Sail with me into the setting sun...

Wow. What a week I have had.  We'll start in reverse on this one.

Today, I am in Valladolid.  I caught a train this afternoon and now I'm here helping the zone leader of León to plan a zone conference, which we have tomorrow.  I am on my way to Gijón, which I found out on Monday is where I will be serving.  We also went to the temple this morning.  That's all the biggest news, now I'll start back at the start and work back to all of that...

Last Thursday was Elder Wride's birthday. He has been missin on his family a lot lately and I didn't want his day to be crappy, so I used my cake mix that I got for my own birthday to sneak out of weekly planning and bake him a cake and bring it out and surprise him.  I think he really liked it and appreciated it.   So that was good. 

Our  miracle of the week came on Saturday.  We left the piso and saw this little sweet Filipina trying to lug like tons of groceries and had her son on a little plastic motor bike and was basically just struggling.  We offered to help her and she accepted, which is the first miracle.  Nobody in Spain will ever let us help them with groceries even though we constantly offer! So we walked back with her and she speaks perfect English.  Has lived in like Russia, Canada, New York, her islands, and now Spain.  Crazy fun adventures.  But her husband lives back in the Filipinos.  I am purposely avoiding spelling that word in English.  We finally got to her piso, and we were like "how in the world did she plan on doing that alone?" She let us in and we sat down and quickly explained to her what we did and why we were here and just invited her to church.  Offered to go pick her up, and she said yes! So we did.  And she came to all 3 hours with her son.  She loved it.  Her son even offered to say the prayer in Primary. Her name is Marieta and he's Albert.  She then asked her dad(she lives with her parents and sister here in Spain) if we could come have "bible study" with her and he said no.  So she told us she was looking for a new piso....Hahahah Marieta! That's not necessary.  We'll teach you in our church!  So that's our prepared person miracle for this week.

Also, Natalia.  She's a Dominican that is daughter of some less active members.  We taught her last week and she came to church for the second time, but left crying. And we didn't know why.  She sent us a text that said she didn't want us to try and teach her anymore or talk to her.  So of course we called.  Haha.  She didn't answer, but ended up calling us back later.  She just told us how she felt guilty or bad in church or something and how she is too much of a sinner, so we taught her about repentance and the Atonement.  It was a really good lesson and I really felt the spirit testify through me of repentance and it was just a good lesson.  

Monday, I got the call.  "Hey Elder Jeppson, you're gonna be going to Gijón to replace an élder.  And he'll be taking your place in Madrid."  So my second time taking somebody elses place in an emergency transfer.  I don't know how much missionary work has been done in my new area lately.  So it'll be interesting to find out.  But so they told me I would be coming up to Valladolid today, Wednesday, and being the the zone leader Elder Hodges for a bit, and then we continue up to León for a zone conference tomorrow (the same one I just saw in Madrid) and then after that, I'll keep heading north to Gijón with my new companion, Elder Rigtrup.  He's from Virginia.  That's about all I know. I'll let you know more if I ever find out more.  I'm guessing I will.  

And that's my week in a nutshell.  Today we went to the temple and I had a pretty cool experience.  I really wanted to leave the office/Alcobendas in a real transfer instead of just filling in whatever hole in the mission like happens a lot with trios, just to feel like it was more of an inspired decision, so I kind of felt like I might just being filling a hole, so I prayed about it.  After going through the session I was in the Celestial Room and I grabbed a book of Mormon and opened right up to Alma 53:12 and I replaced Zarahemla with Gijón and I just knew it was for a reason.  So I guess I'll have to figure out what it is. 

So I am now in the León Zone.  I started in Madrid, went to Santiago, hit the Canary Islands, returned to Madrid, and now I'm in León.  So that's pretty much the whole mission covered.  I guess I am just the viajero of the mission.  The León zone is known as the apostate zone.  Last transfer was the first transfer in a while that someone didn't get sent home early for doing something stupid.  So I guess I'm just gonna have to be the old school guy that I am in the mission and keep up the obedience.  That's one thing I've learned throughout the mission, obedience matters.  It's not always easy, pero por sacrificios se dan bendiciones.  I'm not perfect, but I just plan on trying to be a good example I guess and do my best up here.  I'm  gonna miss Elder Gonzalez and Elder Wride.  That was a really fun trio.  I forgot to mention also that the Stake President's return missionary son bailed on me and so I just worked with them the whole time.  So yeah....

