I will always remember my first Christmas on the mission here in Córdoba!  I´m so lucky that I was able to spend it in Spain!  In Spain Christmas Eve is called "noche buena" or "good night" where basically it´s a night where everyone parties and goes hard.  Except for the good Christians of course!! But for noche buena we went to a member´s house named Martin and spent almost all night with his family.  He gave us basically unlimited shrimp and chicken with this amazing honeynut sauce hmmmmm mama mia! And after dinner we played uno for a really long time it got super intense!  I loved it so much and I loved being able to talk to my family on Christmas!! What a great experience that was.

And also somthing happened on Christmas that was basically a miracle. Someone actually called US because they wanted to have a lesson!!! We are always having to call people and do everything ourselves.  But Stephanie and Luigi called us for us to come over and teach them a lesson! So sweet!  I felt so good and I couldn´t believe it! Other than that we didn´t have too much progress this week but I love being here and being able to get to celebrate Christmas in a different culture I love it here! And sharing the true message of Chirstmas which is celebrating the birth of our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ!

Stay sweet everyone,

Elder Stephens

 ​pancake mix! haha there is a costco in sevilla so we told the elders in sevilla to hook us up!!! Pancakes wooooooo!!!

Let me start of with saying Merry Christmas to everyone!!! I am loving it here in Córdoba. This week was really busy.  On Wednesday we had a tri-zone so president came down and talked with all of us in Sevilla.  It was awesome! He talked to us about what happened in the Málaga Mission in 2014.  We had 419 baptisms (now more because that was as of last week) in 2014! And our goal for 2015 is to have 500+! It´s definitely something we can achieve and I hope I can contribute to reaching this upcoming year!  President also gave a good lesson on Self Reliance.  He talked a lot about how we need to learn how to use our money and how we need to live within our means.  He knows a lot about money! So he gave us some really good tips that I can use on my mish and also after! Then after the zone meeting we had a talent show and it was so fun! Me and Elder Wilson did a skit about missionaries who can never get along (we know a lot about how that looks like lol jkjkjkjk) and it went really well! Definitely got a few people to laugh.... I think...

So that took almost all day Wednesday, and Thursday I went to Málaga to get my residency.  It was the first time on the mission I´ve traveled all by myself I was a little nervous because I was in a country where I don´t really know anything but really it wasn´t bad at all.  So I made it safe and sound and spent the night at the mission home with all the people that were in my same group at the MTC! So it was really good to see them and catch up and everything.  So Friday after we got a residency we went back home.  And on the train ride home this absolutely stunning Española sits next to me.  I started talking with her and I ended up telling her the whole story of Joseph Smith and the restoration. I bore some solid testimony and I gave her a book of mormon and she was really interested and wanted to learn more! ! I talked with her basically the whole train ride and I was able to give a lesson in spanish without a companion helping me out! I really felt the gift of tongues in effect when I was talking with her. By the way her name is Glicia, and she lives in Madrid so hopefully something happens with that.

Then Saturday we had our branch Christmas party! And we were there all afternoon and for a small little branch to have an activity like there was it was amazing! Plenty of food and after they had a little talent show as well.  Me and Elder Wilson only saw a little bit of it but it but it was a great activity!  

On Sunday we had a couple investigators at Church! We had Andres the 13 year old and a man named Carlos.  It was a great week this week and I can´t wait to talk to my family on Christmas!! So excited and love you all!

11 December 2014

Stephens, Daniel Gerald Record number: 000-xxxx-xxxx Current priesthood office: Elder

Olympus Cove Ward (90549) Salt Lake Mount Olympus Stake (504319) (322)

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS PRIESTHOOD LINE OF AUTHORITY

PRIESTHOOD LINE OF AUTHORITY Melchizedek Priesthood Conferral and Ordination to the Office of Elder 22 Jun 2014

Ordained By

Brett Allen Stephens
Bryan Hugh Stephens
Gary Lynn Abbott
Dudley Lebaron Jones 24 Feb 1905
John Andreas Widtsoe 31 Jan 1872
Heber Jeddy Grant 22 Nov 1856
George Quayle Cannon 11 Jan 1827
Brigham Young 1 Jun 1801
The Three Witnesses Oliver Cowdery David Whitmer Martin Harris
Joseph Smith, Jr 23 Dec 1805
Peter, James, and John
Who were ordained Apostles by the Savior during His earthly ministry

​                                                   Elder Reid going home to the UK

Hello family! Everything sounds like it went good with Grandpa´s funeral.  I´m sure everyone learned a lot about his life full of service and could appreciate what he did for his family and friends.  So grateful for that example in my life!

