Week 42: Caridad

I have no time, so sorry if this is short... I got transferred! I'm going to the center of Madrid to serve with my new companion, Elder Sasso. He's from Pennsylvania and has been in the mission for 22 months. I'm super excited to serve with him! And I'm so pumped to be in this area of Madrid!

My companionship with Elder Trassierra was quite the experience. I haven't written home much about how it went, so I'd like to talk about things I learned with him. The three months I served with him were the hardest three months of my life. He was extremely difficult to be with. There were days when he refused to speak to me. He was never open with me and it was just difficult to love him. I would wonder why the heck, of all people, I was assigned to serve with him. I felt so trapped in that companionship. I always felt so discouraged. I spent every night at my bedside just asking God to help me to understand why I was out with this guy. There had been times when I just felt alone. I prayed and prayed and prayed. I always felt like those 2 transfers were a huge waste. 

Though, as its over, I've spent a lot of time reflecting on it. In reality, I learned so much from him. I feel like Heavenly Father put me with him because He loves me. He knew I would experience a challenge, but He wanted me to be able to grow from it. In my companionship with Elder Trassierra, I learned a lot about charity. I thought I knew what charity was before, but now I really feel like I understand why it's so important. I think about the Savior. A lot of people rejected Him and had so much hatred towards Him. But He continued to love and serve them unconditionally anyway. I thought about this throughout this companionship. I tried so hard to serve my companion and do everything I could to help him. He may have never expressed gratitude, but that's when I am reminded of how amazing my Savior is. There were people who would never listen to Him or even acknowledge that He was there. But He still loved them. He still helped them. He still saw them as sons and daughters of God. 

I feel like Elder Trassierra taught me to love the Savior. He taught me what charity is. I've come to better understand the importance of enduring and keep trusting in the Lord, because He knows how we feel. Sometimes we are given trials that seem impossible to endure, but that's when our faith is tested. With faith, along with following the example of the Savior, we can do whatever God requires of us. My appreciation for trials has increased. I'm very grateful that we are given hard tasks, because it gives us an opportunity to show God that we trust Him and have faith in Him.

I love you all! More info on my new area to come! Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix

Week 41: Be Obedient!

Dave Zimmerman, the man on the right, was traveling in
Spain and met Elder Hendrix and two other missionaries.
The man in white is a recent convert.  They were at a park
 in Madrid when they attended a conference with Elder Bednar.

There is a brand new chapel in Coruña (like 45 mins from my area in Santiago) that was just built and it's dang beautiful. It's the first chapel in all of northern Spain. So last week, our entire zone went out there to spend a whole day passing out flyers for the open house. We were paired with other missionaries from the zone, and I was out with Elder Holt and we had a ton of fun! He's one of my best friends in the mission. Together, we passed out just under 2000 flyers.

We found a new golden investigator! His name is Juan and he's 25 and from Venezuela. We found him in the street a few days ago. We finally got to meet with him this week for the first time. We taught the restoration of the gospel and it was so powerful! We got to the Joseph Smith part and read the verse in James that Joseph read when he was searching for a church. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." I asked him if he's ever had an experience where he asked God a question about something he wasn't sure about and then received an answer. His reply was money solid. He smiled and said it's funny that I ask that question. He said he is in the exact same position as Joseph Smith, looking for an answer of what church is right. And he said at that very moment, he had received his answer. He said while we were sitting there teaching him, he found his answer. He said he doesn't know hardly anything about our church, but for some reason he feels it's right. We asked him to be baptized and he said yes! And he even came to church yesterday! Miracles are happening here in Santiago! We're finding!

Funny story... So I've been really sick this week with congestion and headache stuff. Well, one day this week when we were in the church, I turned around to sneeze right as one of the Hermanas' investigators walked through the door behind me and I accidentally sneezed all over here and I'm pretty sure that's the reason she didn't come to church yesterday.... Oops.

