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What an exciting week! I actually sat down in church yesterday and was pretty bored and started writing down the things I could talk about in the email home and couldn't think of anything that had happened. Then I started flipping through my agenda and saw some pretty...crazy/fun/weird/spiritual experiences that I HAVE had throughout the week!


First! The man that we baptized a few weeks ago, Lorenzo. We gave him the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday :). That was such a cool experience. He's a super funny guy and just likes listening. He won't pray out loud or participate in class and he freaked out when we told him he could help with the sacrament last week haha. He is so humble and is just happy that he's made it where he is with his family. But he doesn't want to be in the crowd haha :). He is super excited about the temple though! So we are setting goals with them so that in a year they will make it there!


We have a senior couple in our mission. They are the Castillos. They are American but they do speak Spanish. He is such a cool guy. I don't know if I told you guys toward the beginning of my mission but one day he called me and said "I have a rule. When I think about someone once I just think about them. Twice, I say a pray for them. And the third time, I call them." So he called me and we just chatted for a while and he has been a great person to look up to and talk to in the mission. They live in Fuengirola which is where the mission office is and Torremolinos is halfway between Malaga and Fuengirola. So last week they invited us over to eat! He asked if I could eat 1 meal from home what would it be. And I said "Grandma's Meat loaf and cheesy potatoes" haha. So that's what they made us! It was nice to have a meal like that! We had a really fun time with them that night.


Last week we were running to catch a train to Malaga for a meeting. We saw the train but had to run down some stairs underground to the other side and back up stairs to make it to the other platform. I was right behind Elder Wiley and we made it up to the platform and the doors were shutting. I was withing reaching distance of the doors and watched my companion SQUEEZE in! He tried pressing the button to get the doors to open but they didn't! So we stared at each other as the train pulled away hahahaha!! The first thing I thought was "Dang it! I left the talk I was reading at home! What am I gonna do for 40 minutes alone!?" haha. So I waited for the next train and figured the my comp was waiting for me in Malaga. But he had got off at the stop after Torremolinos and got waited there for my train to pass and climbed on! So we had less time apart :) It was a pretty crazy but fun experience! :) haha.


Last P-day it was raining all day so we decided not to go do anything fun in Malaga and we stayed home and got in our sweats and ate snacks, read talks, listened to music, and slept all afternoon! It was easily one of my favorite P-days! haha :) But today we are going to a castle in Malaga and that will be fun!


Thank the Wright family in our American Fork ward! They sent me an Easter letter! :) I appreciate it!


This week we are having Consecration Week. We fasted yesterday and this week we are being 100% obedient as a mission! We are offering this week to the Lord and have a goal of 70 baptisms, 200 baptismal dates, and 200 investigators in church during the month of May! We are super excited for this week because we don't have anything right now and really need good investigators. Even though this area is way harder than Sevilla and we have almost no work, We are still being very positive! We know that if we do everything we can, the Lord will bless us. :)


Hope all of your weeks are as full of adventures as mine! I also hope all of your Preach My Gospel study is going well since we were asked to do that this conference :) Just a reminder!


Love,


Elder Marchant

Pictures:

 

Burning the 6 month tie! 

  17 Marshmallows!!!

 and Costa del Sol! the Southern Coast of Spain!

Happy Easter Everybody!!!

Happy Easter Everybody!!!


So let me first tell you about Easter in Spain. They have an entire WEEK of celebration! It´s called Semana Santa. Every day they have prossessions that walk through the streets and they all represent different things.

Yesterday, for Easter, me and my comp, the other elders in our ward, the hermanas in our ward, and the AP's and sister training leaders from the other Malaga ward got together and had Easter Dinner! I cooked meat and everyone else brought something to share! It was super fun! We watched the ´ Because of Him´ Easter video together after we ate and then we decorated Easter Eggs and played Chubby Bunny! Just so you all know I DOMINATED Chubby Bunny and it was the first time I had ever played it! I got 17 marshmallows in my mouth and said Chubby Bunny!!!! Just so we put this in perspective, my companion only got 5 and the person in 2nd place got 8! :)


Last Saturday me and Elder Wiley went and did service. We went to a Soup Kitchen in the morning and cut tons of vegetables for the soup and then we help serve it to the people that came and cleaned up after! It was pretty fun and the people who were there are super appreciative that we do that. It was nice :)


For my 6 month mark I didn´t burn a tie because I don´t have enough to afford burning one haha. So I colored one, cut it out, and burned it :).


