A fun P-Day with the District in Zaragoza!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Feliz Ano!!!
Happy new year family
and friends!
It was so great to talk the family over Skype on Christmas. I love you guys so much! And I can’t believe Carson is engaged...I so asked him on Christmas day when he was proposing and he told me nobody knows!! And now days later he is engaged....thanks a lot cousin!! Ha ha just kidding but this will already be the 3rd wedding I am missing. I am just that long lost cousin in the family now who is never in the wedding photos ha ha. But congratulations cousin!!!
My favorite miracle from the week was with our investigator Mercedes. She is just progressing along so well and she gave up coffee a couple of days ago. She even invited her friend to come with her to her baptism this week but then her friend starting asking her why she was doing this so fast. Then she told her that she had received an answer from God that she needs to do this and that God has told her that this is the right thing to do. She truly is incredible and already has a strong testimony of this church and the Book of Mormon. I love her so much. And we have a ton of people that hopefully we can get in with this week. Everyone said to meet after the holidays so after tomorrow no more holidays!! We have big plans for this week.
Just by talking to my family (and friends :)) I am so grateful for the people in my life. I am so grateful to have a supportive, loving family in my life. And I am so happy to have such amazing friends that have ALL been examples to me; through serving missions and from the support I receive out here in Spain. I really am so blessed. Out here in Spain, it is hard to find a complete loving family where everyone is part of the church. That has definitely strengthened my testimony about how families and friends are such a blessing in this life and that we can truly be with them forever. So thank you all so much for everything, may the New Year bring more happiness and new adventures!!
Con Amor,
It was so great to talk the family over Skype on Christmas. I love you guys so much! And I can’t believe Carson is engaged...I so asked him on Christmas day when he was proposing and he told me nobody knows!! And now days later he is engaged....thanks a lot cousin!! Ha ha just kidding but this will already be the 3rd wedding I am missing. I am just that long lost cousin in the family now who is never in the wedding photos ha ha. But congratulations cousin!!!
My favorite miracle from the week was with our investigator Mercedes. She is just progressing along so well and she gave up coffee a couple of days ago. She even invited her friend to come with her to her baptism this week but then her friend starting asking her why she was doing this so fast. Then she told her that she had received an answer from God that she needs to do this and that God has told her that this is the right thing to do. She truly is incredible and already has a strong testimony of this church and the Book of Mormon. I love her so much. And we have a ton of people that hopefully we can get in with this week. Everyone said to meet after the holidays so after tomorrow no more holidays!! We have big plans for this week.
Just by talking to my family (and friends :)) I am so grateful for the people in my life. I am so grateful to have a supportive, loving family in my life. And I am so happy to have such amazing friends that have ALL been examples to me; through serving missions and from the support I receive out here in Spain. I really am so blessed. Out here in Spain, it is hard to find a complete loving family where everyone is part of the church. That has definitely strengthened my testimony about how families and friends are such a blessing in this life and that we can truly be with them forever. So thank you all so much for everything, may the New Year bring more happiness and new adventures!!
Con Amor,
Elder Farah
Monday, December 24, 2012
Feliz Navidad!
Feliz Navidad!
Merry Christmas everyone!! I am not going to lie, it doesn´t feel like Christmas too much out here. I can´t believe that tomorrow is Christmas day. It feels kind of weird, but it is all good! Our baptism with Edward went through and now he is a member of the only true church on the planet. He literally has been to Hell and back. He has been to jail in the Bronx of New York, has tattoos, used to do drugs, crack, smoke, and drink, and break the law of chastity probably weekly. But now I can testify to all of you that this man is changed and that the gospel changes lives. I have seen it first hand with so many people, and especially with this man. He has faithfully changed everything about him and loves everything about church so much. I love him so much, and he loves us and the church. He literally changed his life. And I feel so honored to be a part of that. He is my brother!
