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

Week 38 - April 27, 2015 - ipads and district leader

Well this was a crazy week! It started off as I got made district leader thanks to some emergency transfers, and today President Jackson announced that Madrid will be recieving IPADS. I have no idea about what that will entail. I figure right off the bat it means less paper, less getting lost, more organization, more showing movies and videos, and more pain-in-the-rear problems when the whole thing inevietably crashes. Oh well, we´ll see what happens. May 7th the whole mission will be in Madrid for a bunch of training on what sort of things the church IT folks have cooked up for us. (I´m imagining now they´ll have the same sort of exasperated look Maren gets when the rest of the family is completely clueless). Only 15 of the 30 European Missions will be getting Ipads, and Elder Bednar said in the seminar where this was announced, "instead of using cimeters, bows and arrows, we are using iPads to combat the enemy. The Nephites knew the "intent of the enemy", just as we do in our day."

So that kind of changed everything. 

We have really seen some awesome miracles in the past week. Elder Weiss brought with him so much faith to see great things happen in the mission. (He also brought lots of pictures of a girlfriend whom he´s going to marry.......) One day last week, we were failed by all our investigators in a row. 5 of them, and all the lessons were in the church. So from 3 until 8, we were really just waiting in and around the church doing sporadic contacting for people to show up, calling it off 20m later, and then going back - super depressing. And then that night after some fervent prayers in the heart for SOMETHING to happen, we wandered around contacting and taught street lessons and contacted and had more success than I had ever seen. It was amazing - and I´m not sure what I did to recieve those blessings. And what´s great is that next time that happens, I´ll probably have an Ipad to show people videos on the streets.

Love, Elder Stew

Week 38 - April 27, 2015 - News from the Mission President - ipads, Stewart's new responsibilities

The Spain, Madrid Mission is now officially an iPad mission! Sister Jackson and I just returned from a Mission President's Seminar, in Frankfurt, Germany, where we had a marvelous experience. We were instructed for two and a half days by Elder David A. Bednar, of the Quorum of the Twelve. Accompanying him were Elder Brent H. Nielson, and Elder Stephen B. Allen of the Seventy, as well as our beloved Area Presidency. We are excited to share with you some of the things we learned, but mostly the feelings that we experienced. On Thursday, May 7, we will meet at Temple Square as an entire mission. This is the first time we know of that this has happened in this mission! Those outside of Madrid will arriveWednesday evening. We would like to have you in your seats in the Stake Center, studying reverently at 9:15 am on Thursday. We will be trained on the use of Digital Devices by Elders Timothy J. Dyches and Stephen B. Allen, and their wives. This training will take place in the Chapel. Please show appropriate reverence. When you are asked to take a break and to be in your seats at a certain time, please do so quickly and reverently. Please not take photos in the Chapel. Dress appropriately to welcome General Authorities, and sit with your companion. We will include in this bulletin a talk by Elder Russell M. Nelson, from the New Mission President’s Seminar last June. It is entitled, “Begin With the End in Mind”. Please read and study this talk, and come prepared to share your thoughts about how it applies to missionary work in the digital age. The Brethren have asked that each companionship read together and discuss the Missionary Handbook, looking for how it applies to Digital Devices. We realized after attending the Seminar, that Digital Devices are just another tool that can help us better fulfill our purpose as missionaries. Elder Bednar said that instead of using cimeters, bows and arrows, we are using iPads to combat the enemy. The Nephites knew the "intent of the enemy", just as we do in our day. Our mission has been selected as one of the few missions throughout the world to participate in this program. There are only about 86 missions worldwide that currently use Digital Devices. Only 15 of the 30 missions in Europe were chosen. We became excited about the possibilities for sharing the Gospel that this brings. Our focus has been and always will be on our purpose - to invite others to come unto Christ. We love and TRUST you! President and Hermana Jackson

Dear Maxfield Family,


This letter is to inform you that your son, Elder Stewart Glen Maxfield, has been assigned to be a trainer. He has demonstrated his ability as an effective, obedient missionary.  As a trainer, Elder Maxfield will be responsible for teaching and training a new missionary. This is a 12 week program, which includes an additional hour of daily study, including language study. Both your son and the missionary he is training will be responsible to report their weekly progress to the President. Only the best and most dedicated missionaries are called as trainers. He will serve as a role model for his new companion, and will hold a special place in the heart and memory of that companion.


We have also assigned Elder Maxfield to serve as a district leader in the Oviedo District. This position carries with it increased leadership responsibility. The District Leader is to set an example for the other missionaries in his district through his study of the scriptures and the gospel, obedience and hard work, proselyting skills and other aspects of missionary work. Elder Maxfield will be responsible for planning and conducting weekly District Meetings, and in supervising, teaching and inspiring the missionaries in his district. He will also interview baptismal candidates, which requires spiritual sensitivity and maturity.


Thank you for sharing your son with us.  Sister Jackson and I love him and pray for his continued success in this important calling.


