Heart Broken the Week After Valentines Day!

Hello family and friends!!

Well we were supposed to have a baptism on Saturday with my first Spaniard. And after this week we had a lot drops and sadly, Marcelino did not get baptized. it broke my heart, all the up until Friday he was ready and excited until he showed up to the visit on Friday and said that the old women he takes care of said that if he gets baptized, he won’t have a job and apparently he has had this job since he was 14 and now is 35. And then he didn’t come to church yesterday. So we need to call him and tell him it is still ok and that he should come and in due time he will be baptized, but it was so sad and he felt so bad. So now we have to really start finding. So we took the ideas from the zone leaders during the conference and yesterday booked a ton of member visits, especially with the ones that are a little less popular and we don’t know very well. So we hope to rake in a lot of names this week to get this place going again!! But last week we had this place booking and it all blew up in our faces this week, but the Lord is just testing us!! So we have to put our nose to the grind and find this people and after our blitz with the members on Sunday, we are hoping to find some people or some menos activos.

I had a very interesting experience this week. I went up to Valencia for 2 days to do intercombios with another missionary. And I was with a 26 year old kid from Romania who hasn’t even been in the church for 2 years yet. Right at his year mark he came on a mission. But he was serving in Romania for like 9 months, but caused a lot of problems. So they said he could either come to this mission or go home. And well, he has great desires but just it really hard on the inside and has a very short fuse. And he caused so many problems in just a week that president has already changed him to the area in Barcelona so he can be closer to president. All I want to say is that I am grateful for the great companions I have had and that I haven’t run into problems like that. I need to be more grateful for what I have, we can never be too grateful. I feel so bad for all the times I wasn’t grateful in my life. Sorry mother!! Ha ha but I am learning so much out here and I will never forget them. I love this Gospel and know it is the only thing in this life that is always going to bring us happiness.

Time to get to work!! Love you all!!

Elder Farah

And They go Down!!!

Dearest family and friends, 

Miracles are just happening all over the place!! We started out the week with 0 fechas and now we have 3!! And my first Spanish baptism will be this Saturday!! He is a man that has had contact with the church before about three years ago then just stopped coming for some reason. Come to find out he has studied like every church possible and then felt that this was the true church. I just testified to him that is the Holy Ghost touching his heart and confirming that this is all true and that now is his time to do what is right. And he has already been to church twice and is going down this Saturday!! He is a funny guy who likes to talk a lot and since he has studied a lot of religions he knows a lot of stuff, so we have had to straighten out a few of his thoughts and clear some things up, especially with the plan of salvation, but he is preparing just great!! I am so excited for him to be baptized. The funny thing here is that the church isn’t like a building, it is like a flat, and it’s like a business edificio. Because there is no font, we have to build it like a swimming pool! So that will be interesting to do this Saturday.

The lord really is hastening his work!! We had a ward activity for Valentine’s Day on Friday and a member brought his friend to church and he loved the activity so much he was wondering how to learn more and become a part of it!! So we met with him on Saturday and put a fecha with him! He is a man from Nigeria. The ward here is so great; all the credit goes to them when we have investigators and referrals. The ward is amazing and it is a miracle in of itself to see this ward helping us out so much everyday and offering every help possible. I love the ward here so much. They take really good care of us and we eat with a member every single day and they love the missionaries and are always doing activities to help us out. And I just love spending time with the young single adults, they are so much fun to be with and they love us and always help us with visits. Today I set up basketball with the members here (just the guys of course) so we are going to go play. I am excited to play again! Ha ha.

And yesterday I had to give a 15 minute talk. The bishop called me Saturday and asked if I could give a talk the next day. Of course I said yes but in my head a bunch of alarms went off because there was hardly any time to prepare and for it to be in Spanish!! But I think that I did ok, although I am sure that I butchered a few words and grammar ha ha.

Thank you all for the prayers, we need them out here!! We are always trying to find new people to teach. Going for 1000 this year!!

Love,

Elder Farah

Do Work!!!

