February 16, 2011

My dearest Family in the whole wide world,

Firstly, thank you soooo much for the package that you sent me mom. Wow!!! You know exactly what I love, you really must be my mom. I love Sees candy and that box was too good to be true. I really was surprised by that lovely detail. I will eat that little by little, to saver the taste of home. I received that package on Monday while I was at the office and opened it and shared with the office missionaries and a senior couple the dried bananas that you sent me. They seemed to like them. Thank you so much. I loved the little comments on every one as well. That was very....cute. Haha.

Yesterday, Tuesday, we had a Zone Conference here in Madrid. The three zones here all met in the stake center by the temple and we had a great meeting. Elder Ketchum and I had thirty minutes to be able to address the zones and I was hoping that we would be able to do something together. As this will be Elder Ketchum´s last zone conference he chose to do separate talks instead. I am not as confident as I would like to be in giving talks that have not been written out.

I feel like I can´t communicate very well publicly my thoughts. So it was a little bit of stress for me. However I tried to prepare myself and it went over very well. Many missionaries were nice in complimenting me, which also feels good. I will tell you what, though, Elder Ketchum has an incredible gift in public speaking. He is a natural. He speaks from his heart and does so in a very calm and direct way. Let´s just say that he has mastered teaching by the Spirit. He is a great example to me and he said everything perfectly yesterday. He is incredible.

This week has been a great week. We are getting ready for transfers this next week, this next Monday, so we are excited. There will be about 13 missionaries, I think, that are going to go home at the end of this transfer and about that same number that go home in the next, including Elder Ketchum. So President Watkins is trying to prepare for these big changes. It is weird to think that about a fourth part of the mission is going to go home within the next 7 weeks, especially since a good number of those missionaries are, have been leaders in the mission.

Everything is going really well. We are anxious for a baptism. We haven´t had one for a while and are in need of finding some more good people. There are a few and we are really excited for a man from Honduras that we started teaching this last Sunday night. His sister and brother in law, he lives with them, are members with their 4 year old daughter. He is out of work and it looks like he is fairly active in the Catholic church. We, in the mission right now, invite people to be baptized in the first lesson. We usually do it in a casual way just to understand their desires and to make sure that they are really people that are elect and are going to progress. We usually say something like, ¨Si usted supiera que lo que nosotros compartimos es verdadero y que esta Iglesia es la Iglesia de Jesucristo, usted se preparía para ser bautizado en ella.¨ In this way we can see if the people we are teaching are dedicated or not.

So we invited Mario in a similar way and he said that he was willing to listen and learn about the church but baptism not so much, I actually don´t remember exactly what he said about baptism but like it was really serious or that he wasn´t really interesting in that part of the message. He seemed pretty against it. So we taught him again last night and as a mission or I think as a church, missionaries should invite people to be baptized with a date at least by the second lesson. So we did so with Mario last night and it was incredible the change in his answer this last time. We told him that we were certain that he would receive an answer from God very soon and we invited him to prepare himself to be baptized the 19^th of March. We assured him that as he kept reading in the Book of Mormon, he had read until page ten in the introduction part, and kept praying, that he would be able to receive an answer. He responded, ¨Vamos a ver si estoy preparado.¨WE promised him a baptismal calendar for the next time we meet. I am happy here in the mission and I love the work. It is fun helping people come unto Christ by doing simple things.

Thank you sooo much for all that you do for me. I love you all very much and pray for you often. I love you all and hope that you have a great week. Keep praying for Mario and the other investigators that we are teaching, and please pray for me that I might be a good instrument in the hands of God.

I suppose that Kathryn is already living the dream in Provo MTC. If you write her, tell her that I say hi and that I love her. Wish her luck from me as well.

I love you all,

Love,

Élder Driggs

February 8, 2011

My Dearest Family,

It´s been a great week. We are busy as usual and there are few moments to breathe in our busy schedules. Monday, two days ago, we had a zone leader council and it turned out well. We ate there in the MTC around 2:30 or 3:00 and then we, Elder Ketchum and I, were off to the office. We were there until 8:30pm and had to make a couple of calls so that we could move the visits that we had scheduled and be able to teach two, Elder Ketchum going with Elder Jeppson, and Elder Gardner going with me. Lately I have noticed that I am really tired when I get home. I think it´s because I just turned 21...I am really getting old and the age must be taking it´s toll on my body.

This last Sunday we were really excited because there were 8 non members in church, 2 of the which were official investigators, but the rest had just been invited in the initial contact and came. They all seemed to really enjoy it and 2 of them, a mom and daughter from Columbia, were really receptive and hit it off well with the members. I think that it helps that our bishop is Columbian.

