Week 45 - June 15 - Another week - and it was a good one.

Let Our Voices Be Heard

". . . Fighting the family makes sense to Satan. When he wants to disrupt the work of the Lord, he doesn’t poison the world’s peanut butter supply, thus bringing the Church’s missionary system to its collective knees. He doesn’t send a plague of laryngitis to afflict the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He doesn’t legislate against green Jell-O and casseroles. When evil wants to strike out and disrupt the essence of God’s work, it attacks the family." 

 - M. Russell Ballard. 

That's right. I'm writing this from an iPad right this very second.
The coolest things it can do is our new planner which is fast, easy,
and a time saver. But.... The church's lawyers are still working on
making it legal to store that kind of information on the cloud. So no
planner. We have a lot of restrictions for obvious reasons. So that
means that I have a $500 quadruple combination and general conference
talk e-reader. What's really fun is on that gospel library app I can
share things with people as a read them - so awesome quotes get saved
as drafts and then I send them out Mondays. It's only wifi capable, no
3G or anything. But if I get a wifi connection, I am allowed to read
my emails - just no responding until pday. So I can read your emails
every day now! It's kinda pain to write, so apologies in advance if
this letter is short. The hermanas and my companion (but less) are
addicted to their new toys. It's like the screen turns on and just
sucks in their soul - there's no getting them out. I made a personal
goal to not use it when there were any actual humans who needed my
attention, which isn't very hard because like I said the only cool
thing I can do is read conference talks - and dictate emails instead
of writing them.

We had interviews, and I'm pretty sure that will be the last time I
see pres. Jackson as my mission president. He is such a good man. He
has been a great example to me in his work ethic, priorities, and
desire to share the gospel. He just ... Knows. The new president and
his wife will get here July 1, and then we have transfers July 6.
We'll see what happens. After that, they're planning on doing a tour
of the whole mission, so I bet I see President Pack near the end of
July. He seems wonderful - President Jackson said they sold their
house so they could be mission president and wife.

We had a good week this week. We played the "password" game for fhe,
which turned out nice. It was new, and everyone got into it. We also
spent a lot of time teaching temple prep this week. It's technically
the ward's job, but no one was doing it so we did. We read through the
manuals, thinking we were going to have to be very careful to not
discuss the sacred things we don't discuss, but the whole thing was
straight out of preach my gospel! Just the plan of salvation, the
commandments (tithing, etc.) what the words "covenant" and "ordinance"
mean, what it means for something to be symbolic (ie wearing white at
a baptism, going completely under the water, etc) and then Come back
to the temple. It was just everything we usually teach, but on a
slightly higher level. Definitely a perfect job for the missionaries,
and I learned a lot about the temple in the process - and I didn't
even go in!

Well, that was it for this week. I love you!

Elder Stew

Stewart, Companion, President and Sister Jackson

Week 44 - June 8 - "A man convinced against his will remains his own opinion still"

Thursday this week, I did something crazy. Because my companion is so new, I end up planning most all of our activities. But, because Ipads are coming on Wednesday, we haven´t been able to get any more daily planners, even though we desperately needed them last transfer. So I plan our days, and my companion loyally writes it down in our one planner. My trainer had a planner and just didn´t use it, so it´s like history is repeating itself as the trainee learns about planning through being a secretary. Oh well. 

So on Wednesday I got a call that on Thursday I would need to go to the local Spanish government and complete part of the process to start legalizing myself. Insert mental groans because I remember what it took to get a summer job with American local government and this could only be 30 bajillion times worse. And as I looked at the plans, I realized that in one day I had planned the three most long, frustrating, and occasionally boring events missionaries do: 

9.00: Visit Government

10.00: Teach Jehovah´s Witnesses

11.30: Start Weekly Planning.

The only thing that makes me want to run out into the streets and contact like CRAZY (which is how I´ve started to respond to less-than-desireable activities) would if that were also high council sunday - Even in Spain those talks are dry. 

