December 29, 2014

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

 

It's weird that the last time I was writing this letter home, I was with Elder McWhorter in El Ferrol. Good times... Well, first of all, I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and making lots of memories! Christmas this year was pretty great! But I'll talk about that in a little.

On Monday, we had a normal day since our P Day was on Christmas and we had a lesson with Javier and Lourdes that went really well!  We set a baptismal date for the both of them for the 24th of January. They seem to have a lot of desires to get to know people in the branch here in Oviedo and come to church so hopefully we can get them ready for the 24th!  After we had a good lesson with Prosper on missionary work and the priesthood. It went well!

Every year in Madrid on the week of Christmas, the zones in Madrid have a huge Christmas devotional and all of the missionaries down there get together to celebrate Christmas. For the second time in a row, I missed it!!  This year, David Archuleta came as well and sang a few songs. It sounds like it was really fun but we had a great time up here in Oviedo! Elder Ward planned a great devotional for us and I learned alot about the importance of Christmas this year. It's kind of amazing how much I can learn about simple things like Christmas and missionary work even after having done it for so long.

On Wednesday, the noche buena as they call it here, The Hunt's invited us over to their house for dinner! The other missionaries came and some YSA members and it was great! I was in charge of the dessert and let's just say I whipped out some egg nog shakes which turned out suuper good!! I was suprised because I had to make them from scratch and I've never made egg nog from scratch before but it was really good and pretty easy too. It was a memorable night and Elder Ward dressed up as Santa Clause which made it even better. 

Christmas was good and tranquilo. We had breakfast at the Hunt's and then I dominated everyone in Uno by winning 4 games out of the 6  that we played. I was on fire haha. Skyping with the family was great too! It was really good to see my family and I miss them a lot. In the afternoon we hit the streets and received a couple of Christmas references which was bomb. I've heard that in some missions they don't let the missionaries go out to proselyte on Christmas but we go hard here in Spain.

The rest of the week was great. The highlight was when we went to sing at an elderly peoples home (that sounds really weirdly phrased sorry its called a residencia here...). We sang some carols and some hymns and it was great! I also played the lead role in a skit about a boy who gives his winter coat to a poor kid. And I also played the role as one of the Whos in Whoville. Elder Ward of course took the role as the Grinch. It was unforgetable haha. Sunday was great too. I gave the lesson in the Elders Quorum on Christmas and it went really well. 

I especially wanted to share with all of you a verse from the Old Testament that I found. Micah 5:2 "But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." And a snip from verse 5: "And this man shall be the peace" I know that Jesus is our Savior. What better time do we have to think about him than now? As this Christmas season ends, I hope that we all can remember our Savior a little more during this coming year. I know that He lives and that He loves us. He was born in the humble city of Bethlehem, but He truly is a ruler in Israel and the Son of God. He is the way, the truth and the life!

I love you all!

Elder Franklyn

December 15, 2014

VARONESSSSS Y VARONAAAAS,

Veo en todoooooo que ustedes están... leyendo mi carta semanal!

Well, this week has been good!  Difficult but good! The good part is that we haven't given up working hard! Elder Esquen and I have been contacting alot and looking for new investigators and we have seen a good amount of success from that! Our investigators are doing good! Marcos kind of fell off of the map for a few days and so he won't be getting baptized now but hopefully in the new future he will feel ready to take the step! 

On the other hand, Prosper is doing wonderfully! We had a fast with him on Sunday to help him quit smoking and he is doing good! He seems to have a lot of great desires to do it and we are just trying to do our best to be there alongside him to help him reach his goal. 

Something that I've learned in the mission is that when we set a baptismal date with someone, its not OUR goal, but THEIR goal. We can't drag people to get baptized, but we can help them try to reach their goals. And there's nothing more than I love to see than an investigator who really has true desires to hit their goals. It's awesome to see! 

Well other than that, we have just been contacting a lot in the rain and having some great experiences with the Asturian people. I hope all is welll!!

Love you all!

Elder Franklyn

December 8, 2014

We missed our bus in Leon this week so I bought everyone popsicles to make us feel better haha

Here is our district hiking up to a giant statue of Jesus Christ in Oviedo.

The statue! And an epic shot of me pointing at Oviedo.

