June 4, 2018 ~ Transfer 16, Week 3

Hi Everyone!

Here are some highlights from the week. A little bit of everything...funny, sad, happy, etc. That's basically how the mission is in general. A mix of everything. But the good and happy moments stand out the most.

Monday:

We got to the airport in the north (because we have to fly for intercambios on another island) and we had an horrific experience. We got to the front counter and the lady asked for our flight info and we tell her everything and she says "are you sure? There isn't a flight at that time." Then we found out we were supposed to leave out of the south airport... And we were horrified because that meant we would miss the flight... and we spent 1 hour on the bus more than what was needed! So we ruined our Pday. The office never flies us out of the South airport because it is so expensive. But today wasn't our lucky day...So we had to change the flight and wait in the customer service line. But it all worked out in the end. Yay! What a blessing!

(Intercambio -Monday / Tuesday)

And we met Juan el canario - some drunk dude who claimed to know everyone in the neighborhood. Elder Hamilton asked if he knew the person we were looking for and he said "ya, she's leaving in that car right now." He waved down the car and then they (a guy and girl) rolled down the window and the dude shouted "I'm atheist" and went away hahaha. And then juan said "look, here comes her sister" And Elder Hamilton asked and it wasn't the sister hahaha. And we ask him for his name and he said "soy Juan. Juan...el canario". Haha it was funny.

Wednesday:

We went to Guzman's home (he's the ward mission leader) to eat really really good food. He likes Asian style everything haha. And he has nunchucks and a samari sword which are super cool haha. He was a little rusty on the nunchucks but still knows how to use them haha.

That evening, we passed by a less active family and they were home (our first pass by that answered today let us in! MIRACLE!). That hardly happens that we pass by someone and then let us in without a fight haha. They were nice. And it was kind of fun because he opened the door and said "come in elders". And they talked about all the members that they know and the good times that they have had.

As we went home, we went to the old piso to pick up a load. And we found the box of Book of Mormons that were taken! (Let me explain, we were moving and the box didn't fit in the car so we left it in the foyer thinking it would be safe...and it wasn't there when we brought down the second load...). They didn't try to hide that it was opened but at least they returned it to the same spot as before and we found it! Haha miracle! I don't think that they were expecting a bunch of religious books haha.

Thursday:

Then we passed by "Edison" an Antiguo investagator. Funny guy. He answered the door and said, "hey I'm going to get in the shower. Here's some juice. I'll be right back. You're welcome." He moved here from Nigeria. He's an interesting guy. He told us he knows the LDS church is the true church but he was going to another church because no one came and invited him to church again (he used to come all the time).

Friday:

English class. 6:55pm...no one. 7pm the regular people. 7:30pm Andrea comes with 4 friends. We ended up having 15 people there (including us)! That was so cool! And Maria V invited the friends of Andrea to come to the activity and to church haha. And there is a girl Aurora's age - they just moved here from Colombia. We didn't even have to do the fellowshiping! It was awesome! They all exchanged numbers and we just smiled and wished that all members would do missionary work like them. They are wonderful. It's the little things that count.

Saturday:

Then we did pass bys in San Isidro and we actually found two less actives that we don't have their numbers. The first, Felipe C. And it was hilarious because we asked him for help with an address and we asked if he had seen missionaries before and he said he was Mormon already hahahaha. And we had a really good conversation with him.

And the second, if we had passed by 2 mins later, she would have been gone. She was coming out of the house when we got to her door (the timbre doesn't work, and the community/association doors here on the island are often left unlocked or opened). Today we ran into the right people at the right moment. It was great.

Sunday:

This morning we had a Multi-stake conference - for Western Europe. And some people came from Manchester to visit. And we talked about the city of "Openshaw" haha. Apparently it's not a great place to live....haha.

