Week 16: Let's take the stairs!

We had a few really great lessons with Felix this week! We went over the law of chastity, which includes the law of modesty, which means no tattoos. He explained to us that he had an appointment on the 22nd of December to get a tattoo that he's been wanting for years. And he's already paid €500 for it and he can't get the money back. He had been saving up for it for such a long time. He was really upset and disappointed, but he wants to live and keep the commandments so badly. The rest of the lesson was kinda rough. But right after our closing prayer, he just sat there for a second and then looked up and said "500 euros is a ton of money, but if I have to pay that much to show God I love him, I'll do it." And then he asked us to walk with him to the tattoo place to cancel his appointment. They wouldn't give him his money back, but he knows he did the right thing. I'm so proud of this
guy! He's such a stud and it's the coolest thing ever to see him make choices that will bless him. Things like this remind me of how amazing it is to be a missionary. Seeing people recognize the light of Christ in their lives is the greatest thing ever. Felix sent us a text that night. He was praying, asking God if he made the right decision, and
he received an answer. He explained to us that he knows God is proud of him, and that the money doesn't matter. Matthew 6:33: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." While money can be important, we know that if we first do all we can to keep the commandments, the Lord will provide. Even if that means dropping €500.

We had a training this week with the 5 zones in Madrid. And I was asked to provide a musical number! I used the same arrangement of Be Still My Soul that I wrote in the MTC, but new and improved! I threw in some fancy work and a sweet key change and it went really good! It was such a cool opportunity to perform for all the missionaries and the mission President! I love doing these kinds of things! After the meeting, all the senior couples prepared a thanksgiving meal for all 120 of us. It was sooooo good! They had pumpkin pie from the states!!

Audio clip of Elder Hendrix's piano solo, "Be Still My Soul."

So we got stuck in an elevator this week... We put 5 of us in a 3 person elevator and got stuck between the 4th and 5th floor. We had to pull open the door and climb out. Fun stuff. The elevators are soooo tiny here. The biggest one I've seen was a 4 person one. Most piso complexes have only a 2 person elevator. Lots of people make jokes about knowing what it was like to be one of those Chilean miners a few years ago. Haha elevator rides are so uncomfortable sometimes...

I think I've talked before about a member in the ward named Paola. She's from Columbia and she owns a cake shop in Torrejón. She was really sick this week and asked us to come over and give her a blessing. And she asked me to do it! So I got to give my first blessing in Spanish!! It was such a cool experience!

Today for P day, our zone when to downtown Madrid! We went to this American Restaurant that has a reeeeaaalllly hot burger. It's called El Diablo haha. And if you finish the whole thing, they don't charge you. AND they give you a t shirt! So I went for it.... AND I DID IT. And it was quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever done. My face looked like a tomato when I was done. But hey I got a free shirt!!!

This week is the last week of the transfer, so I may be getting a new area!! We'll see! I hope you all have an awesome week! The church is true!

Elder Hendrix

Elder Hendrix and his district with a church member named Yors (in yellow tie).

Elder Hendrix and his fellow missionaries ate at this restaurant
where he won the challenge of eating the El Diablo hamburger.
It was really hot and he won a t-shirt and a free meal.

Spending P-day in Sol.

Elders Phillips, Hendrix and Bennett in Sol.

Week 15: Más Numero Musicales

Can't believe it's been a week already!

I was stuck in piso throwing up earlier this week... So unfortunately, I don't have much to share. But I'll try to throw in a joke or two.

So Felix went to London for the week, so we only met with him once this week. But he's still doing great! He always comes to church, he's reading the Book of Mormon, and he's still so anxious to learn. He took his Book of Mormon on the plane and read for the entire flight. He's such a stud! We've taught him almost all the lessons now. He's progressing so well! He just wants to learn everything! He tells us all the time that the missionaries have changed his life. The gospel changed his life! The gospel works miracles! We told him today that we have transfers in two weeks and that either Elder G or I is leaving. And he shed some tears. He does not want either of us to leave at all. He told us we're the best friends he's ever had. It's so touching. I love that guy! I really hope I stay for next transfer!

