Making the Most of the Last Days in Spain

Me Queda Una Semana

Ok first things first “M” did not get baptized....something crazy happened at his work and he is one of the head dogs and so he was dealing with the law or something like that all last week. BUT he is all lined up for this weekend!! He knows it is my last week and he said, “Satan can push my baptism back one week but not two.”  So I am just praying my guts out for him and “E” came to church and he might be baptized as well.  I really hope that I can get these two baptized.  On top of that we had an incredible week. We had seven investigators in church and taught 31 lessons. Our area is exploding and we had the best week out of any companionship in the entire mission. And now I have to leave it all behind, funny how things work!! I feel like I just got the hang of this missionary thing! Ha ha!

Well this is my last week in my area and then I fly to Barcelona on Monday to have my last interview, do some paper work, and we get Tuesday morning to see Barcelona a bit, then Tuesday night is the dinner and I fly out Wednesday morning.  I am not sure if I will email next week.  

But all I can say is that I cannot be more grateful for this opportunity that I had to serve.  I would never trade it for anything.  I really can’t believe it is all coming to an end. I remember my first day in Zaragoza like it was yesterday and how scared I was in the MTC. I can’t thank my Heavenly Father enough for the blessings he has given me and the success he has let me see on my mission.  I hope I did all that I could for him, and that I served a good mission.  I fought a good fight, and I will dearly, dearly miss preaching the gospel to my brothers and sisters out here in Spain and waking up every morning as a missionary.  I have never been happier.  It is the hardest thing that I have ever loved to do.  I have wanted to quit, I have never felt so heart-broken when somebody rejects the gospel, but know that it is all worth it.  I am so grateful for the mission to help me understand how much God loves me and how much Christ suffered for us.

I testify that the work is being hastened all over the world and especially here in Europe.  I know that there are more people prepared to hear the gospel, but with that I know there is more opposition.  But I know that the Lord is on our side and that we have every promise to make it back with God again as long as we keep the commandments.  I know that this is the only true church of Christ and that the prophet Joseph Smith restored it.  I know The Book of Mormon is 100% true and with that, we have all the evidence we need to know that this is the restored gospel.  I know we have a living prophet today, in Thomas S. Monson who leads and guides us.  I also know that he has 12 apostles.  I know that this is God’s work, and we are his children.  I know that I am a child of God and that he loves me.  I know that families are together forever and that God is waiting for us with open arms to return to him.  And it is all possible thanks to His son and our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ. I am not perfect at all, I mess up a lot, but Christ made it so that I can repent daily and be clean.  I know his atonement is real. 

I hope that my Father in Heaven knows how full of gratitude my heart is. Also I am thankful for all of your support over the last two years, couldn’t have made it through without it.   

¨Fear not for the enemy deride, courage for the Lord is on our side¨

Love,

Elder Farah   

Win The Day

What another crazy week. We have been seeing a ton of miracles, but we can’t quite seem to close the deal with our baptisms.  “A” fell off the face of the earth and we don’t know what happened to him.  We met with him on Wednesday and everything was good and he was stoked to be baptized and then since Wednesday we haven’t heard a thing from him since...he just flat out disappeared!!! So we were pretty bummed that 2 weeks in a row our baptisms just didn’t happen BUT we have “M” this week who is going down!! He came to church for all 3 hours and loved it as always and was telling people that he is getting baptized.  I have never seen somebody so prepared in my entire life.  I think I have worked my whole 2 years to see this happen and to be able to participate in this miracle from beginning to end!! So everything is going well for him....We are praying super hard!!

Wow we saw a lot of miracles this week. And all we really have been doing is trying to apply what we have learned in concilio and specialized training and really use the pass by plan and work with every MA CR and member we know and the Lord blessed us with miracles for putting our trust in our leaders and prophet. The biggest miracle came with a pass by from the pass by plan. We simply passed by a women from the area book but she wasn’t home so we called her on the spot and set up a visit for that afternoon. We went, taught her, and set a fecha and then invited her to come to church. We went and picked her up and she LOVED church. She stayed all 3 hours and was in awe the whole time. Then after she sent us a text saying, “thank you for that opportunity to go to church. It has been a stupendous experience.” It was incredible!! And now we are going back Wednesday and hopefully she will have real animo to get baptized. What a great church experience she had!!  So that was pretty neat to see her get taken in by the members.  We found a lot this week.

