Week 34, March 30, 2015 - A quick note from Los Brown

Hi to the McWhorters, Porritts, DeWalls, Barkles, Maxfields, and Emmetts:

Your daughters and sons are very busy teaching the gospel here in Gijon.  They are doing a great job and we are very proud of them.  They relax too.  Here are a few pics of them celebrating Elders McWhorter and Maxfield birthdays at lunch.  We also have pics of Sister DeWall and Barkle at a pancake breakfast and at district meeting lunch.

We tend to eat a lot in Spain.    We've concluded that missionary work is better on a full stomach!  Except that the Sisters complain about weight gain!  Life is never simple.

Last Sunday they had a baptism in Gijon.   And there is much good work going on in Oviedo too.    

We hope all is well with you.

Chau,

los Brown

Happy Birthday Stewart!

Week 33, March 23, 2015 - Bagpipes and Mateo with crazy hair

We had some pretty cool experiences in the last week. First things first. 

So we were walking down a lonely street looking for some old investigators. And I heard a familiar sound from what looked like an abandoned lot... BAGPIPES. So I yelled over the wall that I played the gaita too and I wanted to come say hello. Any other contacting approach would not have worked, because I soon found out that the bagpiper was a late sixties-ish Spaniard. Hanging out in a bunker dating from the Spanish Civil War with his cat and the garlic plants he´s growing. Usually not a very golden contact.But we shared bagpipe knowledge and he said we could come by, play the bagpipes, and talk about God anytime we wanted to. Now my only problem is getting a set of Asturiano bagpipes - the scottish kind won´t do here. 

Ada, the dominican whom I mentioned last week - she´s now come to church 3 weeks in a row! And what´s really cool is that she wants to progress. There have been some people who try to back out when they first commit to a fecha (that´s when all the trials start) but Ada looked at us and said,"it´s been really hard. But I believe God wants me to be baptized. And I know the book [of mormon] is true. So help me keep going." What´s really nice is that the Hermana missionaries are helping out too (we´re tag-teaming, it seems) and Ada invited THEM over today to make delicious Dominican food. I´m going to try and count that as a blessing. 

I love these little branches I´ve been asked to serve in. Only in a branch of 50 can some of these things happen. For example, I´ve now given two lessons in priesthood and Gospel Principles because people haven´t showed up to teach. I sat and translated for a visiting British RM during sacrament. And quite regularly the Branch President looks at us during FHE friday nights, the look that means, "Nobody showed up. Can you guys plan an upliftling lesson and fun game in the next 30seconds?" And the Lord always delivers. 

So there´s an Italian man named Jacincto here, with his Asturian wife and two children. (Is that a common name it Italy?) One is an RM named Mateo, with nothing better to do than grow out his hair Jamison-Afro style and come help us on lessons. And Jacincto made us the BEST LASAGNA the other day. And tomorrow he promised to make us yet more italian food - we´ll see how that goes. But back to Mateo - this kid served his mission in England, and now is just the best person you could ever find. He speaks fluent english with an accent, so we also have a secret code. Direct quote from last Sacrament meeting - he´s the second counselor in the Branch Presidency and shows up without a jacket and his sleeves rolled up and his Jamison-hair going por todos lados. 

"The Priesthood may now go back to their seats after administering the sacrament with such reverance. We will now be privileged to hear a talk from Brother Gonzalez. (looks around - brother gonzalez isn´t here.). I mean, we will actually be privileged to hear a talk by Hermana  Barkle (poor Hermana -Barkle´s only been in the field for 2 months - and all her freckles turned white at the prospect.) I mean, actually, it is now my privilege to give a talk." 

And then he gave an awesome talk that he literally prepared while in the act of giving it. (Maren - this is known as "Running Impromptu speaking" - getting up and starting after only 30s of prep. Not very easy, unless you have the spirit. More on Mateo in the future - he´s one of my new life heroes, especially because he´s one of a few people who genuinely want to help us out. 