Felix came home from London this morning, so we went to the airport to pick him up. It's only like 20 minutes away. Flights are so cheap here! A flight to Barcelona is only like €30. And a roundtrip flight to the Galway Ireland airport is only €59!! I could easily go visit Elder Oxspring for the day on a P day. Haha it's only a two and half
hour flight.

So apparently my name is getting around the mission. Either "Elder Hendrix" or "the elder that plays all the Disney songs on piano." Haha. The mission president called me this week and asked me if I would prepare a musical number for a zone conference this Wednesday. All the missionaries in the Madrid zones are gonna be there. So like 150ish. So that's exciting! I still have no idea what I'm gonna do...

Everybody here calls me Jimi Hendrix. Everyone in the ward greets me with Elder Jimi. Or Misionero Jimi. It's pretty great haha.

Today for P day, the whole zone came to Torrejón for volleyball and lunch. I'll try attaching a picture.

I hope everyone has a great week! Eat lots of turkey for me!! I'll be over here throwing up rice...

Sorry I can't think of any jokes...

Con amor,

Elder Hendrix

All missionaries in Elder Hendrix's zone came to Torrejon for P-day.

Week 14: Overeating

Get ready for a story everyone!! This one is good I swear.

So a few days ago, we didn't have any lunch appointments, so we just ate with the other elders in our district. We went to a bakery and we each bought una barra de pan, and then went back to the piso and made a ton of pasta. We had soooo much food. I finished my entire barra de pan, 2 plates of pasta, and like half a thing of ice cream. And I'll add that I had like 6 cups of yogurt for breakfast that morning. So I was dang stuffed. Well, a few minutes after my last bite, about mid-food coma, we got a call from the Hermanas. "Where are you guys?? Are you coming?!" We apparently had a lunch appointment with a woman in the ward named Sarah..... "Hurry up! All of our plates are already on the table!" Uhhh.... Shoot. The Hermanas told Elder Gustafson earlier this week that Sarah invited all of us over for lunch... And he failed to inform me. And then he forgot about it. Therefore, I take zero blame. Anyway, we couldn't just say that we forgot about it after she had already prepared us food, so we went ahead and walked over to her house, shaking. I was scared haha there was no way I was gonna be able
to eat. 

Sarah is Nigerian, which means two things: one, there's gonna be a ton of food, and two, she's gonna be offended if we don't eat it. Well, we walked in to her house, and saw a plate of food for each of us on the table. A mountain of rice a mile high. And then Sarah comes from the kitchen with a huge pot of fried chicken, and tops off our rice with it. Perfect. I'm looking at my death. To summarize, after a good half hour, and to my surprise, I finished. And I swear it was the hardest thing I've done in my life. But then, Sarah got up and told us to follow her to the kitchen, where we found the biggest pot of rice I've ever seen. The amount of rice left could have fed a family of 10 easily. She threw another scoop of rice on my plate. And more chicken. I ate a few more bites of the chicken and tried my best to hide as much rice as I could under the bones haha... I'm so grateful for all the members here and everything, but the second we left that piso, I was the happiest man on earth. Walking downstairs was sooooo difficult. I had never been that full in my life. I'm pretty sure that my stomach stretched into the sides of my lungs, cause I was having trouble breathing haha. I walked out the door of the piso complex, took about 10 steps, then tumbled to the ground and starting puking my guts up. Fun stuff. And here I am now, 3 days later, still not wanting to see food ever again. Haha I'm feeling better though!

Felix is doing so good! I kinda broke his phone on accident, which is actually awesome because since that incident, he has read so much of the Book of Mormon! He came to church again yesterday too! This guy is so solid. I love watching him change. The gospel works wonders! He has progressed so much! Assuming everything goes good, he'll be baptized on the 19th of December. His work gave him 2 weeks off to take care of his mom who just had surgery, so we've been able to meet with him everyday for the past week in his piso. I can't wait to see him
baptized!

My Spanish is coming along, slowly, but it's coming! I still have trouble expressing myself during lessons, but I know I've improved so much. The members are telling me that my accent is spot on so I guess that's good!

I love it here in Torrejón so much! I'm so grateful to be here! I love watching our investigators progress. My testimony has grow so much in the past few months. I'm so grateful for this opportunity that I have to be here to share the gospel.

