August 22, 2011 - Email to Family

Hello everyone!!!

I am doing very good and much better!  This last week was great, me and my companion are getting along great.  He is a funny kid and we are very similar.  Oh he is from Arizona mother. 

Luis and Miguel

So that is cool you gave a talk on me at church?  How was it?  I am excited to read it!  

Real fast so I don´t forget, the picture of me with the two boys is of Luis and Miguel.  The older one is Miguel.  I know you wanted one, sorry it´s late.  You can still put it on the Blog. 

So this past week was good and it´s going by fast again.  Two weeks of this transfer are already gone.  I am finally used to the area and know things and what is going on.  We don´t really have any investigators that are progressing or close to baptism.  So this last week we hit the streets a lot.  We walk a lot here probably more than what we did in Cáceres.  We walked for 2 hours to get to a lesson yesterday.  We were contacting on the way and getting to know the area because Elder Banbury didn´t get to know it that well.  His last companion was crazy and only stayed in the ghetto part of the city.  We went to the nice part of the city and contacted the rich people and they all just gave the finger.  But they have little South American ladies that clean their house so we got a lot of futures.  We taught a super good lesson to this lady from El Salvador.  She loved our message and she thinks it´s awesome.  The only thing is she is in El Puerto for vacation.  So I think she leaves in September, but she brought a friend and she lives here and she is from Guatemala and I gave her a Book of Mormon.  I am feeling a lot more comfortable with my Spanish and I understand the people a lot better.  We are also teaching this girl that is like 23 from Bolivia named Alejandra.  She is gorgeous but we are pretty sure she lives with her boy friend.  But she always does her reading assignments and has questions about it.  We teach her really well and she LISTENS.  I just need to make her cry with the spirit once and bam! haha.  She also brought a friend and we are going to start teaching her as well.  The one investigator that smokes a lot we are going to have to drop.  He isn´t going anywhere and his brain is FRIED.  We have taught him everything like 4 times and we went to teach him about Joseph Smith for like the 5th time since I have been here; he had no idea that he restored the gospel haha.  So I am positive that he did a lot of drugs back in the day and he is only 27 and his teeth are starting to rot out of his mouth. 

Working or Hardly Working?

This last week we had the opportunity to eat at a member’s home.  This guy is loaded and worked for some oil company.  They are American and super nice.  We ate steak and they have a swimming pool and a massage chair.  This chair massages neck, feet, calves, butt and back all at once.  I am positive that it is over 2 grand.  But that is me pretending to read the Book Of Mormon while waiting for the food to cook. 

A Member's Backyard

So my Spanish got good enough to get in a yelling fight with a Spaniard!!  So we were contacting on the street and there was this lady that was super pretty and Banbury told me to contact her so I did.  We were talking for awhile and I was telling her about prophets in the Bible and that God loves us so much that´s why we have the restored gospel and a prophet today.  She thinks religions cause conflict.  Her boyfriend or some tall surfer Spaniard guy appears out of nowhere and starts yelling at me and told me that religions are crap and I should stop wasting my time and clean up trash in EL Puerto.  So yeah we argued until I thought he was going to start getting violent and I told him God loves us and gave us his son’s church and the earth.

Nice Watch!

I LOVE YOU!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!  I am gonna send you something; I have to go search the streets though. 

¡OS QUIERO!! 

I love the mission and I am here to bring people SALVATION. 

Elder Baby Cody

August 16, 2011 - Email to Family

Malaga Zone Conference

¿Que pasa psichas?  That means what´s up dicks?  They say that here in El Puerto to everyone, it´s like saying what´s up dude?  But of course we don´t say it to people only the Elders. haha 
Sorry I didn´t email yesterday it was another holiday!!!  So I figured it out the holidays are catholic holidays to worship the virgin but they just use it to drink and smoke all day. 
So El Puerto de Santa Maria....

Elders Biamont and Shaver

It is very different than Cáceres in about every single way.  The people are super friendly because the place is suuuuper poor.  The  people are all just more talkative and stuff.  The place is very old and there is no like city feel everyone lives in cement homes that are like two stories tall and you can see into to all of them so there is no boundaries here haha.  Remember me telling you about the gypsies????  Well this is the gypsy capital!!  They are everywhere!!  There is a whole part of town dedicated to them; they are just everywhere and apparently not very safe.  But no one here really honks at us and makes fun of us because we are bigger than everyone.  So yeah the people are really just easy going and don´t really care that much; which is bad.   We have a thousand investigators but to me none of them are really ready for baptisms.  They are just super flakey and have a lot of problems with smoking and just don´t really care to change.  Like contacting on the street is easy now.  In Cáceres you had to harass them to get there information.  Here I just talk and testify and bam I got 4 futures in one afternoon.  So the accent here is super fun.  Apparently we are in the redneck country of Spain.  So the accent is similar to Huelva just worse.  The people are hard to understand but, I can understand them super good most of the time I surprise myself sometimes. 

