Hey Guys!
So I found out that in our free time at night, we are
allowed to prep emails so that we don't have to rush to write and send
everything in the hour we have on Thursday -kind of nice! Hopefully, it will
help me to be able to put in more detail.
Mom, thank you for that scripture from Jacob. It really did
make me feel better. I'm happy to hear that things are going so well in
primary. I definitely know what you are talking about with the Spirit, and it's
really cool. I may not be in the field yet, but we teach lessons everyday.
On to last week. When I finished my letter, as always we
went to the temple, and as always, it was a very special experience. After that,
we came back had lunch and then went off to check out a museum called The Rein
a Sofia. It's a pretty famous museum. It has a lot of modern art, cubism, a
bunch of Picasso pieces. Not going to lie- that whole museum kind of worried me
out. It was confusing, weird, and a lot of it didn't make any sense at all. Plus
another downside, a lot of the stuff had way too much nudity. I honestly don't
feel like it is a museum that missionaries should be going to. I guess I was
right, too, because we later found out that we went to the wrong museum and
weren't actually supposed to go to that one. That explained a lot. After that, we went to Plaza de Sol again. No
churros this time, but I did get gelato and a burger from McDonald's. I was
honestly surprised how much I missed burgers. All of the Spanish food is great,
but I do miss food from home. After that, we came back and watched a devotional
by Elder Hinckley. It was really good. We had a great spiritual discussion
about it in our district.
 |
| No gelato for me? |
So on to the next day, it was Friday. We usually do service
on Fridays, but since we were going to be fasting the next day and unable to do
sports, we did sports instead. A little change to our schedule, so that's what
stood out on Friday. On Saturday we went
to the park. My companion was Elder Lukatch from Ukraine. Elder Lukatch speaks
English, Ukrainian and Russian but no Spanish, so I was really feeling the
pressure while we were at the park. He did his best to help though. He had so
fun learning “Hola” and “¿Como estas?” It was pretty fun. We had a lot of good
conversations. We were blessed enough to find two different groups that spoke
Ukrainian. That was definitely cool for him and for me to be apart of it.
On Sundays: we have a sacrament meeting at 9. Missionaries can
be randomly selected to give a talk, so we need to be ready at all times. After
that, we have Sunday school with just our districts; the district leaders teach
all lesson. After that, we separate to priesthood and relief society. During
priesthood meeting, the zone leaders teach us. After that, we have lunch all and
a little break before we meet for choir practice and then go out and sing on
the steps. After that we have a little bit of free time and then dinner. Last,
we have a devotional and discussion and bed. I'm excited because next week our
devotional is going to be live with President Pack, my mission president. I'm
super pumped for that.
We had a really good Sunday this week. We handled the
sacrament again. This time, I had the privilege of pushing Julio in his
wheelchair during the Sacrament. I was worried I would bumble him into
something, but it went well. He was in our Sunday school later that day, and he
bore his testimony. It was special; I was really grateful to be there and have
the opportunity to witness it. We watched another good devotional that night
and had an awesome discussion as a district. I love my district so much; they
are such special people. I'm so grateful for their examples and service. The days really blend together, so I have trouble
remembering the order of what happened after Sunday, but here are just a couple
of things that stood out.
I have discovered kinder eggs. They are glorious and
wonderful creations that can be found pretty much everywhere except the US. I
know we have gotten them as a family before, but I'm just having so much fun
with them now. They are these little eggs made of the best chocolate ever and
inside everyone is a little toy. It's so fun. The normal ones are only like a
euro. I've had 3 since I have been here; I really should stop, ha but moving
on. Something crazy that happened this week while we were playing soccer at the
pit (yeah I know I haven't sent pictures yet. My bad, but I keep forgetting.) Just
remember that the pit is just cement steps that lead right down into a soccer
field. Well, we were playing and Hermano Caotono, one of our teachers, went to
save a ball before it went out and slammed into the steps and hit his head
super hard against them. He was super dazed and his ear and part of his face were
bleeding. There was a huge lump on his jaw. We were really worried that he had
a serious concussion and at least a fractured jaw. The elders in my district and
I sprinted back to the MTC to get help while some of the other teachers stayed
with him and gave him a blessing. When we got to the MTC, we sent a car and
then just had to sit and wait for news. I was really stressed out and
worried. We said a prayer, but we just had to go on with the day and trust that
the teachers were handling it. Later that night, we are all still worried about
him and really not sure what was going on. Then he showed up to get his keys;
he has bandages on the side of his face, but his jaw isn't broken at all. He is
talking perfectly fine, and he didn't get a concussion at all. Looking back on
the experience, and the way he hit his head, I have no doubt in my mind that
that is a miracle. I was seriously worried, and it only ended up being a big
scrape and a big bruise. It could have been a lot worse. I am extremely
grateful that it wasn't.
