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.

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

Lots of Work

Hi family and friends! Hope everybody is doing awesome. Well the title of the email says it all. We had a ton of work to do this last week. We spent almost all of our time walking around the town, contacting the names we had on our list. I have some really good news to share too! We set a baptismal date with a man named Derlis! The funny thing is we didn´t even find him on saturday. He is a referall from a less active member we got about 2 or 3 weeks ago. He accepted the baptismal date but he is having a few problems with certain commandments and he didn´t show up at church yesterday. But we are going to keep trying. I think he´ll come around. At one point of the week I was a little frustrated to be honest. We were passing by all the names and a lot of them were fake addresses and telephone numbers and very few had interest at all. I didn´t want the branch to be disappointed when we had little to report at the end of the week. But then I came across a scripture I had previously marked that opened up my understanding. Romans 10:14-15 "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" It made me realize that even if we didn´t have much to report at the end of the week, we had done our part. The members and the missionaries showed their faith and worked. Now it is up to the people we contacted to accept or reject the message we have brought them. There is no way they can believe in Christ or know that His church is on the earth if we don´t tell them. It was a really humbling experience. Of those 57 referalls, we have 2 new investigators. But we´ll have more next week. I´m certain. I know this is the Lords work and He works according to His will. I know He lives and its our duty to proclaim that message to the world. I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Thanks for everything!
Love, Elder Langston

Activity a Success!

Hey everybody! It sounds like you are all doing really well. The activity went so good! We had about 50 members show up and 13 missionaries to "attack" Crevillente. We split the little town up into 6 zones and made a group for each one. The missionaries split up and went out with members because it just works better that way. The first half of the day I went out with Jose Garro our deaf member because I was the only one in the group that could communicate with him. It was a little hard because I had to do all the talking and I´m not used to that but he really was a big help. It seemed like all the people I talked to knew him and I think that was a big reason they even let me talk to them. It was funny though because I´d be talking about something like how Jesus Christ established His church when he was on the earth and then Jose would just shove a word of wisdom pamphlet in their face and I´d have to try and apply it to what I was talking about haha. I definitely had to be on my toes. For the second half of the day I went out with the branch presidents son. He is a deacon and was a little timid to talk to people but I think he was a little more comfortable by the end. It was a good experience for both of us. Well after all the work we did that day we ended up with 57 referrals! That is a ton of people! We have a ton of work to do over the next few weeks but I´m excited to get started. The members really want to be involved so it helps a ton. I know we are going to get some baptisms out of this. I hope its while I´m still here but if I leave Crevillente with some baptismal dates I will be just as happy. I want to tell you about a miracle that happened on Saturday. Towards the end of the day, the branch presidents son and I headed back to the chapel and I went in looking for my companion. A member told me he was in one of the rooms teaching a lesson with a different member. We had a testimony meeting right then so I just left him alone to teach so I didn´t walk in right in the middle to interrupt. Well the meeting passed and everybody was leaving so I ended up going into the lesson with my companion. I introduced myself and sat down. While we were talking I found out that they had called the church earlier that day and one of the members picked the phone up and had invited them to come see what it was all about. We asked them what inspired them to call the church that day because normally members aren´t there to pick up the phone. He said at his home the phone book fell off the shelf and opened up to a page. When he looked down he saw the churches name and decided to call. It was that simple. We testified that it wasn´t a coincidence and that really coicidences don´t happen. Everything happens for a reason and they were there to hear the truth. So now we are teaching this couple and they are really interested! It was fun to see something like that happen. I know God is a God of miracles and that He works according to our faith. The members and missionaries had faith and they showed it through work. Thats why God blessed us. I hope I have a lot of success stories to report over the next few weeks. I appreciate all that you do for me! Thanks for being the best and have a great week. I love you all. Love, Élder Langston

