Week 59: Bautizar Soñando

Maria's baptism in Madrid.

This has been quite the week! 

I'll start out with the highlight... MARIA GOT DUNKED!! Man I love that woman. She was so prepared and golden. We had a lesson with her the night before and talked about her baptismal service and she was just so excited! She has developed such a strong testimony of the gospel. She has changed. She's not the same Maria we met 2 months ago. I remember the first day we met her in the street. We had a short conversation and gave her a Book of Mormon. She was super nice and very receptive. And she has just been golden ever since. She understands the gospel. She knows Joseph Smith was really a prophet. And ah! she's the most amazing Dominican lady you'll ever meet. 

We did the baptism right after church yesterday. And it went so well! The whole ward stayed for it. The members are so supportive and loving and they've just done such a good job at welcoming Maria into the ward! My companion Elder Lopez baptized her, and I had the privilege of confirming her. At the end of the service, Maria shared her testimony and man it was beautiful. I LOVE THAT WOMAN. Teaching her has strengthened my testimony of the power of the gospel. Throughout my mission, I've been able to witness several times that the gospel really does change hearts. And I've definitely witnessed it with Maria. I KNOW this is the true church of God that has been restored on the earth. Living the teachings of Jesus Christ will change you. I know that God wants us to be happy. And in order to achieve that happiness, he has given us the gospel. There is nothing else we can do on this earth that will give us true eternal happiness than that which living the principles of the gospel gives us. So live it! It works! Just ask Maria. She's a champ.

That night, we went to Maria's house with the hermanas and had a big Dominican dinner. And man it was glorious. I don't know if I've said this enough times, but I LOVE THAT WOMAN.

We had a zone conference this week! It was so good! We talked about using the Book of Mormon to answer questions of the soul. It was a good reminder that the Book of Mormon really does answer questions. Sometimes we find answers to questions that we didn't even know we had. I love using the Book of Mormon in teaching so much! I know that book really is a testament of Jesus Christ, as well as a testament of the fact that God really does love us. That's why he gave us the book. Because he loves us! Anyway, we did a lot of practices in the meeting. We practiced introducing the Book of Mormon as something that helps us find answers. And it was a good learning experience. I love zone conferences. President Pack is an inspired man. I always learn something from his counsel that I can apply in the way I work to help me improve. I'm grateful for such a supportive president who has such a love for the Book of Mormon. I'm excited to strive this week and use the Book of Mormon even more in teaching to help people find answers!

Yesterday at church, Hermano Rojas gave an awesome talk that I wanted to share. He's a counselor in the bishopric. He talked about "Sunday members." As members of the church, we need to remember that we are followers of Christ EVERY day and not just Sundays. What are we doing outside of church? We need to always use the atonement, and not just on Sundays when we take the sacrament.

Transfers are this weekend! I might get a new comp. Updates to come.

I love you all! Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix

The subject line is actually hilarious. You gotta know Maria to understand it though. 

Elder Lopez baptized Maria and Elder Hendrix confirmed her.

Week 58: Kevin the jefe

Kevin got baptized this week! We went over to his house earlier this week to teach him how to tie a tie, and he introduced us to his family. He lives with his parents and his two sisters. We got to get to know them a little bit and they seem like super nice people! His mother expressed to us her gratitude for what we've taught him. She doesn't know much about the church, but she explained to us that she has seen a change in Kevin since we started teaching him. He's a lot more respectful at home and just a better person in general. I know
the gospel has changed that kid! He asked us to start teaching his family, so we had our first appointment with them yesterday! They're really receptive and they're down to listen! Anyway, his family all came to support him at his baptism and they seemed to have enjoyed the service! They came to church the next day with him and stayed all three hours! So we're super excited to continue visiting them. They're Bolivian so they make bomb food too. So that's a bonus.

