Quarantine: Week 10

I love this land! To clarify, this is SPAIN. Although I love America as well!🇪🇦🇺🇸😅

Hola a todos!

It has been a crazy week! We had some changes in our district and we have been starting a new way to find people and ways to teach. And that is through Facebook! Things are for sure getting better, with the virus and quarantine, however, it will still be a while until missionaries in Spain will be able to meet with people and contact in the streets. So we have been working a lot through technology. The new thing we are trying is Facebook pages. With these pages, we can post Gospel related content, and spread the Gospel with it. It gets kinda confusing, but we can get our posts to tons of people, and with that, we will be able to find more people interested in our message of peace through Christ. We have just started our page and recently uploaded a "Trickshot" video, explaining how we can find happiness if we center on Jesus Christ, and then inviting people to find out more. Words can't explain how excited I am to continue working with this, and more trick shot videos to come!

And in the light of Memorial Day, I would like to share something with y'all that I read this week. I read in Alma, where there is a lot of war. I read where Moroni was under command of the Nephite armies, and of the victories he and his armies had. Anyways, I found a correlation that I thought was quite awesome

Age as a General: 

Moroni: 25 (Alma 43:17)

George Washington: 23

Was an awesome dude: 

Moroni: Alma 48:11-13, 17

George Washington: Man of faith, great leader, known to all, except the British, as a good man

 

What did he defend:

Moroni: Liberty, family, lands, country, rights, religion (Alma 43:45-47)

George Washington: Liberty, family, lands, country, rights, religion (A rundown summary of what the Declaration of Independence says)

 

Prayed to know what to do:

Moroni: (Alma 43:25)

George Washington: Gave thanks for what he had, prayed and asked for victory

 

Told his army not to attack unless attacked upon: 

Moroni: (Alma 43:46)

George Washington: (Captain John Parker ordered his men this as they stood on the Lexington Green in front of the British Army, Battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775)

 

Made a flag symbolizing what they fought for, and had them hung up everywhere:

Moroni: Title of Liberty (Alma 46:12, 36)

George Washington: Betsy Ross flag, 1776

Fought supporters of a King:

Moroni: Kingmen vs. Freemen (Alma 51:6)

George Washington: Fighting Great Britain, King George III

 

Showed dedication to defend freedom:

Moroni: made an oath: (Alma 46:20)

George Washington: Signed Declaration of Independence (July 4th, 1776)

Now thinking about George Washington, without him and his leadership, arguably the United States of America would cease to exist. Without the United States and its rights and liberties, there would be no 1st amendment, which includes the freedom of religion. Without freedom of religion, all citizens of what would be British America would have attended the same church, and therefore in 1820 there would not be lots of different religious sects, and therefore a young boy named Joseph Smith would not have been confused, nor had a desire to ask God, and eventually, with the Power of God restore His church to the earth again. Coming back full circle, I think it is just awesome that this great leader of American history had so much to do with a great leader from the Book of Mormon. I have no doubt the Lord had a hand in the formation of the United States of America, as without it the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ would have been frustrated. 

I hope everyone enjoys their Memorial Day. Honor and remember the 1.3 million men and women that gave the ultimate sacrifice in the name of freedom and Liberty. Go hang up your flags, and have a great week!!!

Élder Van Wagenen 

God Bless America, Viva España 

 

Fotos:

1.  Our Wonderful District

2. City plaza

                                                3. Another beautiful sunset in Huércal-Overa

Quarantine: Week 9

Me and Elder Ireland enjoying some steak prepared by yours truly.

Hola a todos!

It has been another great week in España! This week I really saw the hand of the Lord as we worked and saw tender mercies, along with some success!

This week I made a goal to call 3 people in our contacts every day, to see if they would have interest in finding happiness and comfort, through the Gospel. At first, I didn't get to see too much success, and it was kind of upsetting. However something I have learned in the mission is you keep trying, no matter what. So I kept calling people, and similar results followed. However one day, I called this lady, from Venezuela, and she is super willing to talk with us. We have a call, as that is about as good as we can do, with her this following week. So I am super pumped to talk with her this week, and see where it goes! And Spain is continuing along very well with the phases of lifting the quarantine, and it is very possible that in the next month or so we will be able to actually visit people! So we are hanging in there hoping for the best!

