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

Week 64 - Food is important too

We're best friends with the senior Family Search missionaries. So
this is sitting in our kitchen (the potatoes with meat sauce was just
the lunch that I had made, not from cosco). BEST SNACK FOOD EVER!!!!
But anyway, that was a highlight.

It has been a pretty good week. 

We had an interesting experience. We asked the matrimony couple to come and help us with a visit for a less active woman. And it was such a powerful visit. They knew exactly what to say and how to approach her. We talked about eternal families and testified of Christ while I colored with the 5-year old daughter, to keep her quiet. How do people teach families anyways? But afterwords, we invited her to come to church, and she CAME!! It was a miracle, and even more so because she brought her children and her inactive husband!

The baptism last week was so stellar, but this week Maria´s old woman that she takes care of got sick, and so she couldn´t get confirmed. But, she still has a testimony so that is excellent. 

We called all the missionaries in the zone Saturday night telling them that the Lord was so pleased with their work that He was making the Spanish government give us more sleep for one night... it was hilarious. (we just had Spanish daylight savings). 

We had another miracle this week.The Bishop has had some trouble with his kids getting back to church thanks to some really poor missionaries a long time ago. And so the Bishop hasn´t let missionaries anywhere near his family for years. It was actually something that President had told us to work on when we got here. And this week, he looked at me and said, "I need to you to call my children and invite them to ward activities. Ustedes casi rayan la perfección." It was such a high compliment from someone I admire a lot. To make it even better - the YM are planning an activity to go and see Star Wars VII

In other news, I made fried chicken, spaghetti meat sauce with potatoes, pancakes, french toast, and rice with marinated chicken this week for my companion to stop the McDonalds that we always were eating. I now somewhat know what it´s like to be a mom and make food by request for people and then have them complain :)

Sorry, now I have to write a report. The church is true! And I know it.

Week 63 "Thanks Mom"

Something worth noting - President Pack recommends that Christmas
packages be sent early to avoid problems etc etc. Also Captain Bob
sent me a nice email and I responded - I asked him to give you some of
those color changing starfish for my Christmas package (assuming I
haven't been forgotten :) and that you'd pay him out of my account.
But, knowing captain bob, he'll send a helicopter with 30 other object
lessons and a bunch of money. Side note - he sent me a package a month
or so ago, with $110 as a reminder to always give 110%.... Oh Bob. I
seriously have more than $200 in American cash from grandmas and Bob.
I'll make sure to pay tithing when I get home, which will be easy
cause I can't spend a dime here. President Pack also says "toys" and
"candy" are bad things to declare, but "missionary supplies" is just
fine. Oh, and one other thing - a package valued at more that $50 will
merit large taxes. I figured that wouldn't be an issue but I got one
from Grandma Maxfield last week valued at $47 (there was a tie on the
inside). So I would recommend either cheap packages or lying about the
value. Option 1 is much better for your salvation and wallet :)

That's all that boring stuff. I want to share with you a cool thought
I re-discovered the other day. I was reading part of Hugh Nibley's
Temple and the Cosmos, which I'm pretty sure Dad has. And he made an
interesting comment about religious study - it all goes in a circle,
never really answering anything. He said that there's only one
question worth answering, the "terrible question", and it's the same
that no one except Joseph Smith was ever willing to answer. Is there a
life after this one? We did a cool activity in NDH the other day where
we answered hard questions with the LDM, and much more so than the
bible the Book of Mormon tells us exactly what happens. Thank heavens
for the Book of Mormon. It answers, and we can KNOW that it does.
That's something great we learned this week as we've been practicing,
asking each other harder and harder questions and answering only with
the Book of Mormon.

That's actually been really, really fun. We talk about which
scriptures express certain ideas better or answer certain questions
the best. Like I asked my companion to find a scripture that testified
of Christ's atonement using his name as "Jesus Christ" and not as Lord
or Messiah or another title. What comes to mind? Alma 7:11, Mosiah
3:8, 3 Nephi 11:11-12. Or explain Adversity without 2 Nephi (we're
doing it the hard way to expand our knowledge) We have a great time.

Today, as my companion took a nap, I cleaned the fridge. (Note what
that says about his cleaning ethic... I call it learning to adapt)
(It's ok to do that with dish soap, right? We're limited on cleaning
supplies). It was super gross beforehand because that's something
NOBODY does (missionary-speaking) I found black mold and random sticky
spots. I also washed dishes for the first time in a week - it was an
attempt to make my companion do it for once. Didn't work, but I still
love him.

Mom, thanks for all your support. I am so lucky to have a mom like you.

