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

Week 83 - an excellent week; investigators and rental contracts

We have had a great week - which is nice to be able to say, because we´re entering to transfer week which is apparantly the worst time of our lives. What´s nice is that on late office nights Burger King will deliver to the office for no extra charge until all hours of the night :)

I´ll start off this email with my favorite (and only...) proselyting story of the week. We went to Manolo´s house to see if we could track down his inactive, unemployed son. Manolo is this sweet old man who´s calling is ward missionary and who just hangs out with the missionaries ALL DAY. We call him and say, "Manolo, what are you doing?"

"Well I´m just at home."

"Right, but what are  you doing?"

"Waiting for some missionaries to call me."

So we were at his house when his son comes out and says, "I have questions that no missionaries can ever answer, and that´s why I won´t come to church." I was expecting something like polygamy or weird false stories about Joseph Smith, but he said - "Why is there so much bad in the world? Why don´t I have a job? Why can you say God is my Father when my life is so bad? A real father doesn´t let his children suffer." I was taken aback, not because the questions were difficult but because they were so textbook - I mean, every missionary learns the stock responses to questions like these. Babies without baptism? Moroni 8. Christ only loved the jews? 3 Nefi 11. Bad world? 2 Nefi 2. Right, it´s just so easy. 

But as we started talking, it was apparent that many APs and oficinistas (usually fairly good missionaries) had tried the same things and nothing. But as we talked, I had an idea, an idea so simple but that I had never tried before. And that´s why I loved this experience - because I know now what I didn´t know in the moment that it was a stroke of inspiriation from the Spirit. I said, "Are you a guy who likes to run?"

"Yeah."

"Ever run a race?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I just wanted to say that I finished. I didn´t care about beating everyone else, I wanted to do something hard."

"So it wasn´t easy."

"Hombre, claro que no."

"That´s how this life is. It´s a race, and our Father wants us to finish. If he takes away the hurt, he also takes away the achievement. He wants you to finish the race - and when it gets so hard, He has given you a Savior to help you without taking away everything you´ve worked for. The world is tough - but it has to be so that you can finish and say you´ve done a hard thing."

Morea looked at me and said "You´re the first elder who´s been able to answer my questions." I know it was the Spirit who gave me those words. He didn´t come to church, and I don´t know if he will - but nothing feels greater than being a tool in the Lord´s hands to help one of his children.

In other news, my greatest challenge this last week was working with Spanish realtors. I wrote part of a lease in Spanish (THANKS NATE!!!!) and we´re working on getting an apartment in the Canary Islands for a couple who got to Spain on Saturday and the realtor STILL won´t give me anything! I´ve been promised that they can move in tomorrow, but it´s pretty stressful to say, "I´m on it, hopefully it´ll be ready" to President and be doubting on the inside whether or not it´ll actually happen. Uy. 

Well, that´s been my week. Excel sheets, great compainons, late nights, airport trips, and realtors...... 

The gospel is true.

Elder Maxfield

Week 82 - How to find time for everything? The reality of life.

This has been a pretty good week. I worked on most of the week trying to get a bunch of safety information for all the apartments, which meant calling all of them. A little tedious but I did get some cool responses:

"Hey Elder. Do you have a Carbon Monoxide detector"

"Uhhh, I don´t know."

"It´s a rectangle with a black lever and a test button? It might be on the wall near the floor or on the ground."

"Well I found a rectangle with a black lever... but there´s no button."

(Insert five minutes of frustration trying to figure out if we´re on the same page)

"Well, just send me a picture of whatever it is you´ve got and I´ll check."

Then I got a call a couple minutes later, "Remember that thing? Upon further investigation, I discovered it was the doorbell."

I also recieved a letter from the guys in charge of the cars. - "In the fourth quarter of 2015, 65% of accidents were preventable. The major cause of these accidents was ´hitting an object or another parked vehicle whilst moving slowly´". Which is why we back people up EVERY TIME. 

My only other novelty is just being sick the entire last week. I think it´s the office disease, but I´ve been told there´s no such thing. But what´s nice is just that I´ve been pounding Oranges and Sudafed and Ibuprofen so I feel a lot better. I bought myself a 3 kilo malla of oranges and life is good. 

