This week went by extremely fast and we had quite the miracles/blessings happen. And this week was my one year mark of having been on my mission, having entered the MTC (Missionary Training Center) on August 23, 2016. To celebrate the one year mark we had ice cream in district meeting with a ton of toppings (snickers, chopped up pecans, white chocolate (all chopped)) and whipped cream...it was a lot of sugar haha. And then we went to go eat at the same restaurant where Elder Jeffers and I went on Monday (after looking for a different restaurant and not finding any as well priced). We got pulpo again and I got Mejillones (mussels) and Zorza. The Mejillones were really good but the Zorza was too greasy (it was basically grounded chorizo(sausage) on top of fried potatoes). Elder Jeffers bought callos- which translated it means "calluses" like on your hands or feet - and it's a soup of garbanzo beans and some meat (tripe of some sort). Thankfully the callos aren't actually calluses =)
So for miracles:
Last monday my companion and I fasted for a member from this branch that got stuck in a refugee camp on his way back from vacation. He went to Russia and then the Czech Republic and then when crossing the borders of two European countries in a bus, the driver called the police saying that the man didn't have papers (which he did). His papers were taken from him and he was sent to a refugee camp to await the mercy of them. He was stuck there for the past month or so. And so we held a fast to soften the hearts of those at the refugee camp to allow him to return here to Spain. They did the day after our fast! And he returned here this week!
This week we did a ton of service. We helped Isidoro clean up his farm (we cleaned up some gnarly spider webs and picked weeds on his plot of potatoes). And we also did some haybaling (which was quite new for me). I took some videos to share the experience. And then we also tried gathering the chickens at one point and they are hard to catch! As soon as we chased after the chickens the dogs thought it was okay too so you can imagine the fright those animals had! The best thing I've seen with service this week is that it opens hearts. We helped haybale for a member but her husband isn't a member and is quite against religions. Basically what happened is that he was so impressed by the amount of work we did and how fast we did it that he still hasn't stopped talking about us to his wife! We will see if he opens up to letting us talk to him soon. Quite the miracle. He wants to invite us back next year to help him haha. He wa sad when he realized we won't be here.
And this past Saturday we held the Baptism of Isidoro! He's super awesome. The service went really well and about 20 people showed up, most of them being investagators and less active members! And besides the set up taking so long (we did a time lapse, it probably shows our frusturation) and one of the sides breaking during the baptism, everything went wonderful =) It was so cool to see the changes that Isidoro has been through.
So this past month we had a goal as a mission to reach 25 baptisms for the month. We were trying to be realistic but also to stretch ourselves. And the President Pack prayed about the goal and felt it was right. So we held a mission-wide fast at the start of August so that people would be prepared and that we could reach that goal. Last week we were at 15 baptisms with a week left to go. I wasn't sure how it would finish. And this Sunday we reached that mission goal! We actually got 26 baptisms for the month. 10 people were baptized this past weekend and then on Sunday/Saturday there was a man who showed up in Madrid (B3) from Bolivia and he had recieved all the missionary disscussions and asked to be baptized that day. He was interviewed, baptized and conferred this past weekend. Talk about miracles.
And something else I learned is that if we just kind of try to get on answer, we will just kind of get an answer. If we just kind of go to church or just kind of read the result - something of "just kinda" quality. Something to think about.
1) Isidoro's baptism!
2) a machete that Isidoro had at his farm
3)haybaling for days! This took us about 2-3 hours of work.
Have a wonderful week!
Elder Openshaw
Spain Madrid Mission
Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Oficina 8B
28703 San Sebastián de los Reyes
Madrid, España
Spain Madrid Mission
Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Oficina 8B
28703 San Sebastián de los Reyes
Madrid, España
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