On The Grind

Mercedes' baptism went though! The father of a member family who have her same problem (boundaried for Salamanca even though they live much closer to Talavera) came with her and baptized her! Her husband and parents came too, and have some interest in the gospel as well! It was a great baptism!


On top of that, Armando, the first counselor in the branch presidency called us Monday night to let us know that Isaías felt ready to get baptized! He has been taught for a lot longer than I've been here but he was finally ready. The branch has been supporting him and helping him for months and it really showed when the baptism happened. 


Diego is a cool Spanish guy who called the chapel phone a few weeks ago and could finally meet with us! He's met with missionaries before (like 6 years ago) but doesn't remember much but still has a huge desire to learn. We're ridiculously excited to teach him.


Milena and her kids came to Isaías' baptism and loved it. They all want to get baptized but want to make sure that it's sincere and lasting. They want it to be real and I respect it. We had a great lesson on the Spirit, and Milena bore her testimony that she knows she and her boys made it here for a reason. 


She told us that before her younger son David was born doctors told her his legs had serious problems. I don't have the Spanish vocabulary to understand exactly what was wrong but it would have meant he couldn't walk right. After a lot of prayer by Milena and her family David was born and the problems they were expecting didn't show up. When David was older, a doctor asked them who had treated his legs. They showed signs that treatment had been attempted and succeeded, but the family had never had it done. Total miracle.


After Milena told us this, I thanked her and asked her how telling this experience made her feel. We emphasized that the peace and joy that this story brought came from the Holy Ghost and invited the while family to keep searching for this feeling all throughout this next week. I'd like to extend the same to all of you. Recognizing and following the promptings of the Spirit takes practice, so take time this week to search for and ask for the presence of the Holy Ghost.


Slice of Life
The branch has been gearing up for a massive activity called Encuentra de las Naciones. Because everyone is from different countries we are throwing a party where everyone brings food and music from their country to share with everyone. It's the kind of activity no one can say no too so we're inviting everyone we know and we'll see what happens. I've also got to represent the US so Elder Salas found me some Christian rap. That's all I'll say. Video next week.


I never really write about P-day in these emails because I'm always writing them on P-day but last week most of two zones met in Alacala because they held a Medieval Market there. Not much else to say but it was awesome. Enjoy the pictures.


Enjoy the week! 
Elder Curtis


PS also can you all do me a favor and enjoy the Americans all going nuts over Halloween for me? It's not as big here and I miss when everyone was already celebrating in September.


Pictures 
Alcalá Pday
1. Swords
2. Swords
3. Elder Jones arguing with Don Quixote
4. Vallado-vera Elders (Talla-dolid?)


Mercedes
5. With us
6. With her family


Isaías 
7. With us
8. With all the young adults


Other
9. Fuensanta's cat Hugo really likes Elder Salas
10. Thiago smolder









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's Called A Guagua

Image
Buenos días a todos, cerca o lejos, en tierra o mar Another week in Fuerteventura, although strictly speaking we weren't in Fuerteventura all that much, because we had an exchange in Vecindario on the island of Gran Canaria. More details to follow but immediately after that exchange I had to fly to Madrid for a residency appointment and was there for a night. A lot of travel but we got a lot of good stuff done. While we were here we've started meeting with a good chunk of the people we met street contacting, and those who want to meet with us are really fun to get to know and to talk to.  Our first appointment with this guy named Jorge was really cool, he mentioned he was in a park near the center of town and invited us to come join him, and he had his two kids with him as well. It's just awesome to sit down and teach people who want to learn. Running out of time for pday so the rest will be bullet points  Busses are called guaguas here, it's pronounced wawa but luckily...
Read more

I Feel Like This Shouldn't Be Such A Hard Question...

Image
"Que te hace feliz?"  "What makes you happy?" It's a street approach that my comp came up with. The idea is that since God's plan is a plan of happiness, and He doesn't do anything without the ultimate goal being our happiness, the best way to connect conversations to God's plan is to talk about what makes people happy. We tried walking around with a whiteboard the other day, and in general we found that it helps get people talking if nothing else! Some conversations from this week: -Que te hace feliz? -Nothing -... -Que te hace feliz? -Money and a different woman every day -Que te hace feliz? -I'm deaf -*points to whiteboard* -Okay, I'm not deaf. Nothing. -Que te hace feliz? -*points to boyfriend* He's a Muslim... -Great! Que te hace feliz? These are obviously the more extreme examples, but it's pretty sad that so many people wouldn't (or worse, couldn't) answer this question. Something I've learned on my mission is the i...
Read more

Nefi Got Me Trippin

Image
^^ Mildly edited actual text message from someone who just sat down and started reading the Book of Mormon. We love it when people actually do that because surprisingly few people are really willing but everyone who does learns a lot. This week was NUTS. Like I talked about last week, we learned a really cool trick to involve members in missionary work: don't run away to another island like two days after they notice you're at church. We stayed this whole week in Lanzarote and saw miracles. Where do I even start? Amparo, who tried several months ago to get baptized but backed off, is BACK. We had a few great lessons, talked to her son in Miami, and watched her connect with her friends in the ward again. She's taking her time but has baptism as her goal. José passed his baptismal interview! He's all set to get baptized in March. His wife Lely also just got back from the temple for the first time so they're ridiculously happy. We also had time to organize a Family Hom...
Read more