March 10, 2014

Hola! 

What a week! Let´s get right to it. . .

Joaquin got baptized!! It was so awesome! Even though NOBODY from the ward came, it was still awesome. And they missed out. Literally only the 4 people who were assigned to do stuff in the program showed up. Pretty sad. I was pretty upset for at first, but it was still something really special to see Joaquin baptized. And Emilia was able to come, so that was super cool. In fact, thinking about it right now, maybe it was better there weren´t many people there because she gets really dizzy and upset when there´s a lot of noise and people. Maybe that was one of those blessings in disguise. Interesting. . . 

As part of the baptism we did a special musical number. My companion played the violin, Elder Alhouvori played the recorder and Elder Alvarez and I and the Hermanas sang. We did "Divina luz" which is Lead Kindly Light in Spanish and it´s about a million times better in my opinion. It´s one of my favorites in Spanish. Sadly I can´t attach it. You´ll have to watch it some other time. Sorry. :P

Actually I lied before, Juan was also there. He was an angel at the baptism! He is the person most excited to see Joaquin baptized, maybe even more than us. He also did the confirmation yesterday, which was a great experience. You could tell how happy and excited Joaquin was when everyone raised their hand to support him. After sacrament meeting there were a few people who were asking about him too, so that was good. He has made some serious changes in his life and even right before his baptism he had to face some serious temptations, but he did it! Super happy for him!

With Joaquin being baptized, we are basically left without investigators. I knew that was going to happen so I´ve been a little worried, but on Sunday miracles happened. Fernando, the husband of Caty, a member we´ve been visiting, showed up to church. He´s not a member and we´ve been working with Caty to try to be able to teach him, and all of a sudden there he was in church! It was amazing to see their whole family sitting together in sacrament meeting! They have 3 kids, 2 of whom are old enough to be baptized too, but he hasn´t given his permission. Yet. . . I am so stoked to start working with them. He is a super nice guy and I really feel like now is his time. Then we also had an old investigator, Jennifer, that my companion taught before I got here, come to church with a member family. That was awesome too! The mother of the family went to go pick her up and everything, all on her own. We didn´t set up any of this! And now we have a lesson with her on Tuesday. And one on Thursday with Caty and her family. So the future is looking bright. Yesterday was the boost I needed. For a little while I wasn´t sure how we were going to keep going, but now I´m excited for this week. 

I had an interesting experience in church on Sunday. I was sitting in sacrament meeting thinking about all those people who are having trouble and I just felt inadequate. I thought, how can I handle all these people´s problems. I felt like the pain was more than I could take. And then I thought about the Lord and how He feels that, but for everyone! And for a moment I wondered how He could be happy feeling all that, all the time. And then my companion leaned over and said "Fernando just came in!" I couldn´t believe it. Then I thought: Now I get it. He feels all that hurt for the wrong choices, but also feels this incredible joy when His children step up and make good choices. Humans are interesting creatures. So often we fall below our expectations and yet at the same time, we so often surpass them in incredible ways.

I think that´s it for the news. I´ve been District Leader here for about 4 weeks (whenever the transfer started) and it´s going awesome! I really like it. We have an amazing district here (again! you remember how great b5 was? I don´t know how that happens.). We are 6 Elders and 2 Hermanas. Actually Hermana Hone I was with in B5 for a little while. Small world. She is the Sister Leader for the Zone and is training Hermana Pavez. She is Argentine but lives in Malaga in the south of Spain (speaking of which I want to go see the south SO badly! It looks amazing!) She has a very interesting accent. Elder Alvarez is one of the Zone leaders here (lots of leaders in our district) and is from Chile. We live with him and his companion Elder Alhouvouri (I´m sure I spelled that wrong) from Finland. They are both good missionaries and we all get along really well. Then there is Elder Moreland from Orange County (pijo!) and Elder Collazos from Peru, but lives in Bilbao (north of Spain. País Vasco actually. (Basque I think you say in English.)). Also your letter came from Elder Rockwood, President just signs it. I would know. You remember when I accidentally sent that one letter about me going home? :P 

Still feeling a little sick. I´ve had a cold for like 3 weeks now. Weird. Just so you know, I plan on sleeping for like 3 days straight when I get home. Haha. I haven´t used Grandpa´s money yet, but we are planning on going to the zoo next week and that should be just about right to get me in. :) Ha ha, you have to send me Erin´s movie when it´s done! That sounds great! 

