2 years ago today...

¡Buenos días!

I can't believe this is the last email. It doesn't seem like it is real! But I guess it had to roll around sooner or later. It has been exactly 2 years since I entered the MTC. What a strange feeling. Things are clipping along well here in the office as we gear up for a few last crazy days. They're going to fly by all too fast.

There really isn't too much to say that hasn't been said before. Just that I am so grateful for my mission and the incredible experience it has been for me. I honestly can't think of anything better that could have happened to me for the last 2 years. I have learned and grown so much. Everything that has happened has taught me something valuable. I know that I'll be able to look back on this time for the rest of my life with gratitude for what it has taught me and what it will keep teaching me.

The most important thing I have learned on my mission is that Jesus is the Christ, the living Son of God. He is the hope of the world. Although in our mortal state we all must die, in Christ we are all made eternally alive, both spiritually and physically through repentance and the resurrection. Through obedience to the commandments we find peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come. He is the living head of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and directs it through prophets and apostles. This is the only true and living church on the face of the Earth and the only one that holds the keys to seal us together unto Eternal Life through the ordinances of the Gospel. These things I know because of the whispered testimonies of the Holy Spirit that can come to all of us through diligent study and prayer. There is no more important knowledge nor work more important than that of the Gospel.

I love Spain and I will miss being here. I've grown to love everything about this place. I feel the same as the people of Alma did about the Waters of Mormon: "how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer. yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever."

I love you so much! See you soon!

Elder Mockler

Algeciras (again) & Benny

Hey!

Well, another week come and gone. I can't believe there is only 1 full week left. It is freaky! Things are starting to ramp up here in the office to get ready for the week after this one...sending 15 home and receiving 32 is no small task. I'm doing my best to get Elder Butler ready for all of it...poor guy!

On Tuesday, the Ayudantes went to do splits in Algeciras, and since my life has calmed down significantly in the last week or so we got permission from President for me to go with them as well. Woo hoo!!!! It was so awesome. We went and saw Claudia, Patricia, and Chiqui as well as Rafy. We walked all around (the missionary we were with has been out for about 3 weeks....it reminded me so much of how lost I was when I had just 3 weeks haha) so I got to see all the familiar sites of Algeciras. It was such a blast from the past! And really neat to see things come full-circle.....and actually be able to understand what people were trying to say to us and respond to them in a coherent manner hahaha. We were just there for 1 evening so there were lots of people we didn't get to see but that was alright. I'm just so grateful I got to go.

The day after, on Wednesday, the whole mission did a "Perfect Planning" day. We all focused on planning and doing our best to do it perfectly to see what we could do on a "perfect" day. We had a great one! We got everything set up so we didn't have to stop in the office the entire day and we could spend it all out teaching. The last appointment of the night was the best. We met with a lady named Jennifer and her son 25-year-old Benny. We had found their registro de enseñanza in our area book and Elder Butler just randomly decided to call them. Little did we know that Benny knows a ton about the church and really wants to be baptized. A few years ago he was going to church and loving it but got mixed up in a bad crowd and tangled up in drugs. He has left that all now and keeps telling us about how ready he is to change and be baptized. His baptismal date is May 11th and we have the goal for him to stop smoking cigarettes before May 8th. We're praying a lot so that he can make it. 

Things are starting to wind down and the end feels really close. It is a really weird feeling. This week is going to be filled with goodbyes to all the people here in Fuengirola. I'm so grateful for every moment I've had as a missionary and that I still have a few more precious days. I know that this is God's church and that the happiness the world gives can never compare with the light and joy that living the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings us.

I love you!!

Elder Mockler

Office Training

Hello!!

Well, things are starting to get real weird around here. Elder Butler got here on Tuesday and I've been training him to take my place. He is picking things up pretty well already which is good since it'll be kinda hard for him to get a hold of me once I live on another continent. The goal is for him to not need me too much by the end of next week. We'll see how we do. Luckily we have had a pretty calm week and we have another one coming (more or less) so we've also been getting lots of chances to teach. We got a few new investigators this week so we're petty excited.

In the office this week we did the typical residency run with 2 new missionaries and went to the notary again with 4 others. I realized everyone at those places knows me way too well haha. We introduced them all to Elder Butler and Elder Castillo. Passing the torch is sad...but feels so good at the same time! Haha.

This morning we drove out to Tarifa, which is the farthest southern point of Europe. It was cool! We drove through Algeciras which was a pretty awesome blast from the past. Lots of sweaty memories at the Mercadona we used to walk to and the ghetto part of town down the hill from the piso. It seemed like it was so long ago but everything was still so familiar.