General Conference

Hey everybody! How are we all doing? Wasn´t General Conference the best?! I loved it so much! I got to listen to it in english too which made it even better. I can´t decide which one was my favorite talk though. I love how Elder Holland speaks with so much boldness. He makes it clear that there is something to be learned and he doesn´t sugar coat it at all. There was a talk I liked a lot by Wilford W. Anderson. I think that was his name anyway. He spoke on having faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement. I loved how he said that there is always hope because Jesus Christ has overcome all. I also loved the story President Monson told about the sick little boy Lewis and the faith that he showed. What a powerful answer to his father. NEVER! Overall I just loved the whole conference. I wasn´t able to watch the Sunday afternoon session because it started at 10 here but I´m excited to read it in the Liahona in a couple of months. I learned a lot of lessons and received a lot of answers to prayers that I needed. I can´t wait for the next one haha! Anyway, we had a pretty good week in Crevillente. We found a new investigator named Lorena. We found her while visiting a less active woman in the branch. She is a spanish single mom that seems to have lost a lot of hope. She was born into the Catholic church but doesn´t agree with it one bit. She actually called them robbers haha. I hope she accepts our message and we can get her to progress. We also received a referral from a different less active woman in the ward. She told us about a man that I think she is dating that is interested in receiving the lessons. We have an appointment set up with them both today and I´m excited to see what happens! Its always good to receive referrals from less active members because as we teach their friend, they remember the testimony they have and come back to church. The ultimate goal is a baptism and a reactivation. Oh other good news! I don´t know if any of you will remember this but clear back in my first transfer I taught a man named Marcos. He was the boyfriend of the less active girl in the Ferreyros family. I talked to the elders in my old area and he has been baptized and she is active in church again! I was so happy to hear that. He also told me that all the people that were baptized when I was there are still active. It made my day haha. Well I don´t have much more to report for the week. The big activity is coming up this saturday and we are hoping to see huge results. I know its going to go well. I love you all and thanks for everything. I know God lives and this is his work. I know Jesus Christ lives and He has overcome the world. This church is true! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Langston

Big Things in Little Crevillente!

Hey everybody! How are you all doing? I hope really really good. I´m so excited for General Conference this week! We will be watching it in Elche which is a 20 minute bus ride away. I hope I get to watch it in English. Things just get to your heart easier when they are in your native language. This week has been pretty good. There is a lot of excitement for the activity on the 10th! In the branch, the stake, and the mission! Our zone leaders are talking to President Hinckley about it at a meeting tomorrow so most of the missionaries can come to help. We should have about 16 missionaries and 50 or more members. We are going to be giving tours of the church, making contacts in the street, visiting friends of members, visiting less active members, and we are also going to have information tables stationed in different areas of the city. I know something big is going to come from this. On Wednesday Elder Mitchell and I have to give a 15 minute presentation in Zone meeting to get the other missionaries excited to come help us jumpstart things in Crevillente. We have been really blessed with a great branch president that is getting things rolling and coming up with all the good ideas. It is going to be a ton of fun. Well I´ve been reminded by quite a few of you that I have been out almost a year now. As I look back I have learned so much. I think it would be appropriate to share some things I´ve learned and my testimony.
This isn´t my mission. Its the Lords mission. I am here to represent Christ the Lord, to do exactly as He would do, to say exactly what he would say, and that has humbled me. I have learned that I am nothing, but with God I can do anything. I am so grateful to be an instrument in our Eternal Fathers hands. I have learned a lot about myself. I have found some of my strenghts and recognized my weaknesses. I know God does not only expect, but requires much of me. Only my best will be accepted in the end. I have learned that one of the sweetest feelings come from serving and helping others. I like the quote that says "When a man forgets himself, he usually does something that everybody else remembers". I have learned that if you want something, you better be ready to work for it. I know diligence is an attribute of Christ. Christ chose His disciples as they were working. Satan chooses his while they are idle. I have realized how much my family means to me. I love you all so much. God has also blessed me with so many other choice spirits to influence my life other than my family. I´m talking about all of you. Your example, love and service have helped me arrive to where I am now.
I know with perfect knowledge that God lives. I have spoken with Him through prayer and felt His love. I know Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He is our Brother and Redeemer and His atonement is real. I have come to know my Savior better than ever before and I am eternally grateful for the relationship I have with Him. He is my friend that is always there. There to pick me up when I am down and to tell me to keep fighting. I love my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. I know Christ´s church was restored through a humble boy seeking an answer that the world couldn´t give him. I know Joseph saw God the Father and His Son in the sacred grove that spring morning. The Spirit has testified of it unto me and I feel it in my heart. I know the Book of Mormon was translated by the power of God. I know it is most correct of any book on earth and that it contains the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know we are in the one true church. I know God has a plan and we are all part of it. We are His children and He loves us more than we could ever imagine. I love you all! Thank you over and over for all you do for me and the support and love I feel from you. It means everything. Have a great week!

