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
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