24 de Marzo. Where has the month gone?

24 de Marzo

    Buenos días! I always love Mondays! They feel more like our Sundays/day of rest to us than the rest of the week. And, today is the last Preparation Day of Elder Gleason! It is crazy how the time has flown by. It seems like March just started for some reason. I can't believe it!
   We had a pretty good week. We set ourselves out to find some news. Which leads into my miracle this week: In the District Meeting we were talking about talking to everybody, and we always make the goal of how many we want to find, then we get discouraged as we get rejected, and then we don't contact as much. I suggested something that we could instead set goals for how many "no's" or rejections we would get. So, the next day I set myself a goal to get rejected 100 times. And it worked! I contacted 100 people throughout the day between visits, and they all said no! Then, as we were walking home, there really wasn't anybody left in the street (that we hadn't already contacted at least =)) and I saw a guy sitting at a bus stop. I thought, why not, I'll beat my goal! And guess what? He gave me his information!! Woo! Blessings come after the trials of our faith. And, the goal helped us to contact tons of people all day, and when people rejected, it didn't weigh me down because it contributed to my goal! Of course all the contacts I did I actually tried to teach them/get their info/ and try to get something out of it. So it was like working towards my goal and against it at the same time haha.
   I did an intercambio with Elder Johnston this last Saturday, it went well. He's a great missionary and does a good job. I like how he's a dedicated study-er and is often reading PMG or a language book or something. He's a smart guy and it was fun for us to talk and get to know each other a little better. We had a visit with a crazy old spaniard...there seem to be a numerous quantity of those here...and a funny thing was that usually people talk super fast and non stop, so you don't get any opportunity to say anything. Well, this guy talked slowly, and there was always an awkward 4 second pause between all of his sentances. It was just weird because he'd say something totally irrelevant or weird, pause as if he were done, except we couldn't tell if he was or not by how he finished his words, like as if he was going to continue, then when he did it was on something totally different. A new way of dominating the conversation I hadn't come across before haha.
  We've been seeing lots of progress with some people, except none of them came to church  We even went to go pick up 2 people, and they both left us out to dry, and they made us miss the sacrament in our morning meetings Good thing there's the afternoon meetings! So that was a little frustrating but nothing out of the usual.

Well, I gotta go! Hope all is well, and have a fantastic week!

Zaragoza sees the sun!

10 de Marzo

Muy buenas a todos! ¿Qué tal estáis? Hemos tenido una semana muy buena. Os lo voy a contar un poco!

First off, it feels like spring weather. It has been clear and sunny all week, and kind of warm actually! 18 ºC pretty much all week. You can also tell not only by how much we don't want to wear our coats, but by how much others don't want to wear coats or other articles of clothing either! Yikes! Haha it's not bad right now though, and Zaragoza is not anywhere near the beach. It is a desert though...we hear it gets pretty dang hot here in the summer! I think I might be outta here by then though and hopefully to a place more cool!
This week on Thursday we have a Mission Conference, Elder Kearon of the Seventy (1st counselor in the Europe Area Presidency as well) will be coming. It's going to be super great! They are bringing like 2/3 (almost 160 missionaries!) of the mission into Barcelona and the rest will be in Bilbao. We will be in the Barcelona group. We're all super excited!!

17 de marzo

So, this week has been a good week for us. I loved the Conference we had on Thursday. It truly was an immense spiritual feast! There was lots of great things taught and such a great Spirit. I was really impressed overall with how Elder Kearon just stopped to enjoy the moment a few times, to just bask in the Spirit and admire the sight of what he was really in, and the sight of 160 el Faro Barcelona missionaries!  He also was good at having fun, and keeping everyone awake =) It wasn't ever a problem for me but there were a few other heads I saw bobbing here and there =) We learned a ton and it was a lot about giving our extra efforts, going from our "all" to our "absolute all" that is sometimes hard to give up =) 

I think a miracle we saw was while we were in Barcelona, we had an hour 1/2 or so before our train left, so we went out to proselyte. No one was really listening as we contacted. We were coming to the end of a big street, and I saw a man who had a more radical/different appearance than the average person. I thought came to my mind how the Lord looks upon the heart and not the outward appearance, as well as various things I have been reading in talks and PMG about how we really can't judge who will accept or not. So, I figured, the way I see it, the people who look the least "receptive" might be the most! So I contacted him and we ended up teaching him about the Restoration and leaving him with a Book of Mormon! He lives in a pueblo and didn't want to leave us his number, but he said he was going to read the Book and call the missionaries.