Transfers Came and I'm Still Here.

Hey everybody. How is the week going? I hope good. I can´t think of anything really new going on in Crevillente. We have a HUGE activity planned for the 10th of April. We are going to have an open house in the church with all the members there and all the missionaries in the district. We have this huge Book of Mormon and Bible we are going to set outside to attract people. Its going to be an all day thing. It should be big. On Sunday José Garro our deaf member spoke in church, which means I spoke in church. I helped him write his talk and while he signed it in sacrament meeting, I read it for him. It went really well. He spoke on temples and the blessings we see from them. We had an appointment with a less active member that was really interesting. We found out that he doesn´t come to church because he has a drinking problem and he is ashamed. We had a really good appointment, sharing scriptures and testifying of the atonement and how it can fix his life. We also made an addiction recovery plan but he needs to have the desire to put it into action. We committed him to come to church this Sunday though. I hope he can turn everything around. Our Stake President came to church on Sunday and gave a powerful talk. He spoke on how our ultimate goal is to live with our families and Heavenly Father in the highest level of Celestial glory. Then he asked us to ask ourselves what we were doing to achieve this goal. It was kind of a "wake up!" talk. He explained just going to church isn´t going to cut it. We need to make sacrifices. We need to work until it hurts. It was a really inspiring talk. I know its true too. I thought about how little this life is yet how big of an impact it has on our eternal future. I´m so thankful that God sent His Son to atone for the sins of the world and to overcome physical death. The atonement is such a blessing and we need to use it every single day. I love this work. I love you all too! Thanks for all you have done for me. You all mean the world to me. Have a great week!
Love, Elder Langston

Hello

Hey everyone! I have to really hurry this week so sorry. I hope I can get in everything with the time I have. We weren't in Crevillente very much this week. An elder from Elche had to go up to Barcelona to take care of some residency problems so we had to stay with his companion. It was pretty fun though. We were preparing the activitiy for a lot of the time. The activity went really well but not very many people from our branch came. The spirit was strong and I could tell people enjoyed it. We also did a little karaoke thing before it all started too. I did something I've never done before. I sang and played the guitar in front of people. Haha Elder Malit and I performed "Im Yours" by Jason Mraz before it all started. There were about 100 people there watching so I was kind of nervous. It was a ton of fun though. We are still having trouble finding investigators but our branch president ran into the family we had been teaching and couldn磘 get in contact with. We have an appointment set up for this Sunday. All is well! Thanks for all you do everyone! I love you all.

Warmer Weather!

Hey everyone. This weeks email is going to be short. Nothing is happening. None of our investigators are progressing and we can´t seem to find new ones no matter how hard we try. But we keep trying. I´m thinking there is something to be learned from my time here in Crevillente. Its humbling me a lot. I realize now that I really am nothing. I am working on myself harder than ever so I can be an effective tool in the Lords hands. This weekend we are having a combined ward activity with the elders from Elche. We are having a dessert competition and a musical program about the restoration. I was going to be Joseph Smith but now I´m just in the choir. I´ll let you know how it goes. It should be a lot of fun. I hope some members bring their non member friends. Thats the whole idea anyway. Well I´ll let you all go. Thanks for everything you do. You have no idea how much it means to me. I´m sorry I don´t have time to write all of you. Don´t ever think I´ve forgotten about you. Every single one of you mean the world to me. I know this church is true. Without a doubt. I know God lives and I know Christ is my Savior. I love you all! Talk to you next week.

