Week 18: I think it's week 18? Idk

Felix is such a stud. He has a friend named Johnny that he really wants us to teach. So for our lesson with Felix this week, we practiced teaching the restoration of the gospel. And Felix did soooo good! He understands the restoration so well and has a solid testimony! We met with Johnny the next day and it was perfect. And I'm
so glad that Felix was there with us. He'd be a great missionary. He wants to share the happiness he has with others so badly. It was such a great lesson! I'm so excited to teach Johnny more this week!

We're doing a ton of work with less actives right now. About 80% of the ward isn't active. We spent a whole day this week just making phone calls and stopping by the members pisos. And we had so much success! Some of these people just need someone to reach out to them. We saw a bunch of them at church yesterday. It's so awesome how just a little phone call can make such a big difference. Sometimes all it takes is an invitation!

My new companion is super awesome! He's like my best friend now! I love him! He cooks pancakes every morning and irons my shirts. I'm not even mad. And he plays the piano really well!!

My district is amazing. All of the elders sing really well! We learned all the Christmas songs in the hymn book, so now we sing to the members every time they invite us over. We have a nice quartet! It's so much fun! We sang Creo en Cristo at a baptism last week.

I have to do two musical numbers at a big Christmas devotional next week... So wish me luck!  I'm so excited! I'm singing in a quartet and doing a piano solo.

I love all of you so much! Our P day next week will be on Christmas, so you won't hear from me until then. Hope you all have a good week! Sorry this weeks email was so short!

Elder Hendrix

Week 17: Transfers

UNO DOS TRES!

Felix is the greatest investigator ever. We had a zone meeting this week, and the zone leaders asked if we would ask Felix if he would be willing to come and help with the training. And he was totally down to do it! So Thursday morning, he showed up excited to participate in a huge missionary meeting! They taught us some cool teaching techniques, and then demonstrated by teaching Felix the Restoration of the Gospel in front of everyone. And it was super cool cause Felix is a real investigator and could give real responses! The lesson took like 30 minutes, and then after, we had a big group discussion about how it went. And Felix actually participated and gave his opinions! It was so sweet! He talked about how he felt during the lesson and things that he liked. And it helped soooo much! Everyone was taking a ton of notes! It was such an effective zone training!! Felix is such a stud! What other investigator would be down to be taught in front of 40 other missionaries?? Haha it was perfect. After the discussion, they had us practice what we learned with our companions. So we had to teach each other the restoration in 10 minutes using the techniques they just showed us. Felix decided to stick around, so he got to be my companion and we taught the restoration to Elder Gustafson! AND HE KILLED IT. He did sooooooo good. He nailed every point of the lesson. He did almost all the teaching haha. He used personal experiences, a scripture, the pictures in the pamphlet... It was awesome! Man I love that guy!!!!! 

Elder Gustafson, Felix and Elder Hendrix.

This was the last week our district will be together cause of transfers. So last night, Paola invited all 6 of us over to her cake shop and we made gingerbread houses! She bought it in England just for us cause Spain doesn't have gingerbread. It was so much fun! I'm so grateful for all that Paola does for us! She's awesome! 

So some of you have asked about what Christmas is like here... In the town plaza there's a ton of Christmas stuff. At night, that place is packed. They light it up and play Christmas songs and Spanish Disney... It's weird, but cool! There's an ice skating rink, a carousel, lots of food carts... Tons of stuff. It's really cool to walk through! That guy that sells roasted nuts is there every night and he stays super busy. He was telling us that he loves this time of year cause he gets to raise the nut prices while getting twice as much business because 1) it's super busy and 2) everyone is too drunk to realize how expensive they are. They just buy them. Seriously there are sooooo many drinkers and smokers here. But according to the roasted nut industry, the more the better! I don't think people get Christmas trees here. I haven't seen any. And nobody decorates their pisos. We would totally put lights up in our piso, but you can't buy Christmas stuff anywhere. It just doesn't exist. Idk. 

The Hermanas had another baptism this week! His name is Kenneth and he's awesome! They've been teaching him for a few months now. They asked if I would provide a musical number, so I sang Venid a mi (Come Follow Me). It was super cool! I love opportunities to share my musical abilities!

The Hermanas taught Kenneth and this is his baptism.
Elder Hendrix sang the hymn "Come Follow Me" in Spanish.

