Week 29: Snow in Santiago!!

Elder Hendrix at a college in Santiago.

Some interesting statues in Santiago.

This week has been different for sure! Saturday morning, we woke up to see the entire cuidad totally covered with snow!! Soooooo much nicer than rain! It has been getting sooooo cold here though. We had to take a 2 hour bus ride to Lugo, which means we drove through the mountains, and I could not believe the amount of snow that had come down in one night. It was crazy! And it continued snowing the entire day! It was so awesome! The weather this week has been so weird. A few days ago, we could barely even walk in the street cause it was hailing so hard.

Snow in Santiago.

Here's some stories from this week!

1. We spent one morning this week making cookies for some members cause it was hailing bowling balls outside. So that night, we stopped by literally every member family's piso (all 6 of them) and nobody was
home. It was quite the disappointment. We didn't want all of these plates of cookies to go to waste, so we decided to go contacting in the streets in attempt to give them away and possibly find someone that would listen to our message and be ready to receive he gospel. I know it's weird.. I wouldn't take cookies from a stranger either, but we figured we would just give it a try and see how it goes. Contacting is all about trying new things anyway haha. Well, after a while, we found this woman named Rosalía. She was literally the only person we found in the street after like 2 hours cause it's freezing and wet outside and nobody in this town wants to leave their piso. We talked to her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and how because of Him, we
can progress and become like Him through His gospel. We talked about the atonement being the greatest gift to mankind. We told her we wanted to show our love and appreciation for Him by sharing gifts with others (present plate of chocolate chip cookies and smile). And she just smiled and said thank you so much and  even shed some tears. She told us it made her whole week. She was so grateful! We did not receive her phone number or address, but it just made me really happy to see how this small act of kindness effected her. It was a greater reminder of the importance of working hard all the time and pressing forward with faith, because that one person makes it worth it. Anyway, my invitation to all of you this week is to make someone cookies. And thus it is.
2. It's still raining.
3. As I mentioned, we took a bus to Lugo this week. The hermanas over there are having a baptism soon, and since my companion is district leader, he had to go do the baptismal interview. After the hour long walk to the bus station from our piso, we realized we left our phone at home. We really needed the phone cause we had no idea where we were supposed to go when we got to Lugo, so we looked for a pay phone to call the senior couple (the Bake's) in Santiago to see if they could drive by our piso and pick it up and bring it to us before we miss the bus. We found a pay phone after a while, and I was about to drop a coin in it, but then I felt the impression not to do it. I told my companion that I don't know why, but we need to just walk home ourselves and get it and just take the next bus. So we did so, and on our way back, this dude comes up to us and asks us who we are. He said he's been looking for someone to tell him what he can do to change his life. He's homeless and lives in the bus station and doesn't understand what he's supposed to be doing with his life. He asked us if we could come teach him one day about God and who He is and what His plan is for us. It was soooooo awesome! We are gonna meet him this week to teach him, so I'll definitely report back next week! But it's just so cool how the spirit works. I knew we needed to go back for some reason!!! And we were actually right by a random pay phone when this happened, so after he left, we called the Bake's and they brought our phone to us and we didn't even miss the first bus. Haha oh man this church is true.
4. It's still raining.
5. First of all, if you don't know what a tortilla de patata is, look it up, make one, and then your life will be complete. Elder Wither and I had to make 12 of those things Saturday night for our branch. Every 4th Sunday, the whole branch stays after church and we have a big potluck lunch thing. Unfortunately however, there was only 17 people at church yesterday, and only 13 stayed afterwards, and 6 of those were missionaries... But we had a TON of tortillas left. But it's cool cause I got lunch every day this week.
6. It's raining.

Today for P day the Bake's took us to the beach! I got tons of pictures! My mom will have them posted on my blog today. It's soooo weird how Santiago is freezing and snowy and super overcast and raining every single day, but at the beach (only 45 minutes away) it's sunny and warmer and there's no clouds. So strange. But the beach was so much fun!!! I could easily spend an entire day just walking on the sand. I got so many awesome shells! And we caught a bunch of little sand crabs.

Also, I learned how to solve a 4x4 Rubik's cube, and I still have no friends.

Anyway, have an awesome week! Make someone cookies.

