Back to School!

Hello once again! I honestly don't really know what to write, ha-ha. It's not that nothing has happened. I guess it's the fact that so much has been happening that I just can't really think of how to put it into words...The work is going so well and there is never a dull moment. Never. The people we meet on the streets, the families we teach, the ups and downs in the progression of investigators. Everything just contributes to amazing weeks out here.

This past week we had a little block of time and so we decided to go to a part of Badalona that we hadn't really been to before and to work around there. Well, it was a very Catalan area, ha-ha. Everyone had their Cataluña flags hanging out their windows and balconies, everyone was speaking Catalan, and it was funny when we talked with them because you could totally hear their accent when they spoke Spanish, ha-ha. It was a good experience because we got to work out there and find some new people to teach which will be exciting. At one point we started talking to a man who was sitting on a bench and we found out that he was a professor at a university and that he had even been out to BYU-Hawaii! Pretty crazy huh? In the end he wasn't interested but the best thing about that contact was that we spoke to him in Spanish and he only spoke to us in Catalan. And the biggest miracle was that we understood everything he told us! We've never studied the language or even spoken it! But we understood the whole 15 minute conversation. Now, Catalan is somewhat similar to Spanish in some words but also has its differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. And considering the fact that we don't even speak Spanish as our native language, I know that there's no way we could have understood that man without a little help from on high. It was a really neat experience to see the miracles the Lord performs in His work.

The work out here is progressing and we have some new families whom we're really excited to teach this coming week. Some of the other investigators that we had have stopped progressing as much so we're moving on to other ones and letting the previous ones take a break. Their time will come in the future though. We've been doing really well, working hard, loving the people and the members of the ward. This ward is truly such a great ward. I love the members here and the people in this area. I don't want to leave it. But that's why you just have to take advantage of what you have and make the most of it. The members have been treating us incredibly well too. Almost too well I think, ha-ha. They all want to feed us and we've been having an eating visit every day. I try to eat less at breakfast and dinner now since they feed us a ton during lunch, ha-ha. But at least I don't have to cook as much now and we get to eat wayyyyy nice :). Anyways ha-ha.

I love you all lots and hope that everything is great back home, at school and work, etc. I miss you all but before you know it I'll see you all again...too soon if you ask me...

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 ;)