Another Month Gone...

¡Hopalapa fapamipilipiapa!

I learned a new language this week! Well, sort of. It is like Spanish pig latin. What I wrote there is how you would say 'Hola familia.' You can replace and of the p's with  just about anything - f, ch, etc - but it is easiest to do with p. We've heard that it is what prisoners used to speak in prison so that the guards wouldn't understand them. But I don't know if I really believe that...

Well, the most exciting news from this week is that we finally got a pila (baptismal font)! It is bigger than the one in Algeciras, but still just a little above ground pool. The Lorca elders had a baptism on Saturday and their chapel is still under construction since it got damaged in the earthquake there a few months ago, so they came here to use the font. Everything went great and it was a really good chance to bring some of our investigators to a baptismal service.

So Thanksgiving came and went without much notice. Elder Marchello and I did manage to find Ben and Jerry's here, though, and we celebrated with that. It is a little pricey here (ok, a lot pricey), but we figured it was the only worthy way to celebrate the great American tradition of eating too much food. I don't think I have ever enjoyed ice cream more than I enjoyed that Ben and Jerry's. Dad, you should find out how long it takes to get to their headquarters in Vermont and we should make a delicious visit sometime :)

The work is moving forward here! It is a great time to be a missionary in Spain. I'm so thankful to be here and to be able to learn and grow along side those we teach. The Lord always provides for us - and even more when we exercise faith in Him. The church is true! There is no better nor more direct way to profound happiness - now and forever - thank living in agreeance with the commandments of God.

Have a great week! I love you!

Elder Mockler

Pictures:

1) We took a little break on our drive to Águilas that I talked about last week. Far the the back you can see the Mediterranean through the mountains.

2) Elder Marchello and the font. It took about 5 hours to fill and we have to be with it the whole time, so we had a pretty...exciting?...morning in the capilla.

Almost Sort of Kind of Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, America!

Unfortunately Thanksgiving doesn't exist here. People always make fun of the whole turkey thing, too. They think eating turkey is weird. If only they knew what they were missing....

Well, after I talked about food last week I had a few interesting food experiences. First, last Tuesday, Elder Marchello and I went to a Wok - or a Chinese all you can eat grill. We were half-way stuck out in a pueblo and decided it would be a good way to celebrate both our birthdays. It was actually really, really good. Imagine that! On Wednesday we had a slightly less pleasant food experience...pig intestine and rice. It doesn't taste that bad, but it is like chewing on rubber. We've also had snails and cow tongue promised to us this week, so we'll have a couple interesting food experiences here soon.

I had a pretty fun drive this week as well. On Tuesday the Lorca Elders were here for our district meeting and ended up missing their bus to get to Aguilas, one of their pueblos. Since our morning cita had failed us, we decided to drive them out there and then head to our pueblo for the afternoon. We didn't know how to get there, but found our way on the map and started going. Little did we know the road we were on would turn into a 1 lane mountain road and take us winding through the Spanish countryside for 40 minutes! It was a pretty cool little road built right onto the hills and mountains....but when you run into another car coming the other way (not literally, obviously) things get pretty interesting. After dropping them off in Aguilas, we got on the highway to go back to Vera....only to find we had gotten on a toll road....and neither of us had any money! Luckily Spanish toll booths are one of the 5 places in Spain that will accept a credit card, so we were ok. After all that stress and getting to Vera a little early, it wasn't hard to convince ourselves to go to Wok!

Well, I think that is about it. We are working a lot here - we have been really blessed to find a lot of new invesigators. We had 3 people come about 40 minutes to get to the capilla. It is exciting to see people put forth that kind of effort to come to church. But when you kow something is good and true, you should always do everything in your power to find it. This week at Zone Conference, President Clegg challeneged us all to read the Book of Mormon before Christmas and highlight every verse that references Christ. He left us with this verse:

Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with ^asurety ^bhope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which^chope cometh of ^dfaith, maketh an ^eanchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in^fgood works, being led to ^gglorify God.

There are a lot of things we can use as an anchor in our lives. I can testify that faith in God is the best anchor we can have. It is the surest of all foundations and the way to the truest and most profound happiness.

I love you!! Have a great week!

Elder Mockler

 

 Andy, Elder Marchello, and Elder Taylor at Zone Conference

 Murcia and Alicante Zones

20!