Elder Hendrix

Week 28: Nephi 3:7

It's still raining. Ok.

Elder Hendrix on a tractor outside Santaigo.

This week was a bit slower unfortunately. My companion decided to become deathly ill, so I spent a ton of time cleaning up this mess of a piso. I'm not even sure if you can call it a piso. I could clean for weeks and it would still need work. But I've made some serious progress! I really wish I would have taken pictures when I first got
here. Past missionaries have destroyed this place. And we have no chairs right now... I sat down for studies one morning and my chair just collapsed underneath me and broke. I mean, yes, I've gained some weight, but these chairs were crap to begin with anyway lol. The kitchen walls have grease caked all over them... It's nice. But I'm so proud of the work I've out into cleaning this place up. There's some serious potential here guys. By the time I leave this place, it'll look brand new.

We actually got a few minutes of sunshine one day this week. It was the craziest thing I've seen yet. It's still freezing here and I'm pretty sure it's getting colder. Our piso doesn't have heating or hot water. It makes me think about how great America is. We really got it good over there. Little things like that make me so grateful for what I have. But I'm staying warm. Fried quesadillas make great hand warmers.

Elder Hendrix making cookies in his piso. 

We're continuing to contact people from those teaching records we found a while ago. Pretty much everyone that answered didn't want to have anything to do with us, so we didn't find much success there. But we're staying strong! We still have plenty of numbers to call and plenty addresses to pass by. The work up here in Santiago has really been teaching me patience. People aren't just gonna show up one day. We're the ones that have to bring the gospel to them. People in the north never let us in. But I know that sharing a simple testimony can go a long way. People will feel something. I have faith that seeds are being planted!

Along with that, I want to share something I learned in a zone training we had this week. An elder in my zone, Elder Holt, gave an insight about having a positive attitude. He talked about the word 'difficult' and how we use it too much. He compared Nephi with his brothers Laman and Lemuel. When Lehi told Nephi that he needed to go
back to Jerusalem with his brothers to obtain the brass plates, he responds "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." Nephi is such a grate example of someone with a positive attitude. He knows that what he has been commanded to do won't be easy, but he has faith that it is what he needs to do. And with the help of the Lord, it will be done. Laman and
Lemuel on the other hand, "And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a [difficult] thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord." They had an attitude of 'this is impossible, it's never gonna happen.' But where is their faith? If it is something that the Lord has commanded them to do, they will do it. Elder Holt said that we may sometimes be a little like Laman and Lemuel. "It's difficult to find people in the north. Contacting is hard. It's too hard to work in the rain. I miss Madrid where the work was better." We won't have success with these attitudes! If we say it's difficult, it's gonna be
difficult. He invited us to eliminate that word out of our vocabularies completely. His insight was so powerful. It really made me think about what I need to change. I feel like a lot of people think "oh I'm in a hard part of the mission. Nobody baptizes in the north." We can find success up here! It may require more patience, but with faith, obedience, and optimism, we will teach!

I got to do two musical numbers this week!! In that same meeting, I sang a duet of El Espíritu de Dios (The spirit of God) with Elder Pulotu from Hawaii. I wrote the piano arrangement and recorded it on the electric piano and we just sang to it. It went really well! I did another musical number in sacrament meeting yesterday. I sang Más Cerca Dios de Ti (Nearer my God to thee). I love doing musical numbers so much!!! I'm so grateful that I've been able to do so many already! My companion Elder Wither is awesome. We get along really well and I'm
really happy to be serving with him! He has been really helpful with Spanish since he's from Peru. Being with a native speaker is a blessing!

I hit my 6 month mark last week. A quarter of my mission is already gone. It's the weirdest thing ever. It's going way too fast. But looking back, I've learned so much in such a short amount of time. Serving a mission has been the greatest decision I've ever made. I'm so happy to be here sharing the gospel. I love the mission field
sooooo much. I know that this calling came from the Lord and this is where he needs me.

I love you all! Send me selfies.

Stay inside. My sister got her license.

Elder Hendrix

An interesting old building outside Santiago.

Elder Hendrix making pancakes at Elder and Sister Bake's piso.

Week 27: Reasons to clean your piso

Day 14 here in the flood. Haven't seen the sun in weeks. I can't really feel my hands. I live in a freezer. Though, there is hope. My study of the Old Testament is benefitting me. I'll have my ark built in no time.

