A Break from the Heat

This week has definitely been a lot better and in a few ways too. For one, the weather cooled of a lot, thank goodness. It rained pretty hard this past week one day and after that the temperatures just dropped. So we’ve actually been some good weather to go out and work in and not sweat too much, ha-ha. The downside is that it's been pretty cold in the morning now so I actually have to wear my long pajama pants and close the windows when we sleep so that we don't freeze at night, ha-ha. But it feels great now :).

The week itself went well too. We saw some pretty neat little miracles throughout the week and a lot of the people we are teaching are doing really well. This past week we did exchanges with the Elders in Barcelona and Elder Schwartz came here to Badalona to be with me. He's a brand new missionary who’s only been out for about two weeks now and he's fantastic. He's half Korean so whenever people would ask about him I'd say that he was my cousin and a lot of people believed us, ha-ha. It was great. We later told them that we weren't related at all though but it was still kinda fun, ha-ha.

On a bit of a less happy note I sort of accidentally erased everything on Elder Call's pin drive....yep. Everything. All 16 GB of memory. He had his pictures, little church video clips, and some other stuff on it. We had a little movie night as a ward activity and we brought the movie (Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Restoration) and as we were pulling it up on the laptop, I just sort of accidentally formatted his pin drive and everything disappeared. I felt terrible. And I still do. And the worst thing is that I can't bring any of it back and there's not a whole lot that I can do to replace that. Sooooo that's about it, ha-ha. Luckily he didn't get really mad at me but still. I feel bad. Definitely not gonna do that again. But anyway…

The work has been progressing really well here and we have quite a few investigators who should be getting baptized by the end of this month. We're really excited for them. Especially a man named Carlos who has come to church the past few weeks but we just haven't been able to coordinate our schedules since he works a lot. But this week we're going to visit and we're excited.

I hope all is well back home and that the summer has been going well. I love you all so much and can't wait to tell you all about this coming week. It should be great :)

Kimberly!!!

This will be a lot shorter since I hardly have any time. But I just wanted to write and update a bit about this past week. First off, Kimberly was baptized!!! And it was a great experience for both her and everyone there. I've never seen her smile so much and be so happy, ha-ha. Her dad even came as well to support her even though he had previously said that he wasn't going to come so it was nice to see him. He's not a member but everyone went up to talk to him and stuff and it was really good. The bishop baptized her because his family was what made it all possible. His daughter is actually Kimberly's friend and so Laura, bishop's daughter, shared her testimony and it was really powerful. It was just overall a really good experience :). That's one of the best parts of being out here. You get to feel that way all the time. The rest of the week went well. We had to help someone move but luckily he was moving to a first floor apartment so we didn't have to bring it all the way to the top without an elevator. Today we have another meeting so that's why I don't have tons of time. I just wanted to say that I love you all and miss you lots. Good luck to those of you who are starting school now, ha-ha. I'll join you next January :).

Nice and Sweaty! :)

I think this has been the hottest week I've seen on my mission, hands down. And on top of the heat it's been sooo humid so whenever we step outside we just start sweating. Gross huh?, ha-ha. And a lot of people don't have air conditioning. Actually, a vast majority don't. So even when we're inside their houses, it's still really hot. But we've been doing well, toughing it out, seeing miracles, and loving every moment of it :). I've resorted to jumping in the shower every night right before bed so that I don't feel as gross, ha-ha.

This past week overall was pretty good. But the best thing is that Kimberly is getting baptized on Saturday!!! We're so excited for her :) And she's really excited as well. It's probably been one of the biggest miracles of my entire mission to see her teaching process and the changes that have been going on. I'm so happy to see her arrive at this point and the rest of the members are excited as well because they know her so well. She's been coming to church since November so she's well integrated in the ward and everyone is really supportive of her. Next week I'll let you all know how it went.

I also sort of forgot to tell you all that today is transfer day, ha-ha. Woops. Luckily neither I nor my companion are leaving. So we can just have a normal, relaxing Preparation Day here in Badalona. So that also means that I'm fortunate enough to be able to finish my mission in this incredible city. I'm so glad too because I still feel that there are things I need to do here. So I need to keep looking and working until I finish what I've been sent here to do.

I just wanted to also write about an incredible miracle that we had on Sunday. Well, it actually started about a week or two ago. But one day a few weeks ago, a member in the ward was moving apartments and needed help. We couldn't go since we had a few visits during the exact time she asked so we said sorry and that we'd try to see if we could run by for a few moments later. Well, it turned out that both visits fell through and we felt that we should go up and help the lady move. We got there and no one else was there. The men from the ward didn't come and the moving van wasn't there so we couldn't do anything. She said that a member was coming with the van within 30 minutes so we waited with her and tried to help her in other ways. She went upstairs to her apartment for a few minutes and we stayed outside and while we were out there talking, a man walked by to go in the building. He opened the door then came back and asked where the church was. After talking with him for a little bit we found out he was a member from back in Ecuador but hadn't been to church in a long time. We got his info and everything and he came to church this past Sunday with his wife who isn't a member. We visited them later that day to get to know them and to teach and it was interesting to hear their side of the miracle. Apparently, two days before Fabian, the man, had met us, he had been talking with his wife about the church and about if they should look for it and start going attending again. And then the Lord sent us literally to his doorstep. They said that they don't believe that it was by chance that we happened to be there. And I don't either. The Lord sent us there to find this dear brother who has been inactive for many years and his wife who has a strong desire to learn about the church right now. We are so excited to teach them and we developed a really good relationship with them right off the bat. I feel that the Lord has something really special coming for them really soon.