Our best wishes to you,

Week 37 - April 20, 2015 - Gesundheit

For Family

So I got the new green missionary companion! And he is amazing. He comes from Switzerland, and already speaks a good amount of Spanish. Which for him is not very impressive because he speaks German, Swiss German, passable English, and French already.

One of the coolest experiences of the week came yesterday. I´ve kinda been pounding away at the ward council about the need for giving more callings to less-actives, medio-actives, YSA and new converts. And they had done quite a bit, but I wasn´t hoping for much seeing as Ada just got baptized 2 weeks ago. But Lo and Behold, Sunday morning they called her to be a primary teacher! A perfect calling, which I´m about 90% certain the branch president didn´t know about. I´m going to apologize now for any and all grammar issues - we´ve nearly eliminated English from the piso to help out his understanding. It works great, unless it´s early and my brain doesn´t speak spanish and his brain won´t speak spanish or english and then he speaks german and I speak english and World war 2 starts up again. (Kidding. We have yet to fight at all.)

The best part about Ada finally getting a calling was that I was able to set her apart! I told the Branch President to do it, but he said, "Elder Másfiel, es su trabajo." (Elder MostFaithful, it is your job.) The spirit was so strong while I gave a blessing in still sub-par spanish, and I really felt the truthfulness of President Hinckley´s message that every convert needs "a friend, a job, and to be nourished by the good word of God".  

Training is pretty darn fun. The best and worst is that now every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of Elder Maxfield is doctrine. And everything I do is subject to intense scrutiny so that it can be copied exactly. I have a habit of starting out street contacts by asking "Have you ever seen men like us before?" And sure enough, 30m later, Elder Weiss was doing the exact same thing. For 12 weeks, we read about teaching and studying and what we planned for lessons. I told him that EVERY lesson needed to have some sort of explained doctrine that the person did not understand before, a testimony and a committment, and how omitting any one of those parts was not the way the savior taught (See 3 Nefi 11,12:48). And later that day, I glanced at his brand new Spanish PMG to see he had written just that. 

Bunch of stuff happened about 30seconds ago. More next week! The work is true. Salvation and hope and life are in and through one man and one name - JESUS CHRIST. And He really likes to pick inadequate missionaries for His most important jobs, because it tends to make them much better.

Elder Stew

For Me and Eric

Elder Weiss. He needs a fairly long backstory. Grandma and Grandpa Weiss moved from Switzerland to Chile, where his dad was born. He married a Chilean woman, and then they moved back to Switzerland. So he is Swiss, with a Swiss last name, but with Chilean parents and the ability to understand most spoken spanish. Reading, grammar, speaking, are a different story. He speaks enough English to get along, but only from school and not enough to understand sentences like "Well how ya feelin´ today?" So English has been nearly eliminated from the piso. And our 1 hour of Language Study got a whole lot more interesting, because although his English vocabulary is quite large, grammar is tough to teach to someone who only REALLY understands German. For example, I had trouble explaining what is Albedrio o el verbo aprovechar. Because I know what they mean, and I can translate and explain well enough into english or spanish at this point, but not really with his limited vocabulary. Oh. And he also only spent 2 weeks in the MTC despite speaking NO spanish upon arriving in Spain. Like I said, a very interesting challenge you don´t expect when getting a green companion.

He´s 22 years old with a girlfriend committed to waiting at home (and he´s writing her as lovey-dovey a letter as can be written with words like gütenhimer and shlëifershwitzen) Yes, I made those words up. But he did teach us a german tongue twister about a self-contracting water hose that goes like "shlufershultzen slufe shulin shlufen shlitzen shflutzen. Being Swiss, he spent a year in the army (so being away from home isn´t that big of an issue), has all his money is in Swiss banks (which makes me laugh) and owns a Swiss army knife from the actual Swiss army. 

We´re working hard on being obedient, which isn´t hard thanks to the Swiss army. He understands obedience and leadership by example having been a Lieutenant in charge of 30 men. We have trouble with diligent studies, which I understand - Thanks to 12 weeks, we leave piso at 1 every morning and come back at 2 for lunch - so missionary work only occurs at nighttime. I have trouble because I want to keep up the same work ethic and lesson numbers I had with Elder Emmett, because we worked really hard to improve the area after a series of bad weeks with his last companion, and now we have 1.5hrs less per day. As to your other questions, yes. We work hard to be happy in all the ways a missionary can be happy. 

I feel excited but also a little scared. I´ve definitely asked the Lord for more help and I´ve felt more humbled than ever after getting this responsibility. It has made me pray more and strive to be better.

Which is maybe why I have this responsibility. 

Elder Stew

District Meeting

Elder Weiss (Switzerland), ElderMaxfield (Utah), Elder Porritt (Utah), Elder McWhorter (Idaho), Sister Barkle (Australia), Sister Toone (Utah), Sister Stephenson (Utah) and Sister Valverde (Peru/Chile).