Week ?: Miracles in Málaga

Hola a todos!

What an incredible week it has been! Of course, every single week is
amazing as a missionary, but many times the tender mercies of the Lord
are only miracles against the backdrop of constant rejection or
intense desires to sleep for forever. This week, I have been left
absolutely dumbfounded by the blessings and miracles we have seen and
experienced!

Just for a little Spanish update, the weather is COLD. Supposedly
there are just about 2 weeks in February that are winter and then we
go back into summer. Yesterday I left the house with a scarf, jacket,
Sweater, hat, gloves, my thickest socks and a prayer in my heart for
survival. Today I am back in short sleeves.

Yesterday was also pretty crazy because Real Madrid came to Málaga to
play, 5 minutes from my house. Literally I was within 500 feet of
Christiano Ronaldo, which is cool except for two weeks ago Messi was
here...if those names aren't familiar I don't blame any of you, just
know that they are really famous futbolistas.

So many times I hear about how the things of God cannot be seen, and I
strongly and firmly beg to differ. I have seen with my eyes just as
clearly as I see the words on this page (Ipad) the evidences of God.
As we were walking down the street saying hi to everyone, and
receiving a wide array of responses of course, we finally got a bright
and happy smile with a hello from this girl on a bench. We decided to
stop and talk to her and as we got to talking she told us that she had
never really believed in God nor had thought much about the topic. We
got to talking to her and our message intrigued her enough that she
decided that she would be interested to hear more on another day. We
asked her if we could simply leave her with a prayer and she agreed so
right there in the open Spanish street we sat down on the bench with
her and said a prayer. As we closed the prayer, she turned to us and
said, I have to be totally honest with you (That as a missionary is a
usually "uh oh" moment) and she continued, almost in tears, saying how
she felt a warm and almost energizing tingling running through her
body, completely inexplicable to her. I now ask, How could me bowing
my head, speaking words, and closing with an amen make anyone feel any
type of sensation, unless it was really a plea with a loving and
existing father in heaven that his daughter could feel his presence? I
was left absolutely stunned. We promised her that God had provided a
way for her to be able to feel that way forever, and the first step is
repentance, or change, and the second is baptism. She agreed to meet
with the missionaries so that she will be able to make those changes
and be baptized. I could go on forever about the evidences we saw this
week of the Lord's hand, but time is short, but I promise that he or
she who asks for the confirmations of his existence will receive, but
only if we also put forth our effort in knocking and in seeking as
well.

Yesterday, we were able to watch someone who had made those first
steps of repentance enter into the waters of baptism AND IT WAS
AWESOME! Well, the water was a little cold, BUT IT WAS AWESOME. What
is even better is that it is the husband who has just gotten to Spain
to live with his wife, who had been baptized three months ago. Now,
they can ascend together as a family, working together to be true to
their promises of baptism and get closer to having that marriage for
the eternities. Que bendicion mas grande deal mundo.

The mission is kinda like playing flappy bird, a lot of times you feel
like you are falling and about to hit one of the pole thingies and
then God just taps the screen and you jump up and then you begin to
fall again and then God taps it and you jump over it - but the
greatest part is that you never end up hitting, so we just have to
trust God even if it looks like we won't make it. YOU WILL MAKE IT.

Have a great week everyone.

Love,

Elder Jenkins

Hasta Que Soñe con la obra

Hello everyone!

This week was definitely one of those typical missionary weeks you here about where we were SO TIRED. I fell asleep in just about every lesson we had, luckily the elevators here in Spain are like four times slower than those of the states so if we were going to a high floor I could snuggle into the corner as if i was in ¨time out¨ and get a good 30 second nap - the great thing though is that it isn't like the tiredness that you feel when you are studying a lot or you just woke up, its an exhaustion that brings such a great sense of joy because you know that you are exhausted for the Lord´s cause. As some of the missionaries from the mission met for a special conference this past week, we talked a little bit about trying to minimize ¨free time¨ and make sure that every moment was taken advantage of. Really we came to the conclusion that the only free time we have is when we are sleeping, which is where i came up with the phrase and goal to work until i was even dreaming with the missionary work - Hasta que soñe con la obra. 

We were out of our area for most of the week, traveling and working in other zones of the city, but finally we got to work in our area on Saturday night. Well, we hit the streets and as we started talking we quickly realized it was going to be ¨one of those nights¨ where everyone in the city is in a secret pact to reject the missionaries. We couldn´t catch a break, (I think Barcelona Futbol was playing or something). We kept our hopes high for the night and kept moving forward, despite doubts and fatigue, and finally we got to the last person we were going to try. We called up to her apartment and without even asking who we were she let us in. We gave each other that ¨Here comes the miracle¨ look. As the elevator slowly crept up the building, we began to hear loud music, and accordingly began praying that it wouldn't be coming from her house...the elevators opened...it was her house. Despite our better judgement we knocked the door anyways and the lady quickly confirmed that in fact we were not the special invites she was expecting to her valentines day fiesta. She shut the door to her house and to my hope, but luckily we had seen a woman a couple days before going into the house next door. We decided to knock it and she came to the door, looking just about as annoyed with the party as we were, and we began to talk. She told us how the years had begun to extinguish the flame of her faith, but we were able to testify that our message would help her having a working fire again, of which the spirit testified in that moment. It was a powerful ending to a day of trials, but that is the promise - ¨Ye receive no [miracle] until after the trial of your faith. 

