First, Some photos!



Behold, it came to pass that I, Elder Sapaden having had such a great week! Was taught from on high in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and blessed be the name of my God for it. And I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received the things which have come to pass.
Hello!
If anyone knows where the scripture found on top has been paraphrased has come from, you are a true scriptorian, it's one of the few mentions of the work "wrestle" in the scriptures, I find it a very expressive and appropriate word for this week. Aswell the subject line means "tearing up the streets of Bolton" for those who don't speak spanish like myself.
What a great week it has been, it has been raining pretty much the whole week and our e-mailing on these computers have been accompanied by the gentle "pitter- patter" of the north west's orchestra of rain. As it lands on the ceiling of our local library. I don't know about you, but I am wet. Also strangely enough, I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Also to those of the Staines Stake, I've been able to spend a lot of time around Elder Miranda. We are District Leader-Trainers in the same Stake, so we get to meet together often, we have swaped places, I'm in Bolton his previous area, and he is in my very first area, Rochdale. Also the line extends, we are both training missionaries who were MTC companions together. It's funny how missions work out.
This week we have taught many lessons again aswell, we have taught 24 lessons, Bolton is on fire, seriously, for my whole mission I've found it quite hard to teach more than teaching 20 lessons a week, usually about 15 or so, but since I've been here we haven't got anything lower that 20, we have also reached heights such as 34. if you are a companioship in this mission and you are teaching 20 lessons you are doing extrememly well, I was just meant to be here in Bolton at this time, it seriously feels that every step and everything we do here feels like we are acheiving destiny.
Something I love as a district leader is going on companion exchanges with missionaries in the district, I was able to spend a day with a new missionary that is being trained in the district called Elder Caleira from Portugal, he is great, that day we were able to teach 10 lessons, I love the faith that these new missionaries have, I brings me back to my first days of my mission in Rochdale working with the other missionaries because I was with a District Leader in Rochdale. I love it, missions really give an experience of the circle of life, you come into the mission field, not knowing anything, just knowing you are here to speak to people, half way through you know some stuff but not everything, you train, you become a "father" in a missionary sense as you show your trainee what he needs to do, and you inherit responsibilities and you direct and supervise and bless and encourage and then in a blink of an eye it's all over and you are home again.
I've been out on my mission for 15 months today and it just feels like I left home yesterday. In some ways it feels like I've done this forever, it's just what I do day in and day out, and in other ways it just feels like I've just begun.
We had Zone Conference this week, I love getting together with all the other missionaries and just talking to all of them and growing and working together. I've attatched a picture of Elder Miranda and myself and our two trainees (Elder Bytheway and Elder Nicassio) they have such great potential they are going to become great leaders in this mission someday.
A highlight of my week has been teaching a lesson in Spanish, obviously I wasn't able to understand everything, but I got to just stop and pause and watch Elder Nicassio teach. I've never felt more proud as a trainer, I saw his teaching skills, I saw myself in him, somethings I did that he is doing. I saw his ability to ask questions, to bear testimony, to be sincere and genuine, to listen and to be silent, I was able to see him becoming a master teacher. A quality of a master teacher is the ability to use silience in your teaching, I saw him wait for our spanish speaking investigators to answer, he wasn't afraid of awkwardness or silence, he just waited and listened.
Yesterday was a great sunday, we experienced so much success and the ward just want to come fellowshipping our investigators this upcoming week!
Here is my little short spiritual thought I will leave you with to ponder and pray upon.
What is Success? Success isn't a "baptismal stastic" it isn't a "number" or being the highest teaching companionship in the mission. Success is facing trial after trial without losing enthusiasm.
With Love,
Elder Sapaden