I know this work is true.  Sharing it is something we have been commanded to do and when the Lord commands, he also lifts and provides the way.  The most important part of what we can do is just invite others.  Invite invite invite invite.  I love you all. I'm grateful to be on my 3rd beach area of my mission.  I think it's a sign I'm supposed to be moving to a beach-front property someday.... Just sayin....

Con Cariño,

élder Tanton Sil Jeppson

The pictures are of goodbyes.  The Lanzaroteños, the Alcobendenses. The Ovards/office.  The Morales.  

Filthy Mudbloods....

Hahahaha ohhhh It's been quite a week familia.  Any email with a subject like that means we had a good time.

We had a zone conference last Thursday.  It was pretty sweet.  We always get to hear lots of good theories and ideas on missionary work there.  We also get to see everyone.  Good stuff.  I do wish it was a little more interactive though.  Lots of sitting. No practicing. The only photo I have to send home today is our zone.  Madrid East.  Good stuff.  Good zone.  The tall Elder Thurston on the back row is also from Cache Valley.  So he's a good guy.  

Madrid East Zone

Friday I had a last lesson with Efraín before I got transferred over to Alcobendas.  It went well. He's totally ready to get dressed in white, so that makes me really happy. He even made a Book of Mormon joke.  He called María a Lamanite because she hadn't read in the book of Mormon or something hahaha so now we're just in persevere mode.  Hasta el fin.  Saturday we had a bunch of lessons and everything fell into place. That was way sweet.  It's always nice to get lessons lined up and have them fall together.  Teaching is more fun.  I like to get to know the people.  I had the chance to invite Jason to baptism more straight up and bold than I have done in a long time with somebody and it felt good.  It's what we're here to do and I love it. He said no. Haha. But I know I did my job.  Seed will sprout soon.  But that was the highlight of the lessons on Saturday.

Sunday was fun because Elder Thurston(the one from Cache Valley) came out to do exchanges with Elder Wride.  He stayed with us and we talked about all the mutual friends we have from back in the valley.  He's a great guy.  Only has 8 weeks left on the mission.  My goal is to be his last companion serving with him in the area that has the temple.  I have a lot of far out there goals/dreams though.  Like being Canario again.  We'll see.  I worked with Elder Gonzalez on Sunday and started out my time in Alcobendas.

Monday was the end of a decade, but the start of an age.  Last day in the office.  It was good. I trained the AP's how to do their own jobs again on getting the key indicators that I somehow ended up doing my time in the office and then we had a big lunch/fiest together and I went out and worked.  Now I'm companions with Elder Wride and Elder Gonzalez and we're almost back to scratch in Alcobendas.  They just opened up another area here 3 weeks ago so my goal is just to help them get to know all the legit members and find as many people as we can.  Should be good times.  We found a menos activo family that we have failed to find for like 2 attempts before.  They're as Spanish/madrileño as you can get.  They even use the "th" at the end of Hollywood.  But the good news is the mom knows Penelope Cruz (who is from Alcobendas).  Well, more like knew her in school.  But I guess they know Monica (she has a sister apparently).  So our new game plan is to get to Penélope through Monica ;) hahaha Just kidding. But seriously...

I also got the DVD from Tim/Melissa.  Such a miracle. I'm so grateful for the medical milagros that there are these days! President Watkins even had me watch it with him in his office hahaha. That was...fun.  Glad there was no Lady Gaga music on it.  so that was a good time.  Thanks for sharing that with me.  I love you all and am grateful for all you have done to help me where I am today. I miss you all, but it's cool, cause I'm only a pregnancy away.  And we can all put up with that.  If only pregnancies were longer...

Love,

Elder Tanton Sil Jeppson

A Midnight's Summer Dream

 

I remember when 30 minutes in the MTC was like no time to write and I had nothing to say but I still used every minute.  Today I have 25 and lots to say and I just don't really care to haha.  We'll see what we get out of this I suppose. 

 

Hello familia.

