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 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 

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. 

#iluminaelmundoentenerife

Light the World Choir!

Hello my dear friends and family....how ya DOIN?

So once again, it has been a delightful week. Unfortunately, I have even less time then usual, because we have intercambios with the zone leaders tomorrow. So, our pday is getting cut short; I basically have about 10 minutes. Real quick summary.

Elder Bodhaine

I went on an intercambio with Elder Bodhaine, which was super great. He is a super cool guy from my MTC group and also was trained by Elder Brasher. 

Also during the week, we did service. It was a little bit of an interesting service though. There is an old widow who had 12 chickens that weren't laying any eggs anymore, so she asked for our help to donate them to some other members. We basically went over and did that for her. I won't go into detail for those who potentially might not like that kind of thing. It was cool to see how grateful she was though. She is a really impressive woman who has been through a lot in her life and still has such a strong testimony of Christ. 

We also had a “Light the world” choir again, which was awesome! Even less people came this time, but we still did it and had a blast. Some of the other missionaries were even able to get a phone number, which was super cool. Another cool thing that is going on is that we are trying to really gain the trust of the ward members. It's a slow process, but we got invited over to eat at the bishop’s house for the first time since I've got to the island, so that is a great sign.

Well, sorry guys, but I gotta go. Sorry for the lack of detail and good punctuation of which there is very little.

Love you!!!!

- Elder Bassett  

#iluminaelmundoentenerife

How ya doing????

I hope everyone has had a great week in all of your respective locations; how could you not considering Light the World has started!!! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I highly recommend going to mormon.org to check it out, because it is awesome. As a district, we have been putting a lot of prep into this. It’s super exciting. So let's give you guys a walk through what's been going on in the best island ever!

Day 1

We had a big service project as a district where we washed the cars of all the members that came. It had a shaky start… when we got there, the water was turned off and no members had come. Thankfully though, we got the water on for the hose, and some members came, so we could get some washing in. We also made a sign to put on the road, and we got 3 different cars to come in which was super cool. We might even end up teaching one of the guys, which would be even better. 

Day2 

On day 2, we had a big ward activity which was just a little round of games. We invited the members to bring water to donate to Red Cross though, and a bunch brought some. It was super cool.

Day 3 

So for Sunday, we went with another ward to have a choir in the street. We went out and sang Christmas songs, while I and the other missionaries walked around talking to people. That was super awesome. I did learn something though. Knowing how to read music and conduct does not necessarily mean that you can direct a choir. Ha, I started out leading, and it did not go so well. Ha, but thankfully our ward director for choir saw my distress and came and rescued me. On top of all of this, during sacrament meeting there were a bunch of members who shared their testimonies on the importance of Light the World, and their experiences from last year.

So, other updates. I got my new trainee! His name is Elder Johnson, and he is a super fun guy. He is from Sandy, Utah. He has some impressive dedication in his desires to learn Spanish. He works super hard and is constantly studying. He's a good example for me in that aspect.  He also has a twin brother in the Barcelona Mission.

Well, I gotta go, but my final invitation for you guys is to get involved in Light the World if you haven't already! It's never too late! This is such an amazing opportunity and the way we can feel when we serve is so incredible. Just yesterday, as I was singing in the choir with a bunch of people from all kinds of backgrounds, I was just struck by how many amazing people there are in the world. If I've never said it, I'll say it now, you guys are awesome! Keep it up! Till next time!

- Elder Bassett 

¡Trio Life is Guay!

¡Hola Chavales! ¿que tal?

I really never know how to begin these weekly emails, so that's the best I got for today. Things here on the island are going great. Like I said in the subject line, the trio life is stinking awesome. It's a lot of fun being with Elder Merrill and Elder Tiebing. They both have a lot of great energy and faith that has been boosting me a bunch.

We have been keeping super busy this past week. Having the car has been super helpful we are just able to set as many citas as we can, and with the car, we have time to travel to all of them, which is legit. So it was a super busy week this past week. We have been focused on 3 things: investigators, the Light the World initiative, and working with members better. So here is an update on how that's all going.

