New year, new goals and new lives

This Christmas has truly been fantastic, thank you all for the sweet
letters and gifts! I hope you all had a Christmas to remember because
I surly did.

This week has been wonderful! People are just happier and tend to like
to talk a lot more about our Savior Jesus Christ! This Christmas Eve
we had the opportunity to eat with a recent convert family from
Ecuador! At the moment I didn't know I made a mistake but I surly did.
I ate before the dinner... Anyway, we get in and he told us that they
cooked a lot of food. I was like "ok.." "You don't know how much I can
eat!" So they bring out some seafood and I easily eat everything on my
plate. I was so confused because there wasn't that much food....
There was more than one course.... So after soup, plantains, literally
half a pig!!!, rice, beans and three cakes, my body was rejecting
anything I put in my mouth. I had to scoot back my seat in the car a
little bit.

As well, we had a Christmas conference this week for half the mission.
It consisted of a talent show, Christmas caroling and a few talks by
President and some other people. For the talent show I clapped really
loud for the people that had talents. One of the Elders that live in
the same piso as us is a professional yo-yoer! It's pretty cool. At
times.. I hear a hissing sound about 8 hours of the day from the
Yo-yo. We also Christmas Caroled (flash mob) a plaza in Murcia. With
100 missionaries singing there was a few people who got freaked out.

This Christmas season family has been on my mind most of all! If there
is anything I want to share this week is that the family is ordained
of God. It is the center of our lives. I pray and hope that we can
understand the importance of striving to be an eternal family. I hope
you all had a great time with your families this season. Thank you all
for being such great people and good examples to me.

Love
Elder Owens

Ha nacido un salvador!

Dearest friends and family,

I apologize for the late email, we had to move our pday to a Tuesday
because we had a news crew from Murcia come to record my companion and
the AP. So I was on splits with the other AP working in our area. It
was Elder Johnson. Haha the really happy Elder. They did an interview
in our piso and recorded them preaching in the morning. It was a
pretty cool even though I didn't do it. Haha.

We have 2 solid investigators with a baptism date! Ivan the Bulgarian
and Raul who is from Ecuador. We are teaching them a lot and we expect
to have a baptism on the 9th and the 23rd.

For Christmas this year we are planning to sing to a lot of our
members and recent converts. Also we are going to have a small
activity with the zone. I'm super excited for Christmas! Its my
favorite time of the year. It's also the best time to preach!

I had an amazing experience this week. While walking in the street,
Elder Cowley advised me that if I felt to knock on a door I should do
it. Not 3 seconds later I felt this little nudge to go knock on this
certain wood door. I was very confused. I thought that the small
impression I felt was myself. I felt it just because I was thinking
about it. So I ignored the feeling and just kept walking. Immediately
I felt it again. Still I was very bothered that I was still feeling to
knock on the door. So I stopped and asked my companion how he knew it
was the spirt or not. We had a quick chat and he reminded me of a talk
given by David A. Bednar. It talked about no matter if you think the
impression is you or the spirit. If it is a good impression you better
just do it. So we turned around and marched right up to the door and
knocked. The second the door was opened I felt this great rush though
my body and I knew it was the spirt. A South American girl answered
the door. But we recognized her. She was a friend of a recent convert
who we had taught the week before but didn't know where she lived.
Well until that moment.

I hope that whenever we feel that spirt that we have the courage to
act. Because when we ignore the spirt we cannot be blessed or bless
the lives of others. I testify that the Holy Ghost is a member of the
GodHead and is necessary for our progression to salvation.

I have a challenge for you this Christmas season. It is said every
year but I didn't understand it until this time on my mission. The
true meaning of Christmas. I am so thankful for a father who
sacrificed his ONLY BEGOTTEN SON. For us. Sinners. I am also thankful
for a Brother, a Savior who was spit upon, cursed at, and punished for
being perfect. But still died and suffered for every person on this
Earth... Please don't forget him. Please spread his teachings to those
around you. I know I'd you do these things, you will see your life
change.