 

All is well in Zion.  Or so it seems from the emails I've gotten.  Glad to hear that babies are growing well and snow is unheard of.  North Carolina is getting closer to being Ohio and still being North of the South.  Australia is still by New Zealand and I have no idea what I'm talking about. 

 

It's been a good past week.  Efraín has shown quite a bit of progress still. I really wish his documentation would come in.  It'd be nice to be in a ghetto country where we could just be like hey city hall, they're divorced now.  and get 'er done.  but we're not.  We're in a country with a very slow government system.  So we keep waiting.  He is currently in 3 Nephi 5 in his reading and is loving it.  that's page 505 in Spanish for those of you keeping track.  That's crazy good. 

 

All the recent converts are doing well here.  That's a relief.  They're like kids, you'll always have a little bit of worry there (at least that's what the rents me dicen).  The ward is great.  I'll miss them someday.  We met with some menos activos that shouldn't be menos activo.  Which only means they know the church is true and have testimonies and stuff but are currently in offended mode.  Ohhhhhh Spain.  You're robbing my heart. 

 

On Sunday we had Stake conference. But like in a "on steroids" way.  It was the whole Iberian Peninsula, so all of my BAGA was tuning into President Uchtdorf.  I thought that was cool.  Elder Hansen and Elder Thomas.  We got this peninsula covered.  They talked a lot to the youth about serving missions.  It's always nice to be on a  mission during those talks.  Makes me feel like I am where I should be.  They also talked about other things that involve building the Kingdom of God in the Kingdom of Spain (and Portugal). 

 

Monday we were in the office like all day long.  Until like 8 at night.  That's a long day in the office.  But we survived.  It's cram week.  I'm trying to get Elder Bauer's brain filled with mush so I can leave next week and be a normal boy.  President pulled me into his office yesterday and talked to me about what the options are.  Long story short, I'm gonna work in Alcobendas with a member during the mornings and then work with the other companionship during the afternoons.  the member is the Stake Presidents son, Spanish, and just got home from serving his mission in Chile.  So I'm pretty stoked on this plan.  Even though it's gonna be like a waiting 3 weeks type deal, it'll be good to get out and contact and then have Mediodía again.  Plus I might get to be here if Efraín can get baptized within the next 4 weeks.  Let's go Spain government!

 

We also went and saw a new baby.  Candy had a baby.  That's Freencky and Leyddy and Farrah's sister. I know you don't know who they are, but it's a little baby.  6 lbs 4 oz or something.  I don't know if that's small, but I think I usually hear 7 pounds.  Either way, I never want to give birth, so I made a promise to myself to never do it.  I hope I fulfill on that one.  But I do want kids.  so that's good.  Her name is Aaliyah.

 

Real Madrid Stadium

We went to the Real Madrid stadium today and did  the tour.  It was cool.  I mean I wish I could watch Real games and like read the magazines so I could follow what in the world is going on and who is who and all, but I can't.  So I just was like...awesome.  And all the missionaries from Spain were like...Ohhh no way tal y fulano his hano played here and this is his jersey and blah de blah blah.  But it was fun. And I took pictures.  So everybody can just go crazy with excitement on that one.  in 6 days it's the day of love.  and friendship.  Do you remember from last year? It's called the Day of love and friendship here hahahaha.  so don't forget to be in love with somebody.  If not, at least be friends. 

 

I love this work.  It's good stuff.  Good stuff comes from God.  Moroni 7.   Does it put you on the good path, or the bad path?  Well take the good and leave the bad.  Speaking of Moroni, he put some gold plates in the ground and then Joseph Smith translated them and Moroni came back for them.  But check out these Real Madrid gold plates.  Cool, eh?

 

Love,

Elder T. Sil Jeppson

You don't know how lovely you are

G´day mates.  

What's up? Lovin' life back there in the states?  Yeah?  Good stuff, eh? Likewise here in Spain.  Just doin' the limbo.  How low(long) can you go? *do a little limbo jig* Doo Da Doo

It's been a rather uneventful week.  We've been doing the office thing a lot lately since I'm training elder Bauer to be the big bad boss of the mission now.  Not really.  Just to be the secretary.  Elder Bauer seems excited to be doing it though.  So that'll be good.  It'll be nice to be done.  Like, I have enjoyed being here and I've learned a lot of stuff and whatnot, but it'll be a nice change too.  I will miss it too though. It's like other changes in life I guess.  They're necessary.  Elder Bauer is from Illinois.  His mom is from Mexico and his dad is from the states, but he was raised like the rest of us gringos, just with more Spanish exposure basically.  Great guy.  Him and Elder Forrest will be just dandy little companions in the office world of Madrid.  

