"P" got baptized and I'm back in Madrid

Ppphhheeeewwwww what a week. "P" GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!! :) and I got transferred.... pretty much broke my heart to leave Las Palmas... like my heart has been thrown on the floor and stomped on a little... but now I am in Madrid...I love Madrid!  We also are in the area of the temple so I´m sooooo excited about that! We actually have a pretty legit view of the temple from our piso... we live on the next street over!

Well well well where to start. I´m going to start with "P" :) He got baptized! I would like to share his whole story. 

So Hna Smith and I found him the first day of our companionship and he was baptized on the last day of our companionship! :) We were teaching his brother and that´s how we found him. He loves the Bible, loves the word of God, it really was a blessing to teach him. So we extended a baptismal date at first and he was all for it... not so sure if he really understood what we meant. So we keep teaching him and bring up his baptism a little later and he told us that he was already baptized in the Catholic church and in the Evangelical church and he didn´t need to get baptized a third time. So we kept working with him... we tried to explain baptism in every way we could think of... we explained Priesthood authority I don´t even know how many times. It got to the point that we didn´t really know what to do. We really could see the potential he had, but he wasn´t progressing.  We decided to teach the Plan of Salvation and explain our purpose here.. we didn´t get very far in the lesson before we realized that we were supposed to teach something else. We had an amazing lesson on the gift of the Holy Ghost. We taught about the blessings that we receive, the power and comfort we can feel, and how baptism isn´t complete without the Gift of the Holy Ghost. In this lesson he completely changed his demeanor. He really understood everything we have been teaching him and he then had a desire to be baptized AND receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. He really changed his life around after that. We could see it in his face, he was happier, he was feeling the spirit. He started reading the scriptures consistently, he started praying more earnestly. It was incredible to watch. He was still smoking and we were worried that that would be a problem... poco a poco he was cutting down but he still had 3 every day for about a week and he wasn´t giving those up. Then we had a lesson about the Atonement and how Jesus Christ can help us. He quit after that, he hasn´t smoked since and yesterday he was baptized with someone who holds the Priesthood authority of God! It was amazing! :)

Well yeah Saturday night I got the transfer call... Hna Smith is staying in Las Palmas and I´m heading to Madrid.  Bore my testimony and looked out at my ward that I LOVE SO MUCH. Seriously a part of my heart will always be in Las Palmas with the faithful members who I love so much, who have taught me so much, and who have changed my life for the better!  It was fun on the plane to go through and read the notes that the members and investigators gave me.  OH MAN I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!

So the baptismal service was awesome! "P" has had a rough life, but when he emerged in white I couldn´t help but smile. Everyone has that potential.. to be so clean and pure!  Oh man right after he emerged out of the water he looked over at us and gave us a HUGE smile. It was so cute! So then we were waiting in the chapel singing songs and I think it finally hit me that I was leaving and I don´t know what happened and I am still really embarrassed... haha but I just started crying! "A" who was sitting right next to me, leaned over and said ´Hna Fowers´ ´yeah´ ´I´m going to get baptized. and when I do. I´m sending you the pictures´ :) good kid, good kid... had to smile through the tears.

Also we said goodbye to "F"... tough, tough... but he thanked us for everything. Apparently before we found him he was really sad and didn´t really believe that God would answer his prayers. When we started teaching him he changed his life around, started to be happy again and regained that faith that God can answer prayers. As I was leaving he turned to me and said. ´I promise you I´ll get baptized... I just want to feel ready, but I promise.´ (we have an inside joke about pinkie promises... I´ve tried to get him to pinkie promise me sooooo many times, and he always just laughs at me....) but after he said that I stuck out my pinkie promise and instead of laughing it away, he pinkie promised me!:) haha  Such a little thing but it made me soooo happy!!! :) So many people getting ready to be baptized. I guess I just wasn´t meant to be there to watch it happen. :) God knows best.

As I was on the airplane this morning I was looking out the window... I watched as the shore approached and I thought about my time in Las Palmas. I thought about all the people, all the adventures. I was sad as the shore passed out of my view... but I looked ahead. It was dark and all I could see was the ocean, but then I watched as the sun began to rise. All across the horizon there was a beautiful line of color- bright orange and pink. It was so beautiful. I watched the sunrise. I thought about how the sun has set on my time in Las Palmas...but with a sunset comes a sunrise and the sun has risen on my time here in Barrio 6! :) I´m excited, I look forward to the people I´m going to meet here and the friendships I´ll make forever!

We´re going to find, teach, baptize, and confirm people here!!!! :)  I really am excited. Change is hard, but I´m ready to find and love the people here and build those eternal friendships here just like in Las Palmas.:)

Sending my love from Madrid. :) I stepped off the plane and heard the theta and they are speaking to us in vosotros... I am definitely back in Madrid! :)

Hna Fowers