This week was really hard but it was good.  We are really being diligent to find people and be obedient.  We found a few people and hopefully we can see some fruits of our labors soon! Elder Wilson and I are really trying hard because we just want 1 baptism together before he goes back to the States in January.  I really hope we will be able to get it.  And I think we will! There is a family with a mom and 3 sons, but only the mom (Cecilia) and the youngest son (Andres) listen to our lessons. They are both really interested though! I think Andres will for sure get baptized and hopefully the mom will.  And if they get baptized maybe that will soften the hearts of the two older sons! A couple days ago we painted a room in their house and that was a great experience!  When we were painting we were talking to the oldest son, Fabian, who is 22.  He is always smoking weed and even when we were painting he was as high as a kite.  He is kind of a bum-actually no he is a straight bum haha- but when were painting we casually asked him if he could replace smoking weed with something productive would he do it and he replied with "yeah for sure" so he still has hope to fix up his life and it would be so amazing if we could help him change!!

We haven´t heard from Nancy since she came to church 2 weeks ago.  She is working all the time and she is never home or answers her phone.  Satan is really trying hard with her and she just doesn´t have any time which is so sad. We are still teaching her daughter Stephanie and Stephanie´s boyfriend Luigi which is great though.  They just moved out of the Nancy´s apartment yesterday so it´ll be interesting for them to have their own separate apartment.  They´re not married though so this week we have planned to teach them the law of chastity.  OHHH I wonder how it´s going to go hah I hope it goes well.

I´m so happy for this opportunity I have to serve.  I´m grateful for my family and the examples I´ve had in my life.  I´m grateful for Christ and that we have a Savior and a way to repent and be better.  I know that through the gospel of Christ we can achieve a happiness that is more full and profound then any type of temporal happiness.  I hope we can all be grateful for Christ and the Atonement this month.  I love everyone and Josh my brotha happy birthday!!

Also if you want to see the funniest video of my companion look up "paul wilson soulja boy" on youtube hahah. And also go to "Sparta Paintball Cordoba" on facebook and you can look at the photos of us playing paintball!

​post-paintball selfie with Elder Moran (he just took his protective gear of so that´s why he has no nametag haha)

                                                         ​Train ride to zone meeting

​                                                    Winter festivities in Córdoba

This week was really great!!! I had a lot of good experiences this week.   This last Friday we had zone meeting and after zone meeting we had intercombios with the zone leaders.  I stayed in Sevilla with Elder Love and his companion went with Elder Wilson.  Sevilla was a great experience! It was the first time being out of my little area.  We had a couple of just super great lessons and one lady felt the spirit so much she was balling her eyes out.  I learned a lot with my time in Sevilla. It was so awesome getting to know the area and especially Elder Love!  He´s awesome, he´s from Arizona and we got along great.  When he teaches he is just super calm and relaxed which is something that I learned.  I learned that when I teach I tend to get super tense because I´m thinking about the language and what I'm going to say and all that.  So sometimes I just need to calm down and take a big breathe and let the spirit do the talking.

So I got home from intercombios Saturday afternoon and about an hour after I got home I got a phone call from president telling me happy birthday then telling me about Grandpa Goodman´s passing away.  It was the weirdest feeling knowing that it finally happened.. I've been preparing for this day to happen because I knew he didn't have too much time.  I knew that he was suffering here so he´s happier where he is now and was received with gladness by all of our family in heaven! I have thought a lot about the influence of G-pa and what a blessing he has been! I am so grateful for all the experiences I have had with him and I know that he is in a great place!!