I don´t know if I have told you guys before but we teach this little Chinese kids named Chaz english every Friday and that is fun! He doesn´t get it super great but I don´t blame him because he is currently learning Chinese, English, French, and German. So sometimes we talk in German and he teaches us Chinese sometimes too ;). His parents are super great and are having us over for Chinese food sometime soon.


I would like to share my testimony of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I am grateful beyond comprehension for his sacrifice for me. I know that for one moment he suffered just for me. He did the same for all of you as well. He performed marvelous miracles in the course of His life, established His church and His Gospel, lived, and died for us. But I know that He lives still. He conquered death and because of His victory of it, we all will conquer it as well. We all will live again and more importantly, if we do what He has asked us, we will live WITH Him again, and with our families. And we will do so for time and all eternity. I know that Jesus Christ restored His church through a prophet, seer, and revelator named Joseph Smith, who received the holy Priesthood once again and translated the sacred record, The Book of Mormon. I know it is true. It can´t not be. I am grateful to be a missionary for my Lord, Savior, and Redeemer: Jesus Christ. I am proud to wear His name upon my chest and I am trying and striving every day to be worthy of that privelege. This is the one and only true Gospel. I have the opportunity to see it change people´s lives every day, including mine. I am a Mormon. I know it, I live it, I love it :). I love you all. I love this Gospel. And I love Jesus Christ. I testify of these things in His sacred name.


Elder Derick Marchant

Here at home, we had to celebrate Derick being gone for 6 months so we went to a nearby part that has a big hill and I took pictures of the kids 1/2 way up the hill and tried to take pictures of them HALF way up the slide, to represent Derick being "1/2 way up the hill" of his mission.  I know, pretty pathetic but we are excited that he is that far in his mission.

From his last baptism.  I just love how happy he looks in the picture!

Torremolinos!!!

¡Hola todos!


Well! It's been a great 2 weeks in my new area! First of all... my companion. He is great! his name is Elder Wiley. He is 23 years old and played Lacrosse at BYU before he came. The first few days with a new companion are always weird because you don't even know them but you're living with them and going to teach people with them. But we are really good friends now! We've already had some great experiences together and we are gonna tear it up here! He's a hard worker and obedient so we will work miracles :)


Torremolinos is about a 20 minute train ride out of Malaga. It's right on the beach and it is paradise compared to my old area in Sevilla. There was a ton more work in Sevilla because we were in the Ghetto in a very dangerous part of Spain working with very humble people. And now I'm in super rich, luxurious area. So the people think they have everything and don't think they need anything else in life. And there's tourists everywhere! Sometimes I feel like I'm serving in England because of all the British people around here!


We had a baptism this last weekend! :) It was so great and I love the people we baptized. Right before I got here, Elder Wiley and his comp baptized 2 little kids and then when I got here Me and Elder Wiley baptized their mom and grandpa! :) They are so great and humble and have come a long way. It really was a miracle that they made it! The grandpa used to hate mormons. His wife was a member and he made her quit going to church. He is so great now though! He loved conference and everything. He gives us giant bags of oranges every week too! And they are AMAZING! We make orange juice everyday and it is the best! The mom quite smoking in like a week so she could be baptized! She is so spiritual and feels the spirit so strong when we read the Book of Mormon with her. I loved teaching them and bringing them to Christ. Elder Wiley baptized them and I confirmed them the next day :). It was great!


Our ward is...interesting. I went to the worst Ward Council meeting ever and the worst Correlation meeting with the Ward Mission Leader. There is no trust between the members and they all just yell at each other all the time. It really kinda feels tense in meetings. I hope we can strengthen the ward.


