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.
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