Well, I better go. Thanks for reading and again for all you do. I love hearing from you and about everything you´re up to. Thanks for all your love and support. I know I can always count on you guys. I love and think about you often. Take care this week.

Love,

Elder Cousins 

   

March 3, 2014

Hello Family!

Well it is not Spring here, just so you all know. It´s cold. And really windy lately. :/ 

Let´s talk news for the week. It was a bit rough at some points, mostly because I´ve been sick. One day my eyes were super red and bloodshot. I´m pretty sure I scared away some of the people I contacted :P But I´m feeling a lot better now, so no worries. 

This week we shifted our focus over a bit from Patricia and on to Joaquin! He had his interview last night and passed, so it´s all ahead for Saturday! Hopefully we don´t have quite as many problems with getting his baptism ready as we did with Patricia´s. Honestly the hardest thing may be finding clothes that will fit him. He may be the skinniest man I´ve ever met. You´ll see next week. He is the best though! I am so, so happy for him! He has been looking forward to this for a long time. And you can tell how excited he his. His face lights up every time we talk about his baptism and about eternal life. He is such an example to me too, of charity and of faith. The way he dedicates his life to caring for his mother is something truly touching. I have never once heard him complain either. Quite the opposite. He is always talking about how well they are doing, about how blessed they are. It´s truly amazing. There are people in the world who have everything and I know they don´t smile like Joaquin does. 

Other news from the week. We set a date for baptism with Nabel, but haven´t seen him since. I´m a little worried. He actually started off the lesson telling us that he couldn´t be baptized (before we invited him) because he is moving. But we invited him to prepare to be baptized wherever he is. He said yes and I think he understands and wants to, but it is a scary step to take. I hope we can meet with him soon and help him. 

Those are the main events for the week, along with an awesome Zone Conference with the Area President. Super good :) I feel like this is the most successful time of my mission so far. I hope it continues to feel that way until I finish. Know that I am doing well and am happy. I love you guys and I am so grateful for everything you do for me. It´s so cool to see how much the girls are growing as well. Sounds they are both really finding their place and the things they love to do. I´ve seen how much they are growing in testimony and faith too, and I´m so impressed. Sounds like they are ready to be a couple of amazing missionaries too. :) I hope what I wrote for Missionary Month was used and that it was helpful. Please tell Grandma and Grandpa thanks for all they are doing to support me too. And thanks for the gift :) I´ll put it to good use. 

Thanks again for everything. I´m grateful to be here in the mission, for all that I´m learning and for all the blessings you are receiving too. You guys are amazing! Thank for all you have done and are doing to provide this amazing experience for me. It is worth it. I love you all so much! I have the best family! Take care this week and don´t ever forget what matters most. I love you

Love,

Elder Cousins

February 24, 2014

Hello my family!

Well, I think we´ll have to call this one a tie. Getafe is what we came up with as well, but it is technically a suburb of Madrid and not part of the actual city. But, it is part of the province of Madrid and I´m very impressed that you found out the stadium where they play even, so we´ll call it a tie. ;) So is a derby just a game between 2 teams from the same city?

What a long week. I am so tired. And I think I´m getting sick again. I ache everywhere :P There is a funny part in one of the training DVDs we use (The District, you know that Janet Zaldivar was in?) where one of the Elders says: "I don´t know why I´m so happy. I´m SO tired all the time." I couldn´t say it better. 

