July 28, 2014 - Love: The Essence of the Gospel

Hello family and friends, happy pday! Thank you all so much for the nice emails today, it is always so good to hear what is going on in your lives. Thank you also for your continuous prayers and support. I love you all!

This past week, Elder Webb and I were very blessed. We were able to teach a lot of good lessons, and to meet some new people, and teach them about the gospel. Right now we are really focused on our progressing investigators and also helping the MA return to church with our new capilla. This past week we had a lot of good opportunities!

Thursday evening, we had a noche de hogar/dinner at E´s house! It was so fun to gather everyone together and spend some good time with them. All of our members in this area are really doing a lot better with the new capilla being here.

On Friday night we were able to hold our first Noche de Hogar in the new capilla! That is one thing that I have really come to appreciate out here in the mission, the activities the church puts on to not only keep the members involved, but also our investigators, and everyone else that wants to come. Us Elders were able to teach the message on the Gospel in the Primitive church and how it is run the same today with Prophets and Apostles. After, we were able to play some games and eat some food. We had a great turn out of 65 people; we are excited to see what happens this upcoming Friday!

On Friday we were able to head to one of our far pueblos; one that I had never visited. There is a member family out there and a recent convert, so we were able to visit with them and share a message on the importance of the Sacrament. It was such a sweet lesson and the spirit was so strong. It was really touching to see the mother get emotional because it really is a sacrifice for them to make it to church. I know these members will be blessed. The sacrament is an incredible thing. On Sunday they were able to make it to church and to partake of the Sacrament. They also invited one of their cousins who is not a member. She was there for her first time, and told us she really enjoyed it, and is actually interested in Baptism. That is how the Lord works, he puts prepared people in our path. We are looking forward to meeting with them again this Tuesday.

Yesterday was a very special day. I really enjoy Sundays, they are my favorite day out here on the mission. Right now is such a good time to be in this area. Our members are so excited to help us with the obra(work), and they are so excited to finally have their own capilla. It was so great to see the sacrament hall full! We had a turn out of 80 yesterday. Elder Webb and I had the opportunity to teach gospel doctrine and we shared the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is a perfect message. Last night, we also had a really neat opportunity. We were in another pueblo and Elder Webb had called a future that we had contacted one of our first days together. He ended up meeting us outside of the Ayuntamiento (city hall) and we were able to share a message with him. Going into the lesson he told us he didn´t believe in God. He ended the lesson by giving one of the nicest prayers I have heard. The gospel changes perspectives. The gospel gives us hope. The gospel changes lives.

Right now I am studying in the New Testament, and am loving it! It is so incredible to believe about the Savior´s love and the love He ministered throughout His ministry. Today I read a talk that really hit me that went along so well with what I have studied. It was from the past general conference by President Monson entitled Love- The Essence of the Gospel. It is such a beautiful talk, I would encourage each of you to read it! One line that really hit me, "Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime" It is so true. Let us all be a little kinder and love like our Savior would. 

I love you all!

Elder Farrell

July 21, 2014 - One Year

Well family and friends, just like all of you, I cannot believe that I have been here for a year. It is a crazy thing how quickly time goes, especially when you only have two years. I am so grateful for all of the opportunities I have been given this past year. I have seen some of the best times, some of the hardest times and a little bit of everything in between! I have learned so much about myself, others and especially how perfect this plan, which we have been blessed with, really is. I will forever be grateful for this incredible year, a year I will never forget. That being said, next year here we come! I am so excited for this next year and what it holds. I am obviously still learning so much everyday, but now it is time to go. Years go quick, I am excited to see what this one brings for all of us.

As for this past week:

This past week for Elder Webb and I was a pretty good week. We had a tough time getting hold of multiple of our progressing investigators, but those that we were able to meet with really went well. This week we were able to meet with O on Wednesday and have a great cita with him. I had a neat experience regarding prayer this week. Wednesday, things were looking tough, and I really felt like we needed to meet with O at least one time during the week to help with his progression towards baptism. Right there I offered a prayer in my heart that we would have the faith to help O progress towards that point. Not even 5 minutes later that same morning I heard my phone ringing, and of course, it was O. He called and asked if we could come over that night to visit with him. I love the daily miracles that we have out here on the mission. The Lord works in mysterious ways! We met with him at 5 00 and had a wonderful cita with him. This man is incredible and is taking the steps he needs to progress towards baptism. He was able to come to church this Sunday; he is really starting to look like a member;) We asked him how his reading was going, he replied, "Ok I guess... I am to Helaman". Beast. 

This past week, we also had some success working with some of the MA in our ward. This week we had some great citas with them and they are progressing so well! 

CG: Right now we are really focused on reactivating them. They are so incredible and have set some great goals before they move.  He wants to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and she wants to receive her Patriarchal blessing. We have invited them to read the Book of Mormon as a family everyday and so far they are doing perfect. It is so fun going over there and visiting with them and reading with them. I have already seen such a big change in their lives! They are doing so well. Yesterday we had a neat experience. Right as we were getting ready to leave to head back to Molina, they saw us and stopped us in the road. Their baby had come down with a fever and so they asked us to come over and give him a Priesthood blessing. We were able to go over and give him a blessing of health. Right as we said amen he was so calm and stopped crying. He hopped off of his mom´s lap and started kicking the soccer ball around. It was such a neat experience, and so awesome that his dad was able to see the power of the Priesthood.

AR: This past week we had planned on making doughnuts with them for NdH(FHE). It turns out that we weren´t able to do it on Friday due to a change of plans on their part, but we were able to go over Thursday night and practice. It was so good being with them. Right as we were leaving, he said, "Tomorrow we cook for the Lord" haha it was kind of funny with the context of doughnuts, but I loved it! The doughnuts were great!!

