Well, Elder Ferguson left on Wednesday and, after spending the day in Almeria, I picked up Elder Marchello and we came back to good ol' Huércal-Overa. I realized that last week I wrote that I knew Elder Marchello because he was my "companion"...what I meant to say is that he was my zone leader. Hopefully that didn't confuse anyone too much!
A few weeks ago we took a P-Day with the Lorca Elders (The other area in our district...the elders there are Elder Gibson and Elder Taylor) to see a Christus statue in Vera. It is on top of a huge hill to the side of the city and they put the statue there after Old Vera was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1500s. Unfortunately the original statue isn't there anymore - it was redone sometime in the 20th century - but some ruins of the old city remain on the hill. Before the earthquake the whole city was built up onto the hill, but afterward they decided to start the new city in the valley nearby. I saw the picture of us on the blog (and mom asked about it) so I figured I would give the explanation!
On Thursday we started really using the car. That has been an adventure! Driving in Spain isn't too much different than in the States - mostly just a lot more roundabouts. It has been...interesting...trying to learn all the highways and how to get to all of our pueblos. I can confidently state we have never been lost....but I think we have taken the scenic route more than once already. It has been incredible to start going to so many new places. We have seen a lot of miracles this week. I will share one:
We decided to go out to a little town called Turre on Thursday evening. I'm not really sure why we decided to go all the way there because it is farther away than most of our other pueblos, but we had some futures and thought it might be a fun place to explore. We exhausted our futures pretty fast because most of them weren't home, so we decided to start knocking doors. At first, we didn't have any success, but we kept trying. Eventually, we came to the end of a street and knocked the last door. A girl walked to the door, we started presenting ourselves, and she invited us in! We were pretty caught off guard because that really doesn't happen very often in Spain. But, we went in and taught them a lesson. Last night, when we taught them for the second time, they told us that in that moment they had been passing through some hard things and that they had asked for someone or something to be sent to help them. It was amazing to hear them tell the story. I'm so grateful I got to be a part of that.
The work is great here in Huércal. We will have a baptism on the 19th and we will be getting a baptismal font a few days before that. I wish I had hours to write so I could recount all of the things I have seen and experienced. All I can say is that God is a God of miracles and that miracles have not ceased among the children of men. The only thing that has ceased is man's faith in Christ. If we have faith - and work WITH him - we can work and be part of miracles. I know that is true. The Gospel was sent to guide us through this life and to help us to grow. I hope we can all use it for that purpose.
I love you all!!!
Elder Mockler
From the mission blog: "Elders Gibson, Taylor, Ferguson and Mockler did a little sight-seeing for
their preparation day. Lots of Christus Statues in Spain."
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