The rainy view from Elder Hendrix's piso.

This week was super good! Great things are happening here in the north!

My first week here was quite discouraging. We have no investigators, no less actives to visit, and nobody willing to let us in. Contacting in the street is very difficult. It's always pouring rain and nobody is ever outside. However, last week we were deep cleaning the piso (it was absolutely awful when I got here) and we actually found a huge stack of 400 old teaching records in a closet. The missionaries in the past did not take care of this piso at all. It's so gross and there's just random stuff everywhere. But we have been working a ton with all those teaching records we found. We spent most of this week making phone calls, trying to see if the records are still accurate. Some of them were from 2002... I have no idea how missionaries would just forget about them. Maybe if you kept your piso CLEAN you could get work done and find people ready to hear the gospel haha... Moral of the story: clean your piso. Anyway, I probably made 100 phone calls one day this week with no success. Like 90% of them weren't working phone numbers, and the other 10% just didn't want anything from us (Spaniards make it really clear when they don't want anything to do with the missionaries). Well, I came across a teaching record from 2003. I was pretty discouraged at this point because I've been here in Santiago for 2 weeks and haven't had much hope, and these records are over a decade old anyway. Well, I decided to go ahead and call the number anyway. A guy named Hector answered. I asked him how he was doing and everything and asked if he remembered who we were. And he said of course! I remember you guys! You're the missionaries! You used to come teach me about the gospel! He totally remembered! And he was the nicest guy ever! He told me he remembered learning about the Celestial Kingdom and how he wants to live there. We talked on the phone for probably an hour about the Plan of Salvation and such and it was just super cool! He said he would love to meet with us again! The reason he lost contact with the missionaries was because he went out of town for 6 months and I guess they just forgot about him. He moved a few hours south to a town called Villagarcia. I told him I'd pass his number to the missionaries down there so they could teach him. So I did so, and the next morning those missionaries gave me a phone call back. They said they got a hold of Hector and visited him the night I gave them the phone number. And they taught him. He and his wife are getting baptized next month. This man has been ready for 13 years. All it took to seal the deal was a clean piso, some faith, and a phone call.

I learned a few things from this experience. I have once again received a witness of the truth in James 2:17 where we learn that faith without action is dead. My time so far in Santiago has been a trial of my faith for sure. But without hope and action, I wouldn't have found those teaching records. Miracles don't just happen. They require faithful prayer and a spirit of optimism. Working hard is so worth it. Ahh MISSIONS ARE THE BEST.

So there's my highlight for the week. :)

As I previously implied, it hasn't stopped raining since I got here. The rain here is insane. Umbrellas don't really work either cause the rain doesn't fall normally... If I'm not wrong, rain is supposed to fall from the sky. Not in Santiago though. It comes from all over the place. It seriously rains sideways. It's so weird.

So I kinda have a "calling" in the branch. I translate for Tyler Haws haha. He's the coolest guy ever. (note:Tyler is a former BYU basketball player who is currently playing for the top team in Spain.) He had us over for dinner this week. He's such a nice guy! We're like his only friends cause he doesn't understand Spanish haha. He and his wife are always asking us to come over and "share a message" haha. They're so much fun. Tyler is super encouraging about the work here. He's our mission leader and loves to help us come up with ideas to find people. I love that guy! Mostly because I'll be able to say that I'm friends with an NBA player one day. Haha kidding. But yeah he destroyed us in basketball last p day...

Ok here's a crazy story now.

A few mornings ago, we were looking out the window studying the rain to calculate the number of layers that would best keep us dry so we could make our 5 minute walk to the chapel, when all of us a sudden we see a car bump into a motorcyclist and the dude falls off and rolls like 30 feet down the street. And then gets up like it was nothing and starts a full sprint toward the car that hit him and jumps feet first into the windshield. And then the car started driving again, the dude fell off, and the car drove away. And then the guy pulls out a banana from his jacket, eats it, and then gets back on his motorcycle and drives off. Weirdest thing ever.

Well fanclub de casa, I love all of you! Enjoy the sunshine for me! Have an awesome week! Happy Valentine's Day! Give your mom flowers.

Clean your piso.