General conference was awesome!! It always is. There were lots of great talks this time around, weren't there? I was the butt of a lot of jokes during all the marriage talks, haha. We missed 2 sessions because of the time zone differences but we're trying to make them up little by little as we have time. I'm so grateful that there are living prophets and apostles today to show us the way and tell us how to find happiness, protect and help our families, and become more like the Savior.

I love you!!

Elder Mockler

Hello!

Good afternoon!

I can't believe another week has come and gone! We're about to start week 4 of the transfer. IT IS GOING SO FAST!!! We're starting to try to figure out how to receive 32 new missionaries on April 30th/May 1st. That'll be a fun final adventure.

Since there are only 3 weeks left of the transfer, it is time for me to start training someone to be the next office secretary (aahhhhhh!!!). Elder Butler will come in on Tuesday to start learning the ropes to take my spot. It is pretty weird to know I'll be "obsolete" in just a week or two. It'll also be nice to have a bit more help around here!

This week we had zone leader concilio on Monday. It was great as always. It was weird because it was the last time I'll see a lot of missionaries before I go home. Let the goodbye's begin, I guess. As usual we had some great workshops from President Deere and the ayudantes.

On Thursday we got a surprise call to go eat dinner with a family that lives in our ward. Well, the invite actually came from the (former) Elder Avellar! I don't know if you guys remember him, but he was in my district way back in Huércal-Overa. He is getting married to a girl here who he met on his last day as a missionary (the day I picked Elder Berrett up....almost exactly a year ago!) and so he came to sign some papers and visit her. It was really fun to see him.

Last Sunday Elder Berrett and I finished the Book of Mormon, just like we had planned. I love the Book of Mormon! It brings the Spirit so strongly into our lives and shows so clearly what we must do to achieve Eternal Life with our Heavenly Father. I'm grateful to have it in my life. I'm so excited for General Conference this week. It is so special to hear from living prophets and apostles to counsel and guide us in our day. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I will!!!

Love you!!

Elder Mockler

There were 2  photos of Andy on The Spain Malaga Mission blog this week:

Semana Santa

¡Buenas tardes!

Well, another Semana Santa come and gone here in Spain. It wasn't quite as crazy here in Fuengirola as it was in Sevilla last year, but we did still get serenaded to sleep by the sounds of processional drums last night which was a nice touch. The whole country has a long weekend here this weekend so things have been pretty quiet on the streets and there are lots of English speakers out and about.

We've had a pretty busy office week. Elder Berrett has to find 8 new apartments before the May group comes so we have been working hard to find them and start the process of making the contracts and getting things set up. Aside from that, we received 3 new missionaries this week (an Elder and a new senior couple) and got to do the typical residency run-around with them. We had a few new exciting adventures since Hermana Wilson's passport didn't get stamped in the airport. The whole Fuengirola police department & foreigners department is getting to know me pretty well! Haha.

We also had Specialized Training this week. It was great, as always. I got to translate for Hermana Deere's talk about eating & living healthy which was pretty interesting, haha. We also talked a lot about the Book of Mormon since we are all finishing it this week. What a great blessing to have it! I have really loved reading it this time through. It is such a special book. The church is true! Righteousness is the way to happiness.

I love you!!!

Elder Mockler

Transfer Week!

Hello!

Well, it was a really crazy week in the office this week! I cannot believe it is already Saturday again...time has just flown by.

Since it is transfer week we were absolutely swamped from Monday until Wednesday receiving new missionaries and helping with departing missionaries, and it was all topped off by a good ol' 4 am trip to the airport as usual. Elder Peterson went home as well as a few other people that I knew from the very start of my mission. It was weird to see them go. Apart from that we have been buying a new apartment in Málaga and getting ready to get 8 or 9 more in the next few weeks to get ready for the May transfer. Good times, huh?

Our investigators are doing well. This week has been slower than last week but we're hoping everyone will make it to church tomorrow and that they'll be able to keep progressing. We had another great lesson with Alberto yesterday, it has been a while since we could meet with him but he is still doing really well. Hopefully it stops raining so he can get to church!!

Well, sorry for the short letter this week. I love you guys so much! Christ lives and is our Savior. I'm excited for this week to remember Him and His sacrifice for us leading up to the Sunday of His resurrection.

Love you!!

Elder Mockler

Here are a few pictures from the week:

This is Andy with Elder Bastian, a new missionary that arrived in Spain this week.  Elder Bastian's grandma lives around the corner from Andy's mom in Utah!

The next 2 pictures are from the latest installment of the contest between Andy and his mom about who lives in the most beautiful place.  Andy won again. 

 Puerto Banús

And this one is from the Spain Malaga Mission blog:  They are having a pushups contest.  Look at Elder Mockler's number!!!

Transfers, Chinese Food, and Miracles

Hello!

