Soy Yo y Nunca Cambiaré

Hey everyone, I hope you're doing fantastic!

I still have yet to come up with a structure for these that makes sense, but let me tell you a little about my week here in Cáceres, Spain. 

The start of my week began in Sevilla again! We had a conference with our zone and spent part of the day training and the other part exploring Sevilla and looking for mate cups. Mate is like an herbal tea, from South America, that tastes like dirt frankly, but obviously I had to get it for the memories. It's growing on me too. The next day we had exchanges with Badajoz and ate GOOOODDD. I actually have about no money now, but it was super fun. I spent the day with Elder Zuñiga and he is hilarious and I learned a lot. 

We had a lesson with a lady named Beatriz this week. She is a friend of the member from Peru. She is amazing and wants to be baptized, but needs to be married first. In fact, 3 of the 3 dates we have right now need to be married! A little bit difficult, but hopefully we can connect those families together. 

Our friend Raphael, who was supposed to be baptized on Saturday, ended up leaving to Paris on Saturday. Instead of trying to baptized him on Friday, we decided to give his number to the sisters in France. I can't wait to see him be baptized! He's so ready, so it was a little tragic he left, but no problem. 

Finally the quote of the day (subject line) comes from our good Spanish friend Pedro. After inviting him to be baptized he shared those inspiring words. Haha the truth is, this is the attitude shared by many Spaniards here. To accept the gospel, a great deal of humility is required, as it asks for a lot of you; your very heart in fact. In Alma 5:12-14 it reads "12 And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true. 13 And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved. 14 And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?" 

The Gospel is about change. It is about hope. The message it preaches is that you have an infinite potential, that you have so far to go, but that you, through Jesus Christ, can become like Him. That is is a journey of many miles, that can start with just one small step. I hope this week you can look for a way to change, even slightly, into a person more like our Savior. This should be a journey filled with joy and fulfillment, not judgement. We can, through the Savior, leave toxic actions, leave painful words, and leave harmful habits in the past! That is the freedom of repentance!

"If we want it dearly and deeply enough, that enemy can and will be rebuked by the redeeming power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, I promise you that the light of His everlasting gospel can and will again shine brightly where you feared life had gone hopelessly, helpless repentance!"  (Holland)

Elder Dougall