Life in San Sebastian de los Reyes.... 6/9/2014

yikes

OFFICE LIFE

Hello!!!

Well lets just get it out of the way in the beginning and say that this week I will hit my one year mark. It has floowwn by and sometimes I feel like I just started the mission. Its not that I don't love and miss you all, its just that the mission is going by so fast! I love Spain!

Well this has been my first week in the office and probably one of the craziest as well. Flat tires, cold showers, hitting a parked car, moving apartments, skipping meals, working hard, learning a lot, figuring out the area... The works! It has been up there in my top 5 hardest weeks but it has also been in my top 5 weeks in which I have grown the most. I am in a trio right now with my office trainer/godfather Elder Rockwood and Elder Ward, the train crash/miracle elder. They are both so wonderful and we get along really well. I honestly can't even remember what happened this week, it has been so hectic.
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Well on Monday we switched over to our new piso (I am still living out of a suitcase though) and I started learning about office work. Basically I am over all missionary travels and residency which means a lot of making plans and buying train tickets.

On Tuesday we helped a few investigators with a move that they were doing which was good. The investigators are Tanchi and Yonaisy (Dominicans) who are awesome and just need to get married. Then we headed to the office and I planned my first mission council meeting and got all of the tickets for the missionaries coming down or flying into Madrid. After, we had some lessons with Tanchi and a new investigator named Jose Antonio.

Wednesday we had district meeting which was awesome!! Oh another weird thing for me being down here is that we have 4 sister missionaries in our area and 6 in our district so I am trying to figure out how to act normal around them and stuff like that. I've just never really had to be around hermanas so its weird but whatever!  Then we had our office meeting and then we went out and had some lessons!  We usually leave the office around 6ish and have to be in the piso at 10 so 4 hours of straight missionary work. What we try to do is plan all of our lessons during office  time so we have everything planned out and ready to go.

Thursday morning we woke up early and went and played tennis next to the mission home! The mission home is about 15 minutes in car and it was fun but weird playing with President Jackson and the APs. They are all awesome and just really good missionaries. Then that afternoon we had some more lessons and I drove the car for the first time!! It was cool. Good thing I know how to drive a stick shift. We got home absolutely dead.

Friday was awesome. This is my first time in a ward and we had a noche de hogar and the members planned everything. It turned out great and everyone really enjoyed it. A ton of people came too! We also had the best correlation meeting I have ever had. We have a great ward mission leader named Segundo.

Saturday is when the whole tire popping thing went down (my companion hit a curb). I think... It could have been another day. Who knows... But it was kind of a harder day. A lot of people cancelled on us but we did recieve a good amount of interested references. Asi es la obra misional!

Church on Sunday was great. All of the members were really open and welcoming. I am already creating some friendships with them which is good and I feel comfortable. I miss El Ferrol a bit but I know that this is where I am supposed to be.

I am so excited to be here in Alcobendas/San Sebastián de los Reyes. Working in the office is stressful but it is great. I am learning so much and we have some amazing missionaries here. I know that this Church is Christ's church.  There is no doubt in my mind. I have never understood the scriptures like I understand them now even though they are written in a different language. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that He truly loves each and every one of us. Y asi será para siempre. Muchas gracias por todo que han hecho para mi. Les quiero muchísimo!! Que sean felices y exitosos en todo que tengan!

Elder Franklyn.