Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Oct 16 2017 - Me voy a Cádiz

Hello,

We got the transfer calls yesterday and I’m going to Cádiz! Its a little island well sort of its connected by a bridge but yeah its off the southern coast. It should be pretty cool. Rumor has is that as one of the signs of the second coming it will be sunk into the ocean.... still searching for the evidence so I’ll let ya’ll know when I find it haha. Anyways pray that it doesn’t happen for at least the next 6 months just to be safe :) 

Well I guess I’ll just tell ya’ll about this week. Nothing super exciting.. but here ya go. So for district meeting this week my companion and I gave a workshop as a companionship. It was pretty fun. We taught about how training has helped to lay a foundation for his mission and strengthen the foundations of mine. Focused on how training more than just the first 2 transfers, rather its the whole entire mission. There is always something you can work at. If you do it right the mission can be your training ground for the rest of your life. Throughout the mission I’ve been writing down quotes I like from all over. Some from conference talks, some from emails from family and friends emails (thanks mom 😘), companions, etc. Anyways the workshops are always a great place to share them.. so I’ll include the ones I shared here so you can all enjoy them :) 

“No matter if a tree grows to more than 1000 feet in height, each leaf, each day, must return to its roots for nourishment.” 

“Someone has said that courage is not the absence of fear but the mastery of it. At times, courage is needed to rise from failure, to strive again.” 

“You make mistakes, mistakes don’t make you.”

Well hope ya’ll enjoy those..

Other than that some cool things that happened this week.. 
we got to go out to Cerro Gordo and eat at Edisons house. They are the owners of Perrisabor the hot dog shop. Edison is the only active member in his family. His wife made us this really good plate of Columbian/ Mexican food. It was way good! Afterward we got to share a really great little message and she wanted to practice english with us for 10 minutes so we did that. It was really good. 
Later on in the week Elder Nye came back to visit with his family. It was weird seeing him since he’s only been gone for 5 week.. it was cool though Lourdes made us a really good meal and we got to meet his parents. 

We also went out super far to the edge of our area trying to search out some less active members and ended up getting lost haha. So to get back into the city we had to hike up this super steep hill of loose dirt to the castle wall where we walked along for a ways before finding a gate where we could finally enter haha. It turned into a fun little adventure and we were still able to arrive to our cita just in time. 

Yesterday Elder Cobbley gave his first talk in church. He did a really good job. His talk was happiness and he shared a really good personal story about how he was able to find comfort in the scriptures when his best friend passed away this past spring. 
(Pictures below)

Here it is for all you spanish speakers. 
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Hola hermanas y hermanos. Hoy yo quiero hablar sobre el gran plan de felicidad que Dios nos dio. El nos da las enseñanzas del Evangelio, los madamientos, las ordenanzas del sacerdocio, las relaciones familiares, los profetas, los templos, y la oportunidad de experimentar la adversidad. Hoy yo quiero enfocar en la ultima frase- la oportunidad de experimentar la adversidad. 

Ruego la ayuda del espíritu Santo que me ayude a explicar este tema. 

Todo de la gente que vivieron o viviran pasan por pruebas y desafios. Eso es un parte de vida. Eso incluyo el perdido de familia, problemas para encontrar trabajo, culpa con los acciones pasado, o muchas otras luchas en este vida. Presidente Henry B. Eyering dijo, "Muchos de ustedes están pasando por pruebas físicas, mentales y emocionales que podrían hacerlos exclamar “Cuando toda mi vida he tratado de ser bueno, ¿por qué me ha sucedido esto a mí?”. 

Voy a tratar a explicar ese gran pregunta mediante un pequeño parte en mi vida. Para un gran parte de mi vida no tenìa pruebas muy dificiles. Es verdad que tenia problemas y estres con escuela o trabajo pero nada con gran transcendencia. Todo de eso cambio este año. 

Algunos de Ustedes han eschudado esta historia antes pero yo quiero compartir con un poco mas detalle. Tuve un amigo que no fue un miembro de la iglesia pero el tuve alto normas y fue mas como un hermano a mi. Su nombre es Joey. Durante este ano pasado estuve asistiendo la universidad pero yo volvi durante navidad. Jose y yo hablamos mucho durante este tiempo sobre la vida y nuestros futuros. Eventualamente yo tuve que regrasar a la unviersidad y dije adios a mis amigos y Joey. Estuve muy seguro que yo iba ver ellos cuando la universidad termino en cuatro meses. 

