Craziness

Hey Fam and friends!  

Ok this week maybe hasn't been the busiest of the mission so far, but it for sure has been one of the craziest I've had up till now. We had 2 big things happen this week that I wanted to mention. First and foremost, the accident.

Maybe you might have already seen it on Facebook or heard it from others or church news, but there was a car accident in the Malaga mission which is right next to ours. In the car were 4 missionaries and an investigator; they crashed head on with a semi truck. Miraculously, they have all survived; although, the investigator, Jose Luis, is still in bad shape. The four missionaries are stabilized, and it looks like they will be fine. Of the 4, Elder Heninger will have to go home to recuperate, but from what I have heard the rest are staying in the mission. Like I said, it's a miracle that they survived, let's keep them all in our prayers. On Facebook, Elder Heningershared his testimony. It was super powerful, and I would definitely recommend looking it up and reading it, but a warning there are some graphic images of the crash. (Elder Heninger was MTC companion.)

Also of note was the baptism of Maicol and Militza. It was a super special experience, and I will never forget the spirit that was there. We had an issue of the font overflowing before hand, but thankfully, we were able to get it all cleaned up in time. After the baptisms, Militza got up and shared her testimony. It was so special, and I felt the Spirit so strongly. At the end, we sang Families Can be Together Forever to close. It was really sweet to see Militza singing while her son Maicol laid his head in her shoulder. It was a very special night, sorry to everyone, but because of all the craziness before we weren't able to get a pic with them. I'll send one another day.

Other then those 2 things and some other random stuff here and there, it was a pretty normal week. We started to teach a new woman called, Esnaider, who is from Cuba. She is a super nice woman and genuinely interested in finding out if the church is true. I'm excited to see how she keeps progressing. The rest of our investigators are still doing well. Elizeta is still in France, but we continue to teach her through video calls, and she is doing well. We met some other new people, but we haven't been able to start teaching them yet. 

In an email this past week, my mom asked me to talk about what kind of struggles a missionary faces when he reaches a year, and what it is that I'm looking forward to in this next year. From my own experience, I would say that my struggles right now are with making sure that I'm consistently doing what I can to exercise my faith and be the missionary the Lord needs me to be. For me, that consists of a lot of constant self-reflection and pushing of myself to improve. Ha, sometimes a struggle for me is staying focused on improving one trait before thinking of something else I need to improve.

The biggest thing that I'm looking forward to in this next year is really seeing what the Lord has planned for me and seeing who it is that He wants me to bless, and where I can go to find them. That's one thing that always seems to impress me. As a missionary during these 24 or 18 months, so much of our life is guided directly by God. He tells us right where to go, for how long we need to be there. When we coordinate and work with Him, He will even put the people in our path who need us the most. I've experienced that in my mission, and it's something that I'm really looking forward to this next year as well.

This week, I really just wanted to testify that God's hand is in each one of our lives. The fact that each of those missionaries is still alive, the fact that Militza and Maicol are in Spain and not in their home of Venezuela right now, the fact that I-along with thousands of other missionaries-was sent to a place thousands of miles away where people would need me, is all testimony to me that God influences our lives. Maybe we don't always see His hand, but I can promise that it is there. I love you guys. Keep up the animo!

- Elder Bassett 

Pictures from our pday at the castle, a lighthouse dating to the time of Christ, and last a picture from the car crash. Warning, it's graphic. 

Goodbyes

Monday, March 20, 2017

 

Goodbye to the Moroni District

Hey Mom and Dad, 

I'm already back emailing. Man these past couple of days have gone by so quickly. As you can imagine, there isn't a lot to email, because it's only been a couple of days. This is really more of a transition email, but there are a lot of cool things that I want to include.

Saturday was our last park day. I was able to have my actual companion as my park companion this last time, which was really cool. We were able to get 2 referrals; I really felt guided by the Spirit as I was working.

Cousins reunited!

Hey everyone!

This is going to be a really short email; we found out that we actually aren't allowed to prep emails before hand. Last time was just a miscommunication. So it's back to one hour for writing.

Man, it’s been a great week. Time is flying by so fast here. It’s hard to believe that in 4 more days I'll be in the field. I'm definitely going to miss the MTC and everyone I've come to love here, but I'm so excited to get out and start serving.

Here’s a really cool thing that happened. I was studying in class and president came in and pulled me out. He then proceeded to tell me that, because he trusted me to be brief, I could go outside and say hi to Elder Brasher who was going to the temple. It was definitely cool to see him again. I'm really grateful that President gave me that opportunity to go see him.

2nd Letter!

OK! Officially the second email! Ha! Every p-day morning, we all countdown until 8:30; we all get so anxious and excited. I was definitely so pumped to write.

Well, things here in Spain are going great; the language is coming, and we are having a great time. Where to start? Last week after I wrote everyone, we went to the temple. That was a great experience. I did it in Spanish, which was a really cool experience for me. I had a great time, and it really helped me focus. After that for our p-day excursion, we went to the Plaza Del Sol in Spain. It was so cool, but unfortunately, I had problems with the SD card in my camera, so I won't be able to send photos from that until next week, but I was able to take some.

Plaza Del Sol e Fuente

At the plaza we got churros with chocolate; they were so good! The chocolate came in a little chocolate mug and was thick and super rich. I loved it, but everyone else wasn't that big of a fan. I definitely think that everyone in the family would love it, except you, Whitney; it would definitely be too much for you! We had a good time then the day ended, and it was back to work.

FIRST OFFICIAL LETTER!

Hey everyone! First email! Man it feels like it's taken forever to get the chance to write everyone. I've literally been watching the clock counting down until I can write everyone; I've never been more excited to write an email in my entire life.

OK, so where to begin? I guess a good start would be the beginning, that makes sense right? Ha! Well. OK The flight in was fine; it felt pretty long, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I just spent the whole time sleeping and writing in my journal. When I got to the Salt Lake airport, I was able to meet up with about 5 other missionaries. From there, we all flew to Paris. In Paris we picked up another missionary from England, then it was off to Spain.

It was definitely really exciting to get to Spain. Our Paris flight was delayed an hour, so I was worried there would be nobody waiting for us, but there was a guy there to welcome us. We loaded the vans, and it was off to the MTC. The MTC is right next to the Madrid Temple, and it is so beautiful! I'll try and see if I can get a pic to send in a bit, but we are only allowed to take photos on p-day and the last day. Since this is our first p-day, I don't really have any pictures, but I'll send some as soon as I can. The MTC really is a special place. It is always so easy to feel the Spirit here. A lot of the missionaries are bugged by the strict rules and busy schedules, but I love it! It's so nice to feel productive, and obeying the rules really helps to bring the Spirit to the environment.

We got here Tuesday afternoon. The first couple of days were just an intro to everything with a lot of devotionals that were really great. We didn't really have our first language lesson until Friday. While I've been here, I've discovered my Spanish is a lot farther along then I've realized, and while I have been here I've progressed so much more. The gift of tongues is real, and I can see it in all of the other missionaries and their progress. It really inspires me. My MTC companion is Elder Heninger from Canada. When he got here he was only able to say the word ‘much of’, which is not ‘mucho’ at all, ha-ha. But just this Monday, we were teaching a lesson, and I was having a convo with our investigator. While Elder Heninger couldn't speak, he was able to tell what we were talking about. After 3 days of language lessons, it is honestly amazing.