November 18, 2013 - Find Joy Now - Week 17

The District

Hello family and friends! I hope you all had a wonderful week back in the good old U.S.A. I love love love Spain, but like they all say, there is no place like home, especially for the holidays;) I loved hearing about everything that is going on back at home, you mean so much to me. P-Days are a definite highlight because I get to hear from you. As for me, this past week was another great and interesting one. Here we go:

I will start with the miracles from this past week. On Wednesday, we were able to visit with our #1 [investigator]. As we met with him, he showed us his new find... he pulled out his phone, and showed us his new favorite type of music. It started playing, and of course, it was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.... haha at this point Elder Ellsworth and I just think he is messing with us because he is so so receptive, and is always going above and beyond and downloading MoTab to share with us and his friends... haha he is a huge blessing and miracle, we hope to visit with him more this week, and that he may be able to continue progressing. The Lord is really blessing him. One night, Elder Ellsworth and I went over with some lemons (which he loves) and a picture of us and him as a gift because he is always giving us stuff. He LOVED them! He took the pic and put it right up with the pictures of his family in his living room. It honestly was such an amazing thing to see.... he is still being a  missionary.

On Tuesday I went on Intercambios with Elder Day who is serving in Alicante. He is in my same group, so we are in the same boat when it comes to time in the mission. Elder Ellworth went to their area, and Elder Day came [here] to experience the Pueblo life. At first, I was a little nervous to take the reigns of the area, and to be in Spain with someone that knows less than I do about my area, but of course it went great. Let me tell you, the gift of tongues is REAL! We were able to travel out to our other Pueblo and have a great noche de hogar (FHE) with our member family that lives out there. After we came back and had a great lesson with [#1]. He ended up inviting two more of his friends to join in on the lesson, so we taught lesson 0 and taught them our purpose and we were actually able to get two new investigators out of them. We actually have a return cita to meet with them tonight, so I hope that it goes well. The intercambio was a great confidence booster, and really showed me how much I have learned in my short time here. It was a great experience.

Another exciting thing that happened this week, we were able to have another noche de hogar with a member family who have really been involved in the missionary work with us. All of the kids invite their friends who are mostly non-members. It is such a great experience to share the gospel in a more casual setting. Anyways, we have been meeting with a ward member’s friend. He is 19 and he was able to attend church with us yesterday. He loves seeing us, and told us that he also has interest in English Class, and Soccer Saturdays.

A few random things from the week:

This week, the weather has changed, and it is ABSOLUTELY FREEZING. I thought that being in Spain would be warm year round.... false. Hahah we wake up every morning to an icebox because we have no carpet in our piso. There was actually snow on the mountains. I think today would be a great day to go buy a coat;) Don´t worry mom, we are doing good, I just love being a little dramatic... It is definitely warmer here than it is there!

Saturday after soccer we celebrated Hermana Camachos bday! It was so awesome, after soccer, our whole district went to the capilla and made tacos for her birthday. I sure hope she had a great one. I took great pics, I will make sure to send them home tonight as well. Sorry, I don´t know what happened to the font.

Yesterday Elder Ellsworth and I cut each others hair! It was definitely needed and surprisingly we both did a decent job. I will send a pic.

Also, last update. Yesterday at church I pulled out my mints that you sent me mother, and shared them with a 17 year old priest that was sitting next to me. He LOVED them. I ended up giving him the whole package, and after church his whole family called me over and said, GRACIAS ELDER, all having mints in their mouths... haha they absolutely LOVED THEM and ended up inviting us over to dinner for them... haha kind of a funny story about some little mints. So thank you mother.

I have so so much that I want to tell you. Good thing Christmas is coming up and we will be able to skype real soon. This week was a great week, and I am looking forward to another great one, the last week of the transfer. A quote that I loved this week about the development of our testimonies, ¨That curing does not come automatically through the passage of time, but it does take time. Getting older does not do it alone, it is serving God and others persistently with full heart and soul that turns testimony of truth into unbreakable spiritual strength.¨ -Pres. Eyring (Mountains to Climb)

I love you so so much family, you mean everything to me. Until next week.