The government visit went just fine for a government visit, and weekly planning that day was actually really productive. But teaching the JWs.... The only reason we were there was to make sure they never came back to visit the member, we were worried that they were hurting her testimony. I was hoping it would just be a regular old lesson where we share a high number of bible verses (I usually don´t use the bible at all: It sets us apart and lets people know we´re NOT protestants. I feel like it´s in harmony with the teachings of President Benson). But about 5m into the lesson, they started bashing. HARD. It was all I could do to not laugh at the ridiculous spin they put on the scriptures and even harder not to resurrect the high-school-debate Stewart which would not have been a pretty sight. I could´ve (and did) win, but what good does that do? Like Captain Bob showed me in a book, "A man convinced against his will remains his own opinion still." We just testified and testified and testified and at the end, the JWs got up and left. Everything they told us and the scriptures they showed were almost the same as the beliefs in 2 Nefi 26-29 and Mormon 9. No more miracles! God doesn´t speak! Put away these foolish doctrines. I felt proud to stand and testify in the same place as Joseph Smith. I know that Holy Ghost can reveal me the truth, and I know that God knows. Afterwords we had an actual lesson with the member and she said "I don´t think I´ll let them come over anymore. I´ll tell that I´ll call them" (Which is what uninterested folks do to us ALL THE TIME haha). 

We also went to the Cathedral today for P-Day where I met the Cathollic saint of throat diseases. Most interesting part was the focus of all the art: The main altar wall had 23 wooden sculptures showing the most important parts of Christ´s life. And all of them focused on the mysitc, the unkowable - the uselss. There was a lot of emphasis on Christ´s suffering - and, in my opinion, not enough on his teachings or what the atonement meant. There are amazing ways to represent the Savior´s mission through art, and all they depicted for thousands of years was death and blood. Of those 23 "most important" images, four of them were obscure facts about Mary, 1 was unscriptural, 5 of them depicted gross suffering, and there was NOTHING about the resurrection. That´s not to rag on the Catholic church (I can find loads of Spaniards ready to do that). I just feel so bad for these people who lack so much when it comes to the knowledge of the MOST IMPORTANT PART of Christ´s mission - the Atonement. And what it can do for us. Makes our message change when I realize what it is that these people lack in their lives. Not one could care any less about modern prophets because they don´t like church organization. ALL of them fail to understand who Christ is and THAT is the knowledge that changes lives. I met one lady on the street who said, "I have enough faith. Why would I need any more? With the faith I have I´ll get to heaven." That makes me sad - but only sad enough to get back and start working. 

Love, Elder Stew

P.S. So as District Leader, it´s my job to organize and direct the meetings we have every wednesday. I had a really cool experience this week as we talked about time - I did some math on the board to boil down exactly how many hours we had to proclaim the gospel of Christ. And then we had a discussion about when to stop teaching those who don´t progress and when to continue, about the need for effective goals and plans, and then we read DC 60.13. What´s fun is I always turn it into a discussion, so we can take more notes and get more out of the meeting than if it were simply talks. (This is the part where I can brag about myself a little) Afterwords, Hermana Seegmiller called me and said, "That was one of the best District Meetings I ever had. Thanks." THAT WAS SO COOL!! 

Oviedo District

Patron Saint of Throat Diseases

Week 43 - June 1 - NOTE: Do your home teaching

For the second or third time while mission-ing, a member has been kind enough to give us a member reference! Let me explain. 

Ada and an investigator with smoking/drinking problems went over to the Ward Mission Leader´s house for a kill-two-birds-with-one-stone FHE party. Manuel (Mission Leader), his wife, and his sister-in-law were all there and we had a very spiritual lesson about the plan of Salvation. I think, by teaching investigators in serious need of love, I´ve gotten to know the atonement and the Jesus´ love for us every time more stronger. That made the lesson powerful. After the lesson, we asked what sort of favors we could do for everyone, and Manuel´s sister-in-law told us we could come over and give her a visit, just like her Home Teachers would do because (ahem) they hadn´t come over in a while. NOTE: Do your home teaching.

So we went over to Yolanda´s and we talked about family history, which was yet ANOTHER powerful lesson. And afterwords she told us that we understood the gospel really well and she wanted our help because the Jehovah´s witnesses visit her and she got confused. After a quick grin, we replied, "Sure!" She said, "Now they´re my friends from something-or-other and I don´t want any contention, and I just want you to help them understand that they´re wrong." So a referral from a member!! to do what hopefully won´t end as a debate, cause THAT don´t go nowhere. 