But, it was a great week as well! Apart from the fact that everything that could possibly go wrong in preparing for the baptism did, we had it and it turned out great! Patricia hardly seemed nervous at all. She got up at the end and shared a beautiful testimony. She talked about how happy she is and thanked us for helping her get this huge step in her life. In the baptism and Sunday in the confirmation she just glowed when she smiled. You could tell she was so happy! In fact after the confirmation I looked over at her and she was smiling so big (glowing) and my companion was too and I was just suddenly hit with this huge wave of happiness. The Spirit was like a wall that hit me, I felt like I was overflowing. I didn´t understand how everyone in the room wasn´t in tears. I thought about how happy I was for Patricia and then I thought about all the miracles and moments like this that I´ve had in my mission and then I thought about all the moments like this that will come. A fullness of joy as the scriptures say. I thought, it can´t get better than this. And then I thought, actually I bet it can. I thought about all the joy I will experience in the future helping people and being a husband and father and then finally about eternal life with all of you and them and all the people I´ve been able to help get there. And then I cried like a little girl. And then the choir sang "Families can be together forever". And then I cried some more. And then I thought about how all of this is possible because of Christ and I said thanks to God for His Son. 

Life is so much more than it ever was before. It´s fulfilling. I have a purpose. I wish there were words to explain it. I guess that is what everyone looks for in life: to be happy. And I´ve found it. I´m happy. And tired. :P

I´ve also just been thinking the last few days about how much the Lord is blessing us as well. I don´t know why but I feel like I´m having more success right now than ever before in my mission. Teaching Patricia and being there for her baptism and confirmation has been such a privilege. Joaquin is amazing and an amazing example for me. We found a new investigator this last week, Nabel, who is so great! He is from Bangladesh, but is Christian (Catholic). We have taught him twice now and he is feeling the spirit. After sharing the First Vision (all in English) he said he felt some sort of power in him, something special. At the end of the lesson I could tell that he didn´t want us to leave. That´s because he felt good. We only met him the day before and he was already thanking us for helping him and offering to make us food and even give us massages if we ever want them (I´ve been seriously thinking about taking him up on that today. As long as I can keep my clothes on). How cool is that? Again the Lord is guiding us. I see lots of good things in the future.

That doesn´t mean that it will be fun and games and miracles, nor that it has been. This week we met with a family that we had contacted a few weeks ago. We went in and began talking with the father and then invited the whole family to listen. There were 5 of them in total. Patricio the dad, Andy the oldest son, Lisset 16 y.o. daughter, Andrea 13 and Sofia 3. Such a beautiful family. Catholic. We taught them, but not very well. We had planned just to get to know them and share a little about who we are and what we do and teach the Restoration the next time. I felt halfway through that we needed to teach the Restoration but somehow the communication between us as companions was off and we ended up only half teaching it and trying to set up another visit. Lisset was by far the most open. I know she felt the spirit, I could see it. She said she had no problem with us coming back. Then Andy said he didn´t want us to, that he couldn´t accept a living prophet. Then the dad spoke. He as well said that he couldn´t accept a prophet and that he was very sure what the answer would be if he were to ask God. He said he thought he´d been very kind to let us in his home and talk to his family. He said he didn´t want his kids to be confused and that he hadn´t said we could ask their opinions. He made it very clear that we wouldn´t be coming back. Lisset looked as though she was about to cry when she realized we wouldn´t be coming back. I was going to tell her as we left not to doubt what she felt, but for some reason I didn´t. I pray so hard that she won´t be keep from the Gospel because of our shortcomings. We left. I don´t think I´ve ever hurt so much in my life. Lots of tears this week.

This is the only way to live, with the good and the bad. The heartache is worth the joy. The tears are worth the other tears. And in the end it will turn out how it is supposed to and we will just remember the good. Or maybe we will remember the bad so we can continue to appreciate the good. People are the most important. God is very much a people person. Every single one of His children is worth it. I´ve been thinking a lot about eternal families. First of all that it is the very best thing that can be and second that I don´t think it will be just me and you guys and my own family, but everyone that I´ve ever loved. All of my family here in Spain and everywhere else where I´ll serve in the future. In the end the idea is that everyone is sealed to their family, which means we´ll all be sealed together. One big happy family. God´s family. Can you picture anything better than that? 

Well, thank you for listening to my thoughts. I use these emails much as a journal for me as well. It´s been therapeutic for me today. Isn´t it weird that this is how I think now? :P 

I want you guys to know how much I love you. More than I can say. I can feel your prayers. I can feel your love. Honestly. I know that God put in the right family at the right time and in the right place for me. I love you, I love the people here, I love God and I´ve never been happier. :D Take care of yourselves. Hug each other for me. 

Love,

Quinn