Con amor,
Elder Owens

Molina de segura

Dear family and friends,

When it comes to roundabouts, I think Spain has the win. I thought it
was enough to have one every half mile, but apparently not. This week
I had the great opportunity to find myself in an eight lane
roundabout... So after about 8 times almost dying in a car, we made it
to our four man piso in Molina de Segura. There are two companionship
here, one for the actual city Molina and the other for the small
pueblos outside of the city. I am companions with Elder Cowley in the
pueblos outside of Molina. Hence the need of a car in this area. Thank
goodness my license expires here in Spain in 3 months.

We are teaching a 19 year old man named Edison. His brother Kevin is a
member and we are working with him to get a baptism date. He is super
awesome and will be a strong member. He just says that it just isn't
his time yet. But it is definitely his time.

This week we also found a great man from Bulgaria named Ivan. He is
super humble man and a very smart man. He speaks only a little bit of
Spanish so it is a little tough to talk with him. So we are getting
some material for him to read.

My companion Elder Cowley is from Mesa Arizona and went to Mountain
View high school. He is super obedient and a very hard worker. He has
only 4 months left on his mission so I'm going to just soak up all I
can get and enjoy the time I get to spend with him. So the reason I am
companions with the zone leader is because the other zone leader is in
the companionship that serves in the city. We do a lot of stuff
together because we are live in the same area and share a ward.

I love to be serving here and am thankful for this time the lord has
set for me to serve!
Have a wonderful Christmas week!

My new address!
Calle Mayor 63-4b
Molina de segura, Murcia
30500
España

I'm sorry I don't have a lot of time to write this week. Things are
super busy here! I love it!!

Love
Elder Owens

Pink Washed

Dearest family and friends,

This has been a very eventful week. Probably one of the craziest weeks
ever. This week was transfer week and usually what happens is my
companion, who has been in Crevillente for 4 transfers, would leave
and I would stay for another transfer with a different companion. But
because is has been 30 years since Hermanas have served in Crevillente
they White Washed our area or Pink Washed(because they are sisters).
So we are both leaving!! Elder Wagner is going to Jerez on the other
side of the country and is the district leader. I on the hand am going
to Molina de Segura 30 minutes away just above Murcia!! I will still
be driving(thank goodness) and my companion is the zone leader and his
name is Elder Cowley! I get to meet him on Wednesday.

Also this week we had a Tri-Zone conference in Murcia with the
opportunity to hear Elder Leimer of the 70. It was a truly an amazing experience. The whole meeting I
witnessed a feeling of the spirit I have never felt before. The whole
time I just wanted to get out of my seat, go outside, go climb on a
big rock and preach the gospel to whoever would listen. It was
confirmed to me that he is truly a man called of God. He talked about
not "softening the blow of the gospel". It is so true, sometime we feel
the need to get in the way of the spirit. But how wrong we are.

This fast Sunday we had the opportunity to share our testimonies with
our ward and say our goodbyes. I never thought it would be hard to say
goodbye to a bunch of Spaniards that I have only known for 10 weeks
and didn't even know what they were saying for the first 5 weeks. But
it sure was... I love the people on this side of the world more than I
thought I ever would. I can't even imagine how hard it will be to
leave in 2 years.

I am currently studying in the New Testament and The Savior tells us
the need to be "Born again" to be able to live again with our father
in heaven. I testify to you that, what He says is very true. We need
to change our lives and it happens little by little, grace by grace.
We as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints NEED
to work, every day, to be "Born again" it's not solely making covenants
but living them and wanting to live them. Please, it is the last days
and we need to work harder than we ever have.

I love you all
Elder Owens


P.S. The greatest missionary in the Malaga Spain mission, the one and
only, AP......Elder Ward is going home this week after serving the
Lord for 2 years. Look out ladies... He is back! I also testify that
he is one of the greatest humans I have ever met. My hat goes off to
you Elder Ward.

The Best Week EVER...

Dearest family and friends!

There are always those few signs of the coming of winter.   First, it
gets cold outside... Next you wake up with an upset stomach because of
all the food you ate the night before. Finally, you have to blow your
nose 200,000,000,000 times each day because everything is dying. All
in all, probably my favorite time of year.

This past week a few things happened that were note worthy... We had a
Cosecha in Elche, which means that all of the missionaries in our
district (12 missionaries) all got together and focused on a small
area where 1 companionship is and contacted as many people as possible
to set a base for them. Also we had an intercambio(missionary
exchanges) with our zone leaders! Because I am the only one who is
allowed to drive the car, I always have to say in Crevillente for
intercambios.  So anyway, I went on an intercambio with Elder Johnson,
he is a truly unique person. He works harder than most missionaries
and is always happy. He is constantly saying things like..

