The Spain Barcelona Mission: ¡Nuevo!

The Spain Barcelona Mission: ¡Nuevo!: Rumors of the arrival of Elder Escobar have been circulating for weeks! The missionary system included him in the group of missionaries sch...

Día de Sant Jordi

We've had a great week once again. :) Things are going so well here and we're always busy and moving from one place to another. It's definitely been the busiest and the best part of my mission so far! Yesterday was a holiday in all of Cataluña called Día de Sant Jordi. I wrote about it a little last year but just briefly, it's a day of books and roses. Usually the guys give girls roses and then people give away books as gifts. And since we have a great book, we organized an activity here in our ward to give away copies of the Book of Mormon so that people could read it and learn more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We organized it in such a way that the members came to help us out and we sent them out in little groups of two or three and they talked with the people themselves. :) We even had some investigators who came to help out and they were some of the best ones! :) It was incredible to see the success that we were blessed with. We had five boxes full of books and our goal was to give away all of them. The only thing was that we only had about an hour to do so. But when we all came back after an hour of working, no one had any books left! :) It was incredible! I didn't even think that we'd be able to give away that many in such a short amount of time. But it was so fun and such a good missionary opportunity. And more than anything, it helped the members catch the spirit of missionary work as well. They all came back excited and with lots of stories about how it went and many of them had phone numbers of people who were interested! So we'll be calling a lot of people in the next few days, ha-ha.

The rest of the week, as I said, has been fantastic! There's this one family of a mom, dad, two daughters, and then a niece and nephew whom we are teaching and their progress is just amazing. The mom is a member but has been inactive for a longgg time. We began teaching their family and the kids were really excited to come to church and have been participating in the activities as well. The dad at first didn't really seem too excited. He said that he respects everyone's beliefs and that we could come but he's not gonna change and is just there to listen. Well, that's what everyone says, ha-ha. Over the past two weeks we've seen a dramatic change in him and his family. As we've taught their family they've begun to pray as a family and read in the scriptures as a family. They feel terrible whenever they miss church and they are always excited when we come over. The dad more than anyone has changed the most. He said at the end of our last visit that he has noticed a difference in his family. He said that before, they'd all be doing their own thing and just not do much together. And he said that ever since we've been visiting his family, there has been a different feeling in their home. A feeling of more love and a different spirit and he said that we are always welcome because we have been changing his family. I've been out for some time now on my mission and I've experienced many things like that. And every time something similar happens, I'm just amazed at how the Lord can touch people and change lives. I feel that I am doing my part and I know that I am fulfilling my purpose as a missionary. And there is nothing better! :) Sharing the gospel is the best thing that we can ever do in our lives and it is the one thing that will bring us the most happiness and the most blessings. So get to it! :)

End of Transfer #1

Can't believe it but my first transfer here in Badalona is over! It went by wayyy fast! Almost too fast actually. My companion goes home at the end of this next transfer which is pretty scary because I remember when I first met him over a year ago and he was still "young" in the mission. Makes me start thinking that I'm getting "old" out here... :)

This week though ended really good. A little sad but still it was a very good week. If I remember right I said last week that we had a few people who were getting ready to be baptized on the 21st of this month. But not anymore :(. One of them wasn't sure if she was prepared enough and didn't want to until she felt more prepared. We tried to help her see that she was already prepared and everything but to no avail. Her mom has also been putting doubts and talking bad about things so it doesn't help at all. We're still working with her and praying a lot for her. Kimberly, the other young woman, also said that she isn't ready. Last week she just decided to tell us that she didn't see the need to be baptized at all which was a bit frustrating. Because before she said that she knew why and we couldn't figure out her doubts or what was keeping her back. We decided to fast with her this past week with two of her member friends from the ward here and after we ended the fast on Sunday with her and her friends, we asked her what she felt and she said that she wasn't ready. So that's about it for the update with them unfortunately. It's sometimes frustrating when you're doing all you can to teach people and to help them come to the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, they progress, and then they still don't make the decision in the end. But at least I know that I'm doing all I can to give them the opportunity. Now it's just up to them.

