Conference!

Hey everyone!

Well, it's been a super crazy and awesome weekend! It all started out with conference, which was super great. I loved the sessions that we were able to watch. One of my favorite talks was the one by Elder Brough where he talked about finding joy amidst hard things. I also really loved Elder Rasband’s and Soares’s talks. They were both very inspiring and really helped me on my own personal questions that I had.

I loved what President Nelson said about the name of the church. He spoke so clearly, and I really felt the power of what he said. As he spoke, I thought of the power of repentance and the chance that we have as a people. It is true that in the past, I've become comfortable with the nickname Mormon; it is oftentimes more well known than the actual name of the church. As we have been explained the importance of the true name of the church, we all have the opportunity to repent and to stop making the same error we did before. 

As the Prophet, he is giving us guidance for ways that we can improve and has promised us the blessings that will come from doing so. I'm excited to experience those blessings as we move forward. And continue to try and improve. I'm so grateful that God sends living prophets to us in our days to communicate to us and help us to grow. How comforting it is to know that God still guides and leads us through a living prophet. That's one principle that we always talk about, but really seemed to hit me more than ever this last conference. 

Noemi and Daniela are doing great. They had their baptismal interview this past Sunday, and they are ready. They should be baptized this Saturday. I'm so excited for them. They have really begun to live the gospel and are seeing the blessings of it in their lives. The opportunity to be a tool for the Lord in helping people experience that is one of my favorite parts of being a missionary.

In other words, we watched one of the sessions of conference at the Bussey’s home. That was a really fun experience to be there with them. We talked a bit about what we had heard and had some insightful moments. Afterwards, President Bussey pulled me into his office, and we talked for a bit. He told me that after praying about it, he had decided on where my next area would be. So with that, he told me that my next companion would be Elder Kohkström, and my next area would be Cadiz. 

I knew it has been coming for a while, and to be honest I'm excited. I've heard a lot of good things about the area and my new companion; I'm excited to go and see what the Lord has in store for me there. It's going to be good to get out and work again as a normal missionary. I am a little sad to say bye to the area and the people I have come to know and love, but they are all in good hands. 

Well, I can't think of anything else to mention, so I'm going to be done writing for today. I just want to say that I love you all, and that I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is God’s church on this earth. And He is guiding and preparing us every day. Take care everyone and talk to you next time! 

- Elder Bassett 

Hello Again

zone conference

Hey everyone!

So as you can see and have probably noticed, my P-day was changed again and is on Tuesday this time. This time, it was because we had a lot of office work to do yesterday that couldn´t wait, so we moved it to today so that we could get everything done in time. Well, Last P-day was on Thursday, so not a lot of time has gone by, but I will try and fill you in as best as I can. 

On Friday, we went and helped a member move to a new apartment. Unfortunately, she told the ward really last minute, and she started right in the middle of the day when most of the members had work, so nobody was able to come. We also had Zone Conference the same day, so we weren´t able to come until the very end, unfortunately. We were able to make it to help with the last load that she did. She had such a great attitude about it; though, and she is the nicest lady. 

We did stay at her place though to help her set up the Bunk Bed for her kids. She said it was the simplest one that IKEA had, but I have never been so confused in my life. Ha. it is all finished now; though, so the confusion is past, I am calm, and the family is getting settled. 

Zone Conference went pretty well. We had a lot of tech problems which made things a little stressful. (Biggest of those being the projector going haywire at every possible second.) Then half way through the conference, the front lens kind of melted; so that was rather unfortunate. Ha! The majority of the morning half of conference was President and Hermana Bussey doing training while I sat next to them fidgeting with the projector. It all worked out in the end though, and it was a pretty good conference. 

The focus this time was on Exact Obedience and how to exercise the Power and Authority of our calling as missionaries. There was also a big focus on the Holy Ghost. There were a lot of things that stuck out to me that I really enjoyed. One thing that was talked about was the importance of completely dedicating ourselves to the work at which we are about, keeping our focus on our missions and letting ourselves be changed to help us become true disciples of Christ.

The people that we are teaching are doing well. On Saturday was the baptism of a man named Jorge who was being taught by the sisters. Daniela and Noemi came early to the baptism, and we were able to teach them a little bit before. They also came to church the next day and even though they had to head out afterwards pretty quickly, we were able to still teach them later that day through a video call, "YAY for the blessings of technology!!!". They are both doing great and are on track to be baptized the week after General Conference. 

Sorry so short

Hey everyone

I just wanted to say sorry ahead of time, because I have very little time today. A large chunk of the day I had to spend trying to figure out this problem that we have been having in the office, and it took a lot longer then planned. 

The people that we have been teaching are doing Great. We have 2 people who are going to be baptized this Saturday. Their names are Vilma and Daniela. They are both super ready and excited. The only struggles they have at this point would be opposition from their family. If you can keep them in your prayers so that they can hopefully recieve a little more support from their families. I love you GUYS! Till next time!

- Elder Bassett 

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 

Hello family 

Man, it's been a pretty crazy week. So, we have been keeping very busy this past week, and we have had little time for everything. But it's been good to be this busy. The investigators are doing well, and we are currently working on finding more, so that when the current ones are baptized, we don't find ourselves with nothing to do.

One of our investigators, Maria was going to be baptized next week, but last minute, she told us she didn't want to next Saturday.....since her sister is going to be out of town. Instead, she now wants to be baptized this Saturday so her sister can be there. Ha! So she has her interview tomorrow, and if she she’s prepared, then she will be baptized this Saturday. As of right now, she really wants to be baptized this Saturday, and we are just making sure that she is completely 100% ready. Better to wait if we have to, to make sure that she is ready. 

