This week went rather slowly. We have been working really hard in finding, teaching and preparing people for baptism, but for some reason, the people this week really didn't want to cooperate. We had all sorts of appointments fall through on us, and of the 15 investigators that commited to come to church, we had 3. Which is still good here in the Málaga mission, but we were really hoping to hit astronomical numbers. However, this week, we almost have an appointment scheduled for every hour of proselyting time. Pray that we can find all these people!
As a mission, we are really working hard on finding and setting baptismal dates. The more people with baptismal dates will result in more people getting baptized! (Duh) When you set a goal, you are usually think about it more, and you try to do the things that help you to prepare for whatever goal it is you have. As people think of the covenant of baptism, they pray, they read, they go to church. When they do all that, they feel the spirit of truth, and they get baptized!! Whoohoo.
We have had good success with setting baptismal dates this week. We have 2 set for the 27th of September. A mother and her daughter. I realized this week, that we teach a lot of families. Elder V and I teach 1 individual, and 7 families! Do you know how many of these are golden? A lot. This place is the promised land for missionay work. We're going to have a ward here soon, I know it!
Elder V and I get along super well. We are hoping to have a second transfer together here in Marbella, we both are sure that we are staying together, but you never know! Last transfer came as a surprise to both of us.
This week we did exchanges with the ZL's, and I went up to Alcázar de San Juan. Which is nowhere near my area. (1 hour car to Málaga, 2 hour train ride @250km/h, 2 hour drive. Let's say, that I was a half an hour drive from Madrid.) But the Zone of Castilla la Mancha needs our district, otherwise, it would be tiny. (Five companionships) I got to work with Elder G, and he helped me to learn all sorts of stuff, and really focus my desire. I always learn from other missionaries. Sometimes, I feel like everybody else knows a heck of a lot more than I do, no matter how little time they have in the field (Elder G has 1 transfer more than me).
We had interviews with President Deere this week, and we had a great conversation, and I feel like I will be able to make better decisions now, regarding my future of studies and work.
Today as a dristrict, we went to Málaga to go see a hands on music museum. It was sweet! It wasn't very big, but there were plenty of cool things to do. We found a hose that when you speak in one end, you can hear the echo about 2 seconds later (it's a really long hose), but if you blow in one end, air comes out the other side immediately. Crazy physics. We also found a room with a violin, cello, piano and guitar, that were hands on. The problem was, there was too much hands on, and not enough care. I found the violin, strings in every direction, bow without rosin. There wasn't even a bridge!! That broke my heart... So, do you know what I did? I searched the room for all the missing parts, got some rosin from the reception desk, sat down on the floor, and fixed it up.
And then after that, I jammed.
After a few minutes of jamming, we had a little crowd there watching us, with a bunch of little kids, who surely wanted to try out the violin. So, I stopped playing and called the kids over, and taught a bunch of them, one by one to play the violin. One little boy held the violin, and I played out on the finger board a song. Elder H, another elder in my district was playing some Coldplay, Viva la Vida. He, the little boy, and I were jamming out, and all the moms were watching us, maybe crying, or cheering, I don't know, I didn't see them. But I realized, that teaching music is one of my passions, and I would never get tired of it. Ever.
I taught the lesson in gospel principles this week, about developing talents. What did I do? I brought my violin, and talked about how if we have a talent, we shouldn't ljust bury it and wait until judgement day. I played a little bit, and bore my testimony through music, because even in English, I'm kind of clumsy with words.
I'm still a little too proud of myself, but that was everybody's favorite class in a very long time. :)
Love you all lots.
So, we had a good week, and I have played my violin a lot.
We did lots of missionary work, and the Lord has reached out his hand and is practically throwing amazing people into our lives.
Os quiero mucho,
Elder Oliver
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