Our last day with Elder Carrejo and Elder Dugan.

Down in Madrid! !

One with Elder McWhorter. Reunited

Family and Friends!

First of all... Someone could have told me that Nate and Rachel were having another baby!! #missionprobs Oh and I am sorry for not writing last week, I had to catch a train down to Madrid!!

This past week has been crazy but super fun.

On Monday we took a hike up to this huge statue of Jesus Christ and then I hopped on a train down to Madrid. I got to stay in my old apartment again with the office elders and I felt right at home haha.

On Tuesday we had the Mission Leadership Council which was really fun! I got to see Elder Echegaray, Elder Beuden and Elder McWhorter again so that was great. Then Elder Lopez and I took a train back to Leon and planned for the Zone Training Meeting on Wednesday.

The meeting went really well! We watched the video He is the Gift and the Spirit was really strong. We have one of the smallest zones in the mission missionary-wise but geographically the largest zone and a lot of work to get done. I love working in this district because there is so much potential. I can see them having a stake and a ton of wards here one day! After the meeting we missed our bus by a few minutes and had to wait in Leon for a good 2 hours. We had food though so that was fun. But kind of annoying haha.

On Thursday everything kind of fell through besides a great lesson we had with Prosper! Nigerias are the best!!! We taught him about the word of wisdom and this is what I wanted to focus my email on. So we were there with Carol, Jessica, Elder Carrejo and I and we began talking about the Word of Wisdom and we explained the things that we shouldn't take into our bodies. We knew he had a problem with smoking and we were a little worried about how he would take it. After explaining it, he responded to us and said something like this: "I have smoked for many, many years. I love smoking just because I have done it for so long. But I want to see the other side. I want to see what it would be like to not have to smoke every day. If you say that there really are blessings that God has for me if I don't smoke, I want to see what those blessings are." It was amazing to see how much he had changed. He accepted the challenge to quit smoking from now until his baptismal date on the 20th of December and if he can make it that long, he will quit for life. He is such an example to me. I have learned so much from him and he seems to be progressing so well. He came to church on Sunday and is just a boss through and through.

On Saturday we had a big activity with all of the YSA in the Leon district and it went really well! We had a great turn out and we saw some miracles as well. We were given a 1 hour time slot to talk about missionary work which ended up changing into a 2 hour time slot the day off. We were all nervous about it going well and we got together as the missionaries of Oviedo, said a prayer, and then just did a fantastic job. We took the JAS (spanish for YSA) out to contact and had some great miracles in the street as well.

Sunday was good! Prosper, Marcos and Jose Alberto came to church. Oh by the way, Jose Alberto leaves for the Dominican Republic on Thursday! I'm gunna miss the guy. He is awesome and I totally see him getting baptized some day. Church was great though and we ended the transfer at the Palma's house. Right back where we started from! Elder Carrejo seemed sad to leave but ready for a change at the same time. Elder Esquen just got here and he seems really cool! I'm sure we will get along well and have some fun together. Hopefully my spanish will improve as well! Thanks for everything. I love you all! Shout out to Brody Palmer for working hard. Can't wait to hear all of your amazing stories from Cambodia!

Love you!

Elder Franklyn

November 24, 2014

A Miracle.

Amigitos mios,

This week has been really fun! We have had some ups and some downs but all in all we have seen some great growth in ourselves and in our investigators. Marcos' baptismal date is pretty set and we are hoping to have his interview this week! He is doing great and loved church yesterday.

We had two lessons with a man named Prosper this week that went really well! He is from Nigeria and so we teach him in English. Yeah.. my english is terrible haha. It was really hard to teach actually but it went well. He is thinking about baptism which is good!

It has been raining a ton here so we have been trying to stay as dry as possible but sometimes it just isn't possible haha. I hope it doesn't get to windy here or then we will really have a problem. We had this great milagrito this weekend that I wanted to write about.