So we've had a pretty exciting week. It has been jam packed (they all are) and really fun. I found out that I will be finishing my mission here in the office for sure, so that was pretty big news. Definitely didn't expect it but I'm really excited. Lots is going on in the next few weeks and I'm excited to help out with it. With transfers here again we're pretty swamped in the office. And I'll be starting my last transfer on Monday. I can't believe it.

On Monday I answered the phone and it was a man calling the office trying to get in touch with the missionaries. He said that a year ago a missionary contacted him in the street and gave him their number, but he was in a big hurry and lost their card before he could call them. He said he had thought a lot about the church in the past year but never enough to actually try to get back in contact with us until this week when he spent all of Monday searching for some way to call the mission office. He finally found it by chatting with someone on mormon.org. By the time we visited him on Wednesday he had already started reading the Book of Mormon online and had basically learned the first lesson from what he had read. He has a baptismal date for April 13th. We're excited for him.

Speaking of baptismal dates, Elie, a Brazilian investigator we have had for a while (I don't know if I have written about her before...) has accepted a baptismal date for March 30th! She has known the missionaries for a long time now but has never been to church or really put forth much on her part. A few weeks ago she had a heart attack and since then, everything has changed. She was at church on Sunday and we had a great lesson with her (and great Brazilian lunch!) this week. She is praying a lot to know if the 30th is when she should be baptized. We hope she recognizes her answer.

Right here by the office there is a Chinese restaurant that we go to sometimes. There is a really nice guy who works there and speaks English so we hit it off really well with him and invited him to English class. He told us his name is Elias...but mostly because his Chinese name is too hard to say, so he picked that one for Spanish, haha. He came for English class and loved it (and taught us some Chinese as well...nice!). Afterward we gave him a Book of Mormon in English and Chinese and he was really excited to read it. He is a really good guy...about 26 and has lived here in Spain for about 10 years, so he speaks perfect Spanish and really good English. Hopefully he will read and be able to come to church soon.

There is so much to write about! Yesterday we took a trip out to Ronda to contact a reference that we got from a mission in Uruguay. It is a lady named Natalia - her parents were baptized not too long ago and want her to meet with us. She is awesome...but it is a bit hard since she lives 2 hours or so away from Fuengirola. Her husband works in Marbella, so we're going to see if they can figure out a way to come to church on Sundays.

Oh, and have I ever mentioned that Spain is the most beautiful place ever? The drive to Ronda is incredible!!!

Anyway, I gotta get back to work on travel plans and other things. I love you all so much! The church is true! The Book of Mormon is full of peace, joy, and knowledge that we can obtain whenever we're willing to read it and do what God instructs us to do. I'm so grateful to be a missionary!!

Love,
Elder Mockler

Spanish Notaries and Other Adventures...

¡Buenos días!

It has been RAINY here this week! And we've heard next week will be the same. I guess it has to rain at least a few times a year around here. Elder Berrett and I need to learn to carry umbrellas - the other day we walked around with a new missionary to do some residency things and got soaked to the bone. Oops!

This week I got to add a few interesting experiences to my "only in the office" list. The first was that we had to bring the first big group of visa waiters back so they could sign a Power of Attorney with a notary and pick up their residency cards. Here in Spain, a notary isn't just the intern at your local Wells Fargo. To give you an idea, just 1 power of attorney like the ones we did costs between 65 and 80€. All just for a fancy signature! So I got to act important again to get all that done well. The mission van also had a small accident so we had to get creative to fit everyone into our other mission vehicles. But, everything went well. Another residency triumph! We'll do it again this week with an even bigger group.

We had Zone Leader concilio on Monday and Tuesday as well. President Deere spoke about goals and vision as well as obedience. He taught us about how to set a vision of where we want to get to, setting goals to help us along the way, and making plans to meet those goals. It was an incredible learning experience. Yesterday we talked about it again in out zone training meeting in Málaga. The mission is incredible!!!

Elder Berrett and I have been working a lot with a less active man named Alberto. He is doing really well and has started coming back to church. We have had some really spiritual lessons with him lately  - in particular one about the Atonement and another one about the commandments. It has been great to see, more than anything, how much he has changed. He is still pretty quiet, still lives in the same house with about 7 clocks on the wall (none of them are set to the right time), still has to take care of his sick mother everyday, and still has the same family problems. But when we see him now, I can see a new light in his eyes and a happiness about him that wasn't there before. The boredom and stagnation that he felt before has slowly given way under the light of the Gospel in his life. I'm so thankful for that light in my life and how it leads me, guides me, and lifts me up.

I love you!!!

Elder Mockler

Life in the office is not normal.

Bonjour!

Well, another week come and gone. I can't believe how fast it has gone by!

It is strawberry season here in Spain. Most of the fruit here is absolutely incredible...and the strawberries are no exception. The other day a member from the English branch brought 2 big boxes of strawberries to the office and they're amazing. Just thought everyone should know how jealous they should be of me.