Other than that life is good out here, except it is super-hot and humid!!! But it is giving us all nice tans.  On Sunday I turned on the AC in the sacrament room because nobody knows how to work it since it is in English and apparently I froze all the sisters....they come in dresses and t shirts and we go in black suits. somebody’s gotta lose!! Ha ha, the sisters were giving me a hard time after, it was pretty funny.

Perseverar hasta el fin!! 

Elder Farah

The Last Days...

 Saying goodbye at the last Zone Conference

True to the "Blue!"

  After two years the "essence" of Daniel remains in Elder Farah!

We already have his appointment with the podiatrist when he gets home!

Almost...

Soooo “E” didn’t get baptized.  We thought he would do it for sure!! On Friday he passed the interview and everything but he is 17 so we needed a signature and his mom lives in New York so he lives with his grandma.  So his grandma wouldn’t sign the paper, but then he talked to his mom and she had no problem with it and then we went over Saturday morning, his gam signed it and he was all ready to go!! And then Satan just had to do his thing...and he got cold feet and called us a few hours later and said no.  Shoot!!! But we are still working with him and hopefully we can get him baptized soon.  He wants me to baptize him so think that we can get him before I go.

“M” came to church!!!!! He is looking good for the 14th and he really is heaven sent to build up the kingdom here.  I am so blessed to be participating in this huge miracle.  Also a man from Barcelona is preparing to be baptized this week and has come to church twice already!!  We taught him the law of chastity and he accepted everything and straight up wants to be baptized!! He is so humble. Tonight we will teach him The Word of Wisdom.!! So hopefully I can see these two Spanish men get baptized before I leave this place.  

And we had 110 people in church this past week, which was huge.  Normally we bounce around 80 but now we go at ten in the morning, which obviously helped ha ha. But what we realized was that the Lord is really blessing us for our efforts with the less actives. The church is making a huge push to get less actives in church and to keep the recent coverts active.  So we are heeding the prophet’s council and Elder Evans as well. On Sunday NINE of the less actives showed up plus our two investigators, we had like 11 people there!! It was a huge miracle.  The work is so going forward out here

Other than that not much, forgot to mention that 2 weeks ago I had my same ingrown toenail taken out again at the doctor.....really hurt. I kept the nail. Now I have two souvenirs!! They almost had to do a little operation to cut the nail at the root so it wouldn’t keep growing back. I told the doctor that I was leaving soon and wouldn’t be walking as much so she didn’t give it to me.  It was a close one! I’m good now :)

As the Ducks would say... FAST. HARD. FINISH.

Love you all!!

Elder Farah

Last the best of all!!!

So I had my last concilio yesterday, it was a really bittersweet experience. When there are zone leaders going home and it is their last concilio, they always make us get up and take a few minutes to say what we have learned and what the Lord has taught us on our missions.  It was literally impossible for me to put into a few words all that the Lord has taught me!! I honestly got up there and didn’t know what to say, and I hadn’t really thought about it either because I was in denial that it was my last concilio ha ha. But it was a sweet experience and bittersweet all at once. 

And now we are back in Palma. Our mission goal for June is to find 2000 new investigators, we normally average around 1400 so it will be a stretch but we are going to go for it, while trying to work with the members more. So we will see how it goes!! And our joven Edgar came to church on Sunday!! It was a huge miracle and he is on track to get baptized this Saturday if all goes well, we have been teaching him for about three or four months now. 

We saw a lot of good miracles this week but my favorite had to be with our investigator Matias;  a man from Pais Vasco, (Las Arenas of all places :)  We had a visit in the church in front of the pila bautismal. The second he set foot into the sacrament room he said, “I feel the paz.” And he said he felt the same thing in front of the pila. He is really good at recognizing the paz in his life that has come from the Book of Mormon, his prayers, and listening to us teach him the gospel. The last hurdle is church because of his job but now that we are going at 10:00 a.m. he will be able to come. He said to us ¨me verán aquí¨ It was such a miracle!!! It has to be a Cornelius experience for sure; a man with a good job, home, car, and a future Melchezedik Priesthood holder. The stake is coming!!  He has got to come to church!! We are praying so hard that he can get Sunday mornings off; it is literally the last thing stopping him.

Then we have another Spanish guy that we found named Antonio who wants to get baptized on the 14th as well, and he came to church and loved it.  So we have some good things going already this month, we just got to add to it!! But we are really trying to get these three baptisms and a fourth before it is all said and done.

Love you all!!! 

Elder Farah