"This week has been the best week in all the weeks I have ever lived!
Ever!"-Elder Johnson
"Elder Owens you are the best missionary I have ever met in my
life"-Elder Johnson
"Elder Wagner is the best missionary I have ever met in my life"-Elder Johnson
"That lesson that we just taught was the best lesson ever!"-Elder Johnson

You get the point... He is an amazing Elder.

We contacted so many people this week! In Spain there are always
people on the streets! It's like New York City in every pueblo! Our
goal this week was to contact 100 people in a day. Most of them didn't
want to listen but at least we felt good that we tried!

During the intercambio Elder Johnson made smoothies! Unfortunately he
left the fruit out so the next morning there was a ton of fruit flys.
I didn't really want to throw out the trash so it sat there for a few
days... Not my best decision, because this morning when cleaning the
piso there was an army of fruit flies, I'm talking like 200 fruit
flies, not even kidding, in the kitchen. So I grabbed the garbage
closing it, trapping 50 fruit flies in the pressed and ran it to the
elevator to go down and throw the trash out side. But when we got
into the elevator the trash bag opened, letting free all the fruit
flies. That 20 seconds of being trapped in an elevator was one of the
scariest things I have ever witnessed.

We had Thanksgiving with our bishop this week and had a great tasting
turkey with mashed potatoes, gravy and rice. It was a great effort for
people who don't even celebrate that holiday.

Today for P-day we went to the mall to shop for sheets for the beds. I'm glad we finally got to it because I have been using the same pillow and blanket that I'm pretty sure missionaries have been using for 50 years. We also had some KFC, which is actually pretty expensive here.

I can't believe it was almost a year ago I talked with my bishop to start my paperwork to leave on a mission. I am so thankful I did and prepared myself to leave. This is the most amazing work on the planet! I truly hope those that are able to start their papers do so and choose to serve the Lord for 18-24 months! I am so thankful for my Savior and His example.

I love you all
Elder Owens

Layering

Dear family and friends!

This week has been a great one! I Went on intercambios(splits) with
elder Joy this week. We ate a lot of pizza for a local restaurant
called Belmonte. It only costs ¢40 to deliver pizza so we do that a
lot.

There was a Real Madrid vs. FB Barcelona game and everyone goes inside
to watch the game. People refuse to turn the tv off so we ended up
watching the game in an investigators house and a members house.

This week we met our #1 investigator! His name is Jaime and he is from
Mexico. We invited him to church and he said yes but unfortunately he
called later and said he had work. We also had two investigations come
to church this week but they both don't want to be baptized. So that's
sad.

The weather is getting colder so I have to do something I have never
done before in my life... Layering... It's not something I am too
familiar with. It's not super cold here but it gets chilly in the
morning and nights.

So there might be hermanas put in Crevillente this next transfer.
There is a lot of weird stuff going on with the members here so they
might need the change.

I'm sorry for the shorter email but I want to end with my testimony. I
know that the people here in Spain are children of God even know they
are not a fan of religion and I am learning little by little how
perfect God's plan is for us. Being a missionary is super different
than what I thought it was. I love my mission so much!

Love,
Elder Owens

Cheap soldering gun

¿Que tal mi familia y mis amigos?

This week has been a weird one!

So naturally, as missionaries sometimes you need to burn things...
Unfortunately we only had a soldering gun, but as I went to plug it
in, the wire blew up right in my hand! You guys have no idea how hard
it is to write with one hand!!........ Hahaha just kidding I'm fine,
thankfully the layer of sweat and dirt protected my hand from any
danger.

This week we finally had the opportunity to serve our community. We translated

the chinos(Chinese restaurant) menu into English.

We also got a free meal out of it! Chinos here are run by families.

From birth to death you are pretty much working there. There 4 year

old sun does the deliveries!...... Just kidding.

So there is a sweet lady named Pilar in our ward that feeds us every week. She is a

super good cook and will be cooking us Thanksgiving this year. She loves when

the missionaries help her learn new foods so we ate tacos with her.

