Week 50: Out of Time!

Elders Hendrix and Lopez in Madrid 2nd Ward.

I go home in one year today. Where the heck did time go? It's crazy.

This week was cool! We're continuing to meet with as many members as we can in attempt to work with them and get them pumped for missionary work. We had a ward activity last weekend and had a great turnout! One of the young women in the ward brought her boyfriend and we got to know him and he told us he really wanted to learn more about the church. We had two appointments with him this week and we invited him to be baptized and he said yes! So we're having a baptism on the 27th of August! We're meeting with him a few times this week to talk more about the covenant of baptism to make sure he's not just doing it for his girlfriend, but that he's doing it for himself. He really is a great kid! He's 14 and his name is Kevin. He actually came to church
yesterday and he connects really well with the other youth in the ward. So as of right now, it's looking good!

We did exchanges with the zone leaders this week and it was such a great experience! I got to spend the day with Elder Wade. He's an awesome missionary. I learned a lot of good stuff from him. He's a great teacher and I'm excited to apply what I learned into my own area here in B4!!

Sorry I'm out of time! I'll have more info next week! Love you all!

Elder Hendrix

Week 49: Barrio 4

It's been quite the week here in Barrio 4! We had an investigator that the missionaries have been teaching for a few months named Moises. And he got baptized on Saturday! He's such a cool guy! His sister, Esther, was baptized earlier this year, so the missionaries had been teaching them both and Moises finally decided to be baptized this weekend! It was a super cool experience for him! He was really happy and has such a strong testimony. I had the honor of confirming him a member of the church and giving him the gift of the Holy Ghost, which was such a sweet experience! I'm so grateful for that opportunity I had! We're really excited to continue teaching Moises and Esther. They're really great people. They're from Bolivia and they're in their 20's and they're a lot of fun!

Elders Lopez and Hendrix
with Moises at his baptism.

I love the members here so much already. The ward has about 70 active members and they're solid. This ward loves missionary work. There's so much energy here and I'm so excited to work with them! We got to visit a few families this week so I could introduce myself, and they're all just such nice people! There's a ton of Latinos here too. We have a ton of appointments to eat this week, so that's good! One thing I absolutely love about Madrid is that there are so many South American cultures here. Which means all kinds of food. Members are always feeding us unfamiliar foods. And it's awesome cause I love trying new things! The Bolivians make an empanada type thing called a salteña and they're sooooo good. It's basically a shepherds pie inside of an empanada. Basically, it's amazing.

Right now, we don't have a lot of people to teach. But we are determined to find some! We did a lot of street contacting this week and we received a lot of references, so we're super excited!

My companion Elder Lopez is a cool guy. He reminds me a lot of myself when I had his time in the mission. He's very shy and he gets discouraged about the Spanish, which is totally normal. That's how I was when I started the mission. He's only been out for three months, so I'm really excited to help him and teach him what I did to improve. Learning a language is not easy. It takes a lot of time, hard work, diligence, and patience. I'm really pumped to work with him and help him get out of his shell and build some confidence! His Spanish really is good. He just doesn't believe it, but I feel like most missionaries are like that. They're better than they think. He's a stud.

Today for P day, we played basketball with like half the mission. President Pack invited everyone to the stake center by the temple to play! So that's what we did all morning long. Fun stuff! I suck at basketball though.

Love you all! Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix

Week 48: Rosario's Baptism

It's been such a crazy week!

I'll start with the baptism. Rosario got dunked! Funny story... When we were filling the font, I leaned over the rail to feel the water to make sure it was warm, and I accidentally slipped and fell in. Luckily, there was only like a foot of water. So it could have been worse. But I had to run back to piso and change. But anyway, it was such an awesome day! The baptismal service was perfect. She's so awesome and I'm so happy for her and so grateful for the opportunity I had to watch her progress and take this step in her life. It's so crazy that we found her in the street just 6 weeks ago. She has come such a long way! After she was baptized, she shared her testimony and it was so sweet. This gospel really has changed her. Yesterday she was confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Meeting her was such a miracle! She's already super excited to get a temple recommend and find names to take to the temple to be baptized for!

So crazy news... I got transferred. It was definitely a surprise. My companion is going home, and I got moved. So our area in Barrio 9 is getting white washed. It's so weird. It's hard to leave an area that I just barely got to, but it's been an awesome experience here. The members in B9 are amazing and I'm sad to leave them, but I'm excited for my new area in Barrio 4! My new companion is Elder Lopez. He's from Oregon and has been in the field for about 3 months. I'm super excited to work with him! Also, the Lord has called me to be district leader here. I'm so excited for this calling and for the opportunity I will have to lead!

And that's about all I have time for... Here's a picture...Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix

Elders Hendrix and Sasso at Rosario's baptism in Madrid, Barrio 9.

Elder Hendrix with other elders at a member's home.

Week 47: Falcon Punch!

I found the solution. You have to sleep with a frozen water bottle. I'm a genius and have beat summer.

Funniest thing ever happened this week. We had exchanges in Fuenlabrada with the zone leaders this week, so I got to go work with Elder Gonzalez. We went to visit a family in their ward, and they have this super awesome 3-year-old daughter. She reminded me a ton of my niece Cora. She was showing me her notebook she draws all her pictures in. The cover of the notebook was from Smash Bros and had Captain Falcon in the corner (greatest character of all time). I asked her if she knows what Captain Falcon says, and she said no, so I taught her the "Falcon PUNCH" move that he does. So during our conversation with the family, she was off in the other side of the room falcon punching the air. Meanwhile, the dad walked in and gave us each a bowl of chips to eat. Later, the girl walked towards us being crazy and swinging her arms all over the place. She got too close to where we were sitting and she accidentally hit my bowl of chips, and it went flying out of my hands, straight into the TV and put a big crack in it, and then the bowl fell to the ground and shattered into a million pieces. There was glass everywhere. Everyone just went silent and she looked like she was about to cry. But then all of a sudden she throws her fist in the air and yells "FALCON PUNCH!!!" Oh man it was the funniest thing! Luckily, her parents weren't mad, they actually laughed too. But wow I felt so bad! haha. Basically, you shouldn't teach kids how to play real life Nintendo...

So Rosario is doing so good! She's getting baptized THIS WEEKEND! She had her baptismal interview this week and it went really well! She's a little nervous, but super excited! I'll report on it next week!

There's this dude in our ward named Franklin. He's from Bolivia and got back from his mission in a Chile a few months ago. He goes on splits with us all the time. He's such a stud! Yesterday, he was showing us some pictures of his mission and talking about all of his experiences and stuff.  He said there was a kid in his last district that was a stud on the piano and played super good and he said that he reminds him of me. He did a ton of musical numbers. He showed me a video of this missionary playing the piano and singing, and it turns out, I know this guy! It's Chip Hixon!! Franklin served in Chip's mission and was his district leader before he left! Small world!

Before the mission, I hated fish. I just refused to eat it. I thought it was so gross. But ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to testify of the changes that happen to those who serve. I love fish now. This week, we had 3 food appointments with members in one day, all fish. I was soooooo full at the end of that day, but I'm not even mad. The Ecuadorians make some awesome Ceviche. It's basically raw fish in a salad. And it's super good! We had a lot of that this week.

Today for P day, we went bowling with some investigators and less actives and it was so fun!! Wasn't my best day for bowling unfortunately... But it's ok. The important part is that they all had a good time!

Transfers are next week! Updates to come! Love you all! Have a great week!

SHOUTOUT TO AMERICA FOR BEING THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD! USA USA USA USA USA! HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Elder Hendrix