This week has been really great!
Thursday all the missionaries serving in Madrid had a meeting with
elder Christiansen from the presidency of the seventy and elder dykes
is also in the 70. It was so refreshing, I love meetings like that,
they just spiritually re-fuel you and help you know how you can be
better. But my favorite is always hearing from the packs. I'm just
obsessed with them. I think they are the greatest ever.
That night we had another meeting with everyone from the church in
Madrid. I was on cloud 9 basically seeing everyone from my last areas,
a few of the people we are teaching ended up coming as well. One of
them is named Santiago he is a preparing to be a catholic deacon and
we convinced him to come by making a deal to go to his mass (which
I'll talk about later) but he loved it. Before the meeting he was just
trying to convert us to Catholicism like always haha, but after the
meeting he was lost for words, and told us that he really did have a
very spiritual experience. Later that I night I also saw one of my
favorite families from Alcobendas from El Salvador. When the lady saw
me she just started crying and then I started crying and I just hugged
her forever. When I was serving there she had told me and Hermana
Harper that they had plans to bring their kids to Spain because they
had been living a part for years, and at the meeting her kids were
there an they all just looked so happy to be reunited, it melted my
heart.
Friday we did exchanges with the companionship of a Hermana Harper. I
was a little bummed that I couldn't go with my hija, but I had the
best exchange ever. Her companion his like my twin. Her name is
Hermana charlesworth. She is amazing. I'm pretty sure after one day we
have plans to be life long friends. She just finish her training and
she is a machine, she is such a good missionary. And during the
exchange we met a miracle guy. So the man almost got baptized in
Columbia, but couldn't because him and his wife weren't married, and
the had kids and couldn't separate, but now they're married and he
still believes in the church even though it's been like 15 years since
he's talked to missionaries.
Saturday the highlight was the catholic mass. We went with our friend
Santiago, and let me tell you, it was an experience of a lifetime. It
was really beautiful, but it made me grateful for the church I'm in.
It was interesting, because our friend had a little part in the mass,
and he basically bared testimony of the spirit in our church without
saying the name. Also at the beginning they introduced us to the
congregation and the clapped for us while we had to stand up in front
of them. It was just real interesting.
Sunday we waited in the freezing cold (and I gave my gloves to our
homeless friend, so I was without gloves.. Sooo cold!) for an hour and
a half for our new friend we started teaching from Peru, who arrived
really really late. But she doesn't have a bus pass she had to walk an
hour to get to the lesson, she's forgiven ;) but the lesson went
really well, and she loved the Book of Mormon. We were excited.
Later that night we found an African boy who is 22 and has been living
alone in Spain trying to find work for his family for 7 years. And
hasn't seen them in all that time. He doesn't even own a coat, and
that last time he's had contact with his family for phone call was 9
months ago. He is really amazing though, he is Muslim but want to meet
with us and hear more about the church and our message.
Hope you have an awesome week! Love you all!