Gisel shipped off to Canada.  That was kind of sad.  She'll get baptized someday, it just wasn't my suerte to be here for it.  Her husband is Español and pretty opposed to her even like going to church and stuff so that never helped stuff, but I think she'll catch on in the future.  I hope so.  She'll be back in 3 months.  We had a last lesson with her on Saturday mostly just to say goodbye and leave a good testimony with her.  Ohhhh Columbians....

We also got to clean the old piso and get it all shut down and handed back over to the dueño.  We did a pretty ghetto job of cleaning it, not gonna lie.  But they didn't charge us for it being dirty so whatevs.  Guess I'll need some more lessons from somebody that likes to clean a lot.  Who could that be?

I just sent the first half of this email on accident.  So I hope you enjoyed your teaser.  Let's finish this bad boy now I guess.  On another note we learned a lot about the importance of ward support this past week.  Nani has been doing well lately, but really having a hard time with residency stuff.  She is here...not completely legally...and would like to get the right paperwork done and stuff.  She came to our Ward Correlation meeting with the Ward Mission leader and all on Sunday and had brought like a letter talking about how much the church and missionaries had changed her life and how great that all was but how she needed support from the ward and stuff still and how hard it can be feeling like a new member and stuff.  It was really...interesting.  It was cool, but sad at the same time.  We gave her a blessing afterwards of comfort.  The priesthood is nuts.  I like it.

On Monday we had a lesson with the Matos family.  The dad is bastante menos activo and the mom is like a returned missionary that is great.  They had invited a friend over to hear the message (from Columbia, ahh yeah!) and that was pretty fantastic.  We watched Finding Faith in Christ.  She was like getting teary eyed.  It's crazy to see the effect it can have on people if they learn about the life of our Savior.  What a life He lead.  Might as well share with others what He did for them too, eh?

That's basically where I'm at these days.  Like I said at the start, not a super eventful week, but the mission is what I let the Lord make of it.  If I can put my trust in Him and not mess it all up I bet He's got some pretty cool plans for me. Yeah!  So basically that's what's up. I love this work.  I took my title from "The Scientist" by Coldplay today.  Do my subjects ever confuse people? You're welcome to ask for histories.  The Scientist is a song that Elder White made me like a lot.  I heard it in a store today during p-day and the lyrics just seemed great to me.  So give it a whirl.  I wonder what would happen if people could see inside my head...

On that great note, I love you all. 

-Elder Jeppson

You go 3 and I'll go 7. Dude, she shreds!

Shirley's Baptism

Hello,

I am tired.  It has been a crazy week this past week.  But it's been good. I have officially decided I will go to Australia/New Zealand within the next 3 years.  Let me know if you want in. 

There have been quite a bit of changes in the past week.  What with moving pisos last week and planning the transfers all out and the baptism on Saturday and then actually doing the transfers it has been a bastante busy week.  But that's how it should be. I just wish we could have had more time to do the missionary side of things.  Oh well.  3 more weeks...

Elder Jeppson, Shirley, Elder Forrest

The baptism went well! We went early to make sure that we filled up the font and didn't leave room for other people to forget.  So that was nice.  Then the service went well and a lot of her non-member family was there, including her mom and dad.  Genial!  It's always great to see how the actions and decisions of one person in the family can help so many others have spiritually edifying experiences. The example of one can save a hundred.

Nice cardboard shower curtain!

The new piso is legit.  The first day we didn't have any shower curtains so I rigged up a nice cardboard shower curtain.  Smelt great afterwards.  We also went to IKEA after and bought furniture for the piso.  It was like (500) Days of Summer. It was only missing one thing.  It is just a shame that I only will live there for 3 weeks.  Actually, I'm trying to work up a new plan to keep me there a little longer.  There are 2 more elders here now that are working in the Alcobendas half and I absolutely love both of them.  Elder Wride is like a snowboarder/skater guy and Elder González is a guatemalteco that also speaks perfect English. I'mma see if I can get myself transferred over to them for 3 weeks and then have a real transfer at the end of the transfer.  I guess we'll see if the Lord has other fijo plans for me that I can't mess up. 

