2012!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy 2012!!!! I can't believe another year has come and gone and that this same time next year I'll be home! It kinda scares me actually, ha-ha. This past week was so good! We had some incredible visits and some amazing things happen to us. It's been a little harder to get visits during the holidays but we've been blessed to reach most of our goals and to see a lot of success here. We have three people preparing to be baptized on January 14th and all three have been miracles. Ana and Karla found us on the bus and we started visiting them and they accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 14th. And then yesterday we just invited another daughter of God to be baptized. Her story was actually really neat. A few weeks ago right before Elder Watkins came to replace Elder Tyler, we were going home on the bus and we saw this girl about our age sorta looking at us from the opposite end of the bus. I turned to my companion and said, "This is kinda awkward and creepy. That girl just keeps looking at us." And then about two minutes later she got up and came over to us and sat down and asked, "Are you the Mormon missionaries?", ha-ha. And that's how we started talking. We found out that she was moving in with a member family and so we asked if we could start visiting her to let her know more about what we do and what we believe. She was a little hesitant and we didn't get to set up any visit but then we saw her at the Ward Christmas Dinner and we talked to her and then she came to church two days later. So we took that as a sign that she was beginning to be interested. Ever since then we've been visiting her and last night we had another visit. At the end of the visit we invited her to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized and she said that when she knew that these things were true that she would. We invited her for the 21 of January and she sorta said that she wanted to read the whole Book of Mormon first and that she needed to know everything and said no to the 21st. Instead of giving up we talked a bit more and shared our testimony and then invited her again for the same day. She sat there thinking in silence for a moment and then said, "Ok...but can it be the 14th instead?" ha-ha-ha! It totally caught us off guard but we told her yes. But the only thing is that she will have to do a few things to prepare herself and she told us, "Don't worry. I'm going to read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, come to church, and meet with you so that I can be ready"! It truly was an incredible visit and it was amazing to feel the Spirit of the Lord work on this young woman who has been prepared to receive the Gospel. Little things like that just make the mission. It's everything that a missionary thrives off of, ha-ha. Miracles like that is a common occurrence in the mission field. I remember my last email I told you all that we were one shy of our goal of 450 as of last Sunday. But this past week we reached our goal and even broke it by one. 451!!!!!! We were so happy that we were acting like little kids, ha-ha-ha! The four of us Elders were just celebrating, laughing, and kinda almost crying, ha-ha. But I know that it didn't happen without the Lord's help. The only way we could have ever have accomplished this lofty goal is with His guidance. I know that the Lord blessed us here in this mission and that he has even more in store for us. When Spain was first opened to missionaries there was a very large "harvest" of members and the majority of church leaders here in Spain came from the 1970s. There was a time period of about 20ish years where things kinda slowed down. But the second harvest is here. And it will be so much bigger than the first. The work of the Lord cannot stop or be impeded. People may try as they will. But they will never stop the truth from going forth to the ends of the earth and I've been blessed with the great opportunity to be a part of it. I love this work and this church and I know that it is the only way to return back to our Father in Heaven.

I miss you all and I love you all and wish you a fantastic New Year!!!!!!

Last Christmas on the Mission

I hope that you all had a great Christmas because I know I sure did :). It was a week of success, of lots of visits with our investigators, lots of cold weather and a tonnnn of food. No wonder they say that you get a little fatter during Christmas time, ha-ha. Christmas Eve we ate with a member family and some other members and we had some incredible food. Some fish, meat, potatoes, shrimp, and I have no idea what else, ha-ha. It was really good. Then Christmas, after going to church, we ate with another family for lunch and the four of us missionaries brought something. I brought rolls that I made (that actually turned out pretty good), my companion brought a salad he made, another elder brought some really good rice, and then the other brought drinks, and the family provided the turkey and a few other things. It was a really good meal, lots of fun, and we had a good time with them. After that we had yet another visit with a different family. But this visit went a little bit different, ha-ha. We get there and knock on the door and the husband answers and it's all dark inside their home. And then he says that the circuit breaker blew out, ha-ha. So there was no electricity there. We went in, he called an electrician to come fix it but it never got fixed while we were there. Luckily they had a gas stove and stuff so we still ate well :) But after eating two meals on Christmas and only within a few hours of each other, I did not want to eat for the rest of the week. I still don't, ha-ha. The members are so great here. I'm gonna miss them after I leave this area.

For those who remember that I mentioned something about our mission goal in a previous email, I have the update about how we did this year. Our goal of 450 baptisms seemed incredibly high for us because we haven't had that as a mission in about 20 years. So we all thought that it was a very lofty goal. But after receiving notice from the mission office we reached.......449......One short! BUT! We were also told that there will be two baptisms and confirmations during this last week of December. Sooooo that puts us at 451!!!!! I know that it hasn't happened yet, but I know that with continued prayer, it will happen. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers because they truly helped us as a mission to reach our goals and to do even better.

I hope that you all had a fantastic Christmas and that this next week as you celebrate the New Year you all have fun but not too much :) ha-ha. I miss you all and will see you soon!!!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas! :)

It's finally winter here, ha-ha. The cold came pretty hard this past week and for the first time, I've really needed to wear my coat here in Tarragona. The wind has been blowing and it's been pretty cold and let's just say that without a coat, that is not exactly lots of fun to go walking in the street, ha-ha. So I got smart, grabbed my coat, scarf, and gloves and now I'm alright :)

This week, other than the cold, has been great. It was my first week with my new companion, Elder Watkins and it was fun getting to know him and working with him during his first week in the mission field. He's so good and I'm so excited to keep working with him and to see his progress as we keep going. He's been pretty tired because this is his first week of real work so he's still just getting used to it, but he's been doing great keeping up with it, ha-ha. He'll get used to it soon enough and then his feet and legs won't feel so tired. I remember how I was when I first started…dead tired at night with some really tired feet, ha-ha. But it's the best!