Dear everybody I know,
Hows it going? Good? Good. My week was pretty good. I got to go on exchanges with my district leader which was a ton of fun. It feels like I´ve known him forever. Probably because I´ve known him since the first of my mission. I´ve been following him around. We had a pretty funny appointment. I took him to the appointment with Domingo, our deaf investigator that tries to talk but doesn´t realize his volume is a little higher than it should be. So they asked my district leader elder Malit to say the prayer and I translated it for him. Then we had a lessson on scripture study and praying. It went pretty well. I did as much as I could do with the signs I know. When we walked out Elder Malit told me that was the weirdest appointment he had been in on his whole mission. And he is going home in 3 weeks. I just started cracking up laughing. You really have to be there to appreciate the humor of an appointment with a deaf man. Maybe I´ll film the next one haha. Elder Malit also helped me a ton with my teaching. He taught me how to use persoal experiences and analogies to help the people understand better. It has helped me so much. I wasn´t a very creative teacher before. Tomorrow I´ve been assigned to teach the district how to speak spanish. I am going to need a lot of help because I have no idea how to do it. Ha it just comes out! I guess I´ll just tell them to say their prayers. Not a whole lot happened this last week though. It was another week full of hard times and good times and the learning that comes with it. We still don´t have anybody thats close to baptism here but we will have one soon. Our branch has the faith that it will happen and they trust us. I have learned a lot this week about recognizing strengths. God has blessed us so much with different gifts and talents and we need to use them to the best of our ability. We had a district meeting about recognizing their strengths and it reminded me of my mom telling me to write down 5 things that i was good at. I hated it! And i still do. My district leader had to say one for me but then I realized we NEED to recognize them and use them. I wish I would have realized that when my mom tried to teach me. Welp thats all I have for the week. Lets hope something exciting happens this week. I love you all and thanks for everything. Have a good one.

Love, Elder Langston

A Really Good Week

Hey everybody! This week was a lot better than they have been in the past. We got in a ton more houses and even found some new people to teach! I´m excited because maybe it means things are going to start picking up here. I was blessed this week to feel the spirit stronger than I have for awhile. I think I was starting to get frustrated because I was trying my hardest to make things happen here in Crevillente and I had nothing to show for it. But this last week, no matter what happened I decided to tell myself to keep trying and I knew my Heavenly Father was pleased with me. We had a few appointments this week where I felt the spirit so strong. I love when that happens because my spanish just flows perfectly and I can tell that the people I am teaching understand everything. It feels so good. Yesterday my talk in sacrament meeting went really well. I spoke on miracles and what our role is as members and full time missionaries regarding missionary work. I decided to share the experience of Silvias baptism. How she had investigated the church for so long but still didn´t feel ready. I told her how she came to Vanessa´s baptism and thats when she decided to be baptized. When I told them that Silvia was baptized in my last week in Barcelona I started to get choked up and I didn´t know why. I wasn´t expecting it! I felt dumb but it went really well. It was funny because the sign language translator just stopped and looked up at me which made me feel even more dumb. Oh well! It just made me realize how much this mission means to me and all the good things I am experiencing and learning. I feel so blessed to be here. I love how I can focus on the Lords work for 2 straight years and get to know my Savior so well. Being here in Crevillent has taught me how to rely on the Lord more because things aren´t always easy. I know He has felt everything I am going through and that gives me so much comfort. I love you all and thanks again for all you do. You are the best! Have a great week. Love, Elder Langston

Happy Valentines 2/15/10

Time is passing really fast isn´t it? Wow. Anyway how is everybody doing? I loved all the emails I got this week. I am so blessed to have family and friends that care about me and let me know whats going on back home. You are all the best! Anywho, news from Crevillente. Yesterday I had to translate during sunday school and priesthood and it was not the easiest thing I have ever done. When I say translate I mean sign language. It is hard because there are 4 different sign languages in Spain. There is 1 in North and South America. So everybody that teaches me, teaches me something different! Its challenging but its a lot of fun. Next week I get to speak in Sacrament meeting and translate the rest of the time so Sundays are now stressful days for me. Elder Mitchell is a good companion. He has brought a lot of ideas from his last area so we are combining our ideas to try and get some success. Something pretty funny happened yesterday. When we were greeting the members as they came to church, one member shook Elder Mitchells hand and said Welcome to Hell. Haha I thought it was pretty good. I guess its because Crevillente isn´t the easiest area to do missionary work in but I like it just fine. As for our ideas to find new investigators, we are thinking about starting up a scripture study class, having a movie night, and we are spending at least 1 hour a day knocking doors. The funny thing is I have already knocked most of the buildings in Crevillent because its so small! I think my favorite thing about Crevillente is a family that is completely chaotic. The father isn´t a member and is south American, the mother is coming back to the church, two of the kids just got baptized a couple months ago, and the other two little kids are just there. All the kids are under the age of 10 and are the closest things to devils in human form. But i have seen a lot of change in them since I have got here. We are really trying to help them progress in the gospel and get some peace in the home. We are now teaching the father and he has really warmed up to us. Yesterday we had an appointment with them and it was amazing. We showed them the movie called the Lamb of God so we could get the kids attention and after testified of Christ and His atonement. There was such a strong spirit and a calm I had never felt in the home before. It just made me feel good because even though I haven´t had any baptisms here yet, I can at least be an instrument in the Lords hands to try and help families come together and realize whats important. Its a lot of fun and we are becoming really good friends. Well I love all you. Thank you again for all you do for me and for just being the best. You are all in my prayers. Have a great week!

