May 23, 2011 - Family Email

Hey soooo wooow,

This is sooo hard!  Cáceres is absolutely gorgeous; it’s finally what I pictured Spain to be.  It has all the Old Spanish buildings and the castles and stuff.  But with that comes all the Old Spanish tradition.  That means the people all are catholic and traditionalists, however, it seems to me they don’t practice Catholicism half the time.  It is kind a depressing though because we only have two investigators here. 

This is part of the castle stuff here in Cáceres

One is a nine year old girl we haven’t met yet and the other is this 50 more or less year old lady.  I will tell you about this lady later.  So pretty much all we do is contact for more than 6 hours everyday out in the hot sun.  My feet are tired!!! We really have been working so hard and have received 4 contact’s information.  That is pretty bad for like 20 plus hours of contacting that just goes to show how the people are here.  There are a lot more Spaniards here that is why. 

In our ward there is only one active Spanish member and that is our branch President.  He has only been a member for almost 2 years!  That is crazy!  What’s even crazier is his wife wont go to church.  However, he is a strong man.  But I counted this Sunday and there were 23 people at church including Elder Shaver and me.  There are only 3 men in the ward that have the Priesthood and one other male that is a recent convert and will be getting the priesthood.  The men in the ward are super strong.  All of their wives are not members.  There isn’t one single family in the ward were both of the spouses are members, or active members.  So clearly there is a lot of work to do in the ward itself.  It is super sad and breaks my heart.  Our ward mission leader is 25 years old and from Honduras.  He served a mission in Guatemala, and he and his older sister (that is like 26) run the ward.  They moved out here with their two younger sisters. I guess the parents still live in Honduras...weird?  But they are super strong.  I guess they are the only normal Mormon family minus the parents.  So yeah, the ward consists mainly of South Americans minus the President.  The others are mostly Argentinean!! 

So yeah, this week has been rough but the Lord has promised blessings.  We just have to show our faith in Him and His Son.  That is one thing I have been learning because I am in the beginning of Alma right now, and it talks a lot about patience and long suffering. The Lord always blesses you if you remain faithful to Him!  So I am doing just that.  I just finished Chapter 17 where Ammon cut off the guy’s arms and gave them to the King. Gotta love Ammon, he always gives thanks to the Lord and Boasts of the Lord, like in Alma 26 or 27:12, "For I as a man I am week, but in the Lord I am strong," I love that scripture it is one of my favorites.  I just love the Sons of Mosiah.  Mosiah chapter, uhh no I forgot, I think its 28:3 they trembled at the very thought of a soul not receiving eternal life.  I hope I can get to the point of trembling when my investigators choose to not be baptized.  I hope I can have that much strength and love for the Lord and his children where I fall and tremble if a soul shall perish. 

Anyways, after all these hard trials and not having anyone to teach we taught the lady that is 50ish.  It was super good and I am almost certain a baptismal date will happen.  We will teach her again I believe tonight or tomorrow.  She loves to read and all of her questions can be answered by the lesson we are about to teach her.  So she is from Argentina, and her mother is a strong member that is how we met her.  She moved in with her mom a month ago and so it’s easy to teach her and get a hold of her.  We have a lot of work to do and fix a lot of the families in the ward.  I love this place even though it’s really hard.  The President trusts us here for some reason haha, he knows this area is difficult. 

Well I love you all and it was good to here from you.  Dad sorry I am making you busy haha.  I love you Mom.  I can’t believe Zac is walking already, well, is he walking with out holding on to stuff??  Tell Jer to send me some recent pictures of him. 

I love you all!!!

May 16, 2011 - Family Email

All the youth of the ward in Huelva

So this computer I am on is horrible and won’t let me upload my photos and I have good ones this week of the ward members and an investigator.  So next week we will have to see ya?  Okay mother I feel horrible asking you to buy this but, I kinda need it.  Okay, so it is one of those small electric dictionaries from English-Spanish dictionaries.  Try and find one that is small and has the most words on it.  I need to start getting words down and able to get them fast!  I love you!! You are the best.  They are small so it should fit in the package along with batteries for it.  You issssssssssss the best.  I hope they aren´t super expensive.  But anyways do you want the NEWS.

