Hello Malaga!!! 6/29/10

Hey everybody! Yep it's official. I'm a Malaga missionary now. Yesterday we had our conference and said bye to President and Sister Hinckley. I won't lie it was pretty rough on me haha. The conference was really good though. The Spirit was really strong and for a moment when President Hinckley was testifying he sounded just like his dad. It gives me the chills thinking about it. I'm really going to miss the Barcelona mission. But I'm really excited to meet President and Sister Clegg and learn tons of new things from other missionaries. We get to meet them on the 8th 0r 9th I think. I'm pretty sure I'll be staying in Crevillente 6 more weeks after this Sunday. Oh yeah that reminds me ... I spoke in Sacrament meeting on Sunday and decided to give a little dry humored joke. I got there and said " Good morning brothers and sisters. I'm pretty sure you all know me. My name is Elder Langston and I'm from Crevillente." The members thought it was pretty funny. The Branch President was cracking up behind me. Ok so its not that funny but I have been here a dang long time haha. I really love the members though. The thing about the members here is that they say whats on their mind. For example, there is a member named Pilar in the branch. She is 60, has grandkids, is one of the greatest cooks in the history of the world, and always tells my companion that he is annoying haha. I love it because we eat with her every Thursday for lunch which is the biggest meal of the day in Spain. One Thursday I wasn't there and my companion and the zone leader went to eat at her house. She had bought some fruit for me that only grows here. They are called Nisperos. She knows I love them so when she saw that I wasn't there, she wouldn't give them to the other Elders haha. She saved them and called me the next day to come pick them up from her house. According to my companion, she wouldn't even let him touch the fruit. She also always tells me that I'm going straight to Heaven for having to deal with my companion. She told me that they aren't even going to open the book haha. She says this all in front of my companion! It really is so funny. I'm always busting up laughing when we are in her house. I don't have any news about Jose this week. He left town and we haven't heard from him. I really wish I had something good to report. Oh I just remembered. The branch has an activity planned for next month that they did just for me. They want to learn how to play baseball. Oh boy. It's going to be a mess haha. But I'm excited to see if it works out. The young men in the branch are really excited. I had to say goodbye to more people this week too. The Patriarch and his family left last week for the summer because it gets too hot here. They are one of my favorite families so it was kinda tough saying goodbye. The patriarch made us scripture cases but mine didn't fit, so he just gave me his own haha. I really love that family. Well I hope all you are doing really good. The work is really slow here but we are working. That's what is important. I hope to have more news next week. I know this church is true! I know Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his Son and that through him Christ's chruch was restored. Thats what I'm trying to tell everybody but they won't listen ! Haha just kidding. I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Adios.


Love, Elder Langston

Hi Guys

Hey everybody! How are you all doing? I´m doing really good. After last weeks big news I feel like I don´t have much to say this week haha. We are going to have our last zone conference with President Hinckley next monday so I´m looking forward to that. Just so I can see him again but I don´t really want to say bye. I´m sure all the sister missionaries will be bawling their eyes out haha. Anway, José is doing really good. Yesterday a little miracle happened. Earlier in the week he told us he wasn´t going to be able to make it to church this Sunday. We were kind of bummed about that. But then on Saturday he called us and said he could come! So he made it to church and it happened to be the Sunday that the stake visited Crevillente. The stake president spoke and José loved his talked. The stake president here is an amazing teacher. He´s just a powerful man. I know José felt the spirit really strong in sacrament meeting. While I was up front translating, I kept looking at him and I could see in his face how hard he was thinking about everything. The good thing is all the members know who he is already. He´s already got a bunch of friends in the church. We still aren´t sure about his baptism because we need to work out a few doubts but time isn´t really an issue. He´ll be baptized, i´m sure. I heard some knews from the members that the Lakers won it all. What a shame. Haha everybody in Spain is a Lakers fan because of Pau Gasol. There is one member here named Gabriel that really likes to bother me. He always tells me Spain is better than the U.S. in everything. Speaking of sports that is. I don´t know if he watches the olympics or the special olympics because I think its quite clear the U.S.A controls the basketball world. Well thats all the news i have for the week. I hope you all have a great day and week and that i find you all as well as I did today. Thank you all for the emails and words of support. They really mean a lot to me. I love this mission so much. I know its Gods work. Its a once in a lifetime opportunity that I´m living in. What a blessing huh? Well I love you all and I hope you know it! Until next week. Elder Langston