Spiritual thought, from the oldest general conference on Lds.org. I´ve made it my goal to listen to every general conference talk they have on record - MedioDia is a great time to do it. 

I am presently in possession of the world’s mostvaluable information. I know that God lives, that wewere created in his image, and that by obeying theprinciples of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the offspring ofGod may eventually hope to become like their eternal parents.

But all of my great experiences are not in the past.Branch Rickey, the great baseball manager, was onceasked to describe his greatest day in baseball. He said,“I can’t because I haven’t had it yet.” Charles F. Kettering, themechanical wizard of General Motors, once said, “My interest is in the future, because I am going to spendthe rest of my life there.”

Love from far away,

Elder Stew

Week 32, March 16, 2015 - Hurray for the Hermanas

Well I´m still getting used to this place. It´s very much bigger than Telde, so buses actually run in the city limits! In Telde all buses were headed for other places. I also can´t distinguish the big buildings from the other big buildings (In telde there were only 2) AND THERE IS A MCDONALDS. A member took us there to taste "America" And for three people he spent 35 Euros (About $47). Which means we´re never going there again. 

So another thing that´s cool about Oviedo is that we have Hermana missionaries here. Basically our new best friends. As Elders, there´s important rules about being alone with women, which makes teaching single women (regardless of age) really hard - every lesson needs a third man. And since all of our third man plans fell through, we called up the hermanas and asked if they could teach the lesson. We gave them a quick plan, ideas, and told them what we wanted to get out of the lesson. Well these sister missionaries put our investigator on a baptismal date!!! T´was awesome. Her name´s Ada, and she thinks the coolest thing about our church is that the B.O.M. talks about HER ancestors (Latina) and that nobody in the branch judges her - everybody is really loving. And then I had to check my pride about how great our church is. 

Speaking of which, GENERAL CONFERENCE IS COMING UP. I´m so excited. I´ve been putting old talks on my USB and listening to them (like old McConkie, Maxwell, Hinckley - the classics). So it´ll be nice to have a whole set of new scripture!

The spiritual thought of the week comes from one of those very talks. Every week, Elder Emmett and I have decided to focus a little more on a certain Christlike Attribute. And this last week, we did hope. As part of our study, we listened to an old Maxwell talk titled "A perfect  Brightness of Hope." Which was awesome. "Hope does not let yesterday keep tomorrow hostage."

Here´s to a week filled with hope of progression, baptisms, and more work to do. It´s so darn great when there´s more work to do. 

Love, Elder Stew

P.S. Tell Dave and Catherine that I got their letter (the very first one to show up in Oviedo - they even beat Mom.) And that on or around that day, We had a VERY productive district meeting, McDonalds, and a baptismal date. So Catherine can make more birthday wishes if she wants, because they all came true. 

P.P.S. You don´t have to share this part because I don´t want to brag about myself, but it´s pretty funny. My comp is really bad about making his bed. And so for the last week, I made both our beds while he was in the shower. Only a 5m job, and it makes me feel good. And then the other day, HE made the beds. So now, for the first time in my life, I declared in my mind "This means war" -Bugs Bunny to ALWAYS be the one who makes the beds. Definitely a different change from the past. 

P.P.P.S. Sorry there´s no pictures, I don´t have my camera with me. Use Google Maps!

Week 31 - March 9, 2015 - Adjusting to Oviedo

Well, I´m here. And it is not as nearly as cold as a Utah winter, but MAN AM I COLD. I guess that´s the problem with coming from the islands. 

To start out, this place is beautiful. The city recently won some sort of "golden broom" for being Europe´s cleanest city - there aren´t even regular garbage cans. You have to wait until night, and then they come pick them up at 3am. When you get outside the city, the whole place looks like the Shire. And you can see from our window a statue of Cristo like in Rio on top of a small hill. Definitely a weird change from the southern utah looking rock that was Gran Canaria.

