My first week in Logroño

Hey everybody, another cold week in Logroño! So, most of the week we have been trying to find people (since we didn´t have anybody to teach really) and we are slowly finding success. It is good stuff, the Lord is blessing us, we found two new investigators this week, a less active family, and one of the investigators accepted to be baptized on the 27 of December, but we still have to talk to him more to teach him and everything, but things are looking good! 

The past week we also went to Bilbao for Specialized Training. They did a special Christmas Program where we read the story of the Birth of Christ and we sang hymns relating to the story. It was a really great spiritual experience :) 

And the first time in church this week, everyone either knew that I served in Pamplona (which Logroño and Pamplona are in the same stake) OR that I am the nephew of a sister missionary (my aunt) that served here 40 years ago (jaja broma, Tita, you are not that old! Just kidding!) more like 25 years ago, and so we have a pretty good relationship with the members now, which is what we need. In fact there is even a picture of my aunt on the wall in the church when she was here jaja, I laughed the first time I saw it.

But everyone, please pray for us that we may lift up our area. It is a little rough now, but I know that with your prayers, everything will be okay! I love you all, and I know that this work is preparing us for what lies ahead of us in the future, and they are great things! Love you! 

Elder Sadler 

Cooking in our apartment's kitchen in Logroño

With my cool apron! Thanks Maricela! 

Granada is my mother's hometown

Birthday Surprises and "Él es la Dádiva"

The first week of December it was my birthday! I was not excited for this day because I would be turning 20 ahhhh, so old! But the day came and Maricela, Adriana, and María, some of the members there, threw a small birthday party for me in the church! They bought a cake, got me a couple of gifts, especially a cooking apron which is the best! It was so nice of them to do that :) I thought I was going to pass my birthday just like that with the snap of the finger, but it was a great gathering :) 

With the apron they gave me as a gift for my birthday!

The Elders (Burton, Johnston and Stolk) taking me to a wok for lunch for my birthday! 

So then the next day we had Stake Conference in Valencia and I got to know one of my mom´s long time friends, Obispo Suarez, who knew her from when she was first a member (I think). He is super nice, and he got really emotional when he found out where I came from, he says I have a great mom :) And I can testify to that! And at the end of the night, President Pace came up to me and my companion (since he was there) and said that I would be transferred to Logroño the next week. My heart sank! Gandía was my favorite place so far and the work there was progressing so much and I was there for such a short time! When we told everybody the next day, everyone was in shock and many tears were shed. I will not deny that I was not sad and mad during this time, as I didn´t want to leave, but I have put my faith in the Lord and I know that He will bless us :) 

So I said my good-byes, we had a despedida in the church where everyone bore their testimony and thanked us for our work. Then we went around visiting friends and members, saying our hasta pronto´s and everything like that. It was really hard to leave...but now I am in Logroño with my new companion Elder Dunn from California. He is a nice, hard working guy, new in the mission, but willing to do anything to make me feel at home here! 

Saying goodbye to friends on Monday in Gandía

Outside the church in Gandía

Well, I guess one last thing. We are sharing a message that “He is the Gift. Él es la Dádiva”. Go to navidad.mormon.org and watch the short video the church has done about Christ´s birth. It is amazing! And share it everywhere using #ComparteLaDádiva. So that we can remind people what Christmas is really about. I love you all. I miss all my friends and family in Gandía, but I know the Lord will bless us for our love and patience! Until next week! 

And one last note, I would like my mom to write a little experience about the service project the McKay Ward had this past week, she told me about it and it brought me to tears! Thank you all for helping out with it! :) 

Elder Sadler

The Mckay Ward, our home ward, did a service project for Christmas in which items were donated for Harrison's class at school. Items as varied as a dryer, a dresser drawer, notebooks, socks, gloves, pencils, puzzles, a train set, etc. were donated. We thank our ward and our family members that also got involved in making this project possible and for their generosity. You guys are amazing! Here are some of the pictures:

 

December has arrived!

Hey everybody we are in December now!! Isn´t that crazy!!! Time is flying in the mission! It is near Christmas time and all around Gandía there are Christmas decorations (pictures coming soon).

But this past week has been a pretty average one. My companion Elder Stolk was really sick for a few days so we stayed at home and I just cleaned around a lot and made sure the piso (flat) was nice and fresh for when he got better. 

But near the end of the week, the ward (and the stake in general) was sent to be volunteers for Bancos de Alimentos (Food Bank) to ask people to donate food to the needy for Christmas. Elder Stolk and I went to “masymas”, a chain they have here, and sadly, there were not a lot of people. But we found the truth that you can never tell who is willing to help. We talked to everybody that walked in and there were people who wanted to donate a lot and some who could only donate a bag of rice, but anything can mean everything to somebody :) We were shocked because there were people who didn´t seem like they would donate anything but yet when they came up to us, they brought us some donations with a smile on their face. You can just never tell who has a good heart just by what is on the outside. 

Volunteering for the Food Bank

 And well, one funny story, we were eating at María Flores house, the first convert in Gandía in 1979 and still fully active. We were talking and she tells my companion. "Élder Stolk, tu eres muy simpático, pero feo, pero porque eres simpático, eres más guapo". So she called my companion ugly, but because he is nice, that makes him more handsome. I just died laughing in that moment as well as the other members that were at the table. 

Well, that is about it from Gandía this week. Christmas is coming up, it is a good time to remember out Savior and to know why he was born on this earth. I know that my Savior still lives. We will see you next week.

Elder Sadler 

The view from our balcony

 

Our apartment

Conference with an Apostle

Alright, so I know everybody is waiting for this, and yes, we did have a conference with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and it was incredible! There were in total 160 missionaries from the mission, all the way from Huesca to us all the way in Gandía and the Baleares. It was amazing. One thing that we all learned is that Apostles are still normal people. They don´t even know why they were called to be Apostles even to this day jaja. But Elder Cook talked to us about the importance of Preach My Gospel and he left us all with a small prophecy. He said that we are in Spain at this time, due to the economic crisis, because the people of Spain are ready for the Gospel. He said they are more humble, more open, and that this time is crucial for the Lord´s vineyard to flourish in Spain. He also left us with a blessing that EVERYBODY that we love and cherish will be taken care of. It was an amazing experience, and he wanted to shake each one of our hands. Incredible.

But in other sad news, Elaine did not get baptized because her mom is not letting her. Please pray for her still that she may be baptized! She shared her testimony the other day and she knows that the church is true! We need your prayers everybody. We need your love.

And not much happened this week, we talked to people, found a couple of people that are progressing, and Maricela, one of the recent converts in our area, her whole family has agreed to listen to our message and some of them have expressed interests in being baptized! The problem is their work schedule so we don´t have a lot of time to teach them, but please pray for her family that they may have time to meet with us.

Today for our pday we went to Catarroja, a town about 40 minutes away in train near Valencia. We played a turkey bowl with the whole Valencia Zone from Castellón and everywhere in between. It was fun, although Catarroja is not as pretty as Gandía. We have travelled so much this week… we are really tired, jajaja!

That is it really for this week. Things are picking up here in Gandía, I love it here. I know that the Lord is blessing this part of his vineyard and you all are helping in the work here. I love you all, and have a great week!

Elder Sadler