Monday, April 6, 2009

PICTURES!!!!!

I know it has been a while, i have promised pictures for a while and i appreciate the patience from everyone who wanted to see pictures.

Here they go....(yes they are random and sorry for the sideway ones)

Things to note, chopsticks, how happy Elder Rodriguez is, and how much you can feel the Spirit with his letters and pictures!! =)

And yes Elder Rodriguez sent Thousands of pictures and we are still going through them. Enjoy!!






































El Cumpleañero

I picked up my new companion today. He is Elder Renshaw from Iowa. He is tall and excited to be here in Santander. He started off in Vigo and then went to San Sebastian and now here. I had a great week. We divided up the areas to accommodate six missionaries instead of four. My old companion had worked with one person before I got here. He stopped visiting when I arrived to Santander. About three weeks ago I called him to see if he still had interest. We knew he did. We had been visiting with him for three weeks now. Today in the morning the other two elders made him breakfast and we ate and then taught him a lesson afterward. After the visit he had a question, ¨are there any baptisms soon?¨ We knew automatically that he was ready and was about to ask for himself. We told him that the Hermanas had five people getting baptized the 18 of April and that we had thought about the 25 of April for him. He said he´d love to get baptized then. We were so excited! My old companion and Elder Stevens will continue to teach him what he needs to be ready for the waters of baptism. One lady I found has been progressing so much. I know it is because of the fact that she lives with a family that are members. They help out so much in the lessons and helping her get to church . She has come three weeks in a row already! She started working again so she won´t be able to visit all week till Saturday and she´ll still be able to go Sunday to church. The last visit we left her with the promise in the Book of Mormon. She said she´d read, meditate about what she read and then pray to God to ask Him personally if the book is true. I did the same promise last week. I read a chapter in El Libro de Mormón and after meditated about what I read. I then got on my knees and started to pray. I talked with my Father in Heaven. I let Him know that I already knew the book was true and was coming to Him to help my testimony grow. I asked Him, ¨Is the Book of Mormon true?¨ and then I waited, waited some more and then that is when I felt some thing. I felt energy go throughout my body. It was like the feeling of being tired and when you drink a nice glass of cold water and you feel energized. I knew it was the Holy Ghost testifying to me that the book was still indeed true. My mind was clear and I could only think of peace and had no worries. I know she will receive an answer if she sincerely does the promise left in that book for all to test. I have enjoyed learning more about Jesus Christ during my time here in this country. I have read the Bible and the Book of Mormon and other great books to help me know my Savior better. I have learned that we celebrate the birth of the Savior during the Christmas season and we celebrate His resurrection during Easter. The fact is that He was born today. Yes, today, the sixth of April but 2,009 years ago. We can read about it in Doctrine and Covenants chapter 20 verse 1. It explains that that is when He came into the world in the flesh or that means when He too received a physical body. I am not much on celebrating things even my own birthday but I will think of the Savior today. I will have Him in my thoughts and my heart as I go through out the day talking to others about Him. I leave you all with my testimony that Jesus lives. He is resurrected and has a body that is perfect and glorified. I know that He loves me and all mankind. He has already showed us His love with what He has done while on the earth. And even till this day He is continues to show His love for us. He did not only leave us His teachings that we have in the Bible and Book of Mormon and the Spirit which He promised but He continues to teach us today. He is the head of the His Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and guides us today. What a blessing it is to know that we can continue to learn from the greatest teacher that the world has ever seen. This I leave with you in the sacred name of Jesus Christ Himself, Amen.