She asked me to make the guacamole for her so I did just that. But even know

it was just classic guac, she absolutely loved it! So we ate tacos at the bishops

house yesterday and of course Pilar called the bishops wife and told her to have me make

the guac. I don't know why but it for Spaniards it goes God then family

then food here in this beautiful country.

The number one excuse for not getting baptized here is really a lot of things.

Mostly because they don't want to change. Sex and drinking are a big

thing here. On the streets it's usually "tango prisa" or "I'm in a hurry" because

people don't want to be rude they just keep repeating that until we end the conversation.

Another big thing here is that nobody actually wants to read. A lot of people

can't even read here. It's super surprising.

As I was growing up trying new foods I always wanted to eat everything

because I new on my mission I would have to eat weird things. But that is not even

close to the case. I eat amazing meals every day. Never have I eaten something that I

wouldn't want to eat again. It's super great!

Well lately I have been studying the life of Jesus Christ. I have been studying

3 Nephi the New Testament and Jesus the Christ. I can only read a page of Jesus the Christ

in 30 min because of all insane words but I am amazed at what I come to learn every day. I know if

we strive to be more like Christ every aspect of our lives will change. I am so thankful

for his example I love him so much!

Love
Elder Owens 

Q and A

Dear friends and family!

It has been a great week for the Malaga Spain mission. It is my first
transfer week and I'm still with my companion, so that's good. Elder
Ward, who was in the picture with me from the last email, is from
Gilbert and is the AP. He is going home in a few weeks so he is
training the new AP.

So in answering a few questions...
We are fed by members a lot. The meals change according to the season
which is pretty cool!
A lot of soups this time of year.

We have around 10 investigators. None of them go to church. We are
working on that.

Our piso is pretty ugly. Just imagine two teenage boys furnishing a
small apartment. Plus, it's dirty all the time because we spend our
p-days driving and emailing, not in our piso.

It's still pretty warm here. I wear short sleeve shirts still and am fine.

There are around 100 members and 30 attend.

We don't spend a ton of time teaching inactive people but we do some.
Sometimes people will leave the church because the missionaries don't
visit them every day.

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving giving here...But a member is fixing
Thanksgiving food for us and we are having dinner with them.

All the laws here are pretty much the same. Not much change on that one.

My Spanish is improving every day its not something that is super tough for me.

I love being here in Spain! I love serving the lord! I love the people
of Spain!
I hope you all are doing great!

Love
Elder Owens

Halloween

Hello friends and family!

I can't believe it! This is already the last week of my first transfer! Because of Christmas the next two transfers are changed. One transfer is 4 weeks and the next is 8... So that will be interesting.
I will most likely get a new companion after this next 4 week transfer, which I am not looking forward too because there is no one better than Elder Wagner.

So Halloween was this week! They celebrate kind of similarly here but there are two factions.
Half the people here hate Halloween because it's just another reason to party(which never stops here) and the other love it because it's  another reason to party! They play super loud music and dress up like here and trick or treat. The adults drink all night. But it's super fun for missionaries because all the doors are open that would normally need permission to enter. I love the look on the people's faces when they expect to give out candy to some children but really just end up receiving the greatest message in the world. Hahahaha

This week we did service for the first time. The reason being because no one likes to be served here. There is a guy in our ward who is deaf and by using only charades we helped him move his washer to another piso. It was a little rough going down 5 flights of stairs with a washer, but we managed.

I miss strong solid wards! We have around 30 members in our ward and it's hard. For example there is a man in our ward and his calling is to clean the church. He absolutely loves the missionaries and wants to do things for them all the time. But he is super poor and doesn't have the money to do so. So the bishop, who thinks we are tourists and the only missionaries in the world that actually work are South American missionaries, told us to stop this whole thing with this man. So doing as we are told we stopped letting him spend money on us and he got so angry he turned in his key and is going to the Elche ward instead of the Crevillente ward. That is just one example...

Other than that things are going great! I love teaching lessons, I am learning new things every day and the Malaga Spain mission is the greatest mission in the world!

