Galicia -> Madrid -> Islas

It's been 2.5 weeks I think. And 2.5 crazy weeks

I got to go to the Tower of Hercules is the oldest known extant Roman lighthouse. Built in the 1st century, the tower is located on a peninsula about 2.4 km from the center of A Coruña, Galicia, in northwestern Spain

We went to A Coruña, Galicia Spain for Zone Conference, lots of rain and green and cool stuff. Felt like Oregon. Hype to be up there for my first time!

Yummy birthday dinner!

Had my bday! 21  pretty fun lowkey, met with a lot of recent converts, and had free food! An hermana from Peru (Gina) made "alitas encevichadas" absolutely dreamy and riquísimo. That was probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

A few hours before cheffing up the cuisine, Gina fell pretty bad and hurt like every part of her body. On Sunday she was still in a lot of pain so we offered to give her a priesthood blessing of health. She has been less active for a long time so we taught her what a blessing is then we gave her one. Right after she sat still for a few moments and then said something along the line of "que bonito me siento!" It was so amazing. She was in a lot of pain right before and after the blessing, she felt beautiful!!! Miracle

The Canary Islands

Now we are in the Islas Canarias and it is an absolute vibe.  Great lugar. So cool oh my goodness I shall add some pics.

Next week is gonna be ultra busy with transfer things! I felt the spirit many times the last few days and it keeps me motivated and on the right path! This week try to recognize it too!! 

Last week we played some paddle ball on our pday.

Ciao

Love, Elder Ditto

137, 138, 139

Every day before entering into my personal studies, I listen to two or three hymns to get me into spiritual mode, it has proven to be extremely genial. 

Matthew 26:30 "And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives."

Respect. I share this hecho because I listened to hymns 136, 137, and 138 this week and they are fire. 

Give them a listen (those are the hymn numbers in the Spanish hymn book, probably different in ingles)

Genesis was baptized and confirmed yesterday after church, it was a furious 45 minutes in between the end of the church meeting (we taught the 2nd-hour class Principles of the Gospel) and then printing out the agenda, taking pics, setting up, announcing baptism, lo demas all in 45 minutes but it worked out fabulously and she got baptized por fin. Her mom and older sisters have been members for many years but were inactive in the past. It is so awesome to see the good changes (repentance) that have come about in their family, especially with Genesis´ older sister. The gospel is for families!

We hit up this Dominicana place called Santa Brasa, oh my goodness. It was so good that we are gonna run it back today. 

A member of the church brought her friend to church a month ago and her friend Yumu (she's not Japanese sadly, just a codename) has now come to church 4 times in a row with her! Incredible. Yumu told us that she was going to go to a catholic church a few days ago but when she walked into the doors she was like nah, and didn't feel any desire to be in there, which is crazy because she's been catholic her entire life. And in contrast, this Sunday morning at 7am she woke up with a massive desire to go to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and so she did! So what happened? Lots of other churches are good places, but the spirit testified to her the truthfulness of the gospel that is found in the Church of Jesus Christ and changed her heart.

Mosiah 5:2 

"And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually."

From both examples, Genesis´ older sister and Yumu, I know that the Holy Spirit can change our hearts allowing us to align our will with that of God's. hasta la próxima

Love, Elder Ditto

Sheesh

Cool milagro. We got back into contact with an amigo who was ghosting us and had a call and lesson with him. I invited him that night to pray and then open his Book of Mormon to a random page and start reading. We have a baptismal date for Marzo 8. 

He did it and he "randomly" opened up to 4 Nephi 1:1. 

"And it came to pass that the thirty and fourth year passed away, and also the thirty and fifth, and behold the disciples of Jesus had formed a church of Christ in all the lands round about. And as many as did come unto them, and did truly repent of their sins, were baptized in the name of Jesus; and they did also receive the Holy Ghost." 

Fire. He is hyped to get baptized.

Four new misioneros got here this week. Elder Gomez and I went on the Madrid tour with them along with President and Hermana Eastland. The King of Spain and the King or Pharaoh (whatever they have rn) were in the royal palace so there were guards out and about. 

This transfer is gonna be wild, we are going to be zooming around Spain while trying to go crazy in the obra de dios. Please pray for the ppl here and us so that we can do what needs to get done.

Sheesh boi I've been a missionary for so long, pls send email to me.

Love, Elder Ditto

Muchas Cosas

Hola chavales

This was a packed week! 

I am working on punctuality, any tips?

Tuesday- exchange with Elder Irineo, good stuff, he's from Mexico

Wednesday- had a fire lesson with Nair, God loves His children!

Thursday- Futbol with a recent convert and his cousin, we played 8 on 8 on a turf field. It was super sick, I didn't play that well but I did score a goal. The opposing team was very good, they were a whole bunch of Spaniards and a Frenchman. After we zoomed over to the capilla and taught Genesis and her sister Mafer. They are currently having a hard life, pray for them! 

Friday- we zoomed over to the mission office to help the office elders buy tickets for transfers, lots of dinero. Afterward, we went to Tony Romas (a restaurant) for lunch. Turns out one of the office Elder's recent converts works there and is a less active member as well! It was sick! 

