Get The Ark

"Madrid forecasts record-breaking rain unseen since 1972 and requests that citizens do not leave their homes"
-News headline I saw. Our phones even went off with a PSA siren.


Joke's on them, my Spanish residency is expired so I'm not a citizen and Elder Harvath and I have an important message to share. We're heading out whether they like it or not. 


I'm getting settled here in Alcorcón! Looked over last week's email and It looks like I didn't say much about what's going on. 


We went to San Sebastián de los Reyes (just the part of Madrid where the mission is centered) for MLC early this week, and it was nice to already be in Madrid and not have to travel so much. We had a cool P-day and dinner at the mission home, and MLC was really productive.


Back in the area theres a lot to talk about this week-


First of all, I feel like I'm living in a snow globe. Not because of the weather or anything (I guess now it's a rain globe) but this area is much smaller than any other one I've ever served in. That sounds like a bad thing but its actually awesome. Everything's so close together! The church is 3 minutes from our apartment, and it's only ever like a 15 minute walk to anywhere important. It sure beats commuting between Asturian cities or Canary Islands. There's the same amount of work, people, and miracles, but condensed down so that everything feels like it's within arm's reach. It's amazing. 


I'm also close to my district for once! District council can be in person since we all cover neighboring municipalities of Madrid and we're like a 15-minute metro ride away from each other. 


The people here:


Angela, Cecila, and Felicia are three Dominicans who are all meeting with us because of each other. I'm still not 100% sure who referred who but none of them are related. Doesn't matter because they all want to get baptized and they love me because despite being white I know things about their culture. And they love meeting with us because, while they don't look like it (I'm convinced Dominicans age differently) they're all old enough to be our grandmas and love that these "children" can teach them so much about God. We had an amazing Restoration lesson with Angela, Cecilia, and our member friend Magaly last Sunday night and got Cecilia reading the Book of Mormon. (Angela's already been taught a bunch) We've been inviting them to activities like crazy and a few days ago taught them about the Plan of Salvation and temple work. They all want to get baptized because they see how that fits with God's plan for all of us, and they want to prepare to make that covenant with God! It's amazing how th gospel just touches some people immediately. Especially when those people are from the country that invented morir soñando.


Found another Dominican lady, Morena, knocking doors of people taught in the past, and she immediately wanted to keep in touch and start going to church again. This is what happens when a country names its capital Santo Domingo (Holy Sunday) and puts the Bible on their flag.


Another door we knocked looked to be an extra metal door over the wood one with at least 7 stickers advertising their alarm system. It was like a vault, check out the pics! I know where I'm going if this rain keeps up.


Meeting a ton of members, and we had a cool Noche de Hogar where we played tiny Uno. Can't tell if this was just the families we were playing with but when you make someone draw cards in Spanish Uno you tell them "chupa!" which is like "suck on this!" No mercy when Uno is in its native language.


Pedro is from Equatorial New Guinea and likes what missionaries do a lot. The missionaries invited him to read the Book of Mormon a few weeks ago, but he didn't. What he did do was somehow find the movie Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration on the internet and watch the whole thing. He loved it, and we talked for a while about what Joseph Smith's life means. Because of Joseph Smith we have more opportunity to learn of our Savior and draw closer to Him. We have another testament of Jesus Christ, and we can be members of His restored Church.


I started marking up the new Preach My Gospel this week, and I started noticing how the simple doctrine of the mission of Christ, the Messiah, kept popping up everywhere. I love to teach people about the Restoration, but living prophets and gold plates and angels and priesthood don't mean anything without the core truth of the gospel: 


We can't make it home alone. 


Christ told Adam this truth, through the Holy Ghost, after the Fall: 
I am the Only Begotten of the Father from the beginning, henceforth and forever, that as thou hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will (Moses 5:9)


People waited for thousands of years for the coming of the Messiah, prophet after prophet spoke of the coming of Christ, those who understood rejoiced, and then He came and made the redemption possible. And today we know that He paid the price for our sins, and only though coming to know Jesus and receiving His love and grace can we be redeemed from our screw-ups and problems and character flaws. He makes it possible for us to repent and change and be worthy to live with our Father again.


Have a great week! 
Elder Curtis


Drip for the rain
The Vault
Rain warning
Metro
Got my metro card
Dinner at President's
MLC
Tiny Uno at NDH 










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