The New companion! Elder Emmett, from Misouri. He´s a good guy. Just got finished being trained. He´s a hard worker and walks faster than I do, partly because his tainer was about 7ft tall. He contacts with these words every time, "Hello. We are missionaries." which send many spaniards fleeing like a goat with her young from two young lions. (Alma 13) We started out our first morning with him giving warnings as to when the white bible said we needed to leave piso. 25m. 15m. 10m. 5m. No offense, but I´ve been doing this for a while now. I was ready at 11 on the dot. And he was five minutes late. Needless to say, he doesn´t yell out warnings any more. We are going to have so much fun! We´ve taken over some of the investigators from an old companionship, so there is so much work to do! I really feel blessed to have so much stuff ready to occurr right as I get here. In Telde, we had to find all the stuff to do. Now it kinda is just here, and we have to do it!

The new Branch! The Branch president is amazing! He´s got like 5 kids, all under the age of 10. Sacrament meeting reminds me of Utah. Babies run por todos lados making all sorts of noise. I still don´t know everyone´s name yet, but I´m getting there. The goal is to memorize everyone by next week. IT´s so fun to see all these people working hard and working united. They seem like such a strong unit, even if we don´t have a stake yet. 15 of the 53 who came to church are awesome YSA, so that helps. 

More info on investigators next week. Suffice for now that I am in the most beautiful area in the mission, in a first world country for the first time in six months (no need to buy water, and the shower is hot!), with an amazing ward and lots of great stuff to do! Elder Maxfield is doing great!

Elder Stew

YSA Activity Oviedo

District Meeting Oviedo

Week 31 - March 9, 2015 - Q&A with Eric and Stewat

ERIC:  Things I want to know when you email me at some point (when you can):  If you are the senior, what adjustments will you make to the direction of your companionship based on what you learned from the first few companions? What are the best three attributes of your first three companions? What are you doing to meet new prospective investigators? What are the two or three important differences you've noticed between Telde and Oviedo?  What scripture has given you the most comfort in the last few months? What American food do you miss at the moment? 

STEWART: 

Yep, I am the senior companion - the other guy just got done being trained. "Greeniebreaking" they call it.

Adjustments to make - I want to change the way this area does nightly planning - pretty much all missionaries I´ve seen (including me a veces) waste that time. I´ve noticed that doing it effectively changes things. But as a heads up, it´s going to be tough because my companion believes it´s his way or the highway - including if both the president and PMG disagree. I´m going to continue to wash dishes - that small service made me love my companions more when they were driving me nuts. I have actually washed both of our dishes every day, which might sound like a chore but is actually a huge blessing. I also want to improve my street contacting and door knocking.

Best things about the old companions - 

Elder Ganowsky (MTC) knew how to smile

Elder Dyer (trainer) knew how to work - with a smile.

Elder Norrell (Greeniebreaker) knew how to love everybody. Great friend.

Elder Emmett thus far only knows how to get on my nerves. But it´s so funny how that changes directly related to how much I wash his dirty dishes. He´s a pretty cool guy. We´re going to get along.

To meet new investigators - that´s another thing we need to fix here. It seems to be too much of  "if you build it, they will come" as oppossed to "get the heck out there and find them". We need to improve the street contacting effectiveness (Elder Emmett hasn´t contacted a soul in the last week) and the door knocking and the working with members. 

Three diferences from Telde... The ward is WAAY younger. There´s about 15 active YSA, 2 preparing for missions and 2 just got back. In Telde there were 0. There´s also a LOT more potential to work with the members, because of how united they are and that there´s about 20 more. Still a pretty small branch though. There´s also a companionship of Hermanas with whom we share the area - that will be very different. In Telde, we only saw other missionaries every Wednesday. Sometimes we even see the Hermanas in the street. They also just closed one of the elder companionships here - so between us and the hermanas we´re picking up half and half of an old companionship´s stuff. So there feels like a LOT more work to do. The city is much bigger as well, which is nice because there´s always people to contact. 

Scripture of comfort - Alma 7 11-17. And then follow up with 2 Nephi 2: 8. And then follow up with Alma 39:16.  And a talk called "Believing Christ and the Atonement." 

