Continuation from yesterday

It's crazy to think that I've already been out for one transfer (six weeks)! This time went by soooo much faster than I could have imagined. I remember when I first met Elder Gerber and how I was all excited and nervous and antsy to finally be in the mission with my trainer. But now that's all over. And he's being transferred! We totally thought that he'd be staying with me for at least another transfer because many times the trainers stay with their new missionaries for two transfers at least. But I guess not for me. He's been transferred to Barcelona and I'm staying in Pamplona. I really like Pamplona and it's been a great first area. But we were both sad when we heard the news that he was leaving. The former AP, Elder Southwick, is my new companion. I head back to Pamplona with him later tonight and we start working as soon as we get there. He seems like a great missionary and I'm excited to work with him. But I'm just a little nervous because I have to show him around all the time now and update him on all of our bajillion new investigators that we just found recently. But I'll survive haha.

This past week was awesome. My last email I said we had a great week too. But this week was even better. We found 10 new investigators! I can't believe how much of a growth and interest in our message we have seen. We've just been doing our part and working a little harder and we've been blessed a ton. So now it's up to me and Elder Southwick to pick up where Elder Gerber and I left off. So here we go!

This past week we also celebrated Día de los Reyes, which is kinda like Christmas here...but not really haha. It's another holiday where they celebrate the coming of the Three Kings to visit baby Jesus. They give gifts just like the Three Kings, or Wisemen, and it's pretty cool. We got to eat Rascón de Reyes which is a cake type dessert and it's pretty dang good. We celebrated it with the Elders from Logroño and the Hermanas in Pamplona.

I also went on exchanges to Logroño this week too which was pretty interesting and I definitely learned a whole lot. I was put with Elder Thompson in Logroño. He and I were in the MTC together so we are both very new. He doesn't speak a lot of Spanish so we basically relied on my knowledge and ability to speak and understand which is still not that amazing haha. But I surprised myself and understood almost everything everyone said to me. Yes some would say that was cruel punishment to stick two greenies, new missionaries, together on an exchange. But we both learned how to work with what we know and how to work hard. I really enjoyed this exchange.

Oh! and for those of you that know that I'm part Filipino, I gotta share this one story haha. We were on the bus yesterday traveling back to our piso. We sat in front of these two guys who were about 24ish or so. We were listening to their conversation because it definitely wasn't Spanish. But we heard some Spanish words in there. Elder Gerber said they looked Japanese or something and as I listened more, I realized that I've heard that language before! It was Tagalog which is the language that my mom speaks! haha. So I gotta say that I'm pretty proud that I was able to recognize the language just because I've heard my mom speak it. We turned around and started talking to them so we'll see what happens with them in the future. Maybe we'll be able to teach them.

The work is amazing like always here in Spain. Many people will probably say that it's really hard to find people that will listen but, to be honest, they're wrong. Just because Spain is a very Catholic country, doesn't mean there aren't thousands of people that want to listen. We find sooo many people everyday that actually want to meet with us. So when people say that Spain and Europe in general are really hard, they're sorta right but at the same time not really haha. All around the world people are just waiting for the missionaries. So all you back home, open your mouths! You never know who has been prepared. There's a scripture in 1 John 4:18-21 that I really like. It talks about love and fear. If we are afraid to share what we know, we haven't developed the type of love that Christ has for all of us. So the way we can develop that is by sharing. Yes, it may seem hard and a little scary. But with time and a little practice, you'll find that it's very rewarding and that God will bless you in so many other ways. I love you all. I know that this work is what I'm supposed to do.

Thanks for all the love and support you give me. Until next week!

One transfer down, fifteen to go!

Well I gotta say that this transfer was the fastest six weeks ever! I can't believe that I'm already on my second transfer. But along with the start of this next transfer, comes a new companion. Yep, Elder Gerber is leaving already. We both honestly thought that he was going to stay in Pamplona for at least one more transfer. But we got the call that he was leaving for Barcelona. I gotta say that I'm a bit nervous because I'm going to be the one showing my new companion, Elder Southwick who was the previous AP, assistant to the President. So this will be interesting. Usually new missionaries stay with their trainer at least for two transfers...but I guess not me haha. But I guess this is how it's supposed to be.

