A Pretty Good Week

Hey everyone! Hows it going? Things are going great here in Crevillente. We made quite a bit of progress this week. First off, we finally got in contact with a less active member here. I have been trying since I got here and missionaries have tried for over a year. I´ve called him, passed by with members, asked his relatives for new numbers...everything! But my companion called him ONCE and he answered. We had two appointments with him last week. I guess I have a lucky companion. Joseph came to church yesterday along with three other investigators. We actually showed up to church with five people tagging along with us. Florente, Lorena, Veronica (less active member), and the children of Florente and Lorena. The branch seemed to be happy about that. Domingo is still Domingo. Its really hard for him to progress because he can´t hear. He´s been coming to church for the longest time now and meeting with missionaries for almost a year. But he still has no idea whats going on. I´m not just saying that. We watched The Resoration movie with him and I translated and afterwards I asked him if he knew who Joseph Smith was and he said NO. I was thinking ¨you´ve gotta be kidding me¨ haha. Its just going to take a little more work. Yesterday something pretty crazy happened. Jose Garro, our deaf member, has been talking to me about how his wife has been really mad at him for the last month and thats why she doesn´t come to church. I saw his wife in the street last week and asked if we could pass by on Sunday. She seemed fine with it so we wrote it down in our planners and planned to try and help out a little. It didn´t turn out so well. By the end of it José and his wife were screaming at each other because there was miscommunation. She thought he was talking bad about her when really he was talking about a book. Go figure. It was actually really sad. We left the house kind of flustered. I don´t know if any of you have seen a deaf couple fight, but its pretty intense. The only blessing I can see from this is I´m pretty sure I´ll never be a bishop because all I did was create a bigger problem. No just kidding. We are going to talk with the branch president to see if there is anything he can do. Its lasted too long now. Other than that everything is going good here. We have plenty of work to do and we are finding more investigators. I really love the mission. I am learning tons of things about the gospel and myself. It really is a once in a lifetime experience. OH! Bryson congrats on turning in the papers! You´re going to Mexico with all your brothers down there. I know this is Gods work and that really everything depends on Him. I´m so thankful that I´m able to experience this. I love you all and I hope you have the best week ever! Bye bye. Love, Elder Langston

5/17/10

Well another week gone. Time seems to be going by so fast. I don´t have a whole lot to report this week but thank you all for the emails. It sounds like everybody is doing good. I sure hope so. Well this week we made progress with Lorena. She was a little hard to get a hold of in the past but this week we were able to have two appointments with her. Both of them went really well. She prayed by herself for the first time and it made me so happy. We are really trying to help her develop faith. I asked her what she thought of when she heard the word God. Her response was¨nothing¨. It was really sad to hear that but it gave me the opportunity to testify of who God is and what we mean to Him and how he has a plan for us. She asked me how I knew God lived and I pulled out the good ol wind analogy haha. I asked her how she knew the wind existed. She said ¨I can feel it¨. I think it was then that she understood. Then I explained I know God lives by sharing some of the blessings I have in this life and the miracles I´ve seen. It was a really neat experience. I was on exchanges with a brand new elder and he was so happy afterwards. Haha he kept saying ¨that went really well¨ and how he felt the spirit. It was fun to see a new elder experience a good appointment and be so happy afterwards. Other than that I don´t have much more to say for the week. We are still here working, trying to make something happen. I just want you all to know that I love you and I´m so grateful that I have each one of you in my life. I know Christ lives and through Him we can return to the presence of our Heavenly Father and live with our loved ones forever. I´m so glad that I know that. Thanks again for all that you do.

Love, Elder Langston

5/10/10

Hey everybody. Happy mothers day to all you mothers out there! I hope it was a good one. And I hope the rest of you people that aren´t mothers are doing good as well haha. Lets see...My first week with Elder Paolinelli was kind of a long one. We just couldn´t get into peoples houses! We tried and tried and tried some more but nobody seemed to be home. We actually saw Derlis´ girlfriend that is a member and she told us he doesn´t want anything to do with the church. I guess that explains his disappearance. Lorena was doing well but I´m afraid she is also avoiding us. We need some new people to teach! President Hinckley sent me an email and said he thinks the key will be working closely with the branch president. He holds the keys to missionary work in Crevillente so he needs to call the shots. We are just his servants. The branch president has been working hard with us so I´m hoping we´ll see success soon. We actually met a guy in the street on Saturday night that is really interesting. He actually contacted us. He already knows a lot about our church but he told us he is a Christian and doesn´t pertain to any specific church. He was trying to wow us with his knowledge though. I won´t lie, he is a smart man. His name is Joseph but he said it a different way the first time. I asked him if it was hebrew because it sounded like it to me. Luckily I was right so I didn´t look like a complete idiot. It was like Yasephuh. But anyway he is a smart man but just has a couple doubts. We are going to start to work with him this week. Other than that I don´t have much to report this week. Lets hope things pick up so I have some good stories! I hope you all have a great week! The church is true. There is no doubt about it. Thanks for all you do for me and know you are in my prayers.
Love, Elder Langston

I'm going to speak Italian.

