June 22, 2011

Dearest Family in the whole wide world....AKA...MY FAMILY!!!

From the title you can understand that I am trying to endure to the end. I don´t think that it has actually hit me yet that I am ending the mission, this thing that I have looked forward to all of my life and now I am done. Wow, I just can´t believe it.

This scripture in the subject title was shared by President Watkins in a zone leader council a few months ago and is very interesting. Moroni did not think that he was going to live more but the Lord had more prepared for him to do. Moroni kept going forward and wrote some of the most inspiring and impressive chapters of the Book of Mormon, the sacrament prayers, faith, hope and charity, baptism of children, and the famous promise that has led, changed, and touched millions of lives, including mine.

I am excited to see you too, and it will be sad and hard leaving all of this paradise here in Spain. I think and believe that the mission is the closest you can get to the Celestial Kingdom. I love missionary work and hope and plan to do that throughout my life. That makes this transition easier, knowing that I can keep doing and participating in this sacred work, forever, for the rest of my life. How exciting! Once a missionary, always a missionary.

So anyway, it will be great to see you soon. I love you and I know that I have bugged you a bunch already, but just to make sure that you don´t forget to bring those multi vitamins that Elder Cerro asked for. It was his birthday the 21 of June, this last Tuesday and I think that it would be great to be able to give him that as a present for his birthday, even if he has to pay for them. He would really enjoy that. I love you very much and travel safely. Don´t forget to buckle up!!!

Love,

your favorite missionary...Élder Driggs

June 15, 2011

Dear Family,

Well, this week has been a good week. Élder Carey and I are working hard and trying to be obedient. We are seeing quite a bit of success. Yesterday we set a baptismal date with an older Spanish man about the age of 50 or 55. His name is Jose Antonio and after the second lesson he seems to have quite a few external problems in his life; like divorce, etc. He is a very nice man and we set the date for the 16^th of July. We will see how things go. He was going to come to church last Sunday, but from what he told us yesterday, he had to go visit his mom and eat with her. He said that he would come this Sunday and we hope that all goes well with him.

I really like Ponferrada and wish that I could stay here some more time, just to see more results from our hard work. I really like the members. They are sooo nice! Last week we ate with members 5 times, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I think that that is a record during my mission, especially since I didn´t get here until Tuesday of last week. Actually Tuesday night we met with the branch mission leader and his wife gave us soup to take home in Tupperware so I guess you could say we were given food everyday of the week.  The work is also really good here. We are finding more people to teach and the work is starting to grow.

On Monday we received a huge blessing. As we were contacting in one of the main streets we stopped a girl name María. She was super nice and told us that she had a friend in Barcelona that was a member and I think that she told us that she had gone to family night at the chapel there in Barcelona. I am not sure she said all of that right there in the contact or later, as the information and order of events sometimes gets mixed up and confused. There in the contact we asked if she had time to meet later that day and she said that she did.

We met up with her in a park and started to talk to and teach her. She is super special. She is 30 years and knows 4 languages, which includes Chinese, and she is going to finish a PHD right now in French literature, or something like that. When we met up with her she showed us a really old copy of the Book of Mormon that one of the first members of the church in Barcelona had given to María´s mom about 30 years ago. She told us that she didn´t know how to read the book.  She has the same problem with the Bible.  She really didn´t know the best way to read them. We taught her a little bit and she said that she was willing to read in the Book of Mormon and pray about it. She wasn´t quite willing to come to church this Sunday but we told her that we were going to call her this Saturday to invite her.

So that is a little bit of what we are doing here in Ponferrada. I am a district leader up here, so I am getting that experience which is nice.  I get along well with Élder Carey. He reminds me of Andrew Garrett a little bit in the way he acts sometimes.

To respond to your questions:
If there is anything you need us to bring for anyone over there let us know pretty soon.
I think that Élder Cerro would love some reeses peanut butter cups, the normal ones. He loves those and like I told you a couple weeks ago, he wants some of those like 500 multivitamins that has every vitamin or mineral that you need. He is willing to buy them from you, so if there is room that would be great.

Apart from that, the people that we visit I am sure would love candy or something like that. Élder Ketchum´s mom brought American candy for the people that they visited while they were here and I imagine that they liked it. They had like Pop Rocks and other things like that, things that you don´t really find here.
Remind me, how many suit cases do you (or will you have) on your way home?

I have, and don´t think that I will need more, 2 big suitcases and a carry on. That is how many suit cases that they allowed before, but from what I have heard they have changed the standards and only allow 1 suitcase and one carry on I think. If that is the case, I think that the church pays for that extra bag, the extra price that is required to transport it.

