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
Monday, May 25, 2015
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.
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