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

October 20, 2014 - Leaving the Office news

I was caught ordering Kebab!

Family and friends!!

This week has been crazy! I'll just start with the big news I guess. So on Tuesday, the Assistants Anderson and Wilson walk out of a meeting with President Jackson and Elder Anderson tells me that they were going to go down to the temple to pick up Elder Bohne. I replied with "Okay sounds good." Then Elder Anderson continues, "He will come here, you will train him for the rest of the transfer, and then you will be leaving at the end of the transfer." My only reply was "WHAT?!?!" I did not see that one coming. So I have a week and a half to teach Elder Bohne so he can take over on the 27th of this month. He is doing really well though and learning quickly. I do not know where I am going but I am excited to see. I am going to miss this place so much. I honestly have grown to love the office and Alcobendas. I have major mixed feelings about the whole thing. I'll find out tomorrow where my next area will be. Soo crazy!! 

The rest of the week has been good. We had a miracle day of all miracle days on Saturday. Everything just seemed to work out and the members were wonderful in the lessons that we had. We found 6 new investigators in one day and we are seeing the blessings of the Lord come to us daily. I can not me more happy and I could not ask more of the Lord. With all of the success that we are having, it is hard to think that I am going to have to leave all of them behind when I leave this area. I have grown so close to the people here and I will miss each and every one of them dearly. We have a good week set up with some great meals planned. It should be a great one! I just love the mission so much. My love for it grows every day. Yeah its hard and difficult, but there is just something about it that I can't get enough of. Now I wish the days were longer. I wish I had more time to spread the gospel and share it with everyone!! I am glad that I still have a lot of time here in Spain and I am just going to do my best to take advantage of every moment. I love you all and I am so grateful for all of the wonderful examples that you have been for me. I know that this Church and it's teachings are true. I know that I am out here serving the Lord and sharing His message. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Franklyn

October 13, 2014

Muy buenas!!

Well I don't have a lot of time this week!   We had a super awesome week this week and killed it! 

We had like the best numbers I think I've ever had as an office elder and we worked really hard to do so.

 A ton of planning went into this week and the Lord blessed us greatly. Some updates… 

We had a lesson with an inactive family named Yanina (mom) and Bryan (son) and Bryan 

committed to coming to seminary! And he came! Super awesome miracle because there are a 

good amount of less active members in this family and hopefully we can reactivate a good amount 

of them through the example of the son. He is soo cool. 

Other awesome day was Friday. 

Literally EVERY plan A that we had worked out and we had a great time and some great lessons with it. 

I have seen the hand of the Lord in this week a ton. 

On Saturday, we found two new investigators who are really open to hearing about the gospel 

named Paul and Estefania so that was another 

sweet miracle. On Sunday we had stake conference in Pavones (near the temple) which was 

great and in the afternoon alllllll of our lessons fell through. So we prayed and went to work. 

We had 5 lessons planned and we ended up finding 5 lessons by the end of the night and one 

new investigator. We got back to the piso soaked from the rain but with smiles on our faces, 

knowing that the Lord had blessed us with success that night when we really didn't know 

what to do. Just an awesome week and we are really excited for the next one! I love you all 

and I know that this Church is Christ's Church on the earth today!!

Elder Franklyn

October 6, 2014 - and a miracle!

Hello!

This week has been pretty great! We got invited to go play volleyball in a place called Torrejon so I have to head off soon buuut I just wanted to let you all in on how its going.

We had a great miracle and I kind of wanted to focus this week's letter on the miracle that we had. 

Soo we were contacting in the street on Tuesday night and I guy on a bike stops us. Yeah he stopped US. He explains that he had seen us from across the street and felt like he needed to talk to us so he crossed the street and stopped us and says that his name is Raymond. He then says that he has a question for us. He asked us,"What is your view on the Trinity?" Oh and he was also speaking to us in english (he watches a lot of movies). The amazingly spiritual man that Elder Cahoon is asks him what his opinion was on the trinity. He tells us that he had two theories. 1. That God and Jesus Christ are strangely one person but two at the same time but also one. 2. That God is our father, Jesus Christ is His Son and the Holy Ghost is a separate being. 

We begin walking with him toward our apartment explaining that we believe in his second theory. That they are three distinct beings working together as one. I'll quote Elder Calhoon from the best to years here, "He got sooo excited!" He really did though and we had a great conversation full of testimonies on our part and his. We set up another lesson to meet with him and we did. We taught him the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. Towards the end he told us, "Some people would say that you two are crazy and that there is no way that God would come down to a young boy. I say that if I believe that God came down to Moses and gave him the 10 commandments, how could I NOT believe the story of Joseph Smith? It seems totally and completely possible." 

The next day he came to a session of General Conference and said that he loved it and that he also loved the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. We are so blessed to have been able to find him that night and I am just grateful that I was placed in the right place at the right time to be able to find such a prepared man for the gospel. 

I know that Heavenly Father is preparing the hearts of men on the earth to hear this message. Wherever they may be. I know this church is true for many reasons, but the main reason of why I know this church is true is the same way that Raymond can know of the truthfulness of this church. I have read the Book of Mormon and I have prayed to know. Heavenly Father has sent His messenger, the Holy Ghost, to touch my heart and to let me know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ upon the face of the earth.  It has blessed my life unceasingly and now I have the chance to share it with those around me. 

I love you all and I hope the best for each and every one of you. Read the Book of Mormon. Pray about it. Heavenly Father is there waiting to answer each of your prayers. 

Love,

Elder Franklyn

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