Hey everyone!

It's transfer pday, so there isn't a lot of time. We are saying bye to a couple people in the zone, and there isn't a lot of time left in the day. Things here have been going pretty good. We have been keeping really busy, and we are still finding some more people. We have been having trouble meeting with some of the people that we have found recently, so we are trying to work on having more daily contact. 

We received the transfer news. We are both staying, and we are getting a new missionary, too! Elder Kohlström will be training; we will be trio training for the next couple of weeks before I head out. It's super exciting, and I'm looking forward to working with a new missionary. Other than that, Hermana Strand from our district is heading out, and we will be getting Hermana Cushcagua.

The people we are teaching are doing good. Like I mentioned, we haven't been able to meet with a lot of them, so in every case we haven't gotten past the next couple of lessons. We have been doing a lot of Facebook finding recently; we have found some people through it. I feel like we have been relying on it a little too much recently though, so we are going to be striving to get out a little more and talk to people in the street. 

One cool experience from this week was that we went and met with a family that has been having a hard time recently. The mom is a member, but her kids aren't, and we are trying to teach them right now. This past lesson, we talked with them about the atonement and shared gracias a el with them. You could really see that the spirit had an impact on them. The daughter talked to us a little more and opened up a lot. She said part of her believes that the church is true, but in her heart she hasn't and doesn't want to ask because she was worried that if she finds out that it's true then it might cause divisions in her marriage. She was really sincere, and I really feel like someday she will join the church. At this point, we really focused on helping her have the desire to pray. I'm excited to see how it goes with her.

I love you all, and I hope that you have a great week. Take care till next time!

- Elder Bassett 

Hey everyone! 

It's been a pretty good week here in the Cadiz zone and the Cadiz area! We have kept pretty busy! We found 2 new people this week. One was a street contact from about 2 weeks ago, but we got to meet her for the first time this week. It was a quick conversation in the doorway because there wasn't a man home, but we were able to set up an appointment to meet up with her in the park tomorrow. So we are super excited.

The other guy we actually found through online proselyting. We started talking online, and then we met up with him this last Friday. The appointment went pretty well, and we are excited to see his progress as we keep meeting with him.

This past Saturday, light the world started! I'm super excited to see how things work out this year! I hope everyone had a good time for the worldwide day of service the first of December. In Cadiz, we went with a couple of other members and collected a bunch of food to give to those in need. I was a little worried about the activity (that it wouldn't work out), but we got a lot of help from the members in the area. 

That morning, we messaged all of the members and reminded them about the day of service. Then we invited everyone to pray to have an opportunity to have an unplanned act of service that day apart from what they already had planned. We did the same. That night while we were visiting members’ houses collecting food, we had a cool experience. It was super simple, but we walked by an old man unloading his car. We asked him if he wanted help. He said yes, which kind of surprised us because they never say yes, ha. We were able to help him unload his car, and he was grateful. It was a cool experience and a testimony to me about the power of prayer. 

On Sunday, we presented more about light the world to the different organizations during third hour. We had already mentioned it before, but this time we gave them a printed calendar and 2 pass along cards. The calendars were for them, but we invited them to take the pass along cards and with a spirit of prayer, think about 2 people that they could invite to the special sacrament meeting the 23rd of December. There were a lot of members who were excited about it and I'm excited to see how it goes. 

I love everyone, and I just want to say how grateful I am to you all! Things here are going well. I'm excited for the Christmas season and for the opportunity that we have to focus on the lives of others and to give as Christ gave. Take care everyone!

- Elder Bassett 

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone had a great week! Things here have been going pretty well. We have kept pretty busy. We are starting to find a couple of cool people who we are trying to meet with. We have been able to set up a lot of appointments, but we have been getting failed a bunch recently. But we have also been seeing a couple of cool miracles. One day, we had the goal to teach the restoration in the street 4 times. Ha we gave a good effort, and it didn't look the best. Literally everyone told us that they weren't interested until the very last person. We taught her, and she said she was actually trying to find God more in her life. It was right at the end of the day; it was a cool little miracle to keep us going. 

