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 

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. 

Weekly

Hey everyone!

I hope that you are all doing well! Things here in the mission have been going well.  We have been in the office a lot this past week, so there really isn't much to remark on except office stuff. That work is going well though. I was able to finish all of my projects. I also just finished updating my responsibilities packet, which just gives a list of instructions on how to do my job. The idea is that it will help the new missionary that I train when he comes into the office. When I came in, it was super old and out of date. I've been working on it for about a week and a half. When I started, it was 36 pages...now it's 47 pages. The guy who comes in is going to have a lot of reading. 

The people that we are teaching are doing well. Daniela and Noemi are doing great. We finished teaching them all of the commandments, and they have accepted everything. They have been so humble and accepting of everything that we have been teaching; it is so incredible. The faith I have seen in others on my mission is always so inspiring to me. 

I hope everyone is keeping up with the challenge to read in The Book of Mormon. I have been enjoying it so much! If anyone wants to do it and still hasn't been able to find the materials let me know, and I can send it to you. It’s also a great missionary opportunity if you would like to share it with someone. Either message me on my email or Facebook, and I can get back to you. I would definitely recommend it. 

Hello

Seasons greeting outside the season!

This has been a pretty decent week. Things for my job in the office haven't been too crazy this week, so I have been to finish a lot of stuff that I've had tabled for awhile. Of course, it's all going to pick up again in about a week for transfer prep but for now we aren't running around so much. 

The people that we are teaching are doing good. Vilma got a job, which is super exciting. She has really been wanting to work and has been looking for a while. Even better, the work she is doing now is taking care of the baby of one of the members in our ward. It's super great how the members have been helping her out and keeping her included in everything. It’s so nice, because even though her family is open to us right now, she is still having to be a bit of a pioneer, and it hasn't been easy. The ward has been really supportive.

Daniela and Noemi are also doing great! Noemi has a really busy work schedule, so we can only meet on the weekends. We were able to meet with both of them on Saturday and Sunday. They are progressing a lot and have a baptismal date for the end of this month. Keep them in your prayers!

Maybe some have already noticed my posts on Facebook, but the church has started another campaign in Europe. At least, I think it's just in Europe. If not, then awesome; more blessings for everyone! It gives a list of 21 different questions that people might have. Then it gives several questions to respond to and a scripture from The Book of Mormon to read on top of it. I've been doing it myself, and I love it so much. One thing I love about The Book of Mormon is that every time I read a scripture, I feel like I learn something new. I want to invite everyone to do it!  It doesn't have any set dates, so you can start whenever you want! 

If you want to know more about it, or if you want to know where you can find out more, then feel free to message me on Facebook, and I can help you find the list of questions and scriptures for the challenge. I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

- Elder Bassett 

Hey everyone!

So it's been a pretty busy week, mostly in the office. I also don't have that much time at all today, so it's going to be a pretty short email today. Well, we haven't had that many lessons, because we have been in the office so much. The few that we did have were really good though. We had a couple with Daniela, the daughter of Noemi. She and her mom are both doing great, we are just having some trouble meeting with them. 

There really isn't much to say about our office time. Most of the stuff is well, office work. I've been working a lot recently on Concilio tickets for the leadership conference, interviews for president, random reports here and there and about 10 other random jobs I have right now. I love you guys a bunch, sorry about the short email, have a great week!

- Elder Bassett 

Hey everyone!

So sorry, but I don't have a lot of time again, because we had to go pick JJ, the president’s son, up from school last minute so bear with me as I try and get as much written as possible.

So this past week has gone pretty well. I told you a little bit about last week's p-day, which was really cool. After that, I had a day in Madrid doing a little exchange with Elder Koppe, a missionary who is serving there. That was super great even though it was a little last minute, and we didn't have any lessons planned. It all worked out though, because we ended up going out and talking to people in the street, and we found a really cool couple. We talked for a while about Christ and how He has blessed us. We shared a Book of Mormon with them. That was a fun night; I hope that they have luck with the missionaries in that area.

Other then that, we had a couple of busy days in the office. We have been super busy in the office, so there was one day where we ended up not being able to leave to proselyte at all, which was too bad.

One cool note, in one of our lessons, our investigator, Noemi, brought her daughter, Daniela, to the lesson, and we were able to teach her, too. She is 12 and doesn't have a lot of knowledge about Christ or the Bible, but she has a lot of desires to learn and is super humble. We gave her a little pamphlet and taught her how to pray. I noticed afterwards that she was reading in the pamphlet, which is always cool to see. 

Well I have to go guys but I hope you have a great week!

 - Elder Bassett