We also went to the Málaga castle today which was awesome. Here is a picture of the view of Málaga from on top:

On Thursday morning we got to do another good ol' 3am airport run to take the Stevens, the Senior office couple, home. It was super weird to see them go. But, that's the way it goes! On the way out of the airport a real storm brewed up and some crazy lightning started. By the time we pulled out it had started to rain and before we got to the freeway we pulled over because it was raining too hard to keep driving. Then it started hailing....but not just your normal run-of-the-mill 2 minute hailstorm....it kept going for what seemed like ages. By the time it stopped hailing and raining and we started going, it looked like it had snowed! Spanish engineering isn't always the best, and it really showed because for about half our drive home we were driving through at least 6 inches of standing water...sometimes with little hail icebergs floating in it. It was a good thing we were in the van! Anyway, it was a smashing good time, as the British would say, and we got home slowly but safely.

But life isn't all just eating strawberries and driving around in the middle of the night! This week we have had tons of time to teach, which was been awesome. And on Sunday, the APs had a baptism! A great Cuban man named Ciro. I had the opportunity to do his baptismal interview. He is an amazing person...he was held in prison for many years in Cuba for his political ideas before being sent here to Spain through a program for Cuban political prisoners. He has found great joy in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and drives more than a half an hour every Sunday to get to church in Fuengirola. After the baptismal interview, he asked if I would baptize him, and I got to do that on Sunday. It was a really special service.

The church is growing in Spain!! The English branch was reorganized on Sunday and the Spanish ward barely fits in the chapel anymore. The stake president spoke after the reorganization and said that they have plans to split the current Granada Stake in order to make a Málaga stake and that they plan to create 2 new wards in Málaga in the next year or so. So awesome! It is an amazing time to be a part of the Lord's work as he gathers those who will listen to his voice and come unto Him so that he may heal them.

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

Andy

The following two photos are from the Spain Malaga Mission blog at:  http://thespainmalagamission.blogspot.com/

Andy at Ciro's baptism

Andy and a group of missionaries at the Stevens' piso

Note from Andy's Mom:  Andy and I have started a sparring match of sorts.  I have started attaching beautiful pictures of Utah to his letters to help him get excited about coming home.  This is what he said about that: "You picked the wrong guy to get in a "beautiful pictures of the place I live" competition with. I'll be fighting your Utah pictures back every week :)"  And here is the picture he sent me.

Specialized Training & The Alhambra

Buenas tardes!

I don't have much time to write this week so I'm just gonna attach a few pictures and call it good. :)

This week we had Specialized Training in Málaga. It was great! It is always good to have big missionary meeting...we learn so much. It was also 1€ pizza day at Telepizza, so we went and got some afterward. AND it got up to 24ºC in Málaga, which is just about the most perfect weather ever, so we stopped and ate it in the park.

Today we went to the Alhambra in Granada! It was SO awesome! And extremely cold (I'm glad I have a good coat!!). It was pretty rainy but we managed to stay relatively dry.

From the towers of the Alcazaba, there are great views of Granada.

There is lots of incredible architecture as well - both Arabic and Spanish. Here is our whole district in a huge circular plaza

And here we are again finishing up and posing in front of the entrance way (don't know what I was looking at! oops.):

Besides all of that excitement we've just been busy busy here in the office. We got 2 more missionaries this week from Chile and they missed their connection in Peru which was a fun puzzle to figure out. But they're here and have all their residency now. Just another day in the life!

We're still reading the book of Mormon as a mission. I am so grateful to have it as another testament of Jesus Christ. It is true and I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer - the only way back to the Father.

I love you!!

Elder Mockler

These two pictures are from the mission blog at http://thespainmalagamission.blogspot.com/.

Elder Mockler, Elder Berrett, Hermana Lovell, Hermana Greenwood, and Elder Spainhower enjoying the sunset in Benalmadena.

Specialized training:  Malaga and Granada zones.

Happy Valentines Day!

Hola!

So myldsmail wasn't really working yesterday so we're finishing our email up today since we have a bit of time. It might be a bit short, though! This week has been a lot slower (finally!!) which has been really nice. We've started being able to do a lot more work in our area and escape from the office more and more which has been great. Elder Berrett also practiced driving a lot and we're proud to say that after almost a year of being companions I have finally taught him to drive (the problem is the teacher, not the student. We never have time for him to practice!!).

I found out this week that Rafy went through the temple! If you don't remember, she is the lady who was baptized one of my first weeks in Algeciras. I don't know if I wrote about it but she actually stopped by the office with Mercedes a few weeks ago to say hi since they had to be here in Fuengirola for something. It is so awesome to see how much they have grown and even cooler to see them set on going to the temple and continuing in the gospel.

