Surprise, Surprise!

Day 162 on the island...things are getting more and more desperate....the food is running low and the piso hasn't been cleaned in a while.....we are in desperate need of help, but I can't say it's ever going to come.....if anyone finds this note, please remember me....remember Elder Bassett.....

Ok, so ever since I got on the island, I've wanted to start an email like that, but I always forgot...but not today!!!! Ha! So with that as the intro, it's been a pretty good week. We had some trouble meeting with our investigators this week, so we spent a lot of time in the street talking to people and doing some passby’s. We had some pretty cool miracles and experiences though; that's just because it's awesome to be in the service of the Lord!

I did an intercambio in Puerto this week, which was fun. I was with Elder Tiebing who I served in a trio with for 2 weeks. It was fun to go back to an area and a piso I hadn't been to in such a long time...."like 4 weeks". Ha, it was a pretty good day. We had a cita, did some service on a local farm, and talked with the people for a bit.

So transfers went down, and we got the news and… surprise, surprise, but I am out! It really caught me off guard, because I was only halfway through the training of Elder Johnson, but it happened anyway. That doesn't happen to often, but obviously it does happen every once and a while. So I'm off to the north of Spain, a providence called Galicia. I will be serving in the town of El Ferrol. It’s supposed to be super cold and rainy over there but super beautiful. They have a branch that's pretty big and is working hard with the missionaries to become a ward. I'm super excited to get to a new area and have a fresh start, but at the same time, I'm definitely going to miss the island. 4+ transfers....a little over 5 months. It will be good to see a new area, but at the same time, I'm really going to miss the people and the district. 

 

We have such a great zone. I'm gonna miss them.

Happy New Year!

Hey y’all!!

Happy New Year!!! Man, I was doing the classic look back on the year and pondering, as I'm sure we all do around this time, and I realized that the majority of the year was on my mission. Even when it wasn't, it was just me doing nothing and waiting to leave....crazy!! Well, it's been a pretty awesome year, because it's awesome to be a missionary. I hope everyone had a happy Christmas and New Year's! I feel like there is a lot to fill you guys in on since I didn't send an email last week, I'll try and keep it to the big stuff.

So our bishop’s daughter was baptized the Saturday before Christmas, and that was super awesome! The Spirit was there so strongly; I loved it so much. We also had 2 of our investigators come out to that which was super awesome. One of them even brought a friend, which was super cool. They all loved it and really talked about how they could feel the Spirit there.

Christmas Skype from all over the world!

Tengo Prisa!!!

So sorry my beautiful friends and family, but as the email line states, I'm in a hurry. We have a zone pday today and zone conference tomorrow, so we are flying out super soon. I'm trying to get my writing done now. Not gonna lie, we don't have a lot of time. So some quick stuff that happened.

When you're on intercambios during a surprise rainstorm and do't have a coat

This past week was good; we had intercambios with the zone leaders which were great. I was with Elder Jones who is a pretty cool guy. A big thing I learned from the intercambios was the importance of prayer. We had a lot of cool experiences.

I wanted to share some experiences that Elder Johnson and I had this past week that were just straight miracles.  So on Saturday, we were passing by the addresses of some less actives and former investigators to try and catch someone at home. While doing this, we were also talking to people in the street. So we were doing that and not gonna lie, it was a little rough. It had been a long day; it wasn't going very well; and there just wasn't a lot of animo. So we stopped in the street and decided right there we needed to change something. So we said a prayer asking for help and guidance right there in the street. We finished praying, and we went and talked to the very first person we saw. It was awesome! She is from Ecuador but has lived here for 18 years. We set up an appointment for the next day to teach her family.

#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

Crazy week!