Elder Farrell

November 11, 2013 - Fish, Mushrooms, and Tuna Lasagna‏

View from the castle they visited on p-day

Family and friends, thank you so much for the many e mails, letters, prayers, and support; your influence means everything to me. It sounds like things are going well back at home, I think of you daily, but am so grateful to be here. We are so richly blessed. As for me and this week another crazy one! Here we go:

Mon- So last week I e mailed my mother and told her that we were locked out of our piso. True story, but bad idea to tell mom:) Yes mother we were able to get back in, but it was such a crazy story. After we had finished our last little bit of e mailing, I realized that I did not have the keys. It was a crazy p day, we had a lot to do, and to add to the list, we were in P day clothes, so that threw me off even more. We tried not to worry about it. We just told ourselves that we were two teenage Americans living in Spain and to not worry about it... haha it really calmed us down;) Anyways, we tried calling our Dueño (landlord) twice, and no answer... we proceeded to call the ZL´s, and all we got was laughed at. We were in a little pickle. There was a member that we could go visit, but P day was over, and we really needed to get to work, but we couldn´t get into our piso. We called a member of the Stake Presidency who actually bought our piso for us. He told us to wait 20 minutes and he would help us in. An hour later he showed up and tried to break us into our piso. (We took a great pic that I will send home tonight!) After trying for a good 20 minutes with no success, we thought of another approach. We live on the top story of our 3 story piso and like every building there is a roof. We remembered that we had left our screen door to our patio unlocked so we thought that maybe we could get up there and figure something out.  Our Stake Presidency friend ended up jumping from the roof to our balcony and saving the day. Don´t worry mother, I would never do anything that stupid;) He saved us that day, and it was just another crazy story to add to the adventures of the missionary life.

So much happened this week, so I will just give you the highlights and miracles, and my fish, mushroom, and tuna lasagna story.... yum.

This past week we have met with our number one investigator. I am not sure what I said about him last week, but he is from Ecuador, and SO receptive! We ended up teaching him a few times this week, and each lesson was progressively better. On Tuesday we taught him about the Restoration, and then when we met with him on Thursday he invited his girlfriend and his friend to the lesson. He actually helped us teach the lesson of the restoration, and told the Joseph Smith story, and bore testimony of him. The spirit was incredible. And finally, on Saturday we invited him to the baptism of [] Gonzalaz, which I was blessed to participate in. The service was beautiful, and he loved every second of it! I am pretty sure he recorded the entire thing on his phone. What is even better as we left the baptism, he wanted us to go with him to visit his family and friends that lived in the area to share our message. I know it doesn´t sound real, but it is... haha this man is a miracle. What added was he hummed I am a child of God the whole way. One more thing about him, every lesson he gives us a gift. This past week, Elder Ellsworth and I have received: Fodoras (sp?), fans, hats, a wooden turtle, and elephant. This man is incredible. So much for every member is a missionary, EVERY INVESTIGATOR IS A MISSIONARY!

Thurs. Thursday night, Elder Ellsworth and I had the privilege of eating at a sweet members home. She is probably about 60. She is so sweet and loves having us over for meals. Right as we walked into her home I hit a wall of fish. At that point I had no idea what I was getting myself into... I got a "delicious" plate full of fish, mushrooms, and a delicious tuna casserole to top it off... For all of you that do not know, I am not the biggest fish, mushroom, or tuna fan, but I cleaned that plate like a boss. You would have been so proud of me mother:) I don´t write that to sound ungrateful, but my tongue is just starting to become numb to the fish species;)

The [] family. I write about this family every week, but just like the mission, and our investigator, they get better every week. This week they invited us to their home for a noche de hogar. Every time we go over they have so much food prepared for us and ALWAYS make us feel so welcome. They really have adopted us here and have become our family [here]. Every time they see us they let us know that their home is our home, and if we ever need anything they are here. Just yesterday they invited us over for a Christmas pre-celebration scheduled for the 30th of this month. They told us that this is something they usually do with just their fam, but they felt like they wanted us there this year. This will be a great opportunity to sing, set up a Christmas tree, eat chocolate, and spend some quality time with their family over the holiday season. They also invited us over for Christmas day, and they told us that we will be able to skype from their home. Such a huge blessing. I honestly love this family. I will try to include a pic sometime next week!

Well fam, I still have so much that I want to tell you, but this basically sums up the highlights of my week. Thank goodness for journals. I love you all, and am so happy to hear about all of your joys at home. You all mean so much to me. I am doing great, and loving every moment. I pray and think of you daily. A quote for the week that I love: "Life isn´t easy, but with God it is possible, and with God it is fulfilling." Until next week:)

Much Love,

Elder Farrell

November 4, 2013 - Week 15

Icecream Sundaes

Dear Family, I cannot believe that I am already doing this again, weeks just seem to be flying. Honestly each week is getting better and going so much faster I can hardly believe it. Don´t get me wrong, there are bumps in the road sometimes, and yes of course I miss you, but there is nowhere else I would rather be at this time in my life, I am learning so so much, and becoming closer to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ every single day. It is such a privilege and a blessing for me to be here. I loved getting all of your letters this week, and to hear about all of the joys, successes, and blessing that you are experiencing back at home. We truly are so very blessed. Thanks for the updates, I love all of you! As for me, this week was another great one! The Lord´s hand has definitely been in our work here, it is more evident every single day. We saw so many miracles this past week, and so much happened, so I will give you the highlights.

