Hello!

Hello to my wonderful Family and Friends!

I hope that you are all doing well, and that you are having a great time enjoying life wherever you may be! Things here are going pretty good. They have been keeping us pretty busy in the office. We had our Preparation Day today instead of on Monday, because there was a Zone Conference yesterday that we needed to help out with. Happy to report that the conference went well, and there were a lot of missionaries that left edified and strengthened!

Things in the office have been a little crazy. We had another change yesterday. Elder Liza had finished his training of Elder Gergov, so he left the office and our new companion Elder Kraut joined us. Elder Liza will return home in one transfer. Elder Kraut is a really cool missionary from Sandy, Utah. He was also trained by Elder Simmons, my “mission Dad”. Elder Keffer will be training him. So, at this point, our official companionship consists of Elder Gergov, Elder Eyre, Elder Keffer, Elder Kraut, and myself. Not gonna lie, it’s a little crowded in the apartment sometimes. Ha! But we are making things work, and things are progressing. 

Today we went and had a cool cultural experience. The name of our area is called San Sebastian de los Reyes, but it has a nickname called the Pamplona Chica. That nickname was given, because hosted in this town is the second biggest Bull Run in all of Spain, "Second to Pamplona where the official one is held". (Pamplona is in the Barcelona mission.) We went today and saw a bunch of runners doing their best to get out of the way of a bunch of massive bulls traveling at impressive speeds. It was a really cool experience.

After that, we went in the Coliseum and watched a bunch of kids doing tricks and trying to avoid the bulls as best they can. When we went, there were about 40-50 older teenagers and people in their 20´s all doing tricks around this one bull. In the event we went to, the bulls aren´t hurt at all, so we just spent a bit watching people doing the classic dodge with jackets they had on or just trying to do tricks. One kid kept hopping over them which was super cool. He did fall once, but everyone scared the bull off before it got to him. Luckily, throughout the whole thing, nobody got hurt (Except a small graze on someone’s leg). There were a couple close calls, though. It was definitely a really cool experience, and it´s one more thing to check off of the bucket list. 

Hey everyone 

Super sorry but I don't have any time at all today. We had our temple pday. Then we had to go pick up the Busseys from the airport, so we haven't had anytime at all today. I just wanted to check in and tell you all that I'm doing good. The area is going well and the work is progressing, till next time!

- Elder Bassett 

Enjoy the pictures!

This is some of our district minus Elders Liza and Gergov who were in the front seat.

We did apartment checks in mostoles and I got to pass by Alvaro! 

Elder Liza was giving me a haircut last night, because it was crazy long. (And Elder Gergov watching.)

Hey everyone!

So it's been a pretty busy week, mostly in the office. I also don't have that much time at all today, so it's going to be a pretty short email today. Well, we haven't had that many lessons, because we have been in the office so much. The few that we did have were really good though. We had a couple with Daniela, the daughter of Noemi. She and her mom are both doing great, we are just having some trouble meeting with them. 

There really isn't much to say about our office time. Most of the stuff is well, office work. I've been working a lot recently on Concilio tickets for the leadership conference, interviews for president, random reports here and there and about 10 other random jobs I have right now. I love you guys a bunch, sorry about the short email, have a great week!

- Elder Bassett 

Prayer

¡Buenos tardes mis amigos!

¡Espero que todos se encuentren bien! Things in Spain are going great. Not much has happened since the last email since p-day was Wednesday last week. We have been keeping really busy in the office. But we have also been able to get out of the office a bit, which has been really nice.

On Saturday, we were able to take a break from the office and devote the morning to passing by people and talking in the street. We ended up spending the entire morning doing that, and to be honest it felt really good to be out. Usually when we leave the office, it's to go straight to a lesson, and we always come back to the office right away afterwards. It felt good to just walk in the street and talk to people with out having to worry about office stuff for a bit.

Sunday was super great. We ended up going to a hospital to give this woman that we have been teaching a blessing. She just had knee surgery, and it looks like it's going to be taking a while to recover completely. We talked for a bit about how she has been feeling with everything, and she mentioned something that I thought was interesting and that can maybe be relatable to some people.

She said that sometimes with everything going on she will just get frustrated and lose the desire to pray. Basically at times when she feels like all of this bad stuff is happening to her, it's hard for her to feel the desires to look to God. That got me thinking a bit. Often times when someone gets hurt whether it be physically or emotionally, the first reaction is usually to withdraw from everything, to protect yourself or shield yourself. 

When someone gets burnt or cut who wouldn't feel nervous or hesitant at first for someone else to look at it or try to help. That's something that can be natural and when it comes to spiritual things, but something that we need to overcome. If we are feeling frustrated, angry, or depressed and can honestly say that we can't feel the Spirit is when we need to overcome that instinct and turn to God. 

2 Nephi 32:8 says "For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray". Our Father in Heaven extends His hand out to us, and anytime we feel a lack of desire to do the same, we can trust that that desire isn't coming from a good source. 

It may be hard to do sometimes depending on the situation, depending on how we feel, but reaching out through prayer will always help us and show us what we need. I love you all and that was just something that I wanted to share, take care till next time!

- Elder Bassett 

Transfers

Saying goodbye to my 'mission Dad', Elder Simmons.
He went home yesterday which felt really weird.

Hey everyone!!!

Man this past week and a half has been so crazy!!! We have been working on transfers and that has been filling every wakeful and sleepful moment. This was the first transfer as a merged mission, and it was super, crazy and hectic. There were A LOT of changes. Over 86...which is not very easy when you only have 3 days to make plans, but tickets, and organize the movement of over 260 missionaries. Yeah I'm a little tired. It's all finished though. 

Due to transfers, we didn't have much time to meet with the people that we have been teaching. But most of them are doing pretty well. Vilma has been getting fellowshipped so much by the ward right now, and it's awesome! They love her so much. Her family is starting to open up so much to us, which us awesome. 

Update on the companionship: with the change, we went from 3 To 5. Our new companions are Elder Eyre and Gergov. Elder Gergov will be replacing Elder Liza, and Elder Eyre will be having the new job of the fulltime technology elder. 

The office can take some getting used to. The late nights are exhausting.

It's super nice, because he will be taking a lot of my responsibilities off my plate. It's going to help a lot, because to be honest, I've been a little overwhelmed this past transfer with all of the changes.

One unique thing that we learned recently is that with the merge our mission is the 3rd largest geographically in the world. Definitely could feel that sometimes buying tickets and scheduling interviews for all of them. But a change has been announced that will change that.

It is so exciting, because in Galicia (where I served before in the northern Spain) a new stake was created. It's a special time, and it's so amazing to see the joy of the members there. Many of them have waited over 40 years to have a stake. I'm so happy for the members and to see the way that the church is growing is wonderful. 

With that creation, it was announced that the new stake will be part of the Barcelona mission. It's not official yet, but when it's approved, we will be losing the north part of our mission. I'm happy to see the growth, but sad to say goodbye to the members and missionaries there. I have a lot of good friends serving there, and it's sad to know that for some we won't be seeing them again. It's the way of things sometimes. This church is a church of change and growth! And that's great. It's a part of progression.