Because you don´t get lucky twice...

Well.  Here we are.  Wednesday.  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  Eat your hearts out. 

 

Well howdy ya´ll.  It´s been another 7 days so I thought I´d take some time to write you about it.  I´ll start with talking about stuff.

 

Last Wednesday we met with the Mexican family again.  They´re fantastic people!  The hard part is they fall in that category of 80% that have jobs and crazy lives.  So we can´t meet with them very often.  We took a legit member with us to it and gave, what I felt like, a very spirit-filled lesson about the restoration of the church.  We gave them some ejemplares del libro de mormón and explained to them the promise.  They said they´d do it.  I´m not really sure why, but we didn´t invite them to church. We should have.  We had another appointment set up for this afternoon, but earlier today they called us and told us they can´t.  BUT the good news is we asked them if they have been able to read and they said yes! and that they would tell us their "experience" when we meet with them again.  We´re hoping it´s good news and not like, "when we opened the book it dropped and the sharp corner cut open my sons toe."  We´ll see I guess. 

 

Sonia.  We taught her the second half of the plan of salvation. We took Leyddy (yup, really spelled like that), Farrah, and Laura to it.  And it was like a party.  It is what Sonia wants though.  She wants to see/hear the testimony of lots of people.  It´s good. I think it really helps her. I guess we´ll see if she has the courage to make the necessary changes.  BUT she is currently taking an extra course that her work requires so she is even more busy and can´t even meet with us at 9:30 at night for two weeks.  So we´ll see what happens after 2 weeks of not being able to meet with her. 

 

Unfortunately María pulled one of those disappearing off the face of the earth tricks.  We have NO idea what happened, but she´s sure as heck gone.  It´s a super bummer.  She was so chosen.  So escogida to accept. So I guess we´re gonna have to see if she ever comes back again.  We´ll pray so. 

 

Have I mentioned Elsa? Yes. I remember my flojo dominican comment from last week.  So cool.  She seems promising.  Couldn´t come to church, but we´ll try and press forward saints.  She had read from the folleto and seems to understand pretty well.  Let´s hope she doesn´t pull a Victor on us and tell us she´s already a member.  Buah!

 

Efraín is the same old.  Progressing, actually.  The problem is that he is just progressing towards a giant stone wall that says "get married."  Behind that wall are the waters of baptism though.  It´s been fun to see him progress from loving idols like all catholics to himself telling his girlfriend/wife that he should probably take them down...  Crazy.

 

Claribel is going well still. She lost her job unfortunately, so add her to the over 20% that don´t have a job.  I want you all to know that I am currently listening to some lady raise her voice angrily in a crazy language off to my right.  Probably Arabic.  Elder El-Bakri should come translate for me.  Did I get distracted? Sorry.  So we can meet with Clari more, but it´s kind of unfortunate now that she´s all ready to be interviewed and everything.  Would have been nice earlier.  Oh well. She´s well prepared and her date is the 6th of December.  It´s a holiday here so more people will be able to come. I´m sure I´ve explained that 5 times to you all already though.

 

Also, on yesterday, we had a ZONE conference.  What is that you ask? I´m not sure either since I haven´t had one in 7 blasted months.  But I guess it´s this great event where missionaries all get together and talk about cool experiences and cool things that will help us all seek the spirit more and re-boost our batteries.  It was pretty fantastic.  I don´t have any pictures unfortunately, cause I just assume these days that I´m in the office so I´ll get them somehow. I never do.  Buah.  But that was good times fo shizzle.

 

Hmmmm...On Sunday a member and his wife made us food. She is from Romania and so she cooked us some crazy food. It was like a chicken rollup, but the outside was a crepe and inside was rice and meet and stuff.  Maybe Doug can help me put a name on that.  I dunno. It was..pretty good.  At best. Haha. I was sent to Spain for a reason.

 

Well, that´s all I´ve got for this week.  I´m hoping it makes somebody happy back home. If not, I´ll try again next Wednesday.  I do know this church is true, so I plan on talking about it for the next 7 days. I´ll let you know how it goes.  But until next time, you stay class, Utah.

 

Love,

Elder Jekkson(they can´t for the life of them say the p sound in my name...)

Pelea por lo que quieres

G´day there mates.

