Busssssyyy!!!

Hey everyone!!!

So I have zero time to write today. Reason for that? Well, transfers, Packs’ farewell, Busseys’ arrival, mission merge, and normal office work. So yeah, we are kept super busy; we’ve had several late nights of working. This past week was good though. Biggest downside is how tired we are; we've been running all over the place for a bit, and we are running a little low on sleep. It's all good though, because things are going well. We are a little behind, but we should be caught up by the time President Bussey comes tomorrow.  We were able to talk to them on a phone call last week and introduce ourselves. He recognized my name form his connection to Dad.

One of the things keeping us busy is going back and forth to the airport to drop off and pick up missionaries. There is a big group leaving and a big group coming. One day we were at the airport waiting for a missionary from the Chile MTC. We had been waiting for him over 3 hours. We were getting worried about him. His connecting flight had been delayed. It’s a really big airport. This was a new missionary, and we had no way to contact him. I was getting panicked and stressed. Maybe he was lost or scared or didn’t know what to do. I worried that maybe we had somehow missed him and should go look in another part of the airport. I said a little prayer for him and asked that I would know what to do to help him. When I opened my eyes I saw a group of pilots. I thought maybe I should go talk to them. But then I realized we’d passed dozens of pilots, and there were hundreds of people all around us; chances were he wouldn’t know anything about him. Then I felt like I should talk to him again, so I wove through all the people and went to talk to him and asked him if he’d seen another young missionary dressed like me. He responded that yeah, he was on his way and just behind him. I felt an amazing sense of relief. I said a prayer of thanks. I was so grateful that we hadn’t lost him.

Jose's baptism went super well. He is a super cute kid, and he was super happy. One drawback, the water was cold. Our chapel is a little strange. When the water heater is on, the air conditioner turns off. With the heat of summer, our leaders decided to opt for cold water and an air-conditioned building.  But it was still a great baptism. There were two children, one from the hermanas and Jose. All the talks were from children their age. It was a super special experience, and there was a really sweet spirit there. 

I’ve been thinking recently on how special it is to be with people and see the change in them as they accept the gospel of Christ. To see them feel what we are sharing and connect to that same Spirit that guides us each day. It's something that really can't be replaced.  I’ve mentioned our investigator Naomi. I found her by going through my cell phone history. She was an old contact that hadn’t gone anywhere with the other missionaries. I decided to call her and see how she was. She responded that she was horrible everything was going really bad. Her husband had just been in a car accident and was in the hospital, and she could use some support. We started talking to her about the peace that comes through Christ and accepting His will and finding strength in Him. Since then, her husband has gotten better and is home in a wheel chair. Ever since then she has been meeting with us and wants to know more about the Gospel. Our lesson with her this week was about the Plan of Salvation. In that lesson, she told us she had been thinking about baptism before we met. She gave the closing prayer and said that she felt the Spirit. There are a lot of ways as a missionary I can improve. There are lot of aspects of missionary work that I love, but most of all I love teaching. I love being in a lesson with people and being able to see the way the Spirit can influence their lives and help them to be better. It’s an irreplaceable feeling. I love being a servant of the Lord and be a conduit of His Spirit and help people feel the love of God. It’s not something I do perfectly, but we do our best.

Hey family!!!

This past week has been very good. We are currently getting ready for transfers and the merge of the missions, and it's keeping us ocupado. President was planning on finishing transfers last Thursday, so I could get started on buying the tickets, but he hasn't been able to yet. So it looks like I will get them on Tuesday, and then I'll be able to get started. 

Our investigators are doing pretty well. Jose will be baptized this Saturday if all goes according to plan. He is a super great kid and is really excited to be baptized. He will be baptized the same day as Liz, an investigator of the hermanas who is also 8. I love hearing the simple testimonies of little kids. They are so accepting, and it's awesome to see how sweet they can be to their family, and how excited they get when they are learning more. 

We are getting closer and closer to the Packs going home. We are going to be missing them a bunch. It's really weird to think about a mission without the Packs. This past week we went to their house to have interviews and at the same time we had a last dinner before they left their house. It was a lot of fun and a great experience. Well, I got to go. Have a great week everyone!

- Elder Bassett 

El fin viene ya

Hola mis amigos queridos!!!!

Greetings from Madrid Spain! Life here is going very well, and I'm keeping very busy. This past week we had a lot of cool experiences. As always, I'll go about it in sections.

One big thing that happened is that we had the last zone conferences of the Packs. That was very emotional; I even started to tear up a bit at one point. It's going to be very sad to say goodbye to the Packs. Of course, we are excited to welcome the Busseys, but the Packs are going to be very missed. This past conference we talked about the importance of obedience and being the best missionaries that we can be. It really impacted me. One part I really liked was Hermana Pack’s section on our purpose. She talked about the 2 action words of the purpose, "invite” and “help". It was a good conference; it left me with a lot of renewed desires to be a better missionary.

We also had an intercambio with the zone leaders. We ended up going to their area, which is called Torrejon. That was a really good intercambio. We ended up getting pretty busy, but we were able to find a little bit of time to talk to people. We went to another area for a baptism, which was really cool. While I was there, I started talking to this random girl. It turns out she is from Chicago and is here for an exchange program. That was just a funny little thing, finding a 20-year-old girl from Chicago in Alcalá, Spain. Then again, I guess it's about as weird as finding a 20-year-old guy from California there, too.

