Week 72: Merry Christmas from Tenerife!

Merry Christmas from Elder Hendrix.

Elder Hendrix and his district.

A family in Tenerife shared dinner with the missionaries.

I hope you all had a great Christmas! It's weird to think that I'll be home for next year's. Time is flying by so quick. It seems like just yesterday I was opening presents that my family had sent me last year. Christmas here was fun! My companion and I woke up and opened our presents that we received in the mail. And then we had church. There were a ton of tourists in sacrament meeting. Some from England, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Scotland. Our little chapel was packed full. Tenerife is a popular place to be during the Christmas season. There's a Finnish family that came that offered to buy us dinner one day this week before they go home. After church, we went to eat lunch with some members. They made us a giant paella, so that was cool. And then we got to Skype home! Skype is so weird. I feel like I was just with my family yesterday. Next time I Skype, I'll only have like 2 months left. It's scary :-) 

Well, transfers are today and I'M TRAINING! I'VE BEEN PATIENTLY WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT FOR OVER A YEAR. I'm so excited!! Elder Knaphus is headed to Madrid. My hijo will get here on Thursday morning. So that'll be super cool! I've been wanting to train forever! Wish me luck! Updates to come.

I don't have a lot of time to write, so I'll just add a few of the highlights from this week. We have an investigator named Maria and she invited us over for paella on Christmas Eve. I love her, she's awesome. We got to meet her family as well. She has two boys that are 7 and 17 and they're really fun! We ate lunch and played UNO together for a while. They're an awesome family! Another cool experience we had this week was meeting with Alexandra! She's another investigator and she's a champ. I think I wrote a little bit about her a few weeks ago. She's the one that we have been trying to contact for months. We finally got a hold of her a few weeks ago, but then she went on vacation for two weeks. Well she came back this week and we got to meet with her! We had a great lesson! She has been reading the Book of Mormon and has told us that she knows it is true. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted! So that was a huge miracle we saw this week! I'm excited to continue teaching her.

Anyway, this week should be really interesting having a greenie. I'm a bit nervous to take over the area now that Elder Knaphus is leaving. I'm still learning where everything is and where everyone lives. But it'll be a fun experience. We have a lot of stuff to do this transfer. I see a lot of potential in the people that we're currently teaching, so it will be cool to see the progress we make in the next few weeks! I'm excited for my hijo too. This is a great place to start the mission. The people are awesome and the weather is amazing. 

Oh here's another story real quick... So Friday morning we woke up and it was pouring rain outside. It was so weird. It's sunny here every day usually. But that morning it was like an Arizona summer monsoon. It was like a flood here. I was honestly kinda nervous. Elder Knaphus and I were considering staying inside and just doing a lot of work in our area book. But we felt that we needed to get outside. It sounded crazy because the weather was just absolutely ridiculous, but we headed out. It was crazy wet outside, but we saw so many miracles that morning! We were able visit a few inactive members and pass by a few homes of old investigators. So because of our decision to leave that morning, we found a few more people to start teaching again! The Lord blesses us when we make a constant effort to be diligent and strive.

I love each of you and I hope you all have a great new year! Until next week!

Elder Hendrix

Week 71: #ILUMINAelMUNDO

We had our ward Christmas party last Friday. It was a huge success! We had a ton of investigadores and potential investigadores come! It was so much fun too! Everyone loved it. We started with a little meeting where the youth talked about Jesus Christ and shared their testimonies, and then we had a huge dinner. One of the members made a HUGE paella. It easily could have fed 100 people.

A huge paella is served at the ward Christmas party in Tenerife.

Anyway, we had zone conference this week! All of the Canary Islands make up our zone, so for the meeting everyone had to travel to Gran Canaria, the island right next to Tenerife. That was an interesting trip. We went to the airport and took a 20 minute flight. The plane goes up, then they give you a piece of chocolate, and then you come right back down haha. But it was fun! There were 10 missionaries from our island on our flight. We were the only passengers in the whole plane haha it was weird. The planes are tiny. But anyway, we landed in Gran Canaria and had to take a bus to the elders' piso over there. With us and the elders from the other islands, there were 16 of us staying the night in one little piso. So that was definitely a night that went down in the books!

Elders Hendrix and Knaphus board a small plane for Gran Canaria.

The small plane is filled with missionaries headed to zone conference.

The next morning we had the conference. It was great! President Pack shared a lot of great counsel. We talked about building our faith as a mission, as well as taking advantage of this Christmas season to work extra hard and talk about Christ with the people. It was such a cool conference! We talked a lot about the initiative that the church is doing with the 25 ways in 25 days. I love the video for it. Here's the link if you haven't seen it: https://www.mormon.org/?cid=HP_FR_25-11-2016_dMIS_fmorg_xLIDyL1-A_  We talked about using the video in proselyting. In our mission, we have iPads, so we can show the video to people in the street. We've done it a few times, and it goes really well! People love it! 