Elder Hendrix

Week 26: We're not in Kansas anymore

It's been a whole week already. A whole 168 hours. Crazy.

Oh man I'm not sure where to start.

Santiago is so beautiful! Everything is green here! Literally EVERYTHING. The mountains, the sidewalks, the trees, the streets, even the roofs of pisos have grass growing on them. I've never seen anything like this. This place is so much different than Madrid. It's still difficult to process the fact that this is still Spain. It's soooo weird. It rains every single here. We don't walk 5 minutes without getting completely drenched. And it gets really cold. The weather app on my iPad says it gets in the 40s, but I swear that's the falsest thing since sin. It feels like -6137468. It's been raining nonstop since I got here 7 days ago. And it pours. Like buckets of water are always falling. Fun stuff.

Me and Elder Wither get along well. He's from Peru, but he actually moved to the states a few years ago. He knows perfect English, but we still talk in Spanish pretty much all the time. He's kinda quiet. But he's cool. This will be a fun transfer with him!

The work here is really different. Definitely slower than Madrid. Coming from a ward with over 140 members is kinda different considering that the branch here has just over 20. They're super nice people though. I've met most of them already. We had dinner with the branch president this week. His name is President Goyez, and his wife is Marite, and she makes the tastiest tortilla de patata you'll ever find. They're super nice people. They live about an hour and half away from the church in Santiago. They own a huge dairy farm. They have like 300 cows and they sell milk and cheese all over Spain. It's super good! I guess we get cheese from them every week.

Church here is pretty different. I'm so used to big wards. There is a meeting house here in Santiago, but it's inside a piso complex. It's actually really cool having such a small branch cause everyone is so close to each other. I've already met quite a few of the members and they all seem really nice!

There's a Mormon Message called "A Work in Progress". If you haven't seen it, you should watch it. It's about a BYU basketball player named Tyler Haws. It's a super popular video. I can't remember if I said this last week, but Tyler is in our branch here in Santiago. He plays basketball up here. And he's actually our branch mission leader. He and his wife have us over for dinner every week. He's super cool! Elder Wither and I shared a spiritual thought with them this week and we talked about the importance of working hard and being dedicated. And then we showed them his own Mormon message. Haha it was hilarious! Tyler is such an awesome dude.

The Spanish here is pretty different. This region of Spain is called Galicia, and a lot of people actually speak a language called Gallego.It's a weird mix of Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Most people still speak Spanish though. I might have to learn a little Gallego. But yeah all the people here are real spaniards. No Latin Americans. Everyone is white. It's so weird.

Anyway,here are some stories.

1. This week I am especially grateful for the passion for music that I have been blessed with. We had a conference on Friday and we had the opportunity to here from Elder Moreira from the 70. I was asked to
provide a musical number the day before, so I didn't have a lot of time to prepare. Well we got to the meeting, and when it was my turn to go up, I went and sat down at the piano and said a little prayer in my head, and just started playing. I played Señor te necesito, and was completely lead by the spirit. I had no idea what I was playing. I just put my hands on the keys and just played. And it sounded so beautiful! I'm so grateful for music and how I can express myself and invite the spirit through the piano. I love music so much! I always feel the spirit so strongly when I have the opportunity to play. 

2. I was cleaning out our piso this week and we found tons of old teaching records. We're gonna make some phone calls this week and hopefully find some people to teach! 3. When I first got here, we didn't have running water for 4 days. And that's really all I have to say. 

4. I started studying the Old Testament this week. If any of you think the Old Testament is boring of hard to understand, I invite you to do two things. 1, repent! And 2, buy the institute manual and study with it. That thing seriously makes the Old Testament sooooo much more interesting and easier to understand. I've always sucked at studying the bible, but that manual will change you I promise!

Well, I love Santiago and I'm happy to be here :) Thanks for all your support!

Have an awesome week! Don't step in dog poop. Especially when it's pouring rain. Rain doesn't make it much easier to handle.

HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY ABBIE!!!!!

Elder Hendrix

Elder Hendrix and the missionaries at the Bates' piso.

Week 25: North, here I come!