Saturday- Transfer calls, I am finishing my mission in this area in Madrid, Barrio 1. We zoomed over to the futbol sala court in between calls we were in charge of and taught our friend Armoush. He's from Jordan, the country! shoutout Abdullah. He has a lot of great questions about Jesus Christ. 

Sunday- Elder Gomez and I taught a Gospel Principles class in the second hour of church about Heavenly Father. It was pretty good for it being the first week. The idea is that it helps Recent Converts and Investigators more than the normal class. That night we drove to Presidentes house to plan MLC. The best part is that our amigo Jhon responded to us after 2 weeks of ghosting us. Vamos a ver que pasa con él.

Took like 0 pictures last week, I will try better this week

Two scriptures I used a few times this week:

Alma 36: 3 "And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day."

Ether 12: 41 "And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen."

Love, Elder Ditto 

We played volleyball today

Hola hombres! 

This week we started out in Vitoria on an exchange. It was lit to be back in the hometown, Pais Vasco. 

We had a call with the mission about the baptisms and confirmations that have happened in January.  I think it was a good way to unify the mission a little and celebrate the hijos de Dios that have made a covenant with God! 

We zoomed back to Madrid and had some más o menos normal days. 

Towards the end of the week we started working on the transfer board and had a meeting with Presidente and Hermana Eastland then another call with some of the missionaries. 

Lots of cool and fun things, but at the same time I am hoping and praying for some milagros in the missionary work this week, which is going to be equally loco. 

This week I finished the book Believing Christ. It was super fire.

Love, Elder Ditto

Kaixo

Hey fam,

Today we got to go to my casa, Pais Vasco. It had been too long. I'm glad to be back, but just for two days. 

I also got "My Plan" so I guess that means I am on the last part of my mission. Vamos a terminar bien.

This week Alba got baptized by her dad. Her dad and mom were inactive for a few years and after many calls, lessons, and prayers, they are living the gospel, which is amazing to see. It was actually so special to see her dad teach her and testify during the lessons. Now we gotta get them to the temple.

On Saturday I was able to give a priesthood blessing to an old lady (97 years old). We often went to her house to administer the sacrament to her. She was ingressed in the hospital and not looking too hot. During the blessing, I felt most impressed to bless her with peace and an assurance that she had fought the good fight and endured to the end. As I gave the blessing my whole body was warm. She passed away today. Even though during the blessing I didn't feel incredibly guided or see any vision or anything, I know that somehow the Spirit made sure the right things were expressed. And also I know that she is doing much better in the Spirit World than she was here. And one day she will be resurrected thanks to her Savior Jesus Christ! Buenas semana:)

Agur

Elder Ditto

Am I my brother's keeper?

"And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?" - Genesis 4:9

"And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions? Wo unto such a one, for he is not prepared, and the time is at hand that he must repent or he cannot be saved!" - Alma 5:30-31

"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another." - John 13:35

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." - 1 John 3:18

Last week I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting about the divine gift of repentance! I used an analogy of irrigation water, sprinklers, and green grass. I quickly learned that I don't have those vocab words unlocked in Spanish yet lol. Lucky irrigation can be said "irrigación" so I was chilling. Basically, the analogy was that once the water is turned on for the neighborhood the water is ready to go and accessible watering the lawn. But if you have ever worked with irrigation you know that that is not really the case, it takes a few hours on Saturday afternoon with Pops to fix all the sprinklers, timing, etc. Sometimes the pipes have frozen over and exploded and you need to dig down to fix it. Once the whole system is running nicely, we can turn on the water and water the lawn to keep it nice and green. The water is always accessible to us, but we need to work with the irrigation in order to utilize that water and receive the blessings. 

The blessings of Christ's Atonement are always accessible to us, but we only receive them when we make it possible for them to flow to us or through us. The process of "cleaning, fixing, and adjusting the irrigation" is necessary, and the process of repentance is necessary to receive the blessings of the Atonement of Christ. I share this because afterward, a lady we are helping come back to church said she liked it a lot and asked us for a few scriptures about repentance. That made me feel really good to know that the Holy Ghost guided me to help at least one person!

We had a Zone Conference this week and talked about the importance of working through less active or inactive members of the church. One thing that I have found, which isn't a crazy revolutionary thing at all but anyway, is that "practice makes perfect", even in missionary life. So my comp and I made sure to emphasize the roleplay/practice part of the training. 

I will toss a PDF version of the training if you want to see what's good (slide 14 is my favorite).

We are teaching a little girl named Dawn (codename). Her dad is a member who has been pretty inactive but now he is coming back to the church. Dawn is so cute and super smart. Recently we taught her about why Jesus Christ is important and she totally understood it. I love seeing her learn and even more than that, I love to see her dad testify and teach her about the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you are still reading this super long email I invite you to reach out to a friend or family member who is inactive in the church and see how you can help them. I know that they can actually feel the spirit again and have desires to return! Buena semana chavales :)

Élder Ditto