Train Trip to Madrid for Training, Drawing lessons

drawing lesson

Train ride

my drawing lessons from Nickerl

Echegaray - my trainer!

Nickerl and I at the Madrid Temple

Family and friends!!

This week has been awesome but hard too!   I'm starting to feel like thats just a normal week in the mission haha. Obviously I've been hearing some news about Ukraine and trying not to stress about my cousin Ryan being there and all but I am glad to hear that he is safe and sound.  It's a great thing that we are fighting on the Lord's side.

Well Monday we went and played volleyball which was great. We had a pretty good sized group come too which was fun. After, we met with Daniel to talk about some difficulties that he is facing. He told us that he wants to be baptized in the church and knows that it is the right thing for him to do. He has some family problems though and his wife really doesn't like that we meet with him or that he comes to church with us. We are moving slowly but surely with him and I know that he will get baptized one day. We are planning on trying to meet with his family and explain a bit. After we went to Armando and Zaida's like always and had a great time with them. Armando struggled trying to say Elder Nickerl's name and we laughed about that for a while. We shared a great message on Jacob 3:1-2 and I exhort all of you to take a look at those scriptures because they are powerful.

Tuesday was rough. A lot of people cancelled on us but at least I wasn't locked up in our piso like Elder Grochmal.  We had lunch with Wendy and her family and we taught a lesson on the Plan of Salvation with a wooden puzzle that my mom sent me (thanks mom!) After we had a lesson with Marichú at her house with José Martínez which went well. She is very old and very catholic but still very nice to us. Then we had correlation with Alan which went really good and ended the night at Irina's and taught Leonardo a bit.

Wednesday we sat on a train all day! We actually had a tour of the mission (basically a conference in Madrid) with an area  seventy (President Teixeira) who spoke to all of us. So we had to head down to Madrid and the train took about 7 or 8 hours! I actually spent the time learning how to draw from Elder Nickerl who is an awesome artist and we had a great time together. We stayed in a hotel that night and it was like a sleep over for missionaries.

Thursday morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and then headed to temple square! It was soo exciting to see a ton of my missionary friends there and Elder Echegaray was there too!! I was so stoked and I gave him a big hug. He's seriously awesome. The conference was really good though and we learned alot about missionary work. President Jackson and his wife spoke as well and I loved their council for us. After we ate some pizza and our train didn't leave until 10:30 so we got to go through the temple!! It was such an amazing experience and I had really missed it a ton. That night we bought some food and then slept on the train ride home in some tiny beds they had.

Friday was rough too! It rained non stop the entire day. We had to plan the week which went well actually. Then we headed out and got poured on. I think my shoes will never be the same. We had a lesson with a girl named Aida which actually went really well and she seems ready to hear our message. That night the ward had a birthday activity in the church so we met up with them for a bit - lots of fun.

Saturday it rained non stop as well. In the morning we had a lesson with Rigoberto (Marlene was sick) and it actually went good. We read over Mosiah 3 and he really liked it. Then we went to Ada's for lunch and shared the talk from President Monson on how Jesus Christ never leaves us. It went really well and the spirit was really strong. Later that night we had a lesson with Flor who still won't read the Book of Mormon but I think if we invite her enough, one day she will get interested. It was a decent evening even though my shoes are falling apart little by little.

Sunday was good. Daniel met us before church started and we had a lesson with him. He said his wife doesn't really want to meet with us but we are going to keep trying. We had 65 people in church which was a pretty good sized crowd and a few investigators came as well. After we ate at Irina's to break our fast and shared a quick message with the family on a scripture in Ephesians. I'm learning so much about the Bible. After we went to Guillermo and Wendy's because Guillermo wanted a blessing of comfort. They kind of got in a fight the other day and so I basically gave them some marriage council right then and there and it was more the Spirit talking than me so I think it was good. That night it didn't stop raining either but we worked hard and  got in touch with a few people we met before. It was a good night and we got home tired and wet.

 I am really learning so much about the mission. To those of you who are serving, never give up. To those of you who are preparing to go, be a missionary before you leave and invite a friend to church. To those of you who are thinking about going on a mission, pray. If you're a guy, go!   You will never regret the decision to serve the Lord. I love you all!! Thank you for all of your emails and love.

Elder Franklyn