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

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

In front of the royal palace.

 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.

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

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