Week 93 - Waaaay awesome Excel Skills

We have had a great last week. Today we went to Toledo for P-day, which was great. Elder Doxey served there, so he told us all about the different things that he had picked up on while serving there. And this time, I didn´t buy any swords :).  Not enough pasta, like we say in España. But, it was cool as we walked around the old, old part of the city and imagined what it´d be like to have been there in medieval times. We had an interesting experience when we ran into some Mormon American tourists (as usually happens in Toledo). They stopped us, and the lady said, "Now you young Elders, when do you go home? Doesn´t matter. When you go home, I want you to get married as fast as you can. I have a beautiful daughter and she´s not married yet because people like you don´t want to. Will you do that?" And then she just about gave me her daughter´s phone number so I could ask her out in two months. 

There´s a reason I don´t usually like running into Americans.

This week was also pretty normal in terms of the office work. I found some new excel tricks and updated by my now-massive spreadsheet to include all sorts of important information. 

We had a couple fun lessons, but you already know that our area doesn´t have much. We are helping a fairly recent convert get back on the book-of-mormon reading habit every day. It´s almost tangible, the change when he does and when he doesn´t. It´s striking to me the important things that I need to be doing when the mission is over. These are habits that have been hard-formed and will need to be kept up if I hope to maintain myself spiritually. 

One thing I´ve learned in the past couple weeks is the need for constant spiritual nourishment. We have a missionary here who isn´t doing too hot, and so President emergency-transferred him to us. He´s a good kid, but I can tell it´s hard on him to start off his mission doing.... not much. Our goal has been (and mine still is) to necessarily sacrifice the "spiritual" work and the chances for spiritual growth so that he can have them. It´s interesting when your time to do spiritual things is so limited how you hang on to every little opportunity and treasure it. Sunday I had the chance to give a blessing. I´ve been working hard to keep myself worthy for a long time now, and I could feel my "confidence wax strong" as I laid my hands on her head. I said some things I wouldn´t have said to this sister in any other circumstance, and the blessing was short  - I was scared to see what she would say when I finally said "amen". She looked up at me with tears in her eyes, saying that it was exactly what the Lord wanted to say to her. 

That is probably one of the most important things I´ve learned from the office (besides my mad Excel skills - I can be waaaay more productive for Nate now, if he´d hire me.) The need to constantly nourish yourself spiritually, and when you´re in a situation where that´s just not quite as possible - treasure up every chance you get. 

Love, 

Elder Maxfield

Week 92 - Elder Bednar visits the Mission

Today we went to see a castle! We were sitting in the office, thinking about what to do, when Elder Doxey said, "Let´s go see a castle." So we looked up "castle" on our maps on the iPad (not google maps, some other wierd application) and we drove for about an  hour straight north until we hit a little town called Buitrago del Lozoya. There´s an old church and a castle on a hill overlooking the river (very defensible). There´s some super cool history behind it, but no need to go into detail here. 

So, on Saturday and Sunday we saw ELDER BEDNAR. It was amazing. Dad, there were several recurring themes included in the notes you sent me from Lonn. We spent three hours in a discussion, with one quick break (because, and this is an apostolic quote, "The mind and the heart can only recieve what the rear end can endure."). And he taught us as agents. He asked questions the whole time and invited us to act and to write on small plates what came into our hearts. We had prepared by reading several of his talks, and he led the three hour discussion with only four questions - 

1. What stood out to you in your preparations?

2. What are you learning about the process in which we are learning?

3. What questions do you have for me?

4. What have you learned today?

When he opened up the discussion to "inspired questions" - that is, questions that have to do with the current speaker, place, and moment that you may not be able to ask ever again - he called on me. So I asked him what he had done to prepare himself for our meeting. And I got the sassiest apostle answer I had ever seen - "Elder, I´ve been alive for sixty-five years." I asked what I could do to get to where he is now, and he said to be content with where I am and to consistently experiment and try to not be afraid of messing up - because that´s how you learn. I remember from the "conversation on leadership" about the lawn-trimmer theory of management. There was more to it, but suffice it to say, it was awesome. I learned a lot, not just from him, but as to HOW to continually learn on my own. Huge boost. It was a great week! 

Elder Maxfield.