Hey everyone! Transfers came and no I´m not going to Italy. My new companion is Italian and I stayed here in Crevillente. I guess the Lord has something more for me to do here. Or maybe President Hinckley just wants to send me off to the Málaga mission haha. Actually that won´t happen until next transfer. So if I stay here one more time...bye bye Barcelona. But I´m really excited to get my new companion. His name is Elder Paolinelli. I don´t remember how to spell his name but I already know him. He was in my district when I entered the mission and I actually taught my first lesson to investigators with him on exchanges. We get along really well. He always told me I´m the best and that I would be a leader for everybody haha. I love the kid. He doesn´t speak english so I will be speaking spanish almost always. I have to help him learn english though so there will be some breaks here and there. And you better believe I´m going to take advantage of his italian. I want to learn as many languages as I can! He also speaks Portuguese. Ok now I´ll talk about the work in Crevillente. We didn´t find any new investigators and still can´t get ahold of Derlis but we did have an appointment with Lorena. We challenged her to baptism and she said that its a little soon to talk about that. In this mission we always challenge baptism right off the bat. She is really sincere and I know she has felt the spirit so we are going to keep working with her. The only problem is she didn´t show up to church and she said she was going to come with a member. We also had another appointment set up for Sunday and she wasn´t there and wouldn´t answer her phone. I hope she isn´t just avoiding us. That would make me feel really bad because I know she has felt something and this is what she needs. Well I don´t have much more to report. Things are a little slow right now but I guess that means I need to make things happen right? I know everything depends on the Lords will but I need to show my faith by working hard and acting like everything depends on me. I have been reminding myself that a lot lately. I love you all so much. Thanks for everything again. I know God lives and that feeling His spirit is the best thing in the world. Its something we should always strive to feel. I hope you all have a great week. Toodles

Love, Elder Langston

Last week of the transfer 4/26/10

Hi everybody. How are we doing? Well the last week of the transfer is already here. We will be receiving the call to know if I´m staying or leaving on Sunday night. The rumor is that I´m staying because my companion has to leave to take care of some residency issues. Whatever happens, happens though right? That means I will be getting my third companion in Crevillente. This week we had less appointments and Derlis has disappeared! He is our investigator that had the baptismal date and now we can´t get a hold of him. We call him, pass by his house, we have even talked to his girlfriend and we still just can´t find him anywhere! Hopefully we find out whats up this week. He is a really good guy. We have good news with a different investigator though! Her name is Lorena and she has gone from being not sure that God exists, to wanting to come to church and reading the Book of Mormon for two hours straight! She is passing through some hard times right now. I testified to her that the Book of Mormon is full of God´s words and that we can find the comfort we need from it. I know its true. I have opened up the Book of Mormon so many times after praying and the answer is right there in front of me already marked just so I can see it easier haha. It testifies to me that God really is looking over me and that He loves me. We also had a special conference with Elder Hinckley (President Hinckleys brother) last week. It was so good. For one part of the conference he randomly chose elders and sisters to come to the front and teach the first lesson in front of everyone. They did that twice and each pair of missionaries was so scared because a member of the 70 and President Hinckely was watching them. To make it even harder we had to do it in english. I know that doesn´t make sense but it really is harder. Then after the two sets of missionaries did the role play, Elder Hinckley said he needed somebody else to do something. So he said "how about that missionary right there." He pointed to me. I was so nervous! But he said "We´ll go easy on Elder Langston." I was so thankful haha. I just had to pretend I was his investigator and respond to a baptismal invitation he made to me. I was still shaking the whole time. Needless to say, the conference was a blast and I learned so much. From both the Hinckley brothers...I guess you can call them that right? Well I love you all! I testify that Christ lives and He knows what we feel. I know He is our Savior and that this is His work. Have a great week, every single one of you. Adios