Elder Farah and Brother and Sister Godoy

Sergio Godoy is the National Director of Public Affairs for Spain for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and works with Daniel's mom. When she was in Germany in June she told him about Elder Farah's missionary call and told him to look out for him. Image Brother Godoy's surprise when he arrived at Church last Sunday and discovered Elder Farah had been assigned to his branch. He and Sister Godoy subsequently had Daniel and his companion, Elder Tirado over for lunch. It is a small world! His email and photos follow:

Dear Kim: 

We have spent a sweet moment today with Elder Farah & his companion Elder Tirado (SLC). Your message was given to him, he smiled very pleased. We took some photos that I attach. They shared a spiritual thought regarding Hope & Faith Rom. 8:24-25. He is a great missionary and he is very focused on the Lord´s work, congratulations Kim. He is learning very fast the Spanish!

 

Regards

Sergio

 

 

 

Elder Farah and his companion, Elder Tirado

 

Sister and Brother Godoy with Elder Farah

Elder Farah Starts Preaching the Gospel in Spain

Dear Farah Family,

We are pleased to inform you that your son has safely arrived in the Spain Barcelona Mission. Hermana Pace and I, along with the two assistants, met him at the train station. The group of missionaries we received are wonderful young men and women, ready to go to work. Their enthusiasm reflects their love for the Savior and we are grateful for the privilege of guiding them along as they serve the Lord.

Every area in the Spain Barcelona Mission is unique and beautiful, rich in history and tradition. More importantly, each city is full of children of our Heavenly Father, waiting to hear the glad news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for the trust you have put in us to shepherd your son. Please know that we feel a great responsibility to guide and protect “our” missionaries. We love your sons and daughters as if they were our own. With the Lord’s help, we intend to make their mission experience in Barcelona the most memorable time of their lives.

Sincerely,

President and Hermana Pace

 

 

Elder Farah is greeted by his Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Pace

 

Elder Farah previously met the Pace's at the Provo, MTC and was anxious to reunite with them.

 

Wow!

Ok, so this place is so insane!! I don’t have a lot of time to email so I will try to cover everything. My first area is Zaragoza. It is amazing and so beautiful but we are white washing the area so it has been really hard these first couple of days because we hardly know anything and don’t know the area at all, especially me. So it is a lot of hard work but I love it!! Do work. That is all we ever say.

My companion is Elder Tirado. He went to high school at Riverton. He is a stud and an amazing missionary. He has been out for about 14 months now and is the district leader, so that is really neat to be able to help him. The only problem is he already knew Spanish before the mission so whenever I asked him a question about grammar or something he doesn’t know why. But we are working so hard, we have a ton of appointments this week so hopefully they all don’t fall through.

Spain is really hot and humid, and there is no AC especially in our tiny apartment, it is small and there are 4 of us in it. So get this mom, Elder Brayden Spencer is in my apartment with me (Sister Becerra’s nephew in our ward) and dad, Elder Roberts is my zone leader and I have talked to him and get to meet him tomorrow at our zone conference!! The Lord has blessed me in so many ways by keeping people I know along my side. It is truly amazing how things work. So yeah we pretty much just sweat all day, and sleep with fans all night. I am already losing weight!! But I am starting to get use to it.

Crazy thing I ate this week pata de hamon. It is meat sliced off of a pig leg put on a sandwich. It was really good! And we were eating at this member’s house and they had this drink that was different to say the least, and we all just had to chug it down. It was pretty funny. They eat mostly bread, rice and meat here with crazy drinks. Every apartment is really small and hot. And we really only have 2 meals a day; breakfast, then a big meal at 2:00p.m. And then we work through dinner and eat like cereal when we get home. I am still getting used to that. We walk everyway and take the bus.

So about my Spanish...I have been getting torn to pieces by the people here about my Spanish, some people are joking and some don’t. I tried so hard to focus on what they are saying. That is my number 1 problem, just trying to understand what they are saying, which I normally don’t so I can’t say much. But I teach ok, testify and pray. That is about all for now. It is really tough because this area was kind of dead when we got here so we are going to make it come alive. Everyone says I need to give my Spanish time and this is definitely normal. They are saying I will need about 2 months before I start to get it. But 2 months is way too long. I need to start helping people now!!!! There is so much work to do and I want to be able to help my companion out and the people here as much as I can. And I did get called up during church to explain who I was and bear my testimony. That was scary but I did it.

