Week 89: Faithful Endurance

We have an awesome investigator named Carlos. He's Dominican and he's 18, which are two things that automatically make him cool. We met him in the street several weeks ago and we've been teaching him in a park every once in a while when he has some time. We had a great lesson with him this past weekend. He has desires to strengthen his faith and develop a relationship with God. He has been praying for years, but hasn't ever received any witness of the fact that God hears and loves him. He continues praying though because he still has hope that He is there. He explained to us this week, however, that he hasn't experienced any spiritual advancement or change or anything since we've started meeting with him. We asked him why he thinks that is, and he said he wasn't sure. We then did follow up with his scripture reading and such. He was honest and said he hasn't done anything we've told him he needs to do. We asked him what exactly he expects from God. We then asked him what he believes God expects of him, and then he made the realization that we are teaching him exactly that. 

We're here helping people understand how to follow the will of God so that they can develop and strengthen their relationship with Him. Expecting our needs to become reality requires faith, which is action. Here's an example. When we become ill, we often ask for a priesthood blessing, which is a wonderful idea. But we sometimes forget that healing requires two part:.God's and ours. God is not obligated to heal us if we rely on him without doing our part (2 Nephi 25:23). Or in other words, I can't receive a blessing of health and then go and eat several unhealthy junk food snacks and chocolate and ignore doctoral advice, etc, all while expecting this miracle of quick recovery. That's not how we do our part. I would need to do things that promote good health and would theoretically lead to a recovery in order to show God that I am willing to do my part and that I am in sincere need of His help. 

Now, applying this to Carlos' situation... Expecting God to manifest himself unto us and to cause that all of our problems disappear, is a solid way of defining hope. However, in order to turn that hope into faith, action is required. But how do we act? By doing the things God has asked us to do. By keeping his commandments. By going to church. By constantly praying. By studying His gospel. Yeah, but I read the scriptures once but didn't hear anything. Well, as we know, we're here to be tried. Maybe the doubts we have are trials of faith. God loves us and wants to bless us. And he delivers His blessings to those who have faith, to those who continually trust Him, and to those who endure. Carlos smiled when he responded, "Well, I guess he has been testing me for 18 years now." Could be. Carlos explained to us that our conversation really changed his way of thinking. He recognized the spirit during the lesson. He has realized some changes he needs to make. And he seemed to have left that day happier. He had a greater sense of hope. He's a great kid and we're excited to help him continue understanding the fact that we have a loving father in Heaven who is anxious to bless us. He wants to see us happy. So if we ever have doubt in God's love, we must remember to just trust Him. He gives us trials as opportunities to exercise faith. And even if that trial lasts a very long time, it doesn't mean that He has left us. He's always there supporting us. And so to those of you who may have struggling testimonies, 

I invite you to ponder this question. Am I fulfilling God's expectations of me? If he isn't fulfilling mine, is it because I'm not fulfilling His? Be humble. And remember His expectations are more beneficial for us than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). I promise and testify that God loves us. He gives us trials to humble and strengthen us. So trust him! Keep His commandments. Chickfila has a limit to how many barbecue sauce packets you can get in one meal. I'd like to have one per nugget, but maybe it's for my benefit that I don't get that much. I don't understand it. But a perfect knowledge isn't necessary to have faith (Alma 32:21). God works the same way. If we just trust him and do all we can to fulfill His expectations of us, He will do His part, and He will manifest himself unto us.

The church is true. The Book is blue. Scooby Doo. Elmers Glue. 

Elder Hendrix

Week 88: Update from the Canaries

This is the coolest mission ever. I get to meet people from all over the world here. Tuesday morning, we went to street contact and knock doors in a small pueblo for a few hours. In those 2 short hours, I met a Peruvian, Argentinian, Nigerian, a family from Switzerland, some Bolivians, half the population of Senegal, a bunch of Chileans, Italians, a German volleyball team, a cat, a brick, a sweaty Colombian with only 8 fingers, and a Swedish fish. There are so many cultures here and it's so cool to learn a little about each of them. I feel like I've basically served in every country in South America haha. I've tried all the typical food from each country too which is awesome. This mission is also really weird though because you would think that Spain would be filled with Spaniards. Wrong. I've actually met very few Spaniards in my mission. Madrid is all South Americans. And Tenerife is like half Italians and half Canarians.

This week was a good week! It's starting to get really hot. The Canarias get heat waves every once in a while that are accompanied by a sand invasion from the Sahara. A few days ago it was low 70s, but yesterday it was like 93. It's really weird. They usually last like 2 or 3 days. So yeah this week has been brutal as far as the weather goes. It's super humid too which is also killer. Makes me miss dry Arizona heat.