We had a tough week if you look at the numbers but the lessons we had were quality! A couple investigators are getting close to wanting to be baptized and hopefully I´ll get to baptize with Elder Wilson before he goes home!  If not it´s not all about the numbers, but I really hope we can get a baptism.  Work here in Spain is hard but just have to have faith and be obedient!!

BEST P-DAY EVER today though!! We went paintballing! For me it was the first time I´ve ever gone paintballing and it was awesome! I have some pics but I´ll send more next week.  The people that went were the four missionaries in Cordoba, Adrian (presidents son), Aldo and his son Diego (Diego is a member but his dad isn´t so it was awesome we got Aldo out!), and Marta (a 16 year old less active).  SO FUN! We went because Elder Reid, one of the other Elders in the other companionship, is dying this week and going home to England. So he had a great last p-day and I´ll miss the guy a lot!

First transfer in the field almost in the books.  Time is flying by so fast!

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!! I had a pretty good one!  One of the members in the church was going to make food for all of us but he called in the middle of the day Thursday and said he was out of town and couldn't do it.. So what we did for plan B is we went to an American Restaurant called Foster's Hollywood.  It was so good!! I had a burger that tasted just like home hahah.

This week we had a goal as a mission to get 250 investigators to church.  So this week me and my companion worked really hard to help with that goal.  We invited everyone and of course everyone said ¨oh not this week but for sure next week!¨ So Sunday came and we had 0 investigators that were committed to come.. We prayed really hard that morning that somehow we could get someone to come.  We got there and Elder Wilson decided to give Nancy one more call (she hasn't answered our phone calls for over a week now) and she answered and said ¨Hi! Stephanie (her daughter), Luigi (Stephanie´s boyfriend) and I are going to come we're getting dressed right now!¨ So they came and I was so happy that we did our job for the mission to reach 250!!!! The mission only got to 210 but it´s 20 or 30 people more than what we usually get so it was a good week for the mission!  God does answer prayers people!

 So after Church Nancy, Stephanie and Luigi invited us over for lunch! Nancy´s food is so good! I don't know if all Latinos cook like her but if they do missionaries over in Latin America are so lucky haha.  After the lunch we had a really good lesson on the plan of salvation.  I want this family to get baptized so bad! But it´s up to them if they want to know the truth they need to look for it.  It´s just so hard because of work (Nancy is working everyday and that´s why she doesn´t answer our phone calls...) So I know one day they will get baptized it just depends when they find the time to look for the truth! I hope they do while I am here.

Hola!! This week was really great!! We had a mission reunion in Málaga this Thursday because a representative, Elder Kearon, from the first quorum of the 70 came to speak to us!!!! It was literally such an amazing experience! He talked about a bunch of stuff (in English) the meeting took almost the whole day.  But it was so amazing! He is from England and has such a heavy accent.  It was so funny at the most random time when he was talking to us he goes "by the way if you couldn´t tell I´m a Brit".  But he was amazing! He talked about a bunch of stuff and some of the things he talked about was we CAN DO HARD THINGS, how we can always think highly of ourselves and we can´t control whether people listen to us but we can control creating an envirement for the spirit to testify!

Somthing that happened that touched my heart was we went over to the President of the Branch´s house to teach his daughter who is going to get baptized in a few months.  President has a son who is 17 named Adrian and he is so awesome!  But it´s hard for him to be excited about church because there is only 3 young men in the branch and he´s the only one above 14.  So he just doesn´t really have any friends at church.  So me and my companion have really been trying to befriend this guy!  And when we went to teach the daughter the mom told us something that he told her.  He told her that no missionaries like Elder Wilson and I have tried to befriend him like we have.  He said that we make him "feel like a normal human". So when I heard that I felt so great!!! We´re going to get him to come to some lessons with us and today we went and played soccer with him and it was so much fun!! He is so funny and he is a great friend!

This gospel is so amazing and I´m seeing miracles everyday it´s so great to be out here!

 about a 15 minute walk from my apartment!

