Toledo!! and a Freak Dancing Accident....

Elder Cahoon and Elder Anderson

My cut up arm

Toldeo!

Beautiful Toledo!

Elder Cahoon & I

Swords in Toledo!

This awesome Husky mix dog we found in an investigators house!

Vale (okay),

Well I don't have a lot of time this week because we went to TOLEDO!!! Just the best place ever. But I will try my best to fill you all in on what has happened this week and send a ton of sweet photos. We will see how it goes...

So we had the mission leadership council this week on Tuesday and so the zone leaders from the north and the islands were with us on Monday and that meaannss Elder Echegaray!! We went out and contacted on Monday night and killed it in the street together. We got some sweet references and it was really good to be back working with him. He's the best. I love him haha. 

Basically the story of this week has been that we have been getting really close to finding new investigators but we haven't had any success. We set up and confirmed around 6 or 7 lessons with new investigators and every single one ended up bailing on us or just not showing up. It was a little difficult and frustrating but we can't make people hear our message! We kept working hard throughout the whole week though and we are hoping to find some news this week.

One cool thing was that we had this amazing lesson with Vladimir and promised him that if he were to read, pray and come to church, he would have the desires to get baptized on the 11th of October. He accepted the invitation and seemed excited about it. He ended up not coming to church on Sunday though so that was kind of difficult. 

Good news though is that Baltazar is amazing! He has come to church 5 times in a row and although he is super mysterious and doesn't want to set a baptismal date, he is progressing really well! 

One of the highlights of the week was an activity that we had on Saturday with the ward. We did a party of the nations or fiesta de las naciones and it turned out reaaaally well! We made brownies and danced to Cotton Eye Joe which was unbelievably epic. I cut up my arm a bit right before we went on in a freak dancing accident but I still made it through. It was suuper fun and we grew a lot closer to the members here.

Excited for next week! I know that the Lord has many blessings in store for us.

Love you all!

Elder Franklyn

September 22, 2014

"Taste of America" and Poptarts!!

Family and Friends!

I am currently sitting in the office and my dad (Elder Echegaray) is here! He's down from the north for a conference with President Jackson and the other Zone Leaders. It is always so great to see him. We always have fun together. Elder Hendricks is down here from the north as well and of course my companion Elder Cahoon. Well, this week has been challenging but we have worked really hard. We survived transfers!! No big problems happened and it was probably the smoothest transfer that has happened. I've been trying to focus really hard on making them go as smooth as they can and this one has been the best yet! I still feel like I have to rely on the Lord a ton but He is always willing to help me. I am so grateful to see His hand in my life so much. 

So we had a pretty good amount of things to do in the office after transfers to get ready for this transfer but we had a couple of really awesome lessons that I wanted to talk about too. 

First of all, Baltazar. It was like a lesson out of the district haha. It went so well! We went into the lesson planning on teaching lesson 2, the plan of salvation but when we sat down with him, we could just feel that he needed something else. We started askng him how he was doing and how his reading has been going. He has come to church 4 times in a row and is loving the Book of Mormon but Elder Cahoon asked an inspired question that changed the whole lesson. He asked Baltazar if he had prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true and he responded very honestly saying no. Right then we began to testify of the power of prayer. I know that God answers our prayers and I know that if we want to know if something is true or not, we should ask God to know. We invited Baltazar to do so and in his closing prayer he asked Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon really is the word of God. I know that he is going to receive an answer because I have received my own answer. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. 

Second amazing lesson, Lucy. Emilio left on Monday on a trip to go looking for work in Europe and Lucy is now home with their two kids. The first little miracle that touched my heart was that their daughter Rosa (who's 6) ran up to me right when Lucy opened the door and yelled, "Hola Franklyn!!!" It was really cute and even though I hadn't seen them in a while, she still remembered me. We had a great lesson with Lucy though and she is so ready to continue pushing forward and learning more. She wants to wait until Emilio gets back to get baptized together which is totally understandable but the Spirit was just soo strong. She is an amazing person and I am learning so much from her example.

