ELDER BEDNAR :):)

hi FAM!

first thing... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO 1 OF THE GREATEST SISTERS IN THE WHOLE WORLD TOMORROW, KENNA :) for real you were my first best friend and have always had my back. I´m so happy to be your older brother! I hope you have the most wonderful 17th birthday possible and that you keep being you, cuz I love you just the way you are!! HAPPY b-day KENNA :)) 

I just had a spectacular week here in Spain, like usual :) but for real, it was pretty great. As you can all tell from the title, THE ELDER BEDNAR made his way on over to the promised land this weekend and had a great time with us missionaries and the members here in Spain! Before I get to that, I´ll talk about the rest of the week first :) 

So we have been working a lot with this dude Pedro who has been investigating the church for like 9 years. He literally knows every single missionary who has been through Talavera since like 2007. But, he has never been so close to baptism either! We talked with him a lot this week about authority and the gift of the Holy Ghost. He always talks about his baptism in the Evangelico church but feels like something is missing. That´s where the Holy Ghost comes in :) so we explained it this week and he really liked it. I think I said this last week but I really think he is going to be baptized while I´m here. We had originally talked about the 21st of May but its just gonna be a bit later than that. I LOVE PEDRO and I´d probably vote for him too! (if you get that movie reference, muy bien :)) 

Another dude I haven´t talked a lot about this week is this old guy named Jose Luis. He is basically an Adelina, but like crazier. He came into the capilla one day this week and just started talking with us and telling us his whole life story. After we got him calmed down for a minute, we taught him about the restoration, but he was way to hyper to understand anything we were saying. So, being the quick little whipper-snapper that I am, I remember that Elder Johnson told me that he plays the harmonica, so I told him to play me a song. The dude knows over 250 songs on the harmonica! It was insane!! And when that was over, he told us that he volunteers at an old folks home and performs for them. I was curious what he meant and so he demonstrated. I attached a video. Hopefully you can watch it and see just how interesting this guy is. I think that if the Dos Equis guy ever got sick of being the most interesting man in the world, Jose Luis could step right in and take his place haha. He is like 67 but thinks he´s 16. What a goof :)

Now we´re getting to the good part... on Saturday we caught a bus up to Madrid and then got on the metro with a ton of other missionaries to get to Pavones! The whole mission was there except for the Canaries and so I got to see a lot of friends. They filed us in by zones and then when we were all seated, Elder Bednar walked in. I kid none of you, the spirit that filled the room was incredible! We listened to a couple from the UK speak, I think it was Elder Dykes but I´m not sure. I was too focused on watching Elder Bednar haha. Then Sister Bednar got up and bore an awesome testimony. I can´t imagine being an apostle´s wife, good thing I´ll never have to be one either ;) Elder Bednar just ended up doing about an hour and a half of question and answer period with all of us missionaries. It was so awesome! I love how he always stresses on listening to the spirit instead of the words that are spoken. By the end, my eyes were sore because I was so fixed on him the whole time. His testimony had to be my favorite part, it was so powerful and gave me the chills times 100000 billion! I have no doubt that he has been called of God and he is one of 15 men that we as Latter-Day Saints sustain as Prophets, Seers, and Revelators. I just don´t have words for how awesome it was.

Sunday, Elder Bednar spoke to just the Madrid West Stake, and it just so happens that Talavera is in that stake! So we got back on a bus to head up to Madrid and listen to him again. It was so great because Pedro came and he loved it! Elder Bednar talked to just the investigators for like a solid 30 minutes and I don´t know how anyone could ever deny the power that an Apostle of the Lord has! It just filled me with joy. My favorite thing that he said was probably that we are all way to worried about being perfect when all we need to do is be a little better tomorrow than we were today, and let the atonement of Christ make up the difference. Heavenly Father doesn´t expect us to be perfect, he knows we are going to mess up. But he does want us to try our best. It was so cool to see him up close and get a little personal with the members in Spain! He even tried to use some spanish which made everyone laugh. He sounded so American hahaha. I definitely remember those days of trying to get the language figured out :) all in all, it was a wonderful 2 days of listening to him speak. We showed Pedro around the temple after all was said and done and he just can´t seem to get over how beautiful the temple is. amen to that brother :) We got a ride back with him to Talavera and that was the day. 

I´m sorry its a long letter this week but it was so much fun. I am loving every second out here and wish that time would slow down just a little bit so I could take in what is going on! I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father and I know that they live. We are all sons and daughters of a loving father who wants us to return to live with him again. I hope you all have a wonderful week and I´ll talk to you all soon! Happy Birthday tomorrowKenna :))

Con Amor,

Elder Brady Smith