Week 24: Saving Hermanas

Not sure why I'm still putting the week number in the subject line...

So we started teaching a Nigerian couple how to read this week. Their names are Isaac and Juliet, and they're awesome! They've been members for a few years now. I think they're in like their 40s. We've only had four reading classes with them so far, and they're already learning so much! They have the alphabet memorized and they can pronounce every letter. It's amazing how much better they're already doing! They both grew up in really bad parts of Nigeria, and where education wasn't that great. Their stories are incredible. They've been through soooo much. But hey now they're here in Spain, happier than ever, and actively participating in the gospel. Fun stuff.

We had piso inspections this week. Fortunately, my companion is a clean freak, so we overachieved. We apparently have the cleanest piso in the whole mission. One of the senior couples did the inspections. After us, they were supposed to go check the hermanas piso, but they somehow left their keys in their piso and locked themselves out... So Elder Bartholomew and I spent forever trying to help them break in cause their landlord is out of town and a locksmith costs a ton. It took way too long, but we did it! The whole story is actually really
epic...we climbed up the side of a building and such. Basically, we're heroes.

The Africans are continuing to feed us. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I always leave their homes feeling like something died inside me. This week, I had cow stomach, rabbit brain, and more goat meat. And then to finish the week off, some Ecuadorians fed us octopus and squid tongue. Yay.

We had a world wide capacitation for all the missionaries this week! It was super cool! We got to hear from some apostles. Elder Bednar spit straight fire. Soooo powerful. He talked about how the members of the church have a great responsibility in participating in missionary work and helping the missionaries. He explained to us that when we, as missionaries, ask for references or for people we can teach, we should ask more specific questions. Like who do you that has recently moved? Who do you know that has kids? Who do you know that has had a recent death in the family? Everybody knows someone that doesn't have the gospel in their lives, and can use it. I gave a talk in sacrament yesterday and talked about this. I stressed the importance of being
member missionaries. And I guess it really caught their attention, because by the time church was over, we received 6 references! So I'd also like to invite all you, mi fanclub de casa, to think about who you know. Who do you know that doesn't have the gospel in their lives? Missionaries are ready to teach!

There's a pretty good chance that I'm getting transferred next week. I'm gonna miss Torrejón a ton. I love this place so much! But I'm excited to start another adventure. We'll find out soon!

I just want to share with you my testimony that I know this gospel is real. Jesus Christ is our Savior. It is only through Him that we can be saved and once again live in the presence of our Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for the prophet Joseph Smith who restored the Gospel on the earth. And I am so happy to be here sharing that message. This church is true. The book is blue.

Les amo y les echo de menos muchísimo. Espero que tengan una buena semana!!!

Con cariño,

Elder Hendrix

Week 23: Devil dogs and such

Sorry this is gonna be a short one... I'm about to go school President in basketball.

So I went on another exchange with Elder Phillips this week! We had some interesting lessons... We visited a family in the ward that has the craziest devil dog ever. It's a tiny pit bull, but that thing is a monster. And long story short, my plan to use the same pair of shoes my whole mission has been demolished. We took the wrong bus home cause we're geniuses, and it dropped us off in the middle of the freeway, and basically, a one hour trip home took us like 3 hours... Oops.

Elder Bartholomew and I made 300 cookies Thursday morning during our weekly planning session. We took them to the families in the ward and introduced a plan that our zone came up with called Mi Plan Misional Familiar. We're helping all the families come up with a plan to participate in missionary work and service. They make specific goals to serve and invite. It's super cool! We're already seeing a lot of success! United family relationships can make such amazing missionaries! And it's super cool to see families make the plan
themselves. We're only here to help and support. So really, they're the ones acting. Cool stuff.

There's a super cool dude in the ward named Rafa. He plays futbol with us on P days all the time. He's awesome! He served his mission in Chile. I've known him for 4 months now, and he just barely decided to
tell me yesterday that he was companions with David Archuleta. What the heck? We had lunch with him and his family yesterday and he showed us all his pictures. He told us a bunch of stories of getting
references all because David just starts singing in the street and people come and listen and all of a sudden want to be taught haha.

Elder Bartholomew is awesome. I love this dude so much! We have a jam session every night before bed. I taught him how to play the ukulele,and he picked it up so quick! He's super good! We're doing a musical
number at a baptism this week.

