Lots of Traveling

Well hello hello. How y'all doing? I'm doing awesome but really tired. P day came at just the right time haha. It feels like I have been running all over this week. Monday we got back from Gibraltar and on Tuesday I went to Jerez to do an exchange with an elder. When I got back home on Wednesday I had to change and hop right back on a bus to Chiclana to do an exchange and a couple of baptismal interviews. The rest of the week was just running all over the city trying to find people to teach. We taught Rafa again and he loved the lesson. We just talked about the importance of prayer and reading the scriptures regularly. There was a strong spirit present during the lesson and Rafa really felt it. Another thing that helped the Spirit be there was that Rafael's mother in law was there. She is a member but has been inactive for years and years. She testified that she knows the importance of reading and praying and that she has seen the difference in her life as she has put those things on hold during the last few years. She told us that we have helped her so much in the last few weeks and that when she gets back home its time to go back to church and start living the gospel again. It made us so happy to hear that. This week we also taught María and Armando. I don't know if I have talked about them in the past but they are an equatorian couple that we teach weekly. We had a mini family home evening with them to show how its done and they loved it. Pablo came with us and after the lesson he asked if he could just spend the whole day with us. It was way fun just walking around with him trying to help him see how the mission is. Last night a miracle happened but i didn't get to witness it. Elder Smith and his hijo (trainee) were walking back to the apartment and a lady stopped them so they could take a picture with them. She said that she was going to show it to her daughter to prove that she found the missionaries. It turns out that her daughter has read the book of mormon or some other church material and knows that its true. She gave Elder Smith and Elder Barney her address and told them to come visit her. It turns out she lives in our area so it was a bummer for them but a blessing for us. We have been looking all week without much success but then a little miracle like that happens and...Walah! Hopefully its as good as it sounds. I'll be praying. Well familia and friends I love you tons and I know this work is true. I just wish you all could be having the same experiences and meeting the same people I am. Have an awesome week. The church is true.

Love, Elder Langston

I saw the Monkeys

Hey everybody! How are you all doing? I hope everything is going just fine and dandy. Crazy news about Japan! I'm glad Blake is ok. I've been wondering ever since I heard but I got the good news today. This last week was a pretty rough one for us and the whole zone. A lot of traveling went on in the zone for training meetings and stake conference was this week so we turned in some pretty low numbers but we know we can do better. The zone has been doing amazing lately. We have been averaging over 20 lessons as a zone for quite a few weeks going and President Clegg said that hasn't been done in this stake for decades. We are excited and the members are too so thats what is making it work out. Last year we only had 21 baptisms in the stake when we got to December and we already have about 15 this year. Things will be better number wise this week. We had stake conference this week and I loved it. It was a little rough on me though I'll admit. A really shy boy in my ward named Pablo received his mission call to Santiago Chile and he invited us to be there. He was so excited about it and it was fun to watch it happen. We have been letting him come along with us lately to help him get ready and his mom and dad asked me to talk to him a little bit about how the mission is and how it has helped me grow. I told them that I was kind of a shy person before the mission too and that it has helped me a lot. So we have been talking me and him quite a bit in the streets when we go out. We really have lot in common. We've become really good friends in the past few months. He was asked to bear his testimony in stake conference and he thanked the missionaries in his ward for being an example and for working with him. Then he looked at me with a big ol smile and thanked me personally. My face was probably a little red but oh well. He said he knew without a doubt now that this is what he needed to do. It made me feel so good and confirmed to me again that I needed to come to this mission to help someone else even if I didn't know I was helping. Later on in the stake conference the whole congregation stood up to sing "Called to Serve" and I thought I was going to be fine but when I got to the second verse I couldn't do it anymore. The words wouldn't come out haha. I just can't believe its ending and its hard. But I know there is a time for everything too. Today for preparation day we went to Gibraltar to see the monkeys and thats why I am emailing a little late. It was hilarious though. We were soaking wet because it was raining so hard and I have some funny pictures and videos I can send next week. I have one of a monkey sitting right on top of my head. I was wearing a hooded jacket and lets just say its not very clean anymore. It was way fun though. Well I love you all and I know the church is true. I love the gospel so much. Have an awesome week and we'll talk to you soon. Adios!

Shnikeys

Hey everybody! Well we had another good week. We taught 20 lessons for the first time since we had to split the areas here. I was really surprised that we still could since before we were just barely teaching 20 with two wards and now we did it with one. We were pretty happy about that. Patricio is doing good and so is Victor. Rafael is also progressing like crazy. They came back from Valencia and we ate with them and shared a little message on Saturday. The only thing he didn't like about the message was that it was too short but I explained to him that we couldn't be in peoples houses for too long. He understood so thats good. He should be getting baptized really soon. Yesterday and this morning I was in Málaga for the meetings I have there every month. It was awesome like always. President Clegg is an amazing teacher and always brings a huge spirit. He taught us from the first 4 chapters of Ether and kept showing us things that we had never noticed before. He talked to us about being dedicated to becoming disciples of Christ. He asked us some questions that really made us think about our life and our personal conversion. He asked us how much we really understood about the gospel of Christ and if we applied it to our lives. I wish he could teach me stuff like he does everyday. Training Elder Hales is coming along good. He gets frustrated with the language but I tell him to keep going and to not worry about it cuz it will come. He is a good kid and we have a ton of fun. I hope everything is good back home. I love you all a ton. I know the church is true and Christ lives. Thanks for everything and we'll talk to you next week. Adios!