First things first last week I forgot to send my address of my piso for mail!  You can send me mail at:

Elder Stephens

c/ Historiador Manuel Salcines #2 ¨1º2¨

C.P. 14004

Córdoba, Córdoba

España

This week has been really good!!  We have found a few new investigators which is really great!! A lot of people here in Spain work A TON and they say they don´t have any time for us to visit..  I hate it when people say they have absolutely 0 time for us to visit because I know even if you are working really hard they probably have at least 15 minutes at some point in the week for us to come by.  People here really do work a ton but literally 0 time for us to visit?? It´s hard but you know we just have to deal with it. 

But quick funny story here in Spain it´s custom to give a kiss on one cheek and then the other when you greet someone or are leaving them.  Obviously it´s against the rules for missionaries to do it so we have to keep our guard up. So no one has ever tried to do it to me until this week.  We were giving a lesson to these girls from Cuba who are studying here and it went really well.  When we go to leave I wasn't really paying attention and when I shook her hand next thing I know her face is on my face.  I pretty much just scream and jump back and say ``ahh soy misionero no puedo!!!`` And she just looked at me and gave me the weirdest look ever.  And it was super awkward and now I learned the lesson to always keep my guard up for the salutation kisses so I don´t have another awkward situation like that again.. 

But the work is going pretty good!! It´s just hard because people work so much and are hardly ever home.  But we have a few investigators and we're going to try to get them a baptism date this week! Hopefully it´ll work out it will make me so happy!

We have one investigator who really had a hard week.  His name is Herman and he´s from Africa and this week he got kicked out of the apartment he was staying at and his mom died..... So he´s really struggling and we're really trying to help him out.  He doesn't have anything to eat and nowhere to sleep and he can´t find a job because he doesn't have papers.  So he´s really struggling. Me and my companion have really tried to help him out. Our investigator Nancy gave us some bread and some other food and we went ahead and took it to Herman so he would have some food! I´m sure he really appreciated it and hopefully his life will get better.  

I love it here though and I'm having a great time!

So I´m in a city called Córdoba!  It´s amazing and there is so much history in this city! It´s awesome! In 2 sentences basically it was a city under the Roman Empire.  Then when the Roman Empire fell the Arabs came in and settled, then after that the catholics came in and retook the city. Very quick history but it´s so awesome!

My companion´s name is Elder Wilson.  He is from Brownsville, Texas he lives 10 minutes away from the Mexican border.  He´s such a great guy! He is going home after he is done training me.  So he only has 12 weeks left.   But we are really working hard.  In Córdoba it´s only a tiny little branch.  There is over 100 members but only half are active.  So we´re working hard to get the church going here!  

I love it here in Córdoba! The people´s accent here is insane.  They don´t say their  ¨s´s¨whatsoever.  So they´ll say ¨adio¨and ¨uno doe tre¨and when they try to pronounce my name they butcher it so bad.. They say it like ¨tefen¨so bad haha I want to laugh every time.

But we are working really hard and we found a golden investigator!  Her name is Nancy.  She is probably in her 40s and when she answered the door she said ¨oh my niece just got baptized in your church back in Ecuador last sunday i want to here more about you guys¨ and me and my companion look at each other and we´re both thinking praise the lord! haha but this was two days ago saturday night and her and her daughter came to church yesterday! They are so awesome and i know they felt the spirit and hopefully things will go good!! 

My spanish is going pretty well.  When I teach I´m butchering the language so bad but I´m trying so hard to speak and the people I´m teaching can see that and they really try and understand what I´m trying to say.  But it´s great i´m thankful for my companion who can translate when I don´t understand... Which is a lot because people here skip half of the syllables in every word haha but it´s great!!  By the time me and my companion are done here they´ll be 3 wards in the city!! Just kidding but we´ll make it closer to becoming a ward!

I leave to Malaga tomorrow morning at 7! I´m so excited! they´re giving me some time to write now because I won´t be getting a p-day most likely this week... But I can´t wait to find out where I am going and I hope everyone is doing great back at home!!!