It´s been another week here in Spain.  Craziness. I am proud to be a new uncle.  I don´t know when he was born, but at least I know he´s here! Wahoo! It´s crazy. I was gone for the whole entire pregnancy.  Maybe I´ll swing in for the first birthday party though.  Probably not though.  Unless he was born after the 13th.  Alright, let´s have a fun time writing this bad boy.

  

Thursday was the 10th of November, so that was pretty cool.  We went out to eat at VIP´S.  It was delicious, and free, because a member had given us coupons a while back.  Legit!  We did not burn a shirt, cause I guess we´re just lame-o´s.  It´s ok though.  We also taught María a lesson about the importance of HOLA. Orar-praying, Leer-reading, and Asistir-getting your lazy butt to church.  These three things really are so crucial in helping set a foundation for our testimony.  If we only do two of these things, or worse, one (Let´s not talk about none) then we can still have a testimony of course, but it just doesn´t have the same strong foundation as if we get in gear and do all three.  It was a good lesson.  We´ve been teacher her in the home of a less active member, so they´re getting to help each other.  Double win. 

Victor dropped a bomb-shell on us on Friday.  He´s the Peruvian that I don´t think I´ve told you about.  He has been living with a Colombian girl (bahaha) that now wants to leave him and he is trying to help the relationship and all that good stuff.  He actually lives in Madrid, but only wants to meet with the missionaries while he is working, and works in SanSe so we have been teaching him out here.  Well Friday was like our 5th lesson with him and he was like, hey elders, I have something to confess: I´m already baptized.  So we were like oh yeah lots of people were baptized into the Catholic church. and he was like, no, in this church.  I was 15 in Peru.  He´s 28 now.  What a freaking scoundrel! Punk´d us for like 5 visits.  So we´ve changed our focus a little bit now that we know he already knows all the stuff hahahaha and we just thought he understood things really well.... haha.  But he later got kicked out of his house so we´re hoping he can go to church now that she isn´t holding him back from going.  We´ll see I suppose.

Things are continuing well with Sonia.  She went to church on Sunday and that´s fantastic.  She works a ton so we still meet with her  late.  But we have a visit with her tonight and we´re taking a different sister from our ward that is like her freaking twin.  She´s even from Paraguay too.  So that should be good.  MJ, the Californian girl, has been reading the scriptures more and is liking that. And I like teaching her in English cause she always says stuff like "ballin´" and "homie" and great slang like that.  It makes me feel at home.  Claribell is now officially getting baptized on the 6th of December, after lots of date changing and talking to her bosses at work and blah blah blah. It´s nice to have a fijo date.  We also taught a nice lady from the Dominican Republic.  There are lots of Dominicans over here, just like every other Spanish speaking country, and they have a great reputation of being...flojo.  But it´s all good, this one seemed great.  We will have another lesson with her tomorrow, so I guess we´ll see how it goes. 

Apart from that I don´t have a lot to say.  Just kidding! Sunday we had the primary program!  My first one in...two years!  It was great, and that Colombian family came to church! all 5 of them.  That was cool.  The bad part is that he 15 year old son literally broke out laughing while a 11 year old girl was crying while bearing her testimony.  Argghhh I was not very happy.  Luckily Sacrament meeting is like one of the easiest places in the world to control yourself if you´re upset so it was ok.  But still, come on man.  So we´re hoping the parents weren´t too embarrassed to go back again (they left as fast as they could after the meeting ended unfortunately).  Patience is one of those things I´m pretty sure I will be working on for basically ever, but I feel like it´s getting a bit better, so 3 cheers for 5 years! 

The book of Mormon is true.

Valle de los Caidos

That´s what I´ve got for the last week.  It´s been great.  Things to do, the office isn´t suffocating my happiness, and today we went to Valle de los Caídos!  It´s a giant cross on the mountain on the outskirts of Madrid.  They have buried a lot of those that died there in the Spanish Civil War.  Also, when Franco died they buried him there.  It´s like this giant basílica in the mountain underneath the cross.  Like a giant cathedral, but underground.  It was really cool.  Super catholic, but super cool.  I am sure you will all enjoy the pictures.  As always, glad to hear all is well back home.  Krista, name the baby Tanton! 

Love,

Elder Jeppson

Elder Jeppson

Elder Jeppson climbing the wall

Chugga´ luggin´ up one side...Slidin´ down the other...

