Year mark and its surprises

Hey everybody, and welcome to the second year of my mission! 

Leaving home a year ago! Time flies!

 

First of all, I would like to apologize for the scripture from last time, Isaías 14:21 is NOT the scripture I wanted to share, it is super fuerte. Sorry about the error! I have a better scripture for this week! But yeah, I have hit my year mark AND celebrated Reyes, and buah, Reyes is A LOT better than Christmas! At least I think so jaja! We went out to eat with members and we had a lot of fun just like at Christmas! 

And firstly, Happy Birthday to my lovely mother, Estefanía, she is turning a year older but she looks like she could be 25. She is the best mother that anybody could ask for, and especially the best mother for my brother Harrison. She is literally the best, if you all have the chance to see her, because I won´t be able to, wish her a happy birthday from me and give her a big kiss on January 16 :) Love you, Mamá!

And the 7^th of January is my official year of being a missionary! How exciting! I was excited! I was planning on doing something exciting like shaving my legs or my eyebrows (I can´t shave my eyebrows, I love them jaja) well, I don´t know, something to mark the year, but all of the sudden, that night I felt a little bit sick so when we got back to the piso, I went to bed a little early, and for the next four days I could hardly get up. Turns out, as a year gift, I got all the sicknesses that I didn´t get while being on my mission, and I just got them all at the same time. How great :P I went out and worked a little, because we needed to, but I never got better. You name it, fever, migraines, stomach pains, body aches, chills, hallucinations, everything that could keep you in bed I had over the weekend. I slept terribly, and I was kind of nervous because I felt so bad. But last night (early Monday morning) I was still up at 4:00 and I heard a little voice say “Go pray” and I said no, it is too late. And the voice came back and said to go pray again. So I went to pray in our study room, ask my Father for help and strength and love that I may feel better. Still with fever, aches, cramps, chills, sweat, sinus pain, I felt relaxed, when He told me to grab my prayer pillow (a small pillow) put it on my stomach, lie down, and He will take the pain away. I didn´t know what the big deal was, but I just obeyed. I grabbed the pillow went to my bed, put it on my stomach, and ALL of my pains, ALL OF THEM, disappeared. I kid you not, they all went away within the blink of an eye, and right after that moment I went to sleep peacefully until we had to get up and I am now writing this only with fatigue, but it is normal. God answered my prayers in an instant because He loves me and I am His son :) and it can work for every single one of you.

Saturday the 10 of enero (January), still sick but still smiling! 

But anyway, there were also a couple things that happened when I was fighting against all of these sicknesses. Jim, a member from Cameroon and France, and a lot of other places, has been engaged to a girl in Utah for a long time and has been waiting to go and we have been asking him recently when he was leaving and he said he would let us know, and then one morning, Friday, another member comes over to tell us that Jim left early that morning to Paris to see his family then he will fly to Salt Lake to get married. We were all shocked, he is a great guy and we wish him the best! 

We also had Ward Conference on Sunday and they changed the bishopric which was a surprise, but hopefully we will see miracles with this bishop as well! Also, a lot of people from Pamplona came down: one because he has a stake calling, another to help out with the combined class we had about auto sufficiency, another for a JAS (Young Single Adults) meeting, and a family who brought their son down to be set apart to serve his mission in Halifax, Canada and he left today! It was so good to see all of them and they were all excited to see me :) It was a nice surprise!

With my buddy Eneko

Last week for preparation day we went and played La Oca, a classic game where you go around the board and try to make it to the end. But there was a huge plaza dedicated to it, so the four of us went there and we were the pieces! I won the first game (unfair advantage because I had played it as a child) and Elder García won the second game. A lot of people actually walked buy us and took pictures of us playing with their cameras jaja. 

 

 

Playing the game of "La Oca"

But I think that is all, I want to all leave you with a nicer scripture this week in 1 Tesalonicenses 2:17 (1 Thessalonians 2:17). It really helped me out this week. I love you all, and see you next Tuesday! (Because there are transfers, let´s see what happens!)

Elder Sadler