What a week it has been. First item of business, I got to go to the Madrid temple this morning and it is beautiful!! And everything is in Spanish so that's kinda fun and somewhat confusing for those of us who can't quite understand it all yet haha but you can definitely still feel the same spirit and that's what matters :) We also got our new capilla (chapel) this week! (which by the way is physically impossible to walk to unless you would like to walk through the wilderness for 3 hours and illegally cross the freeway a couple times. I may or may not speak from experience). It is so pretty and the members love it so much it's adorable. It's farther away from their homes but it's no sacrifice for them. It made me realize how much I take for granted the like 7 chapels within a few blocks of my house. And because of the new capilla, a bunch of our friends and less actives are taking more interest so it's a super important time for us!
Ok so this week has been hilarious that's for sure. Oh and sorry if I gave anyone a heart attack with my subject line. Don't worry I'm still in Spain, but we made friends with a Romanian family and they live in the middle of a forest in houses that I'm pretty sure they built themselves and they're so humble and have such a strong belief in God. But they also like to blast Romanian music and feed us as much Romanian food as they can. Like the fresh lamb barbecued over an open fire on the hottest day this week haha. And they gave us something that resembled jalapeños and told us to try them. I barely touched my tongue to one and I about died. They tried telling us that if we just eat the whole thing at once it doesn't hurt. Luckily somebody caved and told us they were lying before we actually did it haha. But we really love teaching them and I hope they're able to progress! A lot of people here love talking about God but they don't realize we're actually trying to teach and help them haha so that can be a bit frustrating at times but it's still an incredible experience to bear testimony to these people every day.
In Spain, día de la madre (mothers day) was last Sunday and this upcoming week is mother's day in the states so shout out to my amazing mom and the great example she is to me in everything from her testimony and how she raises her family to how she cooks and interacts with others. She has an infinite amount of love to give others and never ever puts herself first. In the states, I've always considered mothers day as a pretty laid back holiday; but in Spain, they like to party, and they take any excuse to do so. We got a nice firework show out our window Sunday night which was quite the shock because we first thought they were gun shots. But it was a nice surprise.
We met a new friend this week named Maximo and he was a good little lesson to me about listening to the spirit. We were waiting to cross a street when he rolled up next to us in his wheelchair. I looked at him and smiled and thought hmm, I should probably talk to him. But I was like nah, we're about to cross the street so I won't. We crossed the street and continued walking on the sidewalk and a few seconds later he came zooming past, cut us off, and turned around to face us. He told us he had investigated the church for a year but had stopped because he never received an answer from God that it was true. We began to teach him about the spirit and how it speaks to us but like the average Spaniard, he was pretty stubborn and was convinced he should have received a vision or something. And he was practically deaf so we had to get really close to him and yell in his ear so he could hear us. We were quite the spectacle in the middle of the sidewalk on the busiest street in Villalba, but we did commit him to come to church. This was an important lesson to me because obviously the spirit was telling me to talk to this man. Lucky for me, he talked to us I stead, but that doesn't always happen so I've got to be on my game. Unfortunately, Maximo didn't actually come to church; but then we saw him again yesterday and chased him down. He said he had prisa (was in a rush) and so we briskly walked along his wheelchair on high speed while having a very loud conversation about us meeting with him this week. He set the time and date and then repeated it like 17 times so hopefully he remembers. Anyways that was the hilarious part of our week.
Fun little fact is that me and the other hermana pendleton in the mission finally did family tree search to find out if we were related and we found out that our great grandparents are cousins so that's fun.
I had my very first zone conference this week! It was incredible. It was all four Madrid zones together and so there was a ton of people there so it was fun to get to know some of the other missionaries. After learning all day, I was so much more motivated to talk TO EVERYONE because every single person needs the gospel in their life. It is crucial. One of the themes in this mission that's said all the time is that it is our job to "find the elect." And that applies to everyone, not just missionaries. It's harvesting time and we need to help all those are ready to find the truth. These are two of my most favorite scriptures about that:
"And ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect; for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts." (D&C 29:7)
"Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." (2 Timothy 2:10)
I have such a strong testimony that when we are working with others in mind instead of ourselves, it's not hard to endure. It's actually fun because you know you're helping them. I hope you all know that I know that the restoration is real and we have a living prophet on the earth today. My life would be oh so different if I hadn't followed the prophet and didn't have the amazing blessing of the priesthood. I would invite you all this week to reflect on what blessings you've seen in your life from following the prophet. (and if you feel so inclined, send me a little message letting me know what you thought about because I would just really enjoy that).
I love you all so much and sorry if this is way too long haha. Have a good week!
Hermana Pendleton
Comments
Post a Comment