Elder Shaver and I are going to move to CÁCERES.  Here is a little information about Cáceres.  It is the farthest area away from the mission home you can get.  There is only 15 members there.I don´t know if that is active members or just total members.  It is hotter than Huelve but, in the winter it can get cold.  I already think Huelva is super hot....so I am in for a treat.  You can get onto LDS.ORG and go under tools and select maps and look at the city and stuff it´s like google earth you can see the chapel and everything it´s actual pictures.  It´s really cool.  Okay so I lied to dad there is like 50 to 60 active members in Huelva not 30.  But it´s sad leaving here the members are sweet hearts here.  Especially Hermana Galicia I have a picture of her coming next week because this horrible computer.  So I believe I will be in Elder Mannings district so that will be good!  We are in the same zone but now the same district.

This is our 20 year investigator that  I  hope gets baptized

So we have so many new investigators, this week we did work!  So I guess that is why I was in Huelva to help Elder Becerra get investigators.  The one investigator that is 20 years old I think will be baptized we taught her last night and I really bore my testimony with the spirit about having faith and pour out your heart and questions to the Lord.  That is how you know the church is true.  Everyone has to ask God if this is the true church.  So she really listened to me and I think it sunk into her head on how you need to do it.  The members said they really felt the spirit super strong when I spoke.  So I hope the spirit taught her.  I told her the spirit is the teacher, when you pray you feel the spirit, you are talking with GOD.  So I hope that it works out for her.  I know she likes me, and I think that was one of the reason I was called to Huelva.

This is Hermana Galicia, my mother out in Huelva haha.  And her daughter, she has a son serving in Barcelona, Spain

Zone Conference was super good.  I loved it, and Hermana and President Clegg are the BOMB.  They really are the coolest Presidents out serving missions.  Hermana Clegg calls us her own children and loves us.  She is a sweet lady and talks really well, similar to Elder Holland.  So that is about all that happened this week...

I don´t know my address to my apartment.  Oh yeah they call this a "white wash".  We go to a new city with nothing.  We don´t know where anything is and we have to contact all our new investigators.  There are sister missionaries there, but they aren´t having much success so they are sending us in there.  So yeah we will do work with 15 members and the SPIRIT.  So I am excited and I won’t be in a trio companionship anymore.

OH PS  I want fastbreaks in my package please.  I miss peanutbutter and chocolate so much.

May 11, 2011 - Email to Family

Elder Shaver and I in front of the museum

Sorry we never had the opportunity to email on Monday because we were travelling to Córdoba.  We were there because a whole bunch of Elders went there and contacted people for one hour to get some references for the missionaries there.  I never got any but I talked to a lady from Ireland.  So yeah, this lady from Ireland really did not want to talk to me but I corned her.  First I told her we are missionaries from the Church of Christ, but she said I don´t speak Spanish.  I was like you speak English? She said yeah and then I asked her where she was from.  Thats when I attacked her and told her my brother lived in Ireland,where he lived, and all that...even though she didn´t want to hear it.  Then I gave her a card of Jesus Christ.  Basically I just helped out some missionaries in Ireland in the future.  But Córdoba is really pretty.  If you and Dad decide to come to Spain I would go there possibly, they have a cool museum there we got to go see.  It was a Catholic cathedral.  It was cool to see all the pictures of the people.  It was just cool to see how our church really was restored, and there is only one true church.

My family My grandpa Elder Fagersten, My Dad Elder Shaver and my uncle Elder Kirkham.  Elder Fagersten trained my comp and is now training Elder Kirkham

So mailing packages, they are starting to charge the Mission Home for recieving packages that are big.  So they said to send my packages directly to my apartment.  When I find out where I am, send it then and quickly so I receive it.  Right at the beginning of the transfer when I figure out my information I'll let you know.  But Heathers package, that is small, will get through to me and I will have it in a month at the next zone conference.  