Hello! Final week at the MTC and we get the boot on out of here!  I'm excited to go out into the field!  We leave Tuesday morning.  And the president of the MTC said he thinks that the P-day in the Malaga Mission is Monday so I probably won't write next week at all.  But I've had so much fun here at the MTC!  I've gotten to know everyone here even all the teachers and everything! I didn't know of one person when i showed up and now I have friendships that will last throughout and after the mission!

 

But this week what has really stood out to me is how  the Book of Mormon and the Bible support each other.  Lets be real we don't really pick up the bible like we do the Book of Mormon.  The Book of Mormon should definitely be first on our study priorities!  But the bible is so amazing as well!  I've gotten to love the scriptures here in the MTC!  They are so awesome!  Not only are they cool and interesting for historic purposes but are so amazing and they can answer all the questions you have!  I love all the scriptures and I wish I had read them all before the mission! But scriptures are awesome i love reading them!

 

I am so excited to go out into the field!  Apparently people in Southern Spain speak insanely fast and it will take me a while to get used to!  But I hope my spanish sky rockets once I get into the mission field!  My teachers are saying that I'll be fluent in no more than 3-4 months.  I hope that is true!

 

Only a couple more days here in the MTC!  It's been great getting to know the people here and it's time to get the boot into the field!  I'll let you guys know where my area is of course!  There is a sister in the MTC is best friends with an Elder in Malaga and she said last week for his p-day his district went paint balling! So hopeully I'll get to do stuff like that on my p-days! love you all!

Hello everyone! My week has gone great! Last p-day we got to go to downtown Madrid and walk around all the shopping malls it was so great! It´s so fun at this MTC on p-day we get to go and see the city!  This p-day after lunch we are going to the Prado museum! One of the most famous museums and I get to go! Even though I don´t really care about the arts haha it will be fun to experience it!  I get along with everyone great here at the MTC it´s so fun that I know everyone here.

It´s amazing how this MTC was not how I expected at all.  A bunch of the sisters here are from Utah but I´m the only Elder in the MTC from Utah which amazes me.  I´m getting to know a lot of different people.  The other elders are from Arizona, Florida (my companion), Canada, UK, Ukraine, and Russia! The Russians and Ukrainians are leaving after this week but they´ll be replaced with native Spaniards! I can´t wait to impress all the natives with my Spanish!  Jk I won´t haha. But the Spanish is going good, I can understand about 70 perect of what a person says when they speak slow, and I get my point across when talking!  I hope I´ll be able to communicate well with the native Spaniards when they come next week. 

I love it here though! It´s so great to be here! And conference was amazing! Hearing all the talks while being a missionary was a special experience! Sister Marsh from my district is a granddaughter of Elder Nelson from the 12.  And his talk was during 1 the 2 sessions that we got to here live! So it was so great to be with her when she got to hear her grandpa speak live! 

Most of the people here are doing good! There was a sickness that went around and almost everyone felt some effects from it.  I felt sick for about 3 hours, and after one of the classes I went in the bathroom and threw up… But after I did I felt good and I´ve felt great ever since! 

There are a few people in the MTC who are really struggling with the language.  Everyone struggles a little bit, but the language will come to everyone, some just faster than others haha. A lot of people here feel a lot of stress but I don´t know why there literally is no need to stress.   I try to tell people that are stressing out that the language will come you just have to be diligent and not waste time and things will go into place! 

I love it in the MTC, most the Spanish speakers here got their calls in April like me! So I´m not by myself in getting called later than expected haha.

This week has been really fun! I was really tired the first week because of the 8 hour difference and also since I was used to sleeping in until 11 every morning for the previous 5 months haha.

But after I wrote last week we got to go to downtown Madrid!!! It was so fun. I took some pictures if I have time I´ll send them today. But Spain is so great! I absolutely love the accent. Spain Spanish >>>> Any other spanish. I am really trying hard to pick up the accent speaking with the ¨th¨ sound. My spanish is going good when I teach lessons to practice investigators I can pretty much get across the whole message. I struggle here and there and I also struggle understanding people when they talk to me but that will come in time.

