Then the full corn shall appear

Hello everybody,

First off, the transfer news. Elder Kassing is leaving to go to Alicante, and I’ll be training a new missionary next transfer. So that’s going to make things a bit crazy, but I’m really excited (and nervous) for this opportunity. More on this to come. This is also home the week that all of the Hermanas in my group go home, so that’s odd. I guess it really has been a year and a half.

This week was pretty fun. Although Thanksgiving is a strictly American holiday, we still had a fantastic celebration on Thursday. That’s the advantage of being in the only part of Spain where there’s an American branch. The president of that branch invited us and the Hermanas over to their house for Thanksgiving, where there were a ton of other Americans there too, and only American food from the Navy Base, so I ACTUALLY HAD A REAL THANKSGIVING THIS YEAR. It was something I was not expecting to experience on my mission, but the Lord must really love me.

Speaking of gratitude, here’s the words to one of my favorite Hymns, Come, Ye Thankful People (Hymns, 94). It is an excellent song for this time of the year.

Come, ye thankful people, come;

Raise the song of harvest home.

All is safely gathered in

Ere the winter storms begin.

God, our Maker, doth provide

For our wants to be supplied.

Come to God’s own temple, come;

Raise the song of harvest home.

All the world is God’s own field,

Fruit unto his praise to yield,

Wheat and tares together sown,

Unto joy or sorrow grown.

First the blade, and then the ear,

Then the full corn shall appear.

Lord of harvest, grant that we

Wholesome grain and pure may be.

It’s important to be grateful for the bountiful harvest of blessings that the Lord always provides us with.

Alfonso was supposed to be confirmed yesterday, but woke up super sick and wasn’t able to come to church. So that will be happening next week. President and Hermana Andersen even came all the way from Fuengirola to be there for it. So it’s unfortunate that he got sick, but that’s just the way things go. Yesterday was also the primary program. Elder Kassing and I have been helping out with that, with him singing with the kids and me playing the piano. It went really well. They even gave Yessina, our 10 year old investigator, a part in the program, which was really cool. We taught her the first lesson at her grandma’s house that night too. Good stuff.

We hosted a branch breakfast on Saturday morning to kick off the #IluminaElMundo / #LightTheWorld Christmas iniciativa de servicio. I would encourage all of you to check out http://mormon.org and see how you can follow the example of Jesus Christ and serve others this Christmas season.

We found some new investigators this week, named Alejandro and Mari Carmen. Alejandro I mentioned in my email last week, and Mari Carmen is his sister. We taught them both about the Restoration, and they were loving it. We committed them to baptizim on the 30th of December. It’ll be nice to work with them, they’re super prepared for the gospel.

Besides that, más o menos It was just another week of missionary work. All of the craziness with transfers is about to start, so that’s it for today.

Love,

Élder Stark ??