Spring! :)

I love being a missionary! :) It is by far the most satisfying, exciting, and fulfilling thing that you can ever do! This past weekend on May 5 we were blessed to see Franchesca and Brielly baptized! :) It was incredible to be there. You could feel the spirit and I know that they could as well. The whole teaching process with them has been amazing as well. And I've been so blessed to be here for the entire teaching process, from the day we first met them to the day that they got baptized! :) They are two very special young women and I'm so grateful that I got to meet them. Franchesca asked me to baptize her and it was truly an incredible feeling. The water was a little cold which definitely adds to the memories, ha-ha, but apart from that it was a day that I won't forget. You just can't put in words what it feels like. Brielly was baptized by Elder Escobar, my other companion. It was great to see him baptize his second week in the mission and to help him feel the excitement of missionary work. Saturday in general was just an exciting day! We ate with a big Bolivian family which was so fun and so great :). We brought the dessert and drinks and they provided the barbecue :) ha-ha. We went up to the roof that they have and they had a grill going and we ate up there. We ate ribs and sausage, salad, and then some great dessert provided by us. The environment with them was just so fun. That's one thing I loveeee about the South American culture. They are so open, friendly, family-oriented, and everything! And they always have get-togethers like that. There were about 10 or 15 of us there and we all ate together. Definitely something that I'll miss about the mission.

The area here is going great. We're seeing miracles left and right and we're still working hard. We have three more people who are preparing to be baptized. One is Clarisell, a woman from Ecuador who is a friend from some members of the ward here. She's doing really great and progressing really well. She's come to church and loves it, meets with us and loves it when we come, and she's planning on getting baptized on the 26th of this month. The other two are two young women named Carolina and Margarita and they are getting baptized June 2. They are the daughters of an Ecuadorian family whom we are teaching. The mom is a less active member who is getting reactivated and the dad actually is listening too and wants to be baptized as well. He just said he wants to think about it a little bit more first but he loves it and definitely wants to some day. It's so exciting when you see the Spirit of the Lord working in people and touching their hearts and helping them receive answers about the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is by far the best thing about being a missionary! I get to see people feel the difference that the gospel makes in their lives and see them actually want to change in order to make it a part of them. I'm sure that there will be more incredible people to talk about next week as well :)

This past week I was in Barcelona on exchanges with another missionary named Elder Olaya for a few days. He's from Colombia and he's probably the most happy and excited and giddy missionary I've ever met, ha-ha! He laughs a lot, smiles all the time, and is just always upbeat and happy. Sometimes it's a little too much but I love that he's always happy because it's contagious :) It was a fun experience to be with him and I got to work in Barcelona itself :) That's always a great experience!

We finally got permission to take off our suit jackets. It's not even that hot to be honest but it still feels a bit better without it. Summer is on the way, I'm not sure when it'll actually get here because we've seen bursts of it and then it gets cold again. But I'm not complaining :) The work is going fantastic and I'm happy! :) What more can you ask for?

I love you all and I hope you all have a great Mother's Day on Sunday! Talk to you next week! :)

Training Round #3

Elder Corbitt and I got a surprise call from President Hinckley the other day telling us that we would be getting a new companion! A brand new one fresh from the MTC! He came after the actual transfer so he wasn't sent like normal with a trainer to another area so President put him with us to train him during the month of May (the rest of the transfer). We were pretty excited to be training and to get another companion. His name is Elder Escobar. He's from Payson, UT and is doing really well. His parents are from Guatemala, hence the last name, and so he already speaks a bit of Spanish pretty well which is a great advantage. He's already brought us a lot of miracles too! People have just been popping out of nowhere and we've been seeing a lot of blessings as well. So this is round 3 for me in training. It's a good experience and I really like it. I just never imagined that I'd do it three times during my mission.

Things continue to go really well here. This next week, May 5, we have two of our investigators who are getting baptized and they look really set. We're really excited for them. The members know them well and they are well integrated in the ward with everyone which is perfect. The leaders know what to do and are willing to help out. It's been such a blessing and miracle to meet the two of them and to teach them and see the changes that have happened in their lives. That is the best thing that comes from being a missionary. I get to see first hand the changes that people make and their desire to follow the Savior. There is nothing better!

This past Sunday (yesterday) I had to play the piano to accompany the ward choir. And let me tell you, it did not go well, ha-ha-ha. I was worried sick all week because the director told me that I had to play the song and I couldn't at all. For those of you who know me, I don't play the piano, ha-ha. I can read music because I play the violin but the piano is way different. Well, long story short, after lots of prayer and a little bit of practice during our lunch or whatever, I learned the song. :) It's still not perfect but it was a hugeeee improvement! My part was fine in the actual performance. But the director changed a few things without telling the choir members and it messed them up really bad! So they all sorta got mad at him, ha-ha. I'm just glad the whole thing is over :).

Today we have a meeting in Barcelona once again which means we basically don't get a Preparation Day, unfortunately. We only have time to write home a bit and then we have to go. But the meeting will be really good so I'm really excited. I'm sure you'll hear about it next week :).

Tomorrow is the official day when we can take off our suit coats! ha-ha. Usually I'd be a bit more excited but it's actually not that hot outside. It's been a bit more colder lately which is really strange because last year at this time we were dying from the heat. But I'm not complaining at all. It feels great in just the suit coat and a little bit of sun and a slight breeze :).

Sorry I have to go now. Like I said, we’re headed out to a meeting. But I love you all a lot and just wanted to let you all know what's been going on here a bit.

Until next week!

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! :)