The people are crazy here, we get shut down all the time and my companion and I always get told how handsome we are and how big we are. We are both like 6´2 and so we are giants here. We just try and preach the gospel and that is about it. I love the people here at the same time and want to help them. People from all over the world are here. There area a lot of black people so we teach in English sometimes. I can do those for now!

Ok my miracle for the week. On Friday all of our appointments had fallen through, we tried going to members houses and nobody was home. So we sat down on a curb and tried to figure out what to do. We didn’t know the area and didn’t know where to go to start contacting. So I decided that we should pray. So I offered up a prayer to help us find someone in need. Long story short we somehow ended up at an apartment door that was open so we knocked and met a guy who was less active for 6 years and had a wife and kid. We gave him a Book of Mormon and are seeing him tomorrow. We hope to reactivate him and baptize his family. The Lord answers prayers and works miracles especially out in the mission.

Ok well pray for the Spanish!! I am trying to keep my faith and try my best. I have never prayed so hard and relied so much on the Lord in my life. But I know that is what he wants. But pray for the gift of tongues!! So I can start helping the people of Spain more. Alright here goes another week.

Elder Farah

p.s. President Pace and his wife are 2 of the greatest people alive. I know they are my presidents for a reason.

p.p.s. Elder Moser I love you so much!!! Work hard for your language

p.p.p.s. Elder Gruber, my shoes are already destroyed. How is your French?

Elder Farah has arrived in Spain!

So I am officially in Spain safe and sound at the Madrid MTC. We are no going on almost 28 hours of no sleep, besides the two hours I kind of got on the plane. They are having us stay awake just until after dinner, then we can go to bed at like 7 and get a lot of sleep. Good news, President Pace called the MTC president here and President Pace wants me in Barcelona now. It will be 11 more days before I can fill out residency paper and he said that was too long so they are putting me on a train tomorrow morning to Barcelona. I love President Pace. So I will go to my mission for about a week, then come back to do my papers, then go back to my mission.

This has been so crazy! I am excited but super scared at the same time. It is crazy here and I just need to pray my little heart out to understand enough Spanish. I am scared out of my mind but oh well. Just have to get in there and do it. They are giving me some time right now to email you guys and let you know I am alive and will be going to my mission tomorrow. Spain is 8 hours ahead of Utah. They said it takes about a week to send mail, and the stamps cost 82 cents each for international - so about 2 week trips for letters - so stay on top of them please! And I might break the bank on buying stamps...oh man this is going to be crazy.

I have an amazing mission call, but at the same time it is going to be a lot of work. I am in a foreign country where I know absolutely nothing. I just need time to adjust and start to know what I am doing and learn Spanish more so I can actually converse with people. This is going to be so hard. Never have I had to rely more on the Lord then I do now. Pray for the Spanish!! And for me. I guess that is all I have to say for now, I am trying to keep my spirits as high as possible and not doubt myself!! Hopefully Monday is my p-day, which it should be and I can hear back from you. I knew I was going to miss the MTC because the spirit is so strong. I have to go create my own spirit now. Wish me luck!! I love you all and thank you so much for the support. Believe in Christ. I know I can do this no matter how hard it is, the Lord is on my side.

Love,

Elder Farah

Ready to Ship Out

Hello family and friends!!