Transfers Came 2/09/10

Oops! I forgot to tell everyone last week that transfers were already here. My companion got transferred today to Matorell. A little town clear up north by Barcelona. My new companion is coming here. I already knew him from up north and he is the goofiest guy every haha. He was actually Elder Awerkamps companion and now he is mine. I´m excited to work with him though. I found out something knew about the mission changes. It was a really big detail I didn´t catch. If I am still down here in the south when the mission boundaries change, I will have to change missions. I would then be part of the Spain Málaga mission. I didn´t realize that and now I kind of have bitter sweet feelings about the boundary changes. It would be pretty hard to change mission presidents number one, because its President Hinckley and number two, because I would have to learn a whole new way of doing things. We´ll see what happens though. Oh my new companions name is Elder Mitchell. As for weekly news I don´t have much. Nothing really happened with our investigators. I am a little nervous now because I will be the new sign language translator for Sunday School and Priesthood on Sunday. There are so many words I still don´t know! Oh well. We met with Adriana this week too. She is the 16 year old that is friends with a member family. She liked everything we taught and now she is trying to get permission from her parents to meet with us more. She really loves learning and she had so many good questions. I can´t wait to get her baptized haha! Welp thats about it for the week. I love you all and I hope you have a really good week. Thanks for all you do. Go Jazz! Love, Elder Langston

Changes in the Mission

Good morning! How are you all doing? I´m doing real good. Well this morning we got a big announcement. The Spain Bilbao mission will be dissolved on the first of July of this year and will be part of the Spain Barcelona Mission. The Spain Bilbao mission is pretty much all of northern Spain...the pretty part! So now a lot more options of where I could go after this area have opened up. Where I am at right now won´t be part of our mission in July. A big chunk of the southern part of our mission will be part of the Spain Málaga mission. Its crazy how it is all working. Its going to be announced in church news this month I believe. The First Presidency made the annoucement recently and President Hinckley shared the news with us before it was released publicly. We are seeing growth in Spain with less and less missionaries. At one point there were 5 missions and 600 missionaries in Spain. That will be reduced to 3 missions and 300 missionaries. The church is growing! Missionary work is now becoming a focus among the members. I´ve heard one day there won´t even be a need for full time missionaries! Anyway I´ll tell you about my week now. Unfortunately we lost our baptismal date with Amanda for the 13th. She didn´t like church because it wasn´t like her old one. She had some crazy doubts. She didn´t believe that woman should speak in church, cut their hair, wear pants, and that the bread used in sacrament should be unleavened. She told us she believed in the Bible word for word. We tried to help her resolve her doubts but it didn´t work. She didn´t understand that a lot of her beliefs were Jewish customs and misinterpretations of the Bible. She told us not to come by anymore. But that just means someone else is ready to hear the gospel and the search needs to continue. We actually did find a new investigator! Her name is Adriana. She is a 15 or 16 year old girl that is a friend of some members. We actually found her by accident haha. We were teaching the family and all of a sudden their daughter showed up with her friend just as we were beginning. So they both sat down to listen and she told us she was really interested and had some questions for us. It was a blessing from Heaven that fell right in our laps! I don´t think I have much more news for the week. My birthday was really good. Elder Forsgren and I just chilled and he bought me lunch. I have a good companion. Well thats about it. I love you all and thanks for all you do. Keep on keepin on. Lifes a garden, dig it. Haha just some Joe Dirt for ya.
Love, Elder Langston