Week 91 -Office Logistics

Well. I´m finally taking the time to write home. I´m sorry I´ve been so unreliable. Two Mondays ago we had transfers, and I was the organizational mastermind behind collecting suitcases, money, and getting folks to the airport on time. It was good practice. So, we didn´t really do anything except that. It was fun, and I only lost one suitcase in the process :). The next morning we had to take my old companion Elder Avila to the airport. I´m going to miss him. He was a funny guy, even if we didn´t always get along. Interesting how that works. Then, this last P-day, we were doing great. We studied, played soccer, chess, some version of the mafia game - up until about 5 o´clock, when we had to drive people around until 10. It was a long Monday. And yesterday, we had the Mission Leadership Council, which was not nearly as fun when you´re behind the scenes. We had a lot of things to do, drives to make, and so now,Wednesday night, I can write. 

Not much to tell, seeing as we´ll be talking on Sunday. I´m doing fine. We haven´t had much proseylting work recently, and that´s kinda tough. But we try to get our studies in and we make things happen.  

Week 89 - missionary "work" from the office. The Lord is still needed.

I´m sorry, it was a really crazy P-day and I´m trying to get caught up on all my work. I had hoped to start writing yesterday, but it didn´t happen. If it makes you feel any better, my week was just as interestingly boring as the week before :) 

I´ve been negotiating leases, which is really fun but really stressful. I´ve been practicing the best way to explain who we are and why we don´t make money and how the apartment will basically be a revolving door for foreigners without a background check or a job.... Nobody really understands the first time. My recent hurdle has been government subsidized housing - It´s exactly what I want, when and where we want it, but.... government protection does not include missionaries. I´ve become more Republican in the office because I´ve now seen what a massive, sprawling, ineffecient goverment does to normal life. Heaven knows we don´t need that. 

I´ve also been paying bills and trying to collect Security deposits - Old spanish people try to take advantage of the American with a only slightly high-school knowledge of Spanish laws, but I´m ok - they haven´t gotten me yet. One guy threatened legal action, another tried to make me pay 70€ for some sheets, and another one just sent me some bills that I already paid. But they didn´t get me :). 

I had an interesting thought last week when I got swamped with a bunch of stuff - and that thought was something I´ve felt at several different parts in my mission - how I can´t do it all by myself. I´ve been blessed with a keen intellect and it´s helped me through many tough spots. But really, the only thing that is ALWAYS guaranteed to push through a sticky situation is the Gospel. Met that several times where Stewart´s critical thinking couldn´t solve a problem but humble prayer could. Be honest, have faith, trust in the Lord, and things will all work out, like President Hinckley said.

Week 88 - Thoughts on Conference and the Prophet

This week was just about average. Right now I feel sick, have a landlord threatening a lawsuit, I´m behind on the bills, and I have a big ´ol tax project to start and then promptly finish.

Needless to say, although the week was just about normal, the day is not so great. Even though I did buy some half-off football boots which are going to make my feet feel a whole lot happier next Saturday. 

Thanks to busy office stuff, last P-day was not a writing p-day. So quick news is that my buddy Elder Regehr (of Sandy) has been replaced by a new friend, Elder Kirby, of Lancashire. He´s British and he´s fun to have around. He´ll be taking Elder Weiss´ spot when he leaves in 2 weeks. 

I want to take a quick second to share two things: The first is from the amazing General Conference we had. I was impressed by President Monson´s two talks, in part because they were short. I had been preparing myself to really listen to what he had to say (he is after all, el portavoz del Señór), and so I hung on to every word. I found myself thinking several times, "Why did he choose that? OF all the things he could have said, he chose to tell us about the sanctity of the Priesthood - and then in less than a minute the awesome power of what it can do." I mean, his talk was less than 4 minutes, and one of the key parts was a modern priesthood holder commanding a boat to turn around. That´s pretty wow. 

So all of that was on my mind when Elder Doxey (using our favorite digital area book that only the office has... yes.) called an American woman who told us she wanted a blessing for herself, her daughter, and her physically handicapped granddaughter. My first faithless thought was, "I sure hope she doesn´t ask us to heal her. It won´t happen." I struggled with this really up until we got into the visit. But by the time that we actually performed the three ordinances, I felt calm enough to say whatever the Lord wanted me to say. Elder Kirby gave the blessing to the little girl, and it was sweet, and short, and the spirit was strong. When my turn came to give the blessing to Barbara, I remembered what President Monson said and I knew I was going to say whatever the Lord wanted me to say. Among other things, I told her that we promised her peace and security from harm if she would hearken unto Jesus Christ. It turns out those were the two things she was looking for most - not a miracle healing. 