Elder Cahoon and I had some time to contact this week which was sweet. We got a good amount of references and we are hoping on finding some new investigators this coming week. We are pushing forward and hopefully we will be able to see some great success this transfer. We had a ton of fun and bonded over slurping jello and flan the other night and I can tell that our companionship is growing closer together.

I know that the Lord is watching over each and every one of us. I know that we are all passing through many difficult trials but I know that God loves us and that He is watching out for us. He has a plan for us to return to Him and I am just hoping to find someone willing to accept this plan of happiness and hope. I am so grateful for having such wonderful investigators. I feel like they are finding us sometimes instead of us finding them. I can't wait to see their progression! Keep up all of the hard work and keep fighting for what is right.

I am so sad to hear about Wyatt.  That must be so hard on his family. I can't imagine. Thank you for letting me know.  I am sure the ward is passing through a bit of a hard time with that.  Let everyone know that I am sad to hear what has happened and that I hope the best especially for the Olives.

That's good to hear that Bryan Willie is back and doing good! It feels like yesterday that he left on the mission. Haha -  I am excited to speak spanish with him and make fun of his accent while he makes fun of mine.

We actually went to "Taste of America" today  - which is a store that sells American products!  It was awesome! I bought some poptarts, dr. pepper, rootbeer, koolaid, and mac n cheese. It was the best!

Love you all!

Elder Franklyn

September 15, 2014

Surviving Transfers....

Well this week has been crazy.

Let's see... So on Monday we got to play soccer which was soo fun! I have photos of my scraped up leg and I'll send those when I can!  

On Tuesday, transfers came out! This was my third time doing it and the first time for me that the plans have come out on a Tuesday so I was really excited. I started working on that right away which was good. We also went to KFC with some members and wow that was good. A lot better than the United States surprisingly. 

On Wendesday we had district meeting which was good but weird because I knew where everyone was going but I couldn't say anything about it.  In the afternoon we had a lesson with a man named Alexander who has this beautiful dog that is soo cool (I've got pictures) and it went really well. He seems interested to know more and one thing that I loved about him was that he really likes reading and studying the Book of Mormon. He has a lot of potential and I am excited to meet with him again. 

On Thursday some changes came out with transfers but I got it all figured out and kept working hard with that. We had some sweet lessons and we also had an exchange with the Zone Leaders in Alcalá. It went really well and Elder Davis, who slept in the same room as me in the MTC, came to Alcobendas with us. We had a great time and were able to do a lot of splits. 

On Friday, we fiiiiinally had another lesson with Lucy and Emilio! They are doing good but going through a rough patch financially. What is going to happen is that Emilio is going to go look for work in other parts of Spain and they both still love the church and all but want to wait until things are more normal to get baptized. They are so awesome though and I hope the best for them. They have helped me during my time here in Alcobendas and even though they aren't going to get baptized quite yet, I know that the seed is planted and growing. 

Saturday was just nuts. I was basically in the office the whole day working on transfers and we took some great photos after, which I will also send in the future. Everything was finished though and the plans are unraveling as I type. There honestly haven't been too many hiccups this time which is great. 

Of course there were some problems and I was a little stressed out, but I have seen the Lord's hand today pushing me forward. 

I know that this Church is His Church and I know it because I have felt it. I am not here to testify of the words that a man has told me, but of how I have felt while reading the scriptures and while being in church and while spreading the Gospel. I know that the Lord loves each one of us and that He is watching out for us. Keep up the hard work and remember to always be missionaries!

Love you all!

Elder Franklyn

September 8, 2014

Soccer in Pavones/Transfers Next Week!!

Hello!!

Well, this week has been good! We have a visitor!! His name is Elder Moyano and he has been with us this whole week. It has been super fun and we are working soo hard with him. He has knee problems and so we have to walk slow but we are doing well. Outside of playing the cello, this is the first quartet I have been in! I don't have a ton of time to write buuuut just wanted to shoot out some updates. 

