May 19, 2010

My dear family,

Well, I just love being a missionary is my title today because I really just love being here. I love having this sacred time to dedicate myself to God and in serving Him. It is hard and it is rough, but I am becoming a better person because of it. I can see that the experiences that I am having here are shaping me and preparing me for experiences to come. I thank all of you for your support and love and prayers. I really appreciate it.

This week has been great. I feel like I am in a similar situation to that of Aranjuez when I arrived there. To help you remember, when I got there, my first days in the mission field, that area was one of the poorest areas in terms of missionary work. A missionary that went home a few months ago said that Aranjuez was his hardest area. As I searched through the progress reports of the past years of that area, I found that there really hadn´t been much success there, and no one had ever taught more than 20 lessons. The miracle of all of this is that when I left we had been teaching more than 20 lessons almost every week, and occasionally, 20 lessons just to investigators.

Aranjuez right now, as Presidente Watkins calls it, is one of the brightest areas in the mission. Whenever he would call us he would call the area ARAN - ORO! or Aran - gold. We really started finding many people to teach and with these efforts the members are more inspired to help us and support the weekly activities that we had there. So that was the progress of the area in Aranjuez.

Here is Barrio 5 is the same thing. Elder Moreno has said that they haven´t ever really taught very much and don´t have very many baptisms. It was interesting to me to hear that, knowing that the zone leaders have been working in this area for a long time. Before I came into the area, there had been sister missionaries in our ward too. President Watkins decided to take them out, which normally means that they could be more useful in other areas, where there is more ¨ORO.¨

So Elder Moreno and I are trying to change a couple of things and are working hard to find the elect. We are motivated and to be honest, I am thirsty. It was really hard coming from an area where you would at least teach 2 or 3 lessons to investigators everyday with a couple of member, less active, and recent convert lessons during the week, and being here, where last week we only taught 11 lessons in total, 6 to investigators. I am used to having at least one person at a time progressing towards baptism or at least really thinking about it and just having tons of people to teach. Here is very different. So we are going to work harder and find those that will receive and listen to us and we will find success. I know it.

So yesterday I went to Vallodolid to have an exchange with the district leader there, Elder Ellsworth from Sholoh, Arizona. Apparently that is about 45 minutes from Greer, Arizona. He is a great missionary and works really hard. You should check out some pictures of Vallodolid because it is absolutely beautiful. It is about 2 and 1/2 hours away from Madrid, but the city is actually very big. It is a mix of big modern buildings and really old cathedrals and other old buildings. I loved it. Every time we would turn the corner I would say, ¡Joli, que guay! Este área es tán bonito.(This is a very pretty area) Me encanta todo. (I love everything) O y mire este edificio, wow.(Wow, look at this building.) It was really gorgeous and very calm. Lots of people, but without the daily stress of Madrid.

Apparently, as I was in Vallodolid, Elder Moreno and the other missionaries in our district were having their weekly district meeting and while in the church they met a family of Americans, whose son served in Madrid 4 years ago. The mom said that she would love to take us out to dinner, but couldn´t, so she gave every compañionship 20 euros. Note that there are 3 in our district. So today our district is going out to eat and then we are going to visit the Champions League Exhibition in el famoso parque de Retiro. This is the first time that the championship of the European Title of Soccer has been here in Madrid and they have the original cup on display. I guess you can touch it, take pictures with it, and even kiss it if you would like. And all of it is free. So we are going to check it out. I heard that Rafael Nadal won his 39th title right? We don´t get much news here.

Well, I have to go, but I am sure glad to hear from you. Les quiero mucho y ojalá que todos tengan una semana buenisima. (I love you a ton and I hope that everyone has a great week.)

Hasta luego...¡besos y abrasos! (See you late with kisses and hugs)

Elder Driggs