July 3, 2017 ~ Transfer 8 Week 3

Happy 4th of July!

I'm super exhausted from this week. Lots of time in the streets talking with people. Not a ton of notable things but I'll let you in on what has happened.

This week we had a lesson in French with a man from Haiti and a member translating for us. We taught in English. It was quite difficult but it was really cool. It was interesting because sometimes we could understand the jist of what was said but for the most part we had to rely on the member. It was a cool experience. He also thought it was cool that we don't try to impose our beliefs on others, that we let them choose and find out for themselves. I hadn't seen it that way before but it's true. We believe that people shouldn't be forced to believe a certain way but that they can choose for themselves according to what they feel is right.

A quick funny moment....background: kebab is a food here in Europe that is kind of like sliced bits of meats (lamb and chicken) in pita bread with some really good sauces and lettace (that's the best way I can describe it but the description doesn't do it any justice). They are really good. And delivery is free in Europe (at least here). So we order kebab fairly regularly. The funny thing is this time we called from a different number and it was a different person and they still knew it was us! It was pretty funny because they already knew how we wanted our kebabs and that they recognized the voice (it's probably the American accent).

I'm trying to think of more to write but there isn't much more left to explain haha. It was a fairly normal week. I will definately have more to write about next week.

Have a great week and 4th of July! Someone eat a real hamburger for me (the ones here just aren't the same).

Elder Openshaw

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

June 28, 2017 ~ Transfer 8 Week 2

A lot happened this week. Lots of tender mercies and miracles. I don't know where to start so this might be a little short.

We were in a trio (three elders) for the majority of the week with one elder going back to Barcelona to renew his residency papers and another going home. There was one day that we passed but a members home to get water (to was unbearably hot) and one of our investagators (who told us she couldn't meet this week) showed up and we taught her there! A very tender mercy.

Another is that we were walking and we found a member from Oviedo (who I didn't know) but he was at the temple for the first time. And he was talking the the branch president on the phone (who i do know)! It was a cool experience.

We had lots of great conversations with people in the street. The conversations ranged a lot (especially on how we got them to stop haha). One time an elder while in the trio shouted "USA" when some spanish youth passed by and they stopped at talked to us haha. And then another was when that same elder told a Spaniard that I had just told a great joke (when I hadn't). I stood there awkwardly thinking of what to say and told him I couldnt repeat it again, it was just too good haha. But it was a creative way that led to some good conversations haha. We are finding a lot more people to teach.

Food moments: we had Ratatoullie (that French dish, the same as the disney movie), roasted chicken, and kebab. Those were the highlights.

Funny moments:

A quick thought that I had...we were talking to someone this week who wanted to bible bash. This was the first time ive actually had someone try and that I understood what was said. But while he was insulting us and we politely excused ourselves I realized something. So many people don't realize that our Heavenly Father answers prayers. That we can actually recieve personal guidance that we need in our lives. I really like James 1:5-6 that talks about asking God for wisdom. It says:

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

This is a promise that we have from the Bible. We can ask for and recieve answers to prayers. We don't have to trust a priest or a church leader or a parent on their word. But we can recieve our own confirmation of truths from the source, our Heavenly Father. Here's another scripture about how prayer and fasting helps us recieve guidance:

" 45 And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?

46 Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me."

I know that we can recieve answers to our prayers if we just ask. I know because I have recieved answers to my prayers. The answers don't always come in the way you expect them but the answers do come. I know our Heavenly Father loves you and wants to hear from and answer your questions. 

Have a great week!

Elder Openshaw

Spain Madrid Mission
Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Oficina 8B

June 19, 2107 ~ Transfer 8 Week 1

Hi all!!

This week has been amazing! But the heat is picking up and it's a bit miserable but bearable. We have bunk beds and put one fan rotating on a dresser to reach the top to bunk beds and another rotating on the floor to reach the bottom two haha. But even with the heat we have had some miracles and tender mercies.

