July!!!

Hello to everyone back home!!! Hope all is well as the month of July begins. Here it started out nice and rainy. But the rain was sooo needed because it cooled off the heat a bit and now it's a gorgeous day full of sunshine and a slight breeze. Great for a Preparation Day :).

This week was a bit rough. Not sure why. We worked really hard and we had planned to have a bit more going on this past week than we actually had. But that's ok. It's something that happens every now and then and you really don't know why. We still have tonssss to do here and we're still working hard, relying on the Lord, and doing everything that we can to achieve our goals and to help others come to know the truth of the gospel message which we share. We've been talking with a lot of new people and there are a lot who have tons of potential and we're excited to hopefully meet with them this next week.

It's been pretty hot this past week. I'm not quite sure how hot it got but we were sweating quite a bit, ha-ha. So like I said earlier, the rain was welcomed.:)

We finally got to meet President and Sister Pace this week!!!! They arrived Friday morning and we met them Saturday in a "Welcome Conference". They're so great and I'm really excited to get to know them a little more and to work with them here in this mission. President Pace is taller than President C. Hinckley and he was pretty tall to begin with, ha-ha. His wife is a little sweetheart and is just such a loving lady. I'm so grateful that they're here and that we can start working with them. Next week is transfers as well so President Pace will be starting to look at all of that this week and it'll be interesting to see what happens. But it's also crazy to think that another transfer came and went so fast. I hate that about the mission, ha-ha. Time goes by so extremely fast and you don't want it to.

Today as a zone we have a Fourth of July activity. We're just getting together and having some food and sports and stuff like that which should be fun. I'm sure that the pics will be coming sometime in the near future; probably next week actually. I don't have a whole lot of time left so I have to wrap this up. But just so you all know, I love you lots and pray for you all. This work is the best that anyone can ever do and I love sharing the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is nothing in the world that will bring us greater joy than by living and obeying what the Lord has commanded us.

Until next week!

The heat is on!

Summer has definitely arrived! It's pretty warm now and it looks like the heat is here to stay. Should be fun outside now :) ha-ha.

This past week went pretty well. I've seen better but I don't have anything to complain about. We didn't have as many visits as we would like and a few people aren't progressing that great anymore so we're in the process of finding some more prepared people. We've been talking to everyone we can in our free time and we've been seeing some results. It's incredible just how much of a difference talking to strangers and sharing your testimony can make when things don't go the way you plan. It brings the Spirit because you testify about the Gospel and then you're doing what you've been called to do: to call people to repentance and to bring them the news of the Restored Gospel. So when people say no or that they're not interested, I don't feel guilty because I know that I've given them a chance. That's all I can do.

I went back up to Mataró again on exchanges and it went well. The Elders there are brand new to the area and have only been there a few weeks so they're still getting to know the area and working on finding people. So that's why I went up there, to help them out a bit.

Also this past week, on Saturday actually, was a big holiday here. It was pretty much like the 4th of July with all the fireworks and stuff. It's called Sant Joan (in Catalan) and San Juan (in Spanish). I asked a member why they celebrate it and they said that it's supposedly to celebrate the shortest night of the year...kinda strange right? ha-ha. But it was really neat and we got to go on the roof of our building and watch fireworks going off alllll around us.! It sounded like we were in the middle of a war because of all the firecrackers, explosives, and rockets that were going off. And it didn't help that it's mostly buildings and concrete and asphalt where we live so everything echoed. It was crazy! ha-ha. Didn't fall asleep until a bit late that night since the noise went on foreverrrr but I managed to fall asleep somehow.

Today we have yet another meeting so we will not be having our Preparation Day :P. But next week we're trying to plan a 4th of July thing with our zone and the neighboring zone :) We're excited about that. We're thinking of having some sports and stuff like that and of course food. Gotta have food to celebrate that.:) Unfortunately no fireworks because we can't really use them as missionaries, ha-ha.

Oh! Yesterday Elder Corbitt, my previous companion, came to church here in Badalona with his whole family! It was so great to see them and I got to meet his siblings and stuff. It was pretty weird to see him though, not gonna lie, ha-ha. He didn't have his name tag and I couldn't call him Elder anymore. So weird. But he's doing great and he seemed really excited to be back to visit everyone. And now in about two or three weeks he'll be back in NY with my family since his family will be in the Hill Cumorah Pageant, too. So I told him to say hi for me :).