Mom, for Presidente and Hermana Watkins:

I think that Toffee would be the best. I think that they have everything that they need, but I think that she would love some Toffee. She liked the toffee that I gave her on Christmas, and occasionally makes a comment about your cooking blog. I know that President Watkins does a good job about watching what he eats, but I think that he like that little detail of toffee. I am not sure about him. He tries to be pretty healthy.

I remember a long time ago you asked me if there was something that you, the family, could do on Monday, while I am not with you. I was thinking that you could probably visit, El Escorial that day. It is a Monastery/Castle that is really beautiful. It is where many Kings and Queens are buried. Just a thought, if you haven´t made up your mind. To get there I think you take a bus out of the metro stop Moncloa, I think that it takes about an hour, but I really can´t remember how much time it takes.

I love you all very much and hope that all goes well this week. That is really cool that Mark gets to go to Lake Powell.  Good luck with everything and keep reading your scriptures and saying your prayers daily, especially Cami and Mark and Cari.

I love you all and wish Preston my best on his big day.

Love,

Élder Driggs

June 8, 2011

Dear Family,

This week has been another fantastic week. Anibal Fernando Gonzales se bautizó el día sábado a las 8:00 por la tarde. He was very happy and looked very content to be baptized. It was especially fun because he officially belongs to the branch of Aranjuez. It was so fun because even though the baptism took place in the stake center on temple square, which is about 40 minutes away from Aranjuez in car, there were a few members that came. The branch president came with all his family except for one daughter, the branch mission leader also came, and the biggest surprise was that Ronny and Gina and there 3 children came. 

This was the family that got baptized when Elder Carr and I were in Aranjuez. I hadn´t seen them for almost 8 or 9 months, since October of last year at General Conference. It was so nice to see them and to be able to spend time with them. They are less active to inactive but it seems that they are picking things back up again. Ronny and Gina both gave there testimonies in the baptismal service and Gina said that she knew that this was the true church and something to the effect that she has never thought about parting from it. They are really good people but Ronny has had a tough work schedule which has required him to work nights. But maybe a month ago he lost his work and now they can come to church. I had asked President Jarosz from Aranjuez to call Ronny and Gina and invite them to the baptism and they actually. That was a miracle.

Fernando seems to be good and I hope that he can stay the course for the rest of his life. It sure helps to have the support of family members, especially since he lives with his brother and the family of his brother, and they are active members.

So I guess from the title you are wondering where I am right now. This last Monday, the Lord saw fit to have me transferred to Ponferrada to finish my mission there. Ponferrada is a city up north, to the west of León. You will have to look it up on a map. It is really, really pretty here and very green, with mountains. This area belonged to the old Bilboa mission, so it is neat to be able to get up here and see how it is. It is a little bit different than Madrid because there are a lot more Spaniards, but I like that. I wish I could have been able to socialize more in the mission with actual Spaniards.

Most of the people we have taught have been from South America, and most of the wards are made up of South Americans. So it is nice to be in a city where there are a lot of people from Spain and not very many people from South America. I like it a lot. My new companion is Elder Carey from Bountiful, Utah. He went to Woods Cross High School. He has been in the mission 11 months as of yesterday and I think that we are going to have a lot of success. Apart from the things that I want to accomplish here, I think that there is something special that the Lord has for me to do here. So I hope to be able to find out what that is and be able to do it. I am trying to continue to trust in the blessings mentioned in my patriarchal blessing, and to work and obey so that I can receive them.

I love the mission and am so glad for all of the things that I have been able to do while I have been on the Lord´s errand. I hope that my offering has been worthy for the Lord, and I hope that He has been pleased with my efforts. I have not been perfect but I have been able to learn and progress and I feel that I am the missionary that He wants me to be. I still need to keep working and keep progressing so that I can always be ready and worthy for whatever job He wants me to do.

Just so you know, Élder Cerro´s new companion is Elder Hodges from California. They are going to have lots of success. Elder Cerro is a wonderful missionary and I have really enjoyed our time together. I have grown to love him and we have developed a friendship that will last forever. I love him very much. We will have to take him and his companion out to eat when you come out.

I hope that you have a wonderful week. I love you all very much. Please keep reading the scriptures, praying to our Father in Heaven, and going to church every week so that we can renew our covenants with Him. Only by doing these 3 things and by being obedient to the commandments of God, can we find true and everlasting happiness in this life and in the life to come. That is what we want so let´s pay the price. I love you very much. Tell everyone hi for me.

