Elder Maybury's Adventures in Spain: August 2017

Well hello hello again!

I want to apologize if you didn't get an email last week. I swore it sent but if it didn't then it's the tablets fault. Anyways, it breaks my heart that Koda is gone. I plan on getting him back when I come home. Don't know how but I will do it. And if I have to pay money to do it then I will! I was crying tears about how you were crying and Koda was whimpering. Man, it hit me hard like the Holy Ghost. Instant effect! INSTANT! But I'm glad he is happy and you all are doing well.

I did get a haircut, by the way. Thank you for checking up on me.

Here are the answers to some questions I have been getting.

My companion is from Florida, pfft, artificial trees and oranges. He goes home in about 10 months. Zone Conference was last Tuesday and oh my goodness it was amazing! I did not sing but that's okay.
I did buy some envelopes and I have a letter in the mail for home, well soon. It’s the address for the house in Utah so I can't send it quite yet. Probably Friday or Saturday.
I forgot to take pictures of our piso (apartment) but I promise I will get them.
We do baptisms in a font, more like a pool, and I wish we could use it but, we are not at that stage yet.
I pick up mail at the mission home whenever we go to the office in Barcelona which can vary from 1-3 times a month. It depends I guess. We also get mail at Zone Conference if we have any.
Send mail and packages to the mission office address. That's the best way I can get it.
I will send a list of what I miss most from Home in another email*, but whatever you want to send me is great! I can't wait for those packages and letters.
If you want, you can pray for [our investigators] Lupe, Jose, and Mustafa. They are all golden but it just takes some pushing.

Texas is in the prayers by the way. That's a lot of rain. Too much.

Spanish is doing better. I might be able to talk with you by Christmas! I am reading the Book of Mormon in both English and Spanish every day. Almost done with 1st Nephi. I am studying 1-2 irregular words a day. I got about 4-5 down right now. I make sure I don't forget their conjugations at all. I am starting in the practice book again. Doing it from the beginning and going as far as I can go.

Much love for you and the while family!!!!

Con amore siempre,

Elder Alexander J Maybury

Love you!!!!!!

*Sent in a second email, a list of things he would like from home

Mac n cheese
Syrup
Socks
Pictures of everyone!
Info on what's going on back home, both states and our home.
My Arizona shirt
Homemade recipes!!!!!
A memorabilia/item of each family member.
Favorite church hymn of everyone in the family.
Gramma’s homemade cookies! Mom's tambien!

Root beer floats!!! Yummy!!!

I made a Quesadilla, this was just the best looking one out of many.

I won in chess!!!!!

A tribute to Koda...with my tears. He was a good dog who will be missed but is going to a wonderful new home.

Sigh. I have a confession to make. I tried an experiment. And I think it failed. You see, I didn’t want my son to feel so inundated with emails because he has only a very small window on his P-day and so I decided to only write to ONCE a week. My Sunday email. Well, I have never felt worse in my life!!!! It made me miss him 2000% more!!!! 😭😭😭 I have cried so much this past week that I have to call this experiment an utter failure! There is no way that I can only write to him once a week. I tried. There is so much I want to share with him...thoughts and motivational things.

As I told him, I have a very special gift (as most mothers do), to be connected to his heart and there are moments, where you can actually feel what your child is feeling...even though they are far away. Each week, I can feel his heart. I know if he is feeling up or down and so I try to send him things that will respond to those feelings. So, after 2 weeks of only a single email and my eyes being perpetually wet, I am going with my mother's instincts.

As I noted in my Facebook post earlier today, I was actually online reading his email while he was still online and so I sent him an email back and then I got a response! We did that back and forth for a little bit and it was like talking to him!!! I can't describe it, but it filled my heart with so much happiness!!! I really really needed to have that experience, especially after my big failure of the past 2 weeks. I think somehow the Lord is always aware of what we need and he helped me to be more focused at that hour of the morning to be online, as I usually am not. What a BLESSING! 😇😇😇

When he first sent the pictures over, they popped up in my email as very large and so his face FILLED my screen. It was like he was right in front of me. Tears welled up in my eyes and started flowing immediately. The words that I blurted out in an email to him were, "you are gorgeous! I miss your face!" 😭💕 But it is true. I miss his face. I miss that smile so much. But he looks very happy and that makes my heart feel peace. Of course, I noticed that he looked thinner. I'm sure all that walking and eating mostly cereal just might do that. I did respond back to him that he looked thinner and he said he had lost weight. Once again, points for the things a mother knows.