Que tenga una buena semana!

Con amor,

Elder Hendrix

Felix drives the missionaries in Torrejon.

Week 13: Don't Blink and Walk!

If there's one thing I learned this week, it's that you should never write down an address in your agenda while walking because a bench might jump in your path and decide to destroy your shin. That is all.

This week was super cool! My companion's birthday was last week, so a family threw him a surprise party. We walked to their piso expecting just a normal comida with the members, but right when we opened the door they all jumped out and started yelling some crazy Spanish congratulations or something. I have no idea haha. There were like 5 families there along with the other missionaries in our district. And they had sooooo much cake and cookies and deserts! Which was quite unfortunate, considering that they all forgot that Elder G can't have
gluten... More for us though! ;) Haha they felt so bad, so they went and bought an entire gluten free cake for him.

Felix came to church for the first time this week!! And he loved it!!! The lesson in Sunday school was about eternal marriage, and he was so into it! We had another lesson with him that night, and asked him what he thought about church, and he said he wanted he really wants to be married in the temple some day!! All of our lessons with him are so solid! He loves learning! He always has the best questions! I can't wait for his baptism!!! Next month! He's awesome. We tried teaching him knock knock jokes this week and it was funnier than the actual joke.

 "Knock knock. Who's there? Owl. Ok well what is he doing?" Haha you had to have been there. Sorry I suck at telling stories..

Well, sorry for a short one this week. But I miss all of you! The church is true!

Elder Hendrix

Check out this sweet guitar I got!

Week 12: Segovia!

Hello everyone!

This week was interesting... I went on an exchange with Elder Phillips, who is also in his first transfer. So we are both far from speaking good Spanish. He came to my area, while Elder Gustafson went to his area in Coslada with Elder Aussant. So I was super nervous cause I was in charge, and our scheduled lessons were mostly in
Spanish! And how are we gonna contact if we can barely express ourselves in the language? I had all these doubts and worries.. But the whole exchange was definitely a success!!! We had 3 lessons completely in Spanish and they went pretty good!! And we had 3 street lessons! And placed 4 Books of Mormon! We had so much fun!

The work is going great here in Torrejón! We taught Felix a few times this week and he's solid! I love watching him progress! He's praying and reading all the time. He's going through some tough stuff right now, and he says whenever he hears our messages and reads the scriptures, he feels calm. He has a baptismal date for the 19th of December, and it's still looking good! I'll keep you updated there!

Halloween here is so weird... It's NOTHING like America. All the teenagers dress up in costumes and egg the whole city. They throw eggs everywhere! The Elders in Coslada got permission to go back to their piso for the night cause people wouldn't stop throwing eggs at them. And cops don't do anything here. It's the weirdest thing ever. Thankfully, Elder Gustafson and I had all of our lessons in the church that night.

We traveled up to Segovia today to go see a castle, so I don't have a ton of extra time to email, but my mom will have more pictures on my blog soon so check them out! It was way cool! And the weather was perfect! Super overcast all day!

Elder Hendrix at a castle in Segovia.

Elder Hendrix with a Catholic church in the background.

OH I NEED EVERYONE TO PLEASE DO ME A FAVOR
Tomorrow is my companion's birthday and it would be super awesome if you could send him a quick email tonight saying happy birthday! He will be 20. Please! Tell everyone you know!!! EVERYONE!!
samuel.gustafson@myldsmail.net
Thanks!!

I hope you all have an awesome week!!!

Elder Hendrix

Elders Hendrix and Phillips at a castle in Segovia.

With his district in Segovia.

Overlooking Segovia and its aqueducts.

Elder Hendrix and his district at the aqueducts in Segovia.

Elder Hendrix standing at the top on the castle.

Walking through the streets of Segovia.

Week 11: Equadorian Mix Tapes

This week has been quite eventful!

Last Monday and Tuesday I had an exchange with Elder Aussant in my district. He's a stud! He's from Canada and speaks French, Englis,and now Spanish. Before coming to Spain, he had to wait on his visa, so he served in the Montreal Canada mission for a few transfers where he was companions with Elder Guttierez from the Gilbert Ranch Ward in my stake! Small world haha. We had dinner with a family Tuesday. They cooked paella and it was amazing!! Before my mission, everyone told me they're so excited for me to have paella. I was definitely not disappointed!