I've been studying my notes from the Elder Bednar conference a lot this week. One thing that I've been thinking about a lot is when he said "knowledge is gained by obedience." Like Nephi explains, the gospel is plain and precious. It shouldn't be difficult to understand. But our faith, diligence, and obedience are what help us better
understand gospel principles. Exercising faith by acting helps us understand why we have commandments and helps us see promised blessings. Sometimes it is difficult to explain this to investigators. When we talk about blessings that you receive when you go to church or read the scriptures, it might seem weird or not make any sense to them. But if they're obedient and have faith and act, they will better understand why it is important. For example, not drinking coffee seems dumb to a lot of people. They don't see how it will bless them. But once you act and exercise faith and avoid coffee, your understanding of the importance of the Word of Wisdom will be more familiar and you will be able to see the blessings that come! Knowledge and understanding is gained by obedience!

Out of time! I love you all! Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix

Elder Hendrix visited La Playa de las Catedrales near Lugo.

Week 40: Elder Bednar in Madrid!

Elder Hendrix and Hermana Contreras,
who he knew in his Torrejon district. 

 

Elder Hendrix with two temporary companions
during his visit to Madrid to see Elder Bednar.
They met the Polish woman and the man on
 the right is an investigator.  They are in Burger King.

This has been the longest week ever. But it's ok because we got to see Elder Bednar! I drove down to Madrid Thursday morning with the Bakes to fill an extra seat in their car so we wouldn't have to pay for a train ticket. There was only room for one person, so my companion stayed in the north with some other elders and they came down Saturday morning. But basically Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I hung out with random elders in Madrid. I've been a traveling companionless missionary for 3 days. It was a ton of fun though! 

Anyway Saturday night was the conference with Elder Bednard. It was sooo cool! Such an amazing experience that I will never forget! He did a question and answer thing and it was such a cool 3 hours! One thing he talked about was how we focus too much and worry too much about having perfect lessons and being perfect teachers rather than allowing the spirit to give the perfect lessons and be the perfect teacher. We worry because we don't feel like we have enough knowledge. We worry because we don't know answers to every question. We worry because we don't know where the sword of Laban is. We worry because we're nervous. We spend too much time thinking about ourselves as the ones to convert the people rather than allowing the spirit to use us. The spirit is who talks to the people. The spirit is who touches their hearts. 

Sister Bednar talked about how there are a lot of people who say "So-and-so was my missionary! This missionary converted me and showed me the gospel!" But are we really the people who do the converting? No. It's the spirit. We are simply bridges, allowing the spirit to cross over and speak to them. We are the instruments. Therefore, we need to quit spending so much time worrying about what to say, or worrying about having a bad lesson. Because we're not the teachers. The spirit is the teacher. Now, this doesn't give an excuse to slack off and rely on the spirit to do what we didn't study for. We have to do our part and invite. We have to pray, study, be worthy, be faithful, work hard, be diligent, be obedient.... and then stop worrying. I have so much love for the Bednars. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to hear from a literal apostle of God. I know that he is a special witness of Him and that he has been set apart by the power of the priesthood as a prophet, seer, and revelator. So awesome hearing from him! He didn't shake hands, but that's ok. His counsel was so inspiring! Anyway, after the meeting, everyone went outside and we got to talk to friends in the mission and it was awesome! 

AND THEN THE COOLEST THING EVER HAPPENED. My comp had to go to the bathroom (that's not the thing). So we went to the bathroom upstairs in the chapel because nobody knows about it and there were a million people in the one downstairs. So we were in there doing our stuff, and as I pulled the door to go out, this guy was walking in at the same time AND THAT GUY WAS ELDER BEDNAR. I KID YOU NOT. I WOULD HAVE PEED MYSELF IF I HADN'T JUST PEED. He shook my hand and gave me a shoulder grab and it was the most intense moment of my life haha. And then his body guard stood outside the door while he was inside. But DUDE I MET ELDER BEDNAR AND IT WAS CRAZY! AND in a bathroom!

We stayed in Madrid yesterday morning to go to church. It was stake conference for the Madrid East stake, which is MY OLD STAKE. I got to see all of my friends from good ol' Torrejón! It was amazing! So many faces I've missed so much!! It was so awesome seeing everyone again!

We drove back late last night. It's been a crazy week, but such a memorable one!

I love you all!! Have an awesome week! I would give a shout out to all you 2016 graduates, but 2015 was already the best. Stay safe!

Elder Hendrix

Elder Hendrix emailing his mom.

Elder Hendrix shakes hands with Hermana Iregui
who was in his Torrejon district.

Elder Hendrix in Madrid with some temporary
companions and hermanas.