MTC is going good! We said goodbye to the Portuguese, Russians, and French (the one elder my companion haha). It was sad to see them go but it´s ok they all have the best testimonies and will be great missionaries. As those missionaries left we got a bunch of native Russians to replace them. They are all really intimidating because a few of them are 6´2¨6´3¨over 220 pounds I would say. And also they are Russian which is just scary, and the only time they laugh is when I try to pronounce their names... I haven´t played sports with them yet but I´m confident when I do I will establish my dominance over them lol. They speak a little English some better than others but it will be fun to get to know them!

But also I got a new companion when Elder Pien left. His name is Elder Moore he is great! He was in the provo MC for 2 weeks waiting for his visa.  But he finally got it and came at the perfect time!  If he didn´t come my companions would be two guys from another district.. So he came which is good!  So we teach practice lessons to investigators and before he came I would teach with two of the sisters in my district.  It was fun but it was just kind of weird to teach missionary lessons with my two female companions haha.  But now that Elder Moore is here I can feel normal when teaching practice lessons!

 So I´m lots of fun and today we´re going to go to a mall! I don´t know which  one but I´ll for sure take some pictures!  And i´m going to get my haircut for the first time today which is weird because I thought they´d make me cute it the second I got here.  I´m pretty sure right now I have the longest hair out of any missionary in the world.  Seriously though haha when I pull my hair down the front of my face it goes past my eyes haha so definitely in need of a cut.

But my favorite part here at the MTC is on Saturdays we get to be real missionaries! We go to the park and walk around and talk to people.  The park is unbelievably pretty it´s amazing.  It´s also so big there´s no way that I will be able to see the whole thing the 6 times I go to the park! So we get there at about 10:30 or 11 and we teach people until 12.  AT 12 all the missionaries at the MTC meet at one of the fountains in the middle of the park and we sing for about 15 minutes! It´s really fun!

I hope everything is going good for you guys!!

Hello! I´m alive everybody! I love the people here in Spain!  The MTC is so great (even though sometimes it feels like a prison).... The reason why its so great is because everyone here is so happy and willing to work!   They only give us 30 minutes to email so that´s really sad so hopefully in the field I´ll get more time to say everything I want to say!

 There are 28 missionaries total in my MTC.  It´s a lot different than other MTCs but I really like it because I can get to know everybody here! Most the people here are going to spain. There are 6 that are going to Russia, 5 going to Portagul and 1 that is speaking French (my companion).  So this MTC is 1 zone and I am lucky enough to be the zone leader!  It´s so awesome to be here and to get to know people from all over the world!

My district is so amazing! It´s just me and 4 other girls! The girls are the sweetest girls and I love being with them because they are the hardest workers and want to be good missionaries.  So yes I´m not in the same district as my companion, he is in a district by his lone self learning French.  But my district there is Hermana Olson (Montana), Ratliff (cali), Toone (Jordan High), and Marsh (Murray High).  I´m the only boy so I´m designated district leader haha.  I wish I had time to talk about all these girls but they are so amazing!

My Companion is Elder Pien from Canada.  He is asain and the the first time I met him he pretended that he hardly spoke english. After ten minutes he finally told me he spoke English and it was so funny because I completely believed him.  He is sooo funny and everyone loves him.  He was struggling being in a district by himself so I tried to come in to his class and ask him how he´s doing as much as he could.

Ugh I wish I had more time! I love and miss you all!

http://flipagram.com/f/IlDDVOShFP

"Here is the first email from Kathleen at the Spain MTC: ...Before dad asks, there are 26 missionaries in the MTC and I travelled with 11 sisters and one poor elder." - See more at: http://hermanasykessalliesforth.blogspot.com/2014/09/i-love-mtc.html#sthash.8ySZl3xO.dpuf

Hello! I finally made it to the  Spain MTC after long hours of flying.  I was the only male missionary on the flight I flew with 11 sister missionaries so that was fun!  It wasn´t what I was expecting but it was a good time.  My p-day is Thursday but we won´t write this week so I won´t be able to write again until next thursday...

 

But I´m excited to be here! The temple is write next to the MTC and it is so beautiful.  The people here in Spain really do have a different dialect.  It´s kind of a lisp but it´s cool I like it.  I´m glad to be  here and I´m excited for my first week here in the MTC!