Tuesday- Elder Ellsworth and I took the bus and worked the night in one of our pueblos. I know this is a bad thing to say as a missionary, but we didn´t really have a plan going out there because we have so many menos activos (less active) to visit, so that was the plan in and of itself. We went out there to scout out the area and also to meet some menos activios. The first house we met dropped us. Directly after, Elder Ellsworth pulled out the ward list and randomly flipped to one of the last pages. He found a name of a former missionary that lived out there so we stopped by and visited him. We went to the door and he graciously let us in. He was there with his wife, and his wife’s family. It turns out that he served his mission in 2002. His wife was recently baptized last year, and they have been to the Madrid Temple to be sealed. They were such an incredible couple, and it was so good to visit with them. He works every Sunday, so he is not able to make it to church very often, but he is honestly such an amazing person, and is living all of the principles of the Gospel. As we were about to close, we shared a message with them. We planned on sharing Mosiah 2:17 with them, but at the last moment Elder Ellsworth and I changed to Ecclesiastes 3 (There is a time and season for all things) Right as we began reading the first verse, they both just broke into tears. They told us that this was the exact message they needed to hear. They have been trying for three years to have children, but have not been able to. It turns out they had actually met with the doctor that day for the final time. They told us that the message we shared was such a comfort to them. They had us leave his wife with a blessing of health, and then they sent us on our way with bags of food. It was probably one of the most spiritual experiences on my mission. The spirit is real and directs us to share the Lord´s message and the Lord´s will. Such a humbling experience.

Thursday-We met with our number one investigator! We taught him lesson one this past week on the Restoration of the Gospel. The lesson went so well, and the Spirit was so very strong. He is honestly so prepared for baptism. He is so open, receptive, and is already living all of the gospel principals. At the end of the lesson, we extended the baptismal invitation, and he accepted for the 23rd of this month! He is honestly such a blessing and miracle that the Lord has placed in our path.

Friday- Friday morning, Elder Ellsworth and I stopped by the house of a street contact. He ended up letting us in, and we had a great lesson 0 with him. It turns out that he actually had contact with the church hace 6 años (six years ago). His father was also baptized about 6 years ago. As we were flipping through his photo book we saw photos of his father´s baptism, and him with two missionaries. At the end of the lesson we invited him to be baptized and he also accepted! We have a fetcha with him for the 23rd of this month as well. He has some definite problems that he has to work through, but I know that the Lord works miracles and changes lives. Side note, I love being a missionary. We get to enter into people´s homes, hear about their lives, share a little about our lives, and then fulfill our purpose as missionaries in inviting all of God´s children to come unto Christ. What a beautiful thing.

Saturday- Saturday night, we had an amazing Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) with my family here.  I love them so much, and they honestly take such great care of Elder Ellsworth and I! We had a fun object lesson with them on the Restoration with a rubiks cube, then they treated us to an amazing dinner, and of course finished it off with one of the biggest ice cream sundaes I have ever eaten in my life! I love them.

Sunday- What a great day! My favorite day of them all. In the morning we went to a member family for a lesson and Sunday lunch. The members here are so incredible, and are all taking such great care of us! Church was incredible this week, and testimony meeting was so strong. I don´t know if I have grown, or if the people here are just short, maybe both;) but I am referred to as "muy alto". Hahaha funny story, someone in their testimony said this, in their words, "I know Elder Farrell is tall, and that his heart is as big as his body" It meant a lot to me;) Elder Ellsworth and I had the privilege to teach a primary class about pioneers. Success:)

This past week has been such a great one. I am so happy here, and grateful for the opportunity I have to serve in Spain. We have the truth, it is our responsibility to share it. In 'Your Wonderful Journey Home' by Pres. Uchtdorf he says, " there will always be things to complain about, things that don´t seem to go quite right. You can spend your days feeling sad, alone, misunderstood, or unwanted. But that isn´t the journey you had hoped for, and it´s not the journey Heavenly Father sent you to take. Remember, you are truly a son/daughter of God."  He has so much in store for each one of us. I love you all, and think and pray for you daily.

Elder Farrell