Happy 20th Birthday Elder Taylor Langston

Hey everybody! How are things going? Things are going great for me. Last week was a lot better than the rest have been. The area is starting to pick up! When I got here we had 1 investigator and now we have 6! I feel blessed to be here at such a good time. I´ll update you all on what has happened. Last Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Raban who is a friend of mine from the MTC. The day before he came I had been thinking about knocking doors by the church but we never got around to doing it. So when Elder Raban came, I took him out to knock doors. The first building we knocked didn´t turn out to anything. But the second building we found a family of 3! They let us in and we taught them the message of the restoration. Towards the end we asked them how they were feeling and the dad said ¨peace, happiness, just calm.¨ It was the perfect answer. He said he knew what we were saying was true just because of how he felt. We asked them to be baptized but the father doesn´t feel prepared. We told him thats what we are here for! To prepare him. He agreed to read a chapter of the Book of Mormon that we left for him and to pray about it. I can´t wait to see what happens! We also received a referral from a member. This member had hired a woman to take care of her mother and she was interested in the church. So we taught her and she has a baptismal date for the 13th of February! The branch is really excited because they haven´t seen an adult baptized in Crevillente for a year and a half. I hope everything works out! Blessings just keep flowing our way! I also received a special assignment this week. The branch presidents kids had a birthday party in the church and my companion and I were asked to be there so we could at least be seen. So I sat down at a table with some kids and by the end of the party I was famous! I told them I was American so they asked if I knew Obama or Michael Jackson haha. We had a good time. Talking with kids is something I´m comfortable with doing. Now we just have to become friends with their parents! Well I think thats about it. I don´t have time to write more. Thank you all so much for the emails wishing me a happy birthday. I´m sure today will be great. Thanks for all the support. You guys are amazing. Have a great week!

January 18, 2010

Hey everybody! How are you all? Is it starting to warm up back home because it is here! I´m trying to think back on everything I did this week. Well, last Tuesday I had to wake up at 5 so we could walk to the train station and catch our train on time to head to our Zone Conference in Murcia. It was a great conference. I feel so blessed to have President Hinckley as my president. Its a ton of fun to listen to him. I learn so much everytime. It was also a pretty emberrassing conference. I got called up to the front of the room with my companion because my birthday is this month and my companion had to say something nice about me. It sounds like I´m in elementary school huh? Well I really don´t like being the center of attention so I was already a little emberrassed, but then this is what he said. Elder Langston, where do I start, he is really good at spanish and everybody loves him, in fact, sometimes the girls love him a little too much. Are you kidding me! Everybody was laughing and I just turned bright red. Then sister Hinckley said she could feel an emergency transfer coming on. So that was my glorious moment in the spotlight in zone conference. I would have preferred something like a hard worker, or a good teacher, but hey I can´t complain right? Right now we are focusing on working with the ward and branch leaders and becoming unified with them so we can see even more baptisms this year. This last week, an inactive member died in a tragic accident and it has really hit the branch. I think they have been reminded of the importance of sharing the gospel and always looking out for other members. It hit me pretty hard too. There was such a strong spirit in the chapel yesterday. The first counselor gave a talk and he was really close friends with the man that died. He actually came to know the church through him. He said something that really made me think. He said, if God called us today, if our time on earth was up, would we be ready? It made everybody, including me, look in the mirror and think about everything I´m doing and what I could do better. I know every single one of us can always get better. We should never settle for just going through the motions. This life is so important. Its a test. I think we forget that a lot and tend to live in the moment, but if we have an eternal look on life everything makes so much sense. I just want you to know that I know God lives and Jesus Christ is our Savior. We really are children of God and He has given us this opportunity to live on earth to progress and become like Him. To have everything He has. What greater love is there? I love you all and I´m so thankful for all you do and the roles you play in my life. Have a great week! Bye bye. Love, Elder Langston

