Hola a todos!
This week was so much fun. A little stressful, which is an interesting feeling to have. I feel like I haven't been super stressed on the mission much, but now I am! Because we have so much to do! I'll explain:
Alben:
Our quiet friend Alben has accepted a baptismal date! He will (hopefully) be baptized this Saturday, and we still have SO much to do. We need to plan it, meet with him more, connect him with members, prep his baptismal clothes, get him an interview, AND get all of the members to come so that he will feel loved! It's a lot for one week, but with the help of our friends in the ward, we can do it. We're just going to have to work como locos to get it done. But his change has been so incredible. We've seen him grow and become more confident, more sure of himself, and he's revealed an actually incredible knowledge of the scriptures and a spiritually sensitive side to him that we hadn't seen before He will randomly quote the Bible when we weren't even certain he had read it. He even knew the exact chapter of Exodus where the 10 commandments are, which I have to have marked with bookmark to find easily. I'm really proud of him and how far he's come. PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM so that we can get everything finished in an orderly way.
Favorite Alben quote of this week: "I had no idea there were THREE of them!" Talking about the kingdoms of glory after this life.
We love him
Asen:
Absolute MIRACLE lady that called me randomly with an unknown number during exchanges and wanted to meet with the missionaries because she lost contact with them a while ago. Met with her and what's the first thing we talk about? The second coming of Jesus Christ. We usually start asking people about their beliefs and stuff but nah, she just jumped straight into her questions about what would happen after this, when it would happen, etc. etc. She's reading the Book of Mormon, asking genuinely compelling questions, and listening attentively. What I love though, is that every single question she has, we have the perfect answer. It answers it perfectly. And every single time we finish a lesson we ask her if she has any more questions and she ALWAYS comes back for more. Eventually we exhaust her questions and she finally is content. Until the next time! It's been so much fun to teach her, and she has a baptismal date for the 31st. Pray for her please! She's really nervous about meeting people, but she faced her fears this Sunday and came to church. Pray that she can be strengthened to face her fears!
Other than those two crazy miracles, not too much else going on. We're so focused on them we don't have time for much else. On pday we went to this dope old fortress in Málaga called the Alcazaba. Super cool fortress with beautiful gardens and wonderful views. Then we went to a sushi buffet and ate SO much sushi. Like hundreds rolls and nigiri between 6 elders. We were stuffed. So much fun.
Also wacky story that literally just happened: We're on our way to Madrid for a mission conference, and while we were in the train station waiting, a guy collapsed and went into cardiac arrest. I got to pull out my first aid merit badge and junior lifeguard training and assisted the security guards in CPR. Compressions and everything, it was wack. He was looking REAL bad in the beginning, practically a skeleton, but through about 20 minutes of CPR color returned and he was breathing, but his heart rate still hadn't returned. It was kinda scary but it seemed a lot better by the time the paramedics got there and took over. Praying that he gets better.
I love being a missionary. I love the people we teach and the people we meet every day. I'm so grateful for His plan and His gift of His Son. His Gospel makes so much sense!
¡Cristo vive! ¡El Libro de Mormón es verdadero!
¡Os amo!
Elder Ritter
Fotos:
Ward Christmas party
Alcazaba
Mate cupssssss