Today I want to talk about change. I have had a lot of time on my mission to ponder a lot of things. I have started to ponder the atonement and realized very quickly that I would have to ponder it for the rest of my life and still I would never fully understand it. But for now I would like to share with you what little knowledge I have of the atonement. Change... It is ultimately the outcome or result of the process of repentance. In my opinion change is one of the hardest things to do. But how necessary it is! Change is the only thing stopping so many people from excepting the gospel. Some people are just not willing to change and that is so unfortunate. It is so important for each and every one of us to daily, yes daily, pray to our Heavenly Father and plead with him to forgive us for our shortcomings and our imperfections. I found this very hard, it is not natural for us to find our mistakes and realize that we need tochange. That is why it is so important to follow the example of the savior. I invite all of you to read and study about the lord or redeemer. He is truly perfect amazing older brother with an infinite love for us and our Father. Whenever I hear the saying "just be yourself" I get very confused and frustrated, because that saying only applies to Jesus Christ. If you are not him you need to change. Plain and simple, everyone needs to change.

I love you all

Elder Owens

This town ain't big enough for the two of us... (Said no missionary ever in Spain)

Dearest family and friends!

When this wonderful day comes for me to email I am always at a loss
for words. When I think about my passed week a few things stand out.
First, our journey to La Romana. It truly was hard for me to
understand when I first got here how missionaries find those looking
for the truth. Our area is very large for two people. There are around
20 pueblos in our area and all we actually get to are 4... 4 out of
the 20 pueblos... That means there are soooo many people who don't
even get the opportunity to even see missionaries. That was
heartbreaking for me. That I couldn't share this wonderful message
with these children of God. So one day we had an open schedule and
decided to visit another pueblo named La Romana! It took us all the
morning and we contacted around 20 people in an hour witch is pretty
good! But unfortunately 0 wanted to hear our message. Then and there I
figured it out. Missionaries are nothing without members. Without the
light and example of members, missionaries are close to useless. We as
missionaries can only build upon a foundation. A foundation held by
members of the church. There is one work and glory of God and it is us
as members of the only true church to do God's work.

I want to tell you all of an experience I had the other day. For
privacy's sake I will not disclose a lot of information. We have had
an investigator who 1. Believes that the Book of Mormon is true,
2. Joseph smith is a true prophet, and 3. Had a baptismal date. But
unfortunately dropped us this week because he was not willing to
submit himself before God and change. Sometimes we might feel like
things are impossible. We might feel like no matter how hard we try we
will still fail.
But let me tell you. If you think this, you are wrong. With the help
of our amazing Heavenly Father, through the atonement of Christ and
with the constant help of the Holy Ghost, ANYTHING is possible. I
testify that change is the only way back to our father in heaven. If
you are not willing to change then God cannot help you. I love you all
and pray for you daily.

Love
Elder Owens

P.S. Someone hit and ran our car today when it was parked outside...

Poco y poco

Hello friends and family

I'm going to first start off with things I have come to learn about my mission.
1. Time doesn't work the same on a mission: I am amazed at how fast
time flies. Somethings feel so slow but mostly it goes very quickly.

2. You are always tired: I fell asleep saying an out loud prayer...
How?? Don't blink too long or you will fall asleep. I know I am being
blessed every day when I drive to not fall asleep. Missionaries that
have been out for about a year on have permanent bags under their
eyes.

3. Rejection (95% of the time in Spain): missionaries here have been
rejected 1000's of times.
But with that rejection you learn to really appreciate the very few who accept.

4.The light of Christ: It it a very surreal experience to not only
see, but feel the very small amount of Christ's light in the people
here. It truly testifies to me the change that the gospel has on
people that truly devote themselves to Christ.

5. Your companion: Oh how I truly love my companion... He is the only
reason I don't go insane here. Whenever he has a bad day, I have a bad
day. When I have a bad day, he does as well. But thankfully it works
the opposite as well. When we are focused, happy and work hard all is
well.

I am so thankful for my mission. I wouldn't trade it for anything in
this world. Thank you all for being my friends and family. I hope you
all strive to increase your testimony every day.

