Last Monday we were able to visit Real Alcázar in Sevilla. It's an amazing palace with a huge garden right in the middle of Sevilla. I recommend that you should all look it up and look at some pictures, it is absolutely amazing. I should be able to send some pictures next week. There were roaming peacocks and I even got lost in a giant hedge maze. It was actually that last Monday that I met my first LDS Tourists since I have started here in Spain, and of all things they were from Salem, Oregon!! They took us out to eat, and they were really nice. What a blessing it is to have members feel like family no matter where you are in the world.
As for the mission work Spain is progressing. We have a goal of 300 baptisms this year and we have about 208. That means we need to stretch just a little bit to make 300, but I have faith that we can do it. We will reach it I am sure. Of course, Elder Hall and I here in Aljarafe are trying to contribute to that by doing our part. We are still teaching Soraya (The lady in the wheelchair) is coming along. She looks like she will be baptized, if all goes well, on the 15th of October. Her only problem is that she loves loves loves her Virgin Rocio, and so we are trying to understand why she has so much faith in her, and trying to get the entire..... ya'know.... idol worshiping thing across. That, and she asks the strangest questions. We read Mosiah 18 with her and she asked, "Where are the Waters of Mormon?" We tried answering her with the information that we knew, but she wants to know the exact river haha. We aren't exactly sure why it is so important, but we are pretty sure she will forget the question.
I know I gave everyone our little schedule last week, well.... it's about to change. This Saturday we are switching to the Winter schedule which basically just means, shift the entire schedule 30 minutes earlier. Go to sleep 30 mins, earlier, wake up 30 mins. earlier. And now mediodía is only two hours, darn!
That is about it for now. Oh, as for the title, it means, "How many elect do you have?" A member asked us that question, and it made us really think. We have a lot of investigators, but how many of them are actually the ones who can progress and are the elect ones. It has made us think. To make this email of some value, I will throw in a quote that I heard earlier this week during personal study from Neal A. Maxwell about prayer.
"Petitioning in prayer has taught me, again and again, that the vault of heaven with all its blessings is to be opened by a combination lock. One tumbler falls when there is faith, another when there is personal righteousness; the third and final tumbler falls only when what is sought is, in God's judgement - not ours - right for us. Sometimes we pound on the vault door for something we want very much and wonder why it does not open. We would be very spoiled children if that vault door opened any more easily than it does. I can tell, looking back, that God truly loves me by inventorying the petitions He has refused to grant me. Our rejected petitions tell us much about ourselves but also much about our flawless Father."
I know that is true, and I know the work that I am doing here is true, and I am loving every minute of it. Thanks for all of your support!
Love
Elder Steven Card
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