And Mercedes, is another fehca that we have! She is from Peru and we taught her all week and she came to church and loved it a lot. She is gold and will be getting baptized on the fifth of January. Happy new year to me! Me and Elder Pearson did work this week and we are trying to find new people and build up our pool of people again. And we have a lot of people that we are going to be getting in with this next week after Christmas. I am excited :)
Ok so another legit miracle.....I hung out with the CHARLES ABOU from the BYU basketball team!! Yes I am dead serious. He is playing for a team here in Spain and showed up at our church yesterday. I greeted him at the door and said I know who you are!! And so we talked for a while and then after church we were going to visit a nativity scene at the pialr here and pass out books of Mormon so of course I invited him to come and he came with us! So I hung out with Charles Abou in Spain...pretty crazy. He is actually super super nice and loved seeing some American faces and loved spending time with the missionaries! He is so great, and it was so crazy that I met him here in Spain...and of course we talked sports and everything. But he is a good member of the church, and is super nice. It was so much fun!!
Ok well I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, I am excited to talk to the fam tomorrow!!
Merry Christmas everyone!! I am not going to lie, it doesn´t feel like Christmas too much out here. I can´t believe that tomorrow is Christmas day. It feels kind of weird, but it is all good! Our baptism with Edward went through and now he is a member of the only true church on the planet. He literally has been to Hell and back. He has been to jail in the Bronx of New York, has tattoos, used to do drugs, crack, smoke, and drink, and break the law of chastity probably weekly. But now I can testify to all of you that this man is changed and that the gospel changes lives. I have seen it first hand with so many people, and especially with this man. He has faithfully changed everything about him and loves everything about church so much. I love him so much, and he loves us and the church. He literally changed his life. And I feel so honored to be a part of that. He is my brother!
And Mercedes, is another fehca that we have! She is from Peru and we taught her all week and she came to church and loved it a lot. She is gold and will be getting baptized on the fifth of January. Happy new year to me! Me and Elder Pearson did work this week and we are trying to find new people and build up our pool of people again. And we have a lot of people that we are going to be getting in with this next week after Christmas. I am excited :)
Ok so another legit miracle.....I hung out with the CHARLES ABOU from the BYU basketball team!! Yes I am dead serious. He is playing for a team here in Spain and showed up at our church yesterday. I greeted him at the door and said I know who you are!! And so we talked for a while and then after church we were going to visit a nativity scene at the pialr here and pass out books of Mormon so of course I invited him to come and he came with us! So I hung out with Charles Abou in Spain...pretty crazy. He is actually super super nice and loved seeing some American faces and loved spending time with the missionaries! He is so great, and it was so crazy that I met him here in Spain...and of course we talked sports and everything. But he is a good member of the church, and is super nice. It was so much fun!!
Ok well I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, I am excited to talk to the fam tomorrow!!
Love you all!!
Love,
Love,
Elder Farah
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Buenas!!
Buenas!!
So this week was nuts, we had to move pisos last preparation day and it was insane, it took the whole day!! We didn’t even get time to do anything fun but oh well ha ha. But we finally have working hot water and a super nice big piso. It is so great; the other piso had had elders in it for over 20 years so it was just destroyed. But i will get the address and email it on here next week.
Edward is still good to go for this Saturday to be baptized!! I am so excited for him. He really has stopped doing everything bad and is ready to change his life. He is a true example of how this gospel changes lives, and he is so ready for this. I love this man!!!
This past week we have been working really hard to find new people and build our pool back up. Some days you just have to grind them out, especially when you knock over 100 doors and every single one gets slammed in your face and people yell so me crazy things at you. But me and my companion laugh and make it fun and we are trying to have the faith that there is someone behind that door. And if a old person opens up the door and doesn’t want anything; right before they shut it I ask for some advice for us young boys in life. It has brought some pretty fun answers ha ha.