Elders Hendrix and Lopez and Kevin's baptism

We had a sweet lesson with Maria last night. She was able to recognize the spirit for the first time in her life. She said she always thought she knew what it's like, but she explained to us that after last night, the spirit had a whole new meaning for her. So that was super cool! She's a champ! We're super excited to help her continue progressing and get dunked! More updates to come... Oh! She made us arepas yesterday too, and for that reason, I am grateful. I love those things.

So district meeting this week was intense. I invited Veronica from my first area to come to the meeting and pretend to be an investigator. I wanted to teach the restoration as a district so we could observe how other companionships teach and such. Practices with missionaries are difficult sometimes cause it's hard to accurately play the role of an investigator. So I invited Veronica and told everyone that she was a real investigator of some other missionaries. And Veronica did super well! She asked some hard questions during the lesson. It got everyone thinking. It was a cool teaching and learning experience! And the lesson was super powerful. Afterwards, we ended, and then I told everyone that Veronica is actually a member. But it was cool
because Veronica gave us feedback and shared with us her thoughts.

And that's about it. The weather is finally getting cooler so that's awesome!! I'm gonna need to break out the sweaters soon.

Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix

Week 57: Sick and Afflicted

Well the 57th week of the mission sure was interesting... And slow. And really quite miserable to be honest. I woke up Wednesday morning projectile vomiting, and it didn't stop until Saturday. And that morning, as soon as I thought all was well and I was finally recovering, my companion decided to jump on board and throw up too. It was great. And the exact same thing happened with the hermanas in our ward. Hermana Wihongi started dying the same time as me, and then our comps decided to die right after we started getting better. So basically, the work here in Barrio 4 has been pretty rough lately.

We're pretty sure we've come to the conclusion that it was some food that a family in the ward fed all of us on Tuesday. But idk. But man, it sucked. Throwing up, super high fever, ginormous pills (I hate taking pills). I couldn't eat anything at all. Literally everything I would eat or drink would just come right back up. So I lost pretty much all the weight I've gained on my mission! So I guess that's a plus. Oh and I grew a pretty sweet beard. And man that thing was full and luscious. So yeah it's been a slow week! However, we did manage to get a few lessons in before all of this nonsense happened. We met with Maria and Kevin and helped them prepare for their baptismal interviews which will happen this week! They both feel confident and they're really excited! Their baptism will be this Saturday at 3:00! They both were at church yesterday and man they're just solid. I'm so excited for them! 

Anyway, that's about it for this week! Sorry my emails are getting so boring. Also here is a quote that I really wanted to share because I know and love the Lord:

                       I now can say with all certainty
                       That I know and love the Lord.
                       I can testify with them of old
                       As I preach His holy word.
                   I know what He felt in Gethsemane
                       Is too much to comprehend.
                       I know He did it all for us;
                       We have no greater Friend.
                   I know that He will come anew
                       With power and in glory.
                       I know I will see Him once again
                       At the end of my life’s story.
                   I’ll kneel before His wounded feet;
                       I’ll feel His Spirit glow.
                       My whispering, quivering voice will say,
                       “My Lord, my God, I know.”
                                                     -Boyd K. Packer

Oh, and here's a video of my bishop shooting me with an airsoft gun last week.

Elder Hendrix

Week 56: Dunked at 85

Elder Hendrix and Lopez perform baptisms.

The hermanas in our ward have been teaching a Spanish family and they were finally baptized this weekend! And man it was intense. The family consists of two brothers in their 60s and their 85 year old mother. That's right. 85 year old Spanish lady got dunked. I had the honor of performing the baptism, and dude I was so nervous. It took like 3 people to get this poor old lady in the font. It was epic, but hey it worked out! She's clean now! But let me tell you, it wasn't easy. But they're such an awesome family! They're very happy with
their decisions! They got confirmed in church on Sunday and I had the opportunity to do the confirmations as well! I love seeing people receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and seeing how much this gospel really can change people!

Here's some updates on a few of our investigators...