I officially ship out to Spain on Tuesday!! And it is for realzies this time. I received my travel plans and will be leaving very early. I can’t wait to go start saving some souls!! So by the time you hear from me next week I will be in Spain teaching the gospel, in Spanish!!! I still have so much Spanish to learn, but I am trying my best. No more MTC training, straight to the field I go. It is so crazy. I can’t believe that my 9 weeks in here are already over. It has been long but fast all at the same time; I am just excited for a change. The MTC is so great though, you learn a ton here. And the spirit is always so strong here which I know it won’t be this good in Spain. But I am ready for a change and for my real work to begin. No more cafeteria food and no more teachers to tell you what to do and help you!! I will have the lord, my mission president, and my companion on my side. I like my chances with those people on my team. I also can’t wait to see President Pace again (my mission president). He is so amazing, just by meeting him all the way back in July for an hour; I can tell he is an amazing spiritual man called of God. I can’t wait to see him again!! I just want to give him a big hug and get to work. I have a feeling that Spain is really starting to open up. Last month I heard there were 28ish baptisms. That may not seem like a lot, but it set the record for that mission. The people in Spain are ready for the gospel! I just know they are. I can’t wait to get there and help raise the bar and keep baptizing. But we are not here for the numbers, we are here to save souls and find Christ’s lost sheep. Time to go find and gather the sheep. I get so pumped and excited thinking about it!! I know I will be scared out of my mind, not know what I am doing, and hardly understand any Spanish, and be super nervous the second I set foot tracting or to an appointment. But I am going to try my best to keep a positive attitude, and to work my hardest.

Today was the last time I will probably be able to go to the temple for 22 more months :( there is no temple in my mission, only in Madrid which is quite a ways away. So I encourage all of you Utah folks who have like 5 temples within 30 minutes of each other to go! It is amazing in the temple, the spirit is incredible. You can learn so much by doing work for the Lord in his house. It is literally his house; you can feel it in there.

Sadly my companion Elder Roney will not be receiving his VISA so he is getting reassigned or staying here, we are not sure yet. But this means I am flying alone to Spain. I really hope he gets it soon, he has been an amazing companion. I wish so bad that he was coming with me! But everything happens for a reason, we just don’t know why a lot of the time. But still, pray for his VISA!!

Real quick, my spiritual thought for the week. We had our last district meeting on Tuesday. We have devotionals Tuesday nights then we meet together as a district after and share what we liked and our testimonies. Knowing that this was our last time to hear each other’s testimonies, it was so powerful. Your district is like your family in the MTC. You do everything with those other 9 elders. I was the last one to share my testimony and I could barely speak. The testimonies before mine were so powerful. Half of us were crying. I stood up there and bore my testimony with shaking legs and tears in my eyes. And I can testify to all of you that this work is real. Share your testimony oft; it is the best way to strengthen it. I can say that I have never been in a more powerful testimony meeting then that one. My testimony is one of the few things I have right now, or at least that I know in Spanish, but I know that it is the most important thing I can share with my future investigators. The power of testimonies is 100% real. I bear witness of that to all of you.

OK wish me luck to Spain! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Farah.

P.S. congrats Tessa and soon Lauren! I would love to hear how the weddings went from those two. And thank you Farnsworth family for your support, my mom told me about the card you sent so thank you so much!!

Life at the Provo MTC

Elder Farah is ready to break out of the Provo, MTC.  He will be flying to Barcelona, Spain next week to start preaching the Gospel.

He's got the whole world in his hands!

Elder Farah with his companions, Elder Schwartz and Elder Roney.

Elder Farah with his best friends, Elder Willes and Elder Moser.

Elder Farah's home away from home.

Hello World!

I only have a week and a half left in the MTC before I head out to Spain!!! We should be getting our travel plans today or tomorrow.  Which is way exciting.  But at the same time super scary because the Espanol can really kick my butt sometimes still!! I can communicate well and understand most of what is said, and people can understand my Spanish but I know it is broken and my sentences are improperly formed but if I get my point across I guess that is all that matters.  We are constantly told that if we truly show our love for the investigator and try our best, that they won’t care at all about our white Spanish.  I know I am going to be scared out of my mind when I head out to the field for the first day but bring on the adventure!! I’ll be in Spain, so I think I will be alright. I can’t wait to get there.  There are souls to be saved!! And I can’t wait to help them out.

MY CAR IS SOLD.  Steph and Dad tell Grace she better take care of it.  It’s like I have a part of me missing now!!! i am sad to see my jeep go, fun times in that car ha ha oh well. 

How is all the wedding planning going? And is everyone getting ready to back to school? It is weird to think that summer is almost over for the people in the lesser fun real world!  I will probably have 2 years of summer since Spain is hot and really has no AC. Olympics going good?

