Elder Van in Spain: Semana tres a la CCM! Apostles and Spanish

Hola a todos,

So much has happened in this past week, I had a hard time thinking about what I should title this week's letter. It's boring title is evidence I did not try very hard... I'll just start at the beginning of the week and go from there.

So on Sundays and Tuesdays, we always have devotionals, and there are usually 1 or 2 speakers. On Sunday, Sheri Dew came. One thing she talked about was farming and sewing. Since she came on a farm, she was very familiar with those terms. Something she said that I enjoyed was you cannot reap what you don't sew. In other words, if you don't put in the effort, you won't get the award. Be answer seekers, not answer doubters. And I thought to myself, well I really want to be fluent in Spanish, and a way I can reap that in the future is by studying super hard and giving it my all to learn the language now. So I have been studying Spanish way more than I ever thought I would.

For Tuesdays devotional, it was super awesome. We had the privilege of hearing from Elder and Sister Cook. And, I decided to get there way early and sat upfront. I WAS MY LONG JUMP PR AWAY FROM AN APOSTLE!!!!!!!! IT WAS SO COOL!!!!! I would have taken pictures, but they very much frown upon that, so I didn't. When Elder Cook first walked in, remember, I was about 20 feet away from him, the Spirit literally smacked me. I felt it so strong. Apostles just have this presence, and I couldn't help myself from smiling. From his talk, he talked about how sacred and special mission calls are, and that made me think that I have been specifically called to serve in Barcelona, and that is where the Lord needs me. He also gave us a laundry list of how to be a good missionary, and I love the advice Elder Cook gave. Some things he said was to have a sense of urgency, be humble, and lose yourself in the work. What made his talk even cooler was he brought someone with him from Church history services or something, where he brought the original, authentic, 200-year-old printers manuscripts of Alma 34, and 3 Nephi 16. The original manuscripts were the 116 pages that were lost, but the printer's manuscripts were the copies made after those were lost. So those 2 pages are the oldest, and most original evidence we have of the translation of the Book of Mormon. I felt the spirit very strong as Elder Cook was talking about the pages, and it really made me think of the sacrifice Joseph Smith made so we can have this Book of Mormon, so I can give it to the people of Spain! So COOL!

If I'm going to be honest, the rest of the week cannot get quite as cool as seeing an apostle, but it was still a very good week. We learned lots of Spanish, and it amazes me how quickly I am learning and understanding what's going on. I love Spanish!

And, apparently building maintenance doesn't enjoy duct tape on walls, so I had to fix that. Plus, I had to show a little bit of patriotism for the country I was going to live in for the next 2 years, so now our room is completely covered in flags and I love it! I hope all of you had a great week, and I will email you again next week!

Elder Van Wagenen