Investigators: We are meeting with a few people right now. We are meeting consistently with 3-4 investigators. We have another 10-11 investigators that can meet with us, but only de vez en cuando. Big news this week- we found a new guy who is super cool! His name is M-. He is 19, which is super awesome. We actually found his number in our phone with a bunch of others. We sent out a text, and he responded. He met with the missionaries about a year ago but only for English classes. Since we have started meeting with him, he not only has been showing interest, but he also came to church and has a baptismal date for the 16th. He is a super cool guy, a lot of our focus is on him right now. So that's a little update on that aspect of the work.

The bumper stickers we are making for the members

So we have been working a lot this past week to get prepped for the Light the World initiative that will be taking place this Christmas. We are getting a lot of stuff set up right now. I think it’s going to be super awesome. Here are some of the things that we have been working on. First, we are getting a Facebook page set up for the whole island. It's called Light the World in Tenerife, and it's legit. It will basically be a page where the members all over the island will be able to share pictures and videos of what they will be doing for Light the World and share it with each other to get the excitement up. We are also working on getting these car stickers printed to give to the members to help promote it, too. I'm super pumped about that, we already have a design and everything. Other then those 2 things, we are going to be setting up a bunch of service opportunities for people to come to and just get people excited. Va a Ser genial! 

We made these for the members to help inspire them

Hey guys!

It's been a pretty good week here in La Laguna. So we don't have a lot of time to write today, so I gotta be quick, but I do have some cool experiences to share. So first thing that happened at the beginning of the week that was super cool was that we had a cita with an investigator named Alejandro. He is trying to give up smoking right now and has been having a hard time recently, so we taught him about priesthood blessings and asked if he wanted one. He said yes, and so we gave him one. Afterwards, he couldn't stop smiling, and he described to us how he felt a warm feeling traveling through his whole body that started from our hands. That was a really cool experience. 

We have also been trying to knock on doors recently to see if we can find people that way. We spent one day just touching doors. Unfortunately, nothing came of it, but while we were doing it, this pregnant woman and her daughter got stuck in a ditch on the side of the road. So Elder Johnson and I went and helped push her car out. That was pretty cool; she was super grateful, and it was a cool thing to go in the journal and memories. 

We also had stake conference here in the islands. Because it's an island, it had to be done over a broadcast system. President and Hermana Pack spoke in it. Their talks were centered on the restoration; I wanted to share with you guys what I learned while I was there. 

President spoke about Joseph Smith's experience in the sacred grove and the moment when Satan stopped his tongue and held him back from speaking. He went on to talk about how that is one of Satan's greatest powers, to stop us from speaking. We have our testimonies and our experiences, and we need to share them- any impression not to share comes from Satan.

Hermana Pack then spoke about how the message of the Spirit that we need to share is the restoration. A message that God is our loving Heavenly Father, and He sent Jesus Christ to establish a church and to help each and everyone of us overcome our sins through the atonement. Then with time, that church was lost, and the world fell in a state of confusion and darkness, but the church has been restored. The evidence of that restoration is The Bookof Mormon. We can each read it for ourselves and and pray to God to know that it is true, and He will answer us. I testify of this with every fiber of my being. I love you all, till next week.

- Elder Bassett 

A Letter to the RS sisters in GB

This is Elder Bassett checking in from Tenerife Spain! 

Life here is good. We keep pretty busy; it's awesome spending everyday striving to help people come closer unto Christ. Things are great. I meet lots of amazing people all the time from all over the world, talk in Spanish a lot, and see miracles everyday!

Missionary life really is awesome.  I have definitely learned a lot while I have been here, one of those things being the importance of relief society. When I was still in Móstoles, there was a member who didn't have a job, or papers. Then one day, she got kicked out of her apartment with her 2 year old son to the street. That same day, the relief society sisters helped her pack all of her stuff, store it in the church and start the search for a new apartment. She stayed in one of the sister's houses until the next day when she could move into another apartment that a fellow sister had already found. Now, not all of the service that the relief society does are as big as that, but they are still just as important. A helping hand in times of discouragement, a call to show that you're loved, or a visit from a your visiting teachers. Each of those can help someone just as much as helping someone move and find a house.  

Thank you all for your service. I love you, and I testify that God loves you!