So on Saturday morning we had a YSA breakfast in the chapel and then we had a scavenger hunt throughout the city of Oviedo. Marcos came so we joined in and it was really fun! Marcos' team won and he was happy about that. We were standing around talking though and Marcos comes up to us and says that he had been talking to a member named Angel and said that Angel was going to give him a ride to Gijon for the baptism that our branch had that afternoon. It was something very small but very important to us as missionaries. Sure enough, Marcos and Angel showed up for the baptism and had a great experience. It was exactly what he needed and exactly what we had hoped and prayed for. The help of the members is something so important and this small act of service shown by a member may be the key for Marcos' conversion. As missionaries, we need to work with the members. And as members, we need to work with the missionaries! I know that this work is for all of us and that each one of us can take part in the work of salvation. I love this work and the time that I have to be here! Thank you so much for your prayers and love!

Until next time,

Elder Franklyn

November 17, 2014 Awesome Week!

Zone Meeting and lots of pics!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meeting up with old friends in Madrid!  Grandfather, father and son!

Photos from the game!!!

Elder Carejo and I!

Zone Conference P-Day Futbol game!

Our MTC Group at Zone Conference

Just thought I'd show you some food I made the other night!

Sweet Half-Pipe

Oviedo's "Date" changes everyday - this is my 17 month mark!

Manuela's (investigator) birthday party!

Elder Carrejo cooking empanadas for Elder Ward's birthday!!

When I went down to Madrid I met with Felipe and Isabel again!!

Zone Conference!

I made pancakes....

and they worked!

Yeaahhh sometimes we are still kids... This is at this huge local mall!

Saludos de Oviedo!!

Well this week has been AWESOME!! 

Updates on our investigators:

Manuela - She is doing super good! We had her birthday party this week and some members came with us. It was really fun!! 

Jose Alberto - We had a lesson with him and he told us that he believes that the Holy Ghost has told him that the Book of Mormon is true!! Buut he is leaving at the end of December to go back to the Dominican Republic, so we are going to work with him until he leaves!!

Marcos - We set up a baptismal date with him this week for the 6th of December and he is excited for it!! We are going to keep on preparing him but he comes to a lot of the activities and church so he is progressing well.

Edwin - We met with Edwin again and he is doing a lot better! He recently got back from Colombia and his testimony of the church had weakend a bit but we are reading with him a lot and he is doing much better! 

Those are our top four investigators right now and I am just having a blast teaching them! They are doing really well and I am so excited to see their progression. 

We had kind of a miracle last night with a less active member that I wanted to talk about too. Leomar is from Brazil and he was baptized about 9 years ago. He has been inactive for around 7 years and many companionships have tried to get him to come to church without success. Last night we passed by his house and he let us in! We went up stairs and sat down on his couch. He had a guitar on his couch and I picked it up and started playing a little bit while I was waiting for him to come in the room. He came in and we started talking about the guitar for a bit and he played us some songs he knew as well. We shared a message on repentance and then played some more. It was amazing because he really opened up to us and our relationship grew so much as we taught each other songs that we knew. He was so excited to just be sitting with someone who had the same interests as he did and I feel so blessed to have been guided by the Lord to that point in time. It was such a small thing but I really feel like it had an impact on him. 

I am also really grateful that I know how to play the guitar!! Thanks dad! Haha it was a wonderful experience and I am hoping to see some breakthroughs with him in the future. I know this church is true. It has changed my life in so many wonderful ways and I know that God is watching over us. I love you all so much!!

Elder Franklyn

November 10, 2014

Familia mia!!

Well this last week has been good and hard! 

On Monday I headed down to Madrid and we had the mission council with all of the zone leaders which was reaaally cool! On Tuesday night, Elder Anderson, the assistant, and I went to a Real Madrid game which was sooo awesome!! On Wednesday we had our Zone Training meeting and it went really well but I started feeling sick during the middle of it. On Thursday I woke up feeling terrible but I got better throughout the day. The rest of the week was good just doing our best in finding investigators. I feel like I am finally learning what true success is on the mission. Its not always just about how many baptisms you have or about how good your numbers are, but when I work hard and do my best and when I am obedient, that's when I feel like I am being truly successful as a servant of the Lord. I love this work. I am falling in love with Spain and the mission more every single day. Its amazing how much my heart and desires have changed since I've been out here. I know that this is the Lord's work and that He is guiding us. I love you all so much and hope you have a great week! 