This week I also went on another exchange with another missionary in Logroño. And the funny thing is our companions put us with new missionaries haha. So I went with another missionary, Elder Thompson, who has also been out as long as me. He doesn't speak a ton of Spanish either so we were kinda nervous. But it was actually pretty good. We didn't have any appointments set up at all which was kinda hard so we just did contacts and passed by old investigators for a day and a half. Overall, it was a good learning experience. It taught us both how to work more independently and make do with the little experience we have.

This past week has been great. We've been doing contacts still whenever we can on the streets and we found ten new investigators! It's amazing what happens with the work when you just do the little things. A lot of missionaries hate doing contacts, but I gotta say, they work. This morning we made up this saying: "Contacts are easy, contacts are fun, the gospel is meant for everyone!" haha I'm definitely gonna keep up the contacting.

I gotta get goin though since we have to head out and get ready. I might be able to send another short update tomorrow but we'll see. If not, until next week!

Love and miss you all! Thanks for the love and support :)

¡Feliz Año!

Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope it was awesome! This week has been great. We started off this week with a goal to contact, or talk to, 20 new people every day. It wasn't that hard to do really but it was kinda hard to get up the guts sometimes to just start randomly talking to someone. But we've seen miracles and blessings from it all. We didn't teach any lessons this week with members which was kinda a bummer but we had a lot of other random lessons that we had through talking to random people. And we also found eight new investigators!! For those that don't really know anything about that, that's way good haha.

The weekly goal for the mission is four and we doubled that and it's because we've been working hard and trying to do our part. When we as missionaries do our job, the Lord does His and blesses us. It was amazing to see how many prepared people were just put in our path. Hopefully these progress well and we continue to have success.

New Year's Eve was quite interesting to say the least. We came home early because it isn't exactly the safest thing to be out on the streets when there are drunk people haha. So we came home, made some food, did whatever, and when midnight came we ate our grapes and drank my own mixer drink haha. It's just juice and carbonated water and it tastes way good. The grapes though are a Spanish tradition and it's pretty cool. Every dong of the clock at midnight you eat a grape and make a wish for the new year. It was kinda hard because you gotta eat them real quick or you'll get stuck with a mouth full of grapes haha.

The fireworks started going off allll over the place and went on for quite a while. So it was just a little hard to get to sleep but we eventually did. We got a phone call from one of our contacts at around 7:00 am and she was just a little under the influence haha. She basically just asked if we wanted to come over and have some drinks. Made for an interesting start to the morning. But the next day, no one was outside at allll. It was seriously deserted everywhere you went. We went out to do work like usual and we saw absolutely no one until around 5:00 pm. It was crazy. But I guess that's the way things roll over here haha. It was a fun New Year's Eve though.

This week Elder Gerber and I started companion stretching haha. And don't make fun of us cuz it helps so much. We sleep way better and we're getting flexible at the same time haha. We've made a goal to be able to do the splits eventually...and so far so good! I gotta say it realllllyyyy hurts sometimes, especially when your comp is pulling or pushing on you haha. But we've actually already noticed a difference which is great.

On a sadder note, we attended a funeral on Saturday. The father of one of the members here passed away. The member's name is Milagros and she's awesome. She's so nice to the missionaries and feeds us alllll the time which makes it even better haha. But her son and daughters are also in the ward here and we know them pretty well too. They're a great family and so we went to the service too. I never thought I'd be going to a funeral service on my mission. But it was a great missionary opportunity because a lot of her friends came that aren't members. They said that they loved this service because it was so optimistic about what happens after death. I'm so grateful that we have this knowledge about what happens afterwards and that we can see our family and friends again. The family is doing great too.