I also translated into English from the English to Spanish translation. That was difficult haha. I translated the end of the conference because they came at the usual hour church starts and we had to start the conference an hour earlier than usual. But I translated both Elder Kearon and Elder Utchdorf's talks. It was interesting because I could read their lips and see bits and parts of what they said in English but I had to listen to the Spanish translation which was 2-4 seconds behind. So that was difficult haha. There were quite a few times I had to drop ideas and just keep going with the translating. I gave the watered - down version of the talks haha. But a lot better than trying to translate the poem from last week haha.

Here's some things I learned this week. From the conference from yesterday, Elder Hallstrom talked about if we want to feel the power that comes from living the gospel, we need to study the scriptures, think about their words and ask God if it's true. And we will recieve an answer. Elder utchdorf emphasised the same point that no matter who we are, our background, our culture, etc. all people must read, think about the doctrine, and with faith, pray to recieve a witness or testimony of the truthfulness and we will recieve an answer. Here's a scripture to back that up:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

(Moroni 10:3-5)

I know that Heavenly Father keeps His promises. And I know that when we ask, He answers us.

It was also emphasized that people who follow the prophet, listen to his counsels and changes their life to be in accordance with his guidance. And those who do not follow the prophet, normally accept/follow his counsels to the point of what fits with their ideas and thoughts. But when there is a contradicting counsel to their ideas, they throw away the counsel as uninspired and they make their situation an exception (they justify it). Also, the members were counseled to stay strong to their beliefs because if they don't hold on or value the gospel, they will no longer have it as part of their lives. As we put God first, all things will fall out of or into their proper place in our lives.

Have a great week!

Elder Openshaw

1) going on a hike as a zone today to roque nublo or something like that. I'll have to look the name up again haha

2) Teide and clouds

3) eating with some members! They are awesome!

Mary 28, 2018 ~ Transfer 16, Week 2

So this week has been really long haha. It feels like last morning and the events of that day were weeks ago.

I'll start off explaining what's new missionary work-wise. We started teaching someone named belen and we had a great first lesson. She doesn't believe in God at all and it seems like she wants to know if He exists. But I don't know if she understands why it might be important in her life.

With also got dropped by someone named Maria who we had been meeting with. Basically she has a friend from her church that told her she can't meet with us anymore...so that's sad. Especially because Maria knows what her friend said is wrong about us and what we have taught her. But the even sadder part is that Maria still doesn't want to keep meeting because she wants to keep her friend from her church happy (or at least not mad at her).

We also had an amazing lesson with someone named Ana and her family. We got to the house and the son answered the door (we will call him Adriano) and said "Hey remember me??" And we talked with him in the door for a little bit. It was a little awkward because he wasn't expecting us. He thought we found him by chance while knocking doors. But he invited us in and we taught him and one of his sisters (the other one didn't want to listen, yet haha). We taught them on the porch next to their pool haha. And Ana wasn't there. We taught them about the restoration and they understood! Like actually understood! We asked questions and they would explain back to us what we had taught them and add their thoughts. And Ana came running in at the end right after explaining everything and she was super sorry she was late. And then she asked "okay, what's going on?" And "Adriano" explained to her the restoration with basically all the points that we had explained! It was so cool that he got it! And then we had to run to catch the bus but both Ana and Adriano are curious to learn more and said they would read the introduction. It was a super super cool lesson. We will see how we can help them.

One day this week we ate Choripan (an Argentine meal of a chorizo sandwich with French bread, really good) with the obispo here. He had some great advice about how right now everything is structured but when we go home it's not and we have to choose what to make of our lives. As well as things that are unexpected will get in the way and we won't be able to plan our life as we might want. Everything happens in the time of the Lord and not necessarily our timing.

This week we also walked into the church to find a huge puddle on the floor. We thought it was a cleaning bucket with a hole in the bottom. But we later found out that there is a broken pipe or something in the wall and that water kept leaking out...so we cleaned it up multiple times and let bishop know. In the end, we used the baptism font ladder as our step stool and we turned off the main water valves where bishop instructed us they might be.

