The last... melon.
This will be my last email home, until I see you guys! I can´t really believe that it´s already here...gone by way too fast.
I want you all to know that in these last 2 years, I have learned and grown so much, so much so that it surprises me sometimes haha. I´ve never felt so close to the Lord, and I´ve never felt his guiding hand so close to mine.
The opportunity to serve the Lord in the way is a chance that I feel no one should avoid. Had I not come here when I did, I most definitely would not have the testimony that I possess now, which currently and forever will serve as strong roots that hold me planted. It´s amazing to me how much we can learn about within the Gospel. There is no limit, and there is end--just infinite.
I have been taught so much in this time, and wouldn´t trade it for anything. I encourage everyone to serve a mission!
With this heat it kind of makes some parts of the work hard and slow. Hardly anybody is out on the streets when it´s this hot and if you do find people they are in a hurry. We try knocking doors but honestly nobody answers haha--probably all sleeping.
Yesterday for example our one apt. in the afternoon fell through and we were stuck to other methods of finding. We probably crossed no more than 15 people in the whole day, and 4 of those people were lost aisan tourists. But what amazes me is that even with those bad odds, the Lord still finds ways to lead us in the right direction to his prepared sons and daughters. Our endurance and diligence are constantly being tried, and I know that as I do my best to keep pushing forward, the Lord always helps and blesses us in some way.
Kevin came to church today, He´s a pretty interesting guy, and the members are good sports with him. He loves speaking in English even if the person doesn´t know anything in English haha. They´ll sit and listen to him tell his stories or to hear him practice his english. Did I tell you he´s going to be in NY, and flying out the same day as I am?
Church wasn´t actually that bad this week! There were hardly any screams from the kids and not much running around at all. The bishop did crack down hard on the members though with their obedience--thank goodness. Hopefully next week we´ll be able to start sacrament meeting on time and actually with the spirit haha.
I lost my agenda the other day :´( i was honestly pretty sad for a while because it has so much in it! Memories, funny stories, phone numbers...gahh. But there´s not much I can do about it now.
Now as I start my last week, I´ll be sure to work my hardest and do my best in every moment. Thank you so much to everyone one of you, for having supported me, for having prayed and worried for me and other missionaries. I really do appreciate it. Thank you for everything. I owe you guys too much for the countless things you´ve done for me.
I hope you all have a great week, and that you´re able to witness the Lord´s hand in at least one part of each day.
Can´t wait to see you all next week!! So, it´s a goodbye until Tuesday :)
With all of my love,
Elder Franson
Monday, June 29, 2015
Monday, June 22, 2015
strengthening the young womens
This week´s email is also going to be kind of short, I don´t really have much time but also I cut my my finger which makes it quite hard to type normal.
Thank you Leah and Porter for the letters! Loved them, thanks for sending it. I´ve been a slacker lately in writing but I´ll be home soon anyway so we´ll just talk more then haha.
Whenever I talk to Kevin, the Dominican convert, he always asks how Cady is doing in the DR and how she likes it--I´m sure she´s doing great. Thanks Cady for your emails and stories even though you´re busy!
Kevin is doing great, turns out he´s headed to visit his sister in New York, leaving the same day I will be too! We may see each other in the airport haha. His testimony is growing and is really strong, which is amazing for us to see as the missionaries. It´s like a teacher at school, when they see their students finally progress and learn how to do the math problem on their own without struggles.
At church, Kristyna finally came again (she´s the 15 year old that got baptized like a month ago, but then didn't come for a while), such a relief. I was about ready to get more direct with her on having to continue to follow up with her committment.
The funny thing is is that she came with another friend, Maria, 14 years old. And we had another investigator come who was 13 years old. Basically it looked like we are just contacting and teaching the young girls. Which isn´t true, they just all happened to come today. I felt funny walking with them to church though haha, strengthening the Young Womens, yeah!
Found another investigator--Carmen, seems to have a ton of interest! Doesn´t have too much time but has a huge desire to learn more and go see the temple.
All in all, it really was a great week. went and walked through a real and abandoned castle today which was such a cool experience. Each day is a new adventure. A hot one too.
Love you all, have a great week!
Elder Franson
Thank you Leah and Porter for the letters! Loved them, thanks for sending it. I´ve been a slacker lately in writing but I´ll be home soon anyway so we´ll just talk more then haha.
Whenever I talk to Kevin, the Dominican convert, he always asks how Cady is doing in the DR and how she likes it--I´m sure she´s doing great. Thanks Cady for your emails and stories even though you´re busy!
Kevin is doing great, turns out he´s headed to visit his sister in New York, leaving the same day I will be too! We may see each other in the airport haha. His testimony is growing and is really strong, which is amazing for us to see as the missionaries. It´s like a teacher at school, when they see their students finally progress and learn how to do the math problem on their own without struggles.
At church, Kristyna finally came again (she´s the 15 year old that got baptized like a month ago, but then didn't come for a while), such a relief. I was about ready to get more direct with her on having to continue to follow up with her committment.
The funny thing is is that she came with another friend, Maria, 14 years old. And we had another investigator come who was 13 years old. Basically it looked like we are just contacting and teaching the young girls. Which isn´t true, they just all happened to come today. I felt funny walking with them to church though haha, strengthening the Young Womens, yeah!
Found another investigator--Carmen, seems to have a ton of interest! Doesn´t have too much time but has a huge desire to learn more and go see the temple.
All in all, it really was a great week. went and walked through a real and abandoned castle today which was such a cool experience. Each day is a new adventure. A hot one too.
Love you all, have a great week!
Elder Franson
Monday, June 15, 2015
the mission is coming to a close
Hey Mom!
Well I don´t have much time, so I´m only going to really write to you today.
This can be the email you put on the blog if you want. We are more rushed because we spent the day in Madrid, which is about an hour away with my other good buddy and did some good souveneir shopping. I guess you gotta get prepared as the time goes to a close :/ But we had a really really fun time there, we spent a little bit of time at a members house who fed us Ceviche! I hadn´t seen that family for about a year, and we had taught her son and he got baptized then too, so it was wonderful to see them still strong in the Gospel and to see the husband, who´s not a member, warm up more and more to the Church.
Just be prepared for some of the wicked stuff I´m bringing home, you´re going to love it :) But I have to keep it all as a surprise to you´ll have to wait a little bit longer. But I will tell you one thing, that I want to tell Grandpa as well. Spain is famous for its olive trees, and they are everywhere down here. You don´t see them much in Madrid because it´s got to be more south where it´s hot and dry. I had this idea that I´m going to bring home some olive tree wood, both for them to make stuff for themselves but also maybe to make me something haha. I don´t know how easy it´ll be to work with, but I at least want to try.
Tell Kayla and Jess I said Happy 2 year Anniversary! Can´t believe it, and it´s weird that I haven´t even been there for hardly any of it haha. But tell them that I love them and wish them the best :)
Not much more happened here last week...we drank a ton of Morirsoñando with Kevin, the Dominican who got baptized a week ago. He´s actually leaving tomorrow to go to NY to live for a couple of months, and he really wants to talk with all of you. So when I get home we´ll call him and you´ll meet him :)
Jesus, our other really good investigator has been gone to Holland but should be back now, we´re going to pass by his house this evening to see how he´s doing and to confirm the plans for his baptism too.
I´ve been having such a great time, and have been seeing so many miracles. The work here is doing amazing and I´m enjoying my time here so much. I only have 3 weeks left but it still doesn´t feel that weird yet. I´m sure it´ll hit later. But for right now, I´ll just stick with working hard and having a good time.
I love you all so much, I love you mom and Dad. Sorry I´m not being really good at replying lately to everything, but I read every one of your emails and love them so much. Thank you for your motivation that you´ve given me.
Take care! Love you SO MUCH.
Elder Franson
Well I don´t have much time, so I´m only going to really write to you today.
This can be the email you put on the blog if you want. We are more rushed because we spent the day in Madrid, which is about an hour away with my other good buddy and did some good souveneir shopping. I guess you gotta get prepared as the time goes to a close :/ But we had a really really fun time there, we spent a little bit of time at a members house who fed us Ceviche! I hadn´t seen that family for about a year, and we had taught her son and he got baptized then too, so it was wonderful to see them still strong in the Gospel and to see the husband, who´s not a member, warm up more and more to the Church.
Just be prepared for some of the wicked stuff I´m bringing home, you´re going to love it :) But I have to keep it all as a surprise to you´ll have to wait a little bit longer. But I will tell you one thing, that I want to tell Grandpa as well. Spain is famous for its olive trees, and they are everywhere down here. You don´t see them much in Madrid because it´s got to be more south where it´s hot and dry. I had this idea that I´m going to bring home some olive tree wood, both for them to make stuff for themselves but also maybe to make me something haha. I don´t know how easy it´ll be to work with, but I at least want to try.
Tell Kayla and Jess I said Happy 2 year Anniversary! Can´t believe it, and it´s weird that I haven´t even been there for hardly any of it haha. But tell them that I love them and wish them the best :)
Not much more happened here last week...we drank a ton of Morirsoñando with Kevin, the Dominican who got baptized a week ago. He´s actually leaving tomorrow to go to NY to live for a couple of months, and he really wants to talk with all of you. So when I get home we´ll call him and you´ll meet him :)
Jesus, our other really good investigator has been gone to Holland but should be back now, we´re going to pass by his house this evening to see how he´s doing and to confirm the plans for his baptism too.
I´ve been having such a great time, and have been seeing so many miracles. The work here is doing amazing and I´m enjoying my time here so much. I only have 3 weeks left but it still doesn´t feel that weird yet. I´m sure it´ll hit later. But for right now, I´ll just stick with working hard and having a good time.
I love you all so much, I love you mom and Dad. Sorry I´m not being really good at replying lately to everything, but I read every one of your emails and love them so much. Thank you for your motivation that you´ve given me.
Take care! Love you SO MUCH.
Elder Franson
Monday, June 8, 2015
crazy sacrament meetings continue
Dear Everyone :)
We had a really packed week, which made it go by quite fast. Had a couple exchanges with other missionaries, went to the temple (for the last time on my mission :( sad) and we had a baptism on Sunday! Kevin, our Domincan miracle guy got baptized and had a great day. He´s got a funny personality, just LOVES to speak english to everybody, even if they don´t speak english, so Kayla that´s why you got that one message from him haha--his real name is Narciso, or Narcy. He´s going to be in New York for a couple months here shortly and has said something about wanting to visit us there haha. We´ll see, we´re going to stay in good contact by email until I get home then I can talk more with him. I hope he can stay active while he´s there (he´ll be living with his sister and her family who are all members in NY actually).
Another miracle was having a great lesson with a new family, the parents names are Alberto and Marisela. Albert´s uncle is a strong member of the church here, and somehow we were just at the right place at the right time and got their number and an apt. to meet at their house. Found out later that that was the first time missionaries had ever been at the house. They fed us some amazing Ecuadorian food, then we had a really spiritual lessons based on the scriptures, namely the BOM, and how they can have a Christ centered home. They loved it! Then Alberto and Marisela were both so focused and attentive, and their two cute little kids were surprisingly very attentive as well. We´ll be meeting with them this Thursday and hopefully be able to see a big progression in their desire to learn more and progression.
Sacrament meeting continues to be pretty loud with all of the kids running around constantly and throwing things around. I just have to close my eyes and pretend like I´m not seeing it, or else I start having hernias.
Our other really great investigator, Jesus, is now on a trip to Holland for a couple weeks, and when he get´s back he´s getting baptized. We´re really excited for him, he´s doing really really good.
I love you all, never doubt that the Lord can do anything through his soft but powerful Spirit. I´ve seen so many miracles come from following that subtle guidance, and hope you all can feel it too.
Love you all so much!
Elder Franson
We had a really packed week, which made it go by quite fast. Had a couple exchanges with other missionaries, went to the temple (for the last time on my mission :( sad) and we had a baptism on Sunday! Kevin, our Domincan miracle guy got baptized and had a great day. He´s got a funny personality, just LOVES to speak english to everybody, even if they don´t speak english, so Kayla that´s why you got that one message from him haha--his real name is Narciso, or Narcy. He´s going to be in New York for a couple months here shortly and has said something about wanting to visit us there haha. We´ll see, we´re going to stay in good contact by email until I get home then I can talk more with him. I hope he can stay active while he´s there (he´ll be living with his sister and her family who are all members in NY actually).
Another miracle was having a great lesson with a new family, the parents names are Alberto and Marisela. Albert´s uncle is a strong member of the church here, and somehow we were just at the right place at the right time and got their number and an apt. to meet at their house. Found out later that that was the first time missionaries had ever been at the house. They fed us some amazing Ecuadorian food, then we had a really spiritual lessons based on the scriptures, namely the BOM, and how they can have a Christ centered home. They loved it! Then Alberto and Marisela were both so focused and attentive, and their two cute little kids were surprisingly very attentive as well. We´ll be meeting with them this Thursday and hopefully be able to see a big progression in their desire to learn more and progression.
Sacrament meeting continues to be pretty loud with all of the kids running around constantly and throwing things around. I just have to close my eyes and pretend like I´m not seeing it, or else I start having hernias.