Sacrament meeting yesterday was really cool! There were a ton of tourists here for Holy Week. This entire week has been a holiday. Nobody has work or goes to school. So we had a full chapel. The four of us missionaries were all in different classes during Sunday school so we could help translate. I got to be with the youth to translate for this 17 year old Scottish. He made several comments in the class that I had to translate for, and man it was rough. I still don't believe that their language is English. I can't understand half of it. I don't know how you do it Elder Oxspring. Spanish is way easier than Scottish English. Either I just don't understand what they're saying, or it's just straight gibber talk. I don't know man. But hey they're nice people. :)

Mayalene and Miguel came to church! Man I love that couple. They're amazing. The ward members keep asking us when they're gonna be baptized because they would be such incredible leaders haha. Which is totally true. And our ward needs more leaders! They're doing really good. They're such amazing examples to me. As I've explained previously, Mayalene works taking care of an abuela in a small pueblo up north. She has to live in her house. She starts working Monday at 6 am and gets off Sunday at 9 am. So she and Miguel only get to be together for barely 21 hours a week. But the amazing thing is that they come straight to church when she's off work so they can get there on time for sacrament meeting. They know that it's what they need. I'm sure it would be easy to not go, as I'm sure it's not the first thing that the world would do when they only get to be with their spouse for that day. But Mayalene and Miguel feel the spirit there and they know that it's what their Heavenly Father wants them to do. We met with Miguel this week, who is still living here in Los Cristianos, and we talked a lot about baptism. He explained that they have discussed the subject a lot lately, and that they've decided they want to do it. They're ready. So we talked about a date. We're gonna have a lesson with the both of them this week so we can talk about it together. Updates to come! But woah they're so awesome. I'm grateful that they're recognizing the blessings of making sacrifices by coming to church. I know that they will be blessed for it!

Beach volleyball went really well this week! We play every Saturday morning. This past week, lots of new people came! A member family, the Villalobos, came and brought a friend! We also had several of our investigators there! This activity is continuing to grow and we're really grateful for it! We love getting together with those we teach as well as the members to have fun together and play some sports. It's gonna be tough getting transferred from this area. Apart from living on a beach, the people here are awesome. We have some awesome friends, and the Villalobos too have always been so supportive with our activities we plan.

Here's an interesting experience I had this week. I had the opportunity to do a baptismal interview for one of the hermana's investigators named Jose. He's a really cool guy. He had an interesting question that made me think. With his permission, I'll share that he has had a difficult time overcoming a smoking addiction. It's been a rough battle for him to leave cigarettes. He has been smoking for over 30 years, so it has been a hard change for him, and continues to be a struggle. As we were discussing the Word of Wisdom in the interview, we discussed that the our bodies are gifts from a God who loves us. He expects us to take care of them and to do the things that promote good health. However, perhaps others have had the same question that Jose asked me: We know that we will all resurrect with perfect bodies (Alma 40:23). So if we'll eventually have a perfect body, what's the purpose in working so hard to take care of the one we currently have? Smoking is not good for the body, but why is it still so bad even though we won't have these imperfect bodies forever? Well, God promises blessings to those who keep the commandments. One of those commandments is the Word of Wisdom. He wants us to be happy, and He promises us everlasting joy only if we do what He has asked us to do. A scripture that comes to mind is Mosiah 2:41 Read it. I, like Nephi, don't understand the meaning of all things. But I do understand the fact that God loves us and wants us to be able to live in His presence again. And to do so, it is essential that we keep His commandments, which is an expression of faith. For some, the Word of Wisdom can be a trial of faith. But we must remember that endurance through trials results in blessings.

Hope you all had a Happy Easter and ate lots of recess peanut butter cups for me. Those don't exist here. :/ Neither does Chick-fil-A. But man the bread here is bomb. Until next week!

Elder Hendrix

Week 87: Mapping out salvation

First I'd like to say that I'm like a level 9 chef now. I made the most incredible chicken quesadillas ever this week.

So we've started doing something cool with the members to help them get involved in missionary work. Every time we visit them, we take out a map of the area. The members know their towns better than we do, so we ask them to choose a street on the map where we can go contacting immediately afterwards and try to find someone to teach. It's really cool and it really helps the members feel supportive and they seem to be a lot more encouraged. For example, this week we ate lunch with Anna and Mario, and Italian couple in the ward, and we asked them to choose a street for us. We went to that street right after the eating appointment and talked to everyone we saw. That night when we finished the day, we gave Anna and Mario a call to report on how it went. We explained to we received a few phone numbers of people and that we would continue letting them know how their progress goes. It made them feel so happy and involved! They were really excited that we had found people to share the gospel with! And it's all because they helped us find an area to talk to people in. It's a cool little activity we're really excited for. I feel that it has been a great trust builder too. The members see that we're here to work and that we need their help. I feel strongly that this technique will result in miracles. The members are beginning to better understand the beauty of missionary work and the need of participation.