So today is transfer day! I'll be staying here in Torrejón! I met my new companion today, Elder Bartholomew, and he's a stud!!! He was actually companions with Elder Gustafson a few transfers ago. He's from American Fork and has been out for almost a year and a half. I love him! He plays the piano super good! AND he has a guitar! This transfer is gonna be great! We're super excited to serve together! Elder Phillips got a new companion from Gilbert! His name is Elder Malolo. He went to Gilbert High and we have a few mutual friends so that's super cool! Our district is awesome! 

I love you all! Have an awesome week!! Thank you everyone for sending me one of those paper ornaments! You're awesome! 

Elder Hendrix

Week 16: Let's take the stairs!

We had a few really great lessons with Felix this week! We went over the law of chastity, which includes the law of modesty, which means no tattoos. He explained to us that he had an appointment on the 22nd of December to get a tattoo that he's been wanting for years. And he's already paid €500 for it and he can't get the money back. He had been saving up for it for such a long time. He was really upset and disappointed, but he wants to live and keep the commandments so badly. The rest of the lesson was kinda rough. But right after our closing prayer, he just sat there for a second and then looked up and said "500 euros is a ton of money, but if I have to pay that much to show God I love him, I'll do it." And then he asked us to walk with him to the tattoo place to cancel his appointment. They wouldn't give him his money back, but he knows he did the right thing. I'm so proud of this
guy! He's such a stud and it's the coolest thing ever to see him make choices that will bless him. Things like this remind me of how amazing it is to be a missionary. Seeing people recognize the light of Christ in their lives is the greatest thing ever. Felix sent us a text that night. He was praying, asking God if he made the right decision, and
he received an answer. He explained to us that he knows God is proud of him, and that the money doesn't matter. Matthew 6:33: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." While money can be important, we know that if we first do all we can to keep the commandments, the Lord will provide. Even if that means dropping €500.

We had a training this week with the 5 zones in Madrid. And I was asked to provide a musical number! I used the same arrangement of Be Still My Soul that I wrote in the MTC, but new and improved! I threw in some fancy work and a sweet key change and it went really good! It was such a cool opportunity to perform for all the missionaries and the mission President! I love doing these kinds of things! After the meeting, all the senior couples prepared a thanksgiving meal for all 120 of us. It was sooooo good! They had pumpkin pie from the states!!

Audio clip of Elder Hendrix's piano solo, "Be Still My Soul."

So we got stuck in an elevator this week... We put 5 of us in a 3 person elevator and got stuck between the 4th and 5th floor. We had to pull open the door and climb out. Fun stuff. The elevators are soooo tiny here. The biggest one I've seen was a 4 person one. Most piso complexes have only a 2 person elevator. Lots of people make jokes about knowing what it was like to be one of those Chilean miners a few years ago. Haha elevator rides are so uncomfortable sometimes...

I think I've talked before about a member in the ward named Paola. She's from Columbia and she owns a cake shop in Torrejón. She was really sick this week and asked us to come over and give her a blessing. And she asked me to do it! So I got to give my first blessing in Spanish!! It was such a cool experience!

Today for P day, our zone when to downtown Madrid! We went to this American Restaurant that has a reeeeaaalllly hot burger. It's called El Diablo haha. And if you finish the whole thing, they don't charge you. AND they give you a t shirt! So I went for it.... AND I DID IT. And it was quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever done. My face looked like a tomato when I was done. But hey I got a free shirt!!!

This week is the last week of the transfer, so I may be getting a new area!! We'll see! I hope you all have an awesome week! The church is true!

Elder Hendrix

Elder Hendrix and his district with a church member named Yors (in yellow tie).

Elder Hendrix and his fellow missionaries ate at this restaurant
where he won the challenge of eating the El Diablo hamburger.
It was really hot and he won a t-shirt and a free meal.

Spending P-day in Sol.

Elders Phillips, Hendrix and Bennett in Sol.

Week 15: Más Numero Musicales

Can't believe it's been a week already!

I was stuck in piso throwing up earlier this week... So unfortunately, I don't have much to share. But I'll try to throw in a joke or two.