Our other really great investigator, Jesus, is now on a trip to Holland for a couple weeks, and when he get´s back he´s getting baptized. We´re really excited for him, he´s doing really really good.
I love you all, never doubt that the Lord can do anything through his soft but powerful Spirit. I´ve seen so many miracles come from following that subtle guidance, and hope you all can feel it too.
Love you all so much!
Elder Franson
Baptism of Kevin
Monday, June 1, 2015
the work is moving forward!
Dear Family and Friends,
Weeks are passing by too fast to be able to give a detailed description of them, you´d have to go back and read my journal haha.
We had a pretty good week, although it for sure had its ups and downs. Lost contact with a couple investigators, then regained it. Had a couple days where all of our appointments and plans fell though and we were scrambling to find other things to do.
We´re definitely gaining the ward´s trust, especially the bishop´s. It´s amazing when you know that the members can rely and trust in you. The best and most productive way to do missionary work is obviously by and through the members, and when I see the members trying their best to present their friends to us, or to see them talking about how they can invite their friend(s) to church, I'm filled with a big feeling of gratefulness and excitement.
Yesterday an American family came to our ward to visit and they have some family here in Toledo who aren´t members. They had visited them the night before and then gave us the phone number to be able to contact them. I´m really excited to open this new door and try to teach them. I think they could really use all of our prayers to help soften their hearts and prepare them to accept the gospel. I hope all goes well!
We had some really small but impressive moments during the week that lead us to find some really great people. One day we were just walking and sweating as we walked on the deserted streets and randomly turned into a park. Once we got in there I saw a woman walking towards us, the only person out in public within a decent sized radius. We of course stopped her and started talking. She´s from the DR, and even though she was on her way to work, seemed very happy and willing to give us her number to call another day. After that I just starting thinking how it was completely the Lord that lead us there, and made sure to offer up a prayer of thanks for such a tender mercy. The same sort of thing happened later that day but with a lady from Nicaragua. And earlier that day we found a very nice and kind Spaniard man who wants to talk another day. Little by little the Lord´s work is moving forward!
I love you all, you mean the world to me.
Love Elder Franson
Weeks are passing by too fast to be able to give a detailed description of them, you´d have to go back and read my journal haha.
We had a pretty good week, although it for sure had its ups and downs. Lost contact with a couple investigators, then regained it. Had a couple days where all of our appointments and plans fell though and we were scrambling to find other things to do.
We´re definitely gaining the ward´s trust, especially the bishop´s. It´s amazing when you know that the members can rely and trust in you. The best and most productive way to do missionary work is obviously by and through the members, and when I see the members trying their best to present their friends to us, or to see them talking about how they can invite their friend(s) to church, I'm filled with a big feeling of gratefulness and excitement.
Yesterday an American family came to our ward to visit and they have some family here in Toledo who aren´t members. They had visited them the night before and then gave us the phone number to be able to contact them. I´m really excited to open this new door and try to teach them. I think they could really use all of our prayers to help soften their hearts and prepare them to accept the gospel. I hope all goes well!
We had some really small but impressive moments during the week that lead us to find some really great people. One day we were just walking and sweating as we walked on the deserted streets and randomly turned into a park. Once we got in there I saw a woman walking towards us, the only person out in public within a decent sized radius. We of course stopped her and started talking. She´s from the DR, and even though she was on her way to work, seemed very happy and willing to give us her number to call another day. After that I just starting thinking how it was completely the Lord that lead us there, and made sure to offer up a prayer of thanks for such a tender mercy. The same sort of thing happened later that day but with a lady from Nicaragua. And earlier that day we found a very nice and kind Spaniard man who wants to talk another day. Little by little the Lord´s work is moving forward!
I love you all, you mean the world to me.
Love Elder Franson
Monday, May 25, 2015
best birthday he's ever had
With lots of things going on today, I don´t have that much time to write my big email, but I´ll make it as best as I can :)
To sum up the week, I could only use the word MIRACLES. We will be having some baptisms soon with some investigators of our that honestly have just been blowing me away with how interested and ready they are. Jesus is the first one, the Venezuelan guy. Our relationship is really growing, I think he likes us a lot. The other day he sent us a text that said ´Hey if you guys are ever around here and want to rest or visit for a bit, just stop on by my house! It is after all your house too.¨ How nice of him!
Taught him the word of wisdom the other day and he accepted it completely, without doubt at all. He did have a question about how to be able to deal with certain doubts with it that his friends might have when he wants to share the Gospel with him, which showed me that this guy is truly feeling the spirit because his desire to share it with others is growing quite rapidly. I´m so excited!! His baptismal date is for the 21 of June, he´s going on a trip between now and then, but it should all work out fine.
Kevin is the other, found him pretty recently. he is Dominican and has family in NY who are members who have been playing a part in preparing him to accept the Gospel now. He came to church on Sunday, although I think he didn´t realize that it was 3 hours long because he left after the first one (elders quorum). But we´ll be meeting with him tonight and teaching him more. He´s doing so great and will be baptized soon as well!
I´m just happier than happy right now. The baptismal date that we set with Kevin, we set on my birthday. That same day was when we had an amazing lesson with Jesus and some other investigators. Honestly, one of the best birthdays I´ve ever had before. Seeing miracles happen in the lives of the investigators and members is so filling. I´m loving every second of life out here.
I hope you all are doing fine and enjoying the rain, you know how much I love that stuff. Take care and be safe.
With all my love,
Elder Franson
To sum up the week, I could only use the word MIRACLES. We will be having some baptisms soon with some investigators of our that honestly have just been blowing me away with how interested and ready they are. Jesus is the first one, the Venezuelan guy. Our relationship is really growing, I think he likes us a lot. The other day he sent us a text that said ´Hey if you guys are ever around here and want to rest or visit for a bit, just stop on by my house! It is after all your house too.¨ How nice of him!
Taught him the word of wisdom the other day and he accepted it completely, without doubt at all. He did have a question about how to be able to deal with certain doubts with it that his friends might have when he wants to share the Gospel with him, which showed me that this guy is truly feeling the spirit because his desire to share it with others is growing quite rapidly. I´m so excited!! His baptismal date is for the 21 of June, he´s going on a trip between now and then, but it should all work out fine.
Kevin is the other, found him pretty recently. he is Dominican and has family in NY who are members who have been playing a part in preparing him to accept the Gospel now. He came to church on Sunday, although I think he didn´t realize that it was 3 hours long because he left after the first one (elders quorum). But we´ll be meeting with him tonight and teaching him more. He´s doing so great and will be baptized soon as well!
I´m just happier than happy right now. The baptismal date that we set with Kevin, we set on my birthday. That same day was when we had an amazing lesson with Jesus and some other investigators. Honestly, one of the best birthdays I´ve ever had before. Seeing miracles happen in the lives of the investigators and members is so filling. I´m loving every second of life out here.
I hope you all are doing fine and enjoying the rain, you know how much I love that stuff. Take care and be safe.
With all my love,
Elder Franson
Monday, May 18, 2015
it's getting hot
I´ve found that screaming children at church really can push my buttons quite fast. It was pretty bad yesterday, and kids running around the sacrament room, playing on iPads with the volume up, getting in fights with other kids, falling off chairs. It´s just too much sometimes.
But the miracle of that was that our amazing investigator, Jesus, came to church and actually liked it! He stayed all three hours, and because the order of the classes is backwards here, we started in the Elders quorum and we were worrried that he was getting bored. But he ended up liking it and we talked a bit after. We´ll be meeting with him on Tuesday, tomorrow, and we´ll make the baptismal plans more concrete.
It´s been so dang hot, I´m just constantly sweating I swear which sounds gross but it´s just what it is now. It´s much hotter down here than it is in Madrid. When I first got here it was quite green, but you can tell that it´s slowly starting to turn a little more brown.
The heat tends to keep people inside or just away from the streets. So we don´t see many people until later in the evening, like 8 or 9 sometimes haha. We´re trying to see if we can find new and better ways to find new investigators for those hours when no one can be found in the streets. Like finding families together in the parks as an example.
So, lets just say these white shirts have been turning a bit off white and I will not be taking them home.
Had zone conference on Thursday, it was a really good one--talked about being more bold in missionary work. Got to see Elder Wilson! Lots of fun to see and talk with him. Weird that he´ll be going home in a week!
All in all, we´re still seeing new miracles and blessings each day, like this new family that we´re going to visit on Friday where the parents are both inactive and the 3 kids haven´t been baptized yet, and we´re super excited to talk with them to see if we can work some magic :)
I love you all so much, thanks for your support and examples. I think and pray for you often.
Love Elder Franson
But the miracle of that was that our amazing investigator, Jesus, came to church and actually liked it! He stayed all three hours, and because the order of the classes is backwards here, we started in the Elders quorum and we were worrried that he was getting bored. But he ended up liking it and we talked a bit after. We´ll be meeting with him on Tuesday, tomorrow, and we´ll make the baptismal plans more concrete.
It´s been so dang hot, I´m just constantly sweating I swear which sounds gross but it´s just what it is now. It´s much hotter down here than it is in Madrid. When I first got here it was quite green, but you can tell that it´s slowly starting to turn a little more brown.
The heat tends to keep people inside or just away from the streets. So we don´t see many people until later in the evening, like 8 or 9 sometimes haha. We´re trying to see if we can find new and better ways to find new investigators for those hours when no one can be found in the streets. Like finding families together in the parks as an example.
So, lets just say these white shirts have been turning a bit off white and I will not be taking them home.
Had zone conference on Thursday, it was a really good one--talked about being more bold in missionary work. Got to see Elder Wilson! Lots of fun to see and talk with him. Weird that he´ll be going home in a week!
All in all, we´re still seeing new miracles and blessings each day, like this new family that we´re going to visit on Friday where the parents are both inactive and the 3 kids haven´t been baptized yet, and we´re super excited to talk with them to see if we can work some magic :)
I love you all so much, thanks for your support and examples. I think and pray for you often.
Love Elder Franson
Sunday, May 10, 2015
mother's day chat
Here are some snippets of our chat with Levi on Mother's Day:
"Here's a little napkin. Spit that out."
The first breakfast he wants is waffles (which he called French toast).
"So...it tastes pretty good!" (Jamon leg)
Talking about Six Months to Sexy: "We gotta go a little harder. Maybe Matt could be my personal trainer and he could come to church and he'll make me strong. And then in a couple years I can go to the Olympics."
"Gymnastics, honestly...pretty sure if I walked up to the high bars it would go up to my chin."
"It's going to be so weird to have no neighbors and be able to make noise without being yelled at. I'm just gonna scream and yell like The Sound of Music."
"Spanish hasn't changed my English, has it?" Cady-- "It's changed your spelling."
"There's tons of missionaries who are like, dude, the minute I get back I'm growing a beard. I'm like, good luck. I can't even grow a beard."
From Levi's companion-- "Levi's a wonderful guy. He's definitely one of my favorite companions. You guys raised him right."
"Here's a little napkin. Spit that out."
The first breakfast he wants is waffles (which he called French toast).
"So...it tastes pretty good!" (Jamon leg)
Talking about Six Months to Sexy: "We gotta go a little harder. Maybe Matt could be my personal trainer and he could come to church and he'll make me strong. And then in a couple years I can go to the Olympics."
"Gymnastics, honestly...pretty sure if I walked up to the high bars it would go up to my chin."
"It's going to be so weird to have no neighbors and be able to make noise without being yelled at. I'm just gonna scream and yell like The Sound of Music."
"Spanish hasn't changed my English, has it?" Cady-- "It's changed your spelling."
"There's tons of missionaries who are like, dude, the minute I get back I'm growing a beard. I'm like, good luck. I can't even grow a beard."
From Levi's companion-- "Levi's a wonderful guy. He's definitely one of my favorite companions. You guys raised him right."
Monday, May 4, 2015
friendship in missionary work
Lots of things going on here in Toledo, it´s been both a very tiring and rewarding week.
We don´t have many people that we´re teaching here, but those that are listening to us have lots of potential and we´re beginning to see new possibilities in others. Our investigator Krystina, the 15 year old girl from Ecuador, got baptized on Sunday! The missionaries have been teaching her from before I got here, and she´s been preparing herself for this day and everything turned out fine. Although there had to, like always, be some opposition with the baptismal service. For example, this font was one that we had to actually set up, like a portable one, and that took a little bit. Then on Sunday morning when we were filling it, the hose that slowly filled it broke and water went spraying everywhere!! My companion grabbed it to kink the hose, even though it kind of burned him, and we stopped it. Then, we had to get cold water in the font because it was just filled with burning hot water haha. Baptismal days are always quite stressful, but I´d deal with that stress any day so that they can take that step.
The actual baptismal service went really well, wasn´t too long, was very spiritual, and her family all came and seemed to have really like it! They haven´t really been ´receiving the lessons´, but I think we definitely will see some progression in these coming days.
This week we´ve been trying to find new people, and we´ve been doing that a lot. There are days when we walk a ton, and I get back home and am really tired. One night, I think it was Thursday or Friday, Elder Jones and I got back home and went to go pray to start the nightly planning session. It sounds weird, but it felt so good to kneel on the ground and we stayed there for a good 40 minutes talking haha.