Alrighty. I have to get off now. But I just want you all to know that I love you all so much and miss you lots. Work hard, get ready for school for those who are going, and never forget what the Lord has in store for you as long as we are worthy :)

Vacation Time!!

August is the month of vacationing here in Spain. Lots of little businesses close for a few weeks at a time and lots of people get a couple of weeks to take off and rest. So a lot of them go on vacation and go out of town. But some also just stay at home and bum around, ha-ha. We've met a lot who just bum around and rest because they don't really want to go anywhere and stress out. Makes it easier to teach them and to also visit the members and everything. It's been great.

This past week was so good. We were truly blessed with so much success and so many people to teach. The week started out great from day one, Monday. We visited two new people right after our Preparation Day ended and they seem incredible. Later in the week we were blessed with little miracles and other friends and family members were in the homes of other people who we were just visiting and they too said they want us to come by and teach them. The Lord truly blessed us for our hard work and diligence. Now all we have to do is make sure we don't get prideful and slack off. If anything we gotta keep working. And work even harder than this past week.

We also had exchanges with another area which was really really good. I felt that both the Elders that we did it with ended more excited and upbeat about the work and I know I did too. I went up to the other area called Vic. It's a small little city that's pretty far out there from Barcelona. But I really like it because it's nice, small, quiet, and everything. We ended up helping a member lady move some furniture that she needed from her old apartment and man was that stuff heavy! She said that it was but we sorta didn't believe her because there were two of us and everything. But she wasn't kidding, ha-ha. Afterwards she gave us a really good lunch to thank us :).

During the exchange we had a few contacts that I probably won't ever forget, ha-ha. Two of them really stick out to me because the people whom we were talking to were so....I'm not sure how to put it. But the first one was on the train up to Vic with my new "companion". We were sitting next to a young girl and then we saw a newspaper on the seat in Catalan and we of course don't really know Catalan. So we asked her what it said since there was a little thing about Romney and Obama, ha-ha. And then, like always, she asked what we were doing here in Spain all dressed up. And we started talking about what we do as missionaries. And then she just sorta took off and started sorta attacking us, ha-ha. It was kinda funny because she wouldn't answer questions we asked her and tried to just ask us questions. And all we could do in the end was bear simple testimony about what we know to be true. Someday we'll see her again and say that we tried to talk but she just wouldn't listen.

Another little experience happened on a bus on our way up to another little town outside of Vic. We were the only two on the bus with two other young Catalan women. We were speaking in English and so the girls asked where we from and so we started talking and once again we got onto the topic of who we were and they started questioning us about beliefs and why we do it all. They were a lot nicer and less attacking but still. Not exactly what I'd called "prepared" to receive our message. They were great learning experiences though :)

Overall, I'm doing fantastic. Nothing to complain about. I got a little sunburnt today since we were outside all this morning for preparation day. But it was great! Love you all back home! Hope all is well and that summer isn't too hot ;)

August heat

August has begun and the heat seems to have cranked up a bit. This past week was a bit on the warm side to say the least. Got lots of sweating done and ice cream and popsicles have never tasted better, ha-ha. Even the people who live here complain about how hot it has been. Hopefully it doesn't keep going up. This is about the peak month for heat so there's some hope that we've reached the hottest part, ha-ha.

This past week was great apart from the heat. Our meeting this past Monday was incredible like always and I left rejuvenated and ready to work more than ever. President Pace, our new mission president, is doing fantastic. He's such a great person and I love working with him. He makes you feel important and that you matter which I think some missionaries need to feel right now.

We've seen some incredible miracles here. One of them with a young woman named Kimberly (ex Elder Corbitt knows her well, ha-ha). When I first got here to Badalona we taught her a bit but after a while we stopped teaching her so that maybe in the future she would be prepared to receive the Gospel message. Well, not too long ago we saw her at church again and we set up a visit just to see how she was doing. And she's doing incredible now. She's expressed her desire to be baptized when before she wasn't sure at all. She's obviously had a few doubts and worries but we've been able to help her to know how she can overcome those doubts herself. And the best part is that she's learning and recognizing how to do so through prayer and scripture study. She's currently preparing to be baptized on the 25th of this month and she seems a lot more excited and determined this time. So that's just one little thing that we're really excited about at the moment :).

We did an exchange this week which went great as well and I got to work with an Elder from Finland! Crazy huh?? I got to know him a bit and to talk to him about his life and things back home. He's a pretty big Elder too: tall and just big, ha-ha. He's got a great heart and I'm glad that I got to know him a bit better. The culture is definitely different though, ha-ha. The Olympics aren't too terribly big here. I see people watching it now and then but a majority of the people whom I've visited or talked to don't really watch it. Kinda strange. But every now and then we walk into a home and we have to ask them to turn off the TV so that we don't get caught watching too, ha-ha. Talk about a huge temptation! But everyone knows that we can't watch it during the mission so they all cooperate so it hasn't been that bad.

Life continues on and I'm loving it. We've been blessed in the work and we're so excited for this month. We've got lots to look forward too :). I love you all so much and hope that things are going great. As summer winds down make sure that you take advantage of your free time, ha-ha. Hasta la próxima!