I feel like I say that all the time, but it has been a super crazy week. So I will start out with the biggest news. There were some changes, and I am now companions with Elders Tiebing and Elder Merrill. Yep, that's right I'm in a trio. Once more I am traveling back and forth between Puerto and La Laguna, but this time to help with the travel we have a mission car, which is super awesome. It feels weird, though. I haven't driven in a car in so long. It's super cool; it has an aux cord and there is nothing quite like driving down the road and listening to Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

We had zone conference last week, and it was super awesome. All of the focus was on working with members better. It was super awesome, and I learned a bunch. The new Christmas initiative was also explained to us, and I am so pumped. I am so excited. It's going to be a lot like last year, except this time we have access to social media, and I really think that it is going to get huge. I am so pumped. As a district, we are trying to get a Facebook page set up for the whole island to try and get a big thing going. It's going to be awesome. 

I am sorry, but I don't have a lot more time; the downside of having 2 areas, you have to clean 2 pisos....so not a lot of time on pdays. I'm doing pretty good here, super happy to be a missionary and loving the work. My district is awesome, and we are doing super well. Our investigators are doing good, and we are finding a lot of new ones. We have a lot of potential, but as of this point, we don’t have anyone with a date to be baptized. We are getting close with 1 or 2 though. Well, I got to go. I love you guys.

Sorry again that I didn't write more, till next week!

- Elder Bassett 

No hay tiempo!!!!!

Hey guys!

Ok, so as the subject says, there is almost no time today to write. We did a zone p-day that was super fun but didn't leave us with a lot of writing time. I'll have to send the pics next week, because they aren't on my tablet. Today we went on a hike, which was a lot of fun. Then we went to this authentic Canarian restaurant called El Cubano. Pretty good food, and it was a super fun day. It was a lot of fun being in a big group of missionaries.

Tomorrow we have zone conference and interviews, so I'm pretty pumped for that. The rest of the week should be good, too.

This past week was pretty busy. We ended up getting failed on a lot of our citas, but we were able to talk to some people. We found some guys who have the potential to become new investigators, so I'm super excited about that. 

We had an intercambio in Santa Cruz which was also pretty great. I was with Elder Hamson who is getting trained by Elder Bodhaine. It was a pretty good intercambio. 

I Lost the Game!

Hey guys!

Our district hike last p-day

So about the subject line, I was walking back to piso one day when I remembered and lost the game. A select few of you will have a clue what I'm talking about and because of that will probably be frustrated with me, please forgive. Mom, I know for sure Amanda and Jeffrey will know what it is. If you're confused, ask Amanda; she can explain. Ok, onto the week!

So, it's been a pretty busy week. One thing that stood out is that Elder Hill and I went on intercambios in Puerto de La Cruz with Elders Merril and Tiebing. That ended up being pretty fun. After hours, we made some cookies, talked, hung out, ate the cookies and just laughed around. Good night in general. On the intercambios itself, Elder Tiebing and I had a good time and were pretty busy. We talked to some pretty cool people and had the chance to hand a copy of The Book of Mormon out to this super cool kid that will probably become a new investigator pretty soon, so that was great. 

Busy!!

Man it's been crazy week!

So the week started out, and we had almost nothing to do. We had a bunch of training meetings at the beginning of the week, and we didn't know when our new companions would get in, so we weren't really able to set up any appointments. One day was super fun. We had a couple meetings that we had to attend through Skype, so we went to the church and brought a pizza that we ordered and ate pizza while watching this training and taking notes. It was pretty relaxed. An even cooler bonus, I learned a lot from the training video. A lot of my goals for this next transfer are on making sure I'm setting a good example for my companion, that we get along super well, and that we have good district unity. 

In the end, our new companions didn't get into the mission until Thursday. My new companion is Elder Hill. He is a super cool guy; he is from Fresno California and played water polo back home. Really cool guy. I'll make sure to send a pic. 

So, the downside was that because nobody got in until Thursday, everything got pushed until the weekend. Because of that, this weekend we all had district meeting, weekly planning, correlation, a bunch of 12 weeks, and all the setup we had to do technology-wise for Elder Hill. Basically, it means we have been inside a lot and doing all kinds of studies. At least on that note, we have been busy. 