We had our ward Christmas activity Friday and it went really well. We had a dinner and a service project to gather food and things to give to some needy members. We had lots of inactive members come and other investigators come and it was really good for them to meet the members and to have fun at the same time. There was a tonnnnn of food and there was so much that they gave the missionaries, us, a whole bunch of leftovers, ha-ha. We're still trying to finish it off! But we ate well so that's alright :)

Yesterday we had a really neat experience at a little fireside. And it was a legit fireside with a fire, ha-ha. We planned to have one with our ward mission leader at his house and we wanted to keep it relatively small with just a few members and investigators to help them learn more about the church. We had five investigators come and three members which was perfect. As we taught, the Spirit there was so strong and even though it was slightly cold, the fire and the Spirit kept us warm. We've set up some visits with the people that came so that they can learn more and we're so excited to have some more firesides :) The only problem was we sorta smelled like smoke afterwards, ha-ha. So we went home, hung up our suits on some hooks and sprayed them with Febreze, ha-ha. It works pretty well, too.

Well, this is my last email before Christmas and actually my last Christmas one forever! Crazy huh!! But I just wanted to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you :) Let us remember what it really means and that it truly is in celebration of our Savior's birth. I know that the lights, games, food, family, and friends are all amazing parts of Christmas and I love it all. But I think we all know what it's really all about. I love you all and miss you and I hope that Christmas is the best one ever this year :)

Training Round 2 in Tarragona!

Heyyyyy what's up back home?? Hope that things are great and that you are all getting ready for Christmas which is right around the corner. I absolutely love this time of year especially since it's a great time to teach people about the love of our Savior Jesus Christ. Today I got my new companion!! His name is Elder Watkins and he's from Orem, UT. He's such a great guy already and I can't wait to work with him. Unfortunately, I can't tell too much right now because I don't have a lot of time or anything, but this past week was incredible like always, ha-ha. We saw the hand of the Lord working through us to touch the hearts of the people here in the area at this moment. We are seeing miracles every day, every week, and we are so close to reaching our goal of 450 baptisms by the end of this year. As of Sunday we are at 421l so close!!!! I know that it will happen. I know that we can do it. And I know that it is the will of the Lord that we make it. Thank you for your prayers and your love. We really can feel it out here.

Love you all!!!

December!!!!!

Hellooooo! Hope that you are all doing great as we start yet another December. I, for one, am doing incredible out here. I have more than loved this past year and little bit and cannot believe that I'm running out of time this fast. This past week was a very good one as well. That seems to happen quite often here, ha-ha. But just so you all know transfers are next week...but we got a sneak peak and I'm staying, ha-ha. And on top of that it looks like I'm training again. Sounds fun right? Hopefully, it'll be another great experience and now that I've already trained once in Tarragona, I know what I can do even better. But anyway...what a week!

The Law of Chastity has been a challenge for some of our investigators. In order for our investigators to progress and eventually get baptized, they have to live all the commandments including the Law of Chastity. And, well, most of the golden people we're teaching right now are either living with a boyfriend or girlfriend or have some other problem with it. And man is it frustrating! I've never had to give so much marriage and love-life counsel in my entire life! But I know that the Lord makes a way for people the keep the commandments He gives. It may not be that person's time but we are here to plant the seed and to help them progress as much as we can. One such investigator is Pedro. He is an incredible man and is the best example of someone who truly understands what it means to repent and follow the Savior. He's living with his girlfriend and they just had two twin boys five months ago. He doesn't have work and she makes very little money. He also doesn't have papers to live in Spain legally so he can't even get married yet. But he's such a prepared man. He wants to repent, he knows he's been doing something wrong and wants to change it. He knows what this baptism will mean and he said that he wants to do everything he can to follow through with it. We pray for him everyday and hope that a miracle will occur.

Yesterday there was another baptism in our ward here and it went alright, ha-ha. The other Elders were in charge of organizing it because it was their investigator. But I found out that he actually lives in our area this past week, ha-ha. But I said, "Whatever. There's no point in really changing anything now." But I made sure that the other Elders knew where the boundaries were ha-ha. But during the baptism the Spirit was there, especially at one point when Abraham, a nine year old boy, gave his testimony. I know him pretty well because I know his family well. But my goodness, he totally caught me off guard with his spiritual maturity level. His testimony was one of an 18-year old person, no joke. His dad isn't a member but the rest are. As he was talking about the importance of baptism & why we do it, he started talking about his dad and how he was so sad that his dad will probably never take the step that this investigator was taking. In that small testimony, this little nine-year old boy taught all of us there just how much faith little children have. Of course they can be bothersome and immature; they're little kids. But inside they all have a burning testimony and enough faith to create worlds of their own. There is something we can all learn from them and I realized that I need to make sure that I focus on becoming as a child as Christ invites us to do.

Things are incredible out here…the members, the work, my companion and everything! Days come and go and some come and go better than others. But with the Spirit burning within us, there is nothing that really matters but the salvation of our brothers and sisters.

I love you all so much and can't wait to see you again. I hope you have a great week too! :)