Sin embargo, la salud de mi amigo empezo a peorar. En dos semenas mi amigo quien participo en deportes y nunca toco cosas malas en su cuerpo tuvo muchas problemas con su higado. El necesitaba un trasplante pero despues de mas examinaciones medicales los doctores descubieron que Él tuvo cancer. Todovìa los medicos tuvieron mucha esperanza para mi amigo. Me sentì muy solo porque yo fui tres mil kilometros lejos de El. Yo recuerdo un noche casi perfectamente en que yo no pude dormir porque yo tuve un montan de preocupaciones. Fue en este momento que yo senti un sentimiento a leer mis escrituras. Entonces yo abri mi libro de mormon a una pagina al azar. La escritura fue en Alma 14. En este capitulo Alma y Amulek estuve enseñando la gente en Ammoniah porque el pueblo alli fueron malos. 

En versiculo 1 y 2 dice  
1 Y sucedió que después que Alma concluyó de hablar a los del pueblo, muchos de ellos creyeron en sus palabras, y empezaron a arrepentirse y a escudriñar las Escrituras.
2 Pero la mayor parte de ellos deseaban destruir a Alma y a Amulek, porque estaban irritados con Alma a causa de la claridad de sus palabras a Zeezrom; y también decían que Amulek les había mentido, y había vituperado su ley, y también a sus abogados y jueces.

Y versiculo 8 dice, Y juntaron a sus esposas e hijos, y mandaron echar al fuego a todo aquel que creía, o al que se le había enseñado a creer en la palabra de Dios; y también trajeron sus anales, que contenían las Santas Escrituras, y los arrojaron también al fuego para ser quemados y destruidos por fuego.

A mi ese es muy dificl a imaginar. Luego, Alma y Amulek fueron hechados al cárcel donde no les dieron comida ni agua y les golpearon diariamente. Durante todo de eso Alma y Amulek sigieron teniendo fe en que Dios estaba en control y que El tuvo un plan. Los ultimos versiculos dicen, 

26 Y Alma clamó, diciendo: ¿Cuánto tiempo, oh Señor, sufriremos estas grandes aflicciones? ¡Oh Señor!, fortalécenos según nuestra fe que está en Cristo hasta tener el poder para librarnos. Y rompieron las cuerdas con las que estaban atados; y cuando los del pueblo vieron esto, empezaron a huir, porque el temor a la destrucción cayó sobre ellos.
27 Y aconteció que su temor fue tan grande que cayeron al suelo y no llegaron a la puerta que conducía fuera de la prisión; y la tierra se estremeció fuertemente, y los muros de la cárcel se partieron en dos y cayeron al suelo; y al caer mataron al juez superior y a los abogados y sacerdotes y maestros que habían golpeado a Alma y a Amulek.
28 Y Alma y Amulek salieron de la prisión, y no sufrieron daño, porque el Señor les había concedido poder según su fe que estaba en Cristo. Y salieron luego de la cárcel; y fueron soltados de sus ligaduras; y la prisión había caído a tierra, y todos los que estaban dentro de sus paredes murieron, menos Alma y Amulek; y estos se dirigieron luego a la ciudad.

Después de haber leído estas escrituras yo senti paz y consuelo que no puedo describir. Yo estaba preparado por cualquier cosa porque yo sabia que Dios estaba en control. La proxima dia a las siete en la mañana mi padre me llamo con la noticia que mi amigo habia fallecio durante la noche. 

Las proximas semenas despues pasaron muy rapido con la visitacion y funeral de mi amigo. Estuve triste y tuve pesar que yo no habia compartido el evangelio con El antes de su muerte. Fue muy dificil a ver las caras de sus padres y su un hermano. Fue en este momento que yo recorde los sentimientos de paz y consuelo. Ahora soy feliz porque yo sè el gran plan que nuestro Padre Celestial tiene para nosotros. Y con ese plan no necesitamos a ser triste. Ahora mi padre está enseñando los padres de mi amigo poco a un poco y espero que ellos aceptan sus palabras y participan en este increíble plan de felicidad. 

