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