This miracle we had occurred yesterday, last night. After working so hard all day, and getting doors slammed in our face, we were visiting a lady for the first time and she was a reference from a member in our ward. First off this member is incredible, she is always looking for new people that we can teach and she told me on Sunday that she might not have a chappa on her shirt, but her chappa is up in the heavens. She has some of the strongest desires to build the kingdom of God and help the missionaries. But we visited this woman and she is from Peru, and Elder Pearson loves the people from Peru, so we did a basic leccion zero and we found out that she had a nephew die at 2 years old. She lives alone, but wants to live with her kids really bad, and knows that now is the time for her to change and endure to the end. She knows that she needs to endure to the end, and we just talked about how this Gospel can always bring us happiness and is always a bright light in our lives. We invited her to be baptized for the 5th and she accepted,
I can’t believe it is almost Christmas, it doesn't feel like it but we have a few decorations in piso and we sing the Christmas hymns every morning so we are trying to bring in the Christmas spirit!! And for the record, if anyone anywhere gets mission calls I need to know where they are going and when!! Thanks ;) I love you all so much, thank you for the support!!
Love,
So this week was nuts, we had to move pisos last preparation day and it was insane, it took the whole day!! We didn’t even get time to do anything fun but oh well ha ha. But we finally have working hot water and a super nice big piso. It is so great; the other piso had had elders in it for over 20 years so it was just destroyed. But i will get the address and email it on here next week.
Edward is still good to go for this Saturday to be baptized!! I am so excited for him. He really has stopped doing everything bad and is ready to change his life. He is a true example of how this gospel changes lives, and he is so ready for this. I love this man!!!
This past week we have been working really hard to find new people and build our pool back up. Some days you just have to grind them out, especially when you knock over 100 doors and every single one gets slammed in your face and people yell so me crazy things at you. But me and my companion laugh and make it fun and we are trying to have the faith that there is someone behind that door. And if a old person opens up the door and doesn’t want anything; right before they shut it I ask for some advice for us young boys in life. It has brought some pretty fun answers ha ha.
This miracle we had occurred yesterday, last night. After working so hard all day, and getting doors slammed in our face, we were visiting a lady for the first time and she was a reference from a member in our ward. First off this member is incredible, she is always looking for new people that we can teach and she told me on Sunday that she might not have a chappa on her shirt, but her chappa is up in the heavens. She has some of the strongest desires to build the kingdom of God and help the missionaries. But we visited this woman and she is from Peru, and Elder Pearson loves the people from Peru, so we did a basic leccion zero and we found out that she had a nephew die at 2 years old. She lives alone, but wants to live with her kids really bad, and knows that now is the time for her to change and endure to the end. She knows that she needs to endure to the end, and we just talked about how this Gospel can always bring us happiness and is always a bright light in our lives. We invited her to be baptized for the 5th and she accepted,
I can’t believe it is almost Christmas, it doesn't feel like it but we have a few decorations in piso and we sing the Christmas hymns every morning so we are trying to bring in the Christmas spirit!! And for the record, if anyone anywhere gets mission calls I need to know where they are going and when!! Thanks ;) I love you all so much, thank you for the support!!
Love,
Elder Farah
Monday, December 10, 2012
All I want for Christmas...is more baptisms!! And to hear from family and friends
Hello family and friends!!
This week was great. We had a zone conference with President Pace!! I love seeing him and his wife; I just love them so much. And I love learning from him and her and the assistants that we have. They are amazing missionaries, and I know that President Pace is called of God and holds the keys to the success of this mission. After hearing from Elder Richards, we have all been trying to teach more simply. Teach someone as if they were an 8 year old getting baptized, which is really what we are doing when it comes to their knowledge of the church. And I know how to teach simply with my Spanish skills, ha ha, but I am improving everyday and trying my best. And we have been knocking a lot more doors. The Area Presidency of Europe has encouraged us to knock doors during lunchtime so we have been trying that in our proselytizing. If I can baptize a true Spanish family on my mission, that would be such a huge miracle. The hardest part is getting into the apartment because the main door is always locked and sometimes there is a door man. So I hit 7 or 8 buttons at a time assuming somebody is expecting someone then they buzz the door open and we walk in. Or I say cartas, which means letters and sometimes they think I am the mailman and let me in. We make it fun.