We got 2 new missionaries this week, which was a surprise for us considering we were only expecting 1. But, on Wednesday we got a call from a pay phone in Madrid from an Elder Rojas who was quite confused as to where he should go. At the time, Elder Berrett and I were in an appointment (in the coolest apartment ever, I might add - looking out the windows made it feel like we were on a boat...nothing but the sea!), so between us and the APs we got him on a train here. Luckily he is a smart guy and a good sport. He is from Mexico and loves it here already (as we all do) except for the lack of Mexican food - and he said that Taco Bell made him want to throw up haha. Anyway, only 2 short mornings of residency work and we'll just have 2 more this week. A nice change from 15!

This week I finished 2nd Nephi in my Book of Mormon reading. I love 2 Nephi 25:13:

"Behold, they will crucify him; and after he is laid in a sepulchre for the space of three days he shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings; and all those who shall believe on his name shall be saved in the kingdom of God. Wherefore, my soul delighteth to prophesy concerning him, for I have seen his day, and my heart doth magnify his holy name."

I'm grateful to know that Jesus Christ rose on the 3rd day and because of that we will someday rise as well. I'm grateful that he heals us and for the opportunity to teach others of that great sacrifice.

Have an awesome week!

Elder Mockler

Almost to Elder Berrett's year mark...

¡Hola!

So, this week Elder Berrett will have been on his mission 1 year. Pretty crazy that we've been together so long!!

Well, another week come and gone! It has been a little less crazy, finally. We did finally have almost a whole PDay today!! We went and played soccer at the church with a bunch of members after cleaning the capilla a little bit. I noticed that I've gotten way better since I've been here. That isn't saying much, though, considering how bad I was before, haha.

This week we received 11 new missionaries! They just keep coming. We had to do all the residency madness with them, but we're getting pretty good at it so although it was the biggest group yet everything came and went without too much madness. Well, there was still plenty of madness, but everything went well and we were all way less stressed! We also sent 8 missionaries home, so we got both ends of the spectrum. It was pretty weird since I knew all of the departing missionaries really well. Lots of them were picked up by their families so we only had to take 2 on the 4am airport run which was nice.

Well, I can't think of too much more that's new around here. Life is awesome here in Spain! I hope all is well in the US, too! We are reading the Book of Mormon as a mission lately....I love it! It brings so much peace and knowledge to our lives. Read it lots this week!!

Love,

Elder Mockler

Has it really been a week?

I can't believe how fast time has gone this week! It has been another crazy one but we feel like the smoke is finally beginning to clear and that in a week or two things will be back to normal. I think I've said that a few other times around here and it hasn't ever happened, so maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up too high. But that is what makes being in the office so darn FUN!

This week Elder Teixeira (our area president and a member of the first quorum of the seventy) came to do a small mission tour. It has been awesome to have him here. On Tuesday and Wednesday we had zone leader concilio a week early so he could be at it and then we had a huge zone conference in Málaga on Thursday. Since he has a very limited schedule, we are only having 2 zone conferences instead of the normal 3, which was been quite the logistical puzzle for us here in the office. We also got the special opportunity of ordering 50 pizzas for the Málaga conference, which freaked out the Málaga Dominos pretty bad, haha. And Ï learned that bringing out pizza in a room full of hungry people brings out the worst in them and generally turns them into wild animals hahaha. In the end everything went great with the conference. He'll do another one in Alicante on Monday, so we're busy preparing everything for that. Fun stuff!

In the conference, Elder Teixeira began by speaking about repentance and gave some really interesting thoughts about it. He spoke about how repentance is the process by which we improve. Anytime we change any sort of behavior to become better, we are repenting. When we truly repent, our view of the world changes and we do things differently because we see that there is a better way to do them. When we look at it like that, repentance stops having a negative connotation - as many people feel it has - and becomes something positive and desirable. That's why we must repent of something everyday! I'm so grateful for a Gospel of progress that allows us to become better.  Whether it be in missionary work, family life, work relations, or anything else, following the Gospel of Jesus Christ and putting our will in line with God's will blesses us and makes us better.

Pray, read the scriptures, go to church, and strive to repent and live the commandments always - that is the opportunity we have. Let's do it!

I love being a missionary!

Have an awesome week! Love you so much!!!

Elder Mockler

running.running.running.running...

Another crazy week!! How many times have I said that in my mission? And what % of those times has been in the office? haha. I feel like we've barely stopped running since last Saturday but that is ok! Lots to be done!

We've received our 15 visa waiters! And we found out we'll be getting 1 more this week from Peru! Elder Teixeira from the area presidency is also coming to tour our mission this week so it looks like it'll be another crazy one. But we've been blessed a lot to be able to take care of everything so far.