I went over to a member of the bishopric's house yesterday and he asked what I did before the mission and if I was into music at all. He heard me sing at the baptism. I sang I know that my redeemer lives for them and it was awesome! That song is so much cooler in spanish :). Well he pulled out his guitars and we jammed together and he taught me a lot! He also loves musicals! So he had me sing "If I Were a Rich Man" and songs from Les Mis for his family :) It was really fun!


I found a member from the ward that lives really close to us who sews!!!! FINALLY I CAN GET MY CLOTHES FIXED!!! I get teased at zone conference all the time because I am lost in my suits! hahaha. I put a lot of new holes in my belt as well :).


All is great! We don't have many more investigators now though so we are gonna be looking hard this week :) Wish us miracles! :)


Love you.


Elder Marchant


Torremolinos.

Weekly planning!!! Got my sunflower seeds, orange juice, mate, planner, pen and all the other things every weekly planning needs! :)

 Baptism.  (LOVE THAT SMILE)

Semana Santa (Holy Week)...I'll explain next week...

Focusing on some personal letters this week.

Mom, I'm not sending a group email out today because I want to focus on some personal ones. But next weeks I promise will be great! So tell everyone sorry for me haha.


Answers to your questions: 

My companion is from Seattle. He is 23 and played Lacrosse at BYU. We are still getting to know each other and open up but I really like him. I will talk more about him in the group email next week :).


I watched conference :) On Saturday night we watched the Saturday Morning session and then yesterday we watched Priesthood, then saturday afternoon, then Sunday Morning, thenSunday afternoon. But we missed the last hour of Sunday Afternoon because we had to catch the last train back to Torremolinos. We have to take a train back and forth from our city to Malaga for church and for all other meetings. We watched conference in the Malaga chapel. There was a room in spanish and a room in english so I got to watch in English which was great! :) I loved priesthood session, Elder Holland and Uchtdorf (as always), and Elder Eyring's talk about heroes and Elder Bednar's talks were awesome as well! I'm SUPER excited to read all the talks and study them more intently though!


Everything's going really good! I will talk about my area, my companion and stuff next week! I am doing a lot better. We have another baptism this weekend with a family that was going to back out and move the date back until I met them and shared something special with them. I don't say this to brag. But I know that all this stuff in these last few weeks has been for a reason. And I hope to be sending you guys pictures of the baptism next week :).


Love you,


Elder Marchant

Message from Mom:

Derick had a tough week that last week before his transfer and sent this next part to only Kirk and I.  I didn't put it on his blog last week so to give him some time to sort out his feelings.  I am grateful that he was transferred even though he had several baptisms lined up.  That being a good distraction and a new starting point and new things to focus on.

How grateful I am for prayers to our missionaries.  I went to the temple the other night and it was so nice to hear all of the people there praying for the missionaries.  Thank You!!!

Here is his letter:

The other night at the baptism...well...it was rougher than what I put on. I had just been on such a spiritual high and when M- hadn't come I had prayed really hard out by myself and then I opened up my scriptures and had one of the strongest spiritual promptings of my life. I opened up right to a page that had a verse highlighted and it said that Alma wrestled with the Lord in mighty prayer that the people would come and receive the remission of sins in the waters of baptism and then a couple verses down I had something underlined. It said that Alma ran "speedily" back to the people. The Spirit hit me really hard right then and told me I had to find someone with a car and get to M-'s house. I found a member and told my zone leader, Elder Bastian, to come with me. He had a baptism too that night and would miss it if he came but I told him what happenend and he came. My comp was conducting the meeting. The member drove us over 30 minutes just to get to her house and we got there and she wasn't there. Her brother told her she had left to the hospital. We called the mom and asked if there was anything we could do like meet her at the hospital for a blessing or something and they didn't want us to come. Wouldn't tell us where they were. The member drove us 30 minutes back to the church, Elder Bastian missed his baptism and nothing good had come of it. I felt terrible. I had never felt a prompting that strong and had been so spiritually high that when everthing failed I lost it. When the baptism was over Elder Bastian gave me a hug and I just started crying. He took me out and talked to me and it was just really hard. I felt like my testimony had really been shooken up. I felt so shattered. I told Elder Bastian what had happened and he told me that when his dad was on his mission he gave a girl a blessing. The Spirit told him to say that she was going to live and he said he had never felt a prompting that strong. He told her she would live in the blessing and the next day he got a call that said that she died. To this day he doesn't know why he was prompted to say it. Elder Bastian then told me that the Lord was testing me. He said "You don't know who that trip to M-'s house effected. Maybe the member that took us, maybe the brother, who knows. But God prompted you to do that because he knew you'd have the faith to follow through even though it didn't work." It was really hard for me to take it like that and I had prayed hard to know what Heavenly Father was trying to teach me from that. It may not seem like a big deal but after such a strong prompting and then nothing, it really took a toll on me. I still don't know why I was prompted or what came of it. I'm trying to convince myself that it wasn't just my imagination. Satan is trying real hard to make me think it was. I feel like my testimony is building back up but I'm struggling a little bit. But I felt like I needed to tell you guys. It's just hard for me right now. I'm trying real hard to stay positive. If you have any advice I would appreciate it. And I know you guys are praying for me but if you could keep a little specific one in there, I would appreciate it. I love you guys. I'm still working hard. Just trying to figure some things out still.

