August 24, 2014 - "Crazy" Week

A picture of the best assistant to the ward mission leader ever!! And me too.

Elder Ward playing piano

Lizard in the Pisa

We also redecorated - thank you HGTV

Wellington getting baptized!

We cleaned - alot!

¡Buenas tardes!

Well this week has been CRAZY.

Let me explain...

On Monday we took the ayudantes to the airport for the zone conference up in A Coruña (my old zone!!). Everything went fine with that. That afternoon we had two awesome lessons with Vladimir and Baltazar (a new investigator who is just awesome). The lessons went well! Vladimir still doesn't feel like he needs to get baptized but he is learning a lot every time we meet with him. Baltazar is just a boss. He understands so muuch! He's great and my new favorite person from Ecuatorial Guinea.

Tuesday! We had a lesson with a new investigator named Guillermo in the morning.  He is super nice and really open to learning about God. One thing that he liked alot is that we invited him to look for his own answer from Heavenly Father. I think that makes sense though. Not many people are going to believe in a few kids from America but if they can just kneel down and ask Heavenly Father if what we are sharing is true, they can receive their own answer. They can know for themselves if this is the path that God wants them to take. I really know that God answers our prayers and that He really loves us. Later on we had to pick up President Jackson, Hermana Jackson and the ayudantes from the airport. President and Sister Jackson are just awesome. They love us so much. That night we had another lesson with Baltazar and again, just a boss. We talked about the importance about the Book of Mormon and he really liked it. He told us: "I am going to go far away on foot. Then I will kneel down with my Book of Mormon and read alone. That is when God will tell me if this book is true. And I think He will tell me it is true." Just a boss and kind of hipster in a Guinean kind of way.

Wednesday we had district meeting and office meeting! That means little time to do some actual work! Buuut we did have a super sweet lesson with Lucy and Emilio! We talked about the 10 commandments which they loved! When we talked about the no bearing false witness one, Lucy literally said "That's a commandment?? I like that one!!" And then continued to basically bear her testimony about the importance of that commandment. They are awesome! That night, I went with Elder Chapple (senior couple missionary) to the airport to pick up some Hermanas that went home on the 22nd!! We had a little half transfer to get the missionaries going to college home before college started. We picked them up, dropped them off at the mission home, and then hit the bed!

Thursday was just a lot of stuff with the missionaries going home. It was hectic but everything went well. 

Friday morning was CRAZY. 16 missionaries had to be either at the airport or the train station to get home and I was in charge of making sure no one missed their train or plane. We had some complicated/awesome shuttling plans and at the end of the day, it all worked out. I really saw the hand of the Lord in my life helping me along as well. It was a cool/sad experience to see some great missionaries go home. I'll miss them!

On Saturday we had some good stuff and in the afternoon, an investigator of Hermana Bennett and Hermana Shurtz got baptized! His name is Wellington and he will be a great addition to the ward of Alcobendas. He got baptized in our bishops pool which was epic of course and the Spirit was there strongly. Oh and sorry if my grammar makes no sense...

Sunday was good but kind of hard. Vladimir came to church!! That was a blessing for sure. Lucy and Emilio are out of town but doing good reading and praying as a family every night. In the afternoon, everything fell through but we had a lesson with a man named Jose. He's really... gallegan haha. He's from A Coruña and its kind of known that the gallegans like to argue a lot and are stuck in their ways. Well that's Jose! All in all it went well though and I think I learned a few things during the lesson.

Sobre todo, ha sido una semana muy edificante. My testimony of the Church seems to grow more and more as we get yelled at in the street, as residency problems and travel problems arise in the office and as I see Satan working against our investigators. I know this Church is true and I know that I am here in Spain to serve our Heavenly Father in this great and most important work. I have also am learning every day that Jesus really is the Christ and our Savior. I love you all!! 

Elder Franklyn

August 18, 2014 - Some new investigators, some miracles, and some early mornings!

Helloooooo Champions!!!