El Porto

The Members!!!  You aren´t going to believe this - so there is a base here!!!!  We have close to 25 to 30 members from America!!!!!!!  They are super nice and sweethearts.  On Sunday we ate on base with The Osmond’s.  They are from Sandy, Utah and I had the opportunity to eat cheddar cheese and black beans.  I was soooo happy and it tasted soo good.  The pictures you see are from the back yard of the members home.  They live right on the beach it´s super pretty.  So yeah I need to take more pictures from El Puerto.  Oh and there is peanut butter in our piso.  OH THIS SUNDAY I AM RECIEVING A PACK OF MOUNTAIN DEW!!!!!!  A member called us this morning and asked us if we wanted something and I asked for peanut butter and MD.

El Porto

So yeah I miss Cáceres soooooo bad.  I was crying my eyes out saying goodbye to people.  But I know I am here to serve the people here in El Puerto. So my companion is Parker James Banbury.  He is a good missionary, pretty cool and really quiet.  He is a man of few words.  He is super nice and a hard worker. 
So yeah I like the new area, it´s really pretty and I love the accent.  Oh yeah every week we do service by serving food to the homeless people that was a fun experience.  Some of them are nice and the others are horrible. 

My new address: 
Calle Andromeda N·20
11500 El Puerto De Santa Maria
Cádiz
SPAIN 

Oh and we can send packages through the base with the members and it’s only like 10 American bucks!!!  So I am going to send you something for your BDAY MOM!!!! Tell Amy happy bday to PLEASE!! and I love her too 

OS QUIERO!!!! 
I Love you all!!

August 7, 2011 - Email to Family

Hello Family,

Sooooooo I am no longer going to be serving in Cáceres. I will now be serving in Puerto De Santa Maria!!!! I am pretty darn excited for a change! I leave this Wednesday in the morning and I will hang out in Badajoz for a little; have my last district meeting with Elder Manning and enjoy my last moments with him. It will be rough saying goodbye to him because I have been serving with him and have been with him since the beginning we carry 6 months together! Yesterday was rough in sacrament meeting. Our mission leader Andy got up and bore his testimony and gave like 3 minutes of it thanking me and telling everyone that I was leaving. Of course me being a baby I started crying horribly. I love Cáceres and I don´t want to leave. It is my first area really. So yeah I finally made it up there and started crying in front of everyone it was sad I love the little branch. So yeah I am super sad leaving them they are my family for sure. 

 Yesterday we had an awesome teaching day. We taught Silvia and Sofia and we finally got Silvia to open up more to us! She said she is super sad when she kneels down to pray and she just starts crying. She says every time she goes to pray she feels sad and cries. She told us this, and he starts bawling. I didn´t think this lady had tears in her. She kinda has the natural glare on her face like Amy haha. Anyways she kinda has always scared me, but she just started crying-and we told her that is her answer. She said she has only been crying when she tries to pray ever since the missionaries have been coming to her house for a year now. She told she believes everything we tell her. We talk about setting goals and don´t be afraid to do the right thing. She knows that baptism is the right thing, she is just scared. I read her D&C 6: 33-37 and she really liked those scriptures and we asked them both; Silvia and Sofia to set their baptismal dates. They are going to get baptized next month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I then bore my testimony to her and thanked her for all she has done for me. Silvia and her husband Mauricio really are like my parents out here. They took such good care of us. Anyways I got her to cry and I was crying. It was a miracle lesson and I am sure my last lesson with them. I wanted to see them get baptized before I left but it didn´t happen. Oh well I was there to set their dates though! I felt like I did what I was there to do. So they are good; that is my investigator story this week.

The others are good. We didn´t get to meet with Gloria this last week because we have been gone for like 3 days travelling. Gloria and Miguel and Luis are from Columbia. I thought I told you that 2 emails ago or something.

So Puerto de Santa Maria apparently is right on the BEACH....that is bad news. Hahaha whenever there are beach cities there is a lot more interesting people. But I am excited; my companion has one transfer less than me so I am senior companion I guess! That is cool. His name is Elder Banberry, I don´t know if I spelt that right. But he apparently speaks suuuper good Spanish. I am stoked and I cannot wait to serve with someone else. I had a blast with Elder Shaver and I love the guy. He is a really awesome missionary and I learned a lot of things from him.

Ward Mission Leader and His Family

Dad thanks for the email. I needed it. I think I have read that talk by Elder Bednar about don´t worry if you feel like you don´t have the spirit; because I have changed a ton I just don´t know it. I am obedient and I remember that was the last thing you told me to do. Thanks Dad I love you.

Liliana and her Mother

Jude I didn´t get any pictures and I would like to see the boat all redone!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes I got the letter from Kacie. Sorry I will write her today hopefully. Tell her I will send her a letter back soon. I will send a letter; she will think that is cool.

I LOVE YOU
CODY

August 1, 2011 - Family Email

Liliana's baptism - July 30, 2011 (with Elder Shaver)

I got the package and it was fantastic thank you sooooo much.  I am working on getting rid of it right now.  I love you.  This week a lot happened and it was all GOOD.  

