Monday, March 25, 2013

What a Week!




So this week was full of so many miracles. The new missionaries always bring them straight to the field! I will say this, training is a lot of work. From 7:29a.m. to 11:31p.m. I am doing everything! And teaching as I go of course. I just remember how I was the same way, always asking questions and I never knew what was going on. But Elder Perkis is so great! He is a spiritual giant and has a killer testimony and he is so excited to share it with the other people of Spain. He is just trying to get the hang of things and trying to get over the initial shock. I think he is over it now so now we can just do work!

Cindy is getting baptized this Friday, and it is the greatest birthday present I could ever ask for!! She is so prepared and so ready and all we have to do is finish the lessons and then she is ready. And I don’t see any more problems with her baptism. I don’t know if I mentioned this before but we have to build the font every time there is a baptism because there is no font!! So it is like building a swimming pool almost, it is pretty funny.

Another great experience that he had is that after church on Sunday us and the bishop and some other members went out to this little town that is 2 hours away to hold the very first official sacrament of the the church. There are 2 families out there that are members, and some less active families. So I think the stake is making an effort to open up a branch out there and this is the first step. And not only that, but there were like 10 investigators there as well!! These 2 families did all that they could to get people there. And I got to bless the sacrament. It was great to be a part of history again, and I really hope that a branch opens there soon. There is a lot of work out there and you gotta start somewhere!! So we will see what happens. But it was a fun adventure to go out there and a great experience to help these people feel the real spirit of Christ in their lives.

Oh and I got a phone call Saturday afternoon asking if I could give another 15 talk on Sunday again. I spoke on the sacrament and I think it went well! It is just funny that we always get those kinds of things. But that means that the members trust us, so that is always good.

Today we went out to this town called Peñíscola were there is a castle on right on the beach. It was so pretty and so much fun. 2 members took us out there, and we had a great time. That is where these pictures are from. It has been a very fun preparation day and the castle was gorgeous! And it was fun to be with the 2 members.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!!! I hope everything is going good.

Love,

Elder Farah

Friday, March 22, 2013

  My New Kid!!
Elder Farah is now training Elder Perkis from London
 
 
Elder Farah had to say goodbye to his wonderful companion Elder Biddle from Australia, "the gentle giant."

So I have big news...and Happy Birthday Dad!!




 HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!! Otro año mas viejo jaja

So I thought this transfer would come and go and I would remain with Elder Biddle. But oh how I was wrong. I am now training!!! I am now companions with Elder Perkis straight from the MTC. He is from London. And that wasn´t all that they made me do. I am now District leader!! Which means I have to run a District meeting every week, take care of my District and make sure they are all good, and have to do the baptism interviews for the missionaries in my District. That is scary!! I just decide these peoples salvation...I am pretty nervous!! So that is why I haven’t gotten to email for the last couple days, I went up to Barcelona to have some meetings with President and pick up my new companion. I already love him so much; we are going to have so much fun and do work!! He is a spiritual giant, and now I have to teach him everything. From square one. And as all of you know, my trainer, Elder Tirado, has left an impact on me for forever and we are the best of friends and he has changed my mission. I do things the way that he taught me, still to this day!! And now I have to train and teach my child everything!! So I just hope that I can be that missionary for him like Elder Tirado was for me. It will be a lot of work, especially with the language but President has put his faith and trust in me and now I need to show him that I am worthy to have it. My work load just changed! It is funny how the second you get a little too comfortable, things change so that you have to push yourself and rely more on the Lord more. Because that is what he wants, for us to always put our faith and trust in him. Let’s go to work!!

So I guess that would be the biggest news for my mission as of now. How is March madness going?? Ha ha. And our investigator Cindy is still being baptized just not till the 30th because we still haven’t taught her everything quite yet. And apart from that we are going to be finding a lot of people that is for sure!! I need to be the example and contact and talk with everyone!! It was interesting how they picked trainers and trainees. After a lot of praying from President, we all meet in a room and he assigns us one by one. And us missionaries went around and greeted all the new missionaries that had come in. And when I saw Elder Perkis I had a feeling that he was going to be my companion and after he said he felt the same way too. It is crazy how the spirit works!!

And last but now least, happy birthday dad!! (otra vez)

Love,

Elder Farah

Thursday, March 14, 2013

And Another One Goes Down!!