As always, we played beach volleyball on Saturday morning with our friends and some members. This past Saturday went really well! We had several new people come that we haven't seen in a while. I think it's becoming a pretty popular activity. We love spending time with those we teach and just have fun. We played some soccer too. My calves are super sore from running so much in sand.

Yesterday was a great day at church! We had several investigators there! Mayalene and Miguel are once again regularly attending, which is awesome! It's so difficult to teach them though because work destroys lives here. Mayalene's only time off is literally Sunday at 9 am to Monday at 6 pm. She works 24 hours a day for more than 6 days a week. She takes care of an old abuela and can't accept visits from us in the lady's house. However, we're very grateful and happy that she and Miguel continue to come to church and take 3 hours out of their only time they have to see each other in the week. They're progressing well and they're continuing to read and pray. We still have a few things to teach them until they can be baptized. Actually, it's been quite a while since the last time we taught them together. Work is just preventing a lot. But we're continuing to keep them in our prayers! I love those two. They're such great examples of people who really understand the promise given in Matthew 6:33. If we follow God and do all that he asked us to do, everything else we need will come.

Today for p day we did an awesome hike! Hermano Cena, one of the members here, is the coolest guy ever. He takes us on the coolest hikes to see the coolest places. We hiked a mountain called Masca. It took forever and my legs are dead, but it was so worth it. It took about 7 hours, but the views were insane! I got lots of cool pictures.
Hermano Cena is such an awesome guy. He's one of the first Italian Eagle Scouts. That man is way smart and he's a very dedicated member of the church. We love the support he gives us!

Love you all! Make some chicken quesadillas.

Elder Hendrix

Elders Hendrix and McDade in a cave on Masca.

The view from Masca.

Elders Hendrix and McDade with the Hermanas on Masca.

Elder Hendrix at the top of Masca.

Week 86: Stay faithfully in the choir

I loved general conference this weekend! I have to say that one of my favorite talks was Elder Holland's in the Saturday  afternoon session. He spoke about being part of Christ's choir and singing the song of redeeming love. I especially loved when he spoke about the requirements of singing. "There is a place [in the choir] for everyone who loves God and honors his commandments." It doesn't matter your age, race, likes, dislikes, background, marital status, sexual orientation, etc. God wants and needs more singers. And each and every one of us is invited to participate. And even if you join the choir without having any singing experience, that's perfectly ok. Because the choir is designed to help us develop and be strengthened. "Come as you are, but don't plan to stay that way." Christ's atoning sacrifice molds us into what God wants us to become. So don't forget to remember Him and trust Him! If you're not a dedicated choir member, I invite you to recommit and listen to the choir director. Because He knows what will help you grow.

I guess I turned 20 this week or something. Weird. It was a really fun day though! To start, the hermanas made me French toast and brought it to our apartment cause they're awesome. Then we played beach volleyball in the morning with our investigadores and friends (just like every Saturday), and then one of our investigators, Jose, bought us smoothies. Later, the Villalobos family surprised us and took us out to eat lunch in a restaurant on the boardwalk by the beach. So that was really cool! I ate some real tasty chicken. Then, they took us to the church where they had prepared a cake to eat. It was super good! I love the Villalobos. They're the nicest people ever. Then we had general conference in the afternoon, and then had a lesson with Miguel, and then some more members wanted to take us out to eat dinner. So it was a pretty good day! Lots of food, lots of pictures, more food, friends, and food. Can't believe I'm 20 already. It's weird. So yeah my birthday was overall pretty fun! I'm grateful for such loving members here. They do so much for us. The only sad part of the day was that I received my flight itinerary to go home. It's scary haha. Looks like I'll be seein yall on July 25th at 5:40 pm, Which is actually terrible cause that's rush hour. The Chikfila line is gonna be so long.

I'm loving Tenerife. It's getting a little warmer now, but the work here is incredible. I love the people we teach so much. They're all so amazing and it has been awesome watching their progression. I can't imagine a better place to be that here on the mission. Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I'm grateful for all the love and support!

Elder Hendrix

Oh yeah there's a giant lizard living under our fridge. We've been trying to catch it for days now. Updates to come.

The Villalobos family and the Hermanas celebrate
Elder Hendrix's birthday.

Birthday dinner in Tenerife.