The past 7 days have been slam-packed full of awesome experiences and fun memories. From cows interrupting our daily planning sessions in the fields of La Seu, to surviving the terrible heatwave here in Zaragoza, it has been an awesome week!
At the beginning of the week, we had some intercambios with the Zone Leaders. Those poor Elders don't have a car, and we do, so they took advantage of that and we drove up to the Spain/French border. Over yonder, there is a very small country that sits right on the border, called Andorra. Like, it's own country. It even has its own flag emoji 🇦🇩. It's very small, probably smaller than Douglas County, but it's beautiful. There is a very small group of members who live over there, but we had a day full of citas with the members, and it was tons of fun. We stayed in this small town right outside of Andorra, called La Seu. Oh, we also slept in a barn. Okay maybe better said farmhouse, but it had a barn. Before the quarantine, a Senior Missionary couple stayed in this house that sits outside the town, in the middle of all the fields and pastures. This is why our daily planning and studies were accompanied by cows hahahaha. It was so awesome. The title of this email also comes from our adventures in Andorra. I may or may not have forgotten my passport when we went to Andorra, but we weren't sure it was necessary since Andorra and Spain are pretty good friends and I have a Spanish Residency card but worried nonetheless. For those of you who may have seen the show Border Patrol, you know it's bad news bears when people get pulled into "secondary" at the border if they are suspicious. I was worried about being pulled into secondary and being interrogated on why I didn't have my passport and what my intentions of doing in Andorra would be, but the Border Patrol Officers didn't stop us, so we were all good haha!
If you remember from my last email, we had a temple tour with our friend Richi, well we met with him again, and we asked him, Richi, are you willing to follow Jesus Christ? Will you follow his example by being baptized? And he said YES! It was a really awesome spirit, and Richi is super excited to be baptized, he won't stop telling the members about it! We are going to keep meeting with him, and he will be baptized in a couple of weeks. The work of the Lord is so good!
I know I shared something from my studies last week, but I'm going to do it again. I was reading in Mosiah 24 where Alma the older and his followers are kind of under captivity of the Lamanites and the wicked priests of king Noah. But something that I hadn't caught before is found in Mosiah 24:14
And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions
The part that stuck out to me was where it says "and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter..." We all pass through times of tribulation, but if we are obedient, and endure our trials with patience and faith, God will lend us a hand. And He does that because He loves us, but also so that we can testify of His power and grace after our time of trial is over. I have found that some of the best teaching tools I have are my own experiences where I can testify that, during a tough time of life, God was there and He helped me through it. God helps us during trials, and He just asks that we testify of His divine help afterward.
Until next week! Stay safe y'all!
Élder Van Wagenen
God Bless America, Viva España, Visca Andorra
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