Anyway, I was asked to provide a musical number for the conference. I came up with a really cool piano arrangement of Christmas songs. I learned how to play the song from the video, so I started out with that. And then tied in 4 Christmas hymns. It went really well! I love every chance I get to play the piano for a musical number. I've had some of the most spiritual experiences playing the piano in the mission. But this one in particular was just perfect. I love playing piano. I remember at the beginning of the mission I was always so nervous to perform. But practicing the piano has really helped me build confidence in myself. I love being able to invite the spirit in the room through music. At the very end of the conference, President Pack asked if I would play the song a second time before the closing prayer, which was really cool. Afterwards, he asked if he could take a video of it so he could post it on YouTube or something. So we'll see if it gets put up this week! Anyway, after the conference, we went caroling in a small town and gave away Books of Mormon all wrapped up like presents. Because really what better gift can we give than the evidence of the restored gospel? It was such a cool experience! 

That night we flew back to Tenerife (once again 20 minutes) and that was pretty much how zone conference went. It was such a long day, but such a cool meeting! I'm so grateful for all the counsel and instruction we received. We got all of our Christmas mail that day as well, so today for P day, Elder Knaphus and I wrapped up all of our mail and packages and stuff we got and we're gonna open them on Christmas. We bought a little Christmas tree for our piso too. I'll try to attach a picture.

Elder Hendrix wrapped the gifts from his family.

Well, I hope you all have a merry Christmas! I love the Christmas season so much. It's not the same here in the Canary Islands, but I'm still grateful for this time that I have to teach others about Jesus Christ. The zone conference made me think about how much I've been blessed with this past year. God has blessed me with an amazing family, awesome friends, good health, talents, the gospel, and so much more. So it made me ponder this... God has given me so many gifts, so how can I repay him and give to Him? The best thing we can do to express our love and gratitude for God is by keeping His commandments and by sharing His love with others. He loves all of His children, and wants each of them to be able to recognize His care. So this Christmas season, something amazing we can all do to give back to Him is serve Him. Just like the video says. Be the light! Share the light!

Juan 8:12 - "Yo soy la luz del mundo"

Mateo 5:14 - "Vosotros sois la luz del mundo"

Merry Christmas!! 

Elder Hendrix

Week 70: Doubt Your Doubts

We had a really great week this week! We talked to a TON of people and place several Books of Mormon! We're working on increasing our teaching pool so we can fill our days with more teaching appointments, and it's going well. We've been doing a lot of street contacting. We received quite a few phone numbers this week and we're excited to meet with a lot of potential investigators in the next few days. 

We met one woman a few days ago named Helga and she just so happens to have a daughter getting baptized this week in the ward in the northern part of Tenerife. So that was kind of a miracle meeting her! She said she's interested in learning more about the church and wants to see what it is that has brought so much comfort to her daughter. So we're very excited to teach her! We had our first lesson with her this weekend and we explained the restoration of the gospel and gave her a Book of Mormon and she committed to read it! We called the missionaries in the north that are teaching her daughter and and they're gonna talk to her about supporting her mom with the missionary discussions. Running into Helga in the street was not just a coincidence. I know that we were led to her. I love miracles like this!

We met with Victor this week. He's the coolest guy. He's super nice and always offers us Coca Cola. He's an old investigator that was found in our area book. He loves talking about God and is very receptive. This week we talked about the restoration with him. The only issue is that he's blind so he can't read the Book of Mormon. So we're working on reading it to him. But he's such a nice guy and just wants to learn!

We got to do a cool service this week! There was an English family that had just flown in for vacation and they were getting off a bus and we saw them struggling with carrying all their luggage as well as handling a baby in a stroller. So we offered to help them carry all of their stuff. We walked them to the taxi station and had a nice conversation about the gospel. We got talking about the Book of Mormon and why we're called Mormons. That morning before we left our piso, I had the impression to pack an English Book of Mormon in my backpack. It was weird. I haven't placed a Book of Mormon in English since good ol' Torrejón town. And Elder Knaphus and I had been praying that day to be blessed an opportunity to share the gospel with a tourist. After we helped the family pack their bags into the taxi, I pulled out the Book and gave it to them. And they were so grateful and they said they're excited to find the missionaries in their town when they get home!

This week I had the opportunity to do a baptismal interview for one of the hermanas' investigators, Elaina, who has been preparing for baptism for several months. She's from Brazil and has lived here in Tenerife for about 15 years. She's the sweetest woman. I love interviews so much because I get to hear the life stories of others and hear their recently developed testimonies. I didn't know Elaina very well, but during our conversation I could just tell that there had been changes made in her life. She shared with me a lot about her experience of getting to know the church. She has developed such a strong testimony. One thing we discussed a lot was the spirit she has felt as she has been taught by the hermanas. She explained that sometimes she doesn't understand everything, but the things she doesn't understand are the things that have helped her better understand the principle of faith. Trusting in spiritual feelings is often more important than developing a perfect understanding of everything you learn. 