Love,

Élder Driggs

May 25, 2011

Dear Family,

I love the mission. I am loving every minute of it. I am grateful that all went well with Grandma. I hope that everyone is taking it well. I appreciate what you, mom and dad, said about the situation. I loved the scriptures and the details. I, too, believe in the Resurrection and know that thanks to Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, we can see and live with our loved ones forever. This is what I want with my life, to be worthy of that gift of eternal life. I count it as a privilege being able to be a missionary and being able to share the blessing or the opportunity of having eternal life, as that only depends on our personal righteousness.

I am not sure at what time Grandma passed away but the baptism of Lizett Marbeli Perino García was at 4:30 our time and she had asked me to baptize her. That was a special honor to do so. It is interesting that while someone was being born again spiritually, completing with earthly requirements from Heavenly Father, while someone else was leaving this life, having done what Heavenly Father has required of us. I love missionary work and it is so satisfactory, I feel so good trying to bring souls to Christ.

I remember a song written with the words of President Hinckley and the music written by the famous Janice Kapp Perry. There is a special phrase in that song that I can still remember. It says, ¨There is no death, but only change. ¨ What a blessing to know that life goes on. Death is merely opening a door and stepping into another room.  I also love the words to the last verse of ¨Come, Come, ye saints.¨ The verse goes like this, ¨and should we die, before our journey´s through, happy day, all is well. ¨ I know that Grandma is well, where she is right now. I know it! And that thought gives me peace and comfort, to the point that it is not a big burden for me to bear.

Élder Cerro and I are doing well. We are trying to work hard and to find more people to baptize. We have a very firm baptismal date with Fernando Gonzales. He lives in Aranjuez, or a pueblo that pertains to that branch, so I know his brother that is a member and the family of that brother. We are excited that he is going to get baptized.  His date was going to be this Saturday but due to conflicting schedules with the branch we are going to have his baptism on the fourth of June. We were excited because that was almost going to be a baptism every Saturday three weeks in a row, but that´s not really important. The important thing is that people are being baptized and that in and of itself is a witness that the Lord really is preparing people to receive the restored Gospel.

Speaking of people being prepared to receive the restored Gospel, yesterday Élder Cerro received a reference from other missionaries that were looking in their area book for old investigators and came upon a old investigator that looked to be golden. They called him and found out that he happened to live in our area. They sent us a text message with the reference and Élder Cerro called him and set up an appointment with him last night, the same day that we received the reference. We went to his house and it was a huge miracle. Apparently he has heard the missionaries a couple of times and one point was about to be baptized, but didn´t do so because he was living with a girl and therefore not complying with the law of Chastity. As of right now he is not living with anybody. We asked him a few questions and during the lesson he told us that every night he asks, which is the true church. He prays every night and we set a baptismal date, not too firm because we were kind of interrupted by his neighbor that came in the house, but the date was or is for the 18^th of June. He is golden and is willing to read the scriptures every day, pray every day, and come to church every Sunday.  We are so blessed to have been able to teach him yesterday. We hope to be able to teach him tonight as we set an appointment to return tonight at 8:00. The name of this golden investigator is Digno and he is from Ecuador. There are lots of Ecuadorians that get baptized here in Spain, or atleast in our mission.

I really want to see more Spaniards get baptized and accept the church. It is really hard, but we are going to try and exercise more faith by talking to more Spaniards in the street and en todo lugar. J

Gracias por sus oraciones y les amo mucho. Espero que tengan una semana super buena, especialmente los chicos, Cami, Mark and Cari, ya que la escuela ha terminado. Que suerte tienen ellos, y ustedes dos, mamá y papá.

Les amo mucho y que sigan leyendo las escrituras todos los días, orando mucho durante el día, y yendo a la capilla todos los domingos. Es super importante que hagamos estas tres cosas tán sencillas porque obra por medios muy pequeños para realizar sus grandes designios, como dice en Alma 37:6 y 7. Gracias padres, y hermanas y hermano por todo.

¡Les amo!

Con mucho cariño y amor,

Élder Driggs

May 18, 2011

Dear Family,

I love you very much and thank you very much for always writing me. I really appreciate it. I am also glad that everyone is busy and seeming to do well. I wish you lots of luck mom as you hear about the possibility of your teaching job today. I hope that all goes well. I´ll be praying for you.

So this last week was a good week. We had a baptism this last Saturday and all went well, except for the fact that Lizett couldn´t come. We were a little worried at first but we went through with the program. Before going home that night we received a call from here and we passed by her piso. We talked to her outside her piso and she explained to us why she couldn´t come. We talked to her and were able to set a new baptismal date for this Saturday, or let´s say, in 3 days. She is wonderful and I still ask you to pray for her and for us. Elissa was very excited for her baptism and in her testimony said that she was very happy.

