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

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

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

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