(I guess that intro is funnier if you know a member named Juan Blasco from Alcobendas. Super Spaniard, doesn't know how to talk in a normal, not-yelling voice, calls everyone a champion, and just awesome in all ways. )

Anyway, this week has been good!! Some new investigators, some miracles, some early mornings as well. Lets see...

On Monday, we moved apartments!! We switched pisos with the assistants because we need a bit more room. Talk about living out of a suitcase... I'm still not unpacked. I also got my hair cut which was great. It's suuper hot here!! In the afternoon we did some crazy split magic and had Elder Ward go pick up some missionaries in the airport while Elder Cahoon and I had a great lesson with Guillermo and his friend Iliana who is a new investigator! She was really interested in the Book of Mormon so we will see how it goes.

Tuesday!! We had the mission council!! We woke up a bit early and headed over to the mission home. Then we did some picking up of all of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders. Everything went well and according to plan (that's a first!). In the afternoon we did some more crazy splits with some of the zone leaders from the north and we had a few great lessons with some awesome investigators! Then we dropped of the Zone Leaders at the train station and went to bed.

Wednesday we had our Zone Training Meeting!! It was really good and our Zone Leaders focused a lot on how to get from the first lesson with an investigator to the second lesson. We talked about a lot of really good things and we are going to be putting them in practice soon. That night we fiiiinally met with our investigator named Yonaisi. She has been working a tooonnnn but we were soo happy to see that she still has desires to come to church and to get baptized. She is incredible and is doing so much for her family. 

On Thursday we had like the split of all splits. It literally took us like 30 minutes to figure out how in the world we could hit all of the lessons we had planned and drop off President and Sister Jackson at the airport. With the help of the Lord we made it through and had some awesome experiences along the way. We found two new investigators, Balthazar and Jose who both seem to have some potential. We also had a lesson with Lucy and Emilio and they just continue to amaze us. Here's a miracle... So a while back Lucy had decided that she wanted to stop smoking. She had been smoking around 10 a day and dropped down to like 1 every week. She continued to smoke one every now and then when she had a bad day. Three days before we had this lesson on the Word of Wisdom, she decided that she wanted to stop smoking completely and she did. When we brought it up in the lesson she was amazed and told us of the impression that she had just three days earlier to quit completely. There is no doubting that the Lord has had a hand in the life of this family. I can truly see the Lord preparing them in so many ways to come closer to Him and be baptized. It is just amazing. My testimony has never been stronger. 

Friday was awesome! We ate with Felipe and Isabel's family and we've got great news!! Isabel is pregnant!!!!! We are all so excited!! They are such an amazing family to us. They mean a lot and I always just feel so welcome in their home. I can't wait until they are married and Isabel is baptized. I really hope I am here for it!! We had family home evening as well which was great!

On Saturday a lot of our plans fell through but we contacted a ton and received a lot of great references from some great people.

Sunday was good but a lot of our plans fell through again. August is hard sometimes. We worked hard until the very last minute though and got home tired.

Today has been long!! We woke up at 4:15 and had to drive a senior couple to the airport!! We got back at around 6ish and went back to bed. We woke up at 7, got ready and studied a little and then headed out at 10 to take the assistants to the airport. We played a little soccer down by the temple which was fun and bought some food like the usual. 

I am really excited for this week. It is going to be probably the craziest week of my mission!! I have been making plans and buying tickets all day for the upcoming zone conferences and the first one is today. President Jackson and the assistants will be getting back tomorrow night, we have missionaries flying in on Wednesday, missionaries flying home on Friday and a lot of lessons to be had in the middle. I am trying to up the quality of work I do as a secretary and I see things running smoother as I do so. Thank you for all your love and support. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ on the earth today. I love you all so much!!

Elder Franklyn

A Baptism and Transfers! 8/11/14

8/11/2014

  

Senior Segundo and I after the Baptism!

The Old District!

Me finishing transfers!!

Family and friends!

Forgive me for not writing a letter last week!! It was transfers  and so I was kind of running back and forth from the airport and the train station and everything -  it was super hectic. This week was great though!!
So transfers ended smoothly and we got a new companion!! His name is Elder Cahoon. He will be taking Elder Ward's spot in 5 weeks but he is going to help us a bit with this transfer because it is going to be hectic. He is great though and adds some great flavor to our companionship.