Awesome joke Mateo told me: 

The mission age has been changed to 16 - why? Because they already know everything and Moms are less likely to cry at farewells. 

We had another really cool experience this week with Angel. But it´ll have to wait ´cause we got a surprise eating appointment right now, so more info later. I never know how to close my emails, because my testimony is always the same and I´m always healthy and happy (some days more than others). Life is good and Ecuadorians are the only people in Spain who can find Peanut Butter. 

Love,

Elder Stew.

Spanish Cooking Lesson #1 - Tortillas

Week 42 - May 25 - "Cause every little thing, it´s gonna be all right."

Well we just had transfers. I will be staying with Elder Weiss to finish training him, but I bet that means I´m gone in six weeks. (That´s the fourth of July for those of you following along at home) 3 of the 8 people in the district left, which means this coming week is in for lots and lots of . . . fun for them. That first week with a brand new companion is rough. 

The Ipads came to the country finally! The only problem is that only those missionaries legal in the mission get them come June 10. Not really fair, since I am TOTALLY illegal and every time I try to do anything about it I get a message from the office, "Don´t worry. About a thing. ´Cause every little thing, it´s gonna be all right." We´ll start a protest soon, I´m thinking about writing up a list of grievances on the current mission secretary.

As another funny story, Elder Weiss and I had to stop a minor apostasy this week. The elder´s quorum pres. started explaining that, in times of emergency when you really, REALLY need to give a health blessing and there´s no consecrated oil around, you can just use vegetable oil or water instead. We stopped that as fast as we could.

Other news on Angel - the guy is progressing like crazy! He reads the book of  mormon every day and his testimony is increasing! The other day he said, "Look, just explain all the commandments and commitments and covenants I´ll do at baptism - and we explained all the major commandments and he just said, "yes. Yes. Yes. I´ll totally drop coffee to get baptized. Faith? Why don´t we open to Hebrews 11.1 or Alma 32.21? I love the symbolism of baptism - dying and being reborn in Christ." We are so excited to see his faith growing! We´re also best buds because he´s a big history nerd and is always coming across some ancient Spanish Dollar or 1870s solid gold american specie. which we sit and chat about and where it might have been and what wars it might have paid for and which famous people might have used it. And the other day, after I commented that the bible was too heavy to carry around all day, he gavea me a little pocket bible with an introduction, "may the flaming sword of the Word always be with you." Found a new best friend and the next branch president. 

Oh, we need some advice - what are some fun games that fit the following criteria?

1. Easy to play

2. Easy to explain

3. Easy to learn

3. Keeps 30 people´s attention for about 45minutes

4. Requires few materials. A whiteboard we do have.

It´s that every friday night we have the job to do the game portion of the FHE and we´re rapidly running out of ideas. Any brainstorming would be super helpful for us! It doesn´t help that I´m still district leader and all my creative energies go to not making District Meeting totally boring and the same every week - life is hard, and the creativity skills I haven´t used/developed are being pushed to the limit. 

Love, Elder Maxfield

Mission Conference, Madrid - Photo Bomb

Week 41 - May 11 - Life is good and the gospel is true

Vegemite - it´s yeasty soy saucey tasting stuff that Austraians love, the color of nutella and the consistency of toothpaste. Hermana Barkle got some in a package, and then we told all the spaniards it was special austrailian chocolate. It worked every time, and we laughed and laughed and then the members laughed and promised not to help us with any missionary work next week. 

We also met a primary-aged kid last week with a lighter in his hand and a dead pigeon on the ground, trying to light it on fire. Just one more proof of how much teh world needs help. 

P-Day was kinda crazy, thanks to the whole zone hanging out in our area - I had to run around and make sure that the whole group had member guides to do splits, hence a shortened email time. But it was really fun! A member showed up and said, "I need a missionary to go do these home teaching visits!" so I said, here, take elder Voss and bring him back by 10. And then another member said,"I had an investigator call me and he´s in the back room can someone come help us out?" And i said "here take this elder, bring him back by 10". So we had some confused missionaries, but it all went great! We´ve gotten pretty good at adapting to sudden situation changes. "Elder Maxfield, can you give this lesson for FHE? It should be about 45 minutes long. We´ll start the meeting in 2 minutes" Thanks to some divine inspiration and a continuation of the gift of tongues, I planned that lesson during the announcements and opening hymn. I love being a missionary. 

