October 23, 2017 ~ Transfer 11 Week 1

Hi all! (So I'm copying and pasting stuff from my journal and so I hope it all makes sense cognitively haha).

So transfers took a bit of time this past week. We basically didn't get a good sleep until Wednesday night because we had to get up early to go to Madrid and to help other missionaries get to their trains to Asturias.

So it all started walking up the huge hill in Lugo with my 80 kilos of stuff (I got rid of a bit of stuff but definitely not enough). It weighs as much as I do. By the time we got up the hill I was sweating a ton. And we got on the bus just fine. Woke up early, went to Madrid. Fairly simple. That first night we had two new missionaries in the area and so we had a little bit of time to go to the streets and talk to people. It was a little wierd because I had only been in my area for a total of 3 hours and had to act as if I knew where we were (and how to get home). We didn't get too lost haha.

Wednesday, a neighbour knocked on the door asking for help with getting a couch up the stairs (they live on the 3rd floor, we live on the 1st). We helped them move the couch when it arrived and a Romanian man was helping us (named Sebastian). We talked to him about the restoration when he gave us a chance and we gave him a Book of Mormon. He told us he would read it and was pretty thankful. He's looking for something else in his life.

Thursday: it's super cold outside! Okay not that bad but it's cold, and we somehow left the window cracked open last night when we thought it was closed.. kind of funny.

We finished studies and everything and we went out to go talk to people. We used our "prayer map" - we have 8 sections of our area numbered on a map and we prayed about where to go. We got 4 numbers today! It was amazing! I can do this =) I was super nervous going out to the street but my companion's energy and positivity really helped me out. He had me set the goal and I said we could find 3 people (and that was pushing my faith a ton).

Something we have been doing is called toasting...basically one of us says "toast, him/her" and then the other companion has to go talk to them. It makes it fun haha you never know when to expect it. Talking with people today gave me a ton of ánimo (encouragement). People actually listened and we were able to approach them quite normally. If we felt like we needed to talk to them, we did it.

And I met a guy with a Detroit Tigers tattoo on his neck, I got a kick out of that. From the Dominican republic.

Saturday: We taught Andres (an investagator) and set a plan with him to read, pray and come to church. At the start a whole family of 6 showed up (the brother's family who are members) and so I wasn't sure how things would turn out. But it went well. We got on our knees and prayed personally to know if the Book of Mormon was true. And Andres took a long time and he felt the spirit. He really wants to continue praying and has a good direction for what he wants. He explained that he wasn't done praying and that he want to continue praying more. Great desires.

Sunday: There was a man named Felix (Nigerian) who came to church and I'm pretty sure I tried calling him in B6 (an old area) to see if we could meet... haha but he failed us that day 4 months ago. And today he wouldn't give us his number either. Haha

Funny moments:

The hermanas called us to break into their piso because they were locked out. Literally they had their keys but it just wouldn't turn in the door. So we tried breaking in. And we spent 30-45mins with a coke bottle (cut out of course), a old visa gift card of mine and we couldn't get it to work. Then Moises comes and opens it in like 2 mins haha. The trick is you must push it all the way in and then pull it out one notch before turning it. We spent too long kicking and pulling at the door and trying to slip the plastic in the door.

It always sounds like people are in our house because the walls are thin and there is a bar underneath us. So we hear when our neighbours open up a drawer and we hear that we also have a neighbour who one day practices for 3 hours playing and singing the ukulele.

This week I've learned a lot but it's always hard to verbalize the lessons I have learned. Something I was thinking about is how "perfect love casteth out fear" ( 1 John 4:18). And then with some more thought I wondered "how do I really show others that I love/care about them?" I don't think there is a specific right answer but here are some thoughts.

-service is one way to show that you care, offer your help to others

-tell them verbally that you care and that you are there for them

-a hug doesn't hurt haha

Okay, not very extensive on the notes I wrote down but the bottom line is that if you really care, you need to show that you care by doing something. So if you really care about your family, do something about it. Send a kind note to a family member, grandparent, friend, etc. 

" And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." (Mosiah 2:17).

Have a great week and do something to show someone you care!

Elder Openshaw 

1)elder Snyder and I

2) metro selfies

3) a huge truck we found