We are looking forward to the baptism of Fausto the 19^th of February. I think that we are going to do it that week but we have Stake Conference this next week so it will be hard to let all of the members know so that they can come and support him. We will see what happens.

I think that this itinerary is fantastic. I am not sure how I could check train schedules to Paris. I don´t even know where they would leave from. I guess I have a few ideas of where that would be, but those places are not even in our area. I could probably talk to hermana Watkins, who might know more than I do. You, mom, could probably ask her as well. I am sure that she would be happy to help, that is if she knows something about that kind of stuff. I really do like the itinerary. I will sure be fun to see everyone and to be able to do so here in Spain.

Hermana Watkins has created a blog spot, if you wanted to know mom, for the parents of missionaries and for returned missionaries from the Spain Madrid mission. This is the direction: www.spainmadridmission.blogspot.com

Today we went to the temple and it was great. Afterwards Elder Ketchum started talking to Presidente Moore, the temple president, and he invited us into his office to answer a couple of questions. We were there probably 15 minutes or so but it was a priviledge to be with him and to just hear him talk. He is a very special man with a lot of church experience.

The other day I was walking with my companion in the street, I think that it was Elder Veintemilla de Ecuador pero que vive aquí en España ahora, and I saw a women across the street look at me and I had the thought to go and talk to her but I didn´t do it. We walked a loop and then went back to almost that same spot, just a little bit farther down, and I saw her and her dog again off the sidewalk in a grassy spot. I didn´t pass this opportunity up this time and went and gave her a card, even though she was talking on her cell phone. She stopped talking and said to me while I was starting to walk away, ¨Soy miembro.¨ I wasn´t that surprised as I realized that I had had the prompting earlier to talk to her and I realized why the Lord wanted me to talk to her, because she is a member.

We waited until she was off the phone and she told us that she had been here for a month from Paraguay and she hadn´t been to church yet. She gave us her number and now we have localized another member of the Church of Christ. It was another miracle in missionary work and I should learn never to deny spiritual impressions. Luckily or gratefuly, I was given a second chance and I was able to see the fruits behind the acting on that spiritual prompting. I am a witness that miracles do exist and that God is a God of love and miracles. If we are worthy and willing he can make us instruments or angels in his hands.

I am doing really well and am excited about the work. I love this celestial work! I am working hard and Elder Ketchum and I are finding new drives and new focuses to just baptize. To do everything possible to baptize. We are preparing to talk in the next tri-zone conference about this focus, just in doing all that is possible to baptize. Not to be distracted by things that are supposed to help us baptize from actually doing so, getting to the end goal. We are excited and love the work.

I love you all and pray for you. Like I always say and know that you do, keep praying for me.

I love you all!

Love,

Élder Driggs

February 2, 2011

Dear Family,

Bad weeks are hard to come by here in beautiful Madrid Spain. As you could probably guess, it was another wonderful week...busy, but surely wonderful! I loved the updates on the family this last week and I loved hearing about how everything went with Cari´s baptism.

Right now, Elder Ketchum and I are in Toledo for preparation day. What a beautiful and ancient city. It is just fantastic. Elder Ketchum has a lot of patience with me as about every corner I stop in amazement and say, ¨Wow, how beautiful is that, oh and that, oh and that too....wow!¨ He is a great companion and I look forward, not complaining at all about the blessing we have to be training right now, but I do look forward to his last transfer in being together more often. It is just a HUGE blessing being able to have companions that are sooo seasoned and perfected and that have devoloped so nicely Christlike attributes and know how to do missionary work. I have been so blessed to have had so many companions like that, and Elder Ketchum is definitely one of the most advanced. It is hard to keep up with him, as he is so outstanding. We get along and we both desire to work hard and, of course, baptize.

This week has been great. We have continued to do 3 weekly exchanges which requires that I be out of the area 2 times every 9-10 days, and 2 other days, I am with another companion and it´s Elder Ketchum that leaves and goes to another area. It is really hard doing all of these, but we are seeing a lot of good results. Most importantly we are able to see how the missionaries are doing the work, their strong and weak points as missionaries, and this knowledge allows us to better analyze the needs of the mission and where we need to go with the training. It is good and from what we have noted so far is that the missionaries are benefiting a lot from these 1 day exchanges and we are also receiving a lot of blessings.

We, right now, oh well yeah. We had a baptism last Saturday. Fernando Andrade got baptized, the same day as Cari, and I spake about baptism. It was a great baptismal service and Fernando was really happy. He said that he felt really good, like aliviated, afterwards.