Elder Cerro and I are receiving many blessings right now. Let me tell you about a couple of them. This last Sunday after sacrament meeting a member came up to us and told us that the Bishop wanted to talk to us urgently. We went quickly to his office and there was someone in there that I didn´t recognize. The bishop asked us if we recognized him and we  said no. He presented him to us as Ronal, and said that his parents are members in Peru and that he want to tomar el camino de sus padres, or follow the example of his parents. Ronal is 33 years old and later that day we met with him, he had only been able to stay for the 2 hours of church, and later that day we set a baptismal date with him for the 11 of June, a very special day for a special someone. We have met with him one more time and he is wonderful.

The second miracle also occurred last Sunday. The bishop, in Ward counsel, told us that there was a member that had just arrived here from Puerto Rico and had a daughter that is not a member. After church we were able to meet them and that night we visited them both and set a baptismal date with her. Her name is Jennifer and she is 30 years old. She has lived quite a bit of her life in Florida and speaks perfect English and Spanish. Her husband is also from Puerto Rico but lives in Florida. Her baptismal date is for the 11 of June as well.

So these are some of the blessings and huge miracles that we are receiving right now. We are very blessed and desiring to work even harder so that we can receive more blessings and therefore baptize more. I love missionary work and loved the quote that you wrote to me mom from Thomas Fuller, about the best gift that life has to offer is to work in a work worthy of work or something like that. I like it a lot.

It would be a good idea to have some euros when you get here, because obviously there is no way to use American money. Just for transportation in metro and food that day, etc. Don´t use a taxi, as it is expensive, I think. The metro is the best way for transportation. 1 euro for a one way to almost any part of Madrid. Thank you Dad for the scriptures that you cited, I really appreciate it.

I love you all very much. Thank you for the information about the MTC. I guess I won´t worry about anything until I get back, and dad, that would be great if you could get a hold of Lee Stoore. I would love to work up there or anywhere until I get a job in the MTC or somewhere else. I love you all very much and appreciate all of the support and trust.

Elder Cerro and President Watkins Mandan sus saludos. Les quiero un montón y les deseo una semana de maravilla.

Con todo el amor que poseo,

Élder Driggs

May 11, 2011

Dearest Family,

It was sure fun being able to talk to you this last Sunday. I, as you mentioned as well, loved being able to see you and talk to you through Skype. What a blessing modern day technology.

I will start off mentioning a few of the administrative details, just so that I don´t forget to do so later on.

First, I think that it would be best to stay at home while I study at BYU. I agree with Dad, that when I want to focus on studying I will be at the Library. Now the question is where is that?.... No just kidding. I obviously would love to room with Elder Ketchum but I think that it would be good if I could be at home and be able to help out a little bit, even if it is by only getting up in the morning to have family scripture study. I don´t know how that would work with my ¨social life¨ but I assume that something will turn up. I also have a huge desire to serve in the ward where I am in.

 I don´t have a huge desire to go to single adults ward, but I guess that will have to do.  So these are some of the thoughts. I think, that overall, it would be good that I stay at home. But I give you at home the power of attorney, because I trust in your experience to make a good decision for me. Please do whatever you think is best for me. I am not too sure. I want to be at home and focused, but it would also be so nice to live with Élder Ketchum. He is a great person and is very focused so that would be neat.

Thank you for your regards as to Saturday. We are excited as they both have passed their interviews and are very content. Please keep praying for Elisa Pillajo and Lizett Perino.

Élder Cerro says ¨hi¨ to everyone, and especially to mom and dad. He said that it was nice to meet you.(We talked to him on Skype on Sunday.)

I hope that you all have a wonderful week. Yesterday we had a tri zone zone conference with three zones, about 50-60 missionaries or so. So that went well.

Elder Cerro and I are getting ready for the next transfer. We want to baptize a lot, so we will do all that we can to accomplish so.

I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful, wonderful week. Les deseo lo mejor y les quiero y les amo un montón.

Sigan leyendo todos los días en las escrituras y orando todos los días. Sigan haciendo la noche de hogar los domingos por la noche o los lunes cuando papá no esté, o cuando sea. Tenemos que hacer estas cosas para que el Señor nos pueda bendecir, unir, y proteger contra el mal de afuera. Gracias por todo lo que están haciendo y les digo otra vez….les amo.

Con amor y mucho cariño,

Élder Driggs

P.S. Intentaré a averiguar más en cuanto a reservar el hostal en el templo. No sé cuando podrá ser. A lo mejor la próxima semana. Lo siento por la demora. Gracias y les amo.