Transfer Week!!!

Well.... I'm being transferred. I've come to accept it haha. It's very sad but I feel like it's time for me somewhere else. And I know my president was inspired. I am going to a town outside of Malaga called Torremolinos. I will be serving in one of the wards in Malaga but out of the city in a littler town. It's right on the beach so that will be nice now that the weather is heating up! Sevilla is known to get up to 130 degrees during the summer!!! So I'm glad I'll be down near the coast where the weather is a little more temporal. My new comp looks like Freshie from the pictures I've seen of him haha. So hopefully I'll feel right at home! I leave on Wednesday.

It's been a really long week. Last week we couldn't ever get in to M-. The girl we were going to baptize. Then the day before her baptism we finally did and had her interview and she was super ready! We were all super excited! I got my transfer call that night in a member's home and told them I'd be leaving. It was really hard to say goodbye. I shared one of my favorite scriptures with them and my testimony and the Spirit was about as strong as I had ever felt it. Then I had done the same thing with some investigators that day as well. Saying goodbye. The next day was M-'s baptism. We stopped at her house that morning to make sure she was ready and everything and told her we would see her that night! Me and my companion spent all afternoon getting arrangements all squared away and 20 minutes before the baptism she wasn't there. We called and her uncle told us she didn't feel well and wasn't going to come. We had tried calling and asked if we could give her a blessing or what we could do and her family just said that they don't think she wants to be baptized. She didn't come to church the next Sunday and we called and her Mom said that she had an infection and wouldn't be coming. They haven't answered the phone since then so we don't know what is happening. It was a rough few days.

But a lot of our others are progressing and my companion should be on the mission blog multiple times next month! haha. I left a lot of good here and hope to keep going in Malaga! Today we are enjoying our last P day together as a district. They are really hard to say goodbye to because they have become family to me here. But the work isn't gonna do itself so I gotta git'r'dun! :)

Love you guys! I'll tell you how great Torremolinos is next week! :)

Elder Marchant

pics...

Flamenco dress

Alcazar de Sevilla 

pooping statue....that's the only thing I can see it being haha

more of the Alcazar de Sevilla!

it's a huge palace with these amazing gardens! 

Yes, that is a huge maze of bushes!!! We had a race! 

Zone Conference.

Man, what a great week!

Man, what a great week!

The castle in Alcalá was super cool and I have pictures of that! We just climbed up to the top of the hill and there was just an old castle there so we just climbed all over it and played around and took pictures! It was so fun!

This week has been super busy and nothing crazy has happened. We´ve just been working like crazy. We have a big whiteboard in our piso to plan for our investigators and there is no room on it now because we have so many investigators and so much work! When Antezana left we had 10 investigators and now we have 26! We literally have no time to contact, knock doors, teach less active, or even visit members! We have a baptism this weekend! And are super excited for it! We also have 4 other baptismal dates for April. This is probably my last week in Sevilla. I will get a call this weekend and find out. I am praying to stay here. But if the Lord needs me somewhere else, then I¨m up for it! I´ve definitely done a lot here in Sevilla and made a lot of progress for whoever comes to take my place. But I´m just hoping like crazy I can stay here for 6 more weeks!!! I remember before I left I wanted to get transferred all the time so I could see different parts of Spain but all I wanna do is stay here now and finish with the people that we have! It´s gonna be a sad day when I leave. But there are even greater things coming if I do!