The missionary work this week has been slow. Lots of investigators and members on vacation... Unlike the United States, the Spaniards ALL take their vacations during the month of August so it is kind of hard. One awesome miracle though is that Lucy and Emilio are killllling it. Emilio holds the record for most consecutive ward activities. We met with them on Thursday at 6, they came to the english classes at 8, they came to family home evening on Friday, Emilio played soccer with the members on Saturday morning, they all came to a baptism on Saturday night and they all came to church on Sunday. They are soo great!! Oh and in reply to Bishop Dalton's request, they have a baptismal date for the 6th of September! They are more active in the church than I am!! 

So on Saturday, our ward had a baptism and our little chapel here in Alcobendas doesn't have a font so we have to travel to temple square to have the baptism there. Alain was the one who got baptized and he is from Congo!! He is so awesome and so humble. He doesn't speak a lot of Spanish and so Andrés, a member here, memorized the baptismal prayer in english and it was soo great. Right after he was baptized he looked up towards the ceiling and the whole room just filled with the Spirit. Lucy and Emilio were there and we did a temple tour with them which was great. We walked around and just looked at how beautiful the temple is.

I am so blessed and grateful to be able to be here in Madrid, Spain and to be able to see the temple often. It really is an iconic building and you cannot deny that there is something holy and eternal about it. I love this work and I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to be here. I am sooooo grateful for my parents as well who have helped me spiritually and financially to be out here. I will be in debt with them for years to come. Keep praying for missionary experiences. And when they come, act upon them!!  Dooooo some missionary work! Don't be afraid! I know that we are blessed as we serve the Lord. Keep working hard and never give up!!

I know that this Church is true and that I am a child of God.

I love you all,

Elder Franklyn

7/28/2014 Miracles

This week on The District...

This week has been awesome!! I've been able to catch up on most of my work in the office which is nice. Tomorrow I will find out about transfers so this coming week will be busy!   Lots of plans and buying tickets. We will see how it goes...

We had a lesson with Vladimir on Tuesday in a park with a member named Hugo. It went amazingly well and we set a baptismal date with him for the 9th of August! When we invited him to be baptized, he said "Yeah I feel like I am ready. I may not be perfect on everything but I feel ready." Perfect response!! None of us are perfect but that is what baptism is for! It helps us become more perfect and honestly opens the door to the path towards salvation. I am so excited for him and for all his progression that he is making.

We also had a sweet lesson with Guillermo and a girl that lives in the same apartment as he does named Ivana. We always thought Ivana was kind of anti the church but she sat in on a lesson and we taught about the Restoration. When we started talking about Joseph Smith, Guillermo said that he would like to show Ivana the video of the Restoration. We put it on and it was amazing! She understood so much and loved the story. She accepted a Book of Mormon and committed to read and pray about it!

I've saved the best for last... LUCY! I talked about her as my miracle of the week last week. Well all this week we have been trying to get in contact with her. She never answered her phone and never called us back. We were really bummed. So on Saturday night we send her a text message just inviting her to church again and she said that she would come. So on Sunday, I'm sitting in the back and she hasn't shown up. Right when the Bishop starts the meeting, I see her walk in the side door! She sits down with her son and I see them singing the hymns and it seemed like they enjoyed it. When the meeting ended, I ran up to her and started talking to her. She introduced me to her family... SHE BROUGHT HER WHOLE FAMILY TO CHURCH!! Her husband is named Emilio and he is from Peru! They have two children, Giorgi and Rosa, who are so cute and nice. So I'm talking to Lucy and she says, "Elder Franklyn, I love coming to church and everything but I really just want to sit down with you and your companion and talk about the doctrine and values that the church has. Is there any way that we could meet soon?" I was just in shock. We set up a lesson for that same night and had a wonderful lesson on the Restoration. They both were extremely nice and open. They accepted the challenge to read the Book of Mormon and to pray to know if it is true. During the lesson they also told us that they would like to meet more than one time during the week, they would love to come to church activities, they are looking for a good group of friends to help raise their children with good examples around them, and that they admired us for the service that we give as missionaries. Just perfect. Only God could have prepared a family so much as He has for Lucy and Emilio's family.

