Transfer 8 week 2
Gran Canaria

Aloha!

Well this week was awesome. So much has happened. We have met so many amazing people, taught a lesson in Portuguese, ate lots of Canarian stew, and talked to lots of Cubans. 

The longer I'm here, the more I love it, and love the People. 

Well this week I just want to tell y'all a story about this new guy that we met. So his name is Jose, and he is from Cuba. We were walking to the guagua, and sat down when this guys started to talk to me, in English, because I look super American. So then we started to talk, and then got on the guagua together, and had a great conversation about him, and how he had just got baptized into an evangelical church like 3 months ago, and how he is really trying to get God into life. So we got his number and set up an appointment to talk with him. So then we called, and he answered. Possibly the biggest miracle of all. Then we told him to meet us at McDonald's. So he came, and we are some dollar menu, and talked about his life, his religious background, and why he is trying to get God into his life. It was awesome. He invited us to go to the beach with him Sunday, and we explained to him the we believe that it is a commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy,etc. He said, " wait... IF it's a commandment then I won't go either." Crazy right? So then he came to church with his daughter and then they stayed for sacrament meeting. It was awesome. We have another appointment with him on Tuesday so I am really pumped. 

Also this week we have been trying to think on new ways to find people, and cool stuff to do to start a conversation. So this week, we drew the plan of salvation in a big park with our friend Brenda. It was awesome. We talked to lots of people and hope to do it again. But the thing is, it's actually a little bit illegal. Just like a little. So we are going to ask for a permit to do it but... Anyhow. So we also want to make street boards, and then talk to people. A street board is just basically a giant picture on a tripod. It's pretty cool, but guess what? You need a permit for that too. I really want  to go and sing with the young people from our ward in the parks and hand out stuff to them, but you also need a permit for that. So normally I would just do it without the permit, but were trying to keep it legit, because I've heard that the spirit doesn't dwell in la Cárcel, so... 

This week I was looking for lots of cool stories, (by the way of you know of any cool stories, and inspirational stories about anything, gospel related or not, please send them my way) and I found this one that I thought was pretty cool:

For whenever excellence is recounted, it is increased.

Recently a group of bishops were asked for a report on their work. They were told not to discuss their problems, but to describe what they did better than anyone else. This philosophy of excellence was demonstrated by the artist Whistler, who once painted a tiny picture of a spray of roses. The artistry involved was magnificent. Never before, it seemed, had the art of man been able to execute quite so deftly a reproduction of the art of nature. The picture was the envy of the artists who saw it, the despair of the collectors who yearned to buy it for their collections, but Whistler refused steadfastly to sell it.

“For,” said he, “whenever I feel that my hand has lost its cunning, whenever I doubt my ability, I look at the little picture of the spray of roses and say to myself, ‘Whistler, you painted that. Your hand drew it. Your imagination conceived the colors. Your skill put the roses on the canvas.’ Then,” he said, “I know that what I have done I can do again.”

Then he gave us a great philosophy of success. He said, “Hang on the walls of your mind the memory of your successes. Take counsel of your strength, not your weakness. Think of the good jobs you have done. Think of the times when you rose above your average level of performance and carried out an idea or a dream or a desire for which you had deeply longed. Hang these pictures on the walls of your mind and look at them as you travel the roadway of life.”

“The tree that never had to fight

For sun and sky and air and light,

But stood out in the open plain

And always got its share of rain,

Never became a forest king

But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil to live,

Who never had to win his share

Of sun and sky and light and air,

Never became a manly man

But lived and died as he began.

“Good timber does not grow at ease,

The stronger wind, the stronger trees.

The further sky, the greater length,

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, in rain and snow,

in trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth

We find the patriarchs of both.

And they hold council with the stars

Whose broken branches show the scars

Of many winds and much of strife.

This is the common law of life.”

—Author unknown

So this week, we had so much fun, and ate so much food, and met so many people. I love being here. I love being a missionary, and getting to talk to talk to people about the things that make me happy. I know that God loves me, so he sent his son, who died for me and every other person to ever live. He wants us to return to live with him. We can do it if we follow his gospel. But he hasn't left us alone, but has given us a constant companion called the holy spirit. He has promised to never leave us alone. I know that he always keeps his promises. IF you ever feel cast off, in darkness, or isolated; HE IS THERE. He wants more than anything that we are happy, and that we return to him. We got thru hard things to make us better and stronger and purer. 

Love y'all! Have a great week.