Gisel didn't come to church, but Jason did.  I think I told you about him? The Colombiano that asked in the middle of English class to learn more about the church too?  Well, he had a good time in church I think.  Unfortunately he told us he doesn't have time to meet this week but said he'd come to church again next Sunday.  That'd be legit.  Efraín is getting closer.  His papers are moving along and right now we're just waiting for a letter.  I think it'd be sick if he could get baptized before I leave but I guess we'll have to see if that happens...Pray hard, work hard.

Today for P-day we went to like a big park gathering of missionaries here in Madrid.  Elder White is down here now and so it was sweet to see him again.  We would have gone crazy on that isolated island if we hadn't gotten along so well.  It's always nice to get together and see other missionaries.  We also went and ate in Taco Bell afterwards.  I think Taco Bell is great.  If I had more time, I'd spend a paragraph talking about it. But I don't.  

I'm stoked to be out here on the mission. I love being able to share the gospel.  It's wicked brilliant.  It makes me realize how much the gospel really has helped to shape my life and shape who I have become and I'm sure how much it will affect who I become and the family I have. So basically it's good stuff.  I love you all. Sois guapísimos.  

Pickled Tater-Tots or something...

-Elder Jekkson

Sleeping softly while I sing

Hello familia.  Qué tal?

Welp, I never know how to start these emails out without just being super repetitive so I will just tell you something repetitive.  It's been another week and time has gone fast.  Crazy, eh?  Crazy enough that tomorrow, the 19th, was my first day in the mission field last year.  That crazy day when Elder Driggs thought it was a brilliant idea to carry our groceries across all of Madrid instead of use the blasted metro.  Hahaha ohhhh goodness. And my very first lesson with Fernando.  I still remember it like it was yesterday...

Flash forward a year, and I'm getting transferred.  We found out transfers yesterday, and my eyes immediately jumped right to us office elders and yup, sure enough, another blasted trio.  So I will be training Elder Bauer on how to be a wicked guapo secretary for 3 weeks, maybe 6, and then I'll be off to some other new adventure that the mission has in store for me.  I have mixed feelings. Time has gone by sooo fast here and I love the ward so much that I kind of wanted some more time, but then again I'm already at 4 transfers which is quite a bit.  I mean sometimes people get up to like 6, but 3 is pretty average.  I guess we'll see what I can pull off in some new area.

But until then, I'm still here.  We're moving into another piso tomorrow.  it's something I've wanted to do since I got here.  The piso we're in right now is a wretched little thing.  Elder Woodbury was never willing to look for a new one, so Elder Forrest and I jumped all over that, especially since President asked us if there should be 4 elders here and we told him yes.  So starting on Monday, there will be 4 missionaries here.  It's gonna be good stuff.  I'm excited about that.  Even if it'll only be for 3 weeks, maybe 6.  There's a ton of changes in the mission this transfer though, so it'll be quite the adventure on Monday picking everybody up and dropping them all off and such.  Lot's to do...

Shirley is getting baptized this Saturday.  We got her parents permission and she had her interview and everything and it's all good to go.

Gisel didn't come to church.  And after our last lesson with her on Wednesday, I wasn't surprised.  But we met with her again on...Monday.  We took José Montoya, who just got back from the miss1/20ion in Chile, and had a great lesson with her.  She is apparently going to Canada on the 29th of January until April 29th.  So it doesn't look like she'll be getting baptized anytime too soon, but hopefully she'll come to church this week.  

I feel like a broken record player.  Efraín finally got his residency papers stuff in order, so he'll be legal again soon, which means he can get divorced finally.  Then he'll get married and baptized.  So that's another fantastic bit of fantastic-ness that is in the oven. 

For p-day today we have been in the office a wicked ton.  We found out this morning that the power had been cut in one of the areas, so my companion had to come in and do a bunch of stuff with that, so I have just been doing da do here in the office.  Got some planning for transfers done, which was nice.  I dunno. The good thing is I somehow fixed the printer to print Hermana Ovard's envelopes correctly, which has been stressing her out for weeks now.  She was so happy that she said "Name your price!" and I immediately said "A chapa that says Elder Jekkson!" and she's doing it.  Boom baby!