Then being district leader and have 10 missionaries means I'm even busier! One thing that missionaries do is ‘weekly calls.’ This is where the missionary talks to his or her district leader, reports on the week and tells him how they are doing. Then the district leader writes a report on that and sends it to the zone leaders. So I need to talk to all of the companionship Saturday night. That was good, but it took literally all night. These past 3 nights I haven't even had time to write in my journal. It's great though. It’s nice to be this busy.

This week, I want to share a message on charity. One thing I have been focusing a lot on these past couple of weeks is really loving my companion and every member of my district. What I've seen from it is that even though we sometimes have disagreements, sometimes we have hard times, but a Christlike love can help us find joy and peace in every situation. A scripture that I really love is Moroni 7:45-47 where charity is described and explained really well. Like it says, without the pure love of Christ in the last days we will be nothing. We need that love, that feeling in our lives, but sometimes it's hard to find it. That's why it's important to follow the advice given in the next verse, number 48. I invite you all to follow it's advice and to pray to have charity more in your lives, so that we all can be more purified and joyful through Christ.

I love you guys, have a great WEEK!

- Elder Bassett  

Transfers = 0 changes

Thanks to the GB 1st ward for looking after Brandon!

Hey guys!

So it's been a pretty interesting week. With whatsapp and the new technology, we have been able to get into contact with our potential investigators a lot easier, and we were able to set up a lot of citas this week, which was awesome. Unfortunately, almost everyone of them failed...ha. It's all good though. We are starting to get stuff set up for this week, though; so I'm still pumped.

This new technology is honestly such a blessing. We are only just starting to see the advances in the work, and it's only been 2 weeks. I will say sorry, though; I haven't been posting on Facebook as much as we were originally thinking. I’m still planning on doing messages frequently. We just haven't been able to decide on a plan of how we are going to use Facebook, and I don't want to go onto it if I don’t already have a clear idea or plan of what I am going to do… Just to make it easier to avoid temptation and to help us use time wisely. 

Hey Guys!

On the way to zone conference!

So it's been a pretty crazy week. So we had zone conference, and it was just awesome. The majority of the focus was on how we can use the new technology to focus on our mission purpose and to help further the work. I am so excited to see all the advances in the work that are going to be coming; the Lord is truly hastening His work. 

So one cool thing that happened this week was that as a district, we went out to a busy street and set up this poster of Christ, and then sang hymns by it for a bit. It was an idea we had to mix things up a bit and to see how it worked. I was a little apprehensive about it, but it ended up being a super cool experience. We ended up meeting this super nice old Canarian lady who was like our only audience. It was super fun though, she was calling out to people as they walked by and telling them to come listen to us, ha. She was super sweet, and funny. I attached a picture of her below. 

General Conference!

Hey GUYS!

We are having a more relaxed pday today, just chilling in bed right now writing while Elder Johnson tries to figure out how he is going to survive in the game of chess we are playing. Ha, not really. It’s actually a really close game....nevermind. I just won, ha. It's only fair, though; he won last time. My ankle is doing fine now; doesn't really hurt me anymore. So onto the week!

Things have been going well here on the island. We had a dinner with a family in Puerto. Their names are Viktor and Heide, and they are the nicest people. The only hard part is that they are both German. Viktor speaks Spanish, but not very well, and his wife, Heide, doesn't speak at all. They are super great though. Afterwards, we shared a message about the restoration and Viktor translated the best he could for his wife. It was very simple, but also very powerful. 

Hey everyone!

The base of Mt. Teide

It's been a pretty good week, had some fun. As always, I'll start where I left off. So last p-day, we played futbol. That was fun for the first 30 minutes, then I messed my ankle or something and could barely walk. So after that, it was just kinda irritating. I was limping for a couple days, but it's good now, just a small bruise. 

The next big thing was that we did intercambios with the zone leaders. That was good. We went to their island for that. Due to the timing for our flights it ended up being a super short intercambio, but it was fun, and I learned a bunch.

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