The rest of the week went really well though :). We've basically been called as counselors in the young men's organization here, ha-ha. They already have the presidency and everything but the Young Men's president, who is also in the Bishopric, asked us if we could come to their meeting that they have to help support the young men since we've been really involved with the youth here. We had the first meeting yesterday. We basically go and see what we can do to support the youth and to know what the leaders want us to do to help them with their goals and to get them active and ready to go on missions some day. It's pretty fun actually because the young men are usually willing to work with us and to do stuff with us.

This past week we were thinking about the people we were teaching, what we could do to help them more, and what we needed to do to find more people to teach who could progress. We were sorta stuck thinking about where to go to find more people but as we went out to work and as we did so prayerfully, the Lord guided us and has blessed us so much! We were blessed to meet a family that was a reference from another family in the ward. The reference came as we were going to another visit before going home. The members told us that the mom was a member but didn't know the church was here and that she had her husband, two daughters, her sister, and her two nieces and nephews there, and that she wanted all of them to learn about the Gospel! We were really excited and we called and set up a visit for the next day. And the family is so good! The daughters and niece went to a Young Women's activity this past Saturday and they all came to church Sunday for the first time and loved it! They all want to keep learning and want to keep coming and we're excited to keep visiting them. We invited them to be baptized in the visit after church and the two daughters immediately said yes excitedly. But the dad and mom both weren't too excited about having them get baptized in May because they thought it was too soon (which actually it isn't) but we respect the parents and so we didn't set a solid day but they still want to keep learning. It'll be a fun teaching process :)

Things keep going great here. I'm loving Badalona and love working among the people here. I can't believe at how fast time flies and I'm scared that it'll finish before I'm ready. If I haven't written any of you back for a while, it's not because I've forgotten you. I just haven't had time. That's probably the best thing that can happen on the mission. Not enough time. It means that you've got lots to do, lots of people to teach, and that you're working a lot. But I still love you all! :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I hope that Easter yesterday was as good a day for you as it was for us here in Badalona. It truly was a remarkable day to remember the Savior and all that He has done for us. I know more than ever just how much we need him if we are to progress and one day live with our Heavenly Father again. Like I said we were so blessed with an incredible day and an incredible week! I'm not even sure where to begin. This week the weather has been up and down. It rained quite a bit to be honest which wasn't that fun because we had to walk around in it, ha-ha. But it definitely adds to the mission memories. :) But then the past few days it has been gorgeous weather. Perfect for Easter!

The Lord has blessed us with finding new investigators, helping us know their needs, and leading us in what we do. We have some of the best investigators ever to teach right now and I absolutely love them! Unfortunately I can't give all of them hugs because some are women, ha-ha. I'll just do it after the mission, ha-ha. We have three people who are preparing to be baptized: Brielly and Kimberly for the 21st of April and Francesca for the 5th of May. Brielly is a young Brazilian girl who just moved here from Brazil and lives with her aunt who is an active member. She's progressing greatly, loves the young women in the ward, and is so excited to be baptized. She was just a blessing that fell from the sky, ha-ha. And I'm not complaining :) Kimberly (or Kimbo as I like to call her) is doing better now too. Before she was a bit uncertain and doubted but now as she's been going, progressing, and learning she feels better and better about it. We got to meet her dad for the first time yesterday in church because he came! He's never shown interest and then Kimbo said that she just randomly invited him to come and he said ok. It was exciting! Francesca is another young woman whom we're teaching. Well, we're teaching her family too. Her mom, Lucía, and her dad, Carlos, are some of the best people ever. They're so kind and loving and I could just spend all day with them, ha-ha. Lucía went to Peru, her home country, not too long ago with her oldest daughter and while they were there her daughter got baptized! Lucía loved it and said that she would like to as well and then came back to Spain to be with the rest of her family. We met her and she immediately told us her desire to be baptized. But due to some other family matters she can't for a while. However, her daughter, Francesca can and wants to! When we first met the family she was too shy and timid to even come out of her room to say hi to us, ha-ha. But now, three weeks later, she talks to us, laughs with us, and participates a lot. She loves church and said that she wants to get baptized. It's truly incredible how the Lord prepares families together. And even though the parents can't get baptized at the moment, I know they will in the future. They are truly incredible people and I love them so much!