We had to move this week (on Saturday)...I'm going to borrow the words of my companion to explain how it went:
"This has definitely been one of the longest weeks of my mission... I think I've mentioned it in my earlier emails but, we received a call from the mission office a while ago and they told us we had to move apartments. They found an apartment and told us we had 3 more preparation days before we had to be moved out of the old apartment and have it cleaned and ready to go. Then, we found out we had to travel today for intercambios, and next preparation day we will be traveling again for zone conference... So we had to move this Saturday. We have been packing at night, after we are done working and before we have to go to bed for the past week or so, so we were able to start the move at 9am and we didn't finish until 9pm. We did have a nice 2 hour lunch break where hermano villalobos took us out to eat which was super nice of him. A few aspects of this move were different, being that we are in Europe. 

For anyone who has ever moved, you can imagine the awkwardness of the move with these conditions:

- we lived on the 5th floor of the building we moved out of 

- we moved into a an apartment on the 6th floor of the building we are now living in.
- we had a member with a European sized car help us move...
-every load has to be loaded into an elevator, then into the car, then into the other elevator, and then into the other apartment.
- the funniest part was that the new buildings elevator doesn't go to our floor... We had to go to the 8th floor and then carry everything down 2 flights of stairs.

So the move was super exhausting, and then we got back to work on Sunday and now we're traveling so we haven't been able to unpack at all, which means our apartment is kind of a mess right now, but all things considered elder Openshaw and I are having a lot of fun. We're a bit tired physically, but very happy:)"

The move was a long process haha. And we found out in our new piso we have an obvious problem with ants that we weren't told about as well as no hot water. So that's fun...it's a nice piso though. And it's got a wonderful view of Los Cristianos.

On Sunday, we had church. And I had the opportunity to translate the end of sacrament (I had to give a talk so I couldn't do all of it haha. And I also got to translated for 2nd hour which was a little better than sacrament meeting for me (someone read a really long poem for their talk and I couldn't keep up with all the poetic language that didn't translate directly).

Something I liked this week:
Mark 2:1-12 (this is the whole story if you want it)
I enjoy analizing how the Lord ministered to people. He was the perfect minister and he addressed people's needs and desires. He didn't only help them a little but he did the best that He could to help them. And He helped them despite opposition to other people. He worked many miracles and helped many people. It's so cool that we have such a great example as the Savior of the world. I know He died to pay for our sins so that we can live with our Heavenly Father again after this life. What an amazing blessing and something we can't fully comprehend how much He really did for us.

1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.
2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.
3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.

4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
6 But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,
7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?
8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?
10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.
12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

Have a great week!
Elder Openshaw 

Photos:

1) the boxes in the car

2) eating out with Thomas and Hermano Villalobos as a lunch break

3) my soda can broke...it wouldn't open because the tab bent...so I had to punch it open with my pen haha

4) fixing the leaking water issue in the church...

May 21, 2018 ~ Transfer 16, Week 1

Hi everyone!

As I was reviewing my journal I realized that this week as been very interesting. The people are what make and break missionary work. And people are hilarious. I will explain.

Example #1: Monday we met who we will call Marijuana Tim. We asked him for directions and he said "sorry I don't live here" and we started talking and it came up that he has friends in la Palma that have a garden where they grow "vegetables...you know potatoes, cabbage, carrot...and marijuana". The way he said it... I just died haha. It was super funny. He wasn't too interested in our message haha

Example #2: Then as we left the church, there was a beer can that Elder Hydrick and taken in and thrown away because it was in the entrance of the church. He threw it in a trashcan without a bag so as we left we figured the members would freak out if they saw the beer can in the church, so we put it into a bag but in the process I spilled beer every where (it wasn't completely empty)... And so we had to clean that up haha. And while throwing it away we found two crates that will be super helpful for moving so (we are moving pisos)...win win right? Haha

Wednesday: while we were on our way to the bus station, a lady named Jacqueline stopped us and said "hey I'm Mormon. Where's the church? I live in Puerto Santiago" so we got her number and we are looking at a day if it's even possible to visit her (she lives super far away). But it was cool that she stopped us and talked with us.