Amongst other things that happened was zone conference. It was super good; the focus was on baptism and the restoration/The Book of Mormon. I really loved it to be honest. I feel like I learned a lot about more ways to improve the invitations that we extend. This was actually the last zone conference that I will have before going home, too, so some other elders and I plus the hermanas from my group gave their final testimonies. Not gonna lie, it felt pretty weird; never thought that that day will come. Still have a decent amount of time left; though, so it's all good. I also got to see a bunch of old mission friends, which was a lot of fun. It was good to see them all. Zone conference just so happened to coincide with Thanksgiving, so we had a Thanksgiving meal that was a lot of fun. Ha on the train ride back right before we all got McDonald's together too which was kinda like the second thanksgiving. 

On Saturday, we got to go and do a cool service project. Apparently, it was the día del niño. We went to this organization and helped the little kids plant flowers in a public park. It was a really fun service, and we got to meet a couple of new people. We invited some of them to church, and we taught the restoration to one, but he left before we could get his number. 

We are starting to get light the world started here in Cadiz. We announced it to the different classes during 3rd hour on Sunday, and everyone is pretty excited. For the day of service, we are going to meet up at the chapel and then go around in groups of 2 to the houses of other members to collect food to donate to local organizations. We are still trying to get it organized a bit more but other than that it's all-good.

I hope you all had a great week take care and talk to you next time!

- Elder Bassett 

Hey everyone!

Things here in Cádiz have been going really well! We are having a good time and keeping super busy. This past week we had a couple new things happen. On Thursday, we met with the ward council and talked with them about Light the World. We started brainstorming ideas and stuff that we could do. I'm super excited to see how it goes. Other than the main service project, it looks like we are going to try and do a ward choir and go to a couple public places to sing Christmas songs. Other than that, the ward missionaries and our companionship are going to be trying to visit as many of the families as we can and share with them the calendar and the family home evening activity. We are also organizing a big Christmas dinner, which will be exciting. 

Another day, we went and did service for an older family who are super great. We are helping them build a garage. It went pretty well; we made a lot of progress. There is a man that always comes and works with us named Vicente who is super great. He is a member but hasn’t been to church for a really long time. He is from the countryside and is so hard to understand, ha, but he is super great. He is 80 years old but is such a hard worker. We were given gloves to work with, but he said, “No. A cat with gloves on can't catch the rat.” He is super funny. 

Other than that, we were able to meet a couple new people this week. One is Angelic and is a friend of a less active member we have been meeting with. She is from Colombia and is super nice. I'm excited to keep meeting with her. Another is named Johanz, he is also pretty new here. He is from Peru. We met him talking in the street. He is a super nice guy and is going through a pretty rough time right now. 

I hope you all have a great week talk with you next time!

- Elder Bassett 

Hey everyone!

I hope things are going well! Life here in the mission has been going super great. We have been out in the streets a lot talking to people and passing by addresses of less active members and potential investigators.

We are going to start trying out a bunch of new things this week. We have a couple of new ideas for online proselyting that we want to put into affect. We are also going to try and go knock even more doors this week.

In other news, we also have ward council this week, which is super exciting. We talked with the bishop a bit. We are going to be using it as an opportunity to present Light the World and start brainstorming ideas for how we want to implement it here in Cadiz. Also, we will discuss what service projects and activities we want to implement. I'm super pumped.

I also had a meeting this past week for missionaries that will be going home soon. It was actually a super good meeting. There was a big focus on being self-reliant and on living a consecrated life. I learned a bunch. There was a talk that was shared that I really loved. You should go check it out! It's by Elder Christofferson called Reflections on a Consecrated Life. It's from October 2010. Have a great week everyone!

- Elder Bassett 

Hey everyone! 

Things here have been going well. We are still striving to find people to teach. We've been working on talking to people in the street and on meeting with less active members and trying to help them come back to church. We have found a couple of cool people and right now we are striving to meet with them but are having trouble setting up appointments. Poco a poco. 