Everyone asks me what kind of food I like and what we eat. Mainly we just eat rice haha. With different things in it. I love Calamari and Octopus actually! I´ve really enjoyed every fish meal that I´ve had. They eat lots of soups. I like lintal (however it is spelled in English) soup. Lots of members make that. Yeah...rice and chicken about sums up the food I've eaten haha. But it's all very good! I really like Bolivian and Peruvian food too! Except this crap called Seviche. It's like onion lime fish craziness. We've eaten it twice and it's just weird but south Americans love it so I just eat it haha. The candy and chocolate here is amazing! They have these things everywhere called Chuches stands. Chuches are gummi candies and are SUPER popular and pretty darn good actually. :)

The language is just coming great now. I can talk with just about anyone. For language study I've just been starting to translate quotes and write them in my book because I can't stand just studying out of the book. You guys know I've never been one for studying :) haha. But It's all great!!! The people are awesome! Our investigators are finally getting the hang of it! My companion is probably gonna have at least 10 baptisms next month! I've really done great work here and will be happy to do it somewhere else if I get transferred :).

Their church building that the meet in each Sunday in Sevilla.

Alrighty!!!

Well, I can´t think of any super crazy stories that happened this week... We have just been working super hard and teaching like crazy! We have quite a few investigators right now! That is super great! We should be having a baptism next week as well!!! We are super excited for that! She is solid! We went over the baptismal questions with her on our last visit and we talked with her to make sure she understood everything. We said ¨What do you understand about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy?¨ and she said ¨Well, we go to church, read our scriptures and stuff. Oh and we can´t listen to music!¨ And we said ¨Woah! You think we can´t listen to music on Sundays and you STILL wanna be baptized!?!¨ hahaha. So she is great! She is 16 years old and her name is M.... Her family has been investigating the church for over a year I think and something changed in her and now she really wants to be baptized! We are praying for her and hope everything goes great! The only thing that will keep her is that her whole family is not being baptized. But we have faith that all will work out! 

We have also had the opportunity to give quite a few Priesthood Blessings this week. All of them have been truly inspired too! I am so grateful for those opportunities. They strengthen my testimony every time!

We had a crazy experience with our family from Peru too. They are the ones who had a baptismal date but fell through. We had a lesson with them and I was just getting so frustrated the whole time. I had felt like I had done everything I could with them and nothing was going right. My companion could tell I was getting frustrated and then he said ¨Do you guys not feel our love for you when we come? Especially from Elder Marchant. We love you guys and wouldn't keep coming back if we didn't! Can't you guys feel the spirit when we are here." and they all just said that they feel our love but don't know what the Spirit is like still. And then my companion said "Right now we are all gonna kneel down and Elder Marchant is gonna pray. When he finishes we are gonna stay down with our eyes closed and stay kneeling until we feel the Spirit." So we all knelt down and I prayed and when I was done, the brothers from the other room came in and just knelt down with us and started praying with us too. It was like the Spirit told them they had to come in and kneel down with the family. 4 minutes later my companion said we could get up. They said they felt it and we challenged them to have family prayer kneeling every night till our next visit. So we have been reminding them every night and we will find out how it went next time we go! HOPEFULLY IT WORKS!! :) haha.

Well that is my week :) Now we're gonna go work crazy hard still and find more people and baptize the people we already have!!! I sent an email to my President today and said "President, I know it's not your decision. It's the Lord's. But....I would REALLY love to stay in our area 1 more transfer if He is okay with that :)." So I am REALLY hoping that I stay here 1 more transfer to help our investigators! They have gone so far and they are all SO close to the baptismal font!! I want to see them in it so bad!!! But I won't complain whatever happens. :)

Well I love you guys! We are going to a castle today! So I'll tell you about that next week! Have a great one!


Ta lo (How they pronounce Hasta Luego in Sevilla) hahaha

Elder Marchant

 Happy St. Patties Day!