One thing I love about the gospel is that we are always learning. We're not perfect. We are continually growing and developing our testimonies. Sometimes we don't understand everything that we learn from church, but as we continue to trust more in the spirit we feel rather than focusing on our worries, our faith and understanding will grow. Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. Elaina is one of the most prepared converts I've had the opportunity to interview. The spirit during that interview was so strong. I as well left the room feeling very spiritually uplifted. It's amazing to be able to witness the changes that can take place after seeing someone allow themselves to experience the blessings of the gospel. I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life, and I'm so grateful for Elaina's desires to make a covenant with her Heavenly Father which will result in her achieving an even greater potential to receive such wonderful blessings from her Heavenly Father. After we finished, we all went out for ice cream. She was so happy and I could feel her enthusiasm towards her baptism. The next day however, Elaina had a very difficult trial faced in front of her. Her husband passed away the day before her baptism. It was very unexpected and has been a very difficult thing for everyone to handle. Though we, as a district, have so much faith that she will remember the testimony she has developed and her faith in the plan of salvation. I'm so grateful that she had the chance to be taught these things before this tragic event. I know that the plan of salvation is real. I know that this knowledge blesses everyone. The plan of salvation has brought me so much hope and comfort, and I know that it's the plan of God. 

Well, I wish you all a great week! Love you all!

Shoutout to big brother J who turned 30 this week! Love you!

Elder Hendrix 

Week 69: Monkey Park

Hello friends!

This week was a good one! The weather has been absolutely amazing this week too. It's like high 60's every day and it's so nice! I don't think that being on this island will ever get old. It's hard to complain about walking out in the streets all day long because I got to be in such perfect weather AND preach the gospel. There's always a slight breeze and it's just awesome. Our sacrament room in the church is on top of a building, and the doors are always left open. So we even get to sit through church meetings with that nice breeze coming in. 

Anyway, we had a great week with some great lessons! We've been teaching an 18 year old named Jóse who has a baptismal date for this month. He's a great kid! He came to church yesterday and loves to participate in the classes! We're really excited for his progression. We had another investigator in church named Maria. She comes about every week actually. She has been taught for a few months now. She's really great, the only issue is that she is meeting with about 5 other religions and just wants to know literally everything about everything before she chooses a church. But she has been progressing lately. We're working on helping her understand how to receive an answer through prayer. She has great desires and has a good heart. She always comes to English classes too. We love her!

P-day today was really fun! Mondays are great on the islands! We went to this zoo called Monkey Park. Zoos here are way cooler than the United States because they're not safe at all. You can go inside all the cages. You just gotta be careful. The only exhibit with a cage is the alligator one. But still, if you were a little 5 year old, you could easily fall right over the rail. But anyway, it was a fun p-day! The monkey part was the coolest. They climb all over you and you can feed them. Just be careful that you're never standing right under one that's up in a tree. he might poop on you. Yes, I got pooped on.

Elder Hendrix feeds a new friend at Monkey Park.

Elder Hendrix poses with an iguana.

Elder Knaphus and I are continuing to work hard! We did a lot of contacting this week and received a ton of references, so we're excited to see if there's some success with meeting with them! The work is going surprisingly well here. There are a TON of tourists here, but we somehow manage to find people that actually live here on the island. Probably 90% of the people we stop in the street are here on vacation though. And a ton of them are from other parts of Europe and speak English, so it's been so weird trying to teach in English. It's so uncomfortable. I'm so used to stopping people in Spanish so now when I do it, I try to directly translate into English and then it just comes out weird because direct translations aren't the same at all. So it's been interesting! 

Anyway, that's about the week went. I love my calling and I'm so grateful to be here! I know that this is the work of the Lord and that this gospel brings so many blessings. love you all! Have a great week!

Don't get pooped on by a monkey.

Elder Hendrix 

Week 68: Gaining understanding

Elder Hendrix in Los Cristianos.

Hey there!

This week was good! I really like this area here in Tenerife. The weather has been soooooo amazing! It's like 70 degrees every day. We wake up early to go run on the beach pretty frequently. The mission is the best haha.

I really like the members here. The ward has about 45 active members and they've all great! I love our bishop too. He's such a champ. He's from Argentina and has lived in Spain for a long time. He's one of the smartest guys I've met. He helps us with lessons a lot and he is so helpful. His name is Obispo Beccaceci. I love how supportive he is.

This week we had several incredible lessons! We have some great investigators, one of which is Jyoti. Jyoti is from India and has been meeting with the missionaries for several months now. She's the nicest woman! She has been keeping commitments and is progressing really well! I see so much potential in her and I'm excited to see her continue to strengthen her testimony. Our lessons with her are very spiritual. This week we went over the word of wisdom. She had several doubts about not being able to drink coffee, but we were able to explain it to the best of our ability, and with the help of the spirit she was able to understand. It may not seem like coffee is damaging, but I testify that God is all-knowing and has a knowledge much greater than ours. He has given us the commandment of the word of wisdom because He knows that it will benefit us. And these benefits are not only temporal, but also spiritual. I know that God wants to bless us and that he wants us to protect our bodies. And what better way to protect our bodies than following the instructions that our Heavenly Father has given us? Sometimes we may not understand why He gives us certain commandments, but we just have to trust Him. And as confidence in Him grows, our understanding will grow. Like Bruce R. McConkie has explained, understanding is gained by obedience. And that statement applies to every commandment that we have been given. If we don't understand it, then maybe that's an invitation to try it. Obedience really does result in understanding! 

