March 3, 2010

MY FAMILY,


Well this week has been great. A little complicated and very busy as usual, but it has been a great week.

The highlight of the week was definitely the baptism of Ernesto. He was baptized and it was a beautiful service. The only bad thing was there were not many members that came, only about 9 members. But that is okay. Ernesto chose to have the baptismal service in the Stake Center on Temple Square in Madrid, which is about 30 minutes from Aranjuez in car and 1 hour and a half in train. President and Hermana Watkins came as well as they usually try to come when they can to support the investigators being baptized.

We had a great day and as usual it had its hiccups but with the help of the Lord we were able to solve them and have everything come out okay. One of the hiccups was that our old branch mission leader, who had been assigned to fill the font, called us in the morning the day of telling us that the person he had found to do it was no unavailable. This was a huge surprise and was a big twist thrown into the plans as we were already booked with ¨our¨ plans. We had to cut out of English classes early, which we offer every Wednesday night and Saturday morning, and head up to Madrid so that we could start filling up the font, which takes about 3 hours to fill.

We arrived an hour late, as we had not planned to have to fill the font, but in the end it was enough water for Ernesto to be baptized. The only bad part about all of the this was that Ernesto didn´t come to church on Sunday to be confirmed and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. He had told us a couple days before that his sister had arranged for him to have an interview at her work that Sunday morning. We told him to do all possible to make it there and then promised blessings. He didn´t come and we haven´t had contact with him for the past 3 days. We are a little worried as you can imagine but it one of our members finally got a hold of him and we think that all is well. We think he got the job and is working a ton now. We shall wait for this next sunday to have him come again.

Our weeks are busy. The goal for all of Europe, I believe, right now is 20 lessons to investigators every week and we finally hit that goal two weeks ago. This last week we taugt 17 lessons because I was a little sick and we had to move all of our stuff from our old room to the new piso (apartment). It took a long time to get everything organized and it took a lot of energy out of us. Luckily, we are starting this week off strong and hope to teach another 20 this week. Due to the amount of investigators that we have, the amount of lessons that are taught, and the amount of regressos or return appointments that we get in our two other main pueblos (cities) of Ciempozuelos and Valdemoro.

President Watkins has decided to give those two pueblos to the Zone leader's area. They are going to get a car and be able to cover that area, there area (which has been dead for a little while) and a little bit of the area of our district leader in Parla. We are sad to have our branch boundaries broken up by two sets of companionships, but we are also very excited to see more gold be gathered in those areas. We´re impeded from putting all of the required time in those areas because it takes us time to travel there and back. Now those investigators will be able to be taught more often and as a result progress more. Plus they shall be with those great missionaries, the zone leaders.

Elder Dawson and I are excited to have just Aranjuez to focus in now, well I guess we still have about 5 other small pueblos, but mainly we will be here. We have a lot of potential and we are working hard to generate more progression with the investigators and to get new ones that are ready to accept the gospel. We have a few investigators with baptismal dates. Arrean (Cuba 40) , Fernando (Dominican Republic 17), Bryan (Columbia 16), and Jorge (Guinea Biseau 35).

Fernando and Jorge are really progressing, Bryan no, because he is lazy. Arrean has a lot of potential but we have lost contact with her for the past week. She finally answered her cell phone last night and went on to tell us that she has been trying to communicate with her family in Cuba, telling here that she wants to be baptized and they said that they will not support her in the decision. She didn´t give us too many details, but I want to think that she has already lost communication with them and is trying to talk through email and letters. She still thinks that being baptized is a good thing but is not sure that now is the best time if she is going to lose the relationship with her family. So please pray for her that she can come along and stick to her goal of being baptized the 27th of March.

We are trying to do all that we can to have at least 1 baptism every month, and it is so hard. But we have faith that the Lord is preparing people to be taught and all we have to do is follow the Spirit and do what is required in Preach My Gospel and the white handbook. The blessing start flowing as we do what is right all the time, and it is always worth the effort.

The new apartment is very small but all that we need. We now have privacy and are able to focus more on the Lord´s work. It in Calle Gobernador on the left handside of Caja Mar, in the plaza de la constitución, if you want to look at it. It is a 200 year old building that has been restored, so it is clean inside, but the workers that did it weren´t the smartest so there are a few hidden treasures. Under the building there are old tunnels that lead to the palace, but they have been covered up for years, to prevent access.

I love you so much and am glad to hear that all is well with you. I pray for you almost always and am grateful that the church is strong where you are. I count my blessings to have the church so close and strong where we live. I am glad that Cami, Mark, and Cari are doing well. And good luck with the computer. That doesn´t sound very good. But the bad times will pass and the good times always come.

Let the good times roll.


I love you all. Thank you for your prayers and make sure you all read your scriptures every day. I am understanding and realizing the miracles that come into my life and the lives of others if we read at least one verse of scripture every day. It is power, and without it we cannot survive.


Love, Elder Driggs