We, right now, are trying to find more people who are dedicated to being baptized. We don´t have the best investigator pool right now, so we need to do some better finding so that we can help more people. Fausto Jaramillo from Ecuador, I am not sure if I commented about him, is doing really well. He has now come to church 4 times, and has been to 2 baptismal services. He has a baptismal date for the 15th of February and is excited for it. He is really just waiting for his testimony at this point. He says that he is praying and reading in the Book of Mormon, he actually had to work in a far away city all of last week and brought with him his Book of Mormon and was able to read while he was there, so we hope that he is able to receive his answer soon. I am not sure if he actaully reads every day, but his is reading, so that is good news. We are also teaching, well mainly Elder Ketchum and his companion Elder Gardner from Afton Wyoming, a little 10 year old boy whose parents are less active from Bolivia. They have lived here for a while and are now getting back into the church. They have now come to church a few times in a row and the father just received the Aaronic Priesthood in the office of Priest, I believe. They are a great family, two parents and two children. Johann is excited for his baptism and hopefully his dad can baptize him. That beautiful thought just came to me.

Well, I have to go. I am glad that you all had a great week and I hope that this next week goes the same. Say hi to everyone for me, and actually we were reading in a church news newspaper that some missionary got and I was thinking that it would be really neat to be able to work in the MTC when I get back. I have no idea how any of that works. I have heard that Elder Carr might be teaching their right now and maybe one more missionary from this mission. If you could maybe look that up and see if that is possible/a good option, I would thank you for it. I love you sooo much and have the best week ever.

Don´t forget to ¨Look unto Christ in every thought. Doubt not, fear not.¨

I love you all. Congrats on your talk Cami!!!! and Happy Birthday Cari!!!! I give you my welcome into the church. ¡Bienvenida hermana!

con mucho amor y cariño y gratitud por siempre orar por mi. Oro por ustedes también.

Élder Driggs

January 26, 2011

Dearest Family,
I am very glad that you had a good week. I pray for you a lot. I always try and mention my family when I pray. You are the most important people to me and I pray that Heavenly Father keeps blessing you and us as a family so that we can enjoy Celestial blessings. I want and desire nothing more for us and I know that that blessing is within reach. It depends entirely on our use of agency. What a gift our agency is as it is the key to our progression. We surely learn most when we fall down and what a blessing it is to be able to pick ourselves back up and fix those earlier mistakes.
I did receive the package, Mom. Thank you sooo much. You sure know how to remind me of home and feel your love. I absolutely loved the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. Boy, do I love that cereal. I received the package this last Monday while we were in the office. We were on the computers when the delivery guy came in and delivered the package. I opened it right there and took out those prescious pictures. I loved them! A lot of them were really random but what fun seeing how the house is and the changes that you have made. I love the new kitchen table and Cari´s and Mom and Dad´s bedrooms. I was SUPER surprised when I saw the picture of Dad. Holy Cow!!! You have lost a ton of weight. Don´t take me wrong, you were not fat when I left, but you are super skinny now. It reminds me a lot of your wedding engagement picture. You look great, and Mom, you also have lost weight. Congratulations! What a success. I am trying to gain weight but am very unsuccessful. We will see how it goes as time goes on. I am sure that that stage in life will hit some day. So the pictures were great and I opened the Swedish fish up last night and they were really fresh. Ahhh!!! So good!
I am glad to receive the news about BYU. I am pretty sure that President will allow me to make certain arrangements to be able to register on preparation day. I also would love to take advantage of the offer to look for work for me, Dad. I would love to have something lined up for me when I get back. There are three things that I want to do when I get back. 1- Have a good calling at church. Just something to do, I don´t care what it is but I want something to do that will allow me to continue to serve. 2 – I want to work. I want to be involved in earning and saving money for the future, I also think that it would be a good thing to have a part time job while at BYU, to have some sort of income. I am not sure if Lee Stoore is still working at the Zermatt hotel but his number was in my cell phone when I left. Even if he is not working there, I am sure that he would be willing to talk to them and see if there are any job availabilities. And 3 – Of course, I will want to spend tons of time with the family. After being away for so long I want to take advantage of every opportunity to be with you. Laugh with you, talk with, and work with you (cleaning, helping, and fixing in any way, everything I didn´t do before the misión). So those will be my most immediate priorities, I think.
I have made a note to join in on the family fast the 6th of February and to pray at 5:00 mountain time. Except that I will have to pray a Little earlier because I will need to be in bad at that time.
This past week has been a crazy week. It´s interesting the way that things have turned out with Elder Jeppson and Elder Gardner. We have gone through with the exchanges and it has been hard for them to keep learning and adjusting to missionary life when sometimes we are not there and especially when it has been necessary that they two, together, go out by themselves to face the world. It isn´t the best situation but they are learning a ton and they are such good missionaries. They both have no fear whatsoever and contact in the metro and in the Street and everywhere. They are great and their examples are helping me work harder as well. Elder Jeppson speaks Spanish super well. He and I basically only speak in Spanish, except for the times that the English just slips out. I remember telling Elder Carr to only talk to me in Spanish but then I would just end up not talking and that wasn´t good either. I think that I was in my 4th transfer or so, with Elder Dawson when we started setting goals to only speak Spanish, and even then it was really difficult. So, he is way for ahead of where I was. He will be a great missionary, especially since he works hard and loves the work.
The baptisms of Javiera and Francisca this last Saturday were soooo spiritual. Really, it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my whole misión. Elder Ketchum and I had been really pushy in having their dad baptize, even though they wanted us to do it. We tried to explain the reasons but they were really resentful. Obviously it was their choice, but their dad, Marco wanted to perform the ordinance. Kati, their mother, was also resisting a Little bit as she wanted us to do it as well, as she had been baptized by Elder Ketchum on Christmas. Well, we got the final Word that Javiera and Francisca had somehow changed their minds and were going to be baptized by their father Marco. We were soooo excited, as Marco has started to come back to church less tan 2 months ago, after being inactive for over 30 years. He had been given the Aaronic Priesthood in December and was very excited, and a Little nervous, for the ordinance.
I cannot write everything that happened that night right now, because of the lack of time, but I will surely tell you more when I get back, as I tried to write it in detail in my journal. To be short and simple, it was sooo precious and beautiful to see a very humble father bringing his beloved daughters into the waters of baptism, just like some missionary had done when he was 12 years old, and baptizing them unto repentance and allowing them to enter into the fold of God, the Church of Christ (as Dad mentioned). It was so sacred as he, while saying their names and the prayer, fixed his sight in the eyes of his wife. He said the prayer both times flawless and not letting his visión be distracted from that of his wife Kati. It was something so special to see, because it was as if he was letting her share in that ordinance. The Spirit was very, very strong and Marco choked up a Little bit during the prayer as Kati started to ball. You can only imagine the extreme joy that she should have felt, as several months ago Marco drank Alcohol and spent less time with his family. Now, he, the father of his family, was worthy to hold the holy Priesthood of God, and was baptizing his daughters. It was a special and sacred evening and I hope that they continue on, because as of right now their sights are fixed on the temple. Marco is taking classes to prepare to receive the Melchizedek priesthood. It is all a special experience.

