2-2-15

Hola Hola :)

Week 2 of this transfer just flew by!  Hermana Kelemen is the best!  She is so easy to work with and wants to work hard and learn!  I am grateful for her and to have the time with her here. 

Also...I got some really great letters and packages from some people that I just wanted to thank!  Preston, CUZ! :)  Thank you for your card!  I could understand your Spanish haha!  I´m excited to talk when we´re at home.  I also got some really sweet letters from the Lehi YSA Ward, tell everyone thank you from me!  And then I got some really great music and a card from Jordan! All of the hermanas that live with me love the music! Thank you so much!  Everyone´s letters made my day! 

Also....question....can you guys send me some pictures (by email) of our ancestors? (Grandparents, great grandparents)....also any stories about ancestors that are really neat and cool to include? I know....random request.....but President Jackson has asked each of us to fill out the My Family Pamplet to be using it in our lessons.  We have a mission tour coming up with Elder Dyches from the Europe Area Presidency and he wants us to have them filled out by the time he comes for the mission tour....by Feb. 19.  So, can you guys send me as many pics as you can find and I can just print them out here and glue them in my pamphlet?  Thank you!

So, every week we have a Noche de Hogar (Family Night) for the barrio, the ward.  And Elder Bybee....who was in my first area in Torrejón is now here in Barrio 8 with us and he taught the lesson.  He taught the coolest lesson and I just wanted to share it with you.  So, he drew a circle, a triangle and a square on the chalkboard.  He asked one person to volunteer to leave the room.  While they were gone from the room he told all of us that when the guy came back that we needed to try really hard to convince the guy that the circle was a square, that the square was a triangle, and that the triangle was a cirlce.  So the guy came in, and Elder Bybee and his companion asked they guy...ok, is this a cirlce? (pointing to the circle)....so like we were told, we all tried to tell him that it wasn´t a cirlce!  Then he moved on to the square and we did the same thing, tried to convince him otherwise.  He was very ademant too that the circle was a cirlce and that the square was a square...etc.  Finally after a few moments of arguing trying to prove that we were right. Elder Bybee, stopped everyone and said this.  Pointing to the Circle, that was actually a circle, he said to all of us in the crowd, ¨ok....this IS actually a circle, and this (pointing to the square) is actually a square, and this (pointing to the triangle) is a triangle.  Jose (the guy that left the room) was right and you all have been tricked by me...the devil....and you have been decieved!" 

Ok....so sounds a little bit extreme...but think about that.  All he did was tell us to convince this guy Jose that something that actually was, really wasn´t the thing we claimed it to be at all.  And we followed him.  He then pointed out the principle.  It is an absolute truth that a circle will always be a circle.  When you see a circle, you know that it is not a square, you know it is a circle.  Same with a square and a triangle, etc.  It is an absolute truth that these shapes are what they are and there is no changing that ever.  Just like we know that it´s an absolute truth that a circle is a circle and never will be anything else....we know that there is such a thing as absolute truth.  There are absolute truths in life that will never change.  The world is always changing and will try to convince us that absolute truth doesn´t exist.  But, the knowledge that we have of Christ´s Restored Gospel, gives an anchor of absolute truth that will never change, even as the world is changing.  Helaman 5:12 talks about how we need to build our foundation upon Christ and his teachings, because they will always bless us and help us as the world is changing all around us.  If we have anchored ourselves on the teachings and principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we will never fall or fail in this life.  I loved that and just wanted to share that.  There is such a thing as absolute truth and we have it in the Book of Mormon!

Also, 2 days ago we met this African guy from Gana in the street, named Daniel.  We randomly contacted him and the first thing he told us after we told him hello was that last night (the night prior to that day) he had just had a dream that he was being baptized into our church!  He told us that he had met with the missionaries over 3 years ago, but lost contact with them and that he wanted to pay us a visit!  He came to church yesterday and we´re meeting with him again tomorrow and are going to try to set a goal for baptism with him!  He is the super cute little man, he has had a very hard life.  He lost both of his parents when he was 3 and has had to fend for himself all of his life.  He has some kind of deformity in his back, but he is able to walk and take care of himself just fine.  We are still getting to know him, but wow!  The Lord really does put people in our path whether we realize it or not. 

Also, there is a menos activo....I think I told you about him....his name is Viktor Brun.  Wow!  We visited the house of the stake president to try and meet with the sister of the stake president who is less active, and turns out Viktor (another menos activo) was living there.  Ever since then, Viktor has come back to church and has been slowly re-activating himself in the church!  He is a Spaniard, served a mission in Barcelona shortly after being converted to the church when he was a young adult, and later went and studied at the LDS Business College.  Since then, he has been helping us in lessons with investigators and we have been learning so much from him!  He is a powerful teacher and has really brought the spirit to our lessons in ways that we didn´t know were possible.  He is very good at asking questions and really helping people understand our invitations.  I have personally been learning alot from him about my responsibility as a missionary to represent the Savior and call people to change!  We have to help people know that we really care about them and that we are trying to understand their needs.  That isn´t easy to do!  But, it is possible!  I can´t even adequately explain how wonderful it´s been to learn from him, but it has been great.  And more than anything, it has been helping rekindle his love for the Gospel and missionary work and it has been incredible to watch his growth along with us as he has been sharing his testimony. 

Anyway!  I´ve gotta go because we´re going to Sol today, the center of Madrid!  But, have a great day and week.  I love ya all :)  I know the Lord is aware of each of us and that we can trust in the Lord´s ways always.

Con MUCHO Amor,

La Hermana Carroll