¡Buenos días!

 

I can't believe it is November already, let alone the 14th! Crazy to think I'll be 20 in a few days. Then again, birthdays hardly count on the mission anyway. Last week was Elder Marchello's birthday and we just cooked a pizza for dinner to celebrate. It is just a day like any other, so we don't do much celebrating :)

 

On Friday morning I got pretty sick with the flu or something which put a damper on the end of our week. I had Elder Marchello give me a blessing and it passed really fast and we were back working on Saturday and back to 100% by yesterday morning. I've been lucky to make it almost 7 months of my mission without being sick.

 

I have had a lot of people ask me about our eating situation. Here we are lucky and eat with members almost every day, which can be either a really good thing or a really bad thing. Bad missionary food is a very, very real thing! But it is worth it for the really good meals we get, too. We hardly ever eat out - mostly only when we travel. It is too expensive. To get a meal at McDonalds it is 6€ or 7€, which is like $9. It is pretty ridiculous. There is also a thing here called "Kebab" which is pretty good. Some missionaries LOVE it, and it is quite tasty, but it is also the definition of junk food. Something about "reformed lamb" makes me suspicious. We did get some churros at the street market today, though. Besides that we just eat in our piso and we buy our groceries on Mondays.

 

Besides that we are just working hard and finding more and more investigators to teach. We have pushed back Melissa's baptism because her husband is not quite ready and she wants to wait for him, which is really a very good decision. We have a lot of teaching to do this week, and that is the best part of missionary work, so it should be a really good week coming up! I'm so grateful that I can be here as a missionary and see how the gospel blesses so many lives - and how it can CHANGE people to be the best they can possibly be.

 

Love you!

 

Elder Mockler

Driving!

¡Hola Familia!

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."

Transfers Again?!

¡¡Hola!!

Well, another transfer come and gone. Pretty wild how fast it went. No worries - I'm staying! Elder Ferguson is going to Málaga to be a Zone Leader and Elder Marchello is coming here to be my new companion. I knew him while I was in Algeciras because he was my companion. We are super excited!

On Thursday our investigators invited us to come to a small Halloween party at their English school to introduce us to some people. It was easily one of the worst, most awkward experiences of my entire life. Never have I seen so many people shocked to see me nor so infuriated at my presence. When people see us they just assume we are there to ruin any glimmer of fun and happiness they have. If only they knew that's the opposite of what we want! Anyway, we ended up just talking to a few members who were there and having a few awkward conversations with people who did not want to talk to us. We did get to do a Halloween crossword puzzle and finished in half the time of everyone else, though, so I would say it was pretty much worth it. 

Besides that, the biggest news is our investigators. Melissa is doing really awesome - she is already inviting all of her friends to start coming to church. Her testimony is super strong. If we had anywhere to do baptisms right now (we're working on it....), she would probably be baptized this week. She is helping her husband, Juan Miguel, along as well. He is very busy with school and is having difficulty finding time to read and ponder the Book of Mormon. They both love the church, though, and are already a strong part of our little branch. This week we will be getting a car (Woohoo!!), so we will be able to work more with our investigators in the pueblos around here. 

Yesterday we had 40 people in church. It was awesome - our little capilla (a renovated government "bajo") was packed. When we hit 45 we can request a new building, so that is our goal right now. We will be packed in there for a while more, but soon enough they will get a better place to meet. We had 4 visitors from Utah yesterday. One of them, Bryan, baptized 2 of the members here 27 years ago. They have done a ton for the church here in Spain and are the reason there is a branch here. It was an amazing meeting - all of them bore their testimonies. It was an awesome experience to see the happiness they all had knowing that they were all still striving in the faith. It was just a piece of the "incomprehensible joy" that is spoken of with the sons of Mosiah and Alma the younger when they returned from their missionary journeys. As the scriptures say, surely there are no other men in the history of the world with greater cause to rejoice than faithful members and those doing missionary work.

I love you all so much!

Elder Mockler

6 months?!

¡Hola Familia!