Crevillente

Howdy ya´ll. To tell you the truth there isn´t a whole lot to report this week. Everything is about the same. I´m getting to know the members a little better and starting to get a hang of the area. Its gotten REALLY cold lately. I can stand the cold but I´m not much of a fan of the wind and cold. Last night it was 3 degrees celcius. Sorry I can´t convert that for you. Its been a little tough getting in houses lately. The less actives we go to visit are never home and some have told us to just not come back. Its a little tough but I think things are going to start picking up. Domingo, our deaf investigator, is progressing so thats really good news! He should be baptized this transfer. He is doing a little better with his prayers. In fact he prayed in our last appointment we had with him and I didn´t even know haha. We brought a member with us to help us a little with translation and he was trying to persuade him to do the prayer. Next thing I know my companion and the member said amen. Thanks for the notice! Haha it was a little hard to recognize because we have to watch the person praying so nobody closes their eyes. I guess I need to be a little more focused. On Saturday we helped one of the deaf members with a service project. He is destroying the interior of an old apartment and remodeling it so we helped him out with that. It was pretty simple. He handed me a hammer and told me to get rid of the stairs! It was the most fun I´ve ever had doing a service project. Every boy wants to crush and destroy things with a hammer right? Spanish construction is a little different than U.S. too. The stair case was made out of rock, tile and concrete. Thats about all the news I have for the week. I hope things start to pick up here soon though. I love you all so much and thanks again for all you do. I know Christ lives and that living his gospel is the only way back to our Father. The only way. Have a great week and I´ll talk to you soon. Love, Elder Langston

Hello from Crevillente

Where do I even start. Yes I know that last sentence was a question but I can´t make the question mark key work haha. I guess I´ll start with hello! and how is everybody doing. Everything is good here in Crevillente. Its been a huge change but I´m getting used to it. Its like going from Salt Lake City to Hurricane! Crevillente is just a little town of about 30,000 people. Its kind of a desert area. If I could describe it I would say it looks like...Mesquite mixed with Desert Palms California. Paint a picture for you. question mark. Haha. The branch is amazing though. There are about 40-50 active members. Hey I found the question mark key! Its mixed up with the dash key. Anyway the branch is mostly Spaniards and they are all really nice. They want to see a ward here in Crevillente so they are ready to work hard. They have big expectations for this year and I´m excited to get started. We also have some other little towns in our area that we take the train to. That reminds me. The trip down here was gorgeous! The train goes all down the coast and while it was light outside I could see the Mediterranean sea the whole time. I loved it. My companions name is Elder Forsgren and the only way I can describe him is the nicest guy in the whole world. He is only 6 foot 6 by the way and a red belt in Tae Kwan Doe. Way less scary. He is from a small branch of about 18 members in Idaho and his family of 9 makes up a big chunk of it. He is a really good guy. We don´t have very many investigators at the moment but we are trying to find some. We do have one named Domingo and I have to learn a new language to teach him. He is deaf so we teach him in spanish sign language. He doesn´t know how to read either so that makes it a little tough. He has been coming to church for about a year though and his girlfriend is a member. He is waiting for some papers to finalize a divorce with a previous marriage so they can get married. Then he can be baptized! There are also two members in the branch that are deaf so learning sign language is going to be essential. I´m excited though and I can kind of pray already. Well thats about all I have for the week. Thank you all so much for what you do for me and the support. I know you are making sacrifices and i really appreciate it. I love you all. Talk to you next week! Love, Elder Langston