We had a cool spirit gut punch this week. One morning, when we were originally planning on doing our weekly planning session, we had the impression of passing by an old investigator to see if she was home. Her name is Alexandra. We've been trying to pass by her house and trying to get a hold of her for months, but we've never had any luck. Elder Knaphus and I decided to change our planning session to the next morning so we could go see if she was home. So we took a long bus ride out to the pueblo where she lives, we knocked on her door, and sure enough! She was there! We had a nice conversation with her and were able to help her rekindle those desires to learn about the gospel. She's such a sweet lady. She's going out of town this week, but she promised to meet with us when she comes home. I'm so excited to teach her! We learned a lot about patience with this experience, as well as listening to the spirit. Don't give up on someone! Everybody deserves the opportunity to hear the gospel! 

Today we had an interesting start to P day today. We went to the store to buy our groceries and Elder Knaphus tried to pull a cool stunt, but it didn't work. He picked up a box of Oreos off the shelf and tried to throw it across the aisle into the cart, but right as he tossed it a woman walked in the way and he ended up throwing the box right at her face. It was a lot more intense than it sounds, but basically it was hilarious.

We had a zone training this week! Our zone is all of the islands in the Canaries. So they put all of the missionaries on two islands and then on a Skype call. Tenerife was one of the islands, so we got to stay here with half the zone. But yeah it was a good meeting! My district did a musical number and it went well! We sang Señor te necesito and my companion played the guitar. He's a pro on the guitar. He's been teaching me a lot of songs lately. He bought a ukulele last week, so we've been having some good jam sessions. Anyway, after the zone meeting, the senior couple in northern Tenerife made us Thanksgiving dinner! It was super good! Except we didn't have turkey or pumpkin pie cause those things don't exist here really, so we had a bunch of ham. It was good!

And that's about it for this week! Love you all! Have a good week!

Week 67: Tenerife

Elder Hendrix in a tree in Tenerife.

Overlooking the island.

Still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I'm preaching the gospel on a tiny island just off the coast of Africa that was once an active volcano. Cool stuff.

It's been a crazy first week here in Tenerife! I already love this place! It's way different from Madrid. It's way warmer to begin with. It's a cool 70 degrees with a nice breeze all day, every day. I've been in short sleeves every day. It's been great. It's sunny every day. The island has a ton of palm trees. Oh and our piso is a 30 second walk from the beach. I have nothing to complain about. We have a beautiful view of the island from our balcony in our piso. I love this place! We leave the back door open every night so the breeze comes in, so I've had zero problems sleeping. I know you're so jealous Aunt Carly! I could brag all day long about this paradise I'm in. Not only do I get to testify of Jesus Christ every day, but I get to do it on a tropical island. How could it get any better? The only downfall is that we have to buy our own water because the tap will turn you into a zombie.

Anyway, the work is interesting. Street contacting is a little difficult because about 90% of the people we talk to in the street are tourists from other parts of Europe. And half of the time they don't speak Spanish or English. So it's hard finding new people to teach off the street, but it's been so interesting having conversations with these people! We've met a ton of English people. It's so weird contacting in English. I much rather prefer Spanish. I don't even know what to say in English. 

The ward here is great. There's about 40-50 active members in the ward, which is a ton compared to the other islands. A lot of them are Italians. There's actually a ton of Italians that live here on the island. So it's been interesting studying a little bit of Italian this week! I'm learning very basic conversation stuff. There are so many cultures here. Not nearly as many South Americans as Madrid. Its mostly native Canarians, Italians, Spaniards, and Africans. It's weird to think that I'm still in Spain. There is a Peruvian family in this ward though, which is fantastic because Peruvian food has come to be my favorite. Bishop Bececcecci is the coolest guy ever. He's from Argentina and has lived here in Tenerife for quite a while. He's so supportive and loves missionary work, so I'm really excited to work with him! He helps us out with lessons pretty frequently. There's a kid named Luis in the ward from Mexico, who is also a stud. He made us real Mexican tacos one day this week which was awesome. I remember before the mission I always thought that typical Spanish food would be like Mexican, but it's not at all. So it was nice to have some real Mexican food.

Moving on... We have several investigators that are champs! They're some good people who have desires to change and follow Christ. We've had a few very powerful lessons this week. I'm very grateful for my companion, Elder Knaphus. We're a powerhouse together. He's a really hard worker and has such a strong testimony. Oh and he plays the guitar super well! I managed to get my guitar on the plane over here, which was such a smart move in my opinion. He's been teaching me some cool songs. He bought a ukulele today for P-day, so now we're all set to have some solid jam sessions. So yeah, he's a stud. Actually, let me explain to you guys how much of a stud he is: He killed a fly one day this week by flicking it right out of the air. I kid you not.

