Busssssyyy!!!

Hey everyone!!!

So I have zero time to write today. Reason for that? Well, transfers, Packs’ farewell, Busseys’ arrival, mission merge, and normal office work. So yeah, we are kept super busy; we’ve had several late nights of working. This past week was good though. Biggest downside is how tired we are; we've been running all over the place for a bit, and we are running a little low on sleep. It's all good though, because things are going well. We are a little behind, but we should be caught up by the time President Bussey comes tomorrow.  We were able to talk to them on a phone call last week and introduce ourselves. He recognized my name form his connection to Dad.

One of the things keeping us busy is going back and forth to the airport to drop off and pick up missionaries. There is a big group leaving and a big group coming. One day we were at the airport waiting for a missionary from the Chile MTC. We had been waiting for him over 3 hours. We were getting worried about him. His connecting flight had been delayed. It’s a really big airport. This was a new missionary, and we had no way to contact him. I was getting panicked and stressed. Maybe he was lost or scared or didn’t know what to do. I worried that maybe we had somehow missed him and should go look in another part of the airport. I said a little prayer for him and asked that I would know what to do to help him. When I opened my eyes I saw a group of pilots. I thought maybe I should go talk to them. But then I realized we’d passed dozens of pilots, and there were hundreds of people all around us; chances were he wouldn’t know anything about him. Then I felt like I should talk to him again, so I wove through all the people and went to talk to him and asked him if he’d seen another young missionary dressed like me. He responded that yeah, he was on his way and just behind him. I felt an amazing sense of relief. I said a prayer of thanks. I was so grateful that we hadn’t lost him.

Jose's baptism went super well. He is a super cute kid, and he was super happy. One drawback, the water was cold. Our chapel is a little strange. When the water heater is on, the air conditioner turns off. With the heat of summer, our leaders decided to opt for cold water and an air-conditioned building.  But it was still a great baptism. There were two children, one from the hermanas and Jose. All the talks were from children their age. It was a super special experience, and there was a really sweet spirit there. 

I’ve been thinking recently on how special it is to be with people and see the change in them as they accept the gospel of Christ. To see them feel what we are sharing and connect to that same Spirit that guides us each day. It's something that really can't be replaced.  I’ve mentioned our investigator Naomi. I found her by going through my cell phone history. She was an old contact that hadn’t gone anywhere with the other missionaries. I decided to call her and see how she was. She responded that she was horrible everything was going really bad. Her husband had just been in a car accident and was in the hospital, and she could use some support. We started talking to her about the peace that comes through Christ and accepting His will and finding strength in Him. Since then, her husband has gotten better and is home in a wheel chair. Ever since then she has been meeting with us and wants to know more about the Gospel. Our lesson with her this week was about the Plan of Salvation. In that lesson, she told us she had been thinking about baptism before we met. She gave the closing prayer and said that she felt the Spirit. There are a lot of ways as a missionary I can improve. There are lot of aspects of missionary work that I love, but most of all I love teaching. I love being in a lesson with people and being able to see the way the Spirit can influence their lives and help them to be better. It’s an irreplaceable feeling. I love being a servant of the Lord and be a conduit of His Spirit and help people feel the love of God. It’s not something I do perfectly, but we do our best.

Hey everyone! 

So life is going pretty good here in the office. We have been keeping pretty busy, but we have made sure to have some time to go out and proselyte, so that has been pretty great. I have finished a lot of my bigger projects, so my workload is starting to die down a little, which is nice. Based on what Elder Tarver, the last secretary, around weeks 3 and 4 of the transfer things start getting a little more tranquilo letting us focus on normal missionary work for a bit. Then comes the business of weeks 5 and 6 and transfers starting everything up again. 

I don't remember if I mentioned it last week, but we had a really cool miracle happen to us about 2 weeks ago. On Sunday 2 weeks ago, a woman came to church who is a member, but hasn't been active for over 20 years. She just recently felt like she should come back to church, and so she came to church that Sunday with her 13-year-old son. Their names are Leandro and Carolina, and we have started to teach Leandro. He is a super cool kid and has a date to be Baptized for the 12 of May, so keep him in your prayers guys!

Other cool news, I recently found out that 2 of the investigators that I was teaching in Ferrol (my last area) got baptized. That made me super happy. It's the sister and daughter of the other woman (Militza) that we baptized while I was there in Ferrol. It makes me so happy to see that the family is all coming together and being unified in the church; it is such a testimony to me of the blessing and beauty of eternal families. 

This past week or so, I have been thinking and studying a little bit more about gratitude. I think that a lot of times in my life I've taken for granted all of the blessings that God has given to me and to my family. One thing that I have come to see and that has really opened my eyes on the mission is really how much some families in the world struggle. 

In every family I have met who are struggling to put food on the table or clothes in the closet, the happiest have always been those who openly talk about and acknowledge how many blessings from God that they have. That is just so incredible to me, to see the faith of some of these families. It's something that really motivates me. 

One thing I have been trying to do recently is every night when I say my prayers, I make a list in my head of all of the things that I was sincerely grateful for that day. It always helps me have a positive end of the day, and I wanted to invite everyone else to do it as well. I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers and examples!

- Elder Bassett 

I got a package!! It had a lot of candy in it...the candy disappeared very quickly. I also got a tie, which is very beautiful. Also a box of poptarts! All things were awesome and for all of them I have no idea who they are from. Early birthday? I'm 99% sure it's mom and dad, so thanks a bunch! It is always fun to get packages! 

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. 

My new companion, Elder Henrie

Hey y’all 

Well, another week come and gone here in the mish. This past week has been pretty busy, too. Elder Henrie has arrived and is all settled. He is a pretty funny guy. Don't know if I mentioned, but he is actually the best friend of Elder Jordan from back home. So he is also from Mesa and this is his 4th transfer in the field. He is doing well and has a really good level of dedication and a good work ethic. Stinking hilarious, too. Ha, we are getting along pretty well, and we are excited to see what we are going to learn and accomplish in our time here in Ferrol together. 

The investigators are doing well. Unfortunately, this past week the sister of Militza was told by her boss that she would have to work on the weekend making it impossible for her to attend the baptism. Militza wants her sister to be there for it, so we postponed the baptism for this Saturday. She is still doing super awesome though and has such a strong testimony. I'm super excited for her and her son, Maicol.

Maicol with his sister and uncle

Militza and her Mom

Hello,

Well, end of another transfer here in the vineyard of the Lord. It's been pretty great. This past week we have kept pretty busy, and it's been good. Our investigators are still doing well. It's awesome to see their progression and the ways that they grow in the gospel.

This past week we were able to have the baptismal interviews for Maicol and Militza, that’s the next step towards baptism. It’s an interview to make sure they understood and were prepared to get baptized and didn’t have any questions or concerns. They did so awesome and both passed. I love that family so much, they are so kind, and it's so fun meeting and talking with them. Maicol is the biggest ball of energy you have ever seen. Every time we pass by, he just wants to go and play futbol. 

He also just had his 8th birthday so we went over for that which was a lot of fun. They had some family friends there so we were able to talk to them, too, which was really cool. They live in another city, but maybe with time they will be willing to meet with the missionaries, too...we're working on it.

Transfers came and our district has changed quite a bit. Both Elder Brock and Elder Lopez have finished their missions and are headed home. The new elders coming to replace them are Elders Ward and Santa. My companion, Elder Jordan, also got transferred and he’s headed off to the city of Cuenca. My new companions name is Elder Henrie who is also from mesa Arizona. Turns out he and Elder Jordan are best friends from back home, so I already feel like I know him a little.

Elder & Sister Bitton have the missionaries over after district meeting