I gotta run now though. Time to write to president and then run to Barcelona. Love you all and talk to you soon!

Summer Fun!!

This week went really well :) We were incredibly busy working, visiting people, and then having to call other missionaries and doing other planning and stuff at night that I haven't even written anything in my journal for the past week or two! I feel really bad about that though and I know I'm going to regret it when I want to look back on it all...I should probably repent and start writing more again, ha-ha. This past week was really, really busy though. We had to do two exchanges with a few missionaries and then we were just running all over visiting everyone we have to teach. It's always way fun and the best feeling ever when you get home exhausted because you know that you've been working hard and doing the work of the Lord and seeing His hand in the work. But on the other hand, sometimes it's nice to have a little break, ha-ha. That's why preparation days are sooooo great. You can sit back for a little and relax :) Today I'm not even sure what we're going to do...and then next week we have yet another meeting which means we'll be losing our preparation day. But this past week I actually missed church in my ward! That never happens! I missed it because we had a "special" exchange that we did with the Elders in another area on Saturday and Sunday. It went well and I learned a lot and I hope that the other Elders learned a lot as well. Investigator-wise we're doing pretty well. We have some really great people whom we're teaching still and a few who can be baptized soon...but they just need to realize it, ha-ha. Sometimes they just lack something and sometimes we have to try to help them realize what it is that they are missing. Sometimes they're just scared to make a change in their life. But when they do finally do it, it's the best feeling because you know that it'll help them forever. And not just them but also their families :) Missionary work is the absolute best thing that anyone can do. So for those of you at home who actually read this, I invite you to try it out. And I promise you that if you do so, you will get to taste a little bit of what we go through every day out here :)

On Saturday we had an activity in the ward and we had a few investigators come which was really exciting. We had a little hike activity where we applied things to the vision of the tree of life that Lehi had and it was actually pretty fun. We hiked up a mountain/big hill thing to an old castle ruin and my companion & I, as part of the planned activity, brought a tonnnn of water balloons and we ran ahead to the castle and set up our little attack station, and as the youth and leaders were hiking up we just starting throwing the balloons at them, ha-ha. It was great! The point was to help them to see that even though they were really, really close to their goal, that there would still be some sort of "opposition". Luckily it was a warm day and the water felt good, ha-ha. But later as we hiked down, they all decided to gang up on the missionaries and pour cold water on us. But overall, it turned out well. I got a bit of sunburn too actually, ha-ha. But now it's just dark. Elder Call on the other hand looked like a tomato ha-ha-ha! He's still a bit red but doing better now. Lesson learned: sunscreen :).

This next week we have zone conference. It's the last one that President Hinckley will be at here in our mission and then on the 30th he and his wife go back home and we get a new mission president :( It's a little sad to see them leave but I can't say I didn't know it was coming. I guess it's the same about the mission. It has a beginning and an end. But luckily I haven't had to think about that a lot, ha-ha. I gotta go now but love you a lot and miss you too! Let you know how things go next week :)

Hello!!!

I'm not exactly sure where to start, ha-ha. There's always so much that happens and goes on that it's literally impossible to write it all down. Even the "most important" stuff doesn't even fit!;) But this past week was overall good :) We took a little dip in some stuff and it didn't turn out as we had planned but it still went well and I have no reason to complain.:) This past Monday we had a meeting in the mission home so we didn't really have a preparation day at all. Just enough time to write the family and to president but after that we went right to the meeting. So that means that we didn't exactly have a lot of food in our fridge, ha-ha. But we finally managed to take some time out of our mid-day lunch/study time that we have every day to go grab some stuff to hold us over until today. The members and investigators here treat us wayyyyy too well and we've had a ton of eating visits and we have a lot next week as well which should be great :). I always enjoy a good meal prepared by someone else, ha-ha. Plus, we get to teach them and then invite them to keep working hard with sharing the gospel with their friends. And they do a really good job at it. So things have been rolling along nicely :)

Yesterday in church it was really, really hot in the meetings and everyone was complaining about it and I was sweating quite a bit in my suit. Well, it turns out that someone had put the heat on instead of the AC! The little control panel for the central air is in English and instead of asking someone who knew English what the panel said, someone just decided to guess and turn on the heat, ha-ha. That was a brutal three hours to say the least. But it was a good day. We had one of our investigators finally come to church today, which was so good. He really liked it and the other members his age really took him in and helped him out which was great to see. He's actually getting ready to be baptized on the 30th of this month and he's looking pretty excited for it. And so are we of course, ha-ha.