Thank you soo much for the package, for your love, and your prayers.

I love you all very much!!! And I pray for you!

Love,

Elder Driggs, Rob!

January 19, 2011

Dear family,

This week has been a great week. Part of what our plan is to help the mission is to do 1 exchange with almost every missionary within metro Madrid. That in total will be 15 exchanges and we plan to do this before the end of this transfer, so within the next 5 weeks. We started the program yesterday and I went to Cuatro Caminos, Barrio 5, my old ward/area, and worked the day with Elder Cardoso, who is a 7 year(I think) convert to the church from Brazil. His family right now is living in Castillo de León and he is a great missionary. He works hard and has only been out in the field for 2 transfers. This is his second.

It was great being back in Barrio 5 for the day and I was able to see a couple of members and it always feels good when people remember you and tell you how much they miss you. It was great to see them and the bishop again. We saw the bishop while we were in the church teaching English classes. So the plan is that we do 3 exchanges for the next 5 weeks so that we can cover all of Madrid we are excited but to add to our excitement is the news that we received this last Monday.

While in the office this last Monday we received the news that 6 new missionaries had received their visas and were to enter the mission Wednesday or today. Well while talking it over with President about who had more space in their apartments and who would be their trainers he selected 3 units, the one of which is Barrio 2. So the great big news is that Elder Ketchum and I are training two American missionaries.

My companion is Elder Jeppson from North Logan. He is a great missionary and he speaks great Spanish. I have basically been speaking only Spanish with him all day and he speaks to me in Spanish. I am being honest. He has the gift of tongues for sure because he is way ahead of where I was. We are excited to work hard and I feel that we are going to have a lot of success. I am not sure if I will be with him just until this transfer ends, but whatever happens we are ready for a great adventure.

Thank you so much for all of the letters for my birthday. I love hearing from everyone. My birthday was great because a family of recent converts cooked us a wonderful meal. Gorki and Gloria who just got baptized a few months ago cooked a three course meal for us. Un caldo de Longostina de Ecuador, An octopus plate from some place in Spain (it was good), and we finished it off with a smashing presentation of a ceviche de pescado from Peru. Ohhh it was soo good. We had been fasting that day and so it was a great way to celebrate my birthday. I felt lots of love from the members and missionaries here.


Love,


Élder Driggs