Well, no nos andemos por las ramas, it´s wicked weird.

It´s been a pretty good week.  Lots to tell.  Lots can happen if you find time to hit the streets of Spain.  We see some weeeirrdd stuff sometimes.  Europe isn´t as...clean as the states are.  hahah but I don´t really have any stories that have anything to do with that, so I don´t have any idea why I brought it up or why I don´t delete it.  Oh well...

Claribel is doing well. She pretty much already knows everything but we are still re-going over everything to make sure she´s ready for her baptism.  It´s either gonna be on the 3rd, or the 8th.  She works interna, which means she´s always living with some family taking care of their kids.  If she can get all of Saturday the 3rd off, it´ll be then.  If she can´t it´ll be the 6th or the8th because they´re both holidays, so she doesn´t have work.  Basically, Spain has holidays like every 5 days, so it´s not really a problem luckily.  But she is good.  She feels ready and that´s the important part. 

Gustavo is legit. Colombiano.  I don´t know if you all remember, but like everybody in Lanzarote was from Columbia. Well come to find out Gustavo was freaking in Lanzarote! I guess I couldn´t find him there so he chased me down to Alcobendas.  He´s a good guy, but we´re a little worried about if he wants to get baptized to get baptized and repent, or if he wants to have the church as a welfare system supporting him.... So I guess that will be something that time will tell. 

Sonia is back on the map haha.  She works a ton, so we can only meet with her at 9:30 at night, but we talked to President and got his permission and now when we can we meet with her.  She works the first Sunday of every month, so she can´t really experience the testimony meeting thing, but we´re hoping to see her in the church the rest of the Sundays.  I guess we´ll have to see.  She´s definitely got potential though, she even read from Alma 5 when we left her it! Miracles happen once in a while....

Nani continues to be pretty good.  Sometimes we wonder about if she understands everything suuupeer well, but she´s been trying to visit the people that need visits, like less actives and old people that are lonely in the ward, in their homes and stuff so that´s really cool to see.  It´s such a blessing to be able to watch people progress.  We actually bought here a little himnario this last week so she can start memorizing hymns to sing to herself haha. Early birthday present....

Saturday we went with Efraín to the temple.  It was the first temple tour I have ever given.  It was good, but I didn´t like it.  It´s mean to be able to go there and not go inside! Haha it really was great though.  He told us he wants to be able to go inside someday.  He´s still got the whole being married to somebody in Ecuador and wanting to marry somebody here problem though.  But other than that little snag he´s doing well. Reading the Book of Mormon, going to church, and Seguiring adelante.

Adel is legit.  he is doing amazingly well these days.  He goes with us on tons of visits now that he is Ward Missionary and even invited us over to his house on Saturday.  He made us Paella.  It´s like Spain´s food.  It´s rice with like seafood mixed in and it´s the most "Spanish" food there is.  It´s pretty good usually, but I hate having to worry about if a mussel shell fragment is going to engrave itself into the roof of my mouth.  Luckily, it was fragment free paella, and had chicken in it to.  I love me some chicken! Speaking of which, isn´t there a chick-fil-a in Logan now? Gah.  I love me a chicken lover...

  

Sunday is still a great day.  Just like before the mission.  Gustavo, Claribel, and Efraín all went to church.  It was a good day in the capilla.  Fast Sunday.  There are unmistakable blessings for fasting.  After church, the Vierbuchen´s invited us over to eat with them. Aleluyah!  That´s our German Bishop´s family by the way.  It is Bishop, his wife, Tim, Teresa, and Tomo.  They´re all fantastic. They all speak German and English, and Bishop speaks Spanish.  The rest...más o menos.  But they are fantastic people.  I love them.  It was fun to eat with them, but we lost track of time and had to leave in a flash without sharing a spiritual message or anything. Ugh.  But still a successful visit. She cooks like a boss.

Elder Tanton Jeppson :)

That´s basically what I have been up to the past week.  Does it seem like good times, cause it sure as heck is.  I can´t believe how much the time flies.  I will not be burning a shirt this week.  I ripped one last Thursday though on accident, so I think that should basically count.  But there´s just not tons of shirt-burning safe areas around here unfortunately.  Whatevs.  It´s been a fast year, and I hear the second one goes faster.  Which doesn´t make any sense logically, but I trust it to be true.  It´s crazy to me the differences that can happen in one fast year.  Thanks for all the support and prayers in part number 1.  This church is true.  The gospel isn´t complicated unless we make it complicated.  We´re extremely blessed to have this blessing in our life.  The restored gospel.  I love you all. You´re all wicked legit.

