2-24-14

¡Hola!

Wow!  So much has happened this week!  And I seriously have so little time...but I´ll do my best to fit in what I can!

First off...thank you Grandpa Kartchner for answering my many Spanish questions!  I´ll have to print off your email to read through all the details, so thank you!!!

I was finally able to do a session in the Madrid Temple this week!  IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!  I can´t wait to go back again!  I haven´t been able to go to the temple since being on a mission yet, so it was SO cool to go through as a missionary now!  The Provo MTC was closed while I was there and I wasn´t able to go during my first transfer, so it was really exciting to go finally!

This week I´ve just been realizing even more the magnititude of this calling and the responsibility we have as missionaries to explain the Gospel simply with everyone.  We have been meeting with a young man named Jose Manuel recently.  He is extremely smart and intellectual and is a student here at one of the universities ( I can´t remember the name).  Anyway...we randomly saw him the other day when we were waiting to meet up with someone else.  He started asking us more about what we do as missionaries and what our purpose in life is.  This guy has already changed his life so much.  Up until a year ago, he told us that he had been living a crazy life!  He partied all the time and lived a really bad life.  About a year ago, he completely changed his life around, and he said he realized that he had not been doing what God wanted him to do in his life.  He already has such a testimony of who God is and how he can help us change and be cleansed from sin through Christ´s Atonement.  But, he doesn´t understand the need for the restored Gospel on the earth.  Even though he has changed his life dramatically already, he isn´t satisfied with where he is in life and he has told us that he feels like his faith has been fading.  He asked us over and over again what the purpose of our life is.  He asked us what we personally would be doing when we went back home after our missions.  Even though we explained to Him over and over again that this life is a time for us to prepare to meet God, and to have peace and happiness with our families because of our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation...and that we know why we are here and where we are going....  He still wasn´t satisifed.  He wanted a deeper and more profound answer to His question and wasn´t satisfied with a simple, true answer.  It made me realize how there have been so many times in my life where I may have wanted a deeper answer to a simple question sometimes.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so simple.  The Lord has taught it simply.  I know that there is power in simplicity and I know that the Holy Ghost touches our hearts and testifies truth to us simply.  I hope that Jose Manuel can understand this and can recognize that the Lord is trying to bless Him with simple true answers that he doesn´t have to dwell on or try so hard to figure out.  I am grateful for the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that the Lord wants us to understand and teach His Gospel simply.

Also...another update.  I told you about Marino, the cute old Dominican man, right?  HE CAME TO CHURCH FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!!! In case you can´t read between the lines....this is a big deal!  AND he invited his daughter to come and her son!  And they LOVED it!  We are so hopeful and hopefully we´ll be able to meet with them again real soon.  They have SO much potential! 

Ok...and one other thing.  I had my first encounter with a drunk man this week.  Really weird, funny and crazy!  He asked us why we don´t worship and pray to the Mother Mary in our church.  We explained to him that we respect her, absolutely, but we know that we can communicate directly with God through prayer.  It was an interesting experience....I´ll have to tell ya more about it later.  It definitely made our day more interesting! 

Also...when I was at the Temple, Fernando came and found me and talked to me!  Did you know he can speak almost perfect English?  I was so grateful!  They are SOOO excited to meet up with me (Him and his wife Loli...the girl that Dad baptized in Seville).  We are hoping to eat lunch with them this weekend!  I am really looking forward to it!

Anyway....it´s been a great week!  I know Heavenly Father is helping me learn Spanish little by little every day here, even though it´s hard to see tons of progress.  I need all the help I can get and I know he´s helping me as I trust in Him.  I hope everybody´s happy and having a great week.  Love ya all!

Ashlee