Members are the best!

Me and Elder Fuentes, in our district, chilling on top of el castillo de la atalaya 

Hola a todos!

Wow, it has been another amazing week!!! All I have to say is, without the help of members, missionaries just will not see as much success as they could. And I have seen that this week. We have received so many references from members in our branches of people who may be interested in hearing the Gospel, and it has been awesome!

First-person we have been teaching is Ariel. He is not a member; however, his wife is. They are from Paraguay, and they drink mate! So we are going to be doing that together soon, however with the virus, we still cannot meet in people's homes; however, we can if they have a balcony, patio, or something similar to that where we can maintain social distancing. Lucky for us, Ariel and his family have a really nice patio, and we were able to sit and teach Ariel about the Restoration. And I had an interesting experience while teaching him. So in Spain, a very large majority of the population are "Catholic." By that meaning, they were baptized when they were young, but rarely go to church, however they all believe in God. And as we taught him that God is our loving Heavenly Father, I asked him what role has God had in his life. And he told me, honestly nothing. And I was not expecting that, as usually most people believe in God, but it was interesting to see that wow, this guy just has no idea. And so I testified that God exists, and he is there. He answers our prayers and loves us unconditionally. I felt the Spirit as I testified of God and His love, and I know it touched his heart. So we are really excited to follow up with him this week.

Unfortunately, we were shut down by the stake to hold meetings in the church. Not sure why however it was short-lived. They also have discouraged zoom Sacrament Meetings. Which at first was quite odd, however makes more sense. A couple years ago, President Nelson and the apostles introduced the Come Follow Me program, and shortened church from 3 hours to 2 hours. Making a more home-centered worship. We didn't quite understand why but enjoyed the awesome scripture guides and for sure the less hour of church. And here we are, with a global pandemic, and yet we have continued to still worship on Sundays, and feel the Spirit as we do so. All I get from that is the Prophets and Apostles know what they are doing! I just won't believe that "by coincidence," they introduced a home-centered worship before a global pandemic would put the whole world on hold, and church meetings would be suspended until further notice. That did not "just" happen. I know that the Prophet and Apostles receive revelation from the Lord on how-to guide and lead us in these latter days, and this is just one clear example. 

I hope everyone has had a great week! 

Élder Van Wagenen 

God Bless America, Viva España 

Fotos:

1.     I went fishing! In Spain, in the Mediterranean! It was way different than Lake Tahoe, or in Yosemite Wilderness, but it was fun! We were just catching small ones for bait.

2.  I cooked up some empanadas this week. I became pretty popular with the Columbian members of our branch after that

3.  Our district, castillo de la atalaya 

4.  El faro

5.  Castillo de la atalaya

Viva la desescalada!

We went on a hike with a member to the Lorca castle

Hola a todos!

Long live the de-escalation!

It has been a great week!! We were able to meet with tons of people, and we even ate with a member this week, which is something I haven't done in a really long time! So it has been awesome!! This week we taught lots of people, particularly about baptism. Now for many of the people we teach, when we talk about baptism, they often recall their baptisms from when they were babies or young children in the Catholic church. Now it can be a little tricky sometimes saying, well your baptism wasn't exactly valid, because the priest, or whoever it may have been, did not have the authority of God to perform that ordinance. It can be a little tricky saying nicely, however, it makes the restoration that much more important! The same authority Jesus Christ had, the same authority he gave his Apostles, with the call to preach and baptize in His name, that exact authority was restored to the earth, through the Prophet Joseph Smith. What a blessing!! And here I am, hoy en día, preaching that same Gospel, and inviting others to come unto Christ, and be baptized, by someone who holds that authority, in Spain. I love it!

This week I gave a talk in church, and my topic was personal revelation. And wow is it is something so awesome! Our Prophet asked us to increase our ability to hear the words of the Lord, and we will be guided, directed, and comforted. And so I talked about the importance of that, and how we receive personal revelation. What can we do to be able to hear Him? And following some talks given in General Conference, I have found the following:

1. Have the Spirit: If the Spirit isn't there, we won't be able to hear it, and with that, won't be able to receive personal revelation.

2. Create an environment in which you can feel the Spirit: Make sure there isn't a TV show, movie, loud music, or anything else that can draw away the Spirit.

3. Do so with a desire, with intent: If we have a desire to receive, we will receive, but really we have to have a desire, set aside time, create that environment, with intent.

4. Now do something that will allow you to receive those words. A really good idea is to read the scriptures, that is always a really good idea, however, you can always pray, ponder, go to the temple, when the local laws allow you to, serve others. Heavenly Father is always eager to lead us to someone that needs help, a way we can provide some service.