And I really, really miss peanut butter. 

Week 30, March 2 2015 - Transfer to Oviedo

Sorry Transfers were all yesterday. I flew out at 7:00 a.m., sat in a train station until a train left at 5, and then I went through (Trace me on the map) Valladolid, Palencia, Leon, and got off in OVIEDO! It´s way up north, another itty bitty branch, and my companion just got finished being trained. It´s gonna be a great time. Anywho, I was told to email so you all can know we´re alive. Mailing address is:

Elder Stewart Maxfield

Calle Fraternidad #34 6A

Oviedo, Asturias, 33013

SPAIN

Hasta Luego!

Love, Elder Maxfield

Returning Tuperware to the Senior couple, what could be happier

P-day fun in the sand and sun

Big breakfast with Zone

Week 29, Feb 29, 2015 - "Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand...." Alexander Graham Bell

But no one ever REALLY knows transfers - President Jackson sometimes changes them five minutes before they go out. But in my case, the patterns show that I´m probably leaving - no one´s ever stayed here for longer than six months. It´s fine, I won´t miss the sun, blue skies, 72º weather... Ok. I´ll definitely miss some things. Gofio. The members. Their funny Spanish. According to the missionaries, this mission is really a 3-in-1 deal, cause the three main areas are just so different from one another.  There´s the islands (1 zone). The North (2 zones). And Madrid (5 zones). If I ever make it to all three, I´ll be able to say if the stereotypes hold up. 

This week was great. We didn´t have a chance to play soccer today. Santi and Flo couldn´t make it, and everyone else kinda flaked out... So we got up early and went to see the sunrise in the south of the island! (Hermanas´ idea. Never would´ve thought of that). But it was all covered in sand dunes - partially created by the desert climate and partially by the fact that we´re so close to Africa the sand just blew over. It was super cool. Sorry, just realized you don´t know who Santiago and Florencio are. The call themselves Santi and Flo, and sometimes we fall into that habit when we play soccer. 

These newest investigators get a whole paragraph, because they´re also my favorite part of the week. Their names are Santiago and Florencio. And they are YSA! Telde has almost no YSA - I think I can count on one hand the number of menos activos and investigators who would fit this category. Which is sad, because the YSA are the future of the church - they are the missionaries, the friends to those who need them, the future leaders - and so Elder Norrell and I have been doing some focused work on these young men through the English classes we teach. First they were our friends  -They are now investigating! Reading the Book of Mormon, talking with us, and of course playing soccer on P-Day and coming to English class. They´re great kids, and up until now they just were potential investigators. They also were among the six nonmembers at church (record for our time together, and record for Elder Norrell´s mission.) It definitley feels good to get some fruit out of our English classes, into which we´ve put so much effort. These classes take up a lot more time now that we decided to care about them - and whaddya know, focusing brought forth blessings. Alexander Graham Bell once said"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand.  The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus."  (I definitely did not steal that quote from Dad. But it applied so well to what we´ve been up to.)

We talked to Fran this week as well - and we finally figured out the cause of his stalling progression. His girlfriend is really pressuring him to . . . do stuff they shouldn´t, chastity speaking. Almost-threating-to-break-up pressure. And Fran basically said that, although he feels like the church is true, he couldn´t leave this girl if she was going to make him choose. How said is that? The thing that´s brought more blessings into more people´s lives for EVER, he will willingly miss out on for a girl. (Now would be a good time to insert an Adam and Eve joke, but we all know that Adam did that on purpose - he got blessings, progression, the chance for eternal life, AND the girl.) We´re going to talk to him today, so I don´t know what´s happened yet with this crazy lady - but the lesson we can learn from all this is to surround yourself with good friends. Good people. People who won´t make you make hard choices like this - people who make what for Fran is a hard choice turn into an easy choice. Emma, Maren, Charles, Squid - stick to friends who make life easier. Not harder.

Love, quite possibly for the last time from an island,

Elder Stew.

Sunrise in Telde