This week we were talking with people in the streets a ton to find more people to teach. And we talked with a TON of people this week. The past couple transfers we recieved only a few references weekly but this week we recieved easily 10-15 references (a reference is like a number or an address of someone who wants to meet and talk with us). We also had a miracle finding a friend named Mercedes. We had been passing by people's homes (people we know) to introduce my new companion to them. We weren't having any luck so we sat down on a bench and prayed to ask where we needed to be. And we both felt we needed to go to a place 3 metro stops over and talk to people there. We went and talked and talked. And then we found this lady named Mercedes who was wearing a shirt that said something like "summer time style" (in English). We stopped her and talked for probably about 30-45 mins about the savior and our Heavenly Father's plan for us (usually its not that long, we dont like taking up people's time but she had a bunch of questions). She was super excited to meet one day and has a ton of great questions. We both knew it was her that we were supposed to find in that area at that time. Also we had a young man from church come up to us and ask us to help him understand the scriptures. Last time we met 3 months ago he wanted nothing to do with the scriptures and we've only been just trying to be his friend. So that was a huge step.

Other tender mercies and miracles: i saw Hermano Gilberto Soliz one of my teachers from the MTC. He was behind me as I got on the metro and he bumped me with his shoulder. I did not expect it to be him haha =) it was so great to see him again! Ive now seen almost all of my MTC teachers once again! Its super weird to have seen almost all of them but it's also pretty cool. =)

-Yesterday we were in the street and had been walking around a while. We also had finished our water bottles off and had no more water. And we wanted some. So after trying a member's home and finding out that they weren't there, I saw a guy and decided to ask him if there was a public water fountain nearby (I knew there probably wasn't because there aren't a ton in Spain). And miraculously, he stopped, thought about my question and said "well I live just around the corner here, I can take your bottles and fill them up for you". A very tender mercy. A super nice guy from Italy. And the water was even cold. Haha I guess all you have to do is ask sometimes. =)

Some food moments:

I tried making arroz chofa (a peruvian dish) and it didn't turn out at all. It was super gross. I will have to attempt it again. I cooked the rice too long and it ruined it. Also we had ceviche this week! And we ate Burger King as a district (our group of 6 missionaries in this area).

And funny moments:

Coming home on Friday we were surrounded by jovenes (youth, teens) because apparently they were enjoying themselves with finals being over. When we got off on our metro stop, apparently all the teens did too. And we tried beating them to the escalator and succeeded. But then going up the escalator we were walking and near the top, I tripped. And the 50 jovenes (no joke) behind us started to laughed. The funniest part is that I wasn't embarrassed. Instead, I was just ticked off because I had gotten a stain from the grease of the escalator on my last clean white dress shirt. Haha =)

Have a great week!

Elder Openshaw

June 7, 2017 ~ Transfer 7 Week 6/Transfers

Hi everyone!

This week has been pretty busy with my companion preparing to go home. And two days ago (Saturday) we found out about transfers (where and if we will be moving to a different area in Spain). Our district (the 8 total missionaries in this area of Madrid and Cuenca) got changed around a ton. Every companionship had a change. I found out I'm staying in Barrio 6. My companion goes home this week and my new companion is named Elder Irene from Wyoming. I'm excited to continue working hard this new transfer =)

So this week in the work was pretty normal. But one notable event was that we went to lunch with an investigator of the other Elders and with that investigator's mom. She's super thankful for what we are doing and really likes the values that we have. She cares a ton for her son and only wants the best for him. It's super cool to see that (even when he thinks she's a little too dramatic, haha). We ate Chinese food with them (it's been a while since I have had Chinese food, it was super good).

And finally our ward mission leader is back from vacations (he's the one who coordinates with the church congregation leaders about our efforts). It was difficult when he was gone because no one else was able to fill his spot, there was a leadership change and the person who was asked to fill the role no longer could. But I'm glad he's back. And he brought us all ties from Perú!