Hello fan club de casa

I've been transferred. My service in good ol Torrejon has come to an end. I'm going up north to a town called Santiago. It rains there all time and it's super cold. I'm really excited. I'll be really close to the coast! My companion is Elder Wither. He's from Peru. He has been in the field for about 8 months. I hear he is super nice and humble and obedient. I called him last night and we talked for a little bit. He seems super cool!! I'm not sure if he speaks English... We talked in Spanish and I didn't ask. But I'm really excited! He apparently bought a ukulele and is waiting for someone to teach him! He seems pretty funny. I think we will get along just fine!

Elder Bart is staying in Torrejon, and was actually called to be the zone leader. I'm really excited for him. I know he will do awesome. He's changed a lot in the past 8 weeks. Man he's awesome now. I love him to death. I only spent one transfer with him and it went by soooo fast. He's like my best friend. I'm really gonna miss him. We've got like 100 years worth of double dates planned.

Elder Hendrix and his district before transfers.

Elders Bartholomew and Hendrix say goodbye.

So I'm sitting in the train right now. I've got 8 hours left. Hermana Graff is my companion haha. I've been serving with her since the start. She has been in Torrejon for 4 transfers. She's only one transfer older than me. Everyone knew that we were gonna be the ones leaving Torrejon. But never would have guessed we're leaving to the same district again!! Haha I'm super excited I'll know someone in my district.

Torrejon was amazing. I don't think I realized how much I love the mission field until I left my first area. It felt like I was leaving home again. It sucked. It didn't hit me that I'm being transferred until yesterday. The bishop asked Hermana Graff and I to come share our testimonies and say goodbye and such, and I remember standing up there at the podium just looking at all the faces in the congregation. I might not ever see them again. I have so much love for these people. I want to help them and serve them and be here for them. I didn't realize how much they mean to me. They've all been so amazing. It got me thinking about my first week here. I didn't know anything. I didn't know any Spanish, I had never been that far away from home, I didn't understand why I was there... My first few months were so discouraging. I would get frustrated so easily. But looking back, I've come so far. I worked out of my comfort zone, I'm speaking Spanish, I've come to love the people... Man I love the mission. I feel like charity has a whole new meaning now. I remember one day in mission prep when Brother Mask explained charity as loving the people so much that you just never want to leave them. I understand what it feels like now. It freaking sucks haha. But I love it. Charity is what makes successful mission. You don't have to be fluent in Spanish, or know how to ride the metro without losing balance. You just gotta love everyone and serve them and be a friend. I couldn't have asked for a more amazing first area. I will never forget that place. It was definitely the best 4 months and 3 days of my life, so far!!

I think the hardest goodbye was with one of our investigators, Felix. That guy has come sooooo far. This gospel has completely changed him. His life is totally different. He's getting baptized soon and I'm so proud of him. There is no way I will lose contact with him.

Elder Hendrix says goodbye to Felix.

Here are some stories from my last week!

1. We had a huge FHE one night this week for the whole ward. So Elder Bart and I went to buy food. We got 60 hotdogs, 60 buns, a ton of ketchup and mustard, and 10 bags of chips. Well, after that, we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning our piso, which means we had a ton of trash to take out. We had to take like 5 trips downstairs to throw all the trash bags in the dumpster. And so after, we were on our way to the church, when we we realized we were missing something... The food. So we rushed back to piso, and looked everywhere, but couldn't find it for some reason. And then all of a sudden Elder Bart yells "FETCH!!!!" as he's looking out the window watching the garbage truck empty the dumpster. Bart threw away the food. I take zero blame. There
goes your tithing money. 

2. We taught a less active this week named Jessica. We found her name on the ward list and didn't recognize it, so we went and stopped by her home. We talked for a little bit. She told us she hadn't been to church in over 8 years. She said has always felt afraid and needs someone to help her feel welcomed. All we did was extend a simple invitation, and GUESS WHAT. SHE CAME TO CHURCH. And she loved it! A ton of members talked to her and she felt really happy! Invite invite invite invite invite. Just do it.

Looking out the window of the train is awesome. It's only been two hours and everything is already soooo green. I'm so excited!

I will surely have a ton to write about next week!!! I'm so happy to be here and I'm excited for this change!
1. I love you all.
2. Keep being awesome.
3. The church is true.
4. I'm companions with an Hermana.
5. Don't throw the hotdogs away.

Elder Hendrix