Week 39: Miracles

Elder Hendrix says goodbye to Tyler and Summer Hawes
before they move back to the U.S.

Why does it never stop raining here?

A few months ago, we stopped this guy named Elton in the street. We had a nice conversation and he told us he would be totally down to here our message in his home. He didn't have a phone because he had just barely moved here from Brazil and was still working on getting one, but he gave us his address. Since then, we have tried passing by his place several times. There was never an answer. His piso is about an hour walk from ours, so there has been some discouragement in the past when we go over there to find nobody. And the waterfalls coming from the sky don't make the hike over there much better. We stopped trying to visit him about a month ago. 

Well, this past Saturday, we were out contacting in the street and I had this sudden impression that we needed to go try Elton one more time. It was getting late and it had started to rain again, but for some reason I just felt like we needed to go over there. We headed that direction, made it, and rang the bell. And....nothing. No answer. We rang again. Still nothing. I felt so discouraged and confused. Why did I feel like we had to come over here? We said a prayer right there in the doorway asking God why we were led over here. And immediately after I said amen, we had the idea of trying one of the neighbors. There are 4 pisos in this building, and to enter the building, you have to ring someone's bell so they can buzz you in. So I tried one of the neighbors, waited a few seconds, and then we heard the door unlock. They buzzed us in! We entered, and walked up the stairs to the door that we had rang. We knocked, but nobody was answered. They buzzed us in, so there had to be someone home right? Well, there was no answer when we knocked. 

We went up to Elton's piso and tried knocking on his door. We heard the door handle turn and then it opened and then boom! Elton answered! He seemed so surprised but happy! He let us enter and we sat down and talked for a while and had a really awesome lesson! His wife was there and we taught them both with their 2 year old daughter. We taught the plan of salvation and it was one of the most powerful lessons I've ever been a part of. This family is ready. They're ready for the gospel in their lives. They were so willing to listen and to hear what we have to share. They were the nicest people! They thanked us so many times for coming by. We have another appointment next week and we're really excited! As we headed out their door, Elton stopped us and asked how we even got inside the building. Turns out his bell doesn't work, which is the reason we've never been able to enter. So when we buzz his piso number, they don't hear anything. 

We told him we rang one of the neighbors' pisos and they let us in. And then he explained to us that nobody lives there. The other pisos have been vacant for months. Nobody could have buzzed the door open because there's nobody there. So how did the door open? I don't know how, but that door was somehow opened. An electrical problem maybe? Luck? To me, it was a God working in a mysterious way and blessing us with a miracle. He knew that Elton was up there in his piso with his family waiting to hear from us. 

D&C 6:5 "Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will knock it shall be opened unto you." We literally knocked on this door and it was opened. I do not believe this was just a coincidence. I believe that this was God blessing us and showing us that we really can see miracles if we have the faith. My testimony of his love has increased this week. I know that he wants to bless us. We are His children and he wants us to experience miracles. I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!

Gonzalo is progressing and is ready for baptism! We had to change his date to the 21st because we'll be in Madrid for Elder Bednar on his original baptism date. But we're so excited! His birthday was yesterday but he still came to church! And he loved it! This guy is seriously a stud and he's just gold. We've taught him all the lessons already. He's prepared! He's anxious and excited to get dunked! The branch is super pumped too. They're really friendly to Gonzalo and they all want to be his friend! There hasn't been a baptism in this branch for over 6 years. The last baptism was the current branch president's.

Tyler Haws (branch mission leader) with Gonzalo,
who will be baptized this month.

The Hermanas in Lugo had a baptism last week and my companion and I got to go because they didn't have any Melchizedek priesthood holders to be witnesses. So we got up super early one morning to take a 2 1/2 hour bus ride out to Lugo to witness a baptism! The guy's name was Gueirrmo and he was a funny dude! He was so happy! He came out of the water with the biggest smile on his face. He wiped the water out of his eyes and put his hands up in the air and it was just awesome! There was such a strong spirit in that room.

I'm so grateful to be a missionary. I know that Santiago is where the Lord needs me right now. I'm so grateful for this calling! I love missionary work! I leave you with my testimony that I know God loves us. He knows each of us personally. He wants us to experience happiness. He wants to bless us with miracles. That is a fact!

I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL YOU MOMS, ESPECIALLY MY MOM.