Since Spain got 50 new missionaries at once (yes, 50), they couldn't fit them all in the CCM in Madrid to do their residency there. So, they decided to do an experiment and see if they could do their residency here in Fuengirola. So, on top of receiving missionaries 3 days in a row, I had to go get them all empadronado and fingerprinted before they left with their trainers! It was insane but everything went as smoothly as we possibly could have hoped for. Lots of planning and lots of paperwork paid off and they are all legal and on their way to being happy missionaries out in their areas already! Finishing the first group without any problems was definitely in the top 10 most triumphant moments of my life, haha. In the meantime, Elder Berrett was working on getting 3 new missionary apartments in 3 different cities while keeping all the normal financial part of the mission running. Like I said, it has been crazy but it has been fun and rewarding!

Anyway, not much else to say but I decided to make a list of a few things we did this week that are pretty normal to me now, but I don't think used to be:

We ate ice cream out of an orange skin and out of a cocoa bean shell
We pulled 2,000€ out of the bank for apartments and residency
Made oatmeal with milk from a box
We ate chicken curry with an English man and a Belgian woman in a house overlooking the Mediterranean sea
We woke up freezing one night from not using the portable heater and sweating the next night from having the heater up too high. Oops.
Considered purchasing jamon from a shopping card filled with pig legs

But most importantly, we were missionaries this week! I love being here and I'm so grateful to be in the office! I loved this video that came out this week Like Peter, I know that Christ died for us and today lives again so that we may have eternal life.

I love you!!

Elder Mockler

On my list I forgot to add that we literally went running right next to the sea a few mornings this week. How is that for awesome? Love you!

¡Ostras!

¡Buenos días!

So, this week was probably our most normal office week yet. Thank goodness! Elder Berrett and I actually have had quite a bit of time to work in our area during the week which has been grand. On Monday we had concilio, which was a really great meeting (as always), and besides that we haven't really had anything unusual going on!

On Tuesday we got word that we will be receiving on of our many "visa waiters" this week because the Spanish consulate is finally beginning to process our visas for us. We are changing the residency process for her, so Elder Berrett and I will have quite the adventure trying to figure out the new process we are trying out. We are so excited that visas are starting to come through! We're hoping to receive 25 more visa waiters in the next few weeks/months. It'll be crazy!!

This week we were blessed to see a huge miracle. On Wednesday, the APs were out traveling the mission when they got a call from a British number. The lady calling introduced herself as Katie, said she had found our card, and asked to set up a time to meet with us so we could teach her. Elder Berrett and I got her number and called her and we met with her and Jack, a member from the English branch, on Thursday. She is SO awesome and super prepared to hear the Gospel. We all felt the Spirit strongly during the lesson with her. She has 2 children, a 5 year old daughter and a 7 year old boy. We can't wait to see them at church tomorrow! Just goes to show that there are people seeking and finding the Gospel every day - makes me wonder how many more there are who haven't had the luck to find a card or the courage to call the number.

Speaking of miracles, we finally got to meet with a recent convert from the English branch this week who is from Egypt. He converted to Christianity 17 years ago in Egypt and when he did, his family completely abandoned him - they even put a headstone in the family plot with his name, his birthdate, and the date he converted to Christianity for his death date. After being thrown in jail and treated very poorly there, he was released and slowly found his way out of Egypt and here to Spain. That process took 15 long years of persecution. While in Egypt, he investigated many churches through the internet and said he read "everything bad" about the Mormons. But, he always wondered why everyone talked so bad about them if they were a Christian church. Slowly, he gained a testimony of the Gospel and stayed firm in his faith in Jesus Christ until he made it to Fuengirola, Spain, and submitted his name as a reference through mormon.org. That will be a year ago in February.

There are people everywhere searching for the Gospel! I am so grateful to share in the great calling of preaching it. Let's look for miracles every day this week - they are all around us!

Love,

Elder Mockler

Happy New Year!

Happy 2013!!

This week marked the end of my "blackout year," the full year that I'll be a missionary. I found a pocket calendar of the Madrid temple at the beginning of last year and marked off my last day this week. Crazy!!

On Monday we went out to San Pedro de Alcántara, a pueblo a little past Marbella, to eat with a family from the ward. We were able to stay out until 12 and eat the grapes and then head home. Here in Spain at midnight, as the bell tolls for 12:00, they eat 12 grapes, 1 for each chime of the bell. It is definitely way harder than it sounds. I got all 12 in my mouth in time, but it took me another 20 seconds to chew and swallow them all. Elder Berrett was a bit quicker on the draw and ate them all. What a champ. Tons of fireworks...which here mostly means lots of really really loud bombs people set off everywhere. Driving home felt like driving through a war zone. Definitely different from Huércal-Overa last year. We got home and everyone was just going out to party, so the streets were pretty loud. When we woke up, everyone was just starting to go home from the clubs. Good ol' Spain.