I also have been doing some pretty deep cleaning of our piso this week. Like very deep cleaning. Been fixing leaks in our sinks, replacing light bulbs, cleaning places I am sure have never been touched by a cleaner, it's been great. And our piso is much much cleaner, it is just so much better. It really feels like a totally different piso. This place has been needing a good cleaning for a long time! And a clean piso is an awesome piso! And we found out some depressing news this week. Unfortunately, one of the members of our district, Elder Ireland, will be leaving this week, going to a new area. He has helped make the quarantine lots of fun, and we are will miss our mate from England. I wish the best of luck to the good English man.

 

Until next week!

Élder Van Wagenen 

God Bless America, Viva España 

 Fotos:

1. Nice walk we had outside of Huércal-Overa 

2. Caulking the sink 

3. So long Elder Ireland 

4. Happy days, even in a quarantine 

Quarantine: Week 8

 Me and my comp enjoying our walks

Hola a todos!

So I took a look at my weeks, and technically speaking this coming week will be week 9, day 59, of quarantine. However since I'm reporting on the previous week, I figured I'd make the title of the email, por eso it's the same title as last week.

Anyways, this week I have been having some really awesome scripture studies. This week I spent a couple days just studying Jacob 5, the super confusing chapter that is super hard to understand. Well after studying this chapter quite hard, and thank goodness for footnotes and the Come Follow Me lesson, I was able to figure it out. And realized this week the difference between reading the scriptures, and studying the scriptures. And granted reading the scriptures, as in from point A to point B, still is good, it is awesome actually, but studying the scriptures, really searching them, pondering about what is being said, and what you can learn from it, is even better. In the Book of Mormon it says that it was written for our days, and this totally applies to the new and old testament as well. So there has to be a reason right? Well look for it! As you study, ponder about what is being talked about, and apply it in your life. Just like our Prophet has said to us, even quite recently, the Book of Mormon has power, the scriptures have power! So I invite yall to study the scriptures this week, and learn something! I promise that if you create some time, with a genuine intent to learn, you will have an amazing experience. 

This week I also had lots of time to do some family history digging. And I discovered this gem. 

Farrell Ronald Fletcher, I am pretty certain he is my great great Uncle. Anyways, he fought in World War II, in the Pacific Theater. He died a hero, on May 3rd, 1945. He was aboard the USS Aaron Ward, a destroyer, outside of Okinawa, with a task to prevent Japanese aircraft reaching American occupied Okinawa, a hard fought and well earned island the Americans took over just a few months earlier. However, a swarm of Japanese kamikaze planes attacked the ship, attempting to crash into the ship. Many of them were shot down, however, several penetrated the fire and crashed into the USS Aaron Ward. This is where my Great Uncle, Farrell Ronald Fletcher, was killed in action. I have a huge amount of respect for those who gave up the ultimate sacrifice, their lives, in the name of peace and freedom. If y'all are bored at home, try going on familysearch.org, and play around on there. I can guarantee you, as I am sure some of the amazing family history nerds in my family, shout out Aunt Kathleen!!!, will agree with me, you will find some super cool stuff!

 Until next week!

Élder Van Wagenen 

God Bless America, Viva España 

Fotos:

1. Me and Elder Cox went for a run, it was excellent!

2.  Going shopping

3. A super cool bridge

Quarantine: Week 8

Hola a todos!

What an amazing week we have had in Huercal Overa! We had so many people to talk to, and we were quite busy! This week we also got to go for a walk around the city!!! And I have never really toured the whole city before, but walking around in the evening I found that this pueblo is beautiful!!! It was great getting to leave piso and just chill for a little bit. The tender mercies of the Lord are real!

This week we were able to talk to tons of people, including an amigo who is an absolute beast. He is a super cool dude and I cannot wait to keep teaching him and progress with him. He has been taught by the missionaries before, but we have started to teach him again because he asked us to! How dope is that??? Really looking forward to teaching him more and help him feel God's love for him.

And a friendly reminder for this week... May 8th, 1945, VE Day. Victory in Europe Day. 75 years ago, the world war raging in Europe came to an end. A war that had been being fought since 1939 came to an armistice 6 years later. Millions of men and women gave their lives in an effort to defend freedom, and fight evil. May we remember their sacrifices this week as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe. 

Élder Van Wagenen 

God Bless America, Viva España 

Fotos:

1. Me and my companion enjoying our evening walks

2. Beautiful Southern Spain sunset

3. Enjoying our evening walks. This cathedral is real close to piso