It´s so easy to talk to him, we´re always having great conversations and stories. We stayed up for forever one night too just talking about different things. I love being companions with him, it´s nice to have that great friendship in missionary work here.
We´ve been making plans to visit some castles around this area, the province that Toledo is in is called Castilla la Mancha. It was named that partly because of the many castles dotting the countryside. I feel like I´m living a dream sometimes!
Went on a day hike today as well, found a really cool view of the old city from a big hillside on the other side of the river. It was nice just to walk and be on a little trail. Are we still going to do the Wind River hike this summer?
Love you all a lot, thanks for your great examples and support. I´m so lucky to have you all.
Love Elder Franson
We don´t have many people that we´re teaching here, but those that are listening to us have lots of potential and we´re beginning to see new possibilities in others. Our investigator Krystina, the 15 year old girl from Ecuador, got baptized on Sunday! The missionaries have been teaching her from before I got here, and she´s been preparing herself for this day and everything turned out fine. Although there had to, like always, be some opposition with the baptismal service. For example, this font was one that we had to actually set up, like a portable one, and that took a little bit. Then on Sunday morning when we were filling it, the hose that slowly filled it broke and water went spraying everywhere!! My companion grabbed it to kink the hose, even though it kind of burned him, and we stopped it. Then, we had to get cold water in the font because it was just filled with burning hot water haha. Baptismal days are always quite stressful, but I´d deal with that stress any day so that they can take that step.
The actual baptismal service went really well, wasn´t too long, was very spiritual, and her family all came and seemed to have really like it! They haven´t really been ´receiving the lessons´, but I think we definitely will see some progression in these coming days.
This week we´ve been trying to find new people, and we´ve been doing that a lot. There are days when we walk a ton, and I get back home and am really tired. One night, I think it was Thursday or Friday, Elder Jones and I got back home and went to go pray to start the nightly planning session. It sounds weird, but it felt so good to kneel on the ground and we stayed there for a good 40 minutes talking haha.
It´s so easy to talk to him, we´re always having great conversations and stories. We stayed up for forever one night too just talking about different things. I love being companions with him, it´s nice to have that great friendship in missionary work here.
We´ve been making plans to visit some castles around this area, the province that Toledo is in is called Castilla la Mancha. It was named that partly because of the many castles dotting the countryside. I feel like I´m living a dream sometimes!
Went on a day hike today as well, found a really cool view of the old city from a big hillside on the other side of the river. It was nice just to walk and be on a little trail. Are we still going to do the Wind River hike this summer?
Love you all a lot, thanks for your great examples and support. I´m so lucky to have you all.
Love Elder Franson
I've got a tan line going already.
My new companion and me.
The font.
The baptism!
City of Toledo.
Monday, April 27, 2015
continue on with patience
Well hello everyone :)
I trust everyone is doing well, there are always many blessings to be found. We had an interesting week, but also witnessed multiple blessings and miracles.
Toledo has a lot less people out and about like madrid does, but there are still so many people to be found I know. After praying really hard one morning to be guided to some people who would actually have some interest, we ended up finding 5 great people almost in a row, and got their phone numbers! Felt so great. There are other days when you don´t find any one, but I guess the trick is just learning how to be more constant in your patience and motivation. I´m doing alright, there of course are days when I feel like I´m just so tired of walking and that there is no one who will actually stop for a second and listen to us, but somehow I continue on.
We had an unexpected change, Elder Armstrong left and I have a new companion named Elder Jones--also from Idaho! Rigby, and is related to the Simmons, how cool! It was sad saying goodbye to Elder Armstrong, we got along great and had a good time together. But I´m excited to see what these next couple of weeks bring. Elder Jones wants to get a Jamon leg, because he´s never gotten one before, so we´ll probably do that soon haha. We´re going to get a cheaper one though, less money.
The ward is doing pretty good, it was weird being in the Priesthood meeting with only 5 other people, probably the smallest attendance I´ve been in. But they are some great leaders. There is however a big problem with crying babies here. No, let me rephrase that. There is a big problem with babies that won´t quit screaming at the top of their lungs here. Sacrament meeting was the worst haha, for honestly 15 minutes a little girl would not stop screaming! And we´re you know in a sacrament room that´s really small, so it´s just drilling into our ears, and we can´t even hear the guy who´s trying to talk in the microphone. The worst part was that the parents didn´t even take her out of the room for the longest time! I was cringing so bad in my seat. I know I shouldn´t judge, and I´ve never been a parent so I don´t really know, but I was just so surprised that the parents just kept her there without making any move to take her out. Anyway, apart from that the church meetings were pretty good haha. We meet in a small little place here close to our house actually, and it´s been pretty enjoyable.
The city of Toledo is just amazing, I´m loving every second of it. We went and walked around here for a while and were looking through all of the little shops. Lots of tourists there, today we met a guy from Florida--I don´t think he likes the Mormons haha--but it´s cool to see people from all over.
I love you all so much, thanks as always for your love and support. I hope to be able to return that love to you as well as you have done it to me.
Have a great day, and happy birthday, Dad!!
Love Elder Franson
I trust everyone is doing well, there are always many blessings to be found. We had an interesting week, but also witnessed multiple blessings and miracles.
Toledo has a lot less people out and about like madrid does, but there are still so many people to be found I know. After praying really hard one morning to be guided to some people who would actually have some interest, we ended up finding 5 great people almost in a row, and got their phone numbers! Felt so great. There are other days when you don´t find any one, but I guess the trick is just learning how to be more constant in your patience and motivation. I´m doing alright, there of course are days when I feel like I´m just so tired of walking and that there is no one who will actually stop for a second and listen to us, but somehow I continue on.
We had an unexpected change, Elder Armstrong left and I have a new companion named Elder Jones--also from Idaho! Rigby, and is related to the Simmons, how cool! It was sad saying goodbye to Elder Armstrong, we got along great and had a good time together. But I´m excited to see what these next couple of weeks bring. Elder Jones wants to get a Jamon leg, because he´s never gotten one before, so we´ll probably do that soon haha. We´re going to get a cheaper one though, less money.
The ward is doing pretty good, it was weird being in the Priesthood meeting with only 5 other people, probably the smallest attendance I´ve been in. But they are some great leaders. There is however a big problem with crying babies here. No, let me rephrase that. There is a big problem with babies that won´t quit screaming at the top of their lungs here. Sacrament meeting was the worst haha, for honestly 15 minutes a little girl would not stop screaming! And we´re you know in a sacrament room that´s really small, so it´s just drilling into our ears, and we can´t even hear the guy who´s trying to talk in the microphone. The worst part was that the parents didn´t even take her out of the room for the longest time! I was cringing so bad in my seat. I know I shouldn´t judge, and I´ve never been a parent so I don´t really know, but I was just so surprised that the parents just kept her there without making any move to take her out. Anyway, apart from that the church meetings were pretty good haha. We meet in a small little place here close to our house actually, and it´s been pretty enjoyable.
The city of Toledo is just amazing, I´m loving every second of it. We went and walked around here for a while and were looking through all of the little shops. Lots of tourists there, today we met a guy from Florida--I don´t think he likes the Mormons haha--but it´s cool to see people from all over.
I love you all so much, thanks as always for your love and support. I hope to be able to return that love to you as well as you have done it to me.
Have a great day, and happy birthday, Dad!!
Love Elder Franson
Monday, April 20, 2015
holy toledo
Dear everybody :)
So many things happened this week, making it a bit longer. For me, the first week in a new area and with a new companion always go by a little bit slower. Not because they´re bad, just I guess getting used to the new things. My companion is just fantastic, doing really really well. He Spanish is pretty good for not having taken it in high school and just starting here, and his desire to be the best he can be are very inspiring to me.
So here is the history of Toledo, church wise. It hasn´t had missionaries in it for a long time, maybe a little over a year and a half or around there. It is a ward but technically should be a branch. The branch I just left, Fuenlabrada, had its record set my last Sunday there with 90 people in sacrament meeting, and Toledo has about 40ish. The members here though are just great, I can tell they are great people and have great testimonies. The thing is though, that they´re kind of appear to be sleeping....What I mean is that some of them don´t seem to be very eager to do much more than the very minimum. I feel like a lot of responsablitiy is upon my shoulders being here, but I do realize that after all, it is after the trial that we get strengthened and are able to learn. There is so much potential here though, there are great people in the street and we´ve got couple good investigators. One of them is Krystina, who is from Ecuador and is actually 15 years old but honestly acts more like a 25 year old. If all goes well, she should be getting baptized in a couple weeks.
There are noticeably less people on the street and less people to talk to. we walk and contact a ton and I usually arrive home with feet that just ache and hurt, it takes quite an effort to find members to use in lessons, but amidst all of that, somehow my companion and I continue super happy and are having a great time.
I had been praying really hard to be able to receive a miracle like we had just a few weeks ago in my last area when we met Jose who was just a made made of freaking gold. He´ll be baptized in a couple weeks. I didn´t want to sound needy to Heavenly Father, but I remember asking for the spiritual guidance that I needed to find those that were looking and searching for Him. On Saturday, I was praying really hard for that during the morning, and after we had been out of the house for an hour or two we saw this guy walking with his son and in my head I just felt like I needed to stop him. I did, and he turned out to be just an incredible Spanish guy, married to a Dominican lady, and is very family oriented. I was just flipping out inside as we talked to him. He didn´t give us his number to contact him, but he´s going to come to english class this week and we´ll be able to talk some more. What a cool and quick answer to our prayers. Sometimes in smaller cities like this, there are fewer experiences like that, but sometimes they seem even bigger than before.
Jess wrote me a really good email this week which really inspired me for these last couple of months. I can´t quote the entire email, but it was all really really good. thanks Jess for that, it was a great email.
I love working in smaller cities and branches so much, I think I´ve said that a lot haha.
I love you all so much, thanks so much for all that you do, I am so grateful for you. Have a great week :)
Love Elder Franson
So many things happened this week, making it a bit longer. For me, the first week in a new area and with a new companion always go by a little bit slower. Not because they´re bad, just I guess getting used to the new things. My companion is just fantastic, doing really really well. He Spanish is pretty good for not having taken it in high school and just starting here, and his desire to be the best he can be are very inspiring to me.
So here is the history of Toledo, church wise. It hasn´t had missionaries in it for a long time, maybe a little over a year and a half or around there. It is a ward but technically should be a branch. The branch I just left, Fuenlabrada, had its record set my last Sunday there with 90 people in sacrament meeting, and Toledo has about 40ish. The members here though are just great, I can tell they are great people and have great testimonies. The thing is though, that they´re kind of appear to be sleeping....What I mean is that some of them don´t seem to be very eager to do much more than the very minimum. I feel like a lot of responsablitiy is upon my shoulders being here, but I do realize that after all, it is after the trial that we get strengthened and are able to learn. There is so much potential here though, there are great people in the street and we´ve got couple good investigators. One of them is Krystina, who is from Ecuador and is actually 15 years old but honestly acts more like a 25 year old. If all goes well, she should be getting baptized in a couple weeks.
There are noticeably less people on the street and less people to talk to. we walk and contact a ton and I usually arrive home with feet that just ache and hurt, it takes quite an effort to find members to use in lessons, but amidst all of that, somehow my companion and I continue super happy and are having a great time.
I had been praying really hard to be able to receive a miracle like we had just a few weeks ago in my last area when we met Jose who was just a made made of freaking gold. He´ll be baptized in a couple weeks. I didn´t want to sound needy to Heavenly Father, but I remember asking for the spiritual guidance that I needed to find those that were looking and searching for Him. On Saturday, I was praying really hard for that during the morning, and after we had been out of the house for an hour or two we saw this guy walking with his son and in my head I just felt like I needed to stop him. I did, and he turned out to be just an incredible Spanish guy, married to a Dominican lady, and is very family oriented. I was just flipping out inside as we talked to him. He didn´t give us his number to contact him, but he´s going to come to english class this week and we´ll be able to talk some more. What a cool and quick answer to our prayers. Sometimes in smaller cities like this, there are fewer experiences like that, but sometimes they seem even bigger than before.
Jess wrote me a really good email this week which really inspired me for these last couple of months. I can´t quote the entire email, but it was all really really good. thanks Jess for that, it was a great email.
I love working in smaller cities and branches so much, I think I´ve said that a lot haha.
I love you all so much, thanks so much for all that you do, I am so grateful for you. Have a great week :)
Love Elder Franson
I know I'm not just here for the view, but it is definitely a plus :)
It's like I'm just living in a mythical world all the time...I mean, you guys know me, I'm a sucker for those medieval movies in castles and old cities, and how lucky am I to be able to live here?!