I testify that the same church that Jesus Christ himself established in the days of old, with 12 apostles and the authority to act in the Lord's name, has been restored to the earth once again. We are not a new church. We are a very ancient church that has been restored through a living prophet. I have seen Heavenly Father answer the prayers of others. I have seen Heavenly Father answer my own prayers. Lucy and her family are evidence of that. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that He loves each and every one of us dearly. In the Bible we read, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." I know that Jesus Christ laid down His life for each and every one of us. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I love you all so much. Thank you for everything! 

Your missionary ;)

Elder Franklyn

7/21/2014 & a ton of Photos!

There's this ice cream shop called Tino's and it is fantastic. Ice cream shops are not very common here in Spain.

 

     

Elder Ward explaining that he was going to play the piano blind. He killed it.

Our great friend Andres directed the whole night and it was great.

During our mission leadership council, Elder Ward, Hermana Fuller and I happened to throw together a few hymns in a guitar/piano trio. It was really fun! I played background music in our skit in the talent show as well.

On Saturday we had a Ward Talent Show that went really well! A lot of people showed up!

Oh but the second photo is our FHE program white board.

This is us at Family Home Evening playing musical chairs!

Elder Ward playing the piano with our great friend and recent convert Enrique in the background.

This is our awesome ward mission leader named Segundo. His full name translates to Second Shoelaces. He is great.

And my amazing parking job I did the other day. I had to take a picture of it.

A great picture of Jesus Christ next to my desk.

Elder Ward and I!

Here is President Jackson's desk. This is where they decide all of the transfers and everything.

I honestly don't know how they let us take this photo but yes, this is President and Hermana Jackson sword fighting in the office.

Here is my view most of the day. That's Elder Chapple in the background, a senior couple that works in the office with us.

And yeah thats President Jackson wielding a sword made in Toledo.

Aaaand Hermana Trone and Hermana Hillman. They serve here in Alcobendas with us.

Here's our awesome van that I drive sometimes! Its stick and so Elder Ward is working on his driving.

A classic round about here in Alcobendas. They are every where!

Aaand Elder Ward in the street. Yes, he's reaaally tall.

Here's a normal street in Spain. Looks a lot like Fuenlabrada.

 Some more great pictures of us missionaries.

Hermana Trone and Hermana Bennett at a Zone Training Meeting!

Here's our zone!

Hello!!

Well this week has been good and a little hard, but mostly good. Looking back on it, it was a really long week but there were a lot of highlights too. 

First of all, we had our mission leadership meeting!! I planned everything out and had to take a few trips to the airport and train station to pick everyone up but it went really well! We had the same thing right when I got to the office but this one went a lot smoother. I think I'm starting to understand my job a bit!! On Wednesday we had Zone Training Meeting which went really well! My zone leaders are Elder Miranda, who was my district leader in the north, and Elder Davis, who started in the MTC with me! They are both great missionaries and the Spirit was really strong during the meeting. On Thursday we had the opportunity to go to a senior home and sign hymns to them which was awesome! We have a member who stays there and it was so much fun. I wish I would have taken pictures!! Our investigators are doing well. Guillermo is doing good and still excited for his baptismal date! Vladimir has been doing well too and we are trying to help him get ready. But another great event of the week... The Talent Show!!! It was on Saturday evening and it was soo much fun. Our investigator Vladimir came and he loved it. We did a skit/musical called "Dear John" which was hilarious. I'll try and get it to you all some how but it was awesome. I played the guitar too! It was a memorable night to say the least.

