La vuelta del Jedi - El Final ha llegado

 

Hello there familia! 

 

Welp, as some of you have already found out somehow, I have indeed been changed once again.  And once again I'm in the great city of Madrid!  Crazy!  So it's been quite a week to say the least. I'll get crackin.

 

On Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Miner in Oviedo.  It was a pretty good exchange.  Had some good lessons with people and felt like we saw some success with their investigators.  One of them prayed that had been denying to pray for a long time and another couple was pretty fun to get to know.  It seems like all is going quite well for them over there in Oviedo and I really like Elder Miner.  He has a really cool story.  He's the first in his family to like graduate from high school and get active in the church and break free from a bad environment and be successful.  It's really cool.  I love that kid a lot.  He's still really young and he'll have a lot of success in the mission I think.

 

And then Friday came.  We had a lesson with Antonio and María, who are the people we had found last weekend.  We talked to them a bit about the Plan of Salvation and then ended up setting a Date for the 23rd of June.  They were a little hesitant at first, but in the end decided they'll shoot for it and do what they can to get prepared.  So that'll be cool to see unravel and progress.  Or should I say would have been cool? Because right after that, we went to the computer to check email and find out transfers, which is when I found out that I am back in Madrid.  Actually, I'm even right back to my good ol' stomping grounds.  Anybody remember where I started the mission at? Feels like it was soooo long ago and at the same time I feel like it was just yesterday.  Barrio 2.  The land of the AP's.  So many memories of running around super confused and not understanding any Spanish or how to be a missionary or anything, and now it's my turn to be back and try it all over again.  Guess there was/is somebody here that I didn't find that I was supposed to. The Lord is being nice and giving me another shot :)  So I have a car again!  Haha In a mission that only has 4 cars I have still found a way to have one for almost an entire year of the mission! Look at that suerte! 

 

True Love for that family!

So on Saturday I just packed my bags and said goodbye to everybody basically.  It was hardest saying goodbye to all the Domincans.  The family and Pedro.  I'm gonna miss those jokesters.  Que lo que? But that is just how missionary life is.  I feel like my time in Gijón just flew by amazingly fast!  I loved it there. Even with all the depressing rain that made for some wicked hard days sometimes.  I did get to say goodbye to Carmelo too though.  He is a great man and example to me.  Reminds me a ton of you Dad, so you can imagine how much I liked getting to go to his house every week.  It was a true blessing getting to know them all.  Sunday I got to hear Luis give his very first talk ever and then they let me bear my testimony to them.  I talked about pure love throwing out all fear.  Fear.  The opposite of Faith.  If we truly love others, we're not afraid to invite them to hear the gospel or do whatever part we can to help them out.  True love just has its very own category there.

 

And then 5 hours on a train and here I am.  Some of the things I do these days is go to the office on Mondays (I just can't stay away from that doomed place!) and deal with transfer stuff too. Driving people around and giving little going away devotional things and talk to the new missionaries that come in and help them see what in the world the mission will have in store for them. Not that it's possible to teach that until you just get thrown into the water and do it full out.  It'll be really interesting with the mission president change that is coming at the end of June too.  I'm guessing I'll have to help him get settled in and figure out what is going on here in the mission and whatnot.  Gonna be crazy.  The craziest part is that my companion goes home 1 week after the president change too, so I guess I'll talk about him. before I go.

 

Four generations of secretaries of the mission office.

Elder Rigby.  From Maryland. Just north of D.C.  So I went from Rigtrup right south of D.C. jumped over D.C. to Rigby.  Needless to say I mix them up in contacts when I'm introducing my companion.  He goes home in 6 weeks and that is basically all I know to say. Great guy. Sings a lot. Talks fast.  and yeah.  That's what's up.  We get along great.  He used to call me every Monday and we already knew each other so I don't expect any problems with the companion for this transfer.  And if there any well than I'll just get over it cause I'm not a baby! Haha. 

 

So yeah. My address is

 

Elder Jeppson
Calle Miami 7, 3ºC
Madrid, 28027
Spain

 

Look familiar?  Not surprised.  But honestly I would just suggest sending everything to the Mission Office cause I'm in there every day and it is what I'll write as my return address always haha. Kind of fun being back in the same piso again though.  Except now I don't sleep on the flooor! Wahoo! That's where I'm at these days. 

 

So thanks for everything. I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed the last couple days so if you threw a prayer my way I wouldn't complain. I love you all! I'm extremely grateful to be here doing the Lord's work and I'm proud to wear His name on my chest everyday.  I love you all! Keep it chill.

 

-Elder Tanton Jeppson

 

 

Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go...