My comp and I :)
Monday, April 13, 2015
goodbye to fuenlabrada, hello to toledo
Well hello everyone :)
Big news to start off--I was just transferred this morning to city to the south of Madrid named Toledo, famous for its history and oldness. I actually came here once before on a Pday, last year, but didn´t get to see a lot of the city. Now I´ll be able to really get to know it. My companion is Elder Armstrong, from Pocatello! Grew up on a farm as well :) I´m so excited, we´re going to be able to work super hard and I won´t hear any complaining or whimpering! haha It´s so true what they say, that those hard working Idaho farm boys turn out to be great missionaries. I still don´t know him very well nor the area--I´ve only been here for a couple hours, but we´re going to have such a great time. It's also very likely that he´s my last companion, so we´ll see. They´ve told me there is a great Argentine family here in the ward, and I don´t know if I´ve told you before but I love Argentines haha.
It´s technically a ward, but its quite small, 30-40 people coming each Sunday. Could be a branch. I´m so excited to work here and to put all on the field.
We finished really hard for the last week in Fuenlabrada, and saw lots and lots of blessings. We have this new investigator named Jose, from Peru, who was such a miracle! The story is this--is family lives in Peru, and have been members of the church for a little time now. And they continually have been teaching him and sharing the gospel with him as he lives here in Spain and is working a lot. They did such a great job, and were so patient with him as he looked for the church. Finally he got in contact with it and we´re starting to teach him! He´s said multiple times how great he feels in the chapel and the strong spirit that he´s noticed. He loves this church already by seeing the great changes that it has made in the lives of his wife and daughters. The wife actually called him and talked on speaker phone to us as well, just so excited that we´re here haha, and then said ´Elders, baptize him quick!!´ and jose looked up with a big grin as well agreeing, saying he wants to get batpized now. YES! Thank you Heavenly Father for that tender mercy.
It was sad to say good bye to all of the amazing friends I have now in Fuenlabrada, never easy, but thanks to technology we´ll be able to continue in contact. I´ve found so many amazing people here, and have felt their love and trust in me, which was something that i really wanted to have by the end.
I love you all so much, thanks for the emails like always, and for the love and prayers. I´ll be able to send more details and pictures next week :)
With all of my love,
Elder Franson
Big news to start off--I was just transferred this morning to city to the south of Madrid named Toledo, famous for its history and oldness. I actually came here once before on a Pday, last year, but didn´t get to see a lot of the city. Now I´ll be able to really get to know it. My companion is Elder Armstrong, from Pocatello! Grew up on a farm as well :) I´m so excited, we´re going to be able to work super hard and I won´t hear any complaining or whimpering! haha It´s so true what they say, that those hard working Idaho farm boys turn out to be great missionaries. I still don´t know him very well nor the area--I´ve only been here for a couple hours, but we´re going to have such a great time. It's also very likely that he´s my last companion, so we´ll see. They´ve told me there is a great Argentine family here in the ward, and I don´t know if I´ve told you before but I love Argentines haha.
It´s technically a ward, but its quite small, 30-40 people coming each Sunday. Could be a branch. I´m so excited to work here and to put all on the field.
We finished really hard for the last week in Fuenlabrada, and saw lots and lots of blessings. We have this new investigator named Jose, from Peru, who was such a miracle! The story is this--is family lives in Peru, and have been members of the church for a little time now. And they continually have been teaching him and sharing the gospel with him as he lives here in Spain and is working a lot. They did such a great job, and were so patient with him as he looked for the church. Finally he got in contact with it and we´re starting to teach him! He´s said multiple times how great he feels in the chapel and the strong spirit that he´s noticed. He loves this church already by seeing the great changes that it has made in the lives of his wife and daughters. The wife actually called him and talked on speaker phone to us as well, just so excited that we´re here haha, and then said ´Elders, baptize him quick!!´ and jose looked up with a big grin as well agreeing, saying he wants to get batpized now. YES! Thank you Heavenly Father for that tender mercy.
It was sad to say good bye to all of the amazing friends I have now in Fuenlabrada, never easy, but thanks to technology we´ll be able to continue in contact. I´ve found so many amazing people here, and have felt their love and trust in me, which was something that i really wanted to have by the end.
I love you all so much, thanks for the emails like always, and for the love and prayers. I´ll be able to send more details and pictures next week :)
With all of my love,
Elder Franson
Monday, April 6, 2015
the sealing of pilar, pablo, and luis
Hey everyone!
This week is so full of great things to talk about, And I guess the first is about the crazy fact that Kayla had her baby!!! I can´t believe it, for a while each night as I knelt to pray, having no idea if she had given birth or not, I would pray so hard for the health and well being of the both of them, and the Lord answered those many prayers from a lot of us. I´m so happy for you guys :)
The other huge piece of news is that on Wednesday I got to spend the morning with the family of Pilar, Pablo, and Luis at the Temple, and with Elder Wilson there by me, got to share the special moment together with them as they got sealed together as a family for eternity. There´s no way I can explain how it was exactly over this email, so you´ll just have to wait a couple more months until we can talk some more :) But to sum it all up, I so strongly felt the spirit while I was there, and the true power of the priesthood that binds our families together. Seeing their progression and growth in the gospel is a huge help for and strengthener for me. I think that from now on, when I make decisions in life, they will always be in the back of my mind helping motivate me to make the right decision and follow their great example. I want to stay on the path for a lot of things, and one of them is for them. This was the full circle of the work! Getting to see them go back to the temple was amazing, and now they´re getting their family history work done as well. I never knew that I would ever be fortunate enough to witness that personally. After that spiritual high, we had a great zone training where we talked about focussing more on Preach my Gospel and becoming the missionary that the Lord wants us to be. It´s always easy to start thinking about doing things your own way, or thinking that you know better, but who knows better than the Lord? Our Mission President is amazing, and I´ve learned so much from him over the course of my mission so far.
Enrique is doing really really well, came to 3 sessions of conference! Even though he´s really quiet, I think he likes what he´s learning. He agreed to be baptized as well, so we´ll just need to teach the word of wisdom, which we know he was a problem with (alcohol and smoking) but I have a feeling that he´ll be able to change seeing how he has true desires to change his life for the better. Pray for him please, he´ll need it.
I love you all so much, thanks for making such great examples for me.
Love Elder Franson
This week is so full of great things to talk about, And I guess the first is about the crazy fact that Kayla had her baby!!! I can´t believe it, for a while each night as I knelt to pray, having no idea if she had given birth or not, I would pray so hard for the health and well being of the both of them, and the Lord answered those many prayers from a lot of us. I´m so happy for you guys :)
The other huge piece of news is that on Wednesday I got to spend the morning with the family of Pilar, Pablo, and Luis at the Temple, and with Elder Wilson there by me, got to share the special moment together with them as they got sealed together as a family for eternity. There´s no way I can explain how it was exactly over this email, so you´ll just have to wait a couple more months until we can talk some more :) But to sum it all up, I so strongly felt the spirit while I was there, and the true power of the priesthood that binds our families together. Seeing their progression and growth in the gospel is a huge help for and strengthener for me. I think that from now on, when I make decisions in life, they will always be in the back of my mind helping motivate me to make the right decision and follow their great example. I want to stay on the path for a lot of things, and one of them is for them. This was the full circle of the work! Getting to see them go back to the temple was amazing, and now they´re getting their family history work done as well. I never knew that I would ever be fortunate enough to witness that personally. After that spiritual high, we had a great zone training where we talked about focussing more on Preach my Gospel and becoming the missionary that the Lord wants us to be. It´s always easy to start thinking about doing things your own way, or thinking that you know better, but who knows better than the Lord? Our Mission President is amazing, and I´ve learned so much from him over the course of my mission so far.
Enrique is doing really really well, came to 3 sessions of conference! Even though he´s really quiet, I think he likes what he´s learning. He agreed to be baptized as well, so we´ll just need to teach the word of wisdom, which we know he was a problem with (alcohol and smoking) but I have a feeling that he´ll be able to change seeing how he has true desires to change his life for the better. Pray for him please, he´ll need it.
I love you all so much, thanks for making such great examples for me.
Love Elder Franson
Monday, March 30, 2015
church is a hospital for the "sick"
Hey everybody!
Well, our week turned out to be really great and full of great moments. Yesterday, to start off with the best part, we had a fireside with Brad Wilcox (who teaches at BYU and is here right now with a group of study abroad students in Madrid), and it was AMAZING. Honestly, so powerful. He started off by saying he´d answer the question of ´why´. Why is it so hard, why am I here? Why do I have to live the Word of Wisdom? And he answered it by talking about birthright. We talked about the family of Jacob/Israel, about the tribes and there roles. One thing that he said that called my attention was when he likened life to a journey, like a cruise ship. We´re all on the boat, we´re all sons and daughters of God. But the difference in why we can´t participate in lots of things that the other people do, is because we´re crew members, not passengers. And a blessing of being a crew member is that we receive a salary. We´re receive so many blessings and so much protection for being where we are. Remember who you are, and the potential that you have. It was so spiritually powerful, so motivating.
We witnessed a cool miracle of talking to a kind old Spaniard who walked into the chapel right before English classes and asked for the missionaries. I had never seen him before, but missionaries a year ago told him about lessons that we give to people and he decided he wanted to come. First of all, it is amazing to think that we never know what the people we talk to every day might do in the future. They may remember something for a while and then later decide to act and try it out. We were able to actually sit down and talk with him on Saturday, got to know him a bit more. He´s a bit older, well like 60 or 70 maybe, isn´t the cleanest guy nor does he appear to be that ´golden´ contact in the street, but he sincerely told us that he wanted to change, that he wants to start over. He affirmed his desire by coming to church the next day, all three hours. We, to be honest, haven´t done much, the Lord organized a lot of this one, but I am so excited to continue talking with him and sharing the Gospel which, applying to his life, will change his course for the better.
I remember Dad talking once about noticing the smell of tobacco at church sometimes, and how it wasn´t a disgusting thing nor something that we as members (that are not perfect either) should scorn. I´ve come to love and yearn for the sight of people at church who may not smell the best, or that may have an addiction to tobacco or alcohol, because by sitting with them at church, I realize that they´re working their way towards our Savior. They´re not perfect, just like I´m not perfect, but I admire their sacrifices to come unto the Lord. We´re working with a less active member named Angel, who´s got a bad addiction to smoking as well. But what makes me so happy is that, instead of sitting at home like he was for some time before, he´s been coming to church every Sunday now, recently activated once again. I can´t remember who said it, but I loved the quote that said the church is a hospital for the sick, and we need to help all of come to partake of the ´medication.´ We´ve been having a hard time with some of our investigators, a couple of firm ones have moved to another ward's area, and we´ve for some reason lost contact with others. It´s always frustrating and hard to see people lose interest or lose the desire to meet with more, but I guess there´s not much more that I can do than continue on and do my best.
I love you all so much, thanks for the great support and help! Have an amazing day :)
Love Elder Franson
Well, our week turned out to be really great and full of great moments. Yesterday, to start off with the best part, we had a fireside with Brad Wilcox (who teaches at BYU and is here right now with a group of study abroad students in Madrid), and it was AMAZING. Honestly, so powerful. He started off by saying he´d answer the question of ´why´. Why is it so hard, why am I here? Why do I have to live the Word of Wisdom? And he answered it by talking about birthright. We talked about the family of Jacob/Israel, about the tribes and there roles. One thing that he said that called my attention was when he likened life to a journey, like a cruise ship. We´re all on the boat, we´re all sons and daughters of God. But the difference in why we can´t participate in lots of things that the other people do, is because we´re crew members, not passengers. And a blessing of being a crew member is that we receive a salary. We´re receive so many blessings and so much protection for being where we are. Remember who you are, and the potential that you have. It was so spiritually powerful, so motivating.
We witnessed a cool miracle of talking to a kind old Spaniard who walked into the chapel right before English classes and asked for the missionaries. I had never seen him before, but missionaries a year ago told him about lessons that we give to people and he decided he wanted to come. First of all, it is amazing to think that we never know what the people we talk to every day might do in the future. They may remember something for a while and then later decide to act and try it out. We were able to actually sit down and talk with him on Saturday, got to know him a bit more. He´s a bit older, well like 60 or 70 maybe, isn´t the cleanest guy nor does he appear to be that ´golden´ contact in the street, but he sincerely told us that he wanted to change, that he wants to start over. He affirmed his desire by coming to church the next day, all three hours. We, to be honest, haven´t done much, the Lord organized a lot of this one, but I am so excited to continue talking with him and sharing the Gospel which, applying to his life, will change his course for the better.
I remember Dad talking once about noticing the smell of tobacco at church sometimes, and how it wasn´t a disgusting thing nor something that we as members (that are not perfect either) should scorn. I´ve come to love and yearn for the sight of people at church who may not smell the best, or that may have an addiction to tobacco or alcohol, because by sitting with them at church, I realize that they´re working their way towards our Savior. They´re not perfect, just like I´m not perfect, but I admire their sacrifices to come unto the Lord. We´re working with a less active member named Angel, who´s got a bad addiction to smoking as well. But what makes me so happy is that, instead of sitting at home like he was for some time before, he´s been coming to church every Sunday now, recently activated once again. I can´t remember who said it, but I loved the quote that said the church is a hospital for the sick, and we need to help all of come to partake of the ´medication.´ We´ve been having a hard time with some of our investigators, a couple of firm ones have moved to another ward's area, and we´ve for some reason lost contact with others. It´s always frustrating and hard to see people lose interest or lose the desire to meet with more, but I guess there´s not much more that I can do than continue on and do my best.