So other big news, we haven't been able to say anything up until now, but there are big changes going down in Spain. We received news about our new mission president. His name is President Bussey! I'm excited to meet him when he comes, but I will be sad to say bye to President Pack. He has been such an incredible president, and he has helped me so much. I will be sad to see him go.

The other big change is that there is mission consolidation happening in Spain. Starting in July I believe, there will only be 2 missions in Spain, Barcelona and Madrid. Malaga will be combing with us. It kind of caught us by surprise, but our president explained to us that it is very normal. It's actually happening in a lot of other missions around the world. It’s going to be interesting to see how it all works out. Who knows? I could be serving in the Straits of Gibraltar or in Seville.

Well, I'm sorry guys, but I got Prisa and need to go. I'll see you all next time!

- Elder Bassett 

Greetings

We had a great a zone conference!

Hey everyone! 

It's been a pretty good week! We had zone conference, which went very well. We talked about safeguards for using technology and about ways that we can use technology more in the work. That's where we came up with the idea for the sweep the earth initiative. If you haven't seen it, it is basically a small calender of things we can do everyday to share the gospel through social media. The same general idea as light the world but all with technology and focused on missionary work a little more. If you haven't seen it or started it, I recommend doing so! It has been pretty cool already, and it's never to late to hop in! I'll attach the photos with this email. 

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Hey everyone!!

Elder Bassett and Elder Jordan

Man so it has been one crazy week! Lot of changes and adjustments, but honestly, I am loving it! Like I said last time, my new area is El Ferrol, and it is incredible! It's super beautiful here. It's not as cold as I thought it would be. It does rain a lot, though. We always need to carry umbrellas around, because you never know when a random rainstorm might come through.

So, I left the island Monday night and spent the night in Madrid. The next morning I caught a train that took me to the north. It was about a 6-hour trip. Not gonna lie, it felt pretty long at times. My train got in early, so I had to go find a payphone to give the elders a call to come pick me up...so that's the story of the first time I've used a payphone on my mission. 

That night, we dropped my stuff off and then went and got to work. My new companion is a pretty cool guy. His name is Elder Jordan, and he is from Mesa, Arizona. He just finished his training, so I am his second companion. He seems like a hard worker, and he is a pretty funny guy, so I am looking forward to this next transfer with him. 

¡Trio Life is Guay!

¡Hola Chavales! ¿que tal?

I really never know how to begin these weekly emails, so that's the best I got for today. Things here on the island are going great. Like I said in the subject line, the trio life is stinking awesome. It's a lot of fun being with Elder Merrill and Elder Tiebing. They both have a lot of great energy and faith that has been boosting me a bunch.

We have been keeping super busy this past week. Having the car has been super helpful we are just able to set as many citas as we can, and with the car, we have time to travel to all of them, which is legit. So it was a super busy week this past week. We have been focused on 3 things: investigators, the Light the World initiative, and working with members better. So here is an update on how that's all going.

Investigators: We are meeting with a few people right now. We are meeting consistently with 3-4 investigators. We have another 10-11 investigators that can meet with us, but only de vez en cuando. Big news this week- we found a new guy who is super cool! His name is M-. He is 19, which is super awesome. We actually found his number in our phone with a bunch of others. We sent out a text, and he responded. He met with the missionaries about a year ago but only for English classes. Since we have started meeting with him, he not only has been showing interest, but he also came to church and has a baptismal date for the 16th. He is a super cool guy, a lot of our focus is on him right now. So that's a little update on that aspect of the work.

The bumper stickers we are making for the members

So we have been working a lot this past week to get prepped for the Light the World initiative that will be taking place this Christmas. We are getting a lot of stuff set up right now. I think it’s going to be super awesome. Here are some of the things that we have been working on. First, we are getting a Facebook page set up for the whole island. It's called Light the World in Tenerife, and it's legit. It will basically be a page where the members all over the island will be able to share pictures and videos of what they will be doing for Light the World and share it with each other to get the excitement up. We are also working on getting these car stickers printed to give to the members to help promote it, too. I'm super pumped about that, we already have a design and everything. Other then those 2 things, we are going to be setting up a bunch of service opportunities for people to come to and just get people excited. Va a Ser genial! 

We made these for the members to help inspire them

Big day coming up!

Hey guys!

Ok, man! So it's been a crazy week. Pretty good, but crazy. So what to talk about? After transfers, we just started getting right to work. But there was some kind of mix up with transfers and all of our data on our area book app got sent all over the place. So this past week we have been working pretty much relying on my memory for all the appointments we had. It’s been a little rough, but we are working through it. So let's see stuff that has gone down. 

We've been super busy with a lot of traveling and a lot of meetings. As far as our investigators this week we finished teaching Alvaro everything. He received and passed his baptismal interview. His baptism is this Saturday. He is super pumped, and so am I. I'm so excited for him; he's just so chill.

At one point in the week, we went to a pueblo called Arroyomolinos. On our way back my pass for the bus ran out leaving us stranded in this pueblo way outside of the city. We were gonna walk back, but luckily we were able to get picked up in a car by one of our investigators. Pretty cool. 

Recently I have been focusing a lot on the Spirit and the importance of receiving personal revelation. I think a lot of times when we are faced with an important decision or something that is stressing us out or is really important, we fall back on our own knowledge and experience. Through that we can learn, progress, and make good decisions, but not nearly as well as when we rely on the wisdom of our Heavenly Father. Receiving personal guidance through the Spirit isn't always easy, and we have to work for it sometimes, but it is some of the best guidance we can receive. I invite everyone to try and rely on the Spirit more in their lives. When we do it, we can become so much greater then we are.

I love you all!

- Elder Bassett 

Country view of Arroyomolinos