Bueno, so this last Saturday we finally dunked Liliana.  Yes she is from Argentina.  It was amazing and it´s about time we baptized her, because we have been teaching her for 12 weeks!!  So Elder Shaver did the baptizing, 3 times!  Haaha.  Liliana didn´t like the water very much she kept popping up!  But it was super special and felt so right.  The following day Sunday, I GAVE HER THE HOLY GHOST in Spanish.  I gave a blessing in Spanish.  It was amazing.  I gave a child of God His Spirit to have for eternity.  I also confirmed her a member of the only Church of Jesus Christ on the earth.  It was a good experience for me but, terrifying.  I didn´t even end up saying the things I planned on saying to her, gotta love the Spirit.

Liliana and Cody at her baptism

So Sofia and Silvia are doing wonderful.  We talked to them yesterday and Silvia (the mom) told us that she has no doubts about the church or what we teach her.  She believes everything we teach her.  She told us she doesn´t have enough courage to do it.  She say she needs more time in the church.  She has believed the Catholic church her whole life so it´s hard for her to accept that she was wrong her whole life.  Sofia is good too, she says she wants to know the Book of Mormon better.  So yeah that is it with them.  They are also from Argentina!!!  See mom, your vision came true I am kinda serving in Argentina. 

Liliana and her Mother

So Gloria had a DREAM: She heard from the TV that we are in the last days and then she looked over into her closet she saw stacks of Books of Mormon in her closet.  She said it was very special and all that.  But now she isn´t doing anything about it.  Last night we met with her alone without her kids and we taught her that she needs to act on the answer she received.  It was a good lesson and we told her that she needs to pray specifically about the Book of Mormon, this church, and Joseph Smith.  She told us she would do it!  

The ward family

The family that we are teaching Sofia and Silvia

We didn´t meet with our new investigators this week the mom Natali and her son Adrian.  They are from the Dominican Republic.  They are good, and we have talked with them a lot.  But it´s really hard to meet with them.  We are trying.  I know the boy is still reading the Book of Mormon everyday.  He is a beast.

Working hard or hardly working???  Yeah that is salt from sweat, it´s hottttttt!!

Elder Manning Email to Family

HELLO MAMA HAFEN...

It´s me, Elder Manning. I´m sitting here with my best friend Cody....i mean...Elder Hhafen. haha. I just wanted to tell you how much I love you and your family. Your son is my best friend, and has influenced my life in so many ways, I can´t even explain it to you.

I also want you to know, that out of all the moms I´ve seen, you are definitely the best looking. . . GOOD FOR YOU PAPA HAFEN. :) hahaha. Anyways, just wanna say thanks for everything and want you to know that Elder Hafen and I have a long long long long future in front of us. . . so you better get used to me. haha.

LOVE YOU GUYS
-ELDER Nate Manning
aka Thunderknight

July 25, 2011 - Family Email

Hello Family whom I love,

So how is everyone doing??  Love you all

So this week was rather interesting in one way I finally got harassed almost physically by someone!  I was so happy!  So we were walking in the street going to a lesson we had set up and as we were walking there was this strange looking girl and kind of Goth looking sitting on the corner. Anyways as we were walking by she grabs my tie and tries to pull me in and do whatever she had in mind.  As a result I pulled away and didn´t say anything!  So that is really the only story I got for you this week that was good!

So good news this week!! Liliana is getting baptized!!!!!  This Saturday is the day her and her mother got work off so that she can get dunked!!  I am super excited we have been teaching her for 10 weeks and she is super ready.  She is a beast studier now and sometimes reads Preach My Gospel.  We aren´t sure who is doing all of the baptizing and Holy Ghost yet because we haven´t planned it.  I am sure Shaver will be in the water he deserves it!

So Sofia and her Mom are doing really good.  We kind of found out what the moms deal is.  She has been a practicing catholic for 40 years so for her to go and change her religion is a big deal.  She has believed her church for that long.  The thing is she believes everything we teach her, it´s just the mother that is going to have to take it slow and when she feels ready she will be baptized.  We can prove everything with the Bible that we are the only true church with the fullness of the gospel of Christ.  Sofia is awesome and the biggest sweetheart in the world.  We haven´t set a baptism date with her yet so I don´t know about all that.  I would love to see her get baptized before one of us leaves Cáceres in two weeks!!!!

Luis Miguel and Gloria are doing well, the mom says she needs to tell us something; it´s nothing bad. Last night as she was leaving the house and we were about to teach the boys she said her house is our house haha!  So she likes us!  We are going to meet with them tomorrow I believe and find out what she has to tell us! I am excited.  They just kind of don´t want to change, well the mother doesn´t.  Miguel wants this church I can tell.

This mom and her son are new investigators that we have. Natali the mom and Adrian the son he is 12 years old.  The son keeps telling us he wants to get baptized in our church and he has read the first 7 chapters in Nephi!  He is a beast.  We have to teach him a lot before we can baptize him and sometimes it´s a little hard to teach them because the mom isn´t home.  But we are trying to be good friends with the son.  They are a very humble family.

So when we entered Cáceres we had one investigator and we dropped her.  Right now we have 10!!!  We have been working hard and last week we taught 20 lessons.  That is not too bad yeah??  So this is my letter this week, not a lot happened.  Next week I will have pictures of LILIANA!!!!

I love you all!