We met with Edward yesterday after church and had a lesson with him. He is doing so good and he wants to change his life so bad. We found out that he was in jail for a while and in there he would read the Bible. But now he is reading the Book of Mormon ;) We taught him the law of chastity and the word of wisdom and he gladly accepted both of them. He has already stopped all the drugs and didn’t know coffee was bad so now he will stop that. And I had to straight up tell him no more sex. My companion is very formal and sincere, and tried to explain it in a formal way, but then I just straight up told him to stop. He wants to, he gladly accepts everything. We are seeing him three more times this week. I love this man so much, he is doing so good and I know that the Lord prepared him for us. His whole story is a miracle, and his pisomate Mike helps us a lot and helps him a lot. We are visiting him tomorrow and you bet I will be checking his fridge for beer ha ha.
This week was great. We had a zone conference with President Pace!! I love seeing him and his wife; I just love them so much. And I love learning from him and her and the assistants that we have. They are amazing missionaries, and I know that President Pace is called of God and holds the keys to the success of this mission. After hearing from Elder Richards, we have all been trying to teach more simply. Teach someone as if they were an 8 year old getting baptized, which is really what we are doing when it comes to their knowledge of the church. And I know how to teach simply with my Spanish skills, ha ha, but I am improving everyday and trying my best. And we have been knocking a lot more doors. The Area Presidency of Europe has encouraged us to knock doors during lunchtime so we have been trying that in our proselytizing. If I can baptize a true Spanish family on my mission, that would be such a huge miracle. The hardest part is getting into the apartment because the main door is always locked and sometimes there is a door man. So I hit 7 or 8 buttons at a time assuming somebody is expecting someone then they buzz the door open and we walk in. Or I say cartas, which means letters and sometimes they think I am the mailman and let me in. We make it fun.
We met with Edward yesterday after church and had a lesson with him. He is doing so good and he wants to change his life so bad. We found out that he was in jail for a while and in there he would read the Bible. But now he is reading the Book of Mormon ;) We taught him the law of chastity and the word of wisdom and he gladly accepted both of them. He has already stopped all the drugs and didn’t know coffee was bad so now he will stop that. And I had to straight up tell him no more sex. My companion is very formal and sincere, and tried to explain it in a formal way, but then I just straight up told him to stop. He wants to, he gladly accepts everything. We are seeing him three more times this week. I love this man so much, he is doing so good and I know that the Lord prepared him for us. His whole story is a miracle, and his pisomate Mike helps us a lot and helps him a lot. We are visiting him tomorrow and you bet I will be checking his fridge for beer ha ha.
We are trying to stay warm here. There is a ton of wind in Zaragoza and that can be rough sometimes, but we just keep walking and put one foot in front of another and the Lord blesses us and gives us the strength to keep going. I really hope to hear from all of you this Christmas, hope you are all having a good holiday month!!
Love,
Elder Farah
Monday, December 3, 2012
Papa Noel
Santa Claus visited us in a zone conference last week to tell us that the greatest gift we can give this season is the Book of Mormon. And he is right :)
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Miracle After Miracle
Happy December!!!