This past week I got to do an exchange with an Elder whom I love so much, ha-ha! I was with him at the MTC in Madrid and we've never been able to work together and we finally had the opportunity! It was so fun and I learned a lot from him. Hopefully he learned something from me.

Today is looking like a good preparation day and we have a little activity that we're going to do with the youth of the ward which should be fun. I'll let you all know how it goes next week I guess :).

Well, gotta run now. But I love you all and miss you lots. Hope things are starting to warm up out there and that you're all doing great with your health, school, work, etc.

Love ya!

April :)

What an incredible week! I don't even know where to begin. We've definitely been kept busy here. Lots of work, lots of visits, and lots of incredible experiences. I feel like this week went by super fast but at the same time, I look back on what I did last Monday and it feels so long ago. We had two really good meetings Monday and Tuesday and we talked about some goals and things we can do in the mission to help other missionaries and to also see more success. The Spirit was really powerful there and I learned so much. Wednesday I was able to go back to one of my old areas: Mataró! I went on an exchange with an Elder there and was there until Friday morning. It was really strange being back to be honest. A few things have changed since I've left but overall, it's pretty much the same. I went with some names from my old agendas from when I was there to help the other Elders pick up the pace and to get going, and we also got to see some people who I saw a year ago! It was so neat to be able to do that. I loved it so much. We had an eating visit with Juana and Nestor, a family that I taught the whole time I was there, and Nestor got baptized shortly after I left. It was a little strange seeing him as a normal member to be honest since the whole time I had known him he was a non member who was progressing towards being baptized. But it felt so good to see that I played a part in his life and that he's doing so well. I also was able to see another family whom we taught and got baptized which was really exciting. The only sad part is that they are semi inactive right now. The missionaries hadn't been able to get in with them because they wouldn't answer the door or phone calls. So I decided to see if they'd let me in and they did :) They're still so great and have their testimonies, but they just lack a little bit of drive at the moment. So hopefully the missionaries there can continue with them to help motivate them again to come back to church. Right after doing the exchange in Mataró we went to pick up another Elder to come do another exchange with us in Badalona. It was so much fun. Elder Morrison stayed with us until Sunday night and we had a really good experience. Even though he went to the U of U, we still got along just fine, ha-ha. He actually knows a few friends I met at the Hill Cumorah Pageant too which was pretty exciting, and I got to talk to him about that a little.

General Conference was just as incredible as expected. I loved it so much and learned a ton that I can apply and improve. We were able to see every session minus the last one since it started at 10:00 PM so we'll just wait until the magazine comes out to read it. We even got to listen to it in English :) We could've listened to it in Spanish but sometimes the translation doesn't go over perfectly. Plus, there's a lot more power in your native language, no matter how good you understand the mission language. We worked really hard to get our investigators to come to the conference and to bring specific questions, particularly about baptism because we knew that if they came with the desire to learn and to receive an answer that it would come. One of the best experiences with that was with a young woman named Kimberly who is now preparing to be baptized this month :) She has been coming to church every week since before I got here, has been reading in the scriptures and praying, listening to the missionaries for a while, but just hadn't felt the need to commit just yet and we weren't sure why. We tried a few different things but nothing worked. But when General Conference came around we knew that this was the best opportunity for her to receive an answer that this is something that she needed to do. We talked to her for a few minutes after Conference to see how she felt and how she liked it and she said that she wanted to prepare to be baptized! It was incredible. There truly is power through the Spirit and through the church leaders. We didn't have to do anything. The Lord did it all.