Finally, I am grateful for my son's service. His service blesses our family in untold ways. Some of it is evident and other ways it comes in quiet moments where we can feel the Spirit stronger and enjoy a sense of peace and happiness. I am grateful for the sacrifice that he has made to serve his Father in Heaven. He sacrificed all of the conveniences that you and I enjoy every day (TV, cars, movies, hanging out with friends, earning money, being with family) to dedicate a small portion of his life to the service of others and sharing a message of hope, love and happiness. Every missionary who is serving has made this same choice. What amazing individuals they are to sacrifice for others. As former missionary myself, I can tell you that it was the hardest work of my life and yet it was the most rewarding. Thank you all for supporting our son and our family! 💕

If you would like to send Elder Maybury a letter or card or package, you my do so at this address:

Elder Alexander J. Maybury

Spain Barcelona Mission

C/Calatrava 10-12, bajos

08017 Barcelona

Spain

PS: A great event that occurred this week was a Zone Conference. The Barcelona/Badalona zones are two of the largest zones, so there were 58 missionaries in attendance.

We had great lessons from other missionaries and then lunch! For lunch, we had delicious coleslaw, fruit salad to along with the pizza. For dessert, we enjoyed zucchini bread and ice cream sodas.

Can you find Elder Maybury in this 3rd picture?

Hello everyone!!!

I am so sorry that I did not send out an email to everyone last week. 2 hours was not enough to read and respond to everyone, although it should be enough. Anyway, missionary work in Mataró is missionary work. Every day is an adventure! I think the best days as the ones that fly by. I like it when we have appointments scheduled because I know the time frame and I can see the end in sight. But when everything falls through and it's just passes by and [then we spend the whole day] contacting (aka: door knocking)...ugh. That's is the worst for me. But every day is a blessing!

I recently went on an intercambio* with one of my Zone Leaders Elder Harris. Amazing missionary! Hard worker and super fun to be around. It was different traveling to Badalona and tracking in another area but with a great companion like Elder Harris then the day gets better. He really taught me a lot of things and I am grateful for his example as he is a diligent worker. Me and my companion Elder Graham, are doing great! We have found some new investigators and it is really fun to teach them. But it's also difficult because we haven't been able to get in contact with them. But, I have faith that the Lord will help us as we continue to do our best in the field and get in contact with them.

I have noticed that I have been less and less focused on the end of my mission and rather focus in the amazing opportunities ahead in the mission. Sometimes it's nice to think about how great it will be to come home after 2 years but that's just a distraction. I need to be focused on what I can do now to better help the saints here and find those lost souls who need some light amidst the darkness. Missionary work is such a joy to do. Almost 3 months on the mission now! Time flies by when we are focused on our Purpose.

I am having some great experiences here. I am always learning. Always trying to be A better missionary and person than I was the day before. The members here continue to be just flat out amazing and Dominoes and Kebab are always a need to eat every now and then. If they don't have Kebab in Madrid or Malaga then I am so sorry. But I know everyone is enjoying the work. So, I have not been able to play fútbol at all while I am here! Not because we can't, because we defiantly can, but there are not enough people to play. So, we have a ping pong activity every Saturday. Yay! Not as good as fútbol, but it's something to do at least.

So, some interesting news. On the night I was doing intercambios* with Elder Harris in Badalona, there was a terrorist attack in Barcelona. It was in the Plaza de Catalunya. There were 13 confirmed dead and more than 100 injured. One or two vans were running over people in the plaza. Really sad. Fortunately there were no missionaries in the area so that was a blessing.

Sometimes it's hard to recognize the good amongst the bad, and this makes it hard to see the Lord's hand and blessings in all the turmoil, but I know that the Lord watches over his children. I don't know why this happened, but I do know that the deceased have moved on to a much better place. And the wicked who do evil in this world will surely have their reward. And they will answer for actions.