And so it does.  We'll see where the time takes me this week.  Transfer news is this weekend. Always fun.  I haven't been here in Gijón very long, so it isn't wicked probable that I'll leave, but élder Rigtrup has a couple of transfers under his belt and has already had to deal with me for two whole transfers, so there could very well be some changes. I don't make transfer predictions anymore. I have way too terrible of a history to continue to try making those predictions. I'm ALWAYS wrong.  So we'll just wait and find out. But it might be wise to hold out a week before sending me anything if you're feeling that charitable.

 

Onto bigger and better news.  I have good news from this week.  On Thursday we found a Brasilian girl that we were able to teach that day as well! It was really cool. Brasilians are great people. Very believing.  But she is going to Paris on Monday.  Which was 2 days ago.  So it was a one hit wonder I guess.  Too bad :( We did get her a Book of Mormon in Portuguese and Spanish though. Hopefully she'll use it for some light reading on the plane.  Ya just never know where those seeds are gonna end up planted...

 

Some sad news from the last week is that Élida moved to León to get some work.  She told us she is gonna use all her free time to read the Book of Mormon from start to finish though.  There's nothing quite like hearing a recent convert/investigator tell you that.  Pedro is pretty sad now that his new found girlfriend already left for León, but she's gonna try and come back on weekends.  So I guess that's cool?

 

Luis and Zoraida keep on keepin' on.  Luis even has a talk this weekend.  I'm pretty stoked to hear him blow our minds with his testimony and show the members here what's up.  He is seriously gonna be such a strong part of this branch.  He has this testimony that is growing stronger and stronger as he has more and more time to study the doctrine and scriptures and whatnot.  It wouldn't surprise me if he is like some leader in the church within a short time.  I wish I could convey with words how I feel when I am with that family. 

  

A miracle of the week came on Saturday:  We had a correlation meeting with our branch mission leader and so we went to his house but he called us and was like "yeah...ummm....I'm not home. Sorry! Come back later and we'll do this shindig." So we left and thought "Well, we'll work in this area cause we're already here and we don't work around here a ton."  So we did.  While we were knocking doors this family was like "Yeah, come on in!" which doesn't happen a ton in Spain.  So we did.  And we taught them what we call a lesson 0.  Basically, we explain who we are and what we do and do our best to get to know the jokesters so we can adapt all teachings to their needs in the future.  The mom is from Ecuador and the dad is from (drum roll please) Spain! Then the mom has a daughter from a previous relationship.  All three were there and we invited them to church on Sunday.  Went to their house to pick them up on Sunday and what happened? They were ready! and they came and had a great experience and we taught them again Sunday night with Carmelo.  The big Venezuelan dude that is super legit.  Good lesson. Taught about the BoM and left them some.  Fast forward to yesterday. Had another lesson with them and they had read and were like, we know that this baptism thing is really important but we want to wait a little bit to be sure about it.  Keep in mind that we hadn't even taught baptism really yet. Just mentioned it.  They picked up on it from the reading. Ohhhh snap! So basically, I'm pretty dang excited about these jokesters.  I can't wait to see them progress and read and pray and get ready to get baptized!

 

We also had some Romanians in the church on Sunday.  Cosmin and María.  Che Fach.  They only stayed for the first hour.  But we are also really excited about them.  They have some more Romanian barriers than set up for a real fast conversion process, but once they get the law of chastity and word of wisdom under their belts, I can see them being really believing and stoked on the church.  So that's legit too.

 

There are some highlights from my week.  Sounds like all have had a pretty good week back home too.  That's always nice to hear.  School should be getting out soon, right? Summertime, sweet, sweet summertime. Enjoy running in the grass with bear feet.  or is it bare feet?  Bare feet looks better to me. But it'd be sweet to run in the grass with bear feet too I suppose.  Speaking of which, today we went to Covadonga.  I'll attach some pictures.  I even drank from the fountain of marriage.  Which means I should get married within 1 year from today according to the legend.  Ohh snap! But it was basically just a really cool,up in the mountains, catholic monastery thing where catholic people go to worship la virgen de covadonga.  So yeah.  It was fun to get to see all the scenery here in Asturias on the hour drive over too.  So yeah! Toma! The other pictures are my Very First attempt at a Spanish Tortilla.  Ahh snap! and I also created a game on the bike workout machine in the park called "Do it standing up" that was a riot.  So yeah...

 

I love you all.  Coming to you live from Gijón, the north Coast of Spain, you stay classy San Diego.

 

I'm Elder Jeppson?

Tots units fem força

Elder Jeppson & Elder Rigtrup

All together, we are strong.  And so it is with the family.  It was lovely to see your beautiful faces.  Happy mother's day to all you mother's out there again. Welcome to the family Gemma. It's a crazy world out there!

