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.