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. 

We have been keeping very busy in the office right now. We haven´t been able to leave the office as much as we would like, but we have been seeing some cool miracles. Two Sundays ago, a mother and daughter that we had been teaching came to church again. I was super happy to see them, because they were the coolest people, and they had just dropped off the face of the planet about a month ago. Their names are Daniela and Noemi, if you happen to remember from past emails. 

We sat down with them after church and talked for a bit about everything and how they felt, and they are still going strong! The mom had been through a rough time and for that reason it had been a little hard to get into contact with them, but we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. The Spirit was there super strong! We focused on the joy of repentance, and how it helps us come unto Christ. We invited them to be baptized again. They said that they still want to be baptized, and we are working towards helping them prepare for that currently. The biggest obstacle at this point would probably be Noemi´s work schedule, which doesn´t give a lot of time to meet with us. We are working with her on that, though, and I will try and keep you updated!

This past couple of weeks we have been focusing a lot as a zone and a mission on the principle of repentance. I read a talk called "El Arrepentimiento y la conversión" by President Nelson from April 2007. It talked about repentance and how it is a key to true conversion. As I´ve been studying repentance the past week, a scripture came to mind in Alma 34:32. "For behold this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God". Repentance is such an important key, because that is how we prepare. Without repentance and the power of Jesus Christ’s atonement, we can't become better, and we thus can´t return unto our Heavenly Father. 

Not only is it necessary, but repentance is also a principle of Joy! Think of Alma who himself had to go through a very difficult repentance process. Later on as a prophet, he proclaimed how he wished that he could speak with the trump of God and proclaim repentance to the whole world. I remember one of the first things my dad wanted to really help me remember before I came out to my mission that as missionaries we have the sacred responsibility to Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts. Repentance is so important, and it brings so much happiness. It is something that we should be doing everyday! 

I love you all, and I want to invite anyone who reads this to strive to apply the principle of repentance in their life. I promise that as you do that, then you will be able to experience that same joy of Alma. I love you all, and I hope that you have a great week! ‘Til next time!

-Elder Bassett