So this week we've been getting everything switched over for the new year, especially Elder Berrett. New forms, getting rid of old documents, etc. Fun office stuff. Luckily not much else has been going on, so we were able to be out and teach quite a bit. Hopefully that will continue this week - besides Concilio on Monday, things look pretty calm.

We've got to wrap up, so sorry this is kind of short. I know that we are blessed as we keep the commandments and as we strive to be like Christ. He will lift us up when we fall. I am so grateful to be a missionary - it is the most rewarding work there is.

Have a great week! Love you!

Elder Mockler

Another Week of Adventures!

So we're doing email pretty late because this morning we went with President and Hermana Deere and their oldest son, Jackson, to Córdoba to see the Mezquita. It was awesome! Since I don't have a ton of time I'll attach a few pictures from our trip and then make a few comments at the end if I get a chance.

Here is the "office staff" in the Mezquita! It is so awesome there. At one time there was room for 40,000 Muslims to pray at the same time. Wow! Now there is a giant cathedral built right in the middle of it. The arches are from the original mosque and go throughout the entire building.

Here is Elder Berrett nicely modeling the audio tour phone things we had:

Here are a few pictures from last week's adventure to Gibraltar:

New friend

And, of course, I had to get one of these pictures sometime while I was there (sorry about the crazy red eye...it is Elder Valenzuela's shirt reflecting in my glasses. Dang!)

So, life is great as a missionary! This week we actually got quite a bit of time to proselyte which was much needed. Valerie, our Slovakian investigator, is still progressing little by little, but she is probably moving to Madrid in a few weeks. Luckily there are great missionaries there that can take care of her! We've also been starting to teach a Brazilian lady name Elly (I don't know how to spell it in English) who is the roommate of a Cuban member who just moved here. She met the Elders years ago and loves the Book of Mormon, so we are super excited to have found her again! Besides that we have just been working a lot in the office, making sure everything keeps running nice and smoothly here in the mission. I am so grateful to be a missionary! The Lord is hastening His work and it is marvelous to be a part of it in this time. I know that Christ lives and that through Him we can find eternal happiness.

Happy New Year! Make some good resolutions! Love you!

Elder Mockler

And here is one final photo taken from the mission blog showing Andy and some of the other Elders with President Deere at the Mezquita.

Mission tour!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Well, another good ol' week of office craziness and fun! President invited Elder Berrett and I to go around with them to all of the Christmas Zone Conferences and we just got back last night. More about that later!

So last Monday I went to do some residency for the Stevens, one of the senior couples here, we had our staff meeting, and Elder Berrett and I locked ourselves up in the office trying to get as far ahead as possible on all of our office work for the week until the the trainers came in, ate some pizza, and headed up to the mission home. On Tuesday we were running ALL DAY getting the trainers with their new missionaries, training them on finance and residency stuff, fixing transfer travel problems (my favorite....), and getting everything prepared to leave on Wednesday.

So on Wednesday, we started off the mission tour with Málaga zone conference. In all the conferences we did a white elephant exchange which was a blast. Elder Berrett and I got to translate for all of the conferences, too, which I have really grown to love. After conference, we loaded up with the APs and all the senior couples (there are 3 of them: the Stevens, the Todds, and the Spainhowers) and got on our way to Murcia, which is about 5 hours away. We dropped them off at their hotel and headed to the zone leaders' piso for the night (sleeping 4-6 extra missionaries in a piso is always interesting...and really fun haha). Another conference there on Thursday, and we started the long drive across the country to Sevilla. We got there around 11:30, crashed with the zone leaders again, and got up early to do our last conference in Sevilla. We were all pretty tired by this point, haha, but we had an amazing conference there in Sevilla as well.

After the conference the APs, the Deeres, and the senior couples decided they wanted to go to Itálica (remember that place? The Roman Ruins in Aljarafe), but since Elder Berrett and I had been before, we took advantage of a chance to go an visit Jesús and Angeles. It was so great to see them! They are doing really well. Angeles is pregnant again! That was a big surprise. It was such a blessing for Elder Berrett and I to be able to see them again together. We didn't have too long, though, because we had to climb back in the van and head back here to Fuengirola! We finally got home from washing the cars and unloading around 10:30 last night and just went right to bed.

It is so great to be able to be a missionary during Christmas again. I love Christmas! It is such a great time to think of Christ, our Savior, and His miraculous birth in Bethlehem all those years ago. We watched a really great video in zone conferences of a cello/piano duet of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. It is awesome! I put the link on here.

I love you all so much! Merry Christmas!

Elder Mockler

Still running...

