This past week has jut been amazing. I wish I could tell you some amazing stories or that an impossible investigator finally said yes, but instead, I have just been having a lot of fun and I have felt the Spirit so strong that it brought me back to my baptism, confirmation and other historic moments in my life haha. On Wednesday evening we traveled to Sevilla fo this zone conference with an area seventy. At first, I just wasn't too excited to go, but wow. It was just amazing. We travelled the long bus ride and I slept a lot, and when we got to the bus station we were completely lost, because we were staying the night at another companionship's piso. We get off the bus, and we were like umm.... well we are lost. Then we ask for the name of what street we were on, and the lady was like, Oh, where are you trying to go? We then responded that we just wanted to get our friends house. She then said, Oh the missionaries! I know you guys, I know where they live. Follow me! What a blessing that fell out of the sky. The funny thing was that after we got to the house, the missionaries had no idea who that lady even was.
Anyways, all the missionaries I meet, when I tell them I am a convert love to hear my conversion story. I honestly don't even think that it is that exciting but everyone loves hearing it. So when we got to their apartment instead of playing games or whatever, we all sat around and I shared my story for hours it felt, and they kept asking questions, but I am not complaining at all. It was an awesome night. That next day we had our zone conference. The area seventy was Elder Schütze. He grew up behind the wall in Germany but has been active his whole life. He was quite the inspirational speaker. Sadly, I can't remember any of the specifics he said, but that is why I have my journal haha. But I don't have my journal with me, but I try to remember some of the things he spoke of next time.
The bus ride back home was about an hour longer than normal. The bus driver decided to take the scenic route... literally. He didn't once get on the freeway. It was nice though since we drove by the coast. I have already taken for granted the beautiful coastline and the sights of Africa. But still, they are marvelous nonetheless. On the bus ride home one of my missionary roommates pulls out his nice Digital SLR camera, and this guy right in front of us happens to have the nicer model of his. This naturally strikes up a conversation, and luckily he spoke English. But instead of sleeping ,me and Elder White talked to him the whole time. His name was Gary and he was from Italy! He is in the final years of schooling to become a doctor and he was saying that he actually knows a lot about Oregon because one of his favorite webpages was discoveroregon.com. I dont know why, but apparently a lot of beautiful things that people have taken pictures of. Anyways, long story short, by the end of the bus ride we got his phone number and we have an appointment to teach him this week before he goes back to Italy!!!!
Then, as if it couldn't get better we had chuch yesterday. Wow, it was amazing. It could have been one of the most Spiritually high church sacrament and meeting I have ever been to. First, we had priesthood, and since it was branch conference the Stake President came and taught. Then priesthood was taught by the first counselor and wow was it good. He talked about how the Gospel is what truly makes us happy in our life if we obey the commandments. He had this awesome quote, and I wrote it down and will try to apply it with me everywhere I go. I challenge you to do the same. First, I challenge you to translate it as well haha. "He cometido el peor de los pecado que un hombre puede cometer: No ser feliz."
Then we had Sunday School and it was taught by the second counselor's son since he was gone or sick. His lesson was just as good, and it focused all on missionary work. After he taught for a long while he invited this twelve year old kid to share why he likes going to church and wow was it powerful. Then, he asked Elder White to share his testimony, and that just blew me away. Even though this was all in Spanish I was surprised how much I could understand, and the Spirit I could feel. I am blessed to be with such an amazing group of people. My companion helps me out if I can't understand what is going on, so it is great that he is patient with me. His name is Elder Ward and he is from California. Sadly, he is going home after this transfer so I won't get to see him again until after the mission. But he is awesome.
Finally, we had sacrament meeting. The stake president gave his talk and it was amazing as well. He was nearly in tears when talking about missionary work and how without the missionaries he would not be where he is today. He then made us all look around and we pointed out the diversity of our congregation. The United States, Chile, Bolivia, Spain, Morocco, Egypt, France, etc. I can't even describe in words how I felt when I looked around and saw everyone and all of their families and how happy everyone was. Then he called up the four missionaries to the front and just had us stand there and he pleaded to the congregation for us to think of people that we can share this amazing thing with.
Anyways, then to top it all off, today I played football for half the day. We took the bus ride up to San Fernando to play with the other districts and we just had a blast. I feel like I am so so so so much better than I was pre-mission. I feel like I can actually juggle the ball and shoot it accurately. It will be fun when I get home. Luckily, there was a Mercadona in front of the field so I was able to get fresh bananas for the firsttime since being in Spain. Man, I miss that so much. I am just havin a great time here. I finally am getting into the flow of things and I am excited to see what happens next. The next big thing coming up are transfer calls this week! I'll let you know how that goes! I hope Medford is doing well, and Eugene as well. Tell everyone I said hello and thanks for all the prayers! I hope I have said something to help you guys out! Have fun!!!
Love,
Elder Card
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