Elder Hendrix

Elder Hendrix on a Skype call to his family on Mother's Day.

The Santiago branch.

A zone meeting in Lugo. Elders Gustafsen and
Bartholomew were previous companions to Elder Hendrix.

Week 38: Crazy Spaniards

It's raining again...

Crazy story of the week: So we were out contacting in the street on the way home one night when we stopped this huge hairy Spaniard. We introduced ourselves and such and he was quick to reject us. He didn't say a word. He just turned around and started marching off. And then I was like "Hey, we do service as well if you're interested! We're teaching English classes!" And then he turned around and yelled in perfect English "I don't need you to teach me English!" And then he starts a full-out sprint towards me and, holy goodness gracious, I felt like I was in a bull fight arena. He ran right in to me and shoved me and I tumbled to the ground. It was like a mortal combat scene. I don't know what it is with people shoving me lately. I swear I didn't do anything. But then he just walked off and that was it. Crazy people here.

So Elder Bartholomew and his companion are staying in our piso this week!! Their assignment this transfer is to visit all the branches in the north to clean up membership records. Apparently, a lot of people have moved or changed phone numbers or died, so their purpose is to just figure out where people are. So this week, they're working in our branch here in Santiago! It's been soooo cool to see him again! He was my companion in Torrejon a few months ago. He's definitely my best friend in the mission. So it's been super fun in our piso! He brought
his ukulele up here so we've been having some nice jam sessions.

We saw a miracle yesterday! We were contacting in a park when we stopped this dude chilling with his 2 kids. We showed them a pamphlet of the family proclamation and this dude was so interested! He said he had never heard of this before and that he was so down to listen to us! So we walked over to the Bake's piso with his family and taught them! His name is Marlon and his 2 kids are Sebastián and Samuel. That lesson was soooo cool! We gave them a Book of Mormon and they said they would read it together as a family! We have another appointment with them this week and we're so pumped! I have so much faith in this family!

I'm so grateful for this time I have to be a missionary. It has gone by ridiculously fast, but it's been amazing. I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to share with others the fact that we have a loving Heavenly Father who knows us personally. With such a strong testimony of that, how could the pouring rain every day stop me from pressing forward? Elder Murset, a good friend of mine serving in Seattle, said this in one of his emails home: "Nowhere else would these kinds of experiences happen! Where else can I run through the rain in a white
shirt and tie, carrying a Book of Mormon and ready to testify to every living soul I see that this Gospel is true and that Christ lives! Amazingly great experience out here. This is truly the Lord's work. Without Him, none of this would be even close to possible."  I just want to add to that my testimony of the Savior. I know He
lives. I'm so grateful to be here in Santiago,Spain testifying to others that He loves us. We may face challenges such as bad weather or constant rejection, but I know that this is the work of the Lord! And it's the most rewarding work ever! I love being a missionary! There's nothing better than helping people come to know their Savior!

I hope you all have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix

Btw, here's a scripture I read this week, 2 Nephi 9:51: "...do not spend money for that which is of no worth." I would invite each of you to apply this into your lives this week by choosing the right when considering which fast food restaurant will most likely meet your physical and spiritual needs. Chickfila is always the way to go.
Don't waste your money on anyplace else.

Week 37: Carrera Report!

Elder Hendrix and his district after a basketball game
with Tyler and Summer Haws.

Uno dos tres cuatro


We had the pinewood derby on Friday!!! And it was a SUCCESS. It was so the funnest night of my mission for sure!!! Definitely the coolest activity that this branch has ever had. It was so awesome! We had a super good turnout and the cars were so amazing! We gave everyone a kit with a block of styrofoam as a base, with other pieces of styrofoam to work with. And the wheels were thick poster board. Super low budget, but holy heck it worked! Every single person's car ran down the track without problem! I'll attach some pics. I'm so glad that this activity we planned worked out! We've been planning it for 2 months. And the branch loved it! We had families, less actives, and friends of members there! We started with a spiritual thought, then had the race, then dinner, then an awards ceremony. It was really informal, but sooooo much fun! So many people kept telling us how awesome of an activity it was. The winning prize is a dinner that the missionaries are gonna make. And then we had a few certificates for like most creative car, most colorful, etc. We had some awesome cars there! I was so amazed how these people turned a few pieces of styrofoam into art. The winning car was the yellow one in the picture.