Hello family and friends!! How’s it doing? (I learned that from Elder Biddle) 

Well first off sorry it is Wednesday and I am writing this, but we changed our p-day to today so that we could go to a bull fight as a zone!! We got permission from president so we are really excited, we are going tonight. And the other news, we had zone conference again with President Pace and he announced that we now have an extra half hour to email and we can email whoever we want!! And everyone can email us!! Before it was a gray area to email girls and friends and stuff, but now we can email whoever!! So that was way exciting news for all of us. So we are all excited to write our friends, (and maybe mom and dad longer ha ha).
 
Well my miracle this week has to be the baptism that we had of Pablo. It was such a sweet experience and a ton of poeple from the ward showed up to support him. There was a musical number by his family and it was such a great spiritual moment. Now everyone knows that he can be sealed in the temple to his wife in a year from now and be sealed to his family. And he will be able to baptize his son this coming June or around there. This was a huge step for him and it was great to be a part of it!! Not to mention that our font that we had to build had so many leaks and holes in it. Good thing the new church is going up!! Ha ha But it was crazy. We built it in the morming and then when we came back 3 hours later before the baptism there was water all ove the floor! So we found the leak, and some member was chewing some gum so we stuck it in the leak!! And then we just mopped during the whole baptism because the water was leaking from this main valve thing. I have had so many problems with water and baptism fonts! But luckly we haven't missed a baptism yet.

So we still have our investigator Cindy for the 23rd and we are trying to find a lot more people. That is always the problem here!! Having a big pool of people to teach!! So we are working really to find these people. But me and Elder Biddle are having a blast, now that he has opened up he is a really funny Elder. And I still love the ward to death here in Castellon. They are the best!!

Alright well it’s time to go eat and go to the bull fight now!!! I love you all, and hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Elder Farah

Monday, March 4, 2013

Hello Family and Friends!!

Well this week turned out incredible. But the first like 4 days up until Friday were super tough and we saw nothing and everything was firing on us. It was hard, but we didn’t get discouraged and we kept going. So by the time Friday rolled around we set a fecha! A women named Cindy who has been coming for church with her husband, who is a member for the last 5 years, but only has talked with the missionaries once (???) so I jumped on her and she is prepared. She will be going down on the 23rd. The only hard thing is that she lives in a little pueblo about 30 minutes from Castellon, but is very committed and faithful to be baptized. We just have to get out there now to teach her.

And the next day Saturday was even more incredible. First was the primera palada, the groundbreaking ceremony for the first actual capilla here in Castellon. It was such a neat experience and the spirit was so strong and all the members are so excited to have a church building here in about 10 months. And the members that started this ward bore their testimonies of how it is incredible to watch their city grow into what they have today. And we all wrote our testimonies and put them in a time capsule to be opened in 50 years. I am a part of history in Castellon!! So I guess that means that I have to come back to Castellon in50 years to open up my testimony ;)

But the miracle with a man named Pablo, the Bishop’s brother is incredible. Apparently his records were lost. By him being baptized, so many doors will open up. I thought he already was!! He is such a nice man, but just didn’t want to commit to this covenio. He has a family of 4 and a wife who is just a saint and she got up and bore her testimony on Sunday about how God answers prayers and I knew it had to do with her husband. He can now get sealed to his wife and his family a year from Saturday and receive the priesthood very soon. He wasn’t able to baptize his first 2 kids, but now he will be able to baptize the last two. The more we teach him, the more we find out that this has been a process over the last 4 years. Long time!!! I am just so grateful that he can receive all these blessings and bless his family now and be sealed together forever. And the bishop and his family couldn’t be happier. He is the last one that they were missing in the family to be baptized. What a miracle!!

We were teaching the Plan of Salvation and I don’t think I have ever born a stronger testimony on how families can be together forever, after he gets baptized and can be sealed to his family. It was so strong, and an experience I will never forget.

Sunday was amazing. I love fast and testimony meeting. I even got up and bore my own and it was the first time I feel like that I was able to bear it in confidence in the Spanish language. Afterwards I felt so full of the spirit. I love this work. I love this gospel, and I love growing in it and experiencing miracles. The Lord is to kind!! But it only took me 8 months to feel comfortable to bear my testimony in sacrament....jolines!

So this week ended up really good after it started out so bad. You just have to keep the faith and keep pressing on. Now we are going to go play ball with some of the YSA kids. I tried to invite as many as I could including the less active ones and ones who aren’t baptized so we can build that relationship first and get them back in church!! Or in the church. I love the ward and kids here so much. Keep the faith!!

Love,

Elder Farah