transfers: on to barrio 9

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

Hermano Fransisco from Peru. Such a good guy.

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

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

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

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

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

Elder Franson

listening to the spirit

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay, love you all. Have a great week! 

Elder Franson

spreading the 100 day journal challenge

Hello everyone,

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

You all are awesome! 

Love, Elder Franson

goodbye to chelsey + the power of service

Good morning everybody,

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

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

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

Have a great week!  Love you all so much.

Elder Franson

we can't change the wind against us, but we can adjust our sails

Greetings from here in Spain,

Well that week just flew by, holy moly. Time always goes a little slower when you get to a new area or get a new companion, but lately, since we´ve been together for a bit now, it's been going by pretty fast.

So some news for this  last week--my left eye hasn´t stopped twitching since Tuesday, getting kind of annoying now. I´ve got a permanent goose egg on the top of my head from hitting it on the door frame while walking in and out of houses or rooms. You´d think I would have learned by now but nope, they still get me, And it still hurts. Kayla remember when we went to LA together and I jumped on a mattress in Justin and Julie´s garage and I unfortunately didn´t see the screw hanging down from the shelf? Gosh, I smacked that thing hard! Haha took everything not to cry in front of everyone, had to choke down my tears and ask you in secret if my head was bleeding. Haha poor kid.

Well the missionary work is moving forward, we continually witness blessings every day. We found a woman from Haiti the other day (didn´t Uncle Sam serve in Haiti??) and she is super awesome. Doesn´t have much except her 2 little kids, no job. But she is so humble and sweet, makes me feel horrible for everytime I was selfish and whined about not having a cool phone or being able to by nice and expensive clothes all the time. The mission has opened my eyes, There are some many people here who just have the bare minimum and go day to day to live, and I think it should be a life lesson learned for each one of us. Many of us haven´t had to worry each day if there will be food on the table, but I don´t think it would be a bad thing to experience either. We could all learn something from them and quit worrying about that and focus on the more important things. They are able to recognize the littlest of blessings, which is important. We had zone conference on Thursday and they talked a lot about having a good attitude and how that can change the outlook of your mission in whole. So I´ve been a personal goal, and I hope you all will as well, to always strive to have a good attitude amidst the trials and hardships. We can´t change the wind against us, but we can adjust our sails.

The family from Bolivia is doing great, Carmen, the mom, is so golden. It amazes me everytime we leave the house. She has true desires and the Lord is blessing her and us as well.

I´m doing great, happy and healthy :) I made those cookies on Wednesday and they are sooooooo good. I had forgotten how good they were!! Wow, thank you so much for sending those ingredients. Thanks for all of the gifts as well, I love the flip flops and shirt! I had a great birthday, not that it was much different than any other day haha, but it was really good. 

I hope you all have a great week!

Love Elder Franson

teaching mostly south americans

Hello to all,

This week was a pretty good one, had some great experiences and miracles. First I wanted to tell you about this new family that we are teaching. The Lord blessed us big time with giving us this opportunity to teach them. The mom´s name is Carmen and she has 2 kids, a girl who is 14 and a boy who is 8, kind of like Cady and Porter :) This family is super golden, honestly they just accept everything and also they have some really good questions. The 14 year old girl asked, sincerely, "Just, why aren´t there prophets now? Can´t we have a prophet just like they did back then?" I don´t think I would have ever of thought of things like that when I was 14 haha. The thing I'm worried about is just the dad. We´ve never met him and I don´t want him to think we are going behind his back and teaching her crazy things. Pray for them, please. 

 

Interesting story, so we´re serving in Spain, right? Spain, should be a lot of Spaniards here is what I thought. Well there are a lot of Spaniards but typically they are a lot more hard-hearted, they just have a harder shell that needs to be cracked. The South Americans are a lot more accepting and open. The Spanish people have a long history of Catholicism and don´t like to change from their ways very often. But we do have one investigator who is from here in Spain. He is pretty good but his life is really tough right now, just barely lost his job and around the same time, his wife left one day with his 2 kids. We can tell he is depressed and is struggling a lot, but I hope that as we continue teaching him and helping him get closer to his Heavenly Father it will help him have more strength and confidence. He has already come to church twice!

Ok, love you all so so so so much! Have a fantastic week.

Elder Franson

american breakfast, minus the syrup

Hey all,

Okay. This week was amazing and frustrating...but more than anything amazing.

So, the frustrating moment was when we were at English class on saturday (and that Ecuadorian family always comes), and when we invited her to church again (she came once) she said "Oh well actually we just want to go poco a poco (little by little), and we already attend an Evangelist church. So for now we´re fine. I mean its all the same God, right?" Ugh, made me so sad. She obviously didn´t understand us when we taught the authority part. But who knows, maybe their time isn´t quite yet.

But the miracles were flowing this week, we have a total of 5 new investigators--found them all in the streets--who are just AWESOME. Two of them are a couple, in their mid 20s, the guy is super buff and my companion has dubbed him as "the Abocrombie model" haha. he wouldn´t seem like the type to accept the Gospel, but he did! The other one is a guy from Peru who just accepted everything super easily and gladly. I was super surprised and happy. The other ones are a family from Ecuador (ok I swear everyone we talk to here is from South America, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia. The Spaniards typically have a lot harder of a shell than Latinos. So basically I have all of the South American missions in my mission haha). They are all really really good and I´m so happy! Pray for them please, Satan is very motivated to make everyone fall.

Also, on Thursday, we cooked an American breakfast for the recent converts Beatriz and Edison. We did pancakes, french toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon. Mmm so good. Other than the fact that syrup is no where to be found here in Spain which is annoying, but we made do. They really liked it, or maybe they were just saying that to make us happy, never know. I always tell the members when they feed us that their food was super good even when I was about to gag, so maybe they are giving me a taste of my own medicine.

Thanks for all your love and prayers, sure do appreciate it. Oh, tell the Blums thanks for that card for me.

Can´t wait to Skype you this Sunday!!!!

Love, Elder Franson