We teach English classes on Tuesdays and Fridays. They've been a huge success as a finding activity! This past Tuesday, we had 22 people in our class. And ZERO of them are members. So we have a lot of potential investigators. A ton of people in Tenerife apparently want to learn English! We also have a Book of Mormon reading class one day a week, where we just read out of the Book of Mormon and help people understand it. There are a few less actives that come, and we even have one investigator that comes regularly.

We spend a ton of time traveling. Most of the members and the people we teach live in small pueblos outside of Los Cristianos. We probably average 2-3 hours on buses each day. Buses here are called GuaGuas. OH THE BANANAS HERE ARE ABSOLUTELY GLORIOUS. The banana farms here in Tenerife ship to all over Europe. The biggest banana company on the continent is here. Anyway, we spend a lot of time traveling.

So basically, I love my new area. And the ocean smell. And the bananas. I'm so grateful for work here and for all of the people. As I mentioned, there are a ton of tourists here in Los Cristianos, so contacting as a method of finding has been rough, but it's still so cool to be able to at least invite these people to listen. I love meeting people from all over the world and getting to know different cultures. I love being a missionary. I love teaching. I'm so grateful to be here. I'm happy, healthy, and I feel so close to the spirit. I thank all of you for your love and support!

Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix and his district at a restaurant.

Elder Hendrix with his district.

Elder Hendrix with his district and a local member.

Week 66: Island bound

I got transferred! Leaving barrio 4 has been very hard. I loved that area so much. I made so many great friends and I just have so much love for those people there. Yesterday was my last day, so after church we just spent the rest of the evening visiting members and saying my farewells. Being in that area was such an amazing experience. I was able to witness so many miracles. One thing I do like about being transferred is reflecting on the time I spent in the area. It's hard to say goodbye, but at the same time I am so happy and grateful for all the experiences I had. My faith and testimony increased there. I'm so grateful for all those miracles and for the spirit I felt there!

I'm now in my fifth area. In the Canary Islands! I got transferred to the islands!! I'm so excited! The name of my island is Tenerife. I'll be serving in Los Cristianos with Elder Knaphus. I just arrived this afternoon. All it took to get here was a 30 minute metro ride, a 3 hour flight, 20 minute bus ride, and then another 2 hour bus ride. We live in a crater of a volcano, so that's cool. It's a lot warmer here than Madrid! It's pretty humid. There's trees and beaches and it's sunny all the time, so this will definitely be interesting! Updates to come!

And that's about all the time I got... Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix

Looking out the airplane window on
 Los Cristianos, Canary Islands.

Week 65: Rejection isn't failure

Today I'm grateful for hot water. I love that stuff. And I miss it so much. It's getting pretty dang cold over here Hortaleza town, and the cold showers just keep on getting colder. We don't have hot water. Actually, very few people do here. But it's ok. I'll just take a really, really long hot shower at home in 8 months.

Anyway, this week was long, but good! Good things are happening in barrio 4.

I love the youth in this ward! They're some good kids! Something new that we've started doing is a youth noche de hogar every Tuesday night. And so far, it has been a huge success! We did it last week for the first time. We taught a lesson and played a game and the youth really seemed to enjoy it! Or at least I assume they did, because at the one this week, everyone brought friends! More and more youth are coming, so we're really excited. I love how these jóvenes have such strong desires to invite their friends to these activities!

We had a cool experience in the street this week. We were on our way to a lesson with a potential investigator, but he unfortunately failed us when we arrived. He wasn't home. So as a backup plan, we decided to street contact in the area. We had a cool conversation with the very first guy we stopped. It was a old Spaniard named Julian. We stopped him and asked how he was doing. We introduced ourselves as missionaries and begun talking about God and stuff. Julian explained to us that he believes God exists, but that his faith is decreasing. He wants to redevelop his testimony of the love that God has for his children, but it has been very difficult lately. He had several questions about why bad things happen to good people. For a lot of people, it's difficult to comprehend the fact that we have a loving Heavenly Father who really does want all of His children to be happy, while there is so much tragedy in the world. We talked for about an hour. It was a nice conversation. I was able to testify with all my heart of the reality of God, and that He really does love all of His children. Sometimes we wonder why God isn't manifesting himself unto us. We wait and wait and wait and wait, and we keep on waiting, expecting to find answers to our questions. But maybe an unanswered question is an invitation to look for ourselves. I know that if we do our part and we really show our faith and really work to show God that we want answers, He will bless us and give them to us. Those of you who may be waiting for answers to questions, I invite you to reflect and what you've done personally to find an answer. Anyway, Julian ended up denying a second discussion, but I feel very strongly that he left feeling inspired with increased faith. We often have great street contacts that don't end up accepting a second visit, but I'm always grateful to at least have been able to share my testimony. Rejection can be discouraging sometimes, but the thing that keeps me going is the frequent reminder from the spirit of the importance of this work. Julian had the opportunity to hear hear the gospel. And it makes me happy when I reflect on my day and write down the experiences I'm having. I just love being a missionary! 