So Felix went to London for the week, so we only met with him once this week. But he's still doing great! He always comes to church, he's reading the Book of Mormon, and he's still so anxious to learn. He took his Book of Mormon on the plane and read for the entire flight. He's such a stud! We've taught him almost all the lessons now. He's progressing so well! He just wants to learn everything! He tells us all the time that the missionaries have changed his life. The gospel changed his life! The gospel works miracles! We told him today that we have transfers in two weeks and that either Elder G or I is leaving. And he shed some tears. He does not want either of us to leave at all. He told us we're the best friends he's ever had. It's so touching. I love that guy! I really hope I stay for next transfer!

Felix came home from London this morning, so we went to the airport to pick him up. It's only like 20 minutes away. Flights are so cheap here! A flight to Barcelona is only like €30. And a roundtrip flight to the Galway Ireland airport is only €59!! I could easily go visit Elder Oxspring for the day on a P day. Haha it's only a two and half
hour flight.

So apparently my name is getting around the mission. Either "Elder Hendrix" or "the elder that plays all the Disney songs on piano." Haha. The mission president called me this week and asked me if I would prepare a musical number for a zone conference this Wednesday. All the missionaries in the Madrid zones are gonna be there. So like 150ish. So that's exciting! I still have no idea what I'm gonna do...

Everybody here calls me Jimi Hendrix. Everyone in the ward greets me with Elder Jimi. Or Misionero Jimi. It's pretty great haha.

Today for P day, the whole zone came to Torrejón for volleyball and lunch. I'll try attaching a picture.

I hope everyone has a great week! Eat lots of turkey for me!! I'll be over here throwing up rice...

Sorry I can't think of any jokes...

Con amor,

Elder Hendrix

All missionaries in Elder Hendrix's zone came to Torrejon for P-day.

Week 14: Overeating

Get ready for a story everyone!! This one is good I swear.

So a few days ago, we didn't have any lunch appointments, so we just ate with the other elders in our district. We went to a bakery and we each bought una barra de pan, and then went back to the piso and made a ton of pasta. We had soooo much food. I finished my entire barra de pan, 2 plates of pasta, and like half a thing of ice cream. And I'll add that I had like 6 cups of yogurt for breakfast that morning. So I was dang stuffed. Well, a few minutes after my last bite, about mid-food coma, we got a call from the Hermanas. "Where are you guys?? Are you coming?!" We apparently had a lunch appointment with a woman in the ward named Sarah..... "Hurry up! All of our plates are already on the table!" Uhhh.... Shoot. The Hermanas told Elder Gustafson earlier this week that Sarah invited all of us over for lunch... And he failed to inform me. And then he forgot about it. Therefore, I take zero blame. Anyway, we couldn't just say that we forgot about it after she had already prepared us food, so we went ahead and walked over to her house, shaking. I was scared haha there was no way I was gonna be able
to eat. 

Sarah is Nigerian, which means two things: one, there's gonna be a ton of food, and two, she's gonna be offended if we don't eat it. Well, we walked in to her house, and saw a plate of food for each of us on the table. A mountain of rice a mile high. And then Sarah comes from the kitchen with a huge pot of fried chicken, and tops off our rice with it. Perfect. I'm looking at my death. To summarize, after a good half hour, and to my surprise, I finished. And I swear it was the hardest thing I've done in my life. But then, Sarah got up and told us to follow her to the kitchen, where we found the biggest pot of rice I've ever seen. The amount of rice left could have fed a family of 10 easily. She threw another scoop of rice on my plate. And more chicken. I ate a few more bites of the chicken and tried my best to hide as much rice as I could under the bones haha... I'm so grateful for all the members here and everything, but the second we left that piso, I was the happiest man on earth. Walking downstairs was sooooo difficult. I had never been that full in my life. I'm pretty sure that my stomach stretched into the sides of my lungs, cause I was having trouble breathing haha. I walked out the door of the piso complex, took about 10 steps, then tumbled to the ground and starting puking my guts up. Fun stuff. And here I am now, 3 days later, still not wanting to see food ever again. Haha I'm feeling better though!

Felix is doing so good! I kinda broke his phone on accident, which is actually awesome because since that incident, he has read so much of the Book of Mormon! He came to church again yesterday too! This guy is so solid. I love watching him change. The gospel works wonders! He has progressed so much! Assuming everything goes good, he'll be baptized on the 19th of December. His work gave him 2 weeks off to take care of his mom who just had surgery, so we've been able to meet with him everyday for the past week in his piso. I can't wait to see him
baptized!

My Spanish is coming along, slowly, but it's coming! I still have trouble expressing myself during lessons, but I know I've improved so much. The members are telling me that my accent is spot on so I guess that's good!