Transfers Came and.... 6/15/10

Hey everybody! Yep transfers came and there were some changes. But not like I expected. I stayed here in Crevillente with Elder Paolinelli but that means I have a bigger change ahead of me. I´m changing missions. Haha I´m now a missionary in the Spain Málaga mission. Well not right now but as of July 1st I will be. President Hinckley left almost everything the same down here in the south. He only moved one missionary and that was because he called him as his assistant. So yeah, I´m changing missions! Its going to be an adventure thats for sure. It feels like I´m starting my mission all over again. I have a new mission president, I don´t know any of the missionaries, and I will have to learn a new system of doing things. Also, the Málaga mission has a different transfer cycle than the Barcelona mission. Their transfers are in three weeks which means this transfer will be really short! It also means my mission will be lengthened or shortened by 3 weeks. I´m not sure which yet. I´m really excited to meet the new mission president, President Clegg, but its also really hard for me to say goodbye to President Hinckley. He has taught me so much and I loved working under him. President Clegg was actually the mission president in the Spain Bilbao mission but since it got dissolved and the Málaga mission president was at the end of his time, he is now the president in Málaga. Or will be on July 1st. Its been a really interesting transfer. As I said earlier, we have transfers again in 3 weeks but since President Clegg will be new I´m not sure he will change anything here. That means I could be here in Crevillente for 9 more weeks! That would be by far the longest a missionary has been here haha. I already know the name of every single person in Crevillente and their dog haha! So yeah, thats my big news for the week. Also this is for you Dad. I was doing companion exchanges this week with the zone leader and I was in a city called Murcia. We were waiting for a train to come and some guy said ¨We´re going to follow the missionaries¨, but he said it in english. I turned around and asked him where he was from and he said...ST. GEORGE! Haha so I asked him his name and he said Stan Horlacher. I think thats how you spell it. I knew Horlacher sounded really familiar and he said you might know his uncle that is your age and he also has a brother named Rich. Then when I showed him the picture of you and mom and he said ¨Yep I know your dad and mom. I played softball with your dad and he´s really funny¨. Haha I can only imagine. I thought that was pretty crazy though. I told him to say hi if he sees you when he goes back home. Anyway, as for our investigators, José is doing really well. We had a family home evening last night in the branch presidents home with José and his family. It turned out really good so that made me happy. He should be baptized anytime now haha. I don´t have much else to report. Its been a crazy couple of days and I´m still trying to figure it all out. I know God lives and this is His work! I never thought I would change missions but I´ll go where He wants me to go. I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Love, Elder Langston

