Traslados

There once was an ancient civilization who when they would go to war, would consume the hearts of their enemies to help them gain their strength and become victorious.... I guess I'll be able to jump a lot higher now, because I tried rabbit heart for the first time this week. Ha. That was part of a pueblos visit that we had this week. That was a cool trip; we spent all day in a pueblos then ate rabbit with a member afterwards.

Our Pueblo visit: Elder Simmons, Elder Phillips, Elder Bassett, Elder Jepson

The zone leaders had a super cool milagro happen to them. They were only talking to people for 20 minutes when they found a woman who said that her daughter was investigating the church. They find the daughter and it turns out she has been in Ecuador for 2 months. While in Ecuador, she was about to be baptized but didn't have time. Since then, she has been looking for the church here in Spain. She came with us to a member cita and already is starting to hit it off with them, which is great. 

Recovered photos from Pday in Toledo

Where's Waldo?

Once upon a time, I was hungry

That moment is now. Like right now. I want food so badly. 

This week we had temple day, so that was fantastic! We woke up super early to go to the temple; though, and didn't have time to eat. Now we are on the train back to Móstoles for another hour until we eat, so it's just the waiting.....I'm pretty pumped though, because we are going to hit up Dominoes when we get back.

It’s been a while since I wrote last, and unfortunately again, I don't have a lot to write about. Last week was pretty standard, no big meetings, no service projects nothing unusual, just a bunch of walking, talking, and teaching. I can update you on the weather here: it's getting HOT. Now, I'm sure my friends serving down in Malaga our probably laughing at me right now, but it's getting up there. I can deal with the heat during the day, but what is really starting to get me is that it's still super hot at night before we go to bed. There have been a couple of nights where I just lay in bed sweating unable to sleep for an hour or so.  

Plus another bit of info, the piso we have here in Móstoles is the biggest one in all of the Madrid Mission. I have heard there is another one that gives it a run for its money, but I've been told by many that ours is biggest. So the reason that the mission has such a big piso is because the utilities are included-like air-conditioning, water, etc. So that’s great, right? One downside, the air-conditioning in this piso doesn’t work. So yea, it gets pretty hot. We have 2 fans that we all fight over, so we get some coolness every once in a while. I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually, but for now it’s a little crazy.

One thing that did stand out is that we did intercambios with the zone leaders. That was pretty fun. I was with Elder Jepson. He is a pretty good guy, a real máquina when it comes to talking. I learned a lot from it. I have been trying to get better at my conversations throughout the day.

We were super busy last transfer and for most of this transfer, too, but the last week we had a lot of time in the streets. For all that time, I decided I want to get better at having good conversations with people I talk to. It can be so much more fun, too, when you can come to get to know people from all over the world. I've had some pretty cool conversations, some weird ones, too, but that is always bound to happen.

I want to share a scripture this week that I really liked from when I was studying diligence. It's in D&C 58:26-28. Our agency is a very special and important gift that has been given to us. God has given us commandments to guide and protect us and to help us to have happiness in this life and in the next. Then He let's us choose how, when, and to what extent we follow them. He hopes we follow them all and that we do our best, because He knows that that is how we can be happiest, but He doesn't force us. We have to take the initiative. We can always improve, and we can always become better. One of the things I have been striving to be better at is being diligent with my time. In the short amount of time I have been working on this and trying to make improvements, I have already felt and seen the increased blessings it has brought me. God let's us be free agents, and when we are diligently following and obeying Him, we can be so much happier. He wants that for us, and He is always going to be there to help us along the road.

I love you all, and He loves you, too. Until next week!

- Elder Bassett 

Sorry I don't have any pics this week. I am trying to get that nametag background pic, Mom, but there aren't a lot of pretty scenery options. I'll send it when I can. 

Hola a todos!

Elder Bassett, Elder Phillips, Elder Jepson, Elder Simmons

It's been a pretty good week; keeping super busy which is awesome. So going back to the beginning of last week. Elder Chabot and Hermana Quispe left, and we got Elder Jepson and Hermana Moyle who is just entering the field. They are both pretty cool missionaries; it's been fun getting to know them a little more.

The shell of one of the snails we ate

So on to the rest of the week. Like always, I can't remember a lot of what happened so just a bunch of stuff that stood out. So to start out, we had a challenging eating appointment. A sister from Africa, heard that Elder Phillips likes fufu, so she decided to make it for us. Now, as I have stated in a previous email, fufu is pretty interesting, kinda different, but the crucial part to a good fufu is the soup. And this member made us a very typical African soup made by her tribe. This was a soup made of spinach, chicken, bones, fish, a black mystery sauce, and huge chunks of caracól. For those who don't know, caracól is Spanish for snail. Now, I love trying new foods, and when I heard what we were going to eat, I was pretty excited, but it wasn't what I expected. It was pretty hard to eat. What made it even worse was that due to the festival a couple days earlier on p-day all of the stores were closed, so we couldn’t get groceries, so by this point we had almost nothing to eat. I was pretty queasy for the rest of the day. Ha, but that was a little fun, too.