Hola familia y amigos! I hope that you've all had a fantastic week. I know that I sure have :) This past week we worked a lot but for
some reason just didn't exactly see the fruits of those efforts. But that's happened before so I'm not
really that discouraged. We were
really excited going into this week because we had planned on meeting some new
families and other people that wanted to listen but for some reason or another
things ended up not going through. But this next week should be a lot better. We already have some good things set up
and some new visits planned and we're excited to see how it goes. This past week we did exchanges with the
elders in the mission office and I got to work with Elder Watkins here in
Badalona. It was great to work
with him again. Especially since I
had the opportunity to train him when he first came into the mission. It was exciting to see the growth and
the change in him as a missionary. Overall the exchanges went well. We worked hard, talked with some good
people, and we also had fun remembering the "good days" together in
Tarragona, ha-ha. We also had to
go up to another area called Vic to do some baptismal interviews that we found
out about on Tuesday, ha-ha. Talk about short notice! Usually we know a lot more in advance
but apparently they had two people whom they had been teaching for a while who finally
decided that they were ready. So
we went up there on Thursday afternoon to do that. It was a really great experience to see these two people and
their desires to take this step in their life and to hear them share their
testimony.
I think the best part of the week though was Sunday. Yesterday started out like a normal day.
We got up, got dressed and left
for church. On the way we ran into
a lady that we teach and we stopped to say hi and she was with a few friends
which was strange because you never see a group of people like that at 9:30 on
a Sunday morning, ha-ha. Well, we
soon realized that they had beer in their hands and had been drinking quite a
bit. And they were just a little on the tipsy side, ha-ha. We talked and two of them asked how they
could change their lives. They
said that they want to stop drinking and be better and right when they said
that one of them just took a big swallow from her can, ha-ha. We got their info and they said to call
us so we'll see how that goes. It
was a pretty interesting start to the day. At church everything was fine. I was playing the piano, the meetings started, and right
after the sacrament part of the meeting, the first counselor in the bishopric came over to me and
whispered, "You have an 8-10 minute talk today about your missionary
service since you're going home soon." And then he went and sat back down, ha-ha. So I was left to think real quickly
about what to say and then after a few more minutes I had to get up and speak. And it was honestly one of the most
memorable things of my mission! I
will never forget that experience. I don't remember everything I said. But I remember the feelings that I had
and the overwhelming spirit that filled the room. As I bore testimony towards the end, I looked over the
congregation and it just hit me just how much I love these people. Over the past 7 months or so I have come
to know so many of them in such a personal way and grown to love them so much. I caught a glimpse of how the Savior
feels for us and I will truly miss these people of Spain. There are not words to describe what I
felt during that talk. But I know
that the Spirit of the Lord was there present and that everyone there felt it.
I have one more week. And honestly I can't believe it. That just means that I have to work just that much more to
make sure that there are no regrets. I love you all so much and I can't believe that I will be
seeing you all within the next week and a half. Time to go to work though :)