(Wednesday afternoon)
Then as we sat in a park putting in the lessons we just had, I got smacked in the face by a soccer ball...a 10-12 year old kid was kicking it around and he doesn't aim well...and I got wrecked. And my companion saw it going for my head but didn't warn me or stop it at all haha it didn't occur to him until after.

Then we walked to Las Galletas and Costa del Silencio to do pass bys. Not much luck with pass bys (it was literally a maze of buildings...) but we did find some people to teach. There were 2 Cubans we got to talk to. I turned around after walking by them and said "hey, you got a baseball shirt on, you like baseball?" And we got them talking. The more interested of the two ended up getting a phone call that lasted 10mins or so and at one point both guys were on the phone hahaha. So we waited until one got off and then we were waiting forever for the more interested guy to get off the phone and finally he does. We asked for his number and then he got another phone call...but his friend gave us his number and we were all good haha. We will see when we can meet with them. In their 20s. Pretty cool guys.

Then we went and we visited a member named Juan. We had tried to meet with him 3 times before but he would say yes and that he would call us but nothing ever happened. And we tried to get in his building with absolutely 0 possibilities. No timbre, no button to get in. Nothing. The place is locked down... So we called him and he has us come in and he shares his story with us about why he hasn't been at church and his testimony about how he knows it's true. It was a good little visit.

Funny moment: we were talking to two Russian workers who were fixing the sidewalk. We asked for directions in the maze of buildings. They said "Español, no. Sorry." Then they asked "Ruski?"
Me: No.
Them:Douich?
Me: No. English?
Them: No.
Me: oh... "coc de la?"("How are you" in Russian). Haha they enjoyed that haha. They thought it was cool that I knew a little bit of Russian

Thursday:
Comp study in the park. There were a couple flies but not that many.

Then we met with Maria and we met on the same bench that we did comp study on. Flies came and attacked again like last time! Wow! There were a ton of flies and they weren't there before! We are hoping that she understands what and why we are teaching these things, we taught the plan of salvation today. She understands when she reads but not when we explain things to her. So that can be a little frustrating haha

Funny moment: we were walking back home and I got hissed at by a "snake" from a 4th story balcony. Haha "snakes" are girls that are super flirty with the missionaries. But like she actually hissed haha. I guess it was like some sort of cat call. And then she blew some kisses when I realized where the sound was coming from. She was around 15 I think hahaha.

.

Friday:
Then we had English class and "Elder" Hendrix had come back to visit (he was comps with Elder Wither at one point). So that was cool.

And then we looked for cardboard boxes to do the move. We've found boxes here and there to put our stuff in for the move. Where do we get the boxes from? From the trash. They usually pile them up next to the trashcans and we try to find the very cleanest ones haha.

Saturday:
Then we taught Lily over video call. Her faith is being strengthened and she's feeling better again. She told us sí o sí (100%/absolutely) she would be at church next week because she misses going. We are excited for the progress that she is making.

Sunday:
Church. I got to translate today in sacrament meeting. It is interesting the things that I've learned. For example, the need to finish my sentence by saying something even if I didn't catch everything that the speaker said (that way if you really get lost you don't have to sound as dumb or lose your listeners when you abandon the idea and start with a new one haha).

It's been cool this week to see the blessings we recieve everyday and how much Heavenly Father really does bless us. Elder Holland said something in a talk from Oct. 2006 that I really liked: ( I know the quote is a little long but it's totally worth it)

"If we constantly focus only on the stones in our mortal path, we will almost surely miss the beautiful flower or cool stream provided by the loving Father who outlined our journey. Each day can bring more joy than sorrow when our mortal and spiritual eyes are open to God’s goodness. Joy in the gospel is not something that begins only in the next life. It is our privilege now, this very day. We must never allow our burdens to obscure our blessings. There will always be more blessings than burdens—even if some days it doesn’t seem so." ... "Enjoy those blessings right now. They are yours and always will be."