On Sunday we saw an amazing miracle that I want to tell you all. So I sit down in church and two girls come and sit down next to me and I didn't recognize them at all. Elder Ward was playing the piano (he's amazing at the piano by the way) and so I couldn't ask him if he knew who they were. The meeting starts and everything is going well. Right before the sacrament started, I heard one of the girls tell her friend that was sitting right next to me a little about Jesus Christ and the sacrament. I thought that the one sitting next to me must be new. So the sacrament starts and after taking the bread, I closed my eyes and said a little prayer just asking Heavenly Father to help this girl next to me have a good experience at church and have the desires to learn more and to come back. After the meeting ended, she got up and went to the bathroom. The other girl that was there started talking to some members and I found out that she was a less active member of the church. She told me that she would introduce me to her friend from work. She came back from the bathroom and we started talking a bit. Turns out her name is Lucy and she is from Bulgaria and she has two little kids! She came to church by invitation of her friend from work but also was really interested in the message that our church has. I explained a little bit about who we are and what we do as missionaries. I took down her number and she even stayed for the second hour. It was an amazing experience in which every little thing that I asked from Heavenly Father was given to me. I went back and thought about what I said in that prayer and literally everything that I asked for was given to me. I know that prayer is real and that it really does have power. I know that Heavenly Father is listening to us and that he really wants to bless us. Experiences like these strengthen my testimony of the church and of our Heavenly Father. I know that the Church is true and that we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. Keep up the good work wherever you are in the world and remember that He is always there!

Love you all,

Elder Franklyn

Baptismal Date & Talent Show

Family and friends!! 

Yeah I don't have much time buuuuut I just wanted to say that this week has been awesome!! We set a baptismal date with our investigator Guillermo and he is really excited about it.  Everything is going well in the office and I am learning new things every day! I just wanted to bear my testimony though that I know that this work is of God. I know that this Church is true and that I am not just wasting my time out here. I can feel the love and power of our Heavenly Father every day and know that He is here with me. I have no doubt that this is the true and restored Gospel of Jesus Christ here on the earth today. I love you all and hope for the best for every one of you. Prayer has real power. Trust in our Heavenly Father! He is always there to uplift us. Thank you all for all that you are doing. Keep it up!

Elder Franklyn

P.S. Our ward has a talent show coming up and we Elders are doing a skit ,so I will try to record it and pass it to you all so you can get a chance to laugh at all of us.

July 7, 2014

Mis queridos amigos,

This week has been a little bit more calm than last week and we actually got a good amount of missionary work done too!

We finally washed our car last Monday which was much needed and managed to have a few lessons. One of the more amazing experiences we had was that we met with Tanchi and Yonaisy again. It had been a while since we had met with them and so we sat down to see how they were doing. They are doing amazingly! Yonaisy really wants to come to church but can't because of work. She seems really excited about everything though. At the end of the lesson, Smill, their son, was running around and Tanchi said, well when this one is 8 years old he'll be a Mormon too! Elder Ward and I just busted up laughing just because Smill is so awesome... but it really showed that they really like the church and have desires to stick with us for a while. They are amazing people.

One other cool experience that we had... So just some background, Spain is relatively close to the country of Morocco and there are a lot of people from there that live here. Almost all of them are Muslim people but very nice and great people but never really interested in hearing about other religions. So the other day we are contacting in the street and we meet a man who is from Morocco (sorry I have no idea how to say marroquí in English) but he seemed really open and so he told us we could stop by his house on Saturday. We went and he was there! He let us in and we started talking about his views on religion and everything. He is super awesome! Technically he is Muslim but we had a great discussion on religion and how it blesses our lives. He agreed to read the Book of Mormon and so we are going to pass by today because we have one in Arabic. It was just a really good lesson and I felt the Spirit testify to me strongly that He is preparing all kinds of people to hear the message that we bear as missionaries.

Everything else is going great. The time out here is flying by. I am in charge of making sure that the missionaries have return flight information and I just started receiving some information for the sisters that were in my MTC group (sisters serve 18 month missions) and it's kind of freaking me out!  It's too quick!  I'm just glad I have a full two years out here. Well I love you all and hope the best for each of you!

Keep pushing forward the work of salvation,

Elder Franklyn