As for investigators, it´s been a slow week there, as usual. This area needs a lot of work to get it back up on its feet, there´s just not the time to do that. We´re supposed to leave every day at six. But the amount of work and the changes that we´re going through to prep for one senior couple´s departure and another´s entrance. So we don´t have the time to either do our office work nor our proselyting perfectly - and I know that we could do at least one of them perfectly and the other one sub-perfectly, but that´s just not the way it is I guess. It´s like a story I read once about two missionaries in Germany. They decided to be PERFECTLY obedient to ALL of the rules - including standards of excellence, studies, even all the things you don´t usually think about. They whipped out their Manuals and an extra list of rules from President, and put it all together. And it didn´t work and it didn´t work until one of them tried a different route - and they discovered that it was completely possible to be perfectly obedient, provided that every day have 25 hours. I´ve decided to take it as a lesson to do my best and then just be content, even when my best just isn´t good enough. That is frustrating.

Church was nice this last Sunday. We have so many people every week that we have to transmit the sacrament to two other rooms. I did the translating for the Packs, which was interesting. I had to apologize for my spanglish every couple of minutes, but it went just fine. 

All in all it´s been a good week. The Book of Mormon is coming along well for the nosecuantos time, and I am feeling better. The church is true.

Elder Maxfield

Sheep Crossing

Stewart, Son, & Grandson

Week 81 - Fat and White

Every day is different but at the same time just like the day before. All four of us live in the same piso (THAT is a party) and we go to the gym, have breakfast, study, and then head over to the office. Elder Weiss is the only one with a European Driver´s license, so he´s the one driving around Madrid and parallel parking EVERYWHERE. It´s pretty scary. Nobody in this entire country knows how to drive. We´ve almost been in three or four accidents because of completely oblivious drivers. We jam out to MoTab and EFY music as we get fat and white in the office. I´ve been here for two weeks, and I think I´ve walked less than in one day in Alcalá. Let´s see. The three minutes from the piso to the car. Parking, to the elevator, to the office, work til 6, to the car, to the lessons, home. Maybe 1km all day? Yep. Fat and white Elder Maxfield will be the one coming back to America.

As for the day-to-day stuff. Well, I talk to Oscar about all the cars. (you´ll never guess which missionaries crash the cars the most - the APs. Their car is so scratched up that day 1 I was told to only repair it when absolutely necessary.) I call Spain´s biggest water, light, and gas companies to set up what I call direct-robbing services. I´m not sure if it´s a thing in America, but here it´s common practice to sign a paper giving access to the Power guys to suck money out of your account without your consent every time. Like, instead of billpay, where I say direct deposit on this day - they just suck it out and send you a bill later saying"you paid this much. have a great day!" The other day I whipped out a bill that said, "Three weeks ago we took from you 3,000€ for gas. Buenos Días!" And there´s basically no way to do anything but just eat it... oh well. Man, these emails are going to start getting boring. 

We´re also starting a practice called the Hold List. I call it the Blacklist. If you make an oficinista mad by not doing what he asks (or in my case, not cleaning your apartments. In Elder Weiss´case, not sending him your residency info), we cut off your money until you do what we want. People don´t send in Baptismal Records? Stop all their cash. Folks react much quicker to a lack of money than a lack of home teachers or calling for their new convert..... As Grandma Frazier would say, "Stupid Missionary."

Our ward here is also amazing. They all have a serious desire to work. The bishop, the ward mission leader, and the Elders´ Quorum President are all brand new and want to see success. That´s really nice to have. Elder Weiss and I went to go deliver a cake as a favor the other night, and just as a surprise the members said, "No, stay and share it with us." Really just good people. We celebrated a member´s birthday the other day - she´s been baptized since the 70s and is a temple worker pretty much every day. I love seeing people like that.

OH! The other week, we had stake conference. It was excellent. And guess who just happened to show up? All my friends from the Canary Islands!! I thought for sure I´d never see them ever again, and there they were. What made it cooler - they recognized me. My name not so much, (they all called me Más Fiel, which means most faithful, cause Maxfield was just too hard.) but they all said, holy cow, and remembered the time I had spent in Telde. Pte. Deniz, Pte. Gonzalez, Manuel Leon, Doli, everyone´s kids - it was so cool. The only one missing was Carlos Castro, the Uruguayan mission leader. 

We don´t have hardly any inverstigators, so that´s no fun. But I made some cool spreadsheets, so I guess that´s also nice. We say in the office that maybe your purpose is not, "invite others to come unto Christ" but rather "Do x, y, z, etc. SO THAT everyone else can invite others to come unto Christ." 

Elder Maxfield