And that's about what happened this week. As always, I appreciate all the love and support each of you give me! I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Hendrix

Week 64: Siguiendo a Nefi

We had a GREAT lesson this week with an investigator named Silvana. Silvana is 27 and from Bolivia. She's Kevin's sister and she's a champ. We introduced the Book of Mormon to her to a few weeks ago, and it was a little difficult getting in contact with her after that. But she finally called us back this week and said she had questions and needed help! So we met with her and Kevin in her home and she had read the first few chapters already. She said the story is so interesting and that she wants to understand the principles that Nephi is teaching. We read through chapter three and four. I love those two chapters so much! 

Silvana explained to us that she loves the example of Nephi. He and his brothers were given a task that wasn't easy. His brothers complained and wanted to go back, but Nephi stayed faithful and obedient and listened to his father. His unshakable faith is so inspiring. Silvana explained that one thing that stuck out to her was how Nephi and his brothers had to attempt obtaining the plates several times until the Lord delivered Laban into their hands. She basically taught herself that the Lord really does do His part after we do all that we can. When we put in the effort instead of just giving up after the first attempt, we will see miracles! Anyway, Silvana is a champ and we're so grateful for her desires to continue learning! The spirit is always present in those lessons, and I know that she recognizes it.

Ugh time crunch... All is well here in Barrio 4! Time is really flying by. I love this area so much!

Love you all! Have a good week! Send me pictures cause I miss you all.

Elder Hendrix

Week 63: Noche de las Naciones

Last Monday after P-day, we had a cool experience! We were sitting on a bench under a tree looking for an address on our map while it was pouring rain, when out of no where this woman came up to us and asked us if we could help her fix something on her phone. She said she's bad at technology and asked us if we could help her. So of course we did! We started talking and found out she's from the Dominican Republic. We told her we have a good friend from her country (Maria) that always makes us morir soñando. She lit up and said she makes the best morir soñando and we replied by explaining that we're always looking for new ones. She invited us to her house to try it, so we went the very next day and had some! She's super nice. Her name is Delmira. We gave her a Book of Mormon and talked about the restoration of the gospel. She's moving back to her country soon, but she says we can pass her information to the missionaries over there! So that was a cool experience meeting her. Morir soñando never fails when contacting Dominicans. 

On Saturday, we had a talent show thing. In the church in Spain, each ward does an activity every October called La Noche de las Naciones (night of the nations). We did it when I was in Torrejon last year. Since there are so many nationalities in Spain, everyone brings a typical plate from their country and we have a big multi-cultural dinner. So that was super cool! We had a talent show before the dinner, and it was really good! The whole activity was just a huge success. We had 6 investigators come and they loved it! All of them actually ended up staying later than us. 

I'm so grateful for the member support in this ward. They're so welcoming and just take over for us a lot. I've never served in a ward with this much member support. There are a lot of awesome families! The Vaca family invited us over for dinner one day this week. Hermana Vaca invited a couple that she works with that she wanted to introduce to the missionaries! It's a young Dominican couple and they're way awesome! We talked about our purpose as missionaries for a little bit and gave them a Book of Mormon, and then we all played UNO for a while and it was so fun. We get so competitive. And the couple totally trusts us! It was just a good natural conversation and then we played a game and had fun. We're going to begin teaching them this week. They came to the ward activity and had a lot of fun! We enjoyed getting to know them better! Moral of the story: Introduce your friends to missionaries because it's 1000 times more effective when the members are involved. Members have friends who trust them, which means they feel more comfortable if the member introduce them to the missionaries. And thus it is. 

And so yeah.. The work is going well! We're having lots of lessons and teaching lots of people and staying real busy! Elder Escobar and I are killin' it out here! It's been really rainy all week, but that's ok because we're almost always inside homes anyway because there's so much work here so it's all good. 

Love you all! Have an awesome week! Send me photos of your faces.

Elder Hendrix

Week 62: Blessings of Seminary

We have a recent convert named Luis. He's a stud. He's 17 and he's from Venezuela and speaks perfect English. He learned most of it just from being with the missionaries. I love that dude. He's a great example to me. He has a rough life at home, and has had some challenges seeing his family suffer in his country. He's the only member in his family. He met the missionaries a few months ago when they invited him to play futbol. He began taking the discussions and was baptized in June. He's an awesome member missionary. He's always wanting to help us with lessons. He accompanies us about every day. 

Earlier this week, we had a really good lesson with him that I'd like to share. The youth here in this part of Madrid are very blessed to have a seminary teacher. There are a lot of parts of the world where seminary isn't offered because the church is so small or because there isn't anyone to teach it. The church here in Spain isn't huge, but it's growing. And here in Madrid, the youth are able to attend seminary. Luis has been struggling with his attendance. He has had very little desire to wake up early and go study scriptures. 

It made me think about my own seminary experience when I was in high school. There were plenty of days when I headed to seminary (or chose not to go at all) without that positive mindset that we need in order to receive the fullness of blessings that come from attending seminary. Seminary seriously is a blessing. It's such a great way to build your testimony at a young age. I know that my decision to fully participate in seminary has blessed my life. It didn't only bless me during my high school career, but It has affected me throughout my mission. And I know that I will look back several years from now and think about how blessed I was to be able to attend seminary and to have had taken advantage of such an amazing program. 