Nada de eso es posible sin el gran sacrificio de Jesucristo y Su Expiación. Élder Bednar dijo, "No hay dolor físico, no hay herida espiritual, no hay angustia de alma, pena, enfermedad ni debilidad que ustedes y yo afrontemos en la vida terrenal que el Salvador no haya experimentado primero. En un momento de debilidad quizá clamemos: “Nadie sabe lo que se siente; nadie entiende”. Pero el Hijo de Dios sabe y entiende perfectamente, ya que Él ha sentido y llevado las cargas de cada uno; y gracias a Su infinito y eterno sacrificio (véase Alma 34:14), tiene perfecta empatía y nos puede extender Su brazo de misericordia. Él puede tendernos la mano, conmovernos, socorrernos, sanarnos y fortalecernos para ser más de lo que podríamos ser y hacer lo que no podríamos si nos valiésemos únicamente de nuestro propio poder. En efecto, Su yugo es fácil y ligera Su carga."

Hermanos y hermanos si confiamos en Jesucristo y el gran plan de felicidad no hay nada que no podemos superar. 

Un otra vez presidente Eyring dijo, Si tenemos fe en Jesucristo, los tiempos más difíciles de la vida, así como los más fáciles, pueden ser una bendición. En todas las situaciones, podemos elegir lo justo con la guía del Espíritu. Tenemos el evangelio de Jesucristo para dar forma y guía a nuestra vida si así lo decidimos. Y con los profetas que nos revelan nuestro lugar en el plan de salvación podemos vivir con perfecta esperanza y con un sentimiento de paz. Nunca tenemos que sentir que estamos solos ni que no se nos ama cuando estamos al servicio del Señor, porque nunca es así. Podemos sentir el amor de Dios. El Salvador ha prometido ángeles a nuestra diestra y a nuestra siniestra para sostenernos. Él siempre cumple Su palabra.

Yo quiero testificar que el plan de felicidad esta aquí para nosotros. Mediante este evangelio podemos superar las pruebas de la vida. Las escrituras nos dan consuelo y dirección. Presidente Thomas S. Monson es el profeta en la tierra hoy. Digo estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo, Amén
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Well thats pretty much it. We had a really good broadcast by Elder Holland from Germany for the Europe Area. The transmission was cutting out for like 75% of the time so that was really annoying but the few little snippets we got to hear were really good! 

Well hasta la proxima, desde Cádiz!




Love ya’ll 💙💙 




Monday, October 9, 2017

¡Viva España! 🇪🇸🇪🇸













Hey everyone, well it was a kind of crazy week. 

We did two sets of intercambios one here in Badajoz and one up in Cáceres. They both turned out pretty well and I got to spend some time with Elder Mamani which was super awesome. He's one of the best missionaries I have ever met. He has such a great desire to share the gospel and is a great leader teaching by example. 
All of the citas for the day failed so we ended up just going out and contacting. We were out for the whole afternoon, contacted over 50 people and only were able to get one future. It was rough. We learned some good things from the intercambio though. Contacting is not a good finding method for the area and we are going to talk to president about getting the areas reorganized because the way they are set up here in Badajoz is very inefficient. 
Watching General Conference