But I hope everyone is doing well and I constantly pray for your safety. Missionary work is so amazing!

With love always,

Elder Maybury

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Well this week was a difficult one for me. As my son mentioned, there was the terrorist attack in Barcelona. I remember that morning, opening the headlines in my news feed and seeing those words…”Terror attack in Barcelona”…my heart stopped. It just hits you. Your child is there somewhere and you don’t know where and you just hope and pray that things are okay. I remember scanning all of the pictures that I could online and I actually looked for my son. I looked for someone in missionary clothing.

To put this in better perspective, my son’s normal area is Mataró, which is 18 miles from Barcelona. As I mentioned in my post on Facebook, he and his companion often go through Barcelona to visit the mission home and pick up mail for the other missionaries in his area. The mission home is just 2.8 miles from where the van struck the terrorists.

However, as my son mentioned, he was on “intercambios” *(or exchanges – where they switch companions) that day and he was in Badalona. This area was between 4-7 miles from where the van struck the tourists. For me, this was FAR TOO CLOSE. Yes, I know that missionaries are prayed for daily. Yes, I know that the Lord watches over them and that they have angels round about them. But NONE of that stopped me from worrying. I could assume he was okay with all my heart, but assumptions do not bring peace to a mother’s heart.

So, I emailed him. Twice in 2 days. Asking him to please tell me that he was okay.

Mission rules dictate that missionaries only use their email on their preparation day (Mondays) and so it was a stretch that he would even read my request, but I hoped that he would. Nothing. I got no word. In the email, I said, “Just respond ‘I’m okay’…that will be enough.” Nothing. Day after day. Nothing. On a positive note, this meant he was being obedient and I know that blessings come when you are obedient. So, I tried to just assume that “no news was good news” (a horrible saying, by the way).

Then, I received this: “Hi mommy, I’m okay.”

That was it. Four short words.

5 days I had to wait. 5 days I had to scour pictures in the news. 5 days I had to wonder if the Mission President would be calling to say one way or the other that our son was okay or not. 5 days of watching headlines that said, “American killed in Barcelona”. 5 long days. 120 hours.

But, just those four words brought me an immediate sense of calm and love for my son and at least a few gallons of tears from my eyes. 💜

I want to share with you part of an email that the Mission President sent to the missionaries of the Spain Barcelona mission. He wrote:

On a sadder note, Hermana Dayton and I have mourned with all of you the savage and brutal attack on innocent men, women and children in this beautiful city that we love so much—Barcelona. We love her warm and gracious people, the supportive and kind members who do so much for our missionaries, her beautiful buildings and art, the fascinating history that has played out in its streets, and its temperate and pleasant climate. You should know that we have heard from many, many El Faro alumni who send their love and their thoughts as they recall with fondness their unforgettable experiences in this city that is a jewel by the sea. You all know by now that at least 14 people were killed and over 100 injured by an ISIS terrorist intentionally driving a van at full speed into a tourist-packed Rambla at about 5:00 PM. People from many nations were killed or wounded and the only American killed was a member of the Church from northern California. Shortly after the attack, we received notification from the Church Security office of the attack. At their request, within 45 minutes we had contacted every companionship in the 3 zones in the Barcelona area and confirmed that no one was injured. I cannot tell you how grateful Hermana Dayton and I were to learn that ALL of our missionaries were safe.

So, this was a tough week. I felt a significant weight upon my shoulders for my son this week. Knowing that your child is near danger and you are not there to render any kind of support is TOUGH. But parents do it all the time and my hat goes off to all of the parents and loved ones of military service members and other missionaries. This is a labor of love. I needed to feel connected to my son and so I found myself replaying videos of him just so I could hear his voice.

But, he is safe and all the missionaries are safe. The work continues and our love and support for all the missionaries who are far away from their families continues.

Our prayers are with the families of the victims, especially those from the church and from California. He was on his honeymoon. 😢

THANK YOU for loving and supporting our son and our family. 💖

Please feel free to send him a card or a note at the following address:

Elder Alexander J. Maybury

Spain Barcelona Mission

C/ Calatrava 10-12, bajos

08017 Barcelona

Spain

Now, a few pictures: