IT WAS INSANE!!

Hey Family!

We had a pretty good week this week!

Found a lot of good new people.

We were able to meet with these two super cool girls this week. They were a phone number in the area book but were willing to met that same day. One is from Nicaragua and the other Panama. Two countries I have never taught before. That's one of the cool things about Madrid because you have a huge melting pot of people from every country. Anyway they are super cool. One knows nothing about the church and the other recieved all the lessons from the missionaries but didn't get baptized because she was 17 and her parents wouldn't let her. They are super cool hope all goes well.

Gabi is still doing really well. She won't be getting baptized on the 7th though because she has to have surgery and so she would rather wait until after :( But she ended work this week and will be able to come from now on! Super cool. We have a leson with her tonight.

Veronica and her family are still super cool. Natalia still wants to be baptized, she just doesn't know when. She is super shy and doesn't want to have the interview with someone she doesnt know but oh well too bad. They are super cool though. They come and partisipate in all the activities and stuff.

We had a great lesson with our Free Town friend, Maverick. We brought one of the best members to that lesson... wait for it... LUCKY MIKE! Yes his legal name is Lucky Mike. He is from Nigeria and is probably the happiest man I have ever met in my life! We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and really focused on baptism. We changed his date to the 21st to better prepare him for baptism because he still has problems with beer. But we are working on it.
 

OK now I will get to what you are all waiting for. How was it being in Madrid Saturday. IT WAS INSANE!! First all day there were people celebrating and the game hadn't even started yet! Then when it did we were in a park with Veronica and her family because all the members were watching the game. When Athletico Madrid scored car horns started honking. The entire city was roaring from the cheers and fireworks were being set off it was crazy. After that lesson we went home and at that point the score was only 1-0 and almost over. So while in the piso doing daily planning we hear the city roar again and we thought it was the end of the game. But then later on in the night it gets worse and so at this point we are super lost but we came to the conclusion that Atletico won. Then the next day walking to church everyone is wearing Real Madrid jerseys in the street. Anyway when we get to church and find out all that happened. We were blown away. Members said the more towards the center of town all night there was a party and parade. Crazy days here in Madrid

 

Anyway, this was our week. It was a good one. Hope everyone had and has a good week. Sean & Hil Happy Anniversary and DAD again Happy Birthday.

Love you all!!!

-Elder Stevenson  

Veronica's Confirmation

Hey Family!

We had a really good week this week! A little bit less help from the members but we were still able to have the lessons at least.

The confirmation of Veronica went great! She's super happy to be a member. and she's super happy to share the gospel. None of her friends or family know about the church and so Veronica wants us to teach them. She gave us the number of one of her friends and we are going to meet Friday. That will be nice. Also her neighbor saw us there an she talked to Veronica and gave her JW magazines and stuff. Veronica told us to talk to her so some day this week were going to knock on her door. Hopefully something good comes from that. We are also going to start teaching her mom and sister. I'm excited for that. They still don't know about Veronica's baptism. The daughters are doing super well. We tried to set another date with them last night but they didn't want to set one yet. Later on though, I was talking to Natali and she said that it's Karla that isn't sure yet. But Natali told me that she has been thinking about baptism and she wants to do it and she wants baptize her. Now we just have to find out when! But everything is super great with them. They love the church!

Everything is still going super well with Maverick. He was able to come to church this week! He loved it a ton! We then had a lesson with him later that day which was super tough for my comp because he doesn't speak English. We were able to teach the Plan of Salvation and right after I bore my testimony Maverick shared his! It was super cool. He still wants to be baptized which is great.

Gabi is also doing super well we only have a little bit left to teach and she is working well towards her date. She ends work this week and so she will be able to come to church. She is super great.

We were able to meet with a new lady yesterday that we found in the street. Her name is Maria. She is from Bolivia. super cool. She is willing to read the Book of Mormon. She is about the same age as Veronica and also has a 16 year old daughter. Hopefully they can be good friends and Maria can feel comfortable in the church.