Moving on another cool thing that happened: we had another
zone kickback. (I don't remember if I talked about that before, but it's where
in the hour we have before bed, a bunch of the elders go outside and write in
their journals while listening to hymns and efy music.) This time though, we
just spent the time singing our favorite hymns like, “If You Could Hie to Kolob”
and “Ye Elders of Israel.” It was definitely cool and a lot of fun; although,
the sisters who are the music directors heard us from the section of the
building that they were in, and now we are roped into doing a musical number
this Sunday. Ha oh well. It should be good.
So another thing that happened; I was washing my hands after
exercise and the sink just broke. It literally just fell to the floor. That's
the second time that's happened, so I was teased a bunch for it, and it was
pretty funny. Here’s another. We played soccer again in the pit, but this time
there were 7-8 Spanish kids that must have been about 16 or 17 so they played
with us. Wow are they good! No matter how hard I tried I could never get the
ball away from them. We probably had about 7-8 more guys than them, but they
still ended up winning. It was crazy. At one point, one of their guys started
at the half court mark and dribbled the ball to our goal weaving in and out, of
no joke, 8 elders as they all tried to stop him yet he still scored a goal. It
was crazy. Definitely a lot of fun though; they were really good sports. You
could tell they were just sparring with us, because we were so bad, but it was
a lot of fun. I love soccer so much; it's the best.
So for this week's email I want to close with a special
experience. As a missionary and being in the MTC, I am really blessed to have
many spiritual experiences. I can't even begin to list them all. I just want to
share one that is really special. As a district at the end of everyday right
after dinner, we alternate leaving the room and going to teach practice-investigators.
Last week, Elder Taylor and Elder Castagnetto were out teaching, that left
Elder Heninger, the sisters of the Moroni district, and I. Usually, we are just supposed to study, but
the sisters decided to sing some hymns. They sang songs like, “Nearer My God to
Thee” and other really slow and beautiful ones. It was so beautiful, and the
Spirit was so strong. Elder Castagnetto and Elder Taylor got back and sent some
of the sisters off to teach. When they got back, we had a really dedicated
study for an hour before it was time to go to bed. Normally, we just say a
prayer and go to bed, but this time, the sisters wanted to end with a hymn. So
they sang, “Savior, Redeemer of My Soul”, while the other elders and I just sat
back and listened. The spirit was there so strongly. It was such a special
experience. After that, I said the prayer, and it was just so special. I almost
didn't want to leave, because I just wanted to feel like that all of the time.
I'm so grateful for the examples of the other missionaries, and I'm so grateful
for my district. We have only been together 5 weeks, but we already feel like a
family. It's going to be so hard to move on. It's really weird to think about,
but we hit our 1 month mark last Tuesday. Last week in my email, I made a
mistake. I said we were leaving the 28th, but we are actually
leaving the 21st. So we are going to finish this week, and then we
have one more week plus a couple transition days, and it's off to the field.
I'm so excited to get out and start really getting into the work, but I really
am going to miss this place. I have had a lot of very special experiences here.
I want to close with this; I'm so grateful and blessed to be
serving a mission. I love my heavenly father. I'm so grateful for all that He
has done for me. I can feel His love for me every moment, and it is so special.
I'm here, because I want to help other people to feel and know of that same
love. He knows and loves each of us. I know that with every fiber of my being.
I love you all. Goodbye until next week.
Elder Bassett
Hey mom so I talked to President and it looks like I am able
to print off my own temple names while I'm here, it's too late to do them today
but I'll finish them next week, it's probably better though to let me finish
the ones that I have and not send me anymore, because I won't have any more
opportunities to do them for a while after this next trip. I'm sorry but I
don't have a lot of pictures this week. Like I said, the museum was kind of
weird, and I didn't really take any pictures, and pday is our one big day to
take pictures. I do have a couple though that I can send.
OK love you mom, until next time!
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