The intercambios up in Cáceres also were good. Our time was a bit short since we bussed up there arriving at 6 then had to leave at 2 but we made the best of the time we had. The first afternoon I worked with Elder Wilson. We taught an awesome English class up there. A group of 8 college students came and three of them spoke perfect English so I just got to talk with them for a while. It was pretty fun hearing all their stories. They are all here on scholarships from the government studying for their masters. One was from Columbia, one from Argentina and the other from Senegal. 
When the Elders from Sevilla bring you Mac and Cheese from Costco!
At first they were worried that we were going to like force religion on them but we assured them that it was just a free service we offer and that if they had questions they could ask but we wouldn't force it at all. As always about halfway through the questions started coming haha. So basically I ended up teaching the restoration and sharing my testimony. The next morning I worked with Elder Rich and we had a crazy miracle happen. So a guy had called and said he wanted to meet with us. He said"Elders" so we just assumed he was like a member or something but didn't really know. When we showed up to the church he was waiting outside. So when we sat down we kind of just asked him like what we could help him with. He goes "well I met with the missionaries about 20 years ago and I want to be baptized now, so what are the requisites for that, I'll do whatever you need me to." I had to put my hand on my chin to keep my jaw from dropping haha. We're just like, well yeah we can do that for you... and explained the process. We prayed together and set a baptismal date for November 4th. 
The other crazy thing that happened yesterday, President Silva got released. So that was super sad but I mean it was time he's been the branch president for almost 9 years straight now! So now Daniel is the new branch president. He'll be good too he's a really young guy, just turned 27. 
Last of all I don't know how big of news this is over there but its crazy here. So Catalonia, Valencia, and País Basco are all trying to declare independence from Spain right now. So recently everyone has been hanging Spanish flags on their balconies there has been tons of Spanish pride parades and lots of military demonstrations. Its pretty cool cause they've been doing these flybys with the fighter jets like every day super low and fast over the city.   

Well thats about it for the week. Love ya'll have a great day :) 

-Elder Childers 

Monday, October 2, 2017

Oct 2, 2017 Mes de Miedo


Well we made it to October, and another good week.
Started off on tuesday we had Elder Cobbleys birthday so we got some food and ice cream at the Irish Pub right under our piso. Its become a little birthday tradition here in badajoz haha. 

We finally got another cita set up with Godwin the nigerian guy we had been teaching and I talked to him that morning to confirm it but when we showed up he wasn't home again. We are probably going to have to drop him because he lives so far away and we lose a lot of time walking all the way out there when he always fails our appointments. 

On thursday we went to Sevilla again. Yeah I know always seems like we are going there haha almost every week. Anyways we had interviews with president which was good. He just asked what we learned from the Holland Conference and recommended I start studying the New Testament alongside the Book of Mormon. So now I am splitting my personal study time up studying both with the institute manuals which provide some really great insights. 

After interviews we hadn't had lunch yet and Elder Van Moose has a bus card with a miraculous amount of money on it, and there's a Costco in Seville...🤔...😮...😎. We bussed ourselves on over to that little slice of America in bulk, stormed right up to that food counter, and I ordered myself a chicken basket (Yeah. They have a chicken basket.), and that old familiar Kirtland Signature Brand slice of pizza refillable soft drink included--all costing me about 5€ in a country where 5€ at a restaurant will normally get you a non-refillable, 250 ml bottle of juice and a piece of toast. Gosh I love my country! Probs the most satisfying lunch I've bought here."

Friday was pretty interesting. We decided to leave all of our valuables in piso and go to the kind of sketchy poorer part of our area. It was pretty crazy. We thought that the people would be a little bit more humble and nicer but it was pretty much the same. We also saw some crazy stuff. One thing that was weird was we saw one of those metal x things that they tie horses to and make them walk in circles to exercise them or something. Anyways we saw one of those but with greyhound dogs tied to it and a gypsy man out there cracking a whip to make them go around. I guess thats one way to walk your dogs.....

Last of all General Conference was really good. We had a cool but also disappointing thing happen. A random couple came walking in during it and sat down by us. The guy leaned over and asked if it was the Evangelical church so I explained it wasn't but that it was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I told them they were welcome to stay and watch so they did. It was really awesome because he looked at his wife and said "Phones". They both turned off their phones and watched really attentively. This is the disappointing part. All of the members there were super irreverent and not a single one even said hello to them! They kept taking calls, texting or doing other stuff on their phones. Then on top of that, these visitors were sitting right by the door and multiple people came in looked at them for a second then just walked over and found a seat. I was feeling so frustrated. They ended up leaving about two talks before the end so I chased them out onto the street and tried to give them a Book of Mormon but the guy refused. He said a lot of the conference was good but he just has some contrasting beliefs. I tried my best to at least get their contact info but he just wasn't having it.. 
I was so disappointed about how the members had acted but it was good because I promised myself that I will always be attentive to reach out to visitors at church and not allow technology to be a distraction in church meetings. 

Hope you all enjoyed conference, have a great week! 
Love, 
Elder Childers