Love
Elder Owens

Typical Spain

This week, everything has calmed down a lot. Just kidding. Moros and
Christianos is a holiday in Spain celebrating the freedom from the
Moors. They celebrate for a whole week 24/7... It's crazy! We
contacted a lot this week to unfortunately not much success. I learned
very quickly that missionary work is very tiring. I can sleep on
command now with ease.  Contacting is very different here in Spain.
Because most people live in Pisos (apartments) we do our best to have
someone that lives in there open the door for us. The conversation
usually goes like this, us: "It's the missionaries, can we come in and teach you
about Jesus?" Them:"No" us: "Can we teach your neighbors?" Them: "Fine
by us".

We had a zone meeting and ate at Papa Johns. I can't handle buffets...
I eat myself to complete body failure. After the zone meeting we went
to Orihuela to teach Alejandro. I love Alejandro, he is super
interested to learn but he asked way too many questions. So, I told him
that to have faith is not to have a perfect knowledge. Thank goodness
for chapter 32 in Alma. The language is a struggle at times. But it's
all good.

I miss the spirt of where I live. The light of Christ is close to gone
here in Spain. Some of my greatest times here are with the other
missionaries and loving the light that comes from them. We definitely,
as members of the church, stand out to everyone that sees us and we
need to be willing to stand out. I love you all!

Love
Elder Owens

No subject can sum up this week.

                                               ¡WARNING THIS EMAIL IS LENGTHY!

A flash in the future: It is 9:00 at night, Elder Owens, having been in the country of Spain for 4 days is Driving In some weird Spanish car with another elder with the same amount of experience in the passenger seat. We are currently in the streets of Elche the largest pueblo in Alicandre. For those who don't know, (I had no idea) Manhattan has nothing on Spain! The roads are so confusing! If you want to drive down the street 2 miles, you will most likely go about 15 miles before you get there. So anyway,  because of some unfortunate quick thinking, the two senior companions are shopping while we try to get some gas. Turns out that "gas station" was just a dirt lot... Plus!! the other elders were about half a mile behind us, and to get back to them  would take us about 30 minutes... Oh Spain... ¿Por que?!!!!!

It all started when I was given a yellow envelope on a charter bus at the MTC. This journey I was about to about to embark on took me to the airport in salt lake, then to the airport in Paris where me and my MTC comp. handed out a Book of Mormon to a guy named Andrew. Then straight to the Málaga airport where we met our mission president and Elder Ward!! (A guy that i know from Highland.) Then to the mission home where we ate and met out new companions! DRUMROLL PLEASE!!! His name is Elder Wagner!! From Gilbert Arizona!! Hahaha yes I am now companions with my friend from home and I love him!! What a day...

So my first day in Spain was the craziest day of my life. I learned a lot that day. Weird things like: elevators have doors with hinges, front doors don't have door nobs, milk comes in boxes, and people act like you don't exist, there is a lot of sin here.. Unfortunately.. Also I learned that I was to serve in a place 6 hours away from the mission home, and that I was to drive there with one of only 13 used cars in all of the Malaga mission. After a few near death situations, driving white knuckled through Granada and Malaga where the roads are like 3 yards in width and all 1 way roads and paying €10 on a three course meal at a random restaurant on the side of the road  we finally got to our piso(apartment) and had a great night of sleep.

So when it comes to the language I'm pretty much useless... It's one of the easiest languages, but here in southern Spain it sounds German mixed with Spanish. They spit it out so fast! At least I make people laugh. That's always fun... I'm slowly getting used to it, but it still seems like a different language. The "th" is real here in Spain. Like every s,c,z sounds like it.

 

So when it comes to the people of Spain, they are absolutely the nicest people I have ever met! Which actually is a big problem here. They love company but have no intention of accepting the gospel. So they just end up hearing our message and turning it down, which is bad, and sad. It gets rough here in Spain. Baptisms are kind of rare here. My comp has had 0 baptisms in 11 months he has been here. But it's important to have faith and pray that the people here will be humbled. Pray for more floods (just kidding). Haha.

 

I love this gospel with all my heart. We NEED to sculpt our lives around the gospel. Conference is so important!! We need to listen to the words of the prophet and general authorities! My friends and family, these days are the last day. Satan is trying his hardest 24/7 I see every day the effects of his efforts. He has his grasp around entire nations, entire cultures. We need to be aware of all of our actions and desires and be truly converted to the lord. Please, I beg of you, help the kingdom of the lord spread. Start with your families, help and lift up everyone.

 

I love you all and pray for you. Never give up.

 

Elder Owens