July 25, 2017 ~ Transfer 8 Week 6

Hi all!

This week was a busy week. Lots of saying goodbyes and pictures with people. I'm getting transferred to Lugo (in Galicia, top left corner of Spain) so I will be living there for a bit. I will be with another missionary who is finishing their mission in a month (my third companion who has been in their last month). I'm excited for the change and will really miss my time in Madrid. I met some great people and had some really cool experiences.

I don't have much time with trying to hop on a train and get to Lugo but I will give you the highlights.

Lots of great progress with people. We have been working with a less active member who we will call Sam and he is doing great. We actually found him in the street a few weeks ago and he is a return missionary. So we have been inviting him to lessons and encouraging him. He's awesome and he's starting to change little by little. He's reading and praying now which is amazing!

Also I saw two people I didn't think I would get to see. Katy, a person that I helped teach in Oviedo (and right after I left she got baptized). And Quique, a great friend I have here who went on vacation and I didnt have the chance to say bye. I was super excited to see them both!

And we had a lot of miracles this week. We talked with two people who we needed to see. One, a friend of a member who we will call Angel, we found and it's a friend that the member wants to share the gospel with. And then the second, a lady will we call Nancy who we have visited her family before. What happened is we lost contact (thinking they weren't interested) and then I contacted her and she recognized me. I didn't recognize her but she looked familiar. I figured out who it was and my companion and his new companion will go to visit her.

And the best part...this story may be hard to explain but quite the miracle.

So as background...we have a poster board picture of Jesus Christ from Easter. And so we are using it to start conversations, to do something different. And we tried doing to near a busy area and when we set it down and tried talking to people... It didn't work. It wasn't as busy as usual. It was rough. We sacrificed a lot of walking to get there (we have another missionary with us who just hurt his ankle and can't walk much) and we thought it was a waste of our time. But I saw a person with grocery bags and helped her. She's told us she was a member. Cool. That was that. No conversations (except maybe 1 or 2). Just rejection and this one member who we met. So that is the background, now you will see how amazing it worked out for us. Now...we were walking around talking with people. A long but successful day. No intent of going near that area but my companion asked if there was someone to pass by to meet them. That member's name came to my mind. We went and she was home. And we went up to her apartment and find out she is caring for a old person and has another lady who helps her. She asked us to introduce ourselves. We left that building having found another person to teaching and who is very interested in learning more. It's amazing how much Heavenly Father loves us and how He works with us individually.

Have a great week. With love,

Elder Openshaw 

1) a lot of cool youth

2) yucra family, grandpa Openshaws missionary

3) Mirta Calderon's family - grandpa knows her

Spain Madrid Mission
Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Oficina 8B
28703 San Sebastián de los Reyes
Madrid, España