Some notable food items this week =)

-We ate cheese filled Bratwursts from the store - I have not had those in over a year

-my companion taught we how to make morir soñando (a sweet Dominican drink with ice, milk, lemon juice and lots of sugar), super good and great for summer

-and eith Raúl the ward mission leader we had chicha morada and ate arroz chofa y papa a la huancaina

The weather here is getting terribly hot. We had to buy some new fans this week. It's getting to the 100's and it doesn't cool down much at night (around mid 70s and 80s, but the heat stays trapped in the apartment). Right now it is a constant fight to stay cool. And it's only supposed to get worse haha. This is just the beginning. And the worst part is that when it's cooler and if we open the windows, bugs and mosquitoes get in (they don't have screens here). 

It's a struggle.

Have a wonderful week!

Elder Openshaw

June 7, 2017 ~ Transfer 7 Week 5

Hi all!

It's been a long but great week filled with a lot of ups and a lot of downs. On the upside, I have a loaner tablet to use now until I get a new one.

The work is going well. We found some new people to teach this week which was a miracle in itself. Another miracle we had is that I was telling another missionary that I wanted someone new to teach and just in that same moment after I had said that, we received a call. It was the front desk of the temple and they told us that someone had come to the temple and asked for more information about what the church is. We've met once and it was quite the blessing. Maybe I should ask more often =) 

We also taught a family on Friday who are super prepared. A member family invited us over for pizza and this other family (their friends who are actually their next door neighbors). It was great. We will probably meet with them again this coming weekend. Lately it's been pretty difficult to find new people and to have those two things happen it helped a ton. 

And then we also had a lot more success talking to people. I haven't gotten people to stop in a while and much less get a real number and while we were talking with people we found two who wanted to meet. One was a youth who I invited to play soccer with us. And another was an elderly man who was carrying grocery bags. They looked heavy because I saw them over filling and I saw him struggling. And I asked if we could help. And he said yes! Which doesn't happen very often. We helped him and the bags were super heavy! I don't know how he was doing it by himself. He invited us in for water and told us if we ever need a break we can pass by his house haha =)

Other things:

Champion's League was this past Saturday and it's basically like the Super Bowl for soccer. Real Madrid won and you can hear when goals are scored because the whole neighborhood watches the games and makes a ton of noise. It was 4 to 1 from the screams I heard and with the firecrackers and celebrating I figure Real Madrid won =) haha I got some videos (it's more the audio that counts).

We also ended up locking ourselves out of piso. Thank goodness the lady who lives underneath our piso has a key for us (apparently this isn't the first time haha).

Food: we had domino's ordered to our piso (which here is free to have it delivered, super nice)

We had some great Gelato and some kebab. The kebab was a tin filled to the top with kebab meat and it was sooo good. A ton of food.

We also had 2 district meetings before the last time I emailed. We talked about learning the language and about how to teaching better. And my favorite part of the week was yesterday. We had a zone conference (a training meeting) with Elder Gay. It was super good, I'll share some of my notes. He talked about so many different things that we needed (and that I needed to hear personally). It was amazing.

Here's what I enjoyed:

There is always a solution. (My mom says that a lot too =) and now I understand even better what she means)

Don't beat yourself up about whether you did something wrong or right. Heavenly Father does His own work. As long as we are trying our best Heavenly Father can use our mistakes for His benefits also.

Have a great week!

Elder Openshaw

May 29, 2017 ~ Transfer 7 Week 4

Hi all!

This week went by very fast. We had a zone conference (where all the missionaries in an area get together for a training, there were about 60ish of us) and interviews with our mission president. And I also got sick towards the end of the week which didn't help much.

So Monday my companion and I went to Fuenlabrada, an old area of his to say goodbye to people (he finishes his mission in 2 weeks), today we went to Leganés, another one of his old areas. After P-Day was finished we went to an activity with some members in their home and we made 5 things of tortilla de patata for them and the other elders tried to make brownies (it ended up tasting like cake but it was still good). My companion and I are getting a lot better at our tortilla de patata, a very Spanish dish - he has it down and taught me, I'm the one still working on it haha.