Today for P day, the mission president invited our district over for lunch and basketball.  Love this guy a ton! He's so awesome! And he's cooking us American stuff! And cake with American ingredients!!! I love my mission president so much!

I love and miss you all!! Have an awesome week! Don't smoke, it's bad. Shoutout to Tyler Watts for being in my first dream in Spanish.

Elder Hendrix

Enjoying a day with President and Sister Pack in Madrid.

Week 22: Spiritual Gut Punch

This week was crazy!!! So much to share!

So we're teaching a Venezuelan named Eddy. He's super cool! He's been reading a lot and really wants to learn! He's super evangelical and really knows his bible, so developing a testimony of the Book of Mormon is a struggle for him... But he's doing good! He loves meeting with us and discussing our beliefs! We met with him this week and had a super good lesson! He's so interested! He even takes notes during our teaching. Anyway, at one point in the lesson, I had some trouble finding some words in Spanish. He would help me out a ton and was super respectful, and I explained to him that I'm still learning. And then he responds, in perfect English, "Oh well we can just speak English if you want." What the heck dude. Turns out this guy is actually an English teach in Madrid. It was super funny haha. But yeah this guy is awesome. We invited him to come play fútbol on Wednesday night, and he came! We play every week with the youth/investigators/less actives. We had a ton of fun! Until I accidentally nailed a 5 year old in the stomach with the ball. Oops. I scored though. Cool stuff. He's ok.  

Here's a crazy story! We watched a big truck drive into an overpass of a bridge. I don't think he realized his truck was too tall.... But he lost like half the truck. It kinda just fell apart. I hate when that happens.

SPIRITUAL STORY NUMBER UNO

Elder Hendrix and Jerson

We had a mission day with the youth this week! All the missionaries went on splits with the youth. I got to spent the entire day with a priest named Jerson, who can't speak a lick of English, but he's a stud! He and Elder Bartholomew's companion came over Thursday at 7 in the morning to work out with us, have personal study, then companionship study, and then we got to work. Me and Jerson had a super great day together! We saw so many miracles! Like check out this sweet story... We spent the entire afternoon contacting people on the streets. Jerson seemed a bit discouraged about how little success we had. He opened up to me about feeling really doubtful toward his mission. He said he really has no desire to go and that he just feels so pressured to do this. He's turning 18 this year and doesn't know what to do. I did my best explaining to him how amazing the mission really is and how great of a blessing it can be. We found a bench and sat down for a second and said a prayer together. We started walking again, and not even 30 seconds later, Jerson stops. He turned to me and said we have to turn around. And so we did so, and within a few minutes we found a man sitting on a curb. Jerson approached him and introduced us as missionaries, and they just started talking! And didn't stop! Jerson taught him the entire first lesson! And placed a Book of Mormon! And got his address! The dude gave Jerson a big hug and said thank you so much. This guy had never even heard of our church. As we walked away, Jerson just started shouting I'm going on a mission! I have to! I want to! And he was just so happy and excited! That night, all the mini missionaries gathered at the church and we had a little testimony meeting, and Jerson just killed it. He talked about how this guy on that bench answered his question about serving a mission. He talked about how it was no coincidence that he turned around. It was a prompting of the spirit, and he recognized it. Ah he's a freaking stud. I'm so proud of this kid! He said he doesn't know whether or not that man will continue meeting with us or be baptized, but he does know for sure that he's going on a mission. Ah it was such a sweet day!

SPIRITUAL STORY NUMBER DOS

A few months ago, I went on an exchange with Elder Phillips. He and I had only been in Spain for about a month, so we were still far from being able to comfortably express ourselves in Spanish. We taught a woman named Ruth from the Dominican Republic that we had met in the street a few weeks prior. I was reading in my journal this morning about that day, remembering how awkward it was. I remember we made our best attempt to teach her about the restoration of he gospel. We had given her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read. (At least I think we did) I have no idea how much she understood from what we were trying to teach, but she was super nice about it! That week, she left for Italy for 2 months, so we lost contact. Well a few days ago, we got a phone call. It was Ruth. She said she had returned from Italy and would like us to come to her piso asap. And so we rushed over that afternoon. We sat down with her and talked for a little bit, then had a prayer. We asked her if she had the chance to read at all in the Book of Mormon. She was silent for a few seconds. The spirit filled the room. I will never forget her response. "Yes. I finished it. And it's true." Ruth had read the Book of Mormon, prayed about it, and received an answer. She's getting baptized next month. I've had goosebumps for like 3 days now haha. But as I reflect on this miracle, I am reminded the importance of teaching by the spirit. Elder Phillips and I may not have known very much Spanish a few months ago, but we didn't need to. Ruth felt something that day. And look where is she is now because of it. Ahh being a missionary is the greatest thing ever!! I love how powerful the Book of Mormon is! It changes lives! As Moroni promises, if you read the Book of Mormon and ponder its teachings with real intent to learn, you will receive a testimony of its truthfulness through the power of the Holy Ghost. Like Ruth, I know that this promise is true. I love so much witnessing the effect that this book has on others. Ruth is moving to Italy next week, but has made the commitment to continue reading and praying and reach that baptismal date. She has actually already contacted the missionaries there and is excited to work with them. THE GOSPEL IS AMAZING.