5. Act without delay: When we receive promptings and then act with intention, the Lord can use us. The more we act on these promptings, the more familiar the voice of the Spirit becomes, and the easier it will be for us to recognize the words of the Lord.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Élder Van Wagenen
God Bless America, Viva España

Fotos:

1. Eating with a member! We had to be on a balcony, and be able to maintain 1.5 meters in between us, but it worked! There is a camera effect here, there were 1.5 meters in between us!

2. Rockin the dad look

 

 3. Castle in Lorca

More signs of normality

Best members of the year go to Lorca rama. A member made me a birthday cake!

 
Hola a todos!

Wow-what another great week as a missionary! We are teaching people left and right, serving others, and we went to church the other day!!! More on that later.

One of these great experiences this week was with an amigo named Kevin. Now he has a really cool story. He is from Nicaragua but has lived in Spain for a couple years. And recently, he has had a desire to grow closer to God. He did a little research on Facebook, and he found the missionaries! Yet, he found a Hermana serving in Canada. So, this Hermana talked with Kevin and figured out where to send his number to. And this Hermana sent it to some Hermanas in Murcia, which is close to where we live. And those Hermanas then gave us his information, we met with him for the first time this week. It is crazy how that all worked! But we shared the lesson of the restoration, and that God has extended his arm of love to his sons and daughters, once again, by providing another volume of sacred scripture, The Book of Mormon, that further testifies of Jesus Christ. And he was super excited to read it, and we set another time to meet with him next week. I love it!

So, yes. We had a Sacrament meeting this week! Our area has been chosen to be a "pilot" stake. As in, we are going to have meetings in person, following social distancing of course, and see how it goes. Kinda like Guinea pigs. But, boy it was great going back to church! It had been so long, and I felt the Spirit in the room. Also another update, we are able to meet with amigos and members in their pisos!! To teach, eat, share messages, etc. Now we can only do this if they have a balcony or an outdoor garden, however, it is a step in the right direction! Normality continues to draw nearer!

Until next week!

Élder Van Wagenen
God Bless America, Viva España

Fotos:

1. Me and my new companion, Elder Plewe 

2. Teaching Kevin

Changes!

Our district, we made a fantastic meal consisting of Texas Roadhouse style rolls and butter, mashed potatoes, sausages, and ribs

Hola a todos!

It has been a wild week, to say the least!!! I love the mission, it is always so interesting and there are always things changing. And well, we had one of those changes this week. Our Mission President called us on Friday to tell us that my companion, Elder Madsen, was being transferred, and I was going to stay and get a new companion. It was completely unexpected, and we were not prepared for it at all, but it's been great. We have been running around and making sure everything is good, and at the same time still getting the work to move forward. It's like working at In-N-Out, the time just flies when you are absolutely slammed with things to do!!

We had a mission wide conference this week, through zoom, and there were quite a few things I enjoyed. 1 thing that was said was that success isn't the absence of failure, but rather going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. Also reminded me of a quote from Winston Churchill that says, "attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." And in life, including missionary work, we will experience rejection, loss, and yes failure. Out in the mission, we are asking people to change their lives and come to Christ. And for some people that is very hard to do, and we see a lot of rejection. However, it is my decision if I want to see total failure. I have learned, especially in the mission and even more so in quarantine, that your attitude can make or break a day. Christ, our Great Example, demonstrated this perfectly. A couple examples: When he fasted for 40 days, imagine that 40 days! Nowhere does it say and it came to pass that Jesus complained. (Matthew 4:1-3) Nowhere! When Jesus and his disciples were rejected by a Samaritan village, nowhere does it say and therefore Jesus became angry and pouted. (Luke 9:52-56) Nowhere! But rather He kept a positive attitude, high enthusiasm, even though he was having some hard times and experiencing rejection. Although you may not see what some people define as "success," the decision to fail is left to us. Do we let our tough situations and setbacks wear us down? Do we let it get the best of us, and do we succumb to failure? Well, the choice is yours, my friend. And of course, this is much easier said than done, however, I know and have personally experienced, that having that positive enthusiasm and a good attitude makes the world of a difference. It was for sure a great reminder, especially during these tough times with the virus and the quarantine.

Thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday, I had a great day and felt loved by many of you and your emails and birthday wishes. I also hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend!!! Ether 2:12, if you haven't heard of that scripture yet, go look it up. It's a great one.

Élder Van Wagenen
God Bless America, Viva España

Fotos:

1. Cooking in piso

2. Ether 2:12

3. Ice cream with our amigo Leonardo in Lorca

4. July 4th, 2020. Huércal-Overa, España

5. God Bless America