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!!