My favorite part...."There will always be more blessings than burdens—even if some days it doesn’t seem so."" Some day it doesn't seem like there are more blessings than burdens but Heavenly Father is there for us to help us. I know that. He's only a prayer away no matter who we are or what we believe or how imperfect we may feel or if we think He won't want to talk to us. He does want to hear from us. He's always there and wants the best for us. It's hard sometimes because I'm sure if He could, He would let us have a perfect little life with no problems at all. Heavenly Father is our father, the father of our spirits and wants the best for us like any great father. But life doesn't work that way. If things were easy, we wouldn't grow, we wouldn't progress, we wouldn't change. And because Heavenly Father knows what is best for us He knows we have to change and grow because we aren't perfect yet and that we need a little push sometimes to change. Growing isn't usually pleasant but it's the purpose of why we are here in life. Alma 34:32 says: "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." We prepare to meet God as we become more like Him and change with His help, trusting in Him (also known as repentance). And like it says in Mosiah 29:20 He "extend[s] the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him."

Have a wonderful week!

With care,
Elder Openshaw

Photos - I don't have any in missionary clothes from this week haha. But here's a couple from this past Monday at Teide and a bunch of fruit we bought because it was wayyyyy cheaper than usual (and we freeze it so it won't go bad. Don't worry :P).

PS. Sorry this is way long but if you got to the end you get some brownie points for sure. --86 BROWNIE POINTS -- sound good to you?

May 14, 2018 ~ Transfer 15, Week 6

Hi all!

(For transfers my companion and I are together another 6 weeks).

I'm going to be brief but I know it probably won't be that brief. Here are the highlights of the week.

Today we went to see Teide. It's the volcano here (not active) and it's super cool. I'll send some pictures.

(On Wednesday) Cabo Blanco we did the couple pass bys we have there and we went to go visit Thomas (member). That was probably the best part of the day. We helped him with his curtains by putting new holes in the wall with a drill and trying to get the brace to fit with the anchors and screws...but in the end it was the same as before haha...oh well. It still came out from the wall. And we puttied up the old holes by mixing water with a putty mix and using the plastic from the screw box as our putty knife...that was fun haha. Thomas is great. He's such a humble and cheerful man.

Also this week I found out that one of my friends from Madrid that we were helping out read the whole Book of Mormon in his native language (Romanian) and so that was cool talking to him about that. The missionaries in Madrid will probably be meeting with him soon.

(On Thursday) Then we met with Maria in Adeje... And the flies were terrible, we were sitting in the park. We reviewed the restoration and hopefully she understands what she needs to do to get an answer that it's true. We found out that if we tell her something it doesn't stick but if she reads it she understands really well. We found that out by assessing her understanding with questions and she only got stuff after she had read it. So I'm glad we found that out.

Then we passed by and met with Mildred. All of our lessons today were pass bys just hoping they were home. And we finally got Mildred's number! We taught her about how she needs to read, pray, and come to church to know for herself. And she even read a couple chapters! She understands what she needs to do now so we will see if she actually does it. I really hope so. She's got a lot of potential.

Then we passed by Fofana. And we got in! And his 14 year old son also participated! We explained the restoration and there was a special spirit in the room as Elder Hydrick shared the first vision.

This is a prophesy about Jesus Christ before He was born. I love the description. He suffered a lot and He did it all the help us so that we can live with Him and our Heavenly Father again.

Mosiah 3

5 For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.

6 And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.

7 And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.

8 And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.

Have a wonderful week!

Elder Openshaw

1,2) Teide the volcano/mountain

3) a house we found haha

4) a "guanche" - the native people from here, he was dressed up. And yes that's a goat

5) having fun haha

May 7, 2018 ~ Transfer 15, Week 5

So this week was a quick one.

Monday we were in Puerto de la Cruz which is in the north of the island. It's super beautiful over there. But we were there only briefly, on Tuesday we had zone conference.