I'm Outta Here 12/29/09

Hey everybody. Well I am being transferred today but I don´t leave until 3 so I am doing my email before I leave. I am going to a little town called Crevillente clear down in southern Spain. I am going to take a 6 hour train ride today haha. I´m excited but really nervous. I´m not sure what to expect. I´ve heard my companion is about six foot eight and is a black belt in karate. I´ve pretty much given up all hope of being bigger and tougher than any of my companions. Oh well haha. It was so nice talking to all you guys on Christmas! It was kind of hard to hang up but I loved every minute of it. I still have my same habit of pacing mom. I was pacing around the chapel while by companion was on the phone for about the last 15 minutes. I know I´m weird. You can thank Dad. Silvia´s baptism was perfect! It was the most spiritual one I have been to by far in the mission. She is so prepared. Once again she bore her simple but sincere testimony that had everybody crying. She said it was hard for her to not have her husband or the rest of her kids there to support her but she hopes they will follow in her footsteps. She is an amazing lady. She didn´t care if she had support from her family because she knew it was right and nothing was going to stop her. I thought it was a great lesson. Never let anything get in your way to do what is right. Nothing. It sure was hard to say goodbye to all the members last night. When I went to say goodbye to the family I spent Christmas with they had like a family home evening dedicated to me haha. But really it was sweet of them. The dad asked me to share my testimony and by the time he shared his he was crying. I got really close to that family. Oh mom, he said he is expecting us to go over there on my last monday in the mission to eat with them ok? After we said goodbye to them we went to my ward mission leaders house with Jesus and Vanessa. Vanessa pulled a bunch of gifts out of nowhere! I wasn´t expecting that. She bought me some cologne and a bunch of other stuff. I´m going to miss everybody from this ward so much. They have become my family away from home but now its time to go. I hope I can build up the trust and love from the members in my new area so the work can go even better. Well everybody I love you so much. Thanks for all you do. Happy Holidays and I love you.> > Love, Elder Langston

Holy Canoly it's almost Christmas 12/21/09

Merry Christmas everyone! How is everybody doing? Good I hope. Of course it is Christmas season and usually everyone is at least a little bit better than usual. I love this time of year. Call me crazy but I also like the weather a lot more. I´ll take the cold over heat any day. Its been cold and windy lately (Around mid 40´s during the day and freezing point at night) and today its rainy but I love it. I guess the ward found out that we don´t have heating in our apartment so they announced it in church and afterwards a family told us they were going to give us a heater for Christmas. I thought it was really nice of them. I love this ward. We taught Silvia last night. Well actually my companion and the district leader did. I had to stay in with the district leaders sick companion so he could do the interview. I got a lot of reading done haha. The appointment went really well though. We taught her the remaining commandments that she needed to be taught and she accepted them all. She has actually been paying tithing for about the last three months. She will be baptized by her son this Sunday after church. I´m so excited for her! What a great Christmas present right?! Its going to be hard to leave this area, which I am sure is going to happen, but this will be the best way to leave it. With a baptism. I love this ward and the bishop is an amazing man. We had a meeting with him yesterday morning and he was so happy when we looked over what we had done lately. A few families have been re-activated and we will have had 3 baptisms in the ward the last 2 months. I have been really blessed to see so many miracles in my mission so far. This Christmas is definitely different but it is going to be great. I hope you all have a wonderful week as we remember the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and the miracle that it was and is. I love Him so much. I love you all and thank you for all you do. I may be across an ocean, but I can still feel your love just as strong. Talk to you next week!

Weekly Report From Taylor Lynn Langston 12/14/09

Dear Everybody,How is everything going?! From all the emails I get it sounds like you are preparing for Christmas. And did I hear something about snow in St. George? Dang I missed it. Well the temperature is definitely dropping here in Barcelona. I´m sitting here in the internet cafe with my coat and scarf on! I don´t think it will get too cold here though. This week wasn´t very exciting to tell you the truth. It was pretty hard actually. It was full of appointments falling through,so our numbers we reported to President looked pretty bad. It is frustrating but what can you do? Keep trying right? We didn´t even get to teach Silvia this week. She works in a little city nearby during the week and is only in Barcelona on the weekends. She wasn´t able to make it to church but we are hoping we can teach her today. I´m not worried though because she is an amazing lady and had definitely been prepared after all this time. Well as for news that doesn´t really have to do with missionary work, last monday we sang carols on a stage in a plaza next to our new chapel. The thing is we sang in Catalá which is a language they speak here in Barcelona and surrounding areas. I had no idea that they actually speak about 6 different languages here in Spain! It sounds like a mix of french and spanish. It was a lot of fun even if we didn´t sound too great. We are going to do it again this week in the busiest part of Barcelona. We´ll see what happens. I can´t believe this transfer is almost over. I am sure I will be leaving this time and I really don´t want to say bye to the ward. My ward missionary leader has already started taking pictures of me haha. Its going to be tough but the work has to go on. I wonder where I´ll be heading off too??? Anyway, I love you all and thanks for everything that you do. You are all a huge blessing in my life. Talk to you next week! Love, Elder Langston