On Tuesday was the zone conference. On Wednesday, one of my companion's old companions (who is Peruvian but lives in Sweden) got permission to take us out with his family to eat. We went to a Peruvian restaurant and we had inca cola, arroz chofa, rotisserie chicken with French fries, ceviche and papa a la huancaina. It was super good food. And this family who took us out to eat are amazing.

What happened is the restaurant hadn't opened up yet so they talked to the store owner and convinced them to set some plates out for them, and while the restaurant was preparing the return missionary contacted with us! It was awesome. And then the family very naturally invited
the store owners to meet with us. I learned so much from their family and they really helped me to recognize how blessed I am. It was a blessing to get to spend a morning with them.

Thursday was a normal day, Friday we had interviews and I got sick in the evening until Sunday. It's pretty boring when you are sick in the mission, you stay at home and sleep although you want to keep working.
(Thankfully I am feeling a lot better).

Some funny moments:
On Wednesday we had some extra elders staying in our piso and so to minimize how much food was lost (although somewhat in vain), I made French toast. And I invited everyone to have some and apparently my companion didn't hear and so he was the only one who didn't get any haha :) and then he made French toast for himself :)

Then on Friday we had interviews like I said. The thing is we thought our interviews were at 2pm and we knew there was a bus that left every two hours at 12:30pm. So we knew we had to take it at 12:30pm or we would be late. We hopped on the bus thinking that it was weird that there were not any other missionaries. And we continued to the mission home and got there okay. The funny thing is that we learned later that night that our interviews really were at 4:00pm! And that there were 6
missionaries who had missed the bus that we had made. Our mission president was not expecting us to be there so early, but in the end it all worked out.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Openshaw

May 22, 2017 ~ Transfer 7 Week 3

Hi all!

Well this week was quite the week. I'm going to let you in on all the highlights of this week. Overall it was a pretty normal week but with some significant events.

Tuesday we played volleyball with some less actives and recent converts and it was a lot of fun. Someone from the Canary Islands was visiting the temple and they played with us too. It was really funny because the canarian kept calling me "tramposo"(cheater) like 100 times because I kept scoring haha :) She also kept saying "come lentejas"(eat lentils) if someone didn't hit the ball hard enough because apparently Spaniard think lentils make you stronger.

Wednesday was district meeting and it went quite well. I'm starting to get the hang of it a little better :) Also I got my shoes fixed by a cobbler for quite cheap which was nice. The heel on one of my shoes didn't have any more leather on the back because my heel had rubbed through it. So he fixed it up and it's good as new :)

Friday, we ate lunch at the Kimballs apartment. They are a matrimony couple in charge of self-reliance for all of Spain. Some of the best food in a long time. We had BBQ pork sandwiches, seafood paella, shrimp (here you have to take off the legs and head and such, they aren't shelled), and to top it off we had brownies and whipped cream with strawberries. It was super super good.

Then Sunday was a sad day. 

At about 4:45pm yesterday my tablet died. 

Rest in Pieces. 

We were leaving the church and it was at my side, I tried to change how I was holding it and it dropped. Face down. I thought, it's fine nothing will be wrong. Well...two pebbles had cracked the screen. And I then thought, maybe it's still going to work fine, it just looks bad. Nope, wrong again. I tried to turn it on and the screen only flickered. So now I get to figure out what to do haha. 

Thankfully there was a tender mercy. I had just written the report I have to send to the zone leaders about how everyone is doing in our district and I thought it was lost. Thank goodness we found it in my drafts when I logged in to another device. I can now sympathize with those who have broken their screens before...this is my first and I did a good job haha :) 

I'm pretty bummed but maybe it's a blessing in disguise, now I get to learn how to do things differently and not depend so much on my tablet :) 

And to end, Thursday and Saturday were quite normal days. 

Well, have a great week!!

Elder Openshaw