In a few days we have yet another holiday haha. El Día de los Reyes is on January 6 and it's basically like another Christmas but bigger. So we bought King Cake which is something people usually get for the holiday. We still don't know what we're gonna do though on that day since no one will be out and stuff. But we'll see.

Thanks for all the prayers, love, support, and letters! I love hearing from you all and how everyone's doing. I love you all and I know the Lord blesses those who strive to do His work. Spread the gospel and the knowledge and peace this gospel brings because many are looking for it but just don't know where to find it. Miracles do happen and will continue to happen so long as this church and the priesthood of God are on the earth. I have seen them and I know that I will continue to see them.

Until next week!

Happy New Year!

This week was quite interesting. A few days before Christmas, we ended up getting stuck in Logroño, another city in our mission for about four days because Elder Gerber, my companion, got sick with a “bathroom issue”. We made the trip to Logroño because as a District Leader, Elder Gerber had to interview a person for a Christmas day baptism.:) Logroño is about 1.5 hrs. away from our area. The day we were suppose to head back on Christmas eve, had us just missed the last bus until Sunday. We were stranded there and didn't really have a change of clothes. So we had to use what we had and do some laundry. But it was kinda fun being with the other Elders there. We ate with a family there and they were great. Their daughter, Sara, just got off her mission to Malaga about two months ago and she's going to BYU in about a week. So some of you might meet her. But now I'm finally back in my own city, and it feels great to have my own clean clothes and food and everything.:)

It was really frustrating this past week because I couldn't do much at all since Elder Gerber was sick. If he's sick, I have to stay with him. So we didn't get to teach anything or anyone, and we were stuck in the piso for a few days. It was awful. And you can only read for so long haha. I just felt like a bum. But now he's all good and we're back to action :).

Hope you all had a great Christmas! Let's just say that this year was wayyyy different than expected. But at least I got to talk to my family :). That was the best part. And of course, I got to delve into my Christmas stocking when we got back!:)

Sorry this one is so short and doesn't really have a lot of stuff in it. It was a pretty boring week to be honest. And we have to run to a visit in a few minutes, again, so my time got cut way short again. Hopefully next week's email will be better.

Have a Happy New Year everyone!!!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I know it's not quite Christmas. But since I won't be able to email again until after, I decided to say it now. Hope it's great! I'm not quite sure what we're doing here for Christmas...I think we're going over to a member's house with the Hermanas and doing something. Should be fun.

This week was crazy. Tuesday was our Christmas Conference with our entire zone. It was awesome. We got to exchange white elephant gifts and we ate an amazingggg dinner. President and Sister Hinckley also gave all of us a couple of presents. Since our mission nickname is "El Faro", which means lighthouse in Spanish, they gave us all a Lighthouse Christmas ornament. It's way cool. We also have cookbooks coming haha. But they weren't quite done at the printer so they'll just mail them they said.

After the conference I went on my first Exchanges!! For those that don't know, an Exchange is when you and your regular companion split for a day or two and go with another missionary. I got to go to Bilbao for two days with Elder Ramirez who, lucky me, is a native haha. But it was really good practice for my Spanish. Bilbao was an awesome place. Way different from Pamplona but still way cool. We also had to walk soooo much. And Elder Ramirez loves to walk fast. So I was actually way too warm for my coat haha. But overall it was an amazing learning experience.

The rest of the week was iffy. We didn't teach many lessons because we had a lot of appointments just fall through. It's really frustrating when that happens because you don't really have a whole lot else that you had planned. So instead of teaching, we usually just go by people who are listed in the Area Book or run by references. And it is definitely not one of the most effective uses of time. But this Saturday we had a baptism! It was awesome! Her name is Lisa. Her whole family are members but she was the last one. It's awesome to see the hand of the Lord in this work. I love it here :)

I would email more but we're really short on time. We gotta get somewhere soon. But next week I'll have more time. Hope you all have a great Christmas!!!