We are still enjoying being in the new capilla. It is such a blessing to have. Things are looking good this week. Once again, thank you for all that you do and for you continuous support. I love you all so so much!

One year.

Elder Farrell

July 14, 2014 - The Capilla in Molina!‏

Zone Conference

4 Generations

Hello Family and Friends, Happy PDay!!

This past week was busy busy busy for Elder Webb and I. Monday night we started by getting to work right after [our day was over], and not judging correctly how much time it would take to set up for the Zone Conference... haha yeah we were out a little late, but we were able to get all of the tables, chairs and rooms set up for the Joint Zone Conference with us, Elche, Alicante, and Cartegena. Tuesday morning everyone made it in and we had a really good conference with President and Hermana Deere. They are both such great teachers and the spirit is always so strong with them. The main focus of President Deere is to see our investigators in white twice. Meaning once for the baptism and second for the temple. The church is doing a really good job at placing requisits so that we baptize stronger converts, which results in stronger retention. A few of the things we have to do now are 1) Teach lesson 5 before the baptism. 2) Have almost daily contact with recent converts for 3-4 months. Like I said, the conference was great and it was so good to see a bunch of my previous comps and mission friends there.

This past week the 4 of us here have really been working hard to invite EVERYONE to the new church here in Molina. One of our focuses this week was to stop by all of the menos activos(MA) and let them know that the new church was opening and let them know that they are missed and we are excited to have them back with us. This past week Elder Webb and I were so blessed to be able to visit with algunos MA and to work with them. It is always so special when you know that they are feeling the spirit of missionary work. We had a really special experience with a MA and his wife. About a week ago, we invited him to help us with a cita with one of our progressing investigators. He gladly helped and thoroughly enjoyed the strong spirit of the cita. Anyways, after we visited with him and his wife to tell them the good news about the new capilla, we asked if he would call our investigator that he helped us with and see how everything is going and invite her to church with them. From this point, we really saw the light in their eyes and the missionary excitement exploded. The wife then offered to hold a noche de hogar in their home where she is going to invite all of her non-member friends and we are going to have a doughnut making activity and from there share a simple message to share what we have and find more people to teach. I have a strong testimony that the way to find New Inv. is through MA and Recent Converts. We are excited to see what happens!

We also had another really neat cita with the MA that threw the bbq a few months back. Anyways, we had a very spiritual lesson with them where we talked about the importance and power of having the Melchizedek Priesthood in the home. The spirit was so strong and testified of the true power of the Priesthood. They have set some very great goals and are on their way to achieving them.

As for yesterday... The new capilla(chapel)!!! We have been waiting for this capilla for a really long time here and yesterday was the day!! It was so exciting to see all of the saints walk in grinning ear to ear and gather together, finally able to meet closer. I may have mentioned it, but right now is a great time to be in Molina. All of our members are so animated to work; we have got the best ward! Anyways, the three hours went well and we were packed all the way out of the chapel! We went from having an average of 60 in church to 135; we will see what happens in the following weeks;)

O is still doing well. He came to church again for his fourth time yesterday and still has gana to be baptized. He is taking the necessary steps. It is so exciting to see his progress.

This past week we have been really blessed here.  I have a strong testimony of the Lord´s hand is in His work. Gracias a El, we are looking forward to another great week of hard work and success. 

I love you all. Have a great week!

Elder Farrell

Tudela came back to visit

July 1, 2014 - Happy 4th of July!

 Concilio

                            

Wow, I cannot believe that July is already here... AGAIN! It seems like just yesterday I was walking off of that plane without any idea of what I was getting myself into, but now I know I am involved in the greatest work. I am so grateful for this past year. With that, happy July:)

As you may know, this past week was another crazy one with transfers here in the Spain Malaga mission. I was sad to see Elder Patterson go. Over the past three months we have been through some of the best and hardest times, he has become one of my best friends. I learned a bunch from that guy. Great Elder. Wednesday, Elder Webb my new companion came in from Malaga! He is from Holladay, Utah and we have a few mutual friends, so we became good friends real quick. I am really looking forward to this transfer with him. He is FULL of energy and uses it in his work. From the past four days we have had together I can tell he is a great worker. 

The beginning of the week we did a bunch of farewells as Elder Patterson got ready to head out of the area. It was great passing by members and investigators, so that he could wish them well and I could set up return citas to bring back my new comp.

As for the work here, things are really looking up. Our area consists of multiple little Pueblos. Right now we have about 4 or 5 investigators that are really progressing, but the problem is that they all live in different pueblos. That is one of our goals for the transfer is to organize our work more with the tools that we have been given so that we can have more effective work time.

We had a little scare at the beginning of the week when we had a hard time getting hold of our investigator. By Wednesday we were able to regain contact and have a very spiritual lesson. The first thing he asked me, "Farrell, you 

aren´t leaving too are you? You can´t leave, because if you leave, there will not be anyone big enough to baptize me." It really made us happy to hear that; a sure answer to our prayers. At the end of the lesson I committed him to read 2 Ne. 2 about the plan of salvation and he replied. I have already read that, I am in Jacob. He is doing great. Please keep up the prayers for him.

This past Monday we had concilio again in Malaga. It is always so special to feel of the strong spirit there and to see some of my best friends here on the mission. I truly am so grateful to be here.

Please know that I am doing well, keeping busy and loving the work! I hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you all!!

Elder Farrell

Elder Farrell & Elder Webb