The priesthood is the power of God. I felt it, and I feel so honored to have that with me. Wherever I go, it goes - and if I honor it, those promises are much more than empty words. When we finished the blessing, Barbara was crying - who would I be to do something stupid and forfeit the opportunity to give that feeling to someone again? I understand a little more what Brigham Young said when he called the Priesthood an "onerous duty" - it´s hard work to be willing, obedient, and worthy at "all times and all places". It´s stressful. Sometimes, it seems easier to relax and not put the things of God at the top of the priority list - but I know that it was serious pondering of the prophet´s words that made me ready to have a powerful spiritual experience on Tuesday. I know even more now of how important it is to be a worthy priesthood  holder and to surround yourself by them. I know what a blessing it has been to have had that my entire life and if I don´t mess it up, to have it the rest of my life. It´s the one power upon which we really can ALWAYS rely, and as a result, it´s the only one that matters. No, I´m not going to slack off on my office duties, I´ll do the taxes and I´ll get the bills paid, but I´m so grateful for the absolute certainty that I have that those things are overshadowed by the need to worthily bear the Priesthood.

Love,

Elder Maxfield

Week 86 - Easter

It was a pretty great Easter. Up front, tell everyone that nothing has happened at all in Spain thanks to what happened in Brussels. It was actually funny to get an email from a concerned mom in Utah, wondering what we were doing to protect the Missionaries. I had no idea how to respond - "Uh... nothing? They don´t actually know about it yet, and.... " I don´t know, maybe that makes me a bad oficinista, but I figured most important was that we keep on working. 

Easter was a very nice Sacrament. I´ve been translating for the Packs and the Youngs, and so I don´t get as much out of them as I used to, but it was still very nice. I was able to do a lot of thinking, and I felt the spirit very strong. I don´t think because there´s anything magical about the date (something you have to clear up when talking to anyone religious in Spain) but because, thanks to the date, I put focus in receiving revelation and committing to act on it. If I could have that strong of an experience every week, it would mean a lot for my spiritual growth. Personal goal. 

I´ll be writing more on Wednesday - P day had to get split into two parts this week thanks to Customs, the Temple, and our weekly Office planning meeting. Today we went to IKEA and got a companions eyes checked. Good day. Good Easter. The church is true.

Elder Maxfield

Week 84 - Stewart the Landlord

Last week! And the week before that - Living in the office is definitely interesting. 

Thanks to the almost continual movement, we haven´t done much preaching-wise. But, we did get a new companion two mondays ago. His name is Elder Doxey, and he´s here to replace Elder Dugan. He´s my new desk-mate, and he´s a good friend. He´s fun to have around. 

Two weeks ago, as we were planning transfers, we got a notice that 4 missionaries would not be coming to the mission. It was very sad. And then, two days later, we got a notice that three of them would be coming in - AFTER we had planned everything. President came in and decided instead of trying new travel and companionships, he´d put all three of them in trios. My only part was trying to find beds for them - without letting their future companions know anything. Totally not a suspicious phone call when a day before transfers the oficinistas call wondering how many can fit in your piso. But it all worked out. Then we stayed up late planning things, got up early to take people to the airport, ate great food that Hermana Pack and Hermana Larsen gave us, and then fell down exhausted. AndWednesday morning I remembered that along with these changes, I´m district leader - and I had to plan a meeting on the fly. But it went great. We had an awesome discussion about who we are. It stemmed from a conversation I had with President during an interview. (That´s a fringe benefit of working in the office. We´re blessed to work with President a lot.) We were discussing the troubles a certain missionary was having when he commented, "I think the root of the problem is that this missionary just doesn´t know who he is. If he really understood his calling and what the Lord had called him to do, this wouldn´t be a problem." How true that is. Elder Peterson asked in the meeting why we didn´t explain the how - the process, the tricks and tools. That´s important, but the focus of our meeting was that when we actually truly understand who we are, then tricks don´t matter, because "your confidence [waxes] strong before the Lord". 

Anywho, back to transfers (I know that´s the most interesting part of my week). I spent a good chunk of time creating an excellent way to check if apartments have room - it involves an excel document with key data info of ALL the apartments linked back to one big report. The idea is that, using this, I can quickly make reports to President about which pisos could expand and include other missionaries.  I was very pleased with myself until Elder Regehr commented that I did something similar (but not nearly as easy) the transfer before - and President had looked at it, studied it - and put missionaries in apartments that were NOT on my list. I learned that although information leads to inspiriation, revelation does not limit itself to what a report says. 

Not much else to report. We´ve got one landlord calling his lawyers, trying to force us to do needless repairs to an apartment, another who refuses to put his information in the church system even though it´s how he´ll get paid, and some missionaries who, while wrestling, broke the sink off the wall. I don´t even want to know how. But, all is well.

Elder Maxfield