Lucy and Emilio finally got back from vacation and are doing good. They want to wait a little longer until they feel completely prepared to keep all of the commandments but they are doing really good. We have been finding a good amount of investigators too and it has all been going great. Baltazar is doing great too and he has come to church 2 weeks in a row now! We also finally met with Tanchi and Yonaisi and we had a lesson with them. They are doing good. They just need a lot of support. It is sad to see so many people passing through hard times but the manifestations of their faith are eye opening. I have learned so much out here on the mission about overcoming trials and it is inspiring to see someone push through and overcome a lot of difficult things passing in their lives. 

Well today has been busy! I went on splits with the assistants and we went to play soccer in Pavones next to the temple. It was really fun!! My team played really well too and we won a good amount of games. It was really fun to be with the assistants too. They are great. I've learned a ton from them. This week is going to be transfers so I might die -- but hopefully not.  I'll be working really hard and I'm not sure how much time I will have next week to write but just know that I love you all and that I am doing great! Keep up all of the hard work wherever you are and know that I am thinking and praying for you.

Love you all!

Elder Franklyn

Cafe Rio Burritos & Running with the Bulls

September 1, 2014

Cafe Rio Burritos and Running with the Bulls!!!

Running of the Bulls!

Elder Sanchez & I

Got my package Mom - thanks!

Amigoooos y amigaaaas,

Well this week has been rough, but sometimes I like the hard weeks. I'll quote my trainer Elder Echegaray here: "My favorite days are the hard days in the mission. Those days when every lesson bails on you so you go out and contact in the street. Those days when every person that you contact in the street just says no. And then at 9:50, right when you have to go back to the apartment, you receive a reference from a Dominican in the street that you know is not going to want anything the next day. Those are my favorite days."

Those are the days when my testimony of the truthfulness of this work grows the most. Those are the days when I look deep down inside and think of why I am out here in the mission. Those are the days when I think of my cousin Nathan who have up so much to serve a mission in South Africa. Those are the days when I think of my cousin Ryan, my best friend Jacob, and my best friend Truman, serving their hardest out there in other parts of the world. Those are the days when I realize that I really am a disciple of Christ. 

Some really cool things happened this week though too so I'll start with those. On Thursday, we ate with an American family that lives here named the Hubers. They are awesome! They made us Cafe Río burritos and they were to die for. They are such an awesome family. All of them are learning a lot of Spanish but they are doing really well! We shared a great lesson on the Sacrament with them and I think our relationship with them has grown a lot. On Saturday, we put on an activity for the ward on the plan of salvation. It was awesome!! Some of you make have heard of it but basically the people come in and sit down in seats that are set up like an airplane. The plane crashes and the people are taken on a tour through the Telestial, Terrestrial, and Celestial kingdoms. It was awesome and everyone felt the Spirit really strongly. It grew my testimony of the truthfulness of this Church. Oh and Balthazar came to church and loved it!! He has a lot of potential!

Some bad things that happened... Our car got towed. Emilio and Lucy have been out of town for a week now and also told us that they wanted to push back their baptismal date a bit. Felipe and Isabel have to separate because of legal reasons and we had to say good bye to Felipe yesterday. They were sooo close to figuring it all out and getting married too. Now it probably won't happen for months and months. Other than that, just a lot of people bailed on us this week and we haven't had a lot of time to work either. 

President Jackson came out with some more changes that happened today in the mission. A missionary had to go home and so it was sad to see him leave. Elder Moyano hurt his knee in the Islands and so he had to come in as well. And he's here with US!!! He's from Argentina and he is suuper cool. I am excited to have him here. He will just be here for a couple of weeks to recuperate so it should be fun!

Well we are hoping to have a better week this week! We've just got to keep working hard and making the best out of the short time that we have here. I honestly love the mission though and wouldn't trade it for anything. Keep up the good work back home!!

Love you all!

Elder Franklyn