s from Portugal, the Azores Islands. Real cool chap, from what I´ve seen so far. He´s got 18 months in the mission, and 3.5 years as a missionary.... wow people like that always make me wonder if I would have the courage to do that. Like Elder Weiss, we´ll be working on both Spanish, and English... except with a different accent :) I´m going to stay and be zone leader, but the other zone leader, Elder Nash (he´s in a foto somewhere.....) is going to Aviles in Asturias, my old stomping ground! It´s been closed for more than a year. And Elder Morris, my grandson, will be training! That makes me one of the very few living great-grandfathers in the mission heh heh. 

The great thing about these letters is that I can rejoice in my successes and forget about what might have not gone so well - the other day, one of our favorite investigators didn´t pass his interview thanks to a worthiness issue, the sort of thing that I don´t need to know but President Pack works out. So President´s counselor came down and did the interview, he passed and is ready for baptism, and then he pulled me aside and said, "This guy is one of the most prepared people I´ve ever seen. You did a very, VERY good job teaching him." Of course, it wasn´t us, it was the spirit - we´ve had some great, great lessons and seen a lot of cool things. He makes some really great food and we bring the spirit, so we make a good team :)

One last miracle of the week: we were teaching Maria, the woman who got baptized recently a very un-planned lesson thanks to a couple other circumstances. Point is, my companion pulls out his Ipad and we started burning time watching Mormon Messaages. And they were nice, until all of a sudden I did two things I wouldn´t expect me to do. I told my companion specificially which video I wanted to watch (he was the one leading the lesson) and then afterwords, I looked at Elder Broadbent and said, "What impacted you from that video?" - Usually we ask the investigators that, not the missionaries! But as soon as he bore his testimony, the spirit just filled the room and Maria and Elder Broadbent started crying. That video was exactly what she needed in that precise moment to clarify a couple doubts and strengthen the spirit. And I had no clue what I was doing, and if I were to explain my actions to myself they would sound very unlike my habits. But the spirit guided me and my words, and we were all edified. I know that he leads this work. I know that what he says, I can say and bring to pass the happiness of muchos. 

GREAT WEEK!

Elder Maxfield

Week 65 - Random, real experiences from a mission

 This is a conglomeration of a couple notes I've made in the last week,
some of them looking for advice others just talking, some directed to
President - this is probably the best presentation of how my journal
reads.

Confirmation on Sunday - Maria missed it. But it was ok because I was
able to make signs to the bishop to say that yes she was coming but no
she wasn't here. So she snuck in right before the sacrament started,
and then afterwords we gave her the Holy Ghost. Great spirit - I felt
inspired the whole time to give a blessing about how to do the small
things and not look forget baby steps. I told her to focus on the
temple as a goal, and none of that was what I would have said if I
really put my mind to it. I've had so many beautiful experiences from
blessings as someone else starts speaking through my mouth - and I've
had one where I didn't listen to that voice and the blessing just
stopped. I felt Terrible. In the words of Obispo - "Es un poder REAL".

I just thought I'd tell you about last week's interesting challenge.
The sisters had a baptism that went way too fast, after the bishop had
told them to postpone it and they didn't. Then, last week, he told
them to postpone a different one, and tampoco did they listen. So we
had a baptism yesterday and he wasn't even there. And then I get a
phone call from the bishop in a towering rage about how the sisters,
in order to baptize a child, told the mother to go back to her abusive
husband and get a signature without telling a soul. (Also done all de
prisa). And yesterday, my comp gets a call about how they've set,
again, a date for two weeks out, when the bishop has called them
niñas, ciegas, mal de cabeza, for doing just that.... Just commenting
on how all the work we've done getting the bishop to work with the
missionaries again might go down the drain.... Isn't it fun to see how
everything can die just from one irresponsible person? Reminds me of
the Senate.

I was able to perform the confirmation ordinance, and there was a sweet spirit - really Sunday is such a delight. It's fun teaching people how their attitudes on the sabbath are a signal to the Lord. The woman who was confirmed on Sunday came to church knowing she could only stay one hour thanks to the older woman she had to take home and take care of. But, she came in her best clothes, fasting, having read and studied Ether 12 like we invited, and with her first tithing payment. It really impressed me that she had done all of that preparation for just one hour of church. Really, the way we enter the room sets the stage for the señal that we will give to the Lord.

Oh, some missionaries..... You can't just stop teaching people because they don't progress as fast as you want! That's like being a lifeguard who only saves the ones who are about to step on a seashell while ignoring the sharks!

Oh, and as to the thing with my companion - I just had to learn a little more about who he is and how he acts. We're getting along better now, although he doesn't cook with me. I think the two intercambios, along with facing the challenges above, pushed us together. It's like a marriage, (although I would never marry Elder Wagner) in the sense that facing challenges together in unity helped our relationship. We still have some issues, like how I need to be his mother most every day. Here's what he wrote in the official report I'm supposed to give to President every week, regarding the state of the area and companionships, etc. (I left in the Spanish errors):

Solo hay una problema, nos amamos demasiado. Y somos demasiado
perfecto. El otro día, estuvimos contactando, y empezamos a ir por los
cielos, pero dijimos que "no, todavía no somos perfecto!" Y dejamos a
ir, porque fue una mentira 🤑

Vaya niños.... WHY do you think it's ok to try and climb up the front of the chapel? We have stairs going to the pulpit for a reason. Maybe that's why we wait til we're 8 - it takes that long to learn that laser pointing the bishop and cannon balling into the font is not O.K. (Yes, those did happen)

Los Schwartz! We had an awesome Halloween party with them on Saturday during mediodia. They kept calling me to get Permission, so I told them that we could do anything really that they wanted as long as we got out by four. So we told "Holy" ghost stories and Elder Schwartz played Thriller on his iPod. . We finished the taco soup (which tasted exactly like home) and then they said, "Tenemos cinnamon rolls! Y postre también!" And Elder Schwartz says, what? And Hermana Schwartz translates and says, "I told them we have cinnamon rolls and then we'll eat dessert." Now normally a cinnamon roll is dessert. But not at a senior missionary halloween party! After salad, taco soup, cornbread, cinnamon rolls, we had a root beer float. That's right, I'm talking A&W and vanilla ice cream. We left, fat and happy as the Schwartz whispered, "we made too many beans..... So can you come back on Tuesday and eat some more?" Like fools, we had decided to go track down some references far, far away afterwords. 7km up a small mountain. Aaaaand wrong address. We have to go to an even further pueblo. Senior Missionaries  are the best though. These are the same people who came to one lesson with a very, very less active family, and then they came back to church the next week and now the husband (the worse off of the two) has a calling - primary pianist. The Church is brilliant.

I can't use the computer, so I can't upload anything with my camera,
but here's what was on my iPad last week. Oh, and I have to tell you
my mom story of the week - I finished workouts and went to shower as
my comp said, "uuuuhhh when's breakfast, what are you making?" After
the shower, I went to put on my apron and thought, today's p day I'll
do something special - chocolate pancakes (usually I do eggs or French
toast or pull out some muffins fruit and yogurt. But some days you can
have chocolate pancakes). And I put them in front of him, he took a
look and said, "you burned them. Where's my OJ?" And then I cleaned
the house while he sat on the couch reading. How do moms not punch
their teenagers in the face?

Love, Elder Maxfield

Stewart made the net with things he found in the closet #boyscout