The pinewood derby with the Santiago branch.

We've been working with the members a lot more this week. After that activity, I feel like they have so much more respect for us. They trust us! They all talk to us now. There has been some tension in this branch in the past, but I feel like the pinewood derby night really was a great opportunity for the members to bond and have a good time. We're so grateful for the success we had with that! Transfers are today. I'm staying here in Santiago with Elder Trassierra. We're excited to keep on going and find people to teach!

OHHHH SOMETHING HAPPENED. Our mission president emailed everyone this morning to say get ready cause on May 14th, ELDER DAVID A BEDNAR IS COMING TO SPAIN! THIS IS HAPPENING, I KID YOU NOT. We get to go to Madrid next month to hear Elder Bednar speak to the mission!!! I'm sooooo excited!!!!

I let the hermanas cut my hair today. Scariest thing I've ever done.

The hermanas giving Elder Hendrix a haircut.

Sorry I don't have a lot to say this week. Hopefully these pics make up for it. Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix

The pinewood derby with the Santiago branch members.

This ward member won first place with his fast car.

One of the primary kids shows off his pinewood derby car.

Week 36: Jello

Elder Hendrix at Muxia.

I invented a game. It's called jello. When you're standing in a crowded bus, metro, or train, you're not allowed to move your feet. It's difficult since keeping balance is such an art. So when it's bumpy and you lose balance, you fall into someone. So here's the game... You have to talk to the first person you bump in to and start up a conversation. Well, this past Wednesday, literally all of our lessons failed on us. And, like always, it was pouring rain. So we spent the entire afternoon in a bus talking to people! And we got quite a few references! I love contacting in transportation settings. It's a great opportunity to practice sharing the gospel in just a few minutes. Buses are quick, so sometimes you only get like 30 seconds! It's a lot of fun though. And if you mess up or the contact just goes bad, it's ok cause when that person gets off the bus, a new person gets on, which means you get a retry. That's one thing I love about contacting. There's always second chances.

So Tyler Haws' birthday was this week! We had a little party with them and ate food and cake and stuff. It was awesome! We invited over some youth in the branch and some young adults and we played basketball! It
was so much fun! Tyler is the coolest mission leader ever. The highlight of that activity was that I somehow managed to get lucky and tie Tyler in a three point shootout... That's going on my résume.

We had an appointment with this guy that lives on the completely opposite side of Santiago this week. He lives on top of a giant mountain. And it was raining sooooo hard that day. And of course the wind was insane. And there's no bus that goes over there. So we had like an hour and a half hike to this place and it was crazy. I was
completely drenched and freezing. Well, we knocked on the door, and he wasn't even home... So that's awesome. But it's ok cause my quads got massive. And then I was reminded of how amazing it is to be a
missionary. Hiking in storms is the worst. But it's the best. Even if our lesson fails us, there's still something about putting in effort that makes it so satisfying. I've definitely grown a testimony of putting my trust in the Lord. I know that he knows what he's doing. There is a reason behind everything.

Gonzalo is progressing! His baptismal date of May 14th is looking good! We're so excited! I love that guy! He's like my best friend in Santiago. He came to basketball this week and has loved getting to know the members. We had a really good lesson with him last night. He's reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and is right on track to being baptized.

I've been teaching Elder Trassierra to pray in English and it's going really well! Being companions with a native has been interesting. It's hard, but I feel like my Spanish has improved a ton.

The pinewood derby is this Friday!! We're so pumped! There's gonna be food, desserts, prizes, ahh I'm excited! I'll report back next week!

So today for P day the Bake's drove us to a place called Muxia (moo-shee-uh). It's this huge chunk of land that's just covered with boulders. It's right on the coast and the weather was amazing! Ahhhh and ocean smell. It wasn't dark overcast rainy like Santiago! Such a nice change! Pictures attached...

Anyway, sorry this weeks email is short... I love you all and I'm so grateful for your support!

Elder Hendrix

Oh one more thing... Spanish government decided to be dumb, so I can't get packages any more... Letters are still good though so keep them coming haha.

Elder Hendrix at Muxia.

Elders Trassierra and Hendrix at Muxia.

An old church at Muxia.

Inside an old church at Muxia.

Elders Hendrix and Trassierra in front of
a Santiago cathedral that is being refurbished.