Well family, you are probably
wondering where in the world your son/brother is, I am alive and doing well, I
promise!:) So much happened this week, I wish I could tell you everything!
First of all, my trainer is Elder Cortes and our area is Malaga 4. I am
honestly so blessed to be here. A little about Elder Cortes, he is 25 and he is
from Chile. He has lived in Spain for the past eight years, in Mallorca. He
speaks very minimal English, and I speak very minimal Spanish, but we manage to
get by;) I have honestly learned more Spanish this past week than I have in 6
weeks at the CCM. I love when Elder Cortes speaks English, haha he is so funny.
Whenever there is a lot of something, he says ¨very¨. For example, I say: ¨that
is a lot of money¨ and he says ¨that is very money¨. I should probably correct
it, but it gives me a good laugh everytime. Our Piso is HUGE. It is only the two of us that live there.
We have 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, family room, and a porch. We get by;)
Now for the highlights of the week. It has been such a great week!
Tue. After interviews, training and
dinner, we departed to where we were going to stay for the night. Tuesday
night, myself and 4 other Elders stayed with a Senior couple named the
Castillos. They are angels, they are from Arizona, and help the missionaries
out so much.
Wednesday was such a crazy
day! We woke up grabbed our stuff, and went to Babel (The chapel in Málaga).
There we were assigned our companions, had a little training, and then left to
our area! My area is about an hour away from the mission office. We take the
cercanillas (little train) for about 40 minutes, and then we hop on a bus to
our piso that is about 20 minutes. We traveled with Elder Hooper (such a great
missionary and help to me) and Elder Querolo to our chapel. Our chapel is so
close to our Piso which is so nice, probably about a five minute walk. The
first thing we did before we went to the piso was grab some food. We went to a
place called Kehbab which I am obsessed with. It is a little ¨burrito¨with some
mystery meat... haha so good! Fun experience there, right when we were
ordering, there was an old Spaniard man that was yelling at us, and continued
to do so for the next 10 to 15 minutes, maybe it is a good thing I don´t speak
Spanish yet;) After we went to our Piso and I was able to settle and unpack a
little bit which was nice. That night we headed over to the capilla and my companion
had ward counsel so he threw me in a room with 4 Nigerians and a woman from
Poland and I ¨taught¨them Spanish... yeah. After we had noche lugar (Family
home evening) with some investigators and members.
I can´t really remember which days
everything happened, but so much happened. Friday I believe, we were able to
meet with our investigators Anna (Polish) and Uche. They are boyfriend and
girlfriend and they have a little baby who is so cute. They have been attending
church, and receiving lessons from the missionaries for a while now, and they
really love the church. I was able to ask Anna if she would be baptized and she
accepted. We are working on getting them married, but it is very difficult for
them to get residency. I love them because they Speak English, kind of. We saw
Uche on the street one day and he gave us the biggest smile and came up and
gave us the biggest hugs. I love him.
The Santiago Familia-Such an
incredible family! Last transfer Elder Cortes was able to baptize Antonio (the
son) and Luis (his grandpa). They have a big family and they are incredibe.
Antonios parents, Francisco and Maria have some problems, and work every
Sunday, but they are so supportive of Tonino, I know their time will come. This
week we had about 4 lessons with their family. It is Francisco (Dad) Maria
(Mom) Antonio (Son Baptized-16) Narea (sister-14) and Maria. Maria is four
years old, and may be the cutest little girl I have ever seen. It is so cute
listening to little kids speak spanish and having no idea what they are
saying.... haha. This week we were able to ask Narea to be baptized. She
accepted, and is so excited. Her date is the 28th of this month. We had a neat
experience at church yesterday, we were able to give Tonino the Aaronic Priesthood.
He passed the Sacrament for the first time yesterday. So cool! They also had us
over for lunch on Friday. I don´t know what we ate, but it was pretty good;)
I have had so many tender mercies
this week that have helped me SO much! Here are just a few: Whenever I am
feeling overwhelmed, Elder Cortes knows exactly what I need. Whenever he tries
to speak English I get a good laugh. Friday was kind of a hard day, because it
just takes time to adjust to all of the changes. That morning, President Deere
called me and talked to me for about 10 minutes, that night Hermana Deere
called and talked to me for about 15. They are honestly angels. Mom, don´t worry,
they love me, and are taking such great care of me. Throughout the week, I have
received other phone calls from missionaries throughout our zone just checking
in with me, and telling me how good I am doing. One of my favorite moments of
the week was when we met with the Santiago family to teach them about the
restoration. When we arrived, they had just finished putting a picture of
Christ in a frame, and hanging it up on the wall in the middle of their family
room. It was such a spiritual thing to watch. So many things happened this
week, but that is a good taste of the life of España for you.
Today is my first Pday in the
field, and it is a good one. We traveled to Fuen this morning because later
this afternoon we have a joint zone softball game and bbq at the mission home.
I am so so excited to see the mission home and spend some time with the Deeres.
I know I have said it a lot, but I love them so much. We are in for another
good week. I hope all is well back at home, I think about and pray for you everyday.
I am so blessed to have all of you. Missionary work is incredible. This is what
I love the most. I have never been so hungry and tired in my life, but I have
never experienced so much joy and been so happy. This is the work of the Lord.
Have an amazing week, until next
Monday.
Con Amor,
Élder Dallin Farrell
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