For those of you currently enrolled in seminary, I invite you to keep going! Seminary is the best! Learning as much as you can about the gospel at a young age is the best thing you can do right now! Continue attending and participating and I promise you that your love for seminary and the gospel will grow. And to those of you who are struggling with desires to attend, I invite you to stop doubting and just go! It will be the best decision you make in high school! Pray for strength and ask Heavenly Father to help you develop the desire to go. If you do your part and act, He will do His part and help you. The seminary program was organized by inspired revelation. I know that's true! Therefore, go. 

Anyway, we had a nice discussion with Luis about how important seminary is, and it went really well! He's a great kid and I know that his decision to attend will bless him forever! God wants us to be happy. And when we do things that he asks us to do, we will have that happiness! And who doesn't want to be happy?

And that's about all the time I've got. Have an awesome week everyone! Send me letters 'cause letters are nice.

Elder Hendrix

Week 61: The Work Continues

Sorry this is gonna be another short email. We went to the zoo today and that took up most of P-day. But hey, it was awesome!! They had kangaroos and pandas there, so that was pretty sweet.

So here's an update on my new companionship! Elder Escobar is awesome! He's from El Salvador but lives in California. We get along super well! I love that dude! All we do inside piso is sing songs and make dance videos. He's awesome. His Spanish is way good too, so it helps me a ton. I'm super excited for this transfer. We work really well together and we're excited for another good week this week.

We keep visiting Maria pretty frequently. She's doing great! She has the missionaries over to eat Dominican food like twice a week. She's so awesome! I love that woman. She's super funny. We play Uno with her sometimes and it gets pretty hilarious. Every time she puts a card down, she thinks she won. Haha! It's awesome. 

Ugh no time. Sorry this is another short one. I'll end with my testimony of the importance of this work. I'm so grateful to be here as a missionary sharing the gospel! I love teaching so much and it makes me so happy to see the change that can happen in people if they apply into their lives the principles of the gospel. I know that the gospel blesses us! God has given it to us because He loves us! 

Here's a picture! Have a good week!

Elder Hendrix

Elder Hendrix with his district at the Madrid zoo.

Week 60: Our Potential

"Treat people as if they have already become the person that they have the potential to be." This is something that hit me hard this weekend in Conference. In the priesthood session, President Eyring talked about treating others in a way that helps them recognize their potential. We need to help people recognize the fact that they really are sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father who knows each of them personally. Understanding that simple doctrine is so powerful. Our Heavenly Father really does care for us and wants to bless us. For that reason, he has given us His son Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ, we can develop faith, repent, be baptized, progress, and continue striving to keep the commandments, and eventually become perfect. And that applies to everyone. We have so much potential! So why not share this knowledge with everyone by the way we treat them? The examples we set can go such a long way. Treat others like they're sons and daughters of God, because that's exactly what they are!

I don't have a ton of time today cause of transfers... My companion Elder Lopez got transferred to a different area. My new comp is Elder Escobar. He's from Huntington Beach and plays guitar like a champ, so I'm sure we'll get along just fine haha.

Until next week! Love you all! 

Elder Hendrix

Logan's district is happy to get Snickers.

New companionships on transfer day.

Week 59: Bautizar Soñando

Maria's baptism in Madrid.

This has been quite the week! 

I'll start out with the highlight... MARIA GOT DUNKED!! Man I love that woman. She was so prepared and golden. We had a lesson with her the night before and talked about her baptismal service and she was just so excited! She has developed such a strong testimony of the gospel. She has changed. She's not the same Maria we met 2 months ago. I remember the first day we met her in the street. We had a short conversation and gave her a Book of Mormon. She was super nice and very receptive. And she has just been golden ever since. She understands the gospel. She knows Joseph Smith was really a prophet. And ah! she's the most amazing Dominican lady you'll ever meet. 

We did the baptism right after church yesterday. And it went so well! The whole ward stayed for it. The members are so supportive and loving and they've just done such a good job at welcoming Maria into the ward! My companion Elder Lopez baptized her, and I had the privilege of confirming her. At the end of the service, Maria shared her testimony and man it was beautiful. I LOVE THAT WOMAN. Teaching her has strengthened my testimony of the power of the gospel. Throughout my mission, I've been able to witness several times that the gospel really does change hearts. And I've definitely witnessed it with Maria. I KNOW this is the true church of God that has been restored on the earth. Living the teachings of Jesus Christ will change you. I know that God wants us to be happy. And in order to achieve that happiness, he has given us the gospel. There is nothing else we can do on this earth that will give us true eternal happiness than that which living the principles of the gospel gives us. So live it! It works! Just ask Maria. She's a champ.

That night, we went to Maria's house with the hermanas and had a big Dominican dinner. And man it was glorious. I don't know if I've said this enough times, but I LOVE THAT WOMAN.