So Elder Aussant and his companion, Elder Phillips, live here in Torrejón, but they work in a city called Coslada like 15 minutes away on the Renfe. They're the first missionaries to work in this area, so they don't have any investigators yet. Anyway, Elder Aussant got really sick one day this week, which just so happened to be the one day they had an appointment with a street contact they met, so there was no way they would let this fail. So they asked Elder Gustafson and I to go for them. We met this guy, Steven, outside the Renfe stop in Coslada, and taught him the restoration. And it went sooo good! He had a bunch of questions and just wanted to learn!! He prayed for the first time in his life with us. I felt an incredibly strong prompting to invite him to be baptized by someone holding priesthood authority, and I could not let this prompting go. So for the very first time in my life, and in very broken Spanish, I extended a baptismal invitation. And he accepted!!! AND he came to church yesterday!! Aw. I'm so excited for the Elders to teach him!! They have an appointment with him this week and I'm so excited to hear how it goes! They finally have an investigator! Weeks of straight contacting pays off!
Great things are happening! This story has two morals... 1) never give up, no matter how many rejections you get. And 2) never buy discounted lasagnes cause they might make Elder Aussant sick.

Remember that baptism I talked about last week? With that mom and her son with the broken leg? They got baptized on Saturday!!! It was so cool! I love seeing baptism!! They both shared their testimonies after and the spirit was so there!! They've been ready for so long and it was so exciting to finally see them enter the gate! I'm so happy for them! The missionaries were asked to do a musical number, so we did the primary song A Child's Prayer, and I played the piano. They were confirmed yesterday in sacrament meeting. They looked so happy!!!

Elders Hendrix and Phillips at Daniel's baptism.

The ward had an activity on Saturday night called Noche de Naciones (night of nations). There are people in the ward from all different countries, so they had each country do a dance or song or something from that culture. Like the Ecuadorians played their national anthem thing on flutes. And the Nigerians did this crazy tribal dance thing. There were like 8 or 9 countries. Spain, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, U.S., Nigeria, Ghana, Columbia... The United States was just the missionaries. We started our part with the Star Spangled Banner, which I got to sing! I sang the whole first half by myself acapella, and then Elders Phillips and Gustafson came in with harmonies in the rockets red glare part. It sounded alright! And then we went straight into cotton eye joe and did the line dance. We figured it would be a good idea to make it somewhat missionary related haha, so we acted out contacting to the frozen song Let it Go. Elder Phillips and Aussant were the missionaries, and they were walking around looking for people to teach, and kept getting rejected, and then they stopped another guy (me), and he accepted a Book of Mormon and gave them his number. And this happened right at the Let it Go
part of the song, so then they started celebrating. And then we all jumped in and started dancing. And that's how it ended... It was pretty cheesy haha but people laughed and they liked it! It was so much fun! After all the skit/dance/song things whatever you call them, we had a ton of food. Each country had to bring food from their
country. So I got to try food from all different places! It was amazing! It was such a fun night!! And we had a few of our investigators there, so it was a cool opportunity to introduce them to some members in the ward. They had such a good time!!

At the ward party, Noche de Naciones,
the missionaries represented the U.S.

Noche de Naciones, where 9 countries were represented by ward members.

I got my first hair cut in the mission field this morning. Hair stylists here are crazy. Everything has to be absolutely perfect. It usually takes me like 10-15 minutes to get my haircut, but this guy spent a solid 45 minutes doing this. Hair is so important to people here haha. Apparently it's impossible to find a bad hair stylist. It's weird.

Elder Gustafson is super awesome. We get along so well! I feel like we've known each other forever. We've made a deal together... I do all the dishes and he irons my shirts. It's great! I haven't ironed a single shirt on my mission! He's such a good trainer. I sometimes feel discouraged about the language, or when I don't understand anything, but he is very uplifting and it makes a huge difference! I've learned that service is so important in a companionship. It really strengthens the relationship and brings the spirit. Charity for your companion has
a huge effect on the work. Just like Brother Mask always says in mission prep, when in doubt, pray for charity! Truth!