Love,

Elder Jeppson

P.S. we went to a castle today. Pictures attached.  It´s super rough being over here in Spain and going to 700 year old castles....:)

Elder Woodbury

Spain Flag

You gotta love with your heart wide open

G´day mates. 

Boom. Transfers. Over.  Glorious.  We waited until Friday to plan them.  Which probably wasn´t smart.  But everything really ended up working out.  Then on Monday we actually did them.  It´s always fun to get to see all the other missionaries and drive them around and find out what´s been happening in the north and all that fun stuff.  That´s one advantage of being an office missionary.  Then today, the Watkins took us out to a restaurant called "Yesterday´s".  It´s an American diner from the 50´s type restaurant.  It was glorious!  Sooo good.  I still haven´t taken any more pictures. Sorry. So you´ll all have to wait to see my pretty little face again.

This past week has been more of a logistics of the mission week.  It always happens between week 6 and 1 of the two different transfers.  But we´ve still been able to keep up with the work for the most part.  A lot is happening these days in Alcobendas.  We´ve been very blessed.  Claribel is still going for her baptismal date of December 3. El Salvador.  Pretty cool.  I had never met a Salvadorean until I got here and now I´ve met like 4.  Which still isn´t a lot. But whatevs.  The coolest thing from this past week has been María.  I don´t know if I´ve talked about her, so I´ll explain the story again in case I haven´t.  Like 2 or maybe even 3 weeks ago we were walking into the church to go to English classes(which Hermana Ovard teaches, yeah!) and there was this lady looking at the sign on the church with like a puzzled look so I randomly was just like "Quiere pasar?" and she was like sure.  So she went in.  We quickly gave her a tour starting in the sacrament room then the classrooms and we ended in the room with the English class.  We explained to her that we were teaching English and she was like well I would like to stay and learn. So her and her daughter of like 3 years stayed.  But we were stupid and didn´t get her number after. Argh.  BUT two weeks later, she went again! Wahoo.  So we invited her to the Noche de Hogar that we do in the Church every Friday and she went! So we invited her to the Ward Activity that was Saturday, and she went! and then we invited her to church on Sunday and.....she went! Wowser.  She stayed for the first 2 hours even.  It was super great.  We have a lesson with her in 22 minutes.  So hopefully that goes well. 

In Church on Sunday there were like 8 or 9 non-members.  They´re not all technically our investigators, but still, it was sweet.  I called Sonia on Saturday night just like a what-the-heck-why-not situation and she ended up coming too with her daughter and daughter´s boyfriend.  Yesterday was a holiday in Spain(Just like every other day in Spain, I swear) and so she had time and we got to go teach her again.  I don´t know what will happen in the future.  We can only meet with here like at 9:30 or 10.  So we´re gonna talk to president and see if we can get permission.  Suppose we´ll see.  I don´t really know what else to talk about.  Claribel is going well, María seems cool. Oh, the Colombian family.  They´re fine. The dad seems to be trying to get us to come by less and less.  We did go visit them on Sunday though and read a chapter of the book of Mormon with them.  The Peruvians....Let´s just say if they were cave diving they left the line. 

Well, it´s been a good week.  Busy. This won´t make much sense to anybody, but I want to remember it in the future. So today I had my Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D adventure.  Ohhhh those Germans.  Sneaky buggers. Greg, I got your package. Thank you very much. Mis oídos están felices.  As is my soul. 

Today for my personal study I read 2 Nefi 9.  It was just as legit as the last time I read it.  But I realized while reading it just how much purpose everything God does.  He has everything in check.  No big deal.  No worries.  It´s nice to know that we´re not alone.  Even when we feel like it, we always have so many chances to pray, and read, and we´ll invite the spirit to come kick it with us.  Take that Satan.  Pwn3d. 

Alright, we´re gonna go see what we can do to help this ecuatoriana make covenants with her Heavenly Father.  Love you all!

Love,

Elder Jepperface