twin towers walking the streets

Hello folks,

Madrid is pretty awesome, different of course, but cool. My companion and I are doing great--the Twin Towers over here walking in the streets. People are probably just a bit freaked out when we try to stop and talk to them, but hopefully they´ll get used to it.

The investigator pool here is a bit small so we´re working hard trying to increase it, but the people that we do have are really awesome. Jessica, this lady from Peru, has no doubt been prepared by the Lord to listen to us. She told us that all of her life she´s been opposed to churches, but instead just have your own faith and stick with that. But she came to church and also to the baptism on Saturday and has been improving so much! When we taught her back near the beginning of the week, she started crying at the end--I could tell our message to her touched her heart a little bit more than the other churches. We have a baptismal date with her for the 9th of August so pray with me please for the Lord to help her get prepared and be ready.

I´ve been doing really well, I can tell the lord has been blessing me with Spanish lately, I feel even more fluent when I talk, it just rolls right off so much more easy. The spiritual gifts such as tongues or whatever are real. No doubt about it. 

My companion is doing great, struggles a bit with Spanish, but just in this last week he´s improved! I´m trying to do my best to help him with the little that I know.

 I hope you all had a great week, I love and miss you all. Thanks for your examples and love for me.

 Love, Elder Franson

transfers: on to barrio 9

Beatriz and Edison--recent converts that have been my second family here.

Hermano Fransisco from Peru. Such a good guy.

Well that was really unexpected, I was fully expecting to stay with Elder Galeano for another transfer but as we opened the email on Saturday night, I found out I was leaving to go to Barrio 9 (a big ward here in Madrid, I guess the area is huge). I didn´t move very far but it's still a big change from Alcorcon. My new comp is Elder Saltzman from Draper, Utah, who, you´ll never guess, is taller than me! I don´t know what our success rate will be while contacting in the street because we both will look so intimidating haha. This is only his 2nd transfer in the field so I´ll be training him (!) and  I am also district leader again here in this new area which is pretty exciting--I really loved it last transfer. Sorry for not answering anyone´s questions about being district leader, I think I just forgot. It is really fun, planning district meeting, trying to help them with their challenges or struggles, serving them. I really got close to the missionaries in Alcorcon and it was sad to leave them. Actually, each one of the three companionships in Alcorcon changed this transfer, 3 of us have left. It was a pretty big change, but one that was necessary I think to help us keep the excitment going.
 

Remember that family from Bolivia that I´ve talked about? Carmen and her daughter Jailene (the family that we haven´t been able to get to know the father). Well they finally come to church!! We passed by their house a little bit before the meeting started and walked together. I was so so happy, sharing this with others is a fantastic way to receive blessings and to feel truly happy.

Also, what kind of made it harder to leave, was being able to see this progression in the area and some real potential. We met with a  new guy on Saturday named Andres, who is an artist and writer...can you imagine how excited I was to talk to him? He can paint and he is literally AMAZING. We walked into his house and there is this huge canvas that he has been painting for over a year now and it is a view of the earth but a bit abstract, and it has like a hole in it or crater or something, but it is amazing. Anyway, he came to church yesterday! Afterwards told us that he felt a good energy here and really liked it and wanted to come back--blessings raining from heaven.

This work is what the Lord has commanded us to do in these latter days. I know that this church is true, with all of my heart. The spirit has given me that burning feeling inside of me, so that when I go outside each day, I can testify with more clarity and with more power of the things that i have come to know are true. I want you all to have that experience as well, to have an answer come from the spirit, and I know it will come. 

I love you all, thank you for your supportive emails and prayers. Have a great week :) 

Elder Franson

listening to the spirit

Well some good news to start it off--I´ve lost 13 pounds since I came back from the islands! Pretty happy.

The people here aren´t doin too well after their tragic loss to the Netherlands...pretty bad. This is their life. I´m not even joking when I say there was no one in the street. I hope they can get it back together and not make a fool of themselves. It's sad though because we can´t watch it, and I was hoping the president would let us if maybe Spain made it to the final or something but nope. That's okay though, it´ll help us focus on the work. 

Okay the chair I´m sitting on right now was just slowly going down and I had no idea until my butt was about on the ground. Annoying. 

This week was a struggle with some things, like having our investigators not show up for the lesson or not answer the door when we had called them that morning to confirm it. But it is out of our control, so we just have to do our best. 

I had a really cool experience this week with the spirit, actually multiple experiences. For a little while in my mission I wasn´t exactly sure if I was receiving promptings or guidance from the spirit, and it frustrated me, but lately it has changed. We were walking down a street and my companion stopped just for a second to stretch his leg, and I had just a weird urge to go to the right, change our course. I followed that thought and we walked that way, not knowing what was going to happen, and we came across a recent convert that we needed to talk to and were able to chat with him for a second. It's happened multiple times now and I´m so grateful for the spirit. Maybe in the pastI  just wasn't able to recognize it as the spirit, but as I´ve been studying and really praying to have the spirit, it´s become more evident to me. 

Happy Father's Day to the best dad out there--I´m so grateful for everything you taught me and for helping to get me prepared for my mission. You´re the best.

