Week 92: Go JAS!

On Friday night, we did a little noche de hogar with the JAS (YSA) in the branch. There's like 3 active JAS here in Gijón. For the message,we had them teach us the Plan of Salvation. We pretended to be friends of theirs who have never heard about the gospel. Two of the JAS, Fernando and Irene, taught us the lesson and it went really well! It was really cool to reflect on how it went. Fernando and Irene are both returned missionaries. They served in France and Argentina. Which made me realize two things: 1) They know the plan of salvation very
well and 2) they're two of the very very few JAS in this whole country who have served missions. Which means they're probably two of the most powerful tools in Spain for helping the JAS here be introduced to the gospel. There are about 500 active JAS in all of Spain. Some JAS here don't realize how blessed they are to have the knowledge of the plan of salvation. I'm sure there are thousands of young adults out here looking for a purpose. They "are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it--" (D&C 123:12). JAS have lots of friends, and those friends are also JAS! And those JAS are the future leaders of the church. It was a really cool experience to watch Fernando and Irene teach us. It made me think about how blessed I am to have been raised in an area where the church is big. I'm really grateful for the examples that Irene and Fernando are. We challenged them to share the plan of salvation with their friends, because it's pretty likely that these two are the only way their friends will be able to hear the gospel while in their youth. They seemed to have felt very motivated and proud to be young members of the church. It was such a cool noche de hogar and I think it was a great lesson for all of us.

There's an 81-year-old recent convert here named Enrique. He's a champ. He got baptized last year after meeting the missionaries on a bus. He just got the Melchizedek priesthood last week at stake conference. He helps us out with lessons like every other day. He's such an awesome old Spaniard. He's so willing to serve and help out. He gave a blessing for the first time this week and it went so well! He was so grateful to be able to do it. It was really cool listening to him as he's guided by the spirit. He's a great example to the people in the ward. An old Spaniard investigating the church is almost unheard of, so it's really cool to hear his testimony and his conversion. He always shares with us that it's never too late to follow Christ. An 81 year old can be just as faithful as any other member. Youth isn't required to follow the gospel. He's such a great guy! I love hearing his testimony.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day yesterday! Shout out to all the moms out there for being the superheroes of the world. Missionaries wouldn't be missionaries if it weren't for you!

Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix

Week 91: Asturias

This place is definitely not Tenerife. haha. But I'm reallyenjoying my new area! I'm glad I finally made it up here. All it took was a 90 minute bus ride, 25 minutes on the tran via, 3 hour flight, 30 minute metro ride, 3-1/2 hour train ride, then another 4 hours on a different train, and then another bus ride, which got me to a town called Oviedo around midnight, where I spent the night with the elders there. Then the next morning, I took one more long bus ride to finally arrive in Gijón. So yeah, it was a painfully long trip, but hey I made it alive! I had to travel alone too which was honestly really nice.

This will be a cool place to end my mission. It's a lot like Galicia. It's really rainy and it gets pretty chilly, but it's a beautiful area. It's really green. It's a really big change from Tenerife. I went from a desert in the middle of the ocean to a rain forest. But I live right by the beach again! So that's really nice! Today it's a bit overcast, so I think we're gonna go play frisbee on the beach. But yeah I'm super excited for this area. The members are really good people! There are quite a few YSA which is awesome. We play futbol with them on Saturdays.

The people here are definitely Spanish haha. It's been a really long time since I've taught Spaniards, which is quite ironic since I'm in Spain. Madrid is like 90% Latinos, and Tenerife is full of Europeans. So really the last time I saw so many Spaniards was in Santiago last year. Gijón is part of a province called Asturias. So the people here are called Asturianos. And they've got the strangest accents. I feel like every time I get transferred I have to relearn Spanish since there are so many dialects and accents in this country. Latinos speak different from Spaniards, and
Spaniards are way different from Canarians. So this will be a fun adventure understanding Asturianos. They've got some thick accents. I feel like serving in areas where the Spanish is different has really helped me improve my ability to speak it though. I'm always hearing different things, so my vocab and such has increased a ton. So that's
cool. But yeah it's so interesting how diverse this country is. It's such a small country, but there are so many different cultures. This is my 6th area. All 6 of my areas have been so different from each other. Torrejon was African central, Santiago has Galicians that speak Gallego and eat weird food, Madrid is all Latinos, Canarians are
kind of a mix of everything, and Asturias is straight up Spaniard. The mission has definitely been quite the cultural experience!

