Monday, December 14, 2015

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



Monday, December 7, 2015

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