Elder Farrell & Elder Ellsworth
Hello family and Happy Halloween! How are all of you doing?
I know I start all of my letters off this way,
but I am going to continue because it is true. . . THANK YOU so much for all of
your letters, prayers, and support! You all mean so much to me! I am so very
blessed to have you. This past week was a pretty crazy one, but what can you
expect, that is la vida misional;) Here is a little recap of all the many
miracles we saw here this past week.
Mon-Monday night after P Day had
concluded, Elder Ellsworth and I met with an antiguo investigator. She has kind
of an interesting story, but it was so nice to visit with her. She is from
Blackfoot Idaho, and has lived here with her children for the past 15 years.
Her children are pretty young, but they are fluent in both Spanish and English,
so it was pretty nice to have a lesson in English this week;) We had a great
lesson, and are looking forward to meeting with their family. After as we were
walking down the street we continued our street contacting efforts. We had 2
miracle contacts that we are hoping we can meet with this upcoming week. One
had a really neat story. She is from Ecuador, and has lived here for about 19
years. She had met with the missionaries in Ecuador, and had received the
discussions, but when she moved, she lost contact with the missionaries, and
has not heard from them for 19 years. We are praying that we may be able to
visit with her and continue on with what she has lost.
Tue-Tuesday morning we went to the
locatorio to work on my 12 week program. For some reason, right before we left
piso, I decided to put on my CTR ring that I had yet to wear on my mission.
Right as we walked into the loc, a lady saw my ring, and said "You are
Mormon aren´t you?" She could tell us apart not because of our tags, but
because she had seen a CTR ring before. The Lord works in mysterious ways. What
we may view as a coincidence is all part of the grand scheme our Father in
Heaven has. We were able to get her contact information, and she told us that
she wanted to attend church with us.
Wed-Wednesday morning we met with
one of our street contacts. From what I have learned as a
missionary, it’s that street contacting is the last thing you want to do
because it is the least effective form of missionary work. Our time is so short
as a missionary, that is why it is so crucial to work not only hard but smart.
That is why he is such a miracle of a contact. We met with him at his house.
He is about 25 and studying at the University. We met with him and had a great
lesson 0 and explained a little bit about the Book of Mormon. He was so
attentive, receptive, and interested. We have a return cita with him this
upcoming week where we will be teaching him the Restoration of this incredible
gospel. That night, we had Consejo de Barrio which was very humbling. The focus
was on Elder Ellsworth and I because we are opening up this area. They have
huge plans for this area that right now has only one member family. They told
us that they want to construct a capilla here within the next 6 months with a
base of 50 members. They told us, and it finally rang so true to me, "The
Lord has placed great trust in you two as the Pioneers of [this area]." We
have a great work to do. Also, I RECIEVED YOUR PACKAGE FAMILY! Thank you so so
much for that, it meant so much to me. Thank you so much for the food, dni,
letters, and sweet note you sent me mom. I love you so much.
Thurs. I sewed a button on my
pants. Enough said. Hahaha that may seem like a simple accomplishment, but that
is a huge milestone for me, not only in my mission, but in my life;) haha...
you would have been proud mom! A couple of funny stories from Thursday: Elder
Ellsworth and I went to a park close to our house to meet with a contact named
Ulysis. It turns out he wasn´t there, but there was a crazy 60 year old woman
which is always fun! Hahah she came up to us and just kept saying how much she
loved Americans and how "guapo we were" Thankfully my Spanish isn´t
quite fluent yet so when she asked me a question, ¨"Are you married"
I replied "Si" which I didn´t understand at the time, haha she left
us alone after that;) Later on, we were walking to a cita when the darkest man
I have ever seen in my life came up to Elder Ellsworth and I trying to sell us
stuff. He wouldn´t leave until we bought some awful glasses or some bracelets.
We said that we liked the bracelets so he tied them on our wrists so we
couldn´t take them off... haha smart man. It turns out that we were able to buy
both of the bracelets for 3 Euros rather than one for 10. Haha although he
gipped us, I think we got our moneys worth. That night, Elder Ellsworth and I
went to our only member family. They are angles. I honestly love
them so much already! Everytime we go over, they do not let us leave without a
huge bowl of icecream. They are definitely taking care of us!
Fri. Friday morning, we had
specialized Zone Training with President. It was so good to see President
again! It was a great conference, and he
shared with us exactly what we needed to hear. "How to Find People to
Teach". After the meeting we talked to President, and he told us ¨"I
hope you two know you are my heroes". This area is definitely not easy, but
he sent us here for a reason, so we will continue to work hard.
Sat. Saturday morning, we played
soccer with the new members. SO much fun, I am loving soccer more every week,
even though I am still pretty awful... haha watch out Naters;) Saturday night,
Elder Ellsworth and I were able to decorate our piso with all of the Halloween
decorations we have received, just like home;)
Sun. Sundays are probably one of my
favorite days on the mission! It is a little different here than it is in
Malaga, because we have weekly planning on Sunday rather than Thursday. So we
are able to get all planned and ready for the new week ahead of us. When I was
back in Utah, I thought it was awful having church from 1-4... that sounds like
heaven now! Hahaha our ward meets from 5-8 so I am in church at the same time
as some of you back in Utah, kind of weird though. Although the hours are
pretty rough, our ward is incredible. We have a nice building, and we are a
ward of about 80. They had all of the new missionaries get up and bear
testimony this week. It was a nice experience! After we gave testimonies, one
of the members of the stake presidency got up and called me back up to the
stand and said, "When President Monson made the age change, we all thought
that we would be receiving kids, this is not what we were expecting" Everyone
here is obsessed with how tall I am. Haha back in the states my height is
normal, but here I feel like a giant. Don´t be surprised if next week I tell
you about our "circus to see the giant" to find people to teach...;)
haha jokes, not a bad idea though.
There is a little update of our
past week. I hope you are all doing well, and I hope you all have a HAPPY
HALLOWEEN! You are in my heart and prayers continually. Until next week,
Elder Dallin Farrell
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