Elder Call and I are getting along great and working hard together. We set a goal to talk to as many families that we see as possible to share the gospel message with them and we've seen tons of success from that. We've gotten so many people's number and address and they said that we can pass by and visit to share more, which is really exciting. The only problem is that we have so many that we have to keep track of them all now! Ha-ha. But that's a good problem to have.:) It shows that you have a lot of work and a lot of good things happening in the area.

The summer heat is finally here and there isn't a day that we don't work up a decent sweat. At first I was not looking forward to it at all but now I've just gotten used to it and it's pretty normal. It's just the first little while that takes some getting used to, ha-ha.

Overall, it was a really good week :) It definitely didn't turn out as planned and wasn't as fruitful as we had hoped but I know that as we continue to work hard, the Lord will bless us and guide us to His children who are prepared to receive the restored gospel. This work is incredible and I'd never trade it for anything in the world! I love you all and talk to you next week!

June!!

Baptism of Carolina & Margarita with their parents & Elder Call

Hello everyone!! I am so happy and excited right now :) Things continue to go incredibly well out here and I'm just constantly amazed at how the Lord truly prepares His children to receive our message, and how He leads us to them or them to us. This past week we saw just another example of that. We got a phone call from the mission office and they told us that they had a reference from the church website of a man who had been looking for the church here in Badalona for about a month or so, and we finally got his contact info and so we called him that same day and set up a visit. Well, the first visit we set up didn't actually go through because he couldn't because of work or something but we set up another one and that one went so well. It was incredible! We just talked a bit to get to know him and asked him what he expected from us and how he even came to know the church. He told us that he has a girlfriend in Mexico who is a member and he was out there and went to church, met with the missionaries a few times, and just felt that it was meant for him. He felt that this is what he needed in his life and that it was what the Lord wanted for him. And he said that he wanted to be baptized and how he could do that. We just sorta sat there a little bit stunned because normally that doesn't happen, ha-ha. But we told him that we would love to help him do that, and we set a baptismal date with him for June 23! He's an incredible man who already has a testimony of the church and the restored Gospel. It was a really neat experience for me and strengthened my faith and testimony that the Lord is always preparing His children in so many different ways and that He will always lead them to us or us to them as long as we are worthy and actively doing our part to do His will.

This past week we also had the baptism of Carolina and Margarita :) It was a really great experience and I'm so happy for them! They're two twin girls who are 13 and their mom is a member who is getting reactivated and we're also helping the dad to learn as well. Their family is so special to me and I love them to death! They love having us over and they say that we can come over any day and any time, ha-ha. But obviously we don't do that :). It's been amazing to be a part of their lives and to help them grow and learn and come closer to Christ. We're going to keep visiting them because we're still teaching other members of their family and I can't wait to see their entire family come to the restored Gospel!

On a little less of a missionary work note, summer is here and it's getting pretty warm, ha-ha. I've definitely had my share of sweat and it gets pretty warm outside. But it's good I guess. I've lost another kilo already and I love it, ha-ha. Things are going really well with my new companion, Elder Call. We get along really well and we're working hard together.

Oh! Funny story, ha-ha. So we had district meeting in the stake center the other day and we usually always stay for a little to eat lunch together and then go back to work. So this time we decided to make a joint lunch and we were using the stove top to heat up some water. Well, I'm not sure what happened but while the sisters were making the food, something started smoking and set off the fire alarms in the entire building, ha-ha. And then they couldn't figure out how to turn it off and we were just there for about 10 or 15 minutes with the alarms blaring but eventually someone figured it out and got it turned off.;) But lesson learned: probably not a good idea to cook like that, ha-ha.

All is well with Elder Mathews. Badalona is great. The ward and the members are incredible. I couldn't be happier :) I love you all and miss you lots!