Dear family and friends,

 

So I am sorry that is it Wednesday and I am writing. Monday and Tuesday we had to go to Valencia for a special zone training with president and the ayudantes. So we stayed the night on Monday and came back Tuesday night so our p-day is today. It was fun to stay in Valencia and I stayed with Elder Tirade and Roberts so that was great.

Monday night we just went and blitzed the area and found a lot of good people. But the conference was long but it was great, and I learned a lot of great things especially on the faith to find. Because here in this mission, finding can be a problem sometimes. So it was a lot of fun and I love my new zone!!

HUGE miracle that we had on Saturday. Our ward mission leader and our ward missionaries set up an activity called the life of a missionary where all the members and especially all the JASS showed up at the church at 10:00 a.m. and then we were all going to break off into companionships and groups and go contact in a certain area of the city. The elders came in from Valencia as well to help us out. We had an hour where us missionaries trained them and did some practices and then off we went. While Elder Biddle was out with his group, a Spanish man came up to him and asked if they were the Mormons and he said that he has had contact before and wanted to be baptized. He came to church on Sunday in a full suit, white shirt and tie. He asked for a Book of Mormon and everything. We are meeting with him tonight and hope to put a fecha with him. The Lord blessed us so much with this man. I think we got this from all the hard work. I remember in Zaragoza busting my butt and not seeing a lot the last month, but the Lord has blessed me with this miracle; with this SPANISH MAN!! I can’t wait to teach him, and get my first Spanish natie baptism :)

I feel like this is my time now to step up and be great. I settled for just being average before my mission, I feel like, and I was ok with it. Now I know I was meant for something great and you better believe that I will try my best to become the best missionary possible. The sky is the limit, I know that I need to work hard to become great and to be the missionary that the Lord wants me to be. But it is possible. And everything starts with the faith. I know what I have to do, so now there ain’t nothing to it but to do it!! Ha ha, I love you all!! I hope to hear from some of you one of these days ha ha.

Love,

Elder Farah

I Have Moved!!!

Hello family and friends!!

So I have moved areas!! Sorry I couldn’t write yesterday, I was traveling all day on like 3 trains to get to this little city. It is a big change. I went from a huge city in the middle of the mission to a small city that is close to the coast!! The whole train ride over, I just looked out the window at the beach. It is so different here but so beautiful. I am now in Castellon as the senior companion with an elder from Australia named Elder Biddle. He is like 23 years old and is 6’4’’ and played rugby. But he is super quiet and super shy and just got done with training, so is still really new. So I hope that my Spanish is good enough!! I am not going to lie, I am a little nervous being out here as the senior companion and in an area where the closest missionaries are like an hour away, but it is a good change and I like the looks of Castellon and Elder Pearson told me all about it and how great the members are.

I have been praying a lot the last few nights to not be nervous and to keep my animo super high like I always have and to not lose my smile or anything and just be myself. I studied, “Praying with Faith” the last couple of days in Preach my Gospel as well and that is my miracle. That we are able to talk with our Father in Heaven and he can answer my prayers. Just in the last few days of me incorporating what I have learned to praying, I can already see a difference. It is a miracle that God answers our prayers. And I am going to need all the help that I can get!! Not to mention it was super sad saying bye to the members and to Elder Pearson my companion and Elder Spencer who I had been living with my whole mission. But I think the best word that describes the mission is CHANGE. It isn’t easy, but I just learn from it. I know this change was for me to push myself more and put all my faith and trust in the Lord, guess I was too comfortable and having too much fun in Zaragoza! I know I will become a lot closer to the Lord especially with just the two of us out here. And we need to pick the work back up, so we got to do work these next few weeks!! There isn’t anything to it but just to do it.

Ok the best part...Elder Tirado and Elder Roberts are my zone leaders!! And Hermana Goodman is in my district!!! So I will see them once a week in district meeting. And Elder Dixon who was my zone leader the whole time I was in Zaragoza is now my district leader in my new district!! So I have the best leaders with me and I am very excited to serve with them in the zone of Valencia.

Alright wish me luck out here!!

Love,

Elder Farah

my new address:
Avenida Casalduch 16, 1B
12005 Castellón
España