August 25, 2014 - "Be Strong and of Good Courage"

Hello there fam, how are you doing today! I thoroughly enjoyed reading each of your emails today and to hear that you are all doing so well. I can’t believe Naters already has a week down of School... Maquina (Machine)!! 8th grade - that is a fun year! Anyways, this past week was a pretty good one on our end too. As for Elder Melgarejo and I. . .

Right now the work is moving forward. Poco a poco, but we sure are being blessed. This week we were blessed to meet with some new people and also some familiar faces. We started the week with a really neat experience with a new investigator. He is from the Dominican Republic. The Sunday before we contacted him on the street. At first he wasn’t very interested, but we really were there trying to help him. By the end of the contact we were able to get his number from him and on Monday we were able to meet. We met outside of a bar... haha he ordered us some orange juice, which was thoughtful of him. As we sat there we just started talking about his religious background. It is cool to see the transition of someone say, "I don’t believe" to "I know there is someone greater". It really doesn’t take much to notice that. I don’t know how interested he is in our message, but I hope that we can help make his load a bit easier. This week we were also able to meet with our other investigator a few times. We were able to teach him the message of the Restoration and then watch the video with him. It is amazing the spirit that message truly brings. He was also able to come to church with us this Sunday and listen to his friend speak. He is making progress. We are looking forward to this upcoming Sunday with him.

Thursday evening after Consejo de Rama, we were able to head over to the President of the Ramas mother’s home to enjoy tortilla de potata with the family. Wow... she makes a solid tortilla!!! That is easily my favorite dish here in Spain. I have to aprovechar (take advantage of the opportunity) and eat at least one a week;) Family you have a lot to look forward to with the Tortilla!

On Friday we were able to serve in the campo (field) of a member in our Rama. We were able to help him clear out the watermelon patches with the help of his 7 dogs... haha it was so awesome! In return for our service he gave us some melon (Also incredible) and watermelon. It has been saving us all week!

This past week I was able to read the discourso from President Monson titled "Be Strong and of Good Courage" there was a part in there that I loved and wanted to share with all of you:

"We will all face fear, experience ridicule, and meet opposition. Let us, all of us, have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of Gods approval. Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when it is regarded not only as a willingness to die manfully but also as the determination to live decently." I hope that we can all apply these words of our beloved Prophet each day.

I love you all!!!

Elder Farrell

August 18, 2014

Hello there family!! Right now I am here in the library. It is incredible how much of a difference it makes coming here rather than going to the chungo loc across the street... ha we will definitely be coming back here. Anyways, I loved hearing from all of you today and to hear that you are all doing well. Shout out to Naters who is starting school on Tue!! Good luck big guy!! I can’t believe that you are already in 8th grade!? Sheesh... time is going!

Anyways, this past week was a different week for my companion and I. We started out really strong and then on Thursday my companion got.... his wisdom teeth removed. Poor guy... haha it wasn´t fun getting mine out when I wasn’t a missionary and I had my MOM! Ha he is doing a lot better now which is good.

Like I said, the first half of the week started nice and strong. Right now Elder Melgarejo and I are really working hard to try to get this area back on its feet. It is a touristy area by the beach, which adds some challenge, but we know that there really is some great potential here. Our goal is to try to help the branch as much as we can. We feel like if we can clean from the "inside out" then our investigators will feel much more comfortable with our services. We know that we cannot do this on our own, but with the help and support of the leaders and the Lord, we are excited to see what can happen here.  With that we are really working hard to strengthen what we have with the members and menos activos.

On Wednesday we were able to contact our new investigator. Last week we had received a reference from the church of someone that had asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon from the website. This past week we were finally able to get in contact with him and have a great cita! We were able to explain the Book of Mormon and explain our purpose as missionaries. We are working towards the goal of the 13th of September for a baptismal fecha. We are looking forward to visiting again with him on Wednesday. He is a 21 year old from this area. He is a good kid from a good family. He has some Mormon friends and what called his attention was the good atmosphere that was always with him and his friends. Right there we learn the importance of always being a good example.

We were also able to meet with various MA during the course of the week. I am truly grateful for this message and the covenants that we have made as members. This week I read a talk from Elder Scott that really hit me. One of the paragraphs said, "When you focus your life on the basic principles of the plan of salvation, you will better concentrate on sharing what you know because you understand the eternal importance of the ordinances of the gospel. You will share what you know in a way that encourages your friends to want to be strengthened spiritually. You will help your loved ones want to commit to obey all of His commandments and take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ." (I Have Given You an Example) This talk really just sums it all up. With an understanding of the Plan of Salvation, which this gospel gives us, we are able to better concentrate our efforts on sharing the principles of this gospel that have an eternal significance. I love this gospel. I know it is true.

I love you all!!! Have a great week.

Elder Farrell

August 11, 2014

Hello there family and friends! Happy pday! Well as I always say, another week has already come and gone. I am sure grateful for the many blessings and experiences I am seeing daily. Thank you all so much for your nice emails, prayers and support. It means the world.

Well, Monday and Tuesday were my last two days in Molina de Segura, and they were very busy days saying goodbye to all of the incredible people that I was blessed to meet. It is funny how transfers work, but I swear each one is going by quicker and quicker... It is nuts how quickly time is flying!