We are still trying to work with Julian. He has been opening up to us a little more recently and has shared a little more about what he has been going through. Last time we passed by though for an appointment, he wasn't there, and we haven't been able to get in touch with him again. 

We have also been working on getting to know more members and strengthening them and our relationships with them. The members here are super great and the nicest people in the world. 

To be honest, I can't think of any other big noteworthy things that have happened this week. I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

- Elder Bassett 

 

One of the great members in our ward

Greetings!

Hey everyone!

It's been a pretty good week! We have been focusing on meeting with the families in the area that have been struggling recently and helping to animate them to come back to church. We met with a couple new people and one man named Miguel came to church this past Sunday! That was super exciting; he hasn't been to church in over 16 years. He came out and said it felt really good to be back. He was able to meet with the bishop too which was super great. 

We have started to meet with Julian. He has been addicted to drugs and alcohol most of his life and is still in the process of trying to give them up. He believes a lot in God though and has started to read a bit in The Book of Mormon. Right now, our biggest goal (my companion and I) is to help him stop drinking, so that he can feel the spirit easier. It's been a work in progress but we have some high hopes. 

He came with us to an activity Saturday, which as super great. It was basically a music concert and a bunch of videos centered on the Savior. He really liked it and had a super good time. It was a pretty good activity.

We have been starting to have some cool experiences talking in the street to people. We are starting to meet some cool people, and we are in the process of trying to start to meet with them. Things are still picking up poco a poco. I'm enjoying Cadiz and the field. It's awesome to be a missionary! Take care everyone and have a great week.

- Elder Bassett 

After getting locked out of the piso one night, I unsuccessfully tried to pick the lock

Hey Everyone! 

Things here in Cádiz have been going pretty well. We had district meeting, which went pretty well. We are a district of 4, us 2 and the hermanas. The hermanas of the district are Hermana Harris and Hermana Sullivan. But we had transfers today and Hermana Harris is leaving to Seville. Coming in will be Hermana Strand who is from Norway. There were a couple of cool things that happened this week that were a lot of fun.

One day, we were invited and went to help teach seminary, ha that was a lot of fun. There were 3 kids, and they didn't seem too tired. We talked about the Godhead and practiced teaching together. It was a lot of fun. After that, we went and did some service at the property of an older couple. They only have about an acre of land, but they have a bunch of fruit trees, a pool, chickens/ducks, a house, 2 sheds, 1 garage, and another one in the process. It's so cool, because they have built everything there themselves. When they started out, it was just a plot of land with nothing on it.

They are an older couple who have been in the church for almost 50 years. I love talking to them about the growth and changes that they have seen in the church during their time. They said that when they started out they were in a small rented hotel lobby with 4-5 people. They saw all of that grow into the stake that the Cadiz providence has today. They are a super great couple and despite their age, they really know how to work as seen by everything they've built. 

We were helping them lay more cinder blocks on the wall of the garage. Enrique, the husband, was walking around showing us how it was done. He's in his 70s and has a bad leg that forces him to walk on crutches, but it doesn't stop him from going to shovel the cement and move stuff around. They are a great family. We are going to be trying to work with them a little more to help fellowship Olga and also try and get to know her husband a little bit. 

Another cool thing that happened was a stake primary activity that we went and helped out with. It was a mock missionary experience. All of the little kids received mission calls, went through the mtc and came and taught lessons with us. Ha, it was a lot of fun, and the kids were all super cute. Our job was to help the elders learn how to tie ties while the hermanas helped out by letting the girls braid their hair. After that, we went and all of the parents were the people being taught while their kids taught them about prayer. It was all super cute. I had a little kid teach me about how we pray to God, because he doesn't own a cellphone. That one had me laughing a bit.