And we got to La Laguna on Tuesday where we had zone conference. It was a really good conference. I'm going to miss the Packs although it will only be for one transfer haha. They are great and so loving. They really do care about each and everyone of their missionaries.

And then we come back home and we did weekly planning. And we had piso checks over video call. That was a new experience. It was funny trying to show the senior couple the baseboards and such over video call because I basically just had to describe to them how it was by answering their questions haha. It was hard to see in the video. But we passed without a problem (I know you're proud mom).

Also, side note. Our gas went out on Sunday and we were gone in the north until Tuesday evening. Gas = being able to cook and have hot water haha. Thankfully we got gas back on Wednesday morning right when we needed it they saved us. (They bring a big butane tank that you use for about a month, it's like a propane tank).

On Wednesday we also went to Granadilla. We met with some of our friends there. We did a question and answer about missionaries and what life will be like for their daughter as a missionary. The first question was what happens if we miss the last bus, how do we get home. And we laughed about calling members to help us get home. And we actually did end up missing the bus home and forgetting about the time the bus left... the father (Angelp took us to San Isidro to get the bus home. And we found out how much his family to everything to him which we didn't know before.

(And in Granadilla we actually were in the clouds haha, the town is so high up that clouds surrounded us and it was like it was raining/misty so that was cool).

On Saturday:
We headed out to Guargacho to meet with Lily. It's been 20ish days since the last time we met. It was kind of an awkward lesson. We were outside at the park and there were a lot of people because someone had died and there was a viewing going on at a nearby building...and the hearce went by right in front of us to pick up the casket haha. We taught her about faith and how to strengthen her faith. She has a lot of questions and she doesn't know if God exists. We are trying to help her where she is at.

On Sunday:
Church. Fast and testimony meeting. And I got to translate in Spanish to english for an English couple haha. That was interesting with some of the testimonies today. Imagine broken Spanish in Italian as well as various other Spanish accents (especially Venezuelan and canarian) and that's what I was translating. So it got interesting at times but I made things work out and tried to let it flow. Sometimes I didn't catch exactly what they were saying and I had to make something up to make it fit haha.

Currently in the scriptures I'm reading at the part right before Jesus Christ comes to the Americas. It's interesting because there were a lot of "signs" that Jesus Christ was born and signs of his crucifixion in the Americas but there were still people who didn't believe.

3 Nefi 9:3-4:
3 And the people began to look with great earnestness for the sign which had been given by the prophet Samuel, the Lamanite, yea, for the time that there should be darkness for the space of three days over the face of the land.

4 And there began to be great doubtings and disputations among the people, notwithstanding so many signs had been given.

The prophet Samuel had told the people to repent and prophesied about Jesus coming and many people had rejected him. And what he prophesied was fulfilled but still some people didn't believe him. It just shows to me that sometimes, seeing really isn't believing. But having an open heart and being willing to look towards God in faith or trust that He will fulfill His promises...that is believing. But the mire act of seeing a sign doesn't created faith.

Faith as Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." - it's a trust in things we don't know yet with a surety but we have enough evidence to choose to believe (or not).

I know that Jesus Christ is our savior and that because of Him, He has made it possible so that we can live with our Heavenly Father and Him again. It is thanks to Christ that we can have happiness and that we can continue on with our lives and trusting that everything else will work out and work together for our good.

Have a wonderful week!

With care,
Elder Openshaw

1) Elder Gil and I - I trained elder Gil in Lugo and he trained elder Ethington

2) us with the Puerto elders

3) our view from piso

April 30, 2018 ~ Transfer 15, Week 4

Hi everyone!