So we've got an exciting week ahead of us! We've got a lot of lessons scheduled. I'm so pumped and super happy to be here! 

Les amo muchísimo!!! Les echo de menos a todos un montón. Gracias por todo de su amor y apoyo. Hasta ver!

Btw, today for P day, we went to a town south of Madrid called Toledo and went on an awesome hike. Here's a picture!

Un abrazo,

Elder Hendrix

Re-enacting the Sermon on the Mount.

Elders Hendrix and Bartholomew
overlooking Toledo

Elders Bartholomew and Hendrix in Toledo.

Elder Logan overlooking Toledo.

Week 20: Haircuts and such

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas! I know I did! It's been a short 2 weeks since my last email, so I'll try to summarize.

The Spain Madrid temple at Christmas.

Christmas Eve was awesome. We had a huge devotional with all the Madrid missionaries. It was super cool! It was a bunch of musical numbers with Christmas in between telling the story of Christ's birth. I got to do 2 songs! One was a piano solo of Away in a Manger that I arranged myself! It went really good! And for the other one, I sang Oh Holy Night in a quartet. I was bass and had the first solo. My companion played the piano for it. It was so cool! After the devotional, all 120+ missionaries stood on the temple steps and sand Christmas songs for like an hour. We had a huge audience of people that stopped to listen! It was so much fun! 

P day that week was on Christmas, so me and my companion and the other elders in our district spent the morning opening our Christmas packages. Which by the way, shoutout to my mom for sending me inflatable reindeer antlers to play ring toss with! Best present ever! After that, I got to skype my family!!! Which was super awesome!! Until they started making fun of all the weight I've gained... Um.... New Years resolutions?

Elder Hendrix and his district at a
member's house on Christmas Eve.

Christmas isn't really celebrated here. None of the stores close or anything. It's just a normal day. Some people will get presents, but for the most part, it's really different from the states. P day ends at 6:30, so a member named Veronica invited us over for dinner. And that's pretty much how our Christmas went! 

Anyway, Christmas in Spain is not like America at all. But that didn't stop me from exercising my faith by sharing my testimony of the Savior with others. I'm so grateful for Him and for this time of hear that we have to celebrate His birth. Because of Him, and because of his atoning sacrifice, I am here in Spain. It's such an amazing opportunity that I have to be a missionary and share with others this happiness than we can have because of Jesus Christ.

Elder Hendrix with his stocking from his family.

Another cool thing happened today! I was reminded of the importance of remembering who I am and who's name I wear. I was getting my hair cut and the dude asked where I'm from and such. Small talk. Then he asks what I'm up to in Spain, and a few things went through my mind. There's people all around me, I'm starving, let's hurry this haircut up. But then I looked at Jesucristo on my name tag through the mirror, and opened my mouth. I shared with him the message of the restoration of the gospel. He asked questions, he was engaged, he loved it. The dude even accepted a baptismal invitation. I got his information and passed it to the missionaries where he lives. I felt a promoting, and I acted on it. And it resulted in a miracle. The spirit will change people if you act. "If you don't invite someone.....you're denying them access to the Atonement."

I'm super excited for 2016! I've made a ton of goals, and I want to invite each of you to do the same. The beginning of a new year is a great time to reflect on how you're doing and to make plans to improve. A goal that my family has made for 2016 is to read the Book of Mormon. I know that goal-setting can be really effective and can make a big impact on progression in the gospel! Make plans for 2016 and share with me what they are! 

I love and miss all of you! Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix (aka Rudolph) on his guitar

Elder Hendrix

Elder Hendrix on Christmas morning.