Is somewhere in the middle of Huelva

Well so yeah nothing new has really happened.  We teach 2 lessons tonight about the Restoration, that means they are newer investigators!   Well I love you all.  Mom you are awesome and I love you so very much!!!  I've learned to appreciate the kid and parent relationship since I've been on my mission, so, thanks to you and Dad I have perfect examples when I have children

I love you so much!!

Cody

May 2, 2011 - Email to Family

Ahhahahaha what have I gotten myself into?????  This place is flippin' crazy. 

Huelva

Huelva

Well missions, out on your own in a different country - is crazy.  I had no idea what to think my first day here.  Huelva isn´t very pretty at all and it is super dirty.  Everyone here smokes, I would say at least 90 percent of the time people on the street here have a cigarette.  I will have lung cancer by the time I get home.  The air quality here is really bad, apparently there are big plants surrounding us and they just shoot smoke in the air all the time.  I cannot understand ANYONE.  The accent here is so hard.  They switch S´s and T´s around all the time and speak suuuuuper fast.  But it´s okay I know I will understand eventually, I learn and speak better every day.  But I am nowhere near fluent yet.  But I have faith.  Coming on a mission really makes you think, people aren´t happy in the world.  All of this music, drugs and being immature mean nothing.  The worldly things really are stupid.  It’s all about family and the Savior.  So Huelva is hot when it´s not raining.  It has been raining a lot here since I got here, but when it´s sunny, it ´s sunny.  The members here are soooo cool.  They are all sweet hearts and they feed us almost every meal.  We usually have a lunch appointment and a dinner appointment with them.  Dinner always happens with a member; at least every night I have been here they feed me.

The food here is awesome, it´s super good.  They eat meat and rice almost every meal.  I eat a lot of tomato's here, which is fine they don´t gross me out anymore.  I only have an hour to write, and an hour to Skype.  But yeah I love it so far even though it´s hard and difficult at times.  You know me; I am a tender heart deep down, Satan really tries to play with your emotions and thoughts here.  I have been sad for a couple hours of the day, thinking about home and whatever.  Satan also tries to put bad thoughts in your mind, I feel like he does more than ever in my life.  It’s probably because I am the most clean and spiritual I have ever been in my life that I realize bad thoughts.  But evil is everywhere here, the women don´t know what modesty is haha.  But the devil always tries to put doubtful thoughts in my mind, because he knows how to get me.  I am so hard on myself and only expect the best right away; that´s not how it works.  The Lord has to tear us down first and then build us up.  I have some investigators here!!!  We have like 5 people that are new investigators and one guy with a baptismal date.  However the one with the baptismal date (Minino) didn´t come to church this last Sunday.  He is African and a really nice guy.  I have been told by the members I have a really strong spirit when I bear my testimony; they can feel it.  They know I am upset that I can´t say a lot and hardly understand them.  But they can feel the spirit, which is good because the spirit is what tells them the truth. 

Elder Cody's Appartment in Huelva

So my trainer is Jarom Shaver from Sierra Vista Arizona.  He is a sweet kid and only been out 5 months.  He is super nice.  He corrects me and is a straight shooter with the rules.  That is good because obedience is key on a mission.  He is an awesome teacher and very out going to the members and the investigators.  I actually have two companions because the other Elder Becerra is waiting for his companion.  In two weeks either Becerra or we will leave Huelva . 

So packages, I will be able to get them on the 11th because we have Zone conference.  But send them straight to me from now on.  If you send anything through mail, do it this week and send it straight to me. But I may leave soon so I won’t give you the address.

Malaga

Pres Clegg and his wife are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Malaga

Málaga is soooo gorgeous, pictures don´t do it justice.

Malaga

Love,

Cody

Park Near Madrid MTC

Elder Cody said he went to a park near the Madrid MTC to contact people.  The park is really pretty, so, I thought it might be nice to show everyone a few of the pictures.  There is a slideshow of all the pictures at the end of the blog.  Enjoy :)

The Madrid MTC Zone

They would sing in the park as well

Oh, isn't he just so cute :)