It was quite a fast week. I'll recap it, just like I do every other week.  On Thursday, we had P-day with the zone.  We played soccer. I played goalie.  I love playing goalie in soccer, cause I played goalie in hockey, so the reflexes transfer over más o menos.  It's a lot of fun.  It worked me pretty dead.  So we went back to the piso and had a nap sesh.  And when I say that I mean the Ayudante Elder Rigby called me to make sure everything was set to go for zone conference right as I was falling asleep so I didn't actually take a nap.  But it was still real tranquil.   During the work hours of P-day Elder Jaramillo and I worked together in León and taught a former investigator.  He ended up showing us his sore bum where he had gotten a shot a couple of days before hahaha. It was pretty nasty.  Then we just finished planning Zone Conference and went to bed.

On Friday, we had Zone Conference.  Wahoo! All of the talks and workshops fit together like perfectly!  It must have been inspiration.  President talked to us about how we need to change our mindsets to finding to teach and teaching to find.  Basically, we need to be more focused on teaching haha.  Missionaries are teachers.  Then Hermana Watkins talked to us about things that add to our efficiency as missionaries and things that distract us and hurt us, which was a complete theft of my talk.  But it was ok.  The AP's showed us a part of the Lion King, so I was stoked about that.  Then talked about how we need to remember that we're children of God and He lives in us.  Hahaha If that doesn't encourage us to watch Disney movies I don't know what does! Just kidding. And then Elder Jaramillo talked about the importance of unity in the companionship and I talked about choosing what type of missionary we want to be, and that it's the little choices we make about our attitude and such that make us become who we become.  There's always a point in the mission where we have to choose who we want to be.  Then we both talked together about our purpose as missionaries with an emphasis on the Atonement.  If we don't share this gospel, nobody else can repent of their sins and apply the Atonement in their life, therefore Jesus Christ suffered for them, but they can't even receive the blessings.  Fuerte.  That's why it's so important that we share it.

And that was Zone Conference basically.  We also practiced asking inspired questions in lessons, but we didn't have a lot of time, so it was a little rushed unfortunately.  Ate some glorious Domino's pizza and had interviews with President.  I think it was my last one with President Watkins.  that's crazy to me! Time is flying out the window.  May is already halfway gone.  But it went well.  Very normal interview.  And then it was back to a bus and back to Gijón! I loved the 2 hour bus ride.  I just stared out the window and thought about everything possible in the world. I miss time like that to just think and have a tranquilo bit of time.  It reminds me of looking at the stars back home.  I love it.  I miss it.  

And so here we are.  We have just been doing some normal work for the past couple of days.  Lessons, contacts, went to church (the Watkins were actually there, so that was cool), and then we all know I Skyped the fam.  Wasn't that just so fantastic?  It was especially great to see Gemma and the other nephews and nieces.  They're all growing real fast.  Even Trey and Dylan will be playing hockey before we know it!  That's great.  Thanks for taking time out of your Sundays to talk to me.  I really liked it.  Crazy that it was the last time to talk to home.  Feels like the Christmas one was like a month ago.  That time went really really fast too.

And that's about all I have.  A miracle of the week came on Monday.  We went to this Romanian dude's house to teach him, and he wasn't there.  So we were like poop.  And started knocking two streets down from where he lived.  Who did we run into as we walked out of one of the buildings? The Romanian dudde!  So we taught him at a coffee bar, where he bought us drinks (juices, don't get your knickers in a bunch) and we got him to pray for the first time.  It's always so great when people pray for the very first time.  I feel like we're witnessing King Lamoni or his dad when they pray for the first time.  Good stuff.  

Welp, that's about all I've got for today.  I love you all. You're good people.  I'll admit it.  I guess I'll just go to work for a week and we'll see what I have to say next time Wednesday rolls around.  Church is true.  

-Elder Jeppson

I left my SD card at home, so these pictures are from my companions camera.  Don't judge me. I'm more of a crack on other people's cameras...

Bacalao bacalao baca baca bacalao...

I feel like a man of many words, but today, I shall stray from the path...and save it for the weekend.

It has been a good week.  The first half was fantastic.  It ended with a redhead in white.  That's always good news.  So the baptism obviously went well.  She had her dad do it just like we had planned.  It was really cool.  After he confirmed her on Sunday they gave each other a big hug and it was just like...Wow. So much forgiveness and change in their lives. That, my friends, is what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about.  Years of not getting along solved and healed by the teachings of the Savior.  It was a pretty cool feeling realizing what it has all come down to.  