 

Our District before Elder Anderson went home.

My first District meeting went really well. We have a good district here. Elder Taylor's greenie is actually the best friend of Elder Vasquez so we have some good unity.

Hope everyone had a good week. Chad congrats on your graduation! Mom and Dad sorry about the horrible travel problems. But glad you had a great time with Chad and Ariann and the grandkids-

Have a great week! Love you all!

-Elder Stevenson

 

 

BAPTISM!

Mother's Day Google Chat!  = D

Hey family! 

Long time since we have talked last :P

We had a great week this week!

As you know we had the baptism of Veronica yesterday! It was such a great baptismal service. The spirit was sooo strong. Right before the ordinance Elder Ward played "Abide With Me" on the piano and it was such a great spirit inviter. Then all went perfect with the baptism and she just seemed sincerely happy with the choice she made. She was such a great miracle and it was a great way to end Elder Anderson's mission. She set a great example for her daughters so we really hope to baptize them too.

Gabi is still doing really well also. Still progressing a ton towards her baptismal date. Her mom is at home more now so we want to be able to teach her too. It would be nice to teach them on the same day. 

I got a new companion, Elder Vasquez, this morning and I'm super excited for this transfer. He is actually from Peru but has lived in Barcelona for a while. I'm super excited to be District Leader this transfer it will be a great way to help the other missionaries grow and myself too having to be an example for them. 

Hope everyone has a great week this week. Enjoy your trip out to Pennsylvania and Chad enjoy and congrats on your graduation. I love you all!! Sorry this ones short but we talked yesterday.

-Elder Stevenson

 

 

 

 

The Miracles Still Continue!!!

 
Hey Family!

We have had a super great week here in Madrid! A lot of time spent on comp exchanges and working between two areas but still turned out well!

THE MIRACLES STILL CONTINUE!!!!

First off, my second favorite family in the world: Veronica, Natali, and Karla. They are seriously sooo great. We had a Ward activity at this super huge park on Thursday. They went to that and loved it! Made good friends there. Every missionary in the world now has to teach lesson 5 before baptism and so we rushed through that this week. Good thing they accepted it all. Saturday, we went over the baptismal interview questions and they were good on everything. Except veronica wasn't sure about prophets but she was fasting and praying and read some talks from Thomas S. Monson and watched "The Restoration" dvd. Then woke up Sunday morning and knew they were prophets. She just felt it super strong. It was such a joy to hear that! They said they 100% want to get baptized. They are going to see what their family says about it and will tell us tonight if it will be Saturday or no. I'm 100% it will be because they want to get baptized before Elder Anderson leaves. Sooo pretty sure there will be a great family baptism this Saturday! 

Parque Juan Carlos

Gabi was able to come to church this week which was super cool! t was a scary week with her. On Monday, we recieved a text saying that she didn't want to join the church anymore. So of course we rushed over there. She just doesn't have support from family or friends. So she was just scared but all is well now! We are meeting with her tonight too. 

Marta was working all week this week and so she didn't meet with us but she was able to come to church this week. Which was super great! We have to start meeting with her more because her baptism is in 3 weeks. 

Maverick is still doing really well. He feels like he is finally finding God in his life and he wants to change so we are working well with him. He was going to come to church Sunday but he was out of town, which was a bummer. .

A couple weeks ago, when I went on a comp exchange with the AP, we found a guy named Edwin who was pretty cool. Elder Anderson and I passed by this week and he was home! We had a really good lesson with him and then he came to church this week! It was super cool! 

It was a really good week this week and we hope to end this transfer well with the baptisms! I will let you all know how it goes on Sunday! Can't believe I already get to talk to you again! I'm going to call at 4:30 here so 7:30 in California. If anyone else can make the call that will be super cool! 

This Saturday we also get a visit from 2 70´s! Elder Snow and Nielson and I'm pretty sure it's the one I have met before!

Have a great week. We will talk on Mother's day!

-Elder Stevenson