Kevin. Kevin's progressing really well! We had a lesson with him last night and we watched the restoration movie. He has a solid testimony of Joseph Smith. We're so excited for his baptism! His baptismal interview will be this weekend.

Maria. This woman will NOT stop giving us morir soñando. It makes me feel awful every time,  but hey she's an awesome person. She's reading the scriptures and keeping commitments and she's just solid! She will be baptized with Kevin on the 17th.

Joaquin. This crazy guy isn't getting any less crazy. He still sees prophets everywhere he goes and has visions of wizards and stuff. But he's still a great guy! It's been really interesting teaching him. But he's got some solid potential! He has come to church a few times and has liked everything we've shared with him.

And that's about all that happened this week! It's still blazing hot and I sleep with frozen water bottles every night, but hey I can't complain! This is the work of the Lord!

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Hendrix

Week 55: Fear Factor

Elder Hendrix with Elders at the temple.

Sorry our p-day got changed again this week! It'll be Monday again next week. But hey this week was pretty crazy. Here's some of the good parts!

1. I love my calling as district leader! I LOVE doing district meetings. They're a lot of fun and I love getting creative and thinking of different things we can do in the meeting each week to help all of us improve. This past week, we talked about trusting in the Lord and developing confidence in ourselves so we can leave our comfort zone. The mission often requires us to do things that we may feel awkward or uncomfortable doing. For example, talking to someone in a transportation setting. You never know if the conversation will go awful and then you just stand there in silence until you get off. But the more you practice, the more you will learn and grow. We did a little fear factor type of thing as an activity to demonstrate. Each companionship had to do something that they would not want to do at all. Sing I am a child of God in your best opera voice, make a dance video to scripture power, act out a Book of Mormon scene chosen by the district, and rap the restoration. It was so funny! Everyone just embarrassed the heck out of themselves! They were so uncomfortable and it was just perfect because we were able to relate it to missionary work really well. Sometimes we don't want to do things, but we just gotta trust the Lord and do it! And the more we do it, the more our testimonies will grow. Leaving the comfort zone results in growth! It was an awesome meeting.

2. Maria is so golden! She's a Dominican woman we're teaching. She's getting baptized on the 17th of September. She's so ready and prepared. I love teaching her. She has developed such a strong
testimony of the church. She's hilarious too. She ALWAYS makes us this Dominican drink called Morí Soñando and it always makes us so sick. It's straight milk, lemon, and sugar. It tastes pretty good, but she always gives us way too much. But hey, I'm so grateful for it anyway. She's such a nice woman! She invited us and the hermanas over yesterday and made us food and it was so good. Dude, the woman is just amazing. We're so pumped for her baptism day!

3. Kevin is progressing really well! I can't remember if I've talked about him before, but his girlfriend is a member and he always comes to church with her and her family. He will be baptized with Maria on the 17th. He's a good kid! He's reading and praying and we're super excited for him!

4. We have a crazy investigator named Joaquin. He is so weird, but he's awesome haha! I love having lessons with him. He's a 60-year-old Spaniard. We met him in the metro a few weeks ago. He's the nicest guy, but man it's gonna take some time with him. He thinks we're prophets. He's come to church a few times, so we're working little by little. He's a fun investigator haha.

5. I gave a talk in church this Sunday about missionary work. I had about 15 seconds to prepare it, and I had to speak for 20 minutes. But hey it went alright! One of the speakers didn't show up, so the bishop came down from the stand during the sacrament and asked if I would speak. It was rough, but I've come to love public
speaking. Especially when it's on a gospel topic. I just love sharing testimony and experiences I've had!

6. I got to do a few baptismal interviews last night! And man that was one of the highlights of my mission so far for sure! The hermanas in our district have been teaching a family, and they had their interviews finally. And man it was such an amazing experience having the opportunity to do it. I've never met these people or taught them,
I don't know their life story, but as I did the interviews, I could just feel that they've made changes in their lives. I could just see in their faces that they know that this gospel blesses lives. It was so cool hearing their testimonies and hearing them talk about their experience with learning about the church. They're so prepared and I'm so pumped to see them in the font!