Ok my favorite part for this week.  Not a whole lot exciting happened, but when we went to the temple this morning I noticed something very amazing.  We were just sitting in the chapel waiting to go into our endowment room and I was just sitting there enjoying my peace and listening to the organ play.  But then I noticed that the man had no music notes in front of him.  So my first thought was wow he must have a lot memorized and that is really impressive.  But then I noticed that in between songs he was always feeling around for new keys and buttons he had to push so he could play the next song. And then while he was playing he never looked down at the keys or anything like that.  Then it finally hit me, he was blind.  He was blind and playing the organ flawlessly and with no effort.  I just think that is so amazing, it really does show that if you put your mind to something then you can really do it.  A blind man was playing the organ, which if I know correctly, is very complex.  I still can’t believe it.  Some people in this world are truly amazing.  And even the other day in our Sunday fireside, 3 elders who are serving missions at the Provo MTC referral center since they have disabilities, put together an amazing musical piece.  I felt the spirit so strong and even stronger since they have disabilities.  And yet they are here in the Provo MTC for 2 years serving at the referral center and they love it.

It is just another testimony to me that nothing can stop me and unless I let it.  With the Lord on your side, and the willingness to sacrifice and dedicate everything to the Lord, anything is possible.  Especially on the mission.  I can’t wait to see the miracles in the field!! All my friends on missions already have already bore witness to me about the power of miracles.  Having a 19 year old, snot nose kid turn into a missionary speaking another language is a miracle in and of itself.  I love this gospel and I KNOW this work is real. I know it is.  And most importantly, I know that my Savior, my Redeemer, and my Father in Heaven lives.  I have never known that more than I do now.

Love,

Elder Farah

Only Two and a Half Weeks Left!

Hello world!!

Only two and a half weeks left!! I want to leave so bad, but at the same time I still have so much to learn. And I know the field will be a thousand times harder but I still want to go.  This work is 100% real, and that can be a scary though sometimes.  It is my job to go and save souls.  It is my job to build eternal families by planting gospel seeds.  That didn’t really hit me till last week.  But being a missionary is so important! I really do want to help people so much and save their lives. Eternal salvation is on the line here! And it is not cheap.  So sometimes I stress about learning Spanish, but I know I am being helped out a lot.

There was an older district that left last week and one elder shared a quote in his testimony “the Lord could use chickens to preach the gospel." At first I was thinking ok that is a weird thing to share but then I thought some more.  The Lord also has us serve missions for ourselves.  Are we going to be the same person that we were when we left after this is all said and done? Or are we going to change and become such a better person that after the mission is over we have been changed for the best.  On the flip side I am also serving a mission for myself.  If the Lord really wanted to he could use chickens or just come preach the gospel himself, but he gives some snot nose 19 year old kid the OPPORTUNITY & PRIVELAGE to serve a mission.  I know that the after mish life is a long ways away, but I can start changing now to become a better person. And that will help me be a better missionary out in the field.

So my favorite experience this week.  I have a lot here in the MTC since the spirit is so strong all the time.  We were at our Sunday fireside and we were in the middle of singing “If I Could Hie to Kolob” as one of our prelude hymns till it starts.  I can now say that is also one of my favorite songs, along with “Consider the Lilies” and “We'll Bring the World his Truth.”  Anyway we were singing that song together as hundreds of missionaries and every missionary sings with such power.  Whenever I am touched by the spirit I get chills, so in the middle of that song I started to get chills, and the second I started to get chills our MTC president walked in with his wife and counselors.  And for some reason this time when they walked in, I could do nothing but smile and have tears well up in my eyes.  The president always walks in 5 minutes before the meeting starts in the middle of our prelude hymns and I’m always glad to see him.  But this time was just different.  I don’t know why, but I felt the spirit that much stronger when we walked in and when we were singing “If You Could Hie to Kolob.”  I know that our MTC president has also been called of God and I love him so much.  I know that the leaders of this church and hand - picked by the Lord.  I have been able to speak with President Brown a few times here and I love that man.  What an example we have here in the MTC as our president.  I know never to take church leaders for granted; they are all selected by the lord himself.

Anyway I hope all the wedding planning is going good for my two lovely cousins! I would kill to have some family to write or some cousins to write sometime....even though I know everyone is busy ha ha.  I would still love to hear from my friends too!!

I hope all is well, I pray for all of you everyday

Love,  Elder Farah