I love it here in Torrejón so much! I'm so grateful to be here! I love watching our investigators progress. My testimony has grow so much in the past few months. I'm so grateful for this opportunity that I have to be here to share the gospel.

Que tenga una buena semana!

Con amor,

Elder Hendrix

Felix drives the missionaries in Torrejon.

Week 13: Don't Blink and Walk!

If there's one thing I learned this week, it's that you should never write down an address in your agenda while walking because a bench might jump in your path and decide to destroy your shin. That is all.

This week was super cool! My companion's birthday was last week, so a family threw him a surprise party. We walked to their piso expecting just a normal comida with the members, but right when we opened the door they all jumped out and started yelling some crazy Spanish congratulations or something. I have no idea haha. There were like 5 families there along with the other missionaries in our district. And they had sooooo much cake and cookies and deserts! Which was quite unfortunate, considering that they all forgot that Elder G can't have
gluten... More for us though! ;) Haha they felt so bad, so they went and bought an entire gluten free cake for him.

Felix came to church for the first time this week!! And he loved it!!! The lesson in Sunday school was about eternal marriage, and he was so into it! We had another lesson with him that night, and asked him what he thought about church, and he said he wanted he really wants to be married in the temple some day!! All of our lessons with him are so solid! He loves learning! He always has the best questions! I can't wait for his baptism!!! Next month! He's awesome. We tried teaching him knock knock jokes this week and it was funnier than the actual joke.

 "Knock knock. Who's there? Owl. Ok well what is he doing?" Haha you had to have been there. Sorry I suck at telling stories..

Well, sorry for a short one this week. But I miss all of you! The church is true!

Elder Hendrix

Check out this sweet guitar I got!

Week 12: Segovia!

Hello everyone!

This week was interesting... I went on an exchange with Elder Phillips, who is also in his first transfer. So we are both far from speaking good Spanish. He came to my area, while Elder Gustafson went to his area in Coslada with Elder Aussant. So I was super nervous cause I was in charge, and our scheduled lessons were mostly in
Spanish! And how are we gonna contact if we can barely express ourselves in the language? I had all these doubts and worries.. But the whole exchange was definitely a success!!! We had 3 lessons completely in Spanish and they went pretty good!! And we had 3 street lessons! And placed 4 Books of Mormon! We had so much fun!

The work is going great here in Torrejón! We taught Felix a few times this week and he's solid! I love watching him progress! He's praying and reading all the time. He's going through some tough stuff right now, and he says whenever he hears our messages and reads the scriptures, he feels calm. He has a baptismal date for the 19th of December, and it's still looking good! I'll keep you updated there!

Halloween here is so weird... It's NOTHING like America. All the teenagers dress up in costumes and egg the whole city. They throw eggs everywhere! The Elders in Coslada got permission to go back to their piso for the night cause people wouldn't stop throwing eggs at them. And cops don't do anything here. It's the weirdest thing ever. Thankfully, Elder Gustafson and I had all of our lessons in the church that night.

We traveled up to Segovia today to go see a castle, so I don't have a ton of extra time to email, but my mom will have more pictures on my blog soon so check them out! It was way cool! And the weather was perfect! Super overcast all day!

Elder Hendrix at a castle in Segovia.

Elder Hendrix with a Catholic church in the background.

OH I NEED EVERYONE TO PLEASE DO ME A FAVOR
Tomorrow is my companion's birthday and it would be super awesome if you could send him a quick email tonight saying happy birthday! He will be 20. Please! Tell everyone you know!!! EVERYONE!!
samuel.gustafson@myldsmail.net
Thanks!!

I hope you all have an awesome week!!!

Elder Hendrix

Elders Hendrix and Phillips at a castle in Segovia.

With his district in Segovia.

Overlooking Segovia and its aqueducts.

Elder Hendrix and his district at the aqueducts in Segovia.

Elder Hendrix standing at the top on the castle.

Walking through the streets of Segovia.

Week 11: Equadorian Mix Tapes

This week has been quite eventful!

Last Monday and Tuesday I had an exchange with Elder Aussant in my district. He's a stud! He's from Canada and speaks French, Englis,and now Spanish. Before coming to Spain, he had to wait on his visa, so he served in the Montreal Canada mission for a few transfers where he was companions with Elder Guttierez from the Gilbert Ranch Ward in my stake! Small world haha. We had dinner with a family Tuesday. They cooked paella and it was amazing!! Before my mission, everyone told me they're so excited for me to have paella. I was definitely not disappointed!