I hope that you all have a great week! Thank you for the love, support, and prayers. 

Love,

Elder Jenkins 

Transfers #9

Hello All,

This week has been full of changes, as is every transfer week. We
pretty much live as missionaries on a schedule of 6 weeks, which gives
us just enough time to get comfortable with things how they are and
then they radically change. It does always keep us on our feet, but it
can be a tad stressful. I definitely thought I coped well with change
because of being a military brat but I might have overestimated my
adapting abilities. It's okay though because it has forced me to
depend on the Lord and His grace to help me get through the rough
patches of getting a new companion, moving to a new area, or changing
assignments.

This week, my new companion elder west came. He is an old man in missy
ready terms, 1 year and 8 months on the mission. He just came from
being with a Peruvian companion, and so did I, a match made in heaven.
He has a lot of motivation for the work and loves the people here so
much. He will definitely teach me countless lessons in our time
together. Other fun facts about elder west. He can juggle 4 balls, he
knows how to cook (supposedly, confirmation still to come), he wants
to be a computer programmer, and looks great in blue :) he is also
blonde, so now people don't call me blonde anymore because they see
the difference in our hair....when I was with my last companion I was
always "the blonde boy" - reminds me of living in Japan.

Ever since I completed a year here I have thought of how much has
changed. I remember getting here and being so amazed about everything
"wow, Spanish roads, wow Spanish stores, WOW Spanish cars, Spanish
trees Spanish food" - and now it's kind of sad that I'm currently
passing right next to the coast of the sparkling Mediterranean Sea and
I'm actually kind of annoyed because of how long the train ride is. I
want to make a more conscious effort to bring back the magic of where
I am and what I am doing - it really is the most amazing experience I
have ever had and I'm glad it's only half over.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Jenkins

The Good Samaritan

Happy February everyone!

No, they don't celebrate groundhogs day here, but there really isn't
any need for it; winter never really started. It is already short
sleeve weather and I think the "winter" included one day where I wore
a jacket. Definitely different from the Utah winter that will welcome
me back to the states.

This week was really great. It has been sad because my companion will
be leaving this week, but we enjoyed our last week together. I will
miss being able to pawn all contacts off on him. I just walk up to
people, say hi, and ask where they are from. If they are from Spain I
say, oh, my companion is from Spain, and then just let him take it
away. If they are from South America, then I say, hey my companion is
from Peru, and let him take it away. And if we meet an African, I say
hey my companion is learning English, and let him take it away. I'll
have to change up my whole game plan.

We had an amazing experience this past week. We were talking to a
woman in her home, and we asked her why she believed in God. She began
to tell us about a time in her life when she had just gone through a
divorce, left her two children In her country, and came to Spain to
look for work. She couldn't find anything, didnT have a place to stay,
and ended up sleeping two nights in the bus stop. She decided that she
didn't want to live anymore and planned how she would take her life.
As she pondered her decision, she began to cry. A woman walking by sat
by her on the bench and asked her why she was crying, and in that
moment our friend broke down and began to tell her her situation. In
that moment, the woman took her to her home and told her to wait there
as she went back out. An hour later, she came back, told our friend
she had a job for her and that she would start working the next day.
She took her to a hotel where she stayed the night and then began to
work the next day and within a year she had enough to bring both of
her sons here to Spain and buy a house and get her life on track. Now,
this experience was incredible to hear, but it is even more incredible
as we understand that it is evidence of the truthfulness of the bible.
Let's remember the parable of the Good Samaritan, which not only
teaches us that we need to help those in need, but also promises us
that when we have been emotionally robbed, beat up by the trials of
the world, and left on the side of the road to die, the Lord will
always send us a Good Samaritan who will take us to his house, pay for
our recuperation, and help us back on to our feet.  Surely it will not
always happen exactly like this, but I was so taken aback by the
clarity in which her experience resembles the teachings of Jesus
Christ.  I know the promise of the lord is true, "I will not fail
thee, nor forsake thee."

I hope that you all have a great week!

Elder Jenkins

Things different from Spain
1. They have elevators only for the even and only for the odd floors.
2. No one uses crutches, they all use these poles that have handles
and hook around the forearms
3. Doorknobs are in the middle of the door
4. Escalators have a sensor and don't start until you step on them
5. 100 times the amount of the people smoke
6. Bidets
More to come...