Monday for the evening we were able to head out to Las Torres de Cotillas to spend the evening there working. We had some set citas with investigators, which ended up canceling, but we were blessed to be able to visit with some of the members that have done so much for us in my time here. We were able to pass by the Bishop´s home and visit with him and his family.  We were also able to visit with his parents who have helped us so much with the work in Molina. We ended the night with a killer noche de hogar with A.R. and all of their friends. Tonight they taught us how to make tortilla de potata which was so much fun. Family, Tortilla de potata is something to really look forward to;)

Tuesday we continued with the citas, and I was able to say goodbye to many more people that have really been a huge blessing. I was also able to talk to O, which was really hard to say goodbye to him. He is really progressing, and his kids should be coming to live with him within the month. He will continue to progress with the other Elders, I am so excited for him.

Wednesday was a nice long 10 hour day of travel travel travel. I hopped on the bus from Murcia to Sevilla, grabbed a taxi to the train station to catch the train to Jerez, then finally met my comp where were we able to catch our bus home. It is good to be here.

These past few days have just been filled with meeting new people and getting to know the area a little bit better.

First of all, where I’m at, it is the polar opposite of Murcia!! My new area is placed right on the coast so we enjoy the breeze all day everyday, which is incredible!! It is so weird seeing all types of tourists again constantly coming and going to the beach just right down the street. This past week was the carrera de los caballos where there are horse races on the beach, which is supposedly famous here. We were able to see a lot of tourists for that. Anyways, on this side of the mission they speak Andaluce or as I told my mom.... not so good! Haha their accent here is so funny, after a few days, I am finally catching on a bit;) A few examples, here they use the super theta which means that EVERY word that has a c, z, or s makes a th noise... haha it is kind of funny, I am trying not to catch onto this custom... Also they change the postion of their s and t´s for example Jesucristo here is Jesucritso. Yeah... don´t know how they did that, it is fun though. My new area is a rama of about 30 people, so I am really excited to get to know them and continue working with them here in this area. I am looking forward to miracles. My companion is Elder Melgarejo from Peru. He is such a good kid, and has such an incredible conversion story. He is the only member in his entire family and literally left everything to be here. I am so grateful for his example and courage.

This next week we are really looking forward to FIND FIND FIND! We have got to do a lot of that.

Anyways, fam, I hope you are all doing well. I love you all so much and am so very grateful for your prayers. I miss you all! Have the best week!!

Elder Farrell

August 4, 2014 - I will never forget Molina de Segura - Transfer

Well, after a big weekend of changes, and an even bigger announcement from Tracie today, here I am! Haha, first of all, congrats Trace I love you, and am real happy for you two! It was fun opening my email up to a bunch of READ TRACIE´S EMAIL FIRST, and what really threw me was getting one from Brady, I knew something was up;) Haha congrats you two!

Well other than that, there have also been some big changes here in the mission. This upcoming week is transfer week, and President told me at Concilio that I will be heading to the other side of the mission to a city on the Atlantic coast. The change came as a big surprise, but right when he said it, I felt comforted, and the peace in knowing that is where I need to be. I am excited to see what that side of the country has to offer being that the furthest west I have ever been is to the mission home in Fuenjirola. Ya veremos!

Other than that big news, this past week was such a whirlwind, it sure was a crazy way to wrap up my time here in Molina. I am grateful for the time I have been blessed with here, the incredible people I have met and the many many things I have learned. I am sure I have learned more here than in any other area. 

Mon-Wed we were able to be here in our area to work, and the work went well. We were able to meet with some of our progressing investigators and to teach them along with some members and menos activos. We had a lot of neat experiences, but one of the most humbling experiences was when we were visiting with one of our investigators from Bolivia. He is here by himself working for his family. He lives in one room that he is renting from a house of someone else. As you enter, you see one bed, couch and a table with all of his belongings. After teaching him the message of the Restoration and the importance of prayer, he just bore his testimony to us, and told us how blessed he felt. He told us, "I have everything" as he said that I looked around his room at all of his belongings, which were very slim, and really felt humbled. He has so little, but is so grateful for all that he has. Because we have been given much we too must give.

On Wednesday night was a definite highlight. We were able to hold our doughnut making noche de hogar with A.R. and a family that they invited. It was a big success! The family asked great questions beginning with "Why do you need to wear a shirt and tie to make doughnuts"... haha and importantly, the doughnuts came out great!

Thursday and Friday we headed to Malaga for another great concilio. The spirit is always very stong at concilio and it always sends us out ready to work hard and to be a little better. The focus right now, Baptize! We are working really hard to reach our goal as a mission of 600 baptisms this year.

Friday and Saturday I enjoyed doing intercambios with my boy Elder Triana in Lorca. He lived in a four man house as well and I was able to see Elder Nyland again! He is doing so well!

Yesterday was a very powerful testimony meeting at church. It was a spirit that made me feel at home. I have learned that is the best way to describe the spirit. I feel at home. Anyways, it was hard to say goodbye to a lot of the members, but I know I was here and met them for a reason. I am grateful for the opportunity the Lord has blessed me with. I will never forget Molina de Segura. 

I love you all!!!

Elder Farrell