We had a zone conference this week! It was so good! We talked about using the Book of Mormon to answer questions of the soul. It was a good reminder that the Book of Mormon really does answer questions. Sometimes we find answers to questions that we didn't even know we had. I love using the Book of Mormon in teaching so much! I know that book really is a testament of Jesus Christ, as well as a testament of the fact that God really does love us. That's why he gave us the book. Because he loves us! Anyway, we did a lot of practices in the meeting. We practiced introducing the Book of Mormon as something that helps us find answers. And it was a good learning experience. I love zone conferences. President Pack is an inspired man. I always learn something from his counsel that I can apply in the way I work to help me improve. I'm grateful for such a supportive president who has such a love for the Book of Mormon. I'm excited to strive this week and use the Book of Mormon even more in teaching to help people find answers!

Yesterday at church, Hermano Rojas gave an awesome talk that I wanted to share. He's a counselor in the bishopric. He talked about "Sunday members." As members of the church, we need to remember that we are followers of Christ EVERY day and not just Sundays. What are we doing outside of church? We need to always use the atonement, and not just on Sundays when we take the sacrament.

Transfers are this weekend! I might get a new comp. Updates to come.

I love you all! Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix

The subject line is actually hilarious. You gotta know Maria to understand it though. 

Elder Lopez baptized Maria and Elder Hendrix confirmed her.

Week 58: Kevin the jefe

Kevin got baptized this week! We went over to his house earlier this week to teach him how to tie a tie, and he introduced us to his family. He lives with his parents and his two sisters. We got to get to know them a little bit and they seem like super nice people! His mother expressed to us her gratitude for what we've taught him. She doesn't know much about the church, but she explained to us that she has seen a change in Kevin since we started teaching him. He's a lot more respectful at home and just a better person in general. I know
the gospel has changed that kid! He asked us to start teaching his family, so we had our first appointment with them yesterday! They're really receptive and they're down to listen! Anyway, his family all came to support him at his baptism and they seemed to have enjoyed the service! They came to church the next day with him and stayed all three hours! So we're super excited to continue visiting them. They're Bolivian so they make bomb food too. So that's a bonus.

Elders Hendrix and Lopez and Kevin's baptism

We had a sweet lesson with Maria last night. She was able to recognize the spirit for the first time in her life. She said she always thought she knew what it's like, but she explained to us that after last night, the spirit had a whole new meaning for her. So that was super cool! She's a champ! We're super excited to help her continue progressing and get dunked! More updates to come... Oh! She made us arepas yesterday too, and for that reason, I am grateful. I love those things.

So district meeting this week was intense. I invited Veronica from my first area to come to the meeting and pretend to be an investigator. I wanted to teach the restoration as a district so we could observe how other companionships teach and such. Practices with missionaries are difficult sometimes cause it's hard to accurately play the role of an investigator. So I invited Veronica and told everyone that she was a real investigator of some other missionaries. And Veronica did super well! She asked some hard questions during the lesson. It got everyone thinking. It was a cool teaching and learning experience! And the lesson was super powerful. Afterwards, we ended, and then I told everyone that Veronica is actually a member. But it was cool
because Veronica gave us feedback and shared with us her thoughts.

And that's about it. The weather is finally getting cooler so that's awesome!! I'm gonna need to break out the sweaters soon.

Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix

Week 57: Sick and Afflicted

Well the 57th week of the mission sure was interesting... And slow. And really quite miserable to be honest. I woke up Wednesday morning projectile vomiting, and it didn't stop until Saturday. And that morning, as soon as I thought all was well and I was finally recovering, my companion decided to jump on board and throw up too. It was great. And the exact same thing happened with the hermanas in our ward. Hermana Wihongi started dying the same time as me, and then our comps decided to die right after we started getting better. So basically, the work here in Barrio 4 has been pretty rough lately.

We're pretty sure we've come to the conclusion that it was some food that a family in the ward fed all of us on Tuesday. But idk. But man, it sucked. Throwing up, super high fever, ginormous pills (I hate taking pills). I couldn't eat anything at all. Literally everything I would eat or drink would just come right back up. So I lost pretty much all the weight I've gained on my mission! So I guess that's a plus. Oh and I grew a pretty sweet beard. And man that thing was full and luscious. So yeah it's been a slow week! However, we did manage to get a few lessons in before all of this nonsense happened. We met with Maria and Kevin and helped them prepare for their baptismal interviews which will happen this week! They both feel confident and they're really excited! Their baptism will be this Saturday at 3:00! They both were at church yesterday and man they're just solid. I'm so excited for them! 

Anyway, that's about it for this week! Sorry my emails are getting so boring. Also here is a quote that I really wanted to share because I know and love the Lord:

                       I now can say with all certainty
                       That I know and love the Lord.
                       I can testify with them of old
                       As I preach His holy word.
                   I know what He felt in Gethsemane
                       Is too much to comprehend.
                       I know He did it all for us;
                       We have no greater Friend.
                   I know that He will come anew
                       With power and in glory.
                       I know I will see Him once again
                       At the end of my life’s story.
                   I’ll kneel before His wounded feet;
                       I’ll feel His Spirit glow.
                       My whispering, quivering voice will say,
                       “My Lord, my God, I know.”
                                                     -Boyd K. Packer

Oh, and here's a video of my bishop shooting me with an airsoft gun last week.

Elder Hendrix