We´re all in the office right now.. technically its our P-day so we´re here doing emails and whatnot, just waiting for the conference to start. Sorry to interrupt right when its gonna start!!
Things are great! Elder Butler is training his new comp Elder Crapo. He´s from arizona, he´s got about a year in the mission and is really quick to learn and smart. We had a huge problem occur in the office about 3 days ago..... OUR 400 GB EXTERNAL HARD-DRIVE HAD A ELECTRICAL SURGE GO THROUGH IT FROM A LIGHT BULB GOING OUT and ITS FRIED........Everything...... every document that this mission has had or used or sent or saved over the last like 40 years.......... fried! so we´re trying to get that fixed.... we´re thinking a guy here in the ward is gonna be able to save some of it.
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| Me in some shoes some awesome members from my last area sent to me. :D they really love me! |
CONFERENCE HAS STARTED. I´ll write more during the break. LOVE YOU!
Élder Norton
WOW fantastic conference! We are watching it here in the office and its amazing what the church has done. You go to LDS.org, click on the first thing you see, and the prophet of the worlds starts speaking to you. You need to change the language?.. right above the screen they have a drop-down bar with tons of languages. We were listening to it in english in the office and I put in one ear phone of spanish just to listen and after about one talk I took it out cuz I didn´t like listening to them both.. your brain tries to hard to process both of them.. hah then I put it one American Sign Language and I remembered how much I love sign language! Honestly, I probably recognized a tenth of the signs that were used but the thing about sign language is that it is literally has to do more with movement, space, and body language than even the real signs, and it actually helped me a ton! I continue to realize that I am a very very visual person, and even someone explaining what I´m hearing in signs and body language helps me to stay focused and understand it more. I would really love to pick that back up when I get home. I feel that it would come back quickly.
My favorite two talks were first, Elder Bednar's! WOW. The last two talks he has given he has started them like this......... today, i want to talk about the importance of The Law of Chastity... or ... today, I´d like to direct my comments about Tithing. He is in all meanings of the word, a great missionary. Its so interesting to watch how the general authorities teach.. because they teach the same things and the same ways we are told to teach. For example if you were to go back and listen to Elder Bednars talk, he is direct and clear. He teaches God´s commandments, commends and supports you when you obey, teaches, supports, and calls to repentance those that don´t, and then right after invites them to make that change and promises blessings. That is the method they teach us and that is taught in preach my gospel. Find a problem, teach a principle, extend a direct and clear commitment, testify of the principle, and promise God´s blessings. BOOM. BAPTISM.
Another reason I really enjoyed his talk was because I am obviously working currently with the church´s money. I see whats happening, why its happening, and what could possible happen in the future. I have seen the $ numbers go uuuup in our mission alone! And by a significant about. We have actually had to make several ´´one-time´´s to our current budgets, and changes to other limits on accounts we have and use.. I will be honest, I have thought on more than one occasion, ´´woah.. I wonder if the church was expecting such big numbers and big changes... I wonder if the church is prepared for what will come... I wonder why that´s why we´ve been hearing more about the law of tithing lately...´´ hah but Elder Bednar´s words were clear... ´´ The church does not spend more than it receives.´´ ´´It sets aside a certain amount for unexpected expenses.´´ ´´The church teaches its members to set aside food, fuel, and money for... The church simply follows the same teachings.´´........... dudas contestadas....... questions answered.
My other favorite was President Uchdorf´s talk right at the end. I think it was just because I have met a lot of people throughout my time here.. and I still have every single face that i´ve met in my mind... and I worry a lot for them! Each and every one of them! Being a member is not easy! Its not! Its actually a lot harder out of utah, and out of the states. Spain is as much catholic as utah is mormon!! Put yourself in the shoes of a member of some other church there in utah.. would it be hard for you to keep your faith?? Or harder yet, change to a different faith!.. so needless to say, we worry about our converts that are new and fragile, our investigators that may not have reached the waters of baptism yet, the active and less active members that we have poured our hearts out to, and the many many others that are currently out on the streets clueless to the fact the God´s prophets are speaking. We are all fighting for the same thing. None of us is perfect. ´´We are all hypocrites´´ as President Uchdort says :). I just love some of his last words, ´´Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.´´ ´´...if ye have faith, ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.´´
Everythings going well here. We are happy and working hard. Elder butler is talking with A and S right now. They do attend the same branch we work in. The APs here in fuengirola and a trio of hermanas here in fuengirola work with the spanish ward. We the office elders and the castillos (the missionary couple ) we work with the enlish international branch. :D We´ve lost contact with M. She is out of resources, out of work, and really worried about her son. Luckily, the members that started to really fellowship her when we started teaching her have offered their apartment here in a close-by city for her to live in. They visit spain from Wales several times a year and while they´re not here they were more than willing to let M stay there. Fantastic members living the law of consecration with members and non members included. M just needs to be a member!! I wish she had just that little be more faith needed instead of holding back wanting to get more knowledge first. The blessings of heaven as we heard to today from elder Bendar would be opened up upon her. Pray for her!
Elder Crapo just figured out that his great great great uncle married Margaret Oldham Crapo... my great great great grandmother. (I think thats right) So yes, we are technically related but by marriage. :)
Mom, your whole paragraph on the whole iPad thing... I´ve had the exact same thoughts. I wonder if it will even get to many countries outside of the states. I know it will reach some but almost all south and central american missions I don´t think it will get to them.. and if it does it will be an ´´apartment only´´ thing.. or maybe a ´´with members only´´ thing.. not sure. I hoped that they would be implemented into this mission while I was here cuz I´m in charge of the mission cell phones so I would be in charge of the mission iPads too.. hah but it doesn´t look like it´ll happen during my time. We´ll see!
I love you all! And I´m really excited for this next time we´ll get to skype cuz there will be one more missing piece i´ll be able to see! HERMANA NORTON. :D I sent her a postcard the other day. Sometimes we exchange emails too. Its fun cuz we understand each others spanish but every once and a while I have to ask Elder Góchez, the AP here from el salvador about some of the terms and stuff she uses. hahahahah :D soooo great! AHH!
I love you all again! See you soon!
