Summer in Andulucia

Visiting with Leonardo

Hola a todos!

It has been a great week!!! And wow is it hot!!! We have had a very full schedule, and this week flew by quite fast, it was a crazy week, but we had some really awesome experiences, and we took advantage of being able to meet with people in parks!

We went to Lorca, a neighboring city, so we could chill and talk with our friend Leonardo. He is a beast! He is from Columbia but moved to Spain very recently with his family. He is just a super awesome dude, and we got to walk around the streets of Lorca with him, and sit in a park and just be his friend, and listen to him. He has had some really tough times recently, with finding a job and adjusting to living in Spain, but it was great to be able to sit with him, and just have some laughs. We were able to give him a Book of Mormon, and we told him this book can change your life. And he was very excited about it and told us he would read it!

This week we also went to Pulpí, another small neighborhood city, and we walked around the city and chatted with a family of recent converts. They too are from Columbia and are super cool people. And, they were who I was planning on giving my painting too. So after we walked around with them, we explained how families can be together forever, and we talked about the importance of family history work, and they really liked the painting. They hung it up in their living room, and they told me the room looked brighter. I did not think my abilities in painting were that good, however, I am super happy to hear that it brings the Spirit to their home. That's what matters to me!

No reminder needed, but I hope everyone has a great 4th of July!!!

Élder Van Wagenen
God Bless America, Viva España

Fotos:

1. Getting those quality studies in. If ya haven't read Saints yet, I recommend it!

2. Beautiful Spain. Water was as clear as Tahoe!

3. Family with the painting

Hasta luego quarantine

big news, there has been some slight changes to Elders attire. Excluding my shoes, I am modeling the changes to the attire. We can still wear ties, and need to for meetings and things, but for other times, this is allowed.

Hola a todos!

Some excellent news!!! Today, June 22nd, the Spanish Government has officially ended the state of alarm, which means technically speaking the quarantine is now over!!! Today marked 100 days in quarantine, but it won't get any higher! We are also getting information from the mission leadership, and we will still be working from piso and with technology, however, we are gaining more and more freedoms!

This week we continued having lots of appointments and teaching a lot of people. We also had the opportunity to listen to Elder De Feo, a member of the Europe Area Presidency. He spoke about change, and shed some light on adjusting back to normal mission life. But he also spoke about how the quarantine has helped us. And genuinely, being stuck in a piso in Spain for 100 days, I have seen myself grow in many ways, and I am very grateful for this growth I have seen. Really does go to show that trials and difficulties that we have in life can in fact help us, become better and improve.

Also, Hermana Galli also talked to us, and she suggested we do lots of service, in ways we can. And she sent us a document with tons of ideas in ways we can serve, while still observing the social distancing and other precautions we need to follow. And me and my companion made a goal to complete every idea by the end of the transfer. There are tons of ideas, and many of them I am not sure how to attack, but I am excited to start on the list and get back into the normal life, that is normal missionary life.

Until next week!

Élder Van Wagenen
God Bless America, Viva España

Fotos:

1. So one of the ideas on the list was to paint something and give it to someone. So with what my skills allowed me, I painted the Madrid Temple, and I am super excited to give it to a recent convert family soon!

2. That puzzle for some reason didn't break apart when I lifted it off the table

3. Went for a hike to the tower overlooking Huércal-Overa, well as close as they'd let us!

Video calls and the Spirit

Me and my new compañero, Elder Madsen. Home means Nevada! He's from Vegas!

Hola a todos!

Another excellent week in Spain! We are still in quarantine, technically, however, we enjoy many freedoms, and it is feeling less and less like we are stuck in quarantine. So all good things! And although we can go outside whenever we want, observing social distancing, of course, the way we do missionary work will still remain through technology for the most part. However, our Presidente gave us the thumbs up to meet with amigos in the chapel! So we are excited to do that!

But this week was awesome! Since there are no longer missionaries in Lorca, a neighboring city, out workload just doubled, and we have had tons of lessons, English classes, and other activities with people in both Lorca and Huércal-Overa. Our schedule was absolutely slammed! But it was awesome! My teaching skills, as well as my Spanish, have noticeably improved. I have taught the 1st lesson, the lesson of the Restoration and the First Vision, before in person while I was in Elche. And I felt the Spirit as I taught the sacred truths found in this lesson. But as I did it this week, this time through video call, everything was the same, although it wasn't face to face. I felt the Spirit strongly, just as I did face to face, as I testified that the true Church of Jesus Christ, the same one he himself established 2,000 y pico years ago, is again here on the earth. We were not in the same room, yet the Spirit was felt on both sides of the call. I again felt like there was no language barrier, and the words I spoke flowed out my mouth perfectly, and for a moment I totally forgot we were talking in Spanish. And that is the power of the Spirit. 8 months ago, the extent of my Spanish was about hola and adios. Yet, I was speaking with a fluent Spanish speaker, who apparently understood me, and I was able to understand them. That is the Gift of Tongues. I know it is real, and it has helped me out a ton!

