July 23 2018 "Are you gonna say hola, or nah?" Madrid Spain Mission Week #52

Well ladies and gentlemen we have passed another wonderfully warm week here in Algeciras and the surrounding area and it was great. 

Past week we had a bit of free time, a lot of people are on vacation so it makes member work a little harder but we still did a little bit. We did a bit of contacting (the inspiration for the title) and decided to change things up and played some basketball to meet some people and I definitely prefer that to contacting haha. 

This week we taught Jenny, she's doing super awesome and is headed to a single adult conference in a week and is going to spend a week there. She's super excited. Shes going with Claudia and turns out her group leader is actually Elder Gergovs stake president. So that's exciting, what a small world it is. We taught Paco this week as well, he's doing better, little by little. We also taught Carmen this week, she's doing good and has started to read more which is super important. We also said goodbye to Analía again for the second time as she takes of to Switzerland again. We also helped with and chowed on some empanadas. 

Friday after the soup kitchen we started companion exchanges with the other Elders  and it went great. In the afternoon me and Elder Childers rocked the streets singing some hymns to some old crazy dude who kept demanding different things from us to see if we really knew the Gospel haha, because he knew it better than anybody apparently lol. Then we ran into Dennis a guy e e contacted before and he was with his wife. They've been here about a month from El Salvador and they are just ready to be baptized, SO WE GONNA DO IT! Haha. Then that night Elder Dunford begged me to make cinnamon rolls so we busted some out, and added plans to the future global enterprise of Battys BadA Buns haha. T Minus less than one year and we will be in a food truck near you haha. Saturday me and Elder Dunford went out to La Linea and got some work done, we had a lesson with this former, maybe still, drug addict Javi who has cleaned up his life a ton. We talked about the authority to baptize and he was just like "yeah, that totally makes sense" then proceeded to tell us he was going to go ask his local pastor where he got his authority from haha. Ended exchanges and then that night played some soccer. 

Sunday was good as well, pretty normal but an ex-missionary came with her family so we had lunch after all the meetings which was good. Then did some studies and such. 

This week I was thinking about the future for when I'll be a dad some day, and also because of some of the people I've met here, and thought about the example they set for their kids. Maybe it was influenced a little by my reading as well.. 

Jacob 2:35 Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds.

Jacob 3:10 10 Wherefore, ye shall remember your children, how that ye have grieved their hearts because of the example that ye have set before them; and also, remember that ye may, because of your filthiness, bring your children unto destruction, and their sins be heaped upon your heads at the last day.

Some things are more important in this life, more important than our needs, our wants, our most earnest desires, it's our duty to those under our trust and our care. Especially to teach gospel principles and to raise them righteously. 

I hope you all have a good week, and I pray that you read your scriptures, say your prayers, that you stay humble, that you count your blessings, and that you are obedient.