I'm basically out of things already.  I guess that is just how it goes sometimes.  Glad all is well back home.  Glad there's not a lot of snow.  Makes it a good year to be in Spain.  I´m still grateful for you all.  It's nice to have such a good-looking family that also ... well. Is great.

Con amor,

Elder Jekkson

I will give you 100 dollars to whistle right now...

Well here we are again, and once again, you look good.

It's been a pretty good week.  Felt long, not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.  I think it's cause I feel like I slept away my whole last p-day, so it's been nice to not beeeee sssiiiiiicckkkkkkk.  That's right, I actually feel like a normal boy right now!  Wahoo.  Let's hope that's not me jinxing myself, eh? 

I guess I'll just talk about some things that have been going through my head lately.  First off, the investigators. Shirley is doing well.  She's got her fecha for the the 21st and it looks like that's gonna be A-OK.  I guess we'll just have to make sure the baptismal font gets filled up.  

Gisel came to church on Sunday!  It was way sweet.  She lives in Tres Cantos, so it is quite a bit more of a journey for her to get into San Sebastián de los Reyes.  She has to catch a train and then switch over and whatnot.  Well she missed her first train, and instead of being a normal whiney investigator and being like "Oh wah I guess I'll just wait until next week" she was a trooper.  "Is it ok if I get there a little bit late?" Of course! So we waited for her at the train station with Leyddy and then all walked to the church together.  A little late, but no pasa nada.  I was really happy to see the ward actually like, talk to her and help her feel welcomed. I really hit on that in my last talk to the ward because, honest, they kind of didn't do it before.  So it was nice to see that.  We have an appointment with her this afternoon, so hopefully that goes well.  

Efraín sigue igual.  Not a lot to explain there.  We taught him tithing and he accepted it and all is well.  We're still just waiting for all of those legal things to fall into place and then he'll be all set to get baptized.  It's been fun to see him progress and change so much.  It has also helped me to see the importance of the members. He told us the first time that there is no way he would ever have listened to us if she hadn't invited him.  And then he only wanted to read the bible and not the Book of Mormon.  And then he finally cracked the Book of Mormon to see what it was all about and now is in like Alma 43 and loving it!  It's been really cool to see.

Those are really all we have that are worth going in depth on.  Other than that we've just met with some newbs and continued looking for new people.  Some other news from the past week is that we have been piso hunting.  We're gonna move to a new apartment because President has told us there's gonna be another companionship in our area.  So I guess we'll be splitting the area.  He also has hinted at the possibility/necesidad of having room for 5 missionaries next transfer, which would mean I be training a new secretary for 3 weeks and then getting transferred.  I really hope that if that's the case he picks the second half of the transfer to do it.  I really don't want to leave yet.  But I guess that that's just the way the cat stuck his tail in the fan.  

This is the paragraph where I tell my parents thanks for everything.  Yes, all 4 of you. I figure you've all put up with me pretty equally, but that's still a lot of stuff to put up.  I spent my personal study a couple of days ago in Alma 36-42 where we've got big bad Alma teaching his kids what's up and I thought to myself, this guy is the boss.  And it made me grateful for my parents and for all that I have learned from your examples and counsels and everything.  I really have been truly blessed.  I know that there is no way I would be here without all your help.  All the fun motorcycle trips, getting lost in powder at Targhee, not making my bed for so many days in a row I held the family record, dying my hair black so that Mom thought I was a Mexican, going on midnight bike rides and seeing fire in your eyes when I decided to come home, long drives to hockey games, counting saves by writing them on your hand, going on a long walk and talking about life in a North Logan neighborhood, Priesthood session of October of 2010, lots of grocery shopping after long Mt. Logan days, sarcasm, and basically just lots of years of getting passed back and forth and feeling the love from both sides.  I love you all, thanks for everything you've all done.

Welp, I'm gonna go write on some papers and take pictures with them.  I don't have any idea why that's important to know, but I try to have a reason for everything I do.  That's kind of a lie. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Jeppson