I just want to share one of my favorite miracles I had this week. This miracle was incredible. We were visiting one of our recent converts, Mike and he has a piso mate that we have tried to teach before and has never wanted anything, but he is extremely nice. So we went to visit Mike and we walked in and his piso mate, Edward, was smoking and drinking beer as he does every day, but today was different. He said that he wanted to pray with us and of course we said alright that is great! So we sit down and prayed, and then he says I want to become a member of our church. I was shocked, so then I asked him why and he said I have a son on a mission in Argentina and my ex-wife and other son are members of your church. I have been a few times before and I know that this is my time. God has told me I need to go back to church. He said straight up that I want to change my life and quite smoking and drinking and be baptized. He has such strong desires and he wants to change!!! And he showed up to church on Sunday and told me how good he feels to be there. This man is so sincere and I can’t wait until his baptism. I want to write his son on a mission once he is baptized and tell him that his dad has changed. I just have so much love for this man, it is the typical story. And I can’t wait. I am so excited to see him tomorrow. He needs to stop smoking and drinking. The usual here right? But I can’t wait to help him and I know this is the one and only true gospel that can help.
Here in Spain there isn’t a whole lot of Christmas around. In the really nice parts of the city yes, but most places no. So we are trying to decorate our piso a little bit ha ha. But that is alright, the members will take care of us and I think we have already had like 4 invites for dinner for Christmas so we will see how it goes. But we did have a Thanksgiving Feast with the food my dear mommy sent me. It was so good!! Most of the stuff we just had to add water so we didn’t mess it up ha ha.
One thing I have learned out here on the mission is how to show true love. I hug every member I see and every investigator I have (just the guys of course) but I have learned just to show pure love for everyone and be their friend. That is when these people trust us and feel the spirit, when they feel loved. Church is my favorite time of week; I have never loved church more in my life. I see all the members and all of our recent converts. And it is the greatest feeling ever to great each one of them one by one at the door with a smile on my face. I love these people so much, and would do anything for them. I can’t ever say no to anyone about anything. It gets me in trouble sometimes ha ha but I just love them so much. Love is a huge attribute of Christ, and I am trying to master that along with being myself. Because that is why I was specifically called to Spain. For who I am.
I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!!
Love,
I just want to share one of my favorite miracles I had this week. This miracle was incredible. We were visiting one of our recent converts, Mike and he has a piso mate that we have tried to teach before and has never wanted anything, but he is extremely nice. So we went to visit Mike and we walked in and his piso mate, Edward, was smoking and drinking beer as he does every day, but today was different. He said that he wanted to pray with us and of course we said alright that is great! So we sit down and prayed, and then he says I want to become a member of our church. I was shocked, so then I asked him why and he said I have a son on a mission in Argentina and my ex-wife and other son are members of your church. I have been a few times before and I know that this is my time. God has told me I need to go back to church. He said straight up that I want to change my life and quite smoking and drinking and be baptized. He has such strong desires and he wants to change!!! And he showed up to church on Sunday and told me how good he feels to be there. This man is so sincere and I can’t wait until his baptism. I want to write his son on a mission once he is baptized and tell him that his dad has changed. I just have so much love for this man, it is the typical story. And I can’t wait. I am so excited to see him tomorrow. He needs to stop smoking and drinking. The usual here right? But I can’t wait to help him and I know this is the one and only true gospel that can help.
Here in Spain there isn’t a whole lot of Christmas around. In the really nice parts of the city yes, but most places no. So we are trying to decorate our piso a little bit ha ha. But that is alright, the members will take care of us and I think we have already had like 4 invites for dinner for Christmas so we will see how it goes. But we did have a Thanksgiving Feast with the food my dear mommy sent me. It was so good!! Most of the stuff we just had to add water so we didn’t mess it up ha ha.
One thing I have learned out here on the mission is how to show true love. I hug every member I see and every investigator I have (just the guys of course) but I have learned just to show pure love for everyone and be their friend. That is when these people trust us and feel the spirit, when they feel loved. Church is my favorite time of week; I have never loved church more in my life. I see all the members and all of our recent converts. And it is the greatest feeling ever to great each one of them one by one at the door with a smile on my face. I love these people so much, and would do anything for them. I can’t ever say no to anyone about anything. It gets me in trouble sometimes ha ha but I just love them so much. Love is a huge attribute of Christ, and I am trying to master that along with being myself. Because that is why I was specifically called to Spain. For who I am.
I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!!
Love,
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