I hope everyone had a great week. And remember God loves and knows each and every one of you! Until next week!




Élder Van Wagenen
God Bless America, Viva España

Fotos:

1. We went to the beach! It was great, there was nobody there! And I've always wanted to rip terere at the beach!

2. We found a 1,000 piece puzzle in piso, and well 5 hours later...

3. Another beautiful Andalucian sunset

Quarantine: Week 12

June 6th, 2020. 6:30am. 

After realizing I was in the same time zone as France, we woke up at 5:30am, hiked for 5 miles to a mountain, to celebrate the 76th anniversary, to the exact minute, of the D-Day landings. 

It was awesome.

Hola a todos!

It has been a crazy week!!! But it also has been amazing! The quarantine has been slowly being lifted, and in fact today we received a lot more freedom, and we can spend a lot more time outside. Blessings! But big news this week was that there was going to be some changes in our district. 2 elders in our district will be leaving, and our area just doubled in size, so it is going to be a fun transfer! And we can also use the car now, so it is going to be a very fun transfer!

This past week, I hit 8 months, a third, in the mission. And it is truly incredible how fast it has gone by. Truly crazy thinking a year ago I had been a fresh high school graduate. And I had some time to reflect, and really see what the mission has done for me. We come out here, and give up everything for 2 years, so that anybody can have everything for eternity. But also, we as missionaries grow and learn. And my spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental health has grown exceedingly in the past 8 months. And I can even kinda talk in a new language! One way I have really seen myself grow was spiritually. My testimony of this Gospel grows by the day and my gratitude for it as well. I know that this is the Lord's church on the earth and that the Book of Mormon is true. Time and time again I have been able to apply it to my life, even though it was written centuries ago. I know it's true! And anybody can read it, and if you have a true desire to know whether it is true or not, you can also receive that same confirmation. I love that book!!!

I hope everyone has a great week, and a friendly patriotic reminder. June 14th is Flag day!!! So hang up the stars and stripes this Sunday!!!

Until next week!

Élder Van Wagenen

God Bless America, Viva España 

Fotos:

1. Castle in Lorca, part of our area now. This castle dates back to 1244!!!

2. Castle in Lorca.

3. Castle in Lorca. RIP Elder Griffin. Buena suerte en Murcia!

4. We have a car! And we can use it now!

5. Nowhere near log cabin syrup, but I made pancakes with syrup this week. It sure did taste like home!

Quarantine: Week 11

Hola a todos!

It has been another great week in quarantine! We have been pretty busy through Facebook and we are finding new people to teach and reaching out to tons of people! Vamos!!!

Looking at the numbers of Spain, cases of the virus are slowly but surely deescalating. Our mission President told us that by June 15th, we will be able to meet with people in our chapel, and by July start going back to church for our meetings!!! They are not 100%, but are highly likely! We also have found out that in October we are receiving 75 new missionaries. And as of now, we are hovering around 100, and we will be losing some more in the near future. So we are short-staffed and looking forward to getting some more missionaries in a few months!

This week I was really able to see the hand of the Lord in my daily life, and I saw tons if tender mercies, and testify that they are real. I know the Lord knows each of us, personally, and he is mindful of us and our situations. As Nephi says in Nephi 1:20

20....But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.

I hope everyone has had a great week and a good start to a new month!! And well, a patriotic reminder of the week, remember June 6th, 1944, D-Day. 76 years ago, allied troops stormed 5 beaches of Normandy in Nazi-occupied France. It was a horrendous battle, and thousands of men died in the name of freedom. So remember their sacrifices this week! Hang up your flags!

Until next week!

Élder Van Wagenen 

God Bless America, Viva España 

Fotos:

1. Found a hill

2. My skills from In-N-Out are paying off now! I treated my piso to some fresh, genuine french fries, and used the same process I used at In-N-Out. They were pretty good!

3. Me and my compañero