I love you all so much, thanks for the great support and help! Have an amazing day :)
Love Elder Franson
Monday, March 23, 2015
reactivating
It´s incredible how different missions throughout the world can be different, I love hearing from other missionaries about things going on in that area. Sounds like both Cierra and Heman are enjoying the heat, over here the weather is still grey and rainy. It´s a bit tough with the work, just being able to find happy people outside to talk with, but we´re doing well. I´ve been happier than ever though, and am doing well out here.
This week we had a particularly bigger number of fails, but it hasn´t been hard to count the blessings that the Lord has given us. We had one of our investigators come to church--Nick--who´s from Bolivia and is 18 years old. They were being taught by the missionaries about 4 or 5 years ago, and his older sister even got baptized, but afterwards I´m not exactly sure what happened because they kind of lost contact with the missionaries and the sister went inactive. But we´re in regular contact now, and Nick appears to be really interested and attentive.
We met a really nice Colombian family, at least the mother and her 2 daughters, in the street and they seem to have a ton of potential. After explaining what we do and while my comp was writing down her number we had said something else that we do and she got serious and said "You´re going to call me on Wednesday, ok? and we´ll talk." Haha we both were super happy to hear that. Her daughter is faily new to Spain, just arrived, and we´re both really wanting to be able to introduce her to the youth of this branch so that she has great friends right from the start, but a couple days after the initial contact we talked to her and she said that her husband is pretty superstitious and doesn´t want them to do anything with us until he comes to our church. We´re not sure if he´s actually going to come soon, because now she won´t answer our calls and we´re worried. Hopefully everything goes well.
There was the famous futbol classic--Real Madrid vs. Barcelona. It´s insane here. It honestly is these peoples´ religion. When the games start, the people disappear from the street and you can find them all crammed uncomfortably in the bars that are found on every corner of Spain. Sadly Madrid lost by one, but I heard it was a great game.
I hope all is well out there, I love seeing those pictures and hearing the stories. Tell everyone I say hi. Take care!!
Love Elder Franson
This week we had a particularly bigger number of fails, but it hasn´t been hard to count the blessings that the Lord has given us. We had one of our investigators come to church--Nick--who´s from Bolivia and is 18 years old. They were being taught by the missionaries about 4 or 5 years ago, and his older sister even got baptized, but afterwards I´m not exactly sure what happened because they kind of lost contact with the missionaries and the sister went inactive. But we´re in regular contact now, and Nick appears to be really interested and attentive.
We met a really nice Colombian family, at least the mother and her 2 daughters, in the street and they seem to have a ton of potential. After explaining what we do and while my comp was writing down her number we had said something else that we do and she got serious and said "You´re going to call me on Wednesday, ok? and we´ll talk." Haha we both were super happy to hear that. Her daughter is faily new to Spain, just arrived, and we´re both really wanting to be able to introduce her to the youth of this branch so that she has great friends right from the start, but a couple days after the initial contact we talked to her and she said that her husband is pretty superstitious and doesn´t want them to do anything with us until he comes to our church. We´re not sure if he´s actually going to come soon, because now she won´t answer our calls and we´re worried. Hopefully everything goes well.
There was the famous futbol classic--Real Madrid vs. Barcelona. It´s insane here. It honestly is these peoples´ religion. When the games start, the people disappear from the street and you can find them all crammed uncomfortably in the bars that are found on every corner of Spain. Sadly Madrid lost by one, but I heard it was a great game.
I hope all is well out there, I love seeing those pictures and hearing the stories. Tell everyone I say hi. Take care!!
Love Elder Franson
Monday, March 16, 2015
finding those searching for the truth
Hello :)
Well, we had a lot of great things happen this week, And it went by super fast. Of course, we had a great time on Tuesday because we went to the Real Madrid game at night and it was so fun! Definitely a once in a lifetime experience, and I´m so grateful for that.
We are continuing with that Ecuadorian family that I was telling you about before, Samuel and Irene, and their two sons David and Joshua. They´re so great, and continue to show lots of potential. They weren´t able to come to church on Sunday though :( but I´m sure this next week they´ll come. On Wednesday they invited us over for a very nice dinner (and actually fed us deer meat which was a change haha). They´re reading in the Book of Mormon and it seems like they´re really enjoying it too.
That really cool investigator, the miracle, Antonio, just moved to another ward in Madrid...with his girlfriend. A little sad, but I´m really excited to hear from them about his progress and to see if they're able to make an eternal family. It was really fun teaching him though, he is 24 years old and seemed to take it all seriously. He´d have his Book of Mormon open and a pencil to mark things in it when we´d arrive.
We found this really really cool Colombian family last night!! I´m really excited, although it´s still really new, and we´ll have to see how it goes. The mom seemed really excited and happy to have found us. She´s got two daughters. We´re striving hard to continue to find those who are searching for the truth. It can be easy at times for missionaries to get discouraged with so many rejections and obstacles, but I´m trying my best to stay happy and motivated--my companion and I are doing well with that.
The branch here has had a huge history of problems, people getting offended, hard feelings, whatever it be. And although it seems to be improving, there have still been some difficulties. But we´re working with them and trying to help and do our best haha. It´s hard to bring investigators to the church when some of the members that are already there can´t stand to have a normal conversation with the other.
We´re doing really great here, we´ve been pretty exhausted these last couple of days from walking and contacting a lot, but it´s going well. We´re slowly but surely finding those people who are ready.
With all my love,
Elder Franson
Well, we had a lot of great things happen this week, And it went by super fast. Of course, we had a great time on Tuesday because we went to the Real Madrid game at night and it was so fun! Definitely a once in a lifetime experience, and I´m so grateful for that.
That really cool investigator, the miracle, Antonio, just moved to another ward in Madrid...with his girlfriend. A little sad, but I´m really excited to hear from them about his progress and to see if they're able to make an eternal family. It was really fun teaching him though, he is 24 years old and seemed to take it all seriously. He´d have his Book of Mormon open and a pencil to mark things in it when we´d arrive.
We found this really really cool Colombian family last night!! I´m really excited, although it´s still really new, and we´ll have to see how it goes. The mom seemed really excited and happy to have found us. She´s got two daughters. We´re striving hard to continue to find those who are searching for the truth. It can be easy at times for missionaries to get discouraged with so many rejections and obstacles, but I´m trying my best to stay happy and motivated--my companion and I are doing well with that.
The branch here has had a huge history of problems, people getting offended, hard feelings, whatever it be. And although it seems to be improving, there have still been some difficulties. But we´re working with them and trying to help and do our best haha. It´s hard to bring investigators to the church when some of the members that are already there can´t stand to have a normal conversation with the other.
We´re doing really great here, we´ve been pretty exhausted these last couple of days from walking and contacting a lot, but it´s going well. We´re slowly but surely finding those people who are ready.
With all my love,
Elder Franson
Monday, March 9, 2015
blessings from service
Hey everybody :)
Don´t have much time this week, because we´re going to a REAL MADRID GAME TOMORROW! So we have to work extra today to make up for the loss of working time. But we´re stoked. My compaion, who´s a die hard fan of Real Madrid, is going crazy.
My companion and I are doing awesome, and we honestly are seeing so many miracles amidst the trials. Remember when I told you about that day where we helped a little Ecuadorian family carry mulitple heavy bags up to their house? It was pretty tough, but definitely now has lead to many blessings. We finally were able to visit them at home (they had failed us a couple of times before and I was beginning to worry if they didn´t really want to hear us), but we´ve had a couple lessons already and they´re showing so much potential. The father even said at the end of the lesson how he´s happy because he know´s we´re guiding them in the right path and he wants his kids to be taught and follow as well. The mom and the two kids--Joshua and David--came to church (I´m still not sure why the dad didn´t come) but they´re showing a lot of potential. Continue to pray for them please, they could use it.
Not much more happened other than that, haha that was just a huge blessing.
I continue eating from my jamon leg, it´s so delicious. Dad, you´d love it so much I´m sure. The thing is though, that it´s tricky to cut it. If you cut the slices just a little to big it doesn´t taste good at all, and is harder to eat. But if they´re thin it turns out wonderfully.
I love you all so much, thanks for the emails and help you´ve all given me :)
Have a great week!
Love Elder Franson
Don´t have much time this week, because we´re going to a REAL MADRID GAME TOMORROW! So we have to work extra today to make up for the loss of working time. But we´re stoked. My compaion, who´s a die hard fan of Real Madrid, is going crazy.
With the Real Madrid tickets!
My companion and I are doing awesome, and we honestly are seeing so many miracles amidst the trials. Remember when I told you about that day where we helped a little Ecuadorian family carry mulitple heavy bags up to their house? It was pretty tough, but definitely now has lead to many blessings. We finally were able to visit them at home (they had failed us a couple of times before and I was beginning to worry if they didn´t really want to hear us), but we´ve had a couple lessons already and they´re showing so much potential. The father even said at the end of the lesson how he´s happy because he know´s we´re guiding them in the right path and he wants his kids to be taught and follow as well. The mom and the two kids--Joshua and David--came to church (I´m still not sure why the dad didn´t come) but they´re showing a lot of potential. Continue to pray for them please, they could use it.
Not much more happened other than that, haha that was just a huge blessing.
I continue eating from my jamon leg, it´s so delicious. Dad, you´d love it so much I´m sure. The thing is though, that it´s tricky to cut it. If you cut the slices just a little to big it doesn´t taste good at all, and is harder to eat. But if they´re thin it turns out wonderfully.
I love you all so much, thanks for the emails and help you´ve all given me :)
Have a great week!
Love Elder Franson
Monday, March 2, 2015
new companion from france
Hello everybody!!
Some big news to start off, with the transfers I´m staying here in Fuenlabrada but getting a new companion--Elder Schwenke left for a big ward in the center of Madrid. My new companion´s name is Elder Ziane--he´s from France! And actually I served a bit with him while I was in B9. We weren´t companions but we served in the same ward in seperate companionships. He´s amazing, and I´m really really excited for this next transfer. I think this change will be good, hopefully we´ll be able to really spark up some new growth in this area.
Dad--thanks for those BYU things you sent me, I really liked them. It got me excited as I thought about it, and made me feel really good about the choice of going to BYU. For now I´ll stick with BYU, who knows if in the future I feel like I need to change, but for now I´m feeling BYU.
Justo, the Spanish investigator that we have, is doing really well. Although did I tell you about how he´s been looking up a crazy amount of information? He is in a true search for the truth, and knows it's not in the Catholic church. And as we´ve been talking about baptism with him, He´s been thinking and pondering on it a lot, but wants to be completely sure of what he´s doing. And so what he does is look up everything; the details about the endowment session, the garments, and other things. It´s a bit weird at times, but he knows it´s sacred for us and has been respecting that. I just hope he continues to look at good and true information, and not false/anti stuff.
Antonio and his girlfriend are doing really well, although it was his birthday on Friday (I gave him some goldfish and soap haha and he loved it). We met with them on saturday and set everything up for them to come to church, they were super set. But come Sunday, they never arrived. Found out that they went to a party and stayed out until 7:00 a.m. and didn´t wake up in time for 10:30 church. Pretty extreme. I´m not worried though, I´m sure they´ll come next week, if the adversary doesn´t throw another dang curve ball. Dad--I bought an Iberian Jamon leg!! I´m so proud of myself, and excited. I got the upper leg, instead of the hind leg that can cost up to 100 euros or more. Now I´ve got to get a knife for it as well to be able to cut it good. I´ll send you lots of pictures later, but for now I only have a couple. I´m sure you´d love this stuff dad, it would go so amazing with your bread that you make.
That´s about it for now, with the changes and everything it took out some time in our pday. I´m doing well and really excited for this new adventure. I love you all so much, and am so grateful for everything that you´ve done for me. I hope you have a great week as well!
Love Elder Franson
Some big news to start off, with the transfers I´m staying here in Fuenlabrada but getting a new companion--Elder Schwenke left for a big ward in the center of Madrid. My new companion´s name is Elder Ziane--he´s from France! And actually I served a bit with him while I was in B9. We weren´t companions but we served in the same ward in seperate companionships. He´s amazing, and I´m really really excited for this next transfer. I think this change will be good, hopefully we´ll be able to really spark up some new growth in this area.
Dad--thanks for those BYU things you sent me, I really liked them. It got me excited as I thought about it, and made me feel really good about the choice of going to BYU. For now I´ll stick with BYU, who knows if in the future I feel like I need to change, but for now I´m feeling BYU.
Justo, the Spanish investigator that we have, is doing really well. Although did I tell you about how he´s been looking up a crazy amount of information? He is in a true search for the truth, and knows it's not in the Catholic church. And as we´ve been talking about baptism with him, He´s been thinking and pondering on it a lot, but wants to be completely sure of what he´s doing. And so what he does is look up everything; the details about the endowment session, the garments, and other things. It´s a bit weird at times, but he knows it´s sacred for us and has been respecting that. I just hope he continues to look at good and true information, and not false/anti stuff.