I miss all of you so much! Send me emails! And pictures! Have a great week!

Elder Hendrix

Week 10: Roasted Almonds for Salvation

Elder Hendrix and his district at the Renfe.

The Hermanas in our district have been teaching a mom and her 10 year old son for a few months now. They're so solid and so ready to be baptized! So they had a baptism date for a few weeks ago, but the night before the baptism, the son broke his leg playing soccer or something. So he was getting a surgery that week, so they changed it for two weeks later. So then came the night before the baptism, and he found out he can't get the cast wet. So they postponed the date again. Well this past Friday, he got the cast off, so we had planned everything for Saturday. Hearing this was so exciting! They want to be baptized so bad and they're so ready! So Elder Gustafson and I headed over to the church Saturday morning to fill the font.Then we got a phone call. The kid had just left a doctor appointment where they put this gel stuff on his leg that he can't wash off for 48 hours. So we called the the mission President to see if it would be ok if we wrapped his leg in saran wrap or something so it won't get wet. It took a few hours to get a hold of him, but we finally did, and he said yes. So we immediately called this family to tell them we're good to go. Well, the metro decided to stop working when they were on their way to the baptism. So they were stuck forever... So long story short, the baptism still hasn't happened. But I know that it will! Sooner or later!!

We had a fun activity this week with the youth. It was called "Como un Misionero", where the youth got to see what missionary life is like! So first, we watched a few videos from The District, then had a competition. A typical morning for a missionary starts with waking up, exercising, eating breakfast, and then studying. So the guys and girls had to race each other to see who could do it the fastest. So first, they had to do 20 curls with a dumbbell, then put on a tie (girls put on a skirt and a cardigan), then peel and eat an orange, then open Preach My Gospel and memorize the 5 lessons in order, then run to the other side of the church to recite them, then the next person in line starts. The guys won, they killed. But it was so much fun to watch! There were 6 guys and 6 girls. After that, we had a reflection. And then Elder Gustafson and I took each of the youth out contacting
on the streets for 20 minutes. It reminded me a lot of my mini mission back in May. Some of them were way nervous, after a few tries at approaching strangers, they built more confidence! It was awesome seeing how just 20 minutes of proselyting changed these youth. For many of them, this was the first time they had had any interaction with missionaries. They had so much fun! A lot of them made comments about how cool it is to just open your mouth and get over any feelings of discouragement, and that once you do it, you start building more
confidence. And then you want to do it again. We had such a good time!

Here's another cool story! So there's this guy who works at his nut stand in the Plaza Mayor in Torrejón. And I've probably bought roasted almonds from this dude at least 10 times. They're amazing. And he's got peanuts, almonds, cashews, everything. Anyway, a few nights ago when we were on our way back to piso, we passed the nut guy, and obviously stopped to buy a bag. We talked to the guy for a while as he was packing up his stand for the night, and he asked about us and who we are, etc. We talked about being here in Spain to teach people about Christ and such, and we ended up teaching him the entire first lesson. And he totally wanted to hear more! We had to leave before we hit curfew, but he gave us his information. He lives in Madrid so we passed his number to the missionaries over there. He was such a cool guy! AND he gave us FREE nuts! Random contacts out in the street can be so amazing! It's the coolest feeling ever leaving a lesson we just ran in to. And I know that teaching by the spirit is what makes these types of lessons successful. We may have not have felt prepared to suddenly start teaching, but the spirit was prepared!

I love the food here still!! There's a really good dish here called tortilla de patatas and its soooo good! Look up a recipe or something and make it. The members here serve it with almost everything. The ice cream here is sooo cheap! I can buy a 2 liter thing of ice cream for 1.50. And it tastes so good! The major brand, Dia, tastes just like Bluebell. Speaking of which, is that stuff back in the market in America yet?? Someone update me!

Well as always, thanks so much for all of your support! I love and miss all of you! Have an amazing week!
Elder Hendrix

Elder Hendrix at the Madrid temple.

Elder Hendrix is SO excited about H&M at the Torrejon Mall.

First sweater purchase.  I think it's getting chilly.

Elder Hendrix's district at the Madrid temple.