I had one really cool conversation this past week that comes to my mind. We were on our way to Torrejón to start our intercambios; while we were on the train, I sat down next to a guy who looked really tired. So I started to talk to him, and he is a super cool guy. He moved here about 8 years ago from Venezuela. He works in a little supermarket; he usually does about 11 hours a day which explained a bit why he was so exhausted. We talked a bit about his country and all of the hard stuff that was going on there right now. 

One thing I've noticed, and that I mentioned to this man, is that despite all of the trials and difficulties that many people in South America and his country face, as a people they have a very powerful and strong faith. I think in part it's due to some of those trials. This man and others I've met are just some of the most humble and faithful people you will ever find. 

Our investigators are doing pretty well. They are all moving at their own paces, but they are progressing pretty well. We currently have 3 people on fecha. 1 for the 23rd and 2 for the 14th. The 1 on the 23rd is an 8-year-old boy named Jose who is part of a less active family that has started coming back to church He is very prepared and right now his only obstacle would be his church attendance. His family lives a little far away, and they don't have enough money to buy a bus pass. So, we are currently working on organizing rides from the other members so that they can get to church.

The other 2 are named Noemi and Daniela. I don't remember if I mentioned them last time, but Noemi is the mother and Daniela is her young daughter. Noemi' s husband was in an accident a while back and has been in the hospital. We have been meeting with them and helping them get through it. They are doing a lot better now. We have started to teach them about the gospel, and they are really seeming to enjoy it. Daniela is being a really great example for her mom and is starting to read a lot in The Book of Mormon. She even looked up and watched the restoration video on her own free time.

Well fam, sorry, but I have to go. I hope you have a great one and that you enjoy your week, wish me luck for transfers! I start working on them this next week.  It’s a little early for that, but we are preparing to merge the two missions.

- Elder Bassett 

The Lord's work

Hey everyone!

This past week has gone pretty good. We had a lot of time in the office thus past week but we also had the chance to meet a lot of new people and experience a lot of miracles. I'll try and keep you filled in on some of the experiences the Lord's blessed us with this week!

One story I wanted to share was from this past Thursday. We were super busy in the office that day and we were only able to get out to teach a lesson and talk to some people for about 20 minutes. We saw though that even though we had such a short amount of time we saw a bunch of miracles and we were able to meet a lot of people that God put into our path. There were a lot of experiences like that but I wanted tonshare one that was really cool.

We went by a members house to help them carry a big bookshelf down the stairs to throw away because they didn't want it anymore and they were going to leave it on the side of the road for someone to grab, that's really common in Madrid. As we were doing that a couple pulled up next to us in their car and started talking to us. Turns out the girl is a less active member and the guy isn't but he loves the church and he said that he wants their daughter to be a member. So we talked for a bit, got their phone number, invited them to church, and said bye.

We then go get into the car and start to drive away only to see them parked on the side of the road trying to grab the bookshelf. So we pulled up next to them and asked if they wanted a hand. They said yes and seeing as it didn't fit in their car we helped carry it about 7 blocks for them to their piso. I'm sure we got a lot of weird looks "you know 3 guys in white shirts and ties carrying a bookshelf through the streets of Madrid get them sometimes" but they were super grateful. All in all it was a cool example of God putting someone in our paths as we did service. 

Something else that was super special that happened this past week was that we went and met as a ward in the new chapel for the first time. We finalky got permission from the government to meet their and we had the meeting and it was very special. It was a special broadcast to Spain and Europe and we heard some words from several general authorities, elder uchtdorf, and sister Jones of the primary presidency. I loved all the talks though I had a hard time focusing on them. 

Every Sunday we take turns translating for a senior missionary who doesn't speak Spanish and it was my turn to translate this time. So I ended up translating all 2 hours and on top of that their were a bunch of kids around me being a little energetic and having a lot of fun playing with my shoes....needless to say I was a little tired afterwards. 

Ha it was all super great though and I really loved the remarks of Elder Uchtdorf, he related the modern day saints to those in the time after Jesus Christ's resurrection and he talked about how similar we were. There was a string theme in the meeting about having a personal testimony and using that to strengthen the family in the home which I really loved and really applies to a less active family who we have been working with that attended. 

All in all its been a really good week. One thing that came to my mind as I put in the subject line is my personal testimony that this really is the Lord's work. With the amount of time that we had to proselyte this past week it on its own doesn't make sense that we had the blessing to talk to and find so many cool new people. Unless we take into account the fact that we aren't the only ones working in the vineyard.

Jacob 5

72 And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things.

We aren't the only ones working. When we put in an effort and put our shoulder to the plow, it's easy to see that we aren't the only ones pushing. Our heavenly father knows his children and is preparing and helping them everyday. Constantly striving to help them find and accept the restored gospel. And we as missionaries and members are working right at his side. It's own of the blessings that we can have as members of his church upon the earth. I love you guys! Keep up the good work and have a great week!

- Elder Bassett