Antonio and his girlfriend are doing really well, although it was his birthday on Friday (I gave him some goldfish and soap haha and he loved it). We met with them on saturday and set everything up for them to come to church, they were super set. But come Sunday, they never arrived. Found out that they went to a party and stayed out until 7:00 a.m. and didn´t wake up in time for 10:30 church. Pretty extreme. I´m not worried though, I´m sure they´ll come next week, if the adversary doesn´t throw another dang curve ball. Dad--I bought an Iberian Jamon leg!! I´m so proud of myself, and excited. I got the upper leg, instead of the hind leg that can cost up to 100 euros or more. Now I´ve got to get a knife for it as well to be able to cut it good. I´ll send you lots of pictures later, but for now I only have a couple. I´m sure you´d love this stuff dad, it would go so amazing with your bread that you make.
That´s about it for now, with the changes and everything it took out some time in our pday. I´m doing well and really excited for this new adventure. I love you all so much, and am so grateful for everything that you´ve done for me. I hope you have a great week as well!
Love Elder Franson
Monday, February 23, 2015
strengthening the cornerstone of prayer
Hello Family and everyone else,
Remember when I told you I finally learned how to whistle? Well I continue to practice as we spend time walking in the streets. One though, I was walking and a girl had crossed the street from the otherside to my side, walking in the same direction and ended up in front of us. I started whistling, not really thinking anything, just wanting to whistle a hymn, and she looked back quickly and seemed all surprised and self conscious. I felt bad afterward because I think she thought I was whistling at her! I wasn´t sure how to handle that situation, didn´t really want her to think I was checking her out when I wasn´t.
We had the annual ´Mission Tour´ on Wednesday, and listened to Elder Dyches, who is one of the counselors for Europe. He had some really good ideas and tips for us, and during the conference I felt some impressions for myself to rely more on the relationship I have with my Heavenly Father, and to let that relationship grow even more. Prayer is a huge part of life obviously, and I think it would help us all to take some time in constructing that cornerstone a bit more.
When we were walking back home from a branch Family Home Evening on Friday, we were just about to our piso building when a couple came up from behind and said ¨Hello Elders, how are you?¨ Which obviously took us both by surprise. As we talked, they let us know that she, Monse, is a member (from Paraguay) but less active. She has been here for about a year or so and hasn´t been able to go to church, although she really wants to. Her boyfriend, Antonio, lives here in Fuenlabrada (she lives out a bit) and isn´t a member but very nice and willing to talk. We were able to meet with them on Saturday and show them the chapel, I could tell Monse felt the spirit, and strengthened to be there in that church again after a while. She was baptized about 10 years ago I think, and has a great testimony. Now, as they´re looking to get married and start a family, she is looking for the possibility to have an eternal family, and wants him to have the opportunity to join this gospel as well. We´re so excited to be able to witness this progress and to see if an eternal family can be born. If you could, a prayer for them would help a lot.
Things are going really well, I´m loving life. Today we went to the Temple of Debod, I´ll attach a picture or two. Spain is so full of history that I love learning about.
I love you all so much, continue doing well and striving to do your best always. you´re examples to me.
Love Elder Franson
Remember when I told you I finally learned how to whistle? Well I continue to practice as we spend time walking in the streets. One though, I was walking and a girl had crossed the street from the otherside to my side, walking in the same direction and ended up in front of us. I started whistling, not really thinking anything, just wanting to whistle a hymn, and she looked back quickly and seemed all surprised and self conscious. I felt bad afterward because I think she thought I was whistling at her! I wasn´t sure how to handle that situation, didn´t really want her to think I was checking her out when I wasn´t.
We had the annual ´Mission Tour´ on Wednesday, and listened to Elder Dyches, who is one of the counselors for Europe. He had some really good ideas and tips for us, and during the conference I felt some impressions for myself to rely more on the relationship I have with my Heavenly Father, and to let that relationship grow even more. Prayer is a huge part of life obviously, and I think it would help us all to take some time in constructing that cornerstone a bit more.
When we were walking back home from a branch Family Home Evening on Friday, we were just about to our piso building when a couple came up from behind and said ¨Hello Elders, how are you?¨ Which obviously took us both by surprise. As we talked, they let us know that she, Monse, is a member (from Paraguay) but less active. She has been here for about a year or so and hasn´t been able to go to church, although she really wants to. Her boyfriend, Antonio, lives here in Fuenlabrada (she lives out a bit) and isn´t a member but very nice and willing to talk. We were able to meet with them on Saturday and show them the chapel, I could tell Monse felt the spirit, and strengthened to be there in that church again after a while. She was baptized about 10 years ago I think, and has a great testimony. Now, as they´re looking to get married and start a family, she is looking for the possibility to have an eternal family, and wants him to have the opportunity to join this gospel as well. We´re so excited to be able to witness this progress and to see if an eternal family can be born. If you could, a prayer for them would help a lot.
Things are going really well, I´m loving life. Today we went to the Temple of Debod, I´ll attach a picture or two. Spain is so full of history that I love learning about.
I love you all so much, continue doing well and striving to do your best always. you´re examples to me.
Love Elder Franson
Monday, February 16, 2015
stake conference with past investigators (+ lots of pictures!)
Hey Everyone!
It really is amazing at how many memories and experiences you can have on the mission. Every day is a new page and it can so easily become filled with beautiful moments, experiences, new friends. I can´t really explain how much I´ve learned and grown here so far, but it´s been an enormous increase. We had stake conference on Sunday, and since i´ve been technically in the same stake for the past year I´ve got to see so many people that I was with before. The camera came at perfect timing because I was able to take lots of pictures with those people I´ve come to love so much. I didn´t really know how to hold those feelings in, seeing these people again. One of the most exciting ones was seeing Jessica, the Peruvian lady from Barrio 9 who we taught for a while and then got baptized after I left. She was there on the temple grounds and started yelling my name before I even saw her, and it took me by surprise. It was an amazing time being with them.
We were able to do a temple session early on Wednesday morning (we get to do them usually every transfer). I was on an exchange though and those elders are a bit too relaxed and chill, resulting in us leaving late and getting to the temple about 10 min. before the session was suppossed to start. We barely made it in time, but I quickly got changed and everything turned out well. I think I will enjoy being able to better prepare me on those days that I do temple sessions back home. Being in a rush to the temple didn´t help me spiritually prepare myself too much. But it all turned out well, and felt quite peaceful in the temple.
Our investigator Justo is just doing fantastic, he amazes me with his willingness to sacrifice time and energy to truly learn more. He´s truly searching for the answers that fill the hole in him. He came with his friend (the member) to stake conference and from what we saw, he loved it. They had to leave right afterward though, so we didn´t get a chance to do a temple tour like we had hoped, but that´s OK. We´ll be meeting him on Tuesday, I´m sure he´ll have lots of questions for us then.
The Lord really does work in mysterious ways, like the other day we, at 4:00 had an appointment with a new guy we had met in the street, but we found out his phone number was false. Great. We went to the supposed street to find his apartment and as we got closer we noticed a cute little couple from Ecuador that seemed to be struggling a bit with carrying super heavy bags up to their apartment (4th floor. no elevator). We jumped in to help them, lots of times people refuse help here (I´ve very rarely had real service opportunities), and made mulitple trips up and down, making their job much easier. It felt so great to be able to help them, and see their relieved faces as we all finished. They invited us over to come again and talk more. We´ve been praying hard for them, that all goes well and that we´ll be able to help them more, but this time with spiritual strength and relief.
We saw Charlie again!!! We decided to pass by his house one day and try, and he was home!! We ended up talking for a bit and catching up. He was that really amazing investigator back from December, who was just about to get baptized and then he got a contruction job, prohibiting him from coming to church. I´m not worried about him though, he will be baptized, it´s just a matter of time when his job will let him come again.
Everything has just been going so great, I thank you all for your support and love towards me and other missionaries serving throughout the world. I have received so many blessings while being here on the mission, that have helped me not only become a great missionary, but also a better son of my Father in Heaven and a better brother and son to my family. I love you all so much, thank you for everything.
Love Elder Franson
My study desk.
This is like the really big entrance place for the cathedral, only no one can go through those doors.
Inside the cathedral. It's enormous.
The cathedral right next to the royal palace. Can't remember if it has a specific name.
In the famous "Plaza Mayor."
Us four elders serving in Fuenlabrada. We were at the temple for stake conference on Sunday. We went to the stake center there.
My companion and me at the temple.
It really is amazing at how many memories and experiences you can have on the mission. Every day is a new page and it can so easily become filled with beautiful moments, experiences, new friends. I can´t really explain how much I´ve learned and grown here so far, but it´s been an enormous increase. We had stake conference on Sunday, and since i´ve been technically in the same stake for the past year I´ve got to see so many people that I was with before. The camera came at perfect timing because I was able to take lots of pictures with those people I´ve come to love so much. I didn´t really know how to hold those feelings in, seeing these people again. One of the most exciting ones was seeing Jessica, the Peruvian lady from Barrio 9 who we taught for a while and then got baptized after I left. She was there on the temple grounds and started yelling my name before I even saw her, and it took me by surprise. It was an amazing time being with them.
We were able to do a temple session early on Wednesday morning (we get to do them usually every transfer). I was on an exchange though and those elders are a bit too relaxed and chill, resulting in us leaving late and getting to the temple about 10 min. before the session was suppossed to start. We barely made it in time, but I quickly got changed and everything turned out well. I think I will enjoy being able to better prepare me on those days that I do temple sessions back home. Being in a rush to the temple didn´t help me spiritually prepare myself too much. But it all turned out well, and felt quite peaceful in the temple.
Our investigator Justo is just doing fantastic, he amazes me with his willingness to sacrifice time and energy to truly learn more. He´s truly searching for the answers that fill the hole in him. He came with his friend (the member) to stake conference and from what we saw, he loved it. They had to leave right afterward though, so we didn´t get a chance to do a temple tour like we had hoped, but that´s OK. We´ll be meeting him on Tuesday, I´m sure he´ll have lots of questions for us then.
The Lord really does work in mysterious ways, like the other day we, at 4:00 had an appointment with a new guy we had met in the street, but we found out his phone number was false. Great. We went to the supposed street to find his apartment and as we got closer we noticed a cute little couple from Ecuador that seemed to be struggling a bit with carrying super heavy bags up to their apartment (4th floor. no elevator). We jumped in to help them, lots of times people refuse help here (I´ve very rarely had real service opportunities), and made mulitple trips up and down, making their job much easier. It felt so great to be able to help them, and see their relieved faces as we all finished. They invited us over to come again and talk more. We´ve been praying hard for them, that all goes well and that we´ll be able to help them more, but this time with spiritual strength and relief.
We saw Charlie again!!! We decided to pass by his house one day and try, and he was home!! We ended up talking for a bit and catching up. He was that really amazing investigator back from December, who was just about to get baptized and then he got a contruction job, prohibiting him from coming to church. I´m not worried about him though, he will be baptized, it´s just a matter of time when his job will let him come again.
Everything has just been going so great, I thank you all for your support and love towards me and other missionaries serving throughout the world. I have received so many blessings while being here on the mission, that have helped me not only become a great missionary, but also a better son of my Father in Heaven and a better brother and son to my family. I love you all so much, thank you for everything.
Love Elder Franson
In front of the royal palace.
Monday, February 9, 2015
church is a refuge
Well I have just some really great things to talk about for today about this last week, it was amazing!
We are teaching 2 friends of this member, Juan, who was baptized just a year ago, and it´s incredible. No wonder they tell us to work through members. The first is Justo, a Spanish man, probably in his 40s, who is very very into religion and gospel study. He´s been in mulitple churches, and is very involved in the Catholic church now--his son wants to be a priest for them. But what amazes me is that he came to our church (he just appeared one day with Juan and then we got to know him for the first time), looking for a place that answered his numerous doubts and questions, because he has felt that in the places that he´s been in the past, they haven´t been answered perfectly.
He´s now been to church for 3 or 4 times in a row, and in the lesson´s we´ve had he´s been asking lots of questions and doubts that he has, because he has a true desire to have the answer. One of the main ones was this ´If God really does want us to have the best, why would he have commanded Adam and Eve to not to eat of the fruit and then just thrown them out? Which, to be honest, was a question I admit to having had in the past as well, but here is the beautiful part. As we talked (I was actually on an exchange with Elder Wilson!! One of the best days ever haha) I felt the Spirit testifying and teaching both Justo and me with his questions. The Spirit worked miracles in that lesson. Elder Wilson said something about how, by eating the fruit, they were able to finally know, just like touching fire--which we´re always warned to stay away from--we finally realize the right from the wrong, and can continue one. Justo sat there for a minute and said ´you know, you just convinced me a little bit there.´ Oh yeah, that´s what I´m talking about. One point for the Spirit.
Juan has another friend that´s investigating the church, we actually found him in the street and he told us ´yeah I have a friend from your church, he´s a good man´. And we´re teaching him now. I´m just so excited to work with these people and all of the rest.