We saw some progress with some of the people we are working with. We had someone we are working with named Angel And he usually doesn't participate much in lessons. But we've gotten him to open up more. And this week he was super open to talking and he has opened up a ton more than the first visit. We asked him about how his week was and what he was up to and he's telling us a lot more stuff. And we talked a lot about their daughter who is about to go on a mission and what the mission really is. And we told them that next time we will answer whatever questions they have so that they can feel comfortable with what she's doing and what a mission really is. But wow, that was such a great visit and a blessing that Angel and us are friends :)

Then the miracles started. We got out an English class announcement on Facebook. And we met with Maria who is a former investagator of the hermanas I think. We went to a bench near the mall and talked briefly. It was nice to teach a little bit but she didn't understand any of it haha. Or at least it was very little. And we finished the Facebook post. Then we decided to do some pass bys. (We were in Adeje). We contacted one guy who led us the wrong way to a street and took us all the way down hill and then found us and corrected us and told us it was actually up the hill again. That seems like nothing but wait. We continued doing pass bys and we actually got to set up some return visits with Antiguos (former investagators). We got up to the door on one or two of them. And we turned up the street Mildre lives on and we silently prayed that if God wanted us to keep trying with Mildre, that we could find her in the street today andnthat we could get her number. (We haven't been able to get ahold of her forever because we only have her cousin's number). And I'm not sure how much faith (effort?) was put in that prayer but it was answered 2 mins later when we found her. We didn't get her number but we got her a card directly and she said she would have her cousin text us her number. So that's good enough for now. But if the one guy didn't lead us back down the hill in the wrong direction, we wouldn't have been able to see Mildre and talk with her. So that was super cool.

On Friday we did English. It was the best English conversations I've been to on my mission! Hermana Villalobos taught it haha (she teaches English at a school here). She came really prepared haha. But she definitely was prepared to help us out. And she did so much to help us out! She taught it just like school and I learned some things about English, patterns that I hadn't recognized haha. And the miracle of today is that 5 people came (and today was the first English class/conversations we've done here). That's more than in Ponferrada! And with a lot less effort to get them there! And then after we did a quick noche de hogar with everyone. We sung a song and then a prayer (and we also started and ended English class with a prayer which was new for me) and then we shared a quick message and that was that. It was cool that the 3 non-members stayed to listen for the little message.

Friday:
Then we went and did some Pass bys here in Los Cristianos. I'm more familiar with the pueblos than with my own city that I live in haha. But the language barrier is real here in Los Cristianos. And there were some chavales (young men) who were shouting at us so I went back and talked to them hahaha. And we invited them to play soccer with us tomorrow. But they asked us a bunch of questions about what we are doing here haha. But wow, los cristianos is very quiet for a Friday night. And not many people were out. But there were a ton of tourists haha. And people that didn't speak English.

We had some cool experiences where we got someone who come up to us while doing a lesson outside asking to meet with us which rarely if ever happens. So that was cool. And someone on Sunday came up to us at the bus stop too haha. And I got an arepa given to me :)

A quick little spiritual thought about growth, trials and weaknesses...

I was read a talk called "Until Seventy Times Seven".
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/until-seventy-times-seven?lang=eng

Growth:
"Only with time-lapse photography or growth charts can we discern our physical growth. Likewise, our spiritual growth is usually imperceptible except through the rearview lens of time. It would be wise to regularly take an introspective look through that lens to recognize our progress and inspire us to “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope.'”

-It's hard to see our growth in the moment but when looking back we can see it better.

Trials and the Savior's grace:
"To keep our hope resilient as we face life’s trials, the Savior’s grace is ever ready and ever present. His grace is a “divine means of help or strength, … an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts.” His grace and His loving eye are upon us throughout our entire journey as He inspires, lightens burdens, strengthens, delivers, protects, heals, and otherwise “succor[s] his people,” even as they stumble along the strait and narrow path."

-Christ can help us be resilient in life's trials but we have to do our part too. He helps after all we can do. If He helped right away, we wouldn't learn as much

Two scriptures on weakness and strengths:
2 Corinthians 12:9: "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness"

Ether 12:27: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

-Heavenly Father shows us our weaknesses so that He can strengthen us and help us become better than we were.

I know that Heavenly Father loves us and that He wants us to succeed. Sometimes it's hard to see our progress but He is there for us and wants to help us. We can stay close to Him through prayer and reading the scriptures.

Have an awesome week!
Elder Openshaw

1)arepa!