We had a cool experience this week as we found an old investigator - Angel, a spanish elementary school teacher. He introduced himself as looking for missionaries he met twice 6 months ago. He had an old mormon friend and investigatoed with him 20 YEARS ago. But he stopped by and told us how a lack of morality and respect for marriage was destroying the world. So we quietly slipped him a Family proclamation and took his number - when people think like that and then read the family proclamation, Mormons become the coolest people ever. He has come to church TWICE now, and he keeps talking to members about what he needs to do to join the church. We are really excited. My favorite part was how he started off our first lesson by sharing a powerful positive spiritual experience regarding the book of Mormon, and then started to explain all the things he read that meant the book of mormon HAD to be true. "When Cortes arrived, he found the indians worshipping a cross - the Book of Mormon is the best possible explanation." "Have you heard of how the native american religions are basically corrupted christianity?" "There´s a rock in Ecuador that depicts pretty much exactly Lehi´s dream." Things like that, that made me realize we weren´t only talking with someone prepared - but someone who was kinda cool too! We got pretty darn lucky, and I bet he gets baptized soon.

In other news, we had Zone Conference. It´s always great when President Jackson shows up. He explained that some of the numbers are significantly low, and then gave some mission president pump-up discussions to help rectify the problem. It was awesome. We finished the meeting by watching Secretariat´s final triple crown race - and President said, "Now who was the horse in second place? Nobody remembers you if you don´t try hard and win. Be Secretariat. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen." I figured he was channelling the spirit of Captian Bob. Afterwords we had some bomb equatorian potatoes and rice and peanut sauce that Elder Weiss and I helped buy/cook. That was stressful, but really rewarding.

Today we´re headed to play soccer with Mateo, some less actives and the Gijon elders. Life is good, and the gospel is true. I love the Book of Mormon.

Elder Stew

Gringos take it 10-5

Week 39 - May 4 - First baptismal interview, listening to the spirit

Well we had another bomb week here in Oviedo!  Not sure where to start. Sorry about last week, I had to make a fone call right in the middle of emails. Elder Maughn needed to chat.

I got the chance to do a baptismal interview! It was one of my favorite experiences thus far. She got baptized yesterday (so you already know the end of the story) and it was almost as cool as her interview. Not very spiritual for me, because I spent the whole time making sure no small children drowned in the font. And Elder Weiss performed a very clean dunk, so todo salio genial. But back to the interview. We sat down, this being the first time I had conducted an interview and the second time Claudia had been interviewed. So she knew more about it than I did, and the hermanas had prepped her well. I´ll be honest, I went in with doubts not about her worthiness but about her understanding of the need to come and partake of the sacrament. It´s been tough to get her to church. BUT! As we talked (and I did the interview Bishop Grimm style, finishing the questions in about 2m flat) I felt the spirit confirming what I had hoped to believe - that she was ready and worthy. It really reminded me of the experiences I´ve had with the LDM - Compare Alma 32:27 and Ether 4:11. I really wanted to believe she was ready, and I was looking for that answer . And the Spirit told me that yes.

We thought long and hard the other day about what is the best thing to do for Ada, the dominican woman who was recently baptized. And we decided that all the next lessons will be taught in member´s houses - great way for her to get friends and we don´t have to actually teach the lesson. Just sit down and relax and make sure no one goes apostate. And it has been an AMAZING decision in terms of her growth, the members growth, and our peace-of-mind when it comes to lesson planning. I´d really reccomend that folks who want to help the elders make their homes open for NDH AND offer to teach a short lesson on baptism or something. Really helps.

Funny story, we had a VERY apostate Gospel Principles class on Sunday, which meant I had to take over halfway to clarify comments like, "Before Adam and Eve fell, when they gave birth it didn´t hurt." Teaching helps the teacher, inasmuch as he knows his doctrine. 

Love,

Elder Maxfield