It was a moving thought to look at all of the kids (there were about 40), and to imagine them all as missionaries one day. Someday they will have the chance to go out and share the gospel, and I think the world isn't ready for what's about to hit them! "In the next 10-20 years"

This past week, I also had an inspiring experience with online proselyting. I got a random friend request from this woman that I don't know that lives in Alcorcón, an area right next to Móstoles, my first area. I had no idea who she was, and we didn't have any friends in common so I don't know how she found my profile. Not gonna lie, that happens a lot, receiving friend requests from people that we don't know. I would say I've received hundreds. Generally when I get a request like that, I send them a message first asking if we've ever met before. I've never really gotten a response back and with time I usually delete the request. 

This time though, I got a response back from this woman. She said that we hadn't met before and that she didn't want to bug me, but she was a little curious. We started a conversation on Facebook messenger, and it the led towards religion. It turns out that recently she has been feeling the desires to believe in God and find peace but had been having a really hard time finding faith. We talked for a bit about that and about the blessings of the gospel. In the end, she said she was interested in meeting, and she gave me permission to send her profile and phone number to the missionaries where she lives. They got in contact with her the next day, and now they are starting to teach her!

It was a super cool experience for me, in part, because it was so surprising. It came out of nowhere and turned into a teaching experience really quick. It was just another way that my testimony has been strengthened in the blessings of technology and social media when used in an appropriate way. I love you all, and I hope that you have a great week!

- Elder Bassett 

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 

El Campo! Y Milagros

Hello to my friends and family who I love so dearly! How are ya?

Ha, things here in Cadiz are going great. I know it still hasn't even been a full week since I got here, but it is just so awesome. It feels really good to be back in the field again. I'm going to try and fill everyone in a bit on what's been going on, so have patience with me!

We have been working on visiting as many of the members as we can for 15-20 minute each to try and get to know them and gain their trust. Our plan is to go in and get to know them and then we have been starting to share the lesson of the restoration with them in about 5 minutes. So far, we have only been able to get a couple of families, but we are seeing a lot of miracles from it. 

It feels super great to be out in the field again. I've been missing my past area a bit, but it's really nice to be fully dedicated to the work again. Noemi and Daniela weren't able to get baptized this past Saturday, and they are probably a little stressed, so if you can keep them in your prayers. 

My new companion is named Elder Kohlström. He has been on the mission for about a year, and he is from Sweden. His last area before this was actually La Laguna which was his we do d area and mine as well. He came into this area and has been doing what we call in missionary work “whitewashing”. He got here and then, instead of their being a missionary to train him in the area, he entered with another missionary who was new to the area. Basically, it's like coming in to a new start and learning everything from ground zero.

He and his last companion have been doing a great job, and the Lord has really been blessing the work here. Yesterday, there was a baptism that came with a miracle of a story. If you’re a missionary or future missionary listen to this! 

The woman's name is Olga, and she is 82. She is from Chile but has lived in Spain for the past 30 something years. About 29 years ago, she was at the bus station in A Coruña, Spain. There she met the missionaries. She met for them for a couple of months but for a variety of circumstances was never baptized in the church. Flash forward to a couple of months ago. Olga is walking in the streets of Cadiz looking for a jewelry store. She enters a couple and isn't decided on which one she wants. Finally she decided to go home.

On the way home, she passes one more jewelry store and for some reason she feels like she should go inside. She goes in, starts looking around, and eventually starts up a conversation with the man behind the counter. They talk for a bit and eventually the topic goes onto religion. Olga mentions that over 29 years ago, she was meeting with some missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. That worker then responds and tells her that he is the bishop of that same church here in Cadiz. 

The bishop invited her to the church again, and she started to meet again with the missionaries. With time, she decided to be baptized. She wrote and told the missionary that had first found her who had stayed in touch all those years. That returned missionary, who is now married and the father of 4 children, decided to come up with his wife and this past Sunday, was able to baptize the same woman that he found almost 30 years before.

That is just such an incredible miracle to me. It's a witness to the seeds of faith that are planted into the hearts of people. It's also such an incredible witness to the importance of staying in contact with those we have taught and are teaching. Some people are ready when we are with them, some aren't. The Lord knows His children and is preparing the path for them to return unto His Gospel. How incredible is that to know?! 

I love this gospel, and I know it's true! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

- Elder Bassett