Happy Saturday!

Well, another week come and gone in the office. We started off the week thinking it would be our calmest yet, but all of that has managed to turn completely around and I think we're going to have the busiest weekend of all time. We're getting ready for new missionaries on Tuesday, 3 zone conferences this week (they invited us along this time! yay!), and our 3rd transfer in 6 weeks. So Mr. travel and hotels (that's me) is getting pretty busy. And I love it!

Last night we had our ward Christmas party. It was AWESOME! There were 170+ people there. I have never seen so much arroz con pollo in my life and they cut an entire jamón leg. It was a serious feast! Valerie came and got to meet a lot of the members. Sister Deere came to a lesson we had with her this week and she is helping us tons. We had a few other investigators there as well - a new member in the ward brought his friend Elly (from Brazil) who we have been teaching and tons of other members brought friends and family and it was great to meet them. The primary did a great nativity scene and everything. The Fuengirola ward is seriously the best ever!

So, besides that, we have just been running around getting things done here and trying to teach in any free moment we have. Life is good! Sorry this is so short this week but we have to get to a wedding in about 15 minutes for some of the APs investigators and then back to work on zone conference and transfers. Being in the office is great!

The Church is true! Christ is our Savior and redeemer and was born for us 2,000 years ago in a humble manger in Bethlehem.

Oh, come, all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant
Oh, come ye, oh come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold him
Born the King of angels;
Oh, come, let us adore him;
Oh, come, let us adore him;
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Christ, the Lord.

Love you!

Elder Mockler

Crazy Week Photo Album

Well, here we are. We survived the week! I have quite a few pictures I want to send, so I'll put them in and write a bit about how the week went.

So, on Monday and Tuesday we had Zone Leader concilio. On my way to the office on Monday, I spied a pink tie in a bush by our piso and snagged it. I'm wearing it in a lot of my pictures this week. After concilio, (we ate Hawaiian Haystacks, by the way, mmmmm) departing missionaries started trickling in to have their exit interviews. And they kept coming all day Wednesday. Amongst all the craziness of missionaries coming, we saved the Cadiz Sisters from getting lost in their new area and quite a few missionaries who missed their buses for transfers. Finally on Wednesday night after taking up 3 van loads of missionaries to the mission home, we start loading up all their luggage.

 
 There was quite a bit. We got the van and the cars all ready and headed off to buy some snacks for Thursday morning to keep us awake. Little did we know that we'd run into a REAL ARCTIC OWL in a small food store down the street...

After our owl-y adventure, we got to bed and set our alarms for...drum roll...2 AM!! Which came all too fast. But, we got dressed and grabbed the van to head up to meet the bus and the missionaries. It was Constitution Day here, which means everyone was still out at 2:00 partying...and the police were out to breathalyze a few choice cars in the roundabouts. And wouldn't you know it...they stopped Elder Manning and I! Luckily the police saw nothing suspicious about a large white van full from top to bottom with luggage and just gave Elder Manning the test and let us go on our merry way. We got to the spot we had picked to meet the bus and started unloading luggage and shuttling missionaries down. This next picture pretty well sums up that experience:

So we got everyone and their bags onto the bus and headed to the airport. Good ol' Finance Secretary Elder Berrett dropped a few Euros to pay for everyone's extra bag (a process that takes about 400 times longer here than in the States) and we sent them off to the good ol' USA! After trying to get the seats back into the van and a few other things, it was already 7:00 and we went up to Benalmádena to watch the sunrise for a little bit.

We came home and crashed and woke up quite a few hours later than I ever expected I would as a missionary...but such is life in the office. We sent Elder Nally and Elder Manning off and things got suddenly very quiet around here...finally!...until the APs got a flat tire yesterday and we had to help them fix it. Never a normal day around here...

Amongst all the craziness, we've been able to do a surprising amount of missionary work. Valerie, our Slovakian investigator, is doing well, and we were able to teach her on Tuesday evening. She is reading the Book of Mormon in English but doesn't understand it well and we're trying to find SOME language that she understands a little better. She is progressing, though, and feeling better and better every day. We were finally able to meet with Emili, our new Spanish investigator, as well. He is awesome and super excited to start reading the Book of Mormon. He is going through really hard times right now but I know if he keeps going he will find great blessings in the Gospel. I'm so grateful to be a missionary here in the office! It is an awesome experience and a great blessing. The Church is true and gives us so much if we will just choose to serve God and keep his commandments.

I love you all! Have a great week!!

Elder Mockler

P.S. It's that time of year again, the holidays, and you know what that means....

And here are a few pictures taken from the Spain Málaga mission blog

http://thespainmalagamission.blogspot.com/

Concilio December 4, 2012 

At the bus waiting to take the 21 returning missionaries to the airport