Well from the title this week, it's pretty easy to say it was a fun
week, we have Javier set to be baptized this week(Mar disappeared,
still working on that one haha), and we have some new great
investigators along with some of ours who are going to be baptized! Now
it's all about preparing Javier for his interview to be
baptized(tomorrow, no pressure...hopefully he's been truthful in all
of our lessons!). But other than that, we've been out of the count for
a bunch of time this week with going to doctors citas for Elder
Woodmansee in Barcelona twice, district meeting, and Elder Woodmansee
being sick on Wednesday. But through all of that we had some amazing
lessons so it's ok!
Que lindo, Javier is what you'd call a flower. We found out that lindo
meant cute or pretty, and that he's been saying it a ton, so that was
funny to find out haha, but hey he's got faith and has been at church
for two weeks now! Yay!!!
One of the more miraculous miracles that happened this week was the
events around getting Javier, to the baptismal service of the elders
in Terrassa on Saturday. When we heard about the service earlier this
week, and were asked if we could bring anyone, our minds immediately
went to Javier, but we knew instantly that it'd take a bit of work on
our part to get him from his pueblo in Navarcles all the way to the
Sabadell building. But through a series of miraculous events, good
planning, and a lot of faith on the part of Javier, he and us made it
to the baptism just as it was starting! And that was even with getting
led off course by some bad navigation, and missing the bus from the
Renfe station! It paid off in the end, since it was a spiritually
powerful baptism, short, direct, and very happy as the lady Xiomena,
was baptized! Javier was very touched by it also, and because of lots
of support there, and from the members here in Manresa for getting him
home from it too, he became a lot more excited for the baptism! He
will be interviewed this week, and even if the branch council isn't
too excited about his baptism being for this week, I know that the
Rama supports him in his desires to be baptized!
One of the new people that we began teaching this week was Ginny(yes
like the Weasley one form Harry Potter haha), from the beautiful
island nation of the Dominican Republic! She's had two lessons with
us now, is reading, and was at the branch activity last night(a very
successful one too, the gracias and Augustine and Bonny, a couple we
were teaching were there too! We played a bunch of strange games like
do you like your neighbor and tutti fruity, it was great too since it
got these investigators to get to know the members!). She's great
though, she even had a dream a while back that she needed to find a
new church, and the evangelicals weren't her thing so here we are
with her! The only thing holding her back from baptism is that she
can't get to church because of work, gosh dang it Spanish schedule!
But it's ok! The Lord always finds a way eventually!
Jehovahs witnesses, they're everywhere! Whether it's telling an
investigator what to say as she's dropping us on the phone, coming
into the middle of a lesson with an Arab man to just make fun of us
for not using our first names, or making us have to leave Ninfa
because she's still holding on to those beliefs, they've been a bit of
a struggle. They're super nice though, but that's been the struggle
here haha.
This week I made the landmark jump from my first study journal to my
second(it's red and bigger too so it'll be easier to write in, I have
some strangely big hand so the other one was a bit tough to use).
But before I switched over, I decided to do a bit of reading through
the journal to see how much I've changed and how much I've grown since
I started using it in the MTC. For one thing my confidence in the
language has changed drastically, but also I've found that over the
last 8.5 months, I could see my testimony grow to where it is now. And
it wasn't overnight either, definitely not, rather it was through many
meetings, conference talks, prayers, spiritual experiences on the
streets, and study times that my testimony grew from, and because of
that I've come to know of the importance of writing down impressions
as you study. Some find it to be a burden to write down their thoughts
and things that stood out to them in meetings and other gatherings and
times, but I found that the more I wrote down these impressions, the
more impactful they became to my life. And because of the diligence I
had to write them down, I've been able to go back and apply what I've
learned to now! So that's what I'd like to invite all of you to start
today! Find a notebook, whether it be with pandas, bunnies, horses or
origami shapes on the cover, and to write down those impressions that
the spirit gives you during your study's and lessons in church or
other places! As well said by Elder Richard G Scott, "I believe that
you can leave the most precious, personal direction of the Spirit
unheard because you do not respond to, record, and apply the first
promptings that come to you."(To Aquire Spiritual Guidance April
2009). So write down those thoughts!
Overall it's been a fun, and emotionally and spiritually long week!
Keep our investigators in your prayers, because you wouldn't believe
the struggles we find here with them, but the longer I've been here,
the more I've grown to love the goofy people of this little town of
miracles(Muslim, Spanish, Gypsies, all of them!).
Love and miss you all, and happy early Mother's Day!
Elder Taylor Moulton
The craziest sunset ever on the way home from Sabadell
Next Sunday, be ready by ..... (So excited to talk with him on Mother's Day!!)
The hills above Manresa
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