Love, Elder Maxfield

Random Pictures

Week 62 - Healthy Eating, General Conference, & a Baptism

The first whole week with my new companion. He's my first one to be
younger than me in age - he's only 18! And for the first time in more
than 5 months I didn't lead district meeting. But I did receive a call
about halfway through because another first time district leader had
lost two of his missionaries. I panicked, but it turned out they were
just lost in their brand-new area and couldn't get to District
Meeting. Crisis averted.

My companion and I went shopping today cause we're out of food - and
we decided to buy food together to save money. And as we went through,
he started asking for things like cookies and chips and French fries,
and then! He told me he doesn't like fruit. Or vegetables. Or whole
grain. But breakfast cereal is fine....... And since I volunteered to
be the companionship cook (excellent option - service, food choice,
first showers, and he has no idea which way is up in the kitchen),
I'll have to get pretty creative to make him not have a heart attack
at age 30. Wish me luck.

Conference was Excelente. President Monson's two messages were my
favorites. Along with President Nelson. He was one of those apostles I
didn't really know, up until his talk yesterday (or maybe it was
Saturday.... We watched 3 sessions yesterday). And it was great! I
felt that he was the man for his job. And the new apostles looked like
the Lord had called them. Here, everyone was so excited about all the
non-Americans they could call - but "They" don't call them. He does.

We had a really sad experience when we went to find one of the
Bishop's less-active worries. Paco, because someone wasn't perfect at
church, will never come back (that's what HE says. I'm not so sure).
We bore our testimonies, but he kept telling us to be quiet and ignore
the subject. I asked what sort of service we could do, and he won't
let us. I finally asked why on earth he had let us in - he knows who
we are. He said, "I cannot close my door to anyone. But I won't talk
to you while you're in here." Vaya.

We're going to have a baptism on Sunday! Her name is Maria and she's
from Trujillo, Peru. She has been progressing very well and she even
came to church yesterday, despite having worked all night! We had a
pretty funny experience last week as we taught her the law of
chastity. She asked, "could I get married if my husband wasn't a
member?" Which is a tricky one cause technically yes, but I've seen a
LOT of great women here in Spain who get married to bums and then
leave the church. So we explained how hard it would be without a
supportive husband and encouraged her to marry in the church. And then
she said, "ok good, because Lizandro just proposed and I told him no
until he gets baptized!" Next time we came over, he was there with
lots of great questions. We'll just have to make sure he gets baptized
for the right reasons and that they both have the temple in sight.

My companion had an interview with someone to get baptized on
Sunday... And he didn't pass. It was the third time, and last time the
hermanas almost had my head. But I was proud of him for listening to
the spirit and his gut, and the candidate will get a little more
preparation before his date. It's so hard to make those decisions and
have people who are supposed to be on your team get angry - I needed
to remember which way I faced, and I was glad he did the same.

Spiritual thought, by Elder Maxwell: "Sometimes we pound on the vault
door for something we want very much, in faith, in reasonable
righteousness, and wonder why the door does not open. … Our rejected
petitions tell us not only much about ourselves, but also much about
our flawless Father."

Love, Elder Maxfield.

Week 61 - Advice on Being a Zone Leader

Sent to Eric Maxfield

You make a really good comparison to my first couple weeks in the
mission. I feel absolutely CLUELESS. I made phone calls to the
district leaders this morning and they were expecting me to give the
advice and counsel that I always asked from my very experienced
leaders. And to make it even weirder, two of the district leaders are
from my MTC group! You sent me a talk a while ago by Elder Bednar, "a
conversation on leadership" which has really helped, because he says
that a leader needs to be humble and "yeah, I got this" is the
opposite of humility. So I feel ok in the sense that in the Lord's
work, cluelessness for the first little while makes you teachable.
Some things are different - For the first district meeting in 23 weeks
I wasn't the one giving the meeting! I had to resist the urge to do it
all - I had to let the very young and inexperienced district leader
who is also my companion lead and direct and teach. (See also from
that Bednar conversation, the lawn trimming theory of management). And
now I give a monthly meeting instead (first one is on Thursday.. I
could use a prayer or two). Our zone is everyone from on the Far East
in Castilla La Mancha, Guadalajara to Coslada which has the end stops
of one of Madrid's metro lines - about 45 minutes from end to end on
train. We also have the APs and secretaries in Alcobendas/San
Sebastian. Interesting job. And tomorrow we'll be in Mission
Leadership Council all day, which will be interesting as we talk about
how to improve the mission. My job really is just to teach the
District Leaders how to do their jobs and help them magnify their
assignments, because I can't have nearly as much influence as them.
Think the way a Stake President works with the Bishops or the way a
Seventy represents the prophet to the people. Different sort of
assignment than what I've done, but the same things apply.

Some thoughts.

Elder Stew