2)in Puerto de la cruz (up north)

3)waiting for a lesson

4)it says "no clowns" I thought dad would enjoy it :)

April 23, 2018 ~ Transfer 15, Week 3

So this may be fairly short. But I know I never usually write that little haha.

Last Monday some members took us in their car to Masca and to Los Gigantes. Look them up on Google. In Tenerife. Super super cool. The pictures will do more justice than my words.

So things this week have been interesting. We did an intercambio with La Palma. And besides that we've just been searching like crazy to find new people to teach. We have probably one investigator that is actually progressing so we will see how that goes.

On the intercambio, I got to do some baptismal interviews for two of La Palma's investagators. It was very interesting. We headed to the hotel where they meet for church (they still don't have a space to meet yet and it's a group led by one of the missionaries, it's not a branch). And it was a totally new experience. Let me explain the details of the situation. We are in a "local", like an event area of a hotel which is kind of run down, with make shift walls that you can move around as you like. We had a tablet and we skyped in with the Madagascar office elders. I interviewed the mom and we did the interview in a Malgasy. How crazy. I tried to look up some words to say to them just to show them that I cared but it's a really hard language hahaha. I couldn't understand anything. It's like a mix of Spanish, French and some sort of island language haha. It sounds way complicated. So we started the interview and I would say something and then the elders over there would translate. The interview took quite a while but in the end everything was understood and good. The baptismal record was also really hard to fill out with the language barrier hahaha. But all good in the end. And then I interviewed the daughter and she got me good haha. She's a funny one. I asked her to say the first prayer and she told me to say it. So I did. And then the interview went great and then while ending she asked me to say the closing prayer and then after starting the prayer I thought to myself... "wait a second..." hahaha. She got me good. She won haha. But they are super cool. And we are super excited for their baptism.

On Saturday, we did the preach my gospel class with two of the youth after playing soccer. We talked about presenting the scriptures in lessons and practiced it again (we talked about it last week too). Then we got ready quickly and tried to make it to a family's home to eat...well the bus schedule was wrong on the application and we told them that we would be there late and they weren't happy. Or at least it seemed like it. But we took the bus to where we thought they lived and the address that we had is their old address (the previous missionaries hadn't changed the pin...for almost 6 months!). It's about 3-5 mins away from their new address in car. And so we get to the wrong address and tell them we are there and they weren't happy haha. So they came to get us in their car. And as elder Hydrick talked to them on the phone to figure out where the address was and they were getting upset with us, Elder Hydrick slipped on a slanted driveway and while getting back up he hits his head hard on some metal bars that surrounded a window on the ground floor. Ouch. And he already had a headache and we were hangry already haha. It was hilarious.

Also we may have eating bread that ants had been on...I didn't know that but my companion told me after haha. Apparently the person realized that ants were on the bread and they just banged it on the table and then cut it to eat it. So that's fun haha :)

A little thought, (If you are just going to read one verse read 27). 

Here's a little story from my reading this week. Ammon is told by his brother Aaron that he's boasting too much. And this is Ammon's response:

Alma 26:10-12, 16, 27, 37
10 And it came to pass that when Ammon had said these words, his brother Aaron rebuked him, saying: Ammon, I fear that thy joy doth carry thee away unto boasting.

11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

37 Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth.

I love verse 27. Missionary work is hard. Especially when you don't see the fruits of your labors. And when they were about to turn back the Lord comforted them and told them to go back and be patient. The Lord doesn't just give everything to us. We have to work for it. And even if we are continually rejected or things don't work out or people fail on us, etc. we just need to keep putting in our effort so that we can say we did our part. And maybe somewhere down the road something will come of it. We never know. But the success that we have is with consistent, diligent effort to do what has been asked of us. Even when it's hard. Even when you don't see anything changing. Even when you are doing everything you possibly can. We put in the work and the Lord chooses to pace that the work moves.

Have a great week!
Elder Openshaw

1,2,3) at La Masca and Los Gigantes