Having those great investigators makes me so happy, even when 4 other investigators of ours told us they don´t want to, or can´t meet with us anymore. Sad. Church was incredible yesterday, the talks, lessons, members. So amazing. The Spirit really was so strong there, and it was testifying strongly to me that it really is all true. One member gave an amazing talk during sacrement meeting about missionary work, one of the best talks I´ve heard out here in Spain I think. He did so well, talking about how we as members have the great blessing to participate in it, and how we lots of times hide the fact that we are members, hiding our scriptures when friends pass by so that they won´t see. We have a great duty to share this with others, and we can receive so many blessings from doing that!
I´m not sure how or why this happened, but politics got brought up in Priesthood quorum, American politics. I started getting really frustrated because while sitting with our investigators there in the class, we were hearing the members of the church of Jesus Christ discuss and talk about who should have one, while we were trying to help them feel the spirit and receive an answer or confirmation on whether or not this church is the Lord´s one and only church. One member there with us brought up the scripture from the Bible when Jesus is talking about the money and ask´s who´s face is on it, ended up being Caesar's. He then said to give to Caesar what is his, and give to the Lord what is His. Sorry I can´t remember it really well, but basically reminded them all that that was the time for the Lord, and to give their attention to Him. I really liked that, and felt like it is true for us members all around the world. The Church is the refuge we have to learn and get closer to God, and it most definitely changes that tone and Spirit when we taint the conversations with other topics.
The work is going really well here, and I´ve been very happy these days and have found just so much peace and comfort through this mission.
I love you all so much!
Love Elder Franson
We are teaching 2 friends of this member, Juan, who was baptized just a year ago, and it´s incredible. No wonder they tell us to work through members. The first is Justo, a Spanish man, probably in his 40s, who is very very into religion and gospel study. He´s been in mulitple churches, and is very involved in the Catholic church now--his son wants to be a priest for them. But what amazes me is that he came to our church (he just appeared one day with Juan and then we got to know him for the first time), looking for a place that answered his numerous doubts and questions, because he has felt that in the places that he´s been in the past, they haven´t been answered perfectly.
He´s now been to church for 3 or 4 times in a row, and in the lesson´s we´ve had he´s been asking lots of questions and doubts that he has, because he has a true desire to have the answer. One of the main ones was this ´If God really does want us to have the best, why would he have commanded Adam and Eve to not to eat of the fruit and then just thrown them out? Which, to be honest, was a question I admit to having had in the past as well, but here is the beautiful part. As we talked (I was actually on an exchange with Elder Wilson!! One of the best days ever haha) I felt the Spirit testifying and teaching both Justo and me with his questions. The Spirit worked miracles in that lesson. Elder Wilson said something about how, by eating the fruit, they were able to finally know, just like touching fire--which we´re always warned to stay away from--we finally realize the right from the wrong, and can continue one. Justo sat there for a minute and said ´you know, you just convinced me a little bit there.´ Oh yeah, that´s what I´m talking about. One point for the Spirit.
Juan has another friend that´s investigating the church, we actually found him in the street and he told us ´yeah I have a friend from your church, he´s a good man´. And we´re teaching him now. I´m just so excited to work with these people and all of the rest.
Having those great investigators makes me so happy, even when 4 other investigators of ours told us they don´t want to, or can´t meet with us anymore. Sad. Church was incredible yesterday, the talks, lessons, members. So amazing. The Spirit really was so strong there, and it was testifying strongly to me that it really is all true. One member gave an amazing talk during sacrement meeting about missionary work, one of the best talks I´ve heard out here in Spain I think. He did so well, talking about how we as members have the great blessing to participate in it, and how we lots of times hide the fact that we are members, hiding our scriptures when friends pass by so that they won´t see. We have a great duty to share this with others, and we can receive so many blessings from doing that!
I´m not sure how or why this happened, but politics got brought up in Priesthood quorum, American politics. I started getting really frustrated because while sitting with our investigators there in the class, we were hearing the members of the church of Jesus Christ discuss and talk about who should have one, while we were trying to help them feel the spirit and receive an answer or confirmation on whether or not this church is the Lord´s one and only church. One member there with us brought up the scripture from the Bible when Jesus is talking about the money and ask´s who´s face is on it, ended up being Caesar's. He then said to give to Caesar what is his, and give to the Lord what is His. Sorry I can´t remember it really well, but basically reminded them all that that was the time for the Lord, and to give their attention to Him. I really liked that, and felt like it is true for us members all around the world. The Church is the refuge we have to learn and get closer to God, and it most definitely changes that tone and Spirit when we taint the conversations with other topics.
The work is going really well here, and I´ve been very happy these days and have found just so much peace and comfort through this mission.
I love you all so much!
Love Elder Franson
Monday, February 2, 2015
the power of church and the sacrament
I feel like I was honestly just here writing... these weeks are passing by way too fast.
Today we´ve gotten a lot done, I had to go do somethings to renew my residency card here, which actually is in my last area, and I was able to go visit that one Peruvian family again and say hi, do you remember my talking about Roger and Anelis? It´s so amazing to be able to see people again from previous areas, It just fills me with such happiness seeing them again, remember how big of an impact they had on me. There are so many things that a mission does for someone, but and one really big one is all of the friendships and ´second families´ that you find. I´ve found some amazing people, I hope that someday you will be able to meet them too.
Remember how I always talked about been so full when I was in La Laguna? We just got fed so much, every day. Well here in Fuenlabrada we also get fed a lot, not as much, but almost each day we have a meal with the members. On Tuesday, we didn´t have a meal planned so we went with the other elders here to Pizza Hut--they have a deal where you pay like 7 or 8 bucks and can eat as much pizza and pop as you want. I think we were scaring them a bit because after the 4th or 5th they told us we couldn´t order any more, they´re excuse was that the buffet ended at 3:30...how rude. But maybe it was a blessing in disguise because I waddled out of that place and we began working. About 4 hours later, we visited a less active man, really cool African guy, who gave us each a HUGE plate of spicy pasta with meat and vegetables. I had a little bit left on my plate but I wasn´t sure if I could do it. I shoved a bunch in my mouth, I think with the hopes to make it disappear from my plate faster, but I swear, I came so close to gagging. Ha I was so scared, my eyes probably got super wide for a second. I´m not sure how i did it, but i ended up finishing the plate. I haven´t gotten that full in a long time haha.
Our Investigator Esperanza, the one who is like 60 and has multiple great grandkids already, told us the other day that she rethought the whole baptism thing and decided she couldn´t do it (we had invited her to be baptized on the 28 of Feb.). She said she doesn´t want to be mocking God by being baptized again, and just wants to keep it the same. But the lesson we had went really good, as we talked about the importance of finding the truth, and following the correct path. She agreed to put in a better effort to read and pray about this message, about the Book of Mormon. We both are full of faith knowing that if she does put in her part, then the right answer will come. We´ll be meeting with her again on Tuesday to follow up on that. Pray for her please!
A less active member that we visit, named Angel, came to church on Sunday for the first time in a really long time! He´s about 35 I´d say, and was baptized when he was 17. Now he´s got a big problem with tobacco, and We always leave his house smelling like smoke. But after church (he stayed all three hours!) he quietly came up to us and said ¨I don´t feel the urge to smoke now. I feel so much better.¨ That´s the power of the sacrament and church.
Not much more happened, got a hair cut today. Drank a nice cup of hot chocolate as it is cloudy and rainy outside.
I´m doing really good, staying happy and healthy :) I hope you all are as well.
Love
Elder Franson
Today we´ve gotten a lot done, I had to go do somethings to renew my residency card here, which actually is in my last area, and I was able to go visit that one Peruvian family again and say hi, do you remember my talking about Roger and Anelis? It´s so amazing to be able to see people again from previous areas, It just fills me with such happiness seeing them again, remember how big of an impact they had on me. There are so many things that a mission does for someone, but and one really big one is all of the friendships and ´second families´ that you find. I´ve found some amazing people, I hope that someday you will be able to meet them too.
Remember how I always talked about been so full when I was in La Laguna? We just got fed so much, every day. Well here in Fuenlabrada we also get fed a lot, not as much, but almost each day we have a meal with the members. On Tuesday, we didn´t have a meal planned so we went with the other elders here to Pizza Hut--they have a deal where you pay like 7 or 8 bucks and can eat as much pizza and pop as you want. I think we were scaring them a bit because after the 4th or 5th they told us we couldn´t order any more, they´re excuse was that the buffet ended at 3:30...how rude. But maybe it was a blessing in disguise because I waddled out of that place and we began working. About 4 hours later, we visited a less active man, really cool African guy, who gave us each a HUGE plate of spicy pasta with meat and vegetables. I had a little bit left on my plate but I wasn´t sure if I could do it. I shoved a bunch in my mouth, I think with the hopes to make it disappear from my plate faster, but I swear, I came so close to gagging. Ha I was so scared, my eyes probably got super wide for a second. I´m not sure how i did it, but i ended up finishing the plate. I haven´t gotten that full in a long time haha.
Our Investigator Esperanza, the one who is like 60 and has multiple great grandkids already, told us the other day that she rethought the whole baptism thing and decided she couldn´t do it (we had invited her to be baptized on the 28 of Feb.). She said she doesn´t want to be mocking God by being baptized again, and just wants to keep it the same. But the lesson we had went really good, as we talked about the importance of finding the truth, and following the correct path. She agreed to put in a better effort to read and pray about this message, about the Book of Mormon. We both are full of faith knowing that if she does put in her part, then the right answer will come. We´ll be meeting with her again on Tuesday to follow up on that. Pray for her please!
A less active member that we visit, named Angel, came to church on Sunday for the first time in a really long time! He´s about 35 I´d say, and was baptized when he was 17. Now he´s got a big problem with tobacco, and We always leave his house smelling like smoke. But after church (he stayed all three hours!) he quietly came up to us and said ¨I don´t feel the urge to smoke now. I feel so much better.¨ That´s the power of the sacrament and church.
Not much more happened, got a hair cut today. Drank a nice cup of hot chocolate as it is cloudy and rainy outside.
I´m doing really good, staying happy and healthy :) I hope you all are as well.
Love
Elder Franson
Monday, January 26, 2015
story of the green bird
This past week was just made even better with being able to play the cello today! A really really nice member in another ward here let me play it for a little bit today for pday, and I was just in heaven.
This week though went by a little slower, not sure why. But I have some funny stories. First. We have this investigator, sort of (only have met with him like twice), and he has a bright green bird in his house. when we entered it was just on this wooden pole thing in the corner, close to the couch where we were. In the middle of talking to the guy, I had my back to the bird, I heard it take off and it LANDED ON MY HEAD! Freaked me out so bad, not sure why my head looked like a suitable nest, but it just freaked me out. Hahah we had a good laugh about that though.
There is a member here who works for a company that delivers the fruit, and he gave me for free a little carton of blackberries the other day! He found out those were my favorites, such a nice guy. That little carton with about 10 blackberries costed about 4 or 5 dollars though, ridiculous.
They are putting some manure on the small patches of grass around Fuenlabrada, fertilizing it I´m sure. For many it´s just that gross smell, but for me it just reminds me of our nice little hobby farm at home. When are you going to get the manure spreader out dad?
We have this great investigator from Spain, she´s 19, named Rosi, and already has a kid (she´s living with her boyfriend), but she´s doing so great. We were really impressed with how much attention she gives us. Pray for her please, I see a lot of potential with her, she just needs some more help from the Lord.
Sorry for the short letter this week. I hope all is going well there though, I love you so much! Thanks for your great examples and prayers.
Love Elder Franson
This week though went by a little slower, not sure why. But I have some funny stories. First. We have this investigator, sort of (only have met with him like twice), and he has a bright green bird in his house. when we entered it was just on this wooden pole thing in the corner, close to the couch where we were. In the middle of talking to the guy, I had my back to the bird, I heard it take off and it LANDED ON MY HEAD! Freaked me out so bad, not sure why my head looked like a suitable nest, but it just freaked me out. Hahah we had a good laugh about that though.
There is a member here who works for a company that delivers the fruit, and he gave me for free a little carton of blackberries the other day! He found out those were my favorites, such a nice guy. That little carton with about 10 blackberries costed about 4 or 5 dollars though, ridiculous.
They are putting some manure on the small patches of grass around Fuenlabrada, fertilizing it I´m sure. For many it´s just that gross smell, but for me it just reminds me of our nice little hobby farm at home. When are you going to get the manure spreader out dad?
We have this great investigator from Spain, she´s 19, named Rosi, and already has a kid (she´s living with her boyfriend), but she´s doing so great. We were really impressed with how much attention she gives us. Pray for her please, I see a lot of potential with her, she just needs some more help from the Lord.
Sorry for the short letter this week. I hope all is going well there though, I love you so much! Thanks for your great examples and prayers.
Love Elder Franson
Monday, January 19, 2015
improving my relationship with the Lord
Hey everyone!!
I´m staying here in Fuenlabrada for another transfer with Elder Schwenke! We´re excited to stay here together for another, this will be our 3rd transfer.