Also, my camera broke...it's really weird. The lens is out but it wont turn on or do anything. Should I look to buy one here mom or would you rather send one, like the pink one or something? 

Also, could you find out what little town JV Bollar is from? He´s from here in Spain right? I would like to know, if its in my mission, maybe I could visit it. 

Okay, love you all. Have a great week! 

Elder Franson

spreading the 100 day journal challenge

Hello everyone,

Well, not sure how Idaho is doing, but Madrid is getting pretty hot. I think my legs and back are sticking to this chair from sweating haha, gross I know. 

This week went by pretty fast, we are doing really good and have been having a planned and set up lesson for almost each hour but so many of those lessons failed us, which really frustrated me. But I guess there's not much more I can do, they will always have their agency. Whoa okay a weird drunk guy that we always see in the street just came up behind me, and in a really creepy voice, said "Heyyyyyyyy!".... Oh boy. Oh good he left. Whew. 

 

Okay, back to the week, we set a baptismal date with Sebastian! That Spanish investigator that we have. He struggles a bit with prayer, when we ask him to pray he just says 2 or 3 things really fast and then ends it. So we´ve been working with him on that, and after a lesson my comp and I were talking and I found out that he too had had a thought just like I did, of having him write it all down on a paper--the blessings in his life and then the things he needs. We followed that idea and it worked wonderfully! He´s doing pretty good. The Spanish and the South Americans are very different. South Americans are very open and nice, but then they are pretty lazy and aren´t too firm--stereotypically--and the Spanish have a harder shell to crack at first, but once you get past that they can be the most dedicated and firm members you would see. So pray for Sebastian, he needs all the help he can get!

We met with a nice family from here in the branch and somehow the topic or journals got brought up, I think I had invited their 8-year-old daughter to start a journal so she can remember how she´s feeling as she is preparing to be baptized. Of course I got super excited as we began talking about the importance of journals and all that, you know me :) and I talked about my experience, how Kayla challenged me to write in my journal for 100 days straight. It really did help me so much, that challenge, helped me have that habit and even on those days where it seemed like nothing happened, I was able to find something good. Here in the mission it has helped me a ton, helped me recognize the hand of the Lord every day. So what did I do with this family, Kayla? I challenged them to write in their personal journals, but do it as family, for 100 days, and they were super excited! They made plans to go buy journals the very next day and get started haha. It was pretty cool, I´m just a journaling freak, thanks to Kayla, and I want everyone else to be one as well. 

Just got back from the world's oldest restaurant today, went with a couple other missionaries, and it was so good! Started in 1725 and has some great, great food. Their suckling pig is what they are mainly famous for and so that is what I got and it was super good. A bit pricey, though. Made some great memories, I´ll send the pics next week. 

Oh. Important thing--we are starting week 5 of the transfer, so if you want to send stuff do it soon, idk if I´m staying or going. 

Also, found out that there is a word is Spanish for long-legged. Zancudo, might be using that now haha.

Okay, well I´ll talk to you later, have a great week everyone, stay strong in the Gospel by doing those little things. No one can expect to conquer Satan if they aren´t reading their scriptures everyday, going to church, and praying. 

You all are awesome! 

Love, Elder Franson

goodbye to chelsey + the power of service

Good morning everybody,

My eyes have been opened this week to the reality of blessing coming through service. I´ve realized how beneficial it really is, not only to the person you are serving, but to the one who is doing the service. We were helping Beatriz and Edison (a family here in the branch that is our second family for here in Alcorcon) move to a different piso and at one point we were had to take a heavy washing machine down 3 flights of stairs, then over to their other piso building. It was pretty heavy, not going to lie, and we were kind of struggling haha. Well this guy rushes over to us and starts helping us carry it down. His name is Jorge and is from Peru, and he was in the process of moving as well. We were able to help carry some things for him to help out and he was really grateful. The conversation quickly turned to religion and what we did, he asked about what we did because he was so surprised we were willing to help him move and carry stuff. Sorry, long story short, we were able to meet the next day and start teaching him, get to know him a bit, and in the middle of the lesson he asked us what he needs to do to become a Mormon! I was pretty surprised, didn´t really expect that one. He also came to church which was pretty amazing. I´m counting my blessings and thanking the Lord for all that he has done for me, and for blessing us with this experience--all because we were serving. 

Today we went to Madrid to a big park (the big park we went to in the MTC to proselyte on Saturdays) for a little farewell to Chelsey who is going home in 3 weeks! I can´t believe it. It was pretty fun though, we rented bikes and rode around the park, then had a little picnic. It was pretty nice, fun to talk to her about the potato gun wars, Scrabble, Settlers of Catan, all those fun memories, haha. She is still a little bitter when I mentioned Settlers of Catan, didn´t like it too much when Steph kept winning. 

The work is going forward, and is doing great. I know there is no such thing as a hard area or mission, it can all change with our attitude and faith. And its the same in life as well, you can always make your life better, always get more happiness and joy, that is what the Lord wants to do. 

Have a great week!  Love you all so much.

Elder Franson