Love,


Elder Franklyn

November 3, 2014

Halloween party

we roasted "castanas" (chestnuts)

more halloween fun

We made pasta at Carole's house. She's awesome

Family and Friends,

This week has been... interesting!  We don't have a lot of investigators up here in my new area, 

so we are doing a lot of finding but it's been kind of hard because my companion has been sick this 

past week so we haven't had a lot of time to be outside.  Sorry, that was like a crazy run on sentence. 

Anyways, Oviedo is awesome!!  The buildings here are beautiful and the landscape in general is really cool. 

Lots of rolling green hills and cool statues. It does rain a lot though which is a challenge but there is definitely 

a lot of work to do! 

The branch here averages around 60 members in church on Sunday and there are a lot of really cool families 

that I have gotten to know. We had a young single adult activity on Thursday and we carved pumpkins! 

Then on Friday we had a Halloween party with all of the decorations we made. It was really fun! 

We had a few investigators there as well which was great. 

On Tuesday I had my first lesson with a guy from the United States! His name is Michael and he is

 from New York! He is really cool and we had a lesson with him on the Book of Mormon. 

His brother is a member of the Church and he has a lot of potential! It was great! 

Then on Wednesday we had a lesson with an investigator of ours named Manuela. 

She is from Guinea and she is awesome! She really wants to get baptized and comes to 

all of the church activities but just needs to get married first. Poco a poco… 

Last night we had a lesson with a man named Jose Alberto from the Dominican Republic! 

He is a new investigator and we taught the Restoration. Elder Carrejo did a really good job 

and we killed it! The Spirit was present and Jose accepted everything we said. It was like 

he wouldn't argue with anything we said and I think it was because we taught with the Spirit. 

I am really excited to see how he progresses in the future.

My mother asked me to write a little bit about how my mission  has affected my life and to put it simply:  

My mission has had a great impact on me. Before the mission, I don't think that I was a bad kid or anything, 

but I've really come to learn about the important things in this life. My testimony of the Church has grown 

immensely and my knowledge of the plan that God has for us has grown as well. I think that I would not 

be on the right track if it were not for the mission.  I now understand so much more about the importance 

of my family and the importance of the gospel in our lives.  I know that this Church is the true Church on 

the face of the earth. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. And I LOVE sharing this message. 

Until next time!

Elder Franklyn

October 27, 2014 -- OVIEDO!!

Looking to see where I am going!

Oviedo!

My new companion - Elder Carrejo

The office crew!

Office crew of Alcobendas and El Segundo of course

Goofing around with Elder Bohne's crutches

the Lopez's

some great members!

The sisters got my camera!

just some fake mustaches

Varones y varonas! Well guess where I am!!! Guess!! I'm in a city called... OVIEDO!! In the NORTH!! I am so excited!! My last winter shall be spent by getting rained on every day and just breaking a ton of umbrellas while preaching the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ. I'm so stoked!! I can't wait to just destroooyy all of my shoes and break the zippers on my back pack again! Anyyyway, my companion's name is Elder Carrejo. He is a recent convert from New Mexico. He was baptized in January of 2013 and is a boss!! I am really excited to get to know him better and see how he works. This is his 3rd transfer so I am really excited to get down to business here. I love the newer missionaries. They are just the best. My last week in Alcobendas was great but really hard to leave it behind. I loved working in the office. Elder Bohne seems to be pulling off transfers quite well and I've only received a few phone calls from him so far. He'll be a great secretary. I've also been assigned as a Zone Leader up here too. I actually have to take a trip down to Madrid in a week for a training meeting with President Jackson so I'll be right in my old area! I'm pretty excited about it! I'm really looking forward to a great transfer with a ton of time to do missionary work! The train ride up was beautiful as well. The north is just the best. I'm kind of lost for words right now for some reason. Just kind of in shock I guess of being up here. I'm sure I'll have a bit more to say next week. I am really going to miss being with Elder Cahoon. We had such a great time together and we worked really hard. He's the best. I'm sure the office will just keep trucking a long doing a great job. Well I better head out and try to figure out the streets up here. I love you all and I know that this Church is true. There is not a doubt in my mind. I know that the Savior is always there for us. I have seen His hand a lot in my mission and I know that He is there. Keep working hard and pushing forward!! Love you! Elder Franklyn