I love Crevillente

Hey everybody! Are you all doing good? I hope so. I´m doing so good! You are probably wondering why I titled my email ¨I love Crevillente¨. Its because I do haha. Serving here has been the hardest thing I´ve ever done but I´m not complaining. I´ve loved it. Transfers are next week and its very possible that i´ll be leaving. Yesterday in testimony I felt like I had to get up and tell the branch how much they mean to me and how much they´ve helped my testimony. Its true. I told them I come from a huge ward in Utah, but because this is Christ´s church, the only difference between here and there is the number of people in church every week. The doctrine is the same, the organization is the same, and the same spirit is felt. I thanked the members for their testimonies because it has really helped mine so much. I told them about an experience I had with a member in one of the appointments that I will never forget. We were teaching a couple with a member named Gabriel Rivero. He is a big fat happy guy that is always cracking jokes in the branch. Usually when I´m with him I am laughing but this time was different. I remember he was testifying and he said ¨We KNOW this is the true church. And you can know too if you pray and ask God.¨ It was such a simple testimony but it really made my heart burn. I remember thinking ¨He´s right, I do know with every fragment of my soul that this is the true church.¨ It sounds really simple and unspectaculor but to me it means a lot haha. I don´t know if anybody will miss me from the branch if I leave but I do know that i´ll miss them. Actually thats not true. I do know that a little girl named Jennifer will miss me because her mom told me haha. She is always hanging on my arm in church. This week we had success with our investigators again. We taught José and we had a family home evening with him and the branch president. He loved it! He said next time he is going to bring the whole family. Lorena has been difficult to contact again because she moved in with her cousin and we don´t know where to find here. But I think she is doing good. I had a really cool experience with a couple of new investigators this week. They are an african family that study with the Jehovah´s Witnesses so we knew that we were in for a treat. I´ll start the story a few days before the appointment though. I realized that my studies in the morning weren´t as efficient as they could be. I had been selfish and studied too much for my personal needs instead of the investigators needs. So I made a study plan based around my investigators and put it into action. One morning I felt like I needed to study the plan of salvation, so I did. I didn´t know why exactly, but I did. Anyway, in the appointment with the african family, they came up with a whole bunch of doubts for every point of doctrine we taught them. But luckily I was prepared. Somehow I was coming up with scriptures from the old and new testament to back up what I was saying. The husband was trying to find some fault in the doctrine we were teaching but he just couldn´t do it haha. I say that the scriptures came in to MY head because the man had an english bible so my companion didn´t understand. He could have done just as well if it were in spanish. Anyway it just felt cool. Well I´m running out of time but i hope you all know that I love you and you mean the world to me. Thanks for being the best. Talk to you next week! Love, Elder Langston

Weekly General Epistle 5/31/10

Hi everybody! How are we all doing? I´m doing really good! We had a pretty successful week with a lot of news to share. We finally had our first teaching appointment with Joseph. He sure is an interesting man. We found out that he had been a Jehovahs Witness for 30 years and even served a mission. The Jehovahs Witness religion is pretty big here in Spain. Kids actually yell ¨testigos!¨ at us in the street all the time which means witnesses. They think everybody that walks down the street with a tie on is a Jehovahs Witness. Anyway, he told us he left that church 10 years ago because he had realized they weren´t even close to being on the right track. He said they have made changes to scripture and doctrines and thats its just not acceptable. He has been searching for the truth ever since. He really has an amazing story. At the end of the appointment I read Moroni 10 3-5 and he just looked at us and said ¨I don´t have a doubt in my mind that we can know all things through the Holy Ghost. And if you two are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so am I. But first I need to thoroughly study the sciptures¨. I am pretty sure this man will be baptized. The only problem we might face is that he considers his baptism with the Jehovahs Witness valid. He says he did it with his heart and made a covenant with God so it works. He is an intelligent man though and once we really dig in deep about the authority of God and he feels the Spirit, he will change his mind.
I also have news about Lorena. She is progressing but she has told us she will be moving to Mallorca next month. Mallorca is a spanish island 30 minutes by plane from here. She has found work there in a supermarket so she is taking the opportunity and running. We are going to try and baptize her before she leaves of course. If she´s ready that is. Its amazing how much she has progressed. When I first met her she told me she was atheist. Now she is offering personal prayers. Or in other words, she is talking with the God she didn´t believe in 2 months ago. I love how the gospel changes peoples lives! I can see how much happier she is and it makes me happy.
Well I don´t have anything else. Everything gets a little better everyday and I´m always learning. I feel closer to my Heavenly Father than ever before and its such a blessing. Prayer is a pretty awesome blessing we have! I love you all and I am so thankful for all the love and support I get from each one of you. The church is true. Talk to you all next week.