Well, this week I'll hit my 6 month mark. I can't believe it. Sometimes I feel like I've been here for a long time, but when I think back to my first day in the MTC or when I first got to Spain I realize time has just flown by. And, next Sunday, Elder Ferguson and I will be able to celebrate "missionary togetherness day." By that we mean that together we will be one whole missionary. Or, in terms that make sense, I will be 3 days over 6 months and he will be 3 days under 18...which equals 24 months....which equals 2 years. Yes, it is as lame as it sounds and we fully acknowledge it, but we take any excuse to have a celebration!

Well, not too much "mentionable" happened this week; we're still just working hard. We have 5 investigators who are progressing really well right now. One of them, Beatrice, has a baptismal fecha for November 19th! Melissa and Juan Miguel, two other Bolivians, love the church and we are hoping to set fechas with them this week. Woohoo! We have also been searching for new investigators a lot. Contacting has been really ineffective in Huércal recently, so we decided to start exploring the pueblos around here to check them out. It has been really cool because a lot of the people have never heard of the church and we are the first contact they have with the church. It is a great opportunity to be an example to them of what the church is and what we value. 

I think I should start making a journal of what adventures we have with our newfound British store. This week I learned that "interesting" sounding British soda never tastes good. Ever. We also bought an oven so we can start exploring the incredible selection of strange frozen food there. Exciting times, kids.

Well, I think that's all. I hope you're all doing great! I love you so much! The church is true - there is no other church so upheld by the Bible. No other church organized in the way Christ organized his church. No other church that can truly trace priesthood power through righteous men all the way to God. And, most importantly, no other church that has the entire gospel of Jesus Christ and all of the proper ordinances restored through the Book of Mormon and living prophets.

I love you!!

Elder Mockler

Feria, Iceland, Vera, and More!

¡Hola familia!

It sure was a crazy week! In Spain, every city has a Feria that they will do once or twice a year. This week is Huércal-Overa's Feria. It is like Christmas for the Spaniards - they take the whole week off and everyone goes completely insane. One man even yelled at us from his car "what are you doing here?! Its the Feria!!!!" Apparently we're not even allowed to live here during Feria. On Thursday we had the pleasure of listening to dance remixes of every pitbull song ever blasting from the giant feria dance party from 10:00pm to 7:30am. Luckily it ends tonight or tomorrow, so we will finally be able to get back to normal missionary work soon.

On Saturday, in order to avoid the insanity that is all of this town right now, we went to "open" a new town called Vera. It was pretty dead there (once again, Feria - yes, it really does affect every surrounding town as well), but at least the people weren't (too) drunk. We did find a hidden treasure, though: a GIANT British super market called Iceland. They import tons of food from the UK for all of the British people that live in this area. It was a little pricey, but we had a blast exploring a real supermarket for the first time in far too long. Unfortunately British supermarket food still doesn't measure up to American supermarket food, but it is still far above the Spanish pickings!

The little work we have been able to do around here recently has been going very well. Right now we have 3 awesome investigators and are hoping to get them baptismal dates this week! We have another investigator in one of our "pueblos" (cuevas de almanzora) who is very excited about the church but might be going to Valencia. For awfully selfish reasons, we hope he stays :). But, either way, there will be missionaries where he is going!

Well, I'm just about out of time this week. I heard an interesting example this week or the week before - I don't remember if it was in conference or somewhere else, but I have thought about it a lot. When we feel something - for example, stub our toe, burn ourselves on a hot pan, or anything else - we know that feeling is real. If someone tries to tell you that you DIDN'T feel your hand get burnt, you'll tell them they're crazy. So, why do we doubt the Spiritual feelings we have? We try to explain them away through mitigating circumstances or keep them as uncertain. When we feel the Spirit testify truth to us, we must believe it, just like we would believe any other feeling. I'm so grateful for the Gospel. This church is true. There is no way it could not be true. The Book of Mormon is a true record and cannot and WILL NOT be proven false. It is impossible - people have tried for nearly 200 years now, and it still stands as a true record and testimony of Jesus Christ. The most important evidence, however, is the witness of the Spirit. I hope we can always remember that!

I love you all so much! Have a great week!!!

Elder Mockler

P.S. The first photo is by some REALLY weird statues we found in Vera. The second is us rejoicing over our Iceland haul :)

 

This one is from the mission blog:  Elder Taylor, President Clegg, Elder Ferguson, Elder Gibson, and Andy