Monday, September 30, 2013

September 30, 2013 - First Baptism!



Hello Fam and Friends! Another week has come and gone in a blink of an eye, and so much has happened. Once again, it is so good to hear that all is well back at home. Please keep sending me updates on everything that is going on.  I sure love you guys. Here we go for this week:
Mon. Good p day! P days are so nice and necessary to get rested, and caught up for the next week of work. We started the morning by playing soccer with all of the Elders in my Zone. We rented out a turf field and played for a solid hour. My team was solid, not including myself... ha jokes I am getting better every time, just like my Spanish ¨poco a poco¨. After, we went over to some Elder´s piso, made lunch, then played Catan as a District.  After we e-mailed. That night we met with the Segovia family. Their son just returned from his mission in Argentina. They were so happy. We had a great dinner, great lesson, and a great night.
Tue. We started the morning by moving Elder Warburton and Navarro out of their piso. It was a little overwhelming because missionaries have lived there for about 15 years... gross, but we did it. Tuesday night, I went on exchanges with Elder Warburton because we had a few lessons in English set up. We had a very spiritual lesson with one of their investigators named Christian. We taught him a big lesson, because he is preparing for baptism. We taught him the restoration, prophets, obedience, and the word of wisdom. He was so receptive, and the spirit was so strong. After teaching him the word of wisdom, we committed him to live it. He had a little problem with tea but he replied, “I am not going to let something so small stop my progression of coming unto Christ and being baptized”. After, we testified of Prophets, and testified that we have a Prophet today in President Thomas S. Monson, we showed a picture of President Monson to two men who had never seen him before; we are so blessed. They are so excited for conference. Tonight as we were walking back to our piso, the whole city erupted in cheers-¨Malaga must have scored¨; life in Spain.
Wed. Wednesday was a great day, another day of hard work. I was with Elder Warburton on intercambios. As we were walking, we started talking about gifts that the Lord gives us daily. Even the gifts we may over look - those that enable us to continue studying, to grow and progress. We are so blessed. So as I have said in previous e-mails, Elder Cortes always knows how to make me laugh when I need it. When we were heading out of our piso, I smelt something wretched, it turns out I had stepped on some dog poop (which also seems to be everywhere here) Elder Cortes was praying as we were leaving and asked ¨Please help Elder Farrell to get the poop off of his shoe¨haha... bad but funny. For Noche de Hogar we taught a lesson on the Armor of God, played a game, then called it a night. After, we hopped on the bus to pick up some Elders from different zones who were staying the night for zone training. Crazy night with 5 in our piso.
Thurs. - My first zone training. Thursday, Malaga, La Mancha, and Granada zones all went to Babel (central Malaga) for a specialized training. It was so good to see Pres. and Herm. Deere and to be in the presence of so many missionaries. The spirit was so strong. Their son Cameron just returned off of his mission last week, so it was so good to see him and catch up with him. The theme of the meeting was, ¨with the Lord, nothing is impossible.¨ Another topic that I really needed to hear - “Everything will be ok in the end, if it is not ok, it is not the end.¨ It was so fun to visit and meet with so many missionaries. One of my favorite things we do when we get together is we all get in a circle and sing our mission song. I will have to send that to you!
Fri. Day of miracles! So much happened on Friday. I have a hard time deciding where to start. In the morning, E Warburton and I visited an investigator that is going through some serious problems right now. As a missionary, I am seeing problems I have never even heard of before. After the lesson I felt bad that I could not relate to any of his problems, and E Warburton said something that really hit me. ¨Because of Christ´s Atonement, we do not have to¨ That really hit me so hard. It is our responsibility to comfort those who stand in need of comfort, but Christ has already taken upon Himself their pains so that we don´t have to. This is our miracle of the day - E Cortes and I went and visited an old investigator that was given to us as a referral. This was our first time meeting with her. It turns out that she has already taken all of the discussions and has been attending church at a different building. The only thing that had been holding her back from baptism was her job, which she doesn´t have anymore. After our lesson E Cortes asked her to be baptized on the 12th of Oct, and she accepted! Not even a split second later E Cortes changed his mind and said, ¨we actually have a service tomorrow¨. After calling Pres. for permission, finding baptismal clothes, and her interview, she was ready for her baptism. She is going to have me do it, which is one of the most humbling things that has happened on my mission so far. 
Sat. Our first baptism! Saturday was such an incredible day. After the end of a crazy week, it all turned out to be worth it. Saturday night our district held a baptismal service for 7. It was such an amazing site to see everyone dressed in white and enter into the waters of baptism. Before the service, we took a pic with everyone; it is now my favorite photo on the mission. I was blessed with the opportunity to baptize Iliana (Our miracle) It was such a humbling experience, which I will never forget. After the baptismal service, Pres. came up to me, and told me he had never seen anything like this in Spain before. The Lord is truly hastening His work here in Spain, and throughout the world.

Have the best week, and enjoy conference. I love you all!
Con Amor,
Elder Dallin Farrell

Zone Conference in Malaga

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