Well, I officially survived a week in the sin city of Spain! I may
joke about that a lot, but it really isn't that bad. Benidorm is
absolutely beautiful and all the little surrounding towns are like
little houses on hillsides...kind of like on emperors new grove where
Cuzco wants to build cuzcotopia....I hope you get the idea. There are
a lot of mountains and my companion freaks out every time he sees
one...or a tree....or a puddle of water....apparently he comes from a
dessert where you never see any of those things.
We have really been accepted into the little branch here. Starting
Sunday night we literally ate with members for every meal except
breakfast until Sunday....I've never been so full for such a long
period of time. One family even took us out to an all you can eat
hibachi grill type place. After a year and 8 months of stomach
stretching I can say I surprised even the workers. My companion is
still getting used to the eating demands of the missionaries which
means I get to eat my food and his...score!
The more I ponder this incredible opportunity to train a new
missionary, the more I realize how much of a blessing it is. I regret
not wanting to train! This last week I got to go to a meeting with one
of my other trainees, a year later, and seeing how much he has grown
and progressed since our struggle days together is incredible. It's a
special relationship that you develop during training and pondering it
has made me really excited to watch elder tabilo as he progresses in
the mission, and also to go home and hug my trainer again and thank
him for putting up with me for 12 weeks!
There have been so many miracles with elder tabilo! Every time he
opens his mouth the spirit is so powerful and people are just falling
out of the sky to listen to us and accept baptismal dates. One
incredible experience in particular happened last night. We were
coming to the close of the night and we were both pretty dead tired
and hungry but as we were leaving I told my companion that if we
worked as hard as we could in the two hours we were going to contact
we would find someone who would be baptized. So we went out and with
the strength of LIONS began to contact. As we were walking through a
park, we saw a woman on a bench and decided to talk to her. As we were
getting closer we heard her say , "oh no" and quickly try to put the
other headphone in (the power of the shirt and tie) and as we tried to
talk to her and just give her a pamphlet she rejected us and told us
she wouldn't even read it if we gave it to her. Something told us to
just push a little more so we asked why she wouldn't read it and
yadayadayda and before you know it we were sharing the restoration
with her. It was all going well and then we felt to ask her a simple
question, "if this were true, would you make the necessary changes in
order to follow Christ more in your life?" At first she didn't
understand and so we repeated it and still nothing, but after the
third time she understood (seem familiar to anyone?...) and as she
pondered the answer, she looked up and said yes...and THEN she began
to get teary eyed and vocally expressed how she felt a heat running
through her body, and even began to sweat...and the craziest thing was
I felt it too! And I looked over at my companion and he was feeling
the same thing! The entire conversation changed so drastically from
that moment on and she agreed to meet with us more, and also to be
baptized. What we felt together was incredible, and in that moment we
truly converted from two normal teenagers in white shirts and ties,
into servants and messengers of Jesus Christ. We have high hopes for
her progression and we promised that it wouldn't be the last time that
she felt the spirit of God.
One interesting thing that my mom wrote me this week was that we
finally, after 25 years, had our piano tuned professionally. For my
entire life we have been playing on this thing, using it to sing and
practice, and we have always thought it sounded great. Well when the
man came, he informed us that it was officially the worst sounding
piano he had ever heard in his life. He gave it a good, long needed
tuning and apparently now the difference is absolutely astounding. And
to think for my whole life I have been playing this thing thinking it
was the real deal! It just goes to show that sometimes we don't
realize what a nice little tune-up could do to our lives, if we can
just catch a glimpse of the right note or have some reference point we
can really make an astounding difference.
I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Jenkins
Paseo castellana 46, 2A
Benidorm, Alicante, España
03502
American car, Spanish parking space
The most astounding McDonald's I have ever been in, it even has water
misting for a nice refreshing cool off...
No comments:
Post a Comment