Well, sorry about last week. I had basically no time to email but now I do. I've been transferred to a city called Gerona. It's up north of Barcelona. But there's an Elder named Elder Raban who is in Mataró, another city right on the coast, who is waiting for his companion to come from the States. So president sent me to be with him while we're waiting for the other Elder. We had planned that I'd only be here for about a week, but we just got a phone call from the office and they said that they found a tumor in the other Elder's hip. Crazy huh!? So we have no idea how long I'll be here now or even if the other Elder will be coming now. So I'll be in Mataró for a while longer. But I don't mind at all. I'm seriously in paradise! The beach and the sea are right next to us. You can literally see it from our city and where we work. And the weather has been soooo nice. I feel like I'm on vacation now haha. But I’m obviously working don't worry :)
So for those who want to send mail...I'm not sure what to say because I have no idea how long I'll be here. Maybe just send it to the mission home because I'll be there a lot the next few weeks with medical stuff and all. And so if i don't respond for a little while, I'm sorry! I don't mean to. It's just been crazy and everything lately and the work has been going better than I could have imagined.
The other day we got a phone call from a man in Madrid and he told us there was a man named Carlos that moved to Mataró who wants to be baptized and he gave us his phone number so we could call him. We tried to call Carlos soooo many times but we were just playing phone tag. We finally got a hold of him and he told us the most amazing story! He lives and works in a monastery, but doesn't believe in that church anymore. He said he is still there because he has work and a place to live. But we set up a time to meet and he told us to drive up to the monastery entrance and he'd meet us there at the gate because he didn't want anyone in the monastery seeing because they could kick him out. So we set up a time because he only had a short window open that he was free. We were all excited because this was like a secret undercover "mission" haha. We called our Bishop here, told him the situation, and he said he could drive us. We drove up using the directions that Carlos gave us and we totally got lost. We had to call him a few more times to get there and we ended up driving off road on this dirt path up this mountain to a monastery that was in the middle of nowhere. There is no way we could have found it just driving around. It was such a crazy experience. We got there and he met us outside the gate and we talked for a while and asked why he wanted to get baptized. He said that he had met with the missionaries 11 years earlier and then again a few years ago and then he moved from Madrid to here not too long ago. He said he pondered and meditated about what the missionaries had taught and he said he felt that it was true and that he needed to be baptized! He knows so much about the church already but it's almost like a too good to be true story haha. We gave him a Book of Mormon so he could read and he sent us a text this morning saying that he was so thankful for us and for our help. It was such a crazy experience; and you better believe that it went in my journal. We still don't know what's going to happen because he lives in the monastery, but I know the Lord will provide a way. But that's the story. It's amazing at how many small and big miracles happen here. It's incredible. I absolutely love my mission!
The other day as well, we were talking on the phone with a member and she's Filipino! She found out that I was half Filipino, and she got all excited and she started asking my companion if I knew what certain foods were and I had no idea. She said that she'd have to change that and she invited us over to eat. And I have to say, it was sooooo good. I was so full after but it was so worth it. And they were so nice, too. Maybe we'll get to go back again:) But there you have it. This week has been amazing and crazy at the same time. I'm sorry if I haven't written anyone back for a while. I really am. I just haven't had a ton of time to do it, but today I finally do. And then write back to the MIssion Office address for now until I update you all.
Thanks for the love and support. You're all great!!!!