Yesterday, my first Sunday in Gijón, was pretty exhausting. We had district conference in León. So our branch rented a bus to take all of the members down there. It's like a 3 hour bus ride. The conference was really good! They fed us lunch there, and then we took the bus all the way back to Gijón. We finally got back around 8 pm. So
yesterday was a super long day. But it was really fun getting to know the members on the bus! There's about 40 active members in the branch. They're awesome people! I sat with the YSA on the bus and we all told funny stories. They're cool people.

My new companion is basically Court Lake. It's pretty hilarious actually. His name is Elder Goodman. He's from Utah. He has been in the mission about a year. So this should be a fun transfer together.

Anyway, this week was really good! It's been really long and exhausting, but we're working hard out here. We're really excited to teach some people we found in the street this week. The streets here are full of people. There are a ton of parks full of families too which is awesome!

This week during my scripture study, I came across a super cool verse in the Book of Mormon. "Yea, and he looketh down upon all the children of men; and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning." (Alma 18:32) I love this story of Ammon teaching King Lamoni. He boldly testifies of a simple truth that God knows each of his children personally. There are billions of people in the world. But I, like Ammon, know that God is real and that he is always watching us and is anxious to bless each and every one of us, and that every single soul on this earth has worth in His sight. He created us. We are His children and He loves us.

I hope you all have a great week over in sunny AZ!

Week 90: Serving around the world

Transfer day! Sorry I'm on an ultra time crunch. I got transferred out of Los Cristianos. Yesterday was my last day. Today I am traveling literally the entire day to get to my new area. Leaving Tenerife was rough. That place is full of amazing people that I will never forget. Last night we had a little farewell goodbye party in the church. Lots of members came as well as several investigators. Leaving an area is never easy. It's hard. I've made so many awesome friends. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to serve on such a beautiful island serving such great people. It was a very quick 6 months, but I'll never forget them. I feel like my testimony really grew while I was
there. I was able to preach the gospel to people from literally all over the world. We had lessons in English, in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and even Gallego. And although not every word was understood, the language of the spirit was felt. I was able to express my testimony to so many people who don't speak Spanish, but I know that spiritual impressions were recognized and understood. We've received phone numbers and addresses from people from all over the world visiting for vacation, and I have faith that there were lots of seeds planted. We've passed information to missionaries all over the place which is really cool to think about. I'm serving in the Spain Madrid Mission, but I've also been able to serve worldwide. My testimony of the gift of tongues has increased for sure. I'm so grateful for having had the opportunity to meet so many people. Learning about so many different cultures has been a really cool experience.

I'm really excited for my new area in the peninsula. I'll be serving in Asturias in a small city called Gijón. It's in northern Spain. It's right on the coast too, which is cool because I'll still get to see ocean a lot! So I'm super excited for that. I'll most likely finish my mission there, as I only have 12 weeks left. But that's still quite a bit of time, so I'm excited to make the most of it! I just got off a 3 hour flight from the Canaries, and then I have to catch a train for like 6 hours I think. So today will be a long day. I actually don't even arrive in Gijón until tomorrow... But hey I'm super excited to serve there! I've heard it's a beautiful place full of wonderful people. I'll keep you all updated!

Love you all! Have a great week! I'll reply to your emails next week if I don't get to today...

Elder Hendrix

Elder Hendrix in Tenerife
with Mayalene & Miguel

The Villalobos Family in Tenerife

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.