We had such a good week, I feel like we were very blessed by the Lord in a lot of ways. We both were really trying to work hard, doing our best, and we saw lots of results too. Another huge blessing was that our Peruvian investigator, Esperanza, finally came to church!!! We´ve been making so many plans and goals to help our investigators come to church, and for a while none of them came. I knew we were doing our part, as much as we could do, but I think many of our investigators don´t have the strongest desires maybe to be really acting and doing something. They´re just spiritually lazy.
We´ve been meeting so many atheists lately, sometimes I wonder the percentage of people who believe in God and those who don´t. It´s really sad to see so many people say that because of so many problems, they don´t believe. I´ve heard so many times recently ´how could God exist with all of this wickedness?!¨. In fact, we got talking to one lady, possibly a bit drunk, and she went off on her life, how horrible and sad it is and that God has never helped her. She said that a while ago she believed in God and was happier (well obviously.), and now she´s not. My comp and I had mixed feelings of the need and wanting to help her in her life, to find this happiness, and at the same time a feeling that was telling us no. She kind of freaked me out with her facial expressions and the way she talked. We´ll see what happens, don´t worry. If we go to visit her again it´ll be in the chapel and we´ll have at least five other male members of the branch that could protect us. In sacrament meeting yesterday we finally got a branch president! Haven´t had one for about 3 months or so (my whole time here). He´s going to do a great job here and really help the members. There´s a huge problem of gossiping here, and the formation of clicks within the members. Many of the people here have gotten offended at someone else for having said something or not saying hi to them at church. It´s a bit frustrating in my point of view, and I´d like it to stop and feel like we´re just on one team. An investigator for the other companionship even noticed it and told them that she loved the church, that it spiritually filled her a lot better than any other church she´s been too, but that she does not like how the members talk bad about the other ones. I think it´s improving though, slowly but surely.
In one of the classes we had, talking about prayer, the teacher said something that really impacted me. ¨Let us remember, that the Atonement was in fact a prayer.¨ Never before have I thought of it like that, how the Lord really was praying throughout that experience and conversing with the Lord. In this next week, let us remember this moment as well and rely on our Heavenly Father during our challenging experiences and trials.
I hope we all can have the opportunity soon to personally be able to gain a better relationship with the Lord and to find out truly how much strength and power we can receive to better deal with those moments.
I love you all so much, thank you for your love and prayers, You all mean so much to me. Have a great day!
Love Elder Franson
I´m staying here in Fuenlabrada for another transfer with Elder Schwenke! We´re excited to stay here together for another, this will be our 3rd transfer.
We had such a good week, I feel like we were very blessed by the Lord in a lot of ways. We both were really trying to work hard, doing our best, and we saw lots of results too. Another huge blessing was that our Peruvian investigator, Esperanza, finally came to church!!! We´ve been making so many plans and goals to help our investigators come to church, and for a while none of them came. I knew we were doing our part, as much as we could do, but I think many of our investigators don´t have the strongest desires maybe to be really acting and doing something. They´re just spiritually lazy.
We´ve been meeting so many atheists lately, sometimes I wonder the percentage of people who believe in God and those who don´t. It´s really sad to see so many people say that because of so many problems, they don´t believe. I´ve heard so many times recently ´how could God exist with all of this wickedness?!¨. In fact, we got talking to one lady, possibly a bit drunk, and she went off on her life, how horrible and sad it is and that God has never helped her. She said that a while ago she believed in God and was happier (well obviously.), and now she´s not. My comp and I had mixed feelings of the need and wanting to help her in her life, to find this happiness, and at the same time a feeling that was telling us no. She kind of freaked me out with her facial expressions and the way she talked. We´ll see what happens, don´t worry. If we go to visit her again it´ll be in the chapel and we´ll have at least five other male members of the branch that could protect us. In sacrament meeting yesterday we finally got a branch president! Haven´t had one for about 3 months or so (my whole time here). He´s going to do a great job here and really help the members. There´s a huge problem of gossiping here, and the formation of clicks within the members. Many of the people here have gotten offended at someone else for having said something or not saying hi to them at church. It´s a bit frustrating in my point of view, and I´d like it to stop and feel like we´re just on one team. An investigator for the other companionship even noticed it and told them that she loved the church, that it spiritually filled her a lot better than any other church she´s been too, but that she does not like how the members talk bad about the other ones. I think it´s improving though, slowly but surely.
In one of the classes we had, talking about prayer, the teacher said something that really impacted me. ¨Let us remember, that the Atonement was in fact a prayer.¨ Never before have I thought of it like that, how the Lord really was praying throughout that experience and conversing with the Lord. In this next week, let us remember this moment as well and rely on our Heavenly Father during our challenging experiences and trials.
I hope we all can have the opportunity soon to personally be able to gain a better relationship with the Lord and to find out truly how much strength and power we can receive to better deal with those moments.
I love you all so much, thank you for your love and prayers, You all mean so much to me. Have a great day!
Love Elder Franson
Monday, January 12, 2015
if you run, run for real
Family and Friends :)
I´m super excited right now, I´ve been on a music kick lately and anytime I hear a stringed instrument playing I get all happy.
On Tuesday we had that leadership council thing and went to President´s house. It was very inspirational, at one point we were talking about giving our all and working as hard as we can and President started to share some video clips to us. The first one was the famous race of the horse Secretariat (!!!) (the real clip) I almost cried out of emotion and excitment! Wow, that was so powerful. The little bit of music behind it just added to the effect even more. I love that story so much. Then after that video, we watched the clip of Roger Banister as he broke the 4 minute mile barrier that seemed impossible to everyone. I was reminded that nothing is impossible in this work, nor in this life, and that if we truly have the faith necessary and the vision to see it happen, then it will. Leaving that meeting, I made personal goals and promises with myself to give it everything, To leave nothing left. Quoting one sister missionary who spoke, she said ¨If I´m in a race and I´m going to run, I´m going to run for real.¨ I hope to be able to speed up my pace and run for real, so that when I finish, I won´t feel regret knowing that I could have given more.
This last week was both short and long ha, kind of weird. We found and taught some really cool people though. We´ve been teaching and finding a ton of Spanish people lately and it´s really cool. They seem to have pretty good potential, we talked to this one young couple with a cute baby girl, Spaniards, a couple days ago. We should be meeting with them soon hopefully.
Hey if you could, I want you to pass on a true thank you to Megan Torman for her classes that she gave to me and the other youth at church. I didn´t truly realize at the time how great of a teacher she is and how that also played a part in my preparation for this mission. There are so many things that helps prepare one for a mission, and I think up towards the top of the list are classes and teachers like her, and also home teaching which helped me incredibly. I don´t think I realized at the time how similar it is to missionary work. It´s the same thing! Calling and scheduling apts., teaching, visiting, service. I´m so grateful for you Dad, motivating me to go with you to help those families, and I´m so grateful for those families we taught--the Burnhams, the Kellers, Roger, Carol and Dwight Black, the Gilmans, and also being able to help Elsie Rowland with the sacrament (tell them all I say hi please).
I´ve been learning a lot, and really been motivated with certain things lately. I´m trying to get a lot better at setting and fufilling the goals I set for myself personally. And I hope you all can do the same for this year.
I love you all so much! Have a really good week, filled with opportunities to serve and to help others.
Elder Franson
I´m super excited right now, I´ve been on a music kick lately and anytime I hear a stringed instrument playing I get all happy.
On Tuesday we had that leadership council thing and went to President´s house. It was very inspirational, at one point we were talking about giving our all and working as hard as we can and President started to share some video clips to us. The first one was the famous race of the horse Secretariat (!!!) (the real clip) I almost cried out of emotion and excitment! Wow, that was so powerful. The little bit of music behind it just added to the effect even more. I love that story so much. Then after that video, we watched the clip of Roger Banister as he broke the 4 minute mile barrier that seemed impossible to everyone. I was reminded that nothing is impossible in this work, nor in this life, and that if we truly have the faith necessary and the vision to see it happen, then it will. Leaving that meeting, I made personal goals and promises with myself to give it everything, To leave nothing left. Quoting one sister missionary who spoke, she said ¨If I´m in a race and I´m going to run, I´m going to run for real.¨ I hope to be able to speed up my pace and run for real, so that when I finish, I won´t feel regret knowing that I could have given more.
This last week was both short and long ha, kind of weird. We found and taught some really cool people though. We´ve been teaching and finding a ton of Spanish people lately and it´s really cool. They seem to have pretty good potential, we talked to this one young couple with a cute baby girl, Spaniards, a couple days ago. We should be meeting with them soon hopefully.
Hey if you could, I want you to pass on a true thank you to Megan Torman for her classes that she gave to me and the other youth at church. I didn´t truly realize at the time how great of a teacher she is and how that also played a part in my preparation for this mission. There are so many things that helps prepare one for a mission, and I think up towards the top of the list are classes and teachers like her, and also home teaching which helped me incredibly. I don´t think I realized at the time how similar it is to missionary work. It´s the same thing! Calling and scheduling apts., teaching, visiting, service. I´m so grateful for you Dad, motivating me to go with you to help those families, and I´m so grateful for those families we taught--the Burnhams, the Kellers, Roger, Carol and Dwight Black, the Gilmans, and also being able to help Elsie Rowland with the sacrament (tell them all I say hi please).
I´ve been learning a lot, and really been motivated with certain things lately. I´m trying to get a lot better at setting and fufilling the goals I set for myself personally. And I hope you all can do the same for this year.
I love you all so much! Have a really good week, filled with opportunities to serve and to help others.
Elder Franson
Monday, January 5, 2015
2015 can be as good as you make it to be
Friends and family,
Happy New Years!! It was pretty awesome here, lots of fireworks and banging noises to keep everyone awake. Like I´m sure happened everywhere, there were tons of drunk people and just annoying kids blowing things up, but it was great. I still haven´t made my New Years resolutions but have been thinking for a little while and want to make them good for this year. How about you guys?
I got to play a cello todayyYY!!!!! I saw one in a window of a music shop and today we went there to see if i could play it. I got to play it for a bit, but it was so out of tune I spent a while trying to tune it, and actually one of the strings broke...haha so funny. But the guy was so nice. It felt so crazy to hold one again, tell Heidi that I´m down to play for that group when I get back.
Get this, in two different lessons this past week, there was a TV over in the corner on mute, and in the middle of the lesson Back to the Future came on!! Haha made both me and my companion want to watch so bad, but we just had to ask to shut it off. Then as I was walking on the street we passed a bar that had playing on their TV HOME ALONE 2!! GAH good thing we were in a hurry or else it would have been super easy to have stopped for a second haha.
We started teaching this family from Guinea Equitoreal, and they are incredible. But 2 of them went back to France where they live, but had accepted to go to church there (we had found it on mormon.org with them). Many times we as missionaries have to pass these people to other areas and other missionaries, and of course it´s a little sad to know you won´t be able to teach those people and be a continuous part in their progression, but it is good to remember how we´re always on the same team. It might not me me teaching them, but more importantly they are getting taught. I hope and pray they continue talking to the missisonaries there and soon can get baptized.
We had exchanges a couple days ago, I went to another area here close--called Mostoles, which was pretty fun. There were lots of fair things that were going on, making the streets super crowded but it was good.
Not much else happened this week, it seriously went by too fast. Sorry there isn´t a ton of stuff. But I wish you all a new year, and hope you look forward with lots of hope, looking for the good in everything. 2015 can be as good as you make it to be.
Love,
Elder Franson
Happy New Years!! It was pretty awesome here, lots of fireworks and banging noises to keep everyone awake. Like I´m sure happened everywhere, there were tons of drunk people and just annoying kids blowing things up, but it was great. I still haven´t made my New Years resolutions but have been thinking for a little while and want to make them good for this year. How about you guys?
I got to play a cello todayyYY!!!!! I saw one in a window of a music shop and today we went there to see if i could play it. I got to play it for a bit, but it was so out of tune I spent a while trying to tune it, and actually one of the strings broke...haha so funny. But the guy was so nice. It felt so crazy to hold one again, tell Heidi that I´m down to play for that group when I get back.
Get this, in two different lessons this past week, there was a TV over in the corner on mute, and in the middle of the lesson Back to the Future came on!! Haha made both me and my companion want to watch so bad, but we just had to ask to shut it off. Then as I was walking on the street we passed a bar that had playing on their TV HOME ALONE 2!! GAH good thing we were in a hurry or else it would have been super easy to have stopped for a second haha.
We started teaching this family from Guinea Equitoreal, and they are incredible. But 2 of them went back to France where they live, but had accepted to go to church there (we had found it on mormon.org with them). Many times we as missionaries have to pass these people to other areas and other missionaries, and of course it´s a little sad to know you won´t be able to teach those people and be a continuous part in their progression, but it is good to remember how we´re always on the same team. It might not me me teaching them, but more importantly they are getting taught. I hope and pray they continue talking to the missisonaries there and soon can get baptized.
We had exchanges a couple days ago, I went to another area here close--called Mostoles, which was pretty fun. There were lots of fair things that were going on, making the streets super crowded but it was good.
Not much else happened this week, it seriously went by too fast. Sorry there isn´t a ton of stuff. But I wish you all a new year, and hope you look forward with lots of hope, looking for the good in everything. 2015 can be as good as you make it to be.
Love,
Elder Franson
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