And that's about it for this week! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Hendrix

Week 54: Winter, where u at?

Time crunch: ready, set, go!

So transfers came out this weekend! Elder Lopez and I will be staying here in Barrio 4! We're super excited for another 6 weeks here in this area! We're teaching some solid people! We've got a few people we're helping prepare for baptism!

We had a family home evening with the Perez family and the Hermanas in our district. It was a ton of fun! They asked me to bring my guitar over, so we just played music and sang songs together. They're such an awesome family!

Ugh, no time! I'm so grateful to be here in Spain serving all these people! I love the mission so much! It's blazing hot every day, and the fact that there's a pool right next to the church isn't really helping, but hey what's a mission without challenges? I love coming home soaked in sweat every day. Makes me feel accomplished. haha.

Love you all! Have an awesome week!

Elder Hendrix

Elder Hendrix and his district in Barrio 4
prior to transfers on August 22, 2016.

Week 53: Slackline Followup

I swear each week gets shorter and shorter. Time in the mission is weird.

This weekend was really good! We had an awesome zone training on Friday. I love my zone leaders Elder Wade and Elder Bennett. They talked a lot about being creative with finding new people. We shouldn't be afraid to put ourselves out of our comfort zone and try new things. Everyone shared ideas and things they've done before as finding activities. It was really fun! I got to participate in a musical number too which was way cool! I love every opportunity I have to do musical numbers. I sang Come Thou Fount with Hermana Wihongi who is in my district. Hermana Campbell played the guitar. It turned out pretty good I think! I'll attach a video if I can...

So once a transfer, we do a temple night as a mission with our recent converts, and so we got to go on Friday night! We took this guy named Luis who was baptized a few months ago. He's a stud! He's 17, from Venezuela and speaks perfect English. He's a cool dude. He said he really liked it! I love going to the temple. Seeing recent converts being baptized for the dead is the coolest thing ever to watch. There were about 25 converts in total that the missionaries brought that night, and for all of them it was their first time entering the temple! It was so cool to see!

Elder Hendrix and his funny zone at the Madrid temple.

Elder Hendrix and his zone at the Madrid temple.

Elder Hendrix with his zone and new converts at the
Madrid temple on August 11, 2016.

Elder Lopez, Luis (a new convert) and
Elder Hendrix at the Madrid temple.

We had an investigator in church last week named Joaquin. We had a follow up lesson with him this weekend and talked about how he liked the meetings. He said it was really repetitive and weird he didn't like it. We explained everything and the purpose of the meetings and such and he said he's willing to continue meeting with us and keep trying it! So that was a miracle! At the beginning of the lesson, I lost hope haha. He basically said there's no way he's returning. But the spirit jumped in the conversation and softened his heart so all is good!

And that's pretty much all that's happened since last p day. It's still blazing hot here. Everyone keeps saying it starts to cool down this time of year, but the temperatures just keep going up. It's not a very funny joke.

Oh I just thought of something else that happened this week! So we found this really cool family from Ecuador when we did the slackline in the park. We called them this week and invited them to a ward noche de hogar activity thing on Saturday, and they came! And they said they really liked it! We talked to them afterwards and found out that they had traveled over an hour to get there though. I felt so bad, but at the same time so grateful! They made a sacrifice to come! And they want to come back! The whole family does! We explained to them that there are missionaries in their area and there's a church that's way closer to them, so we passed their reference. And they were so grateful! The mother was saying she just felt something sweet about the building and the lesson and the missionaries and everything. I'm excited for the missionaries in her area to teach them! Moral of the story: slacklines are awesome.

I love you all! I hope you have an awesome week!

Con cariño,

Elder Hendrix