So Elder Aussant and his companion, Elder Phillips, live here in Torrejón, but they work in a city called Coslada like 15 minutes away on the Renfe. They're the first missionaries to work in this area, so they don't have any investigators yet. Anyway, Elder Aussant got really sick one day this week, which just so happened to be the one day they had an appointment with a street contact they met, so there was no way they would let this fail. So they asked Elder Gustafson and I to go for them. We met this guy, Steven, outside the Renfe stop in Coslada, and taught him the restoration. And it went sooo good! He had a bunch of questions and just wanted to learn!! He prayed for the first time in his life with us. I felt an incredibly strong prompting to invite him to be baptized by someone holding priesthood authority, and I could not let this prompting go. So for the very first time in my life, and in very broken Spanish, I extended a baptismal invitation. And he accepted!!! AND he came to church yesterday!! Aw. I'm so excited for the Elders to teach him!! They have an appointment with him this week and I'm so excited to hear how it goes! They finally have an investigator! Weeks of straight contacting pays off!
Great things are happening! This story has two morals... 1) never give up, no matter how many rejections you get. And 2) never buy discounted lasagnes cause they might make Elder Aussant sick.

Remember that baptism I talked about last week? With that mom and her son with the broken leg? They got baptized on Saturday!!! It was so cool! I love seeing baptism!! They both shared their testimonies after and the spirit was so there!! They've been ready for so long and it was so exciting to finally see them enter the gate! I'm so happy for them! The missionaries were asked to do a musical number, so we did the primary song A Child's Prayer, and I played the piano. They were confirmed yesterday in sacrament meeting. They looked so happy!!!

Elders Hendrix and Phillips at Daniel's baptism.

The ward had an activity on Saturday night called Noche de Naciones (night of nations). There are people in the ward from all different countries, so they had each country do a dance or song or something from that culture. Like the Ecuadorians played their national anthem thing on flutes. And the Nigerians did this crazy tribal dance thing. There were like 8 or 9 countries. Spain, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, U.S., Nigeria, Ghana, Columbia... The United States was just the missionaries. We started our part with the Star Spangled Banner, which I got to sing! I sang the whole first half by myself acapella, and then Elders Phillips and Gustafson came in with harmonies in the rockets red glare part. It sounded alright! And then we went straight into cotton eye joe and did the line dance. We figured it would be a good idea to make it somewhat missionary related haha, so we acted out contacting to the frozen song Let it Go. Elder Phillips and Aussant were the missionaries, and they were walking around looking for people to teach, and kept getting rejected, and then they stopped another guy (me), and he accepted a Book of Mormon and gave them his number. And this happened right at the Let it Go
part of the song, so then they started celebrating. And then we all jumped in and started dancing. And that's how it ended... It was pretty cheesy haha but people laughed and they liked it! It was so much fun! After all the skit/dance/song things whatever you call them, we had a ton of food. Each country had to bring food from their
country. So I got to try food from all different places! It was amazing! It was such a fun night!! And we had a few of our investigators there, so it was a cool opportunity to introduce them to some members in the ward. They had such a good time!!

At the ward party, Noche de Naciones,
the missionaries represented the U.S.

Noche de Naciones, where 9 countries were represented by ward members.

I got my first hair cut in the mission field this morning. Hair stylists here are crazy. Everything has to be absolutely perfect. It usually takes me like 10-15 minutes to get my haircut, but this guy spent a solid 45 minutes doing this. Hair is so important to people here haha. Apparently it's impossible to find a bad hair stylist. It's weird.

Elder Gustafson is super awesome. We get along so well! I feel like we've known each other forever. We've made a deal together... I do all the dishes and he irons my shirts. It's great! I haven't ironed a single shirt on my mission! He's such a good trainer. I sometimes feel discouraged about the language, or when I don't understand anything, but he is very uplifting and it makes a huge difference! I've learned that service is so important in a companionship. It really strengthens the relationship and brings the spirit. Charity for your companion has
a huge effect on the work. Just like Brother Mask always says in mission prep, when in doubt, pray for charity! Truth!

I miss all of you so much! Send me emails! And pictures! Have a great week!

Elder Hendrix