Elida's baptism

I'll talk about some other people.  We have been teaching Aixamar, who is the sister of Pedro. He got baptized like a month and a bit ago. Do you remember him? Good.  But she has basically told us she is not willing to change her life.  It is really sad to see. She just barely turned 17 and is making decisions that will definitely bring more challenges into her life with time.  It is sad to see, but I know that we have done our part in teaching and testifying and inviting the spirit.  She comes to church de vez en cuando, but it does seem like we might be dropping her for a bit as far as the teaching goes. It just isn't her time yet I suppose.  

Pedro is doing really well.  He is actually dating Élida now, who got baptized on Saturday.  So you single guys out there, accompany the missionaries, you never know what special person you're gonna meet! Hahaha But he is a branch missionary and is helping us tons and all is well with him.  He has been teaching me some spanish rap, which is actually where the last subject came from. It's fun, cause I learn it from him, and I have never even heard the real version of the song, so I am pretty sure I really slaughter it. He gets lots of laughs from it though. So like a true rapper, I keep rapping.

Luis and Zoraida are still as amazing as ever. Zoraida is already doing her visiting teaching and Luis has the priesthood, as I've already told you.  I bought some triples and bibles for them that I should get this sweekend and all is just shipshape with them.  They're gonna be such a great little family in the church.  Well, they already are! Ha! I just love it.  

Thats about all I have. I'll be open to all questions this Sunday, so come prepared so we don't all just get bored-drunk looking at each others beautiful faces.  We have a zone conference on Friday, so I guess I'll be taking part in that.  Duty calls.  I suppose that makes it a call of Duty.  Or as the mexicans say, Yo quiero Taco Bell. 

Love,

Elder Jeppson

P.S.: Dad, I guess I'll be on at 5 my time and 9 AM your time.  Mom, I'll be on at 8/8:15 my time and 12/12:15 your time.  You know the words, so sing along for me baby...

The baptism picture, and another Gijón picture, but with pros clothes.  Look at me being a missionary!

Sin nadie que me detenga

Buenos días!

I am currently listening to a semi-upset lady yell threw Skype, so I guess that's a fun situation you can all know about right now.  I'm learning lots of bad words in Spanish. Buah. Who am I kidding, I've already learned them unfortunately...

The work continues here in the north coast of Spain.  Crazy that one year ago I was clear down off the coast of Africa, and now I'm clear up here trying to see France off in the distance.  We went up to a different lookout point today and took some cool pictures and saw some more cool coastline of Spain.  Back to the work though...

We're back to the searching game.  The challenge of finding is the never ending game played by missionaries.  It's like playing a game of Sorry.  You finally find somebody and get out of home, see how far you make it until something either bumps you back to home or you make it all the way around and win (baptism).  It's got a little bit bigger consequences though so that's the good news.  We've been really trying to teach the Atonement lately.  Preach my Gospel teaches us that as we understand better the Atonement, we'll have more desires to share the gospel and we'll be able to teach in a more efficient way.  So that seems like a good goal to me: understand and be more grateful for the Atonement.  I have really enjoyed teaching many people about the Atonement. 

Élida is all set to go on her baptism.  She passed her interview on Saturday and is stoked on her fecha for the cince de mayo, so it'll be a party.  This past week I asked her dad if he can see a difference in her and he said that she has completely changed since she started listening to us again.  It is the miracle of forgiveness. The miracle of the gospel.  I would hands down say the best part of being a missionary is being able to see the changes in people.  Seeing them go from their difficulties to overcoming them, gaining faith in the Gospel and ending up being way happier.  It's not easy.  But it's worth it. The best two years does not mean the best/easiest 730 days. 

Luis and Zoraida and their family are still doing amazing. On Sunday, Luis received the Priesthood.  It was a very spiritual experience.  Knowing that he is preparing to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood now is just so amazing to me!  It's such a blessing! Speaking of which, on Sunday I had the opportunity to give a couple of blessings.  One of the counselors in the Branch Presidency asked us if we could give him one so we did. He asked me to.  Giving blessings is something that never ceases to amaze me, feeling the Spirit so much and having phrases and such come to your mind is a very humbling experience. I won't go too in depth obviously, but I am definitely grateful to be a Priesthood holder. 

  

Also on Sunday a gringo family came to church! A return missionary came back with her family and visited.  It's always fun to translate (I have no idea why the daughter didn't do it...) and talk to good ol' American families again.  Good times.

It's basically been a week without a lot to say.  Just keepin' the work going up here.  Talking to people, teaching some people, and learning a lot.  I can't believe Mother's day is already here again.  Feels like yesterday that Christmas was just around the corner and I got to talk to ya'lls  then.  Crazy crazy how the time goes.  Makes me want to just finish it all strong. 

Welp, I'm outtie already I suppose.  Thanks for everything.  You're the greatest.  Love you all.

 

-Elder Tanton