Feb/March Updates

23 de Febrero

Hola buenos días a todos!

So, miscellaneous transfer news: I am training Elder Loaiza. He's from Colombia, but has been in Madrid for 12 years. I always find it interesting though, that even though he moved to Spain at like 7 years old, he still speaks like a Colombian more than a Spaniard. Just the lasting influence on little kids. That, or he only hung out with other Colombians haha I still haven't asked. He's nice, we have fun together. He's starting to warm up a little and get accustomed to mission life haha. He has good desires. He wants to do what is right and he desires the welfare of people we talk to in the streets. He always has nice follow-up questions for them. The other three are a trio so when E. Gleason goes home this next transfer the other two will probably stay. Elder Ballam is related to Michael Ballam, that's his uncle. He's a contacting machine and talks with everyone. Elder Johnston is more quiet, but he always says something funny when he talks, and he's really humble and studious/study-ful.

3 March

Hello everyone!

It has been a good week here. We had Enfoque de Zona, which was a really clever Disney land idea of our zone, Lleida-land/Andorra Adventure/Zaragoza World, and about it being the "happiest zone on Earth". It was inspiring to go out and find, work with members, and just succeed in everything. We also did an intercambio, Elder Roney came to Zaragoza with me. It was probably one of my favorite intercambios. I loved working with Elder Roney. He just finished 5 transfers of being ayudante de Presiedente and he is such a hard worker and is amazing at talking with people. We got tons of phone numbers and even quite a bit 10 min conversations with people who at first tell us "que no quiero nada" that most of us just let go. I learned lots of great things, it's just hard to put into practice some of those things after just a couple days with him...I would have loved to spend more to put into concrete some of the things. I guess I'll just have to really focus this week!

I admire in Elder Loaiza how he tries to put into practice what he learns. He learned a lot from Elder Weiss in the intercambio and he is always talking about things that we could try. The District is doing well. The Elders are working hard, talking to everybody. The Hermanas had a great week reaching 4 of the standards of excellence and had a ton of investigators in church, half of which have fechas! So Zaragoza is about to get drowned in miracles...

From my studies I learned something really neat from a Oct. 2012 Conference Talk by Elder Daniel L. Johnson:
"Our discipleship will be developed and proven not by the type of trials that we are faced with but how we endure them. As we have been taught by President Henry B. Eyring: “So, the great test of life is to see whether we will hearken to and obey God’s commands in the midst of the storms of life. It is not to endure storms, but to choose the right while they rage. And the tragedy of life is to fail in that test and so fail to qualify to return in glory to our heavenly home” (“Spiritual Preparedness: Start Early and Be Steady,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2005, 38)."

Noticias de los traslados!

Hey family and friends! How is everything?! It seems like it has been a while...this week passed by fast but seemed like it had like 10 days in it. Kind of a weird sensation. Anyways, I have our transfer news. Woo! Elder Gleason is staying and will have to companions, Elder Johnston from Bountiful (he came in this morning) and Elder Ballam from Logan Utah (we just got here after picking him up from the station, a long 30 min bus ride from piso because it's on the other side of the city from us). And I...will be staying and training! I go to Barçelona tomorrow to pick him up.

We're excited to have a full piso again! One day has already been fun! It will be nice to be back to full force (and even one extra!) and already just having another throughout today has lightened the burden of our load haha. I'm a little nervous about training, I don't know why. I'm always just super nervous I won't train him to be the missionary he needs to be or that I'll give him an incomplete perspective on what a missionary should be... I'm sure it's all just in my head though and it will be fun =) I'm just a perfectionist and want everything to be just perfect and that's hardly ever possible.. I am excited though. I'm sure he'll be great! I'll find out tomorrow who he his.

A miracle this week: I don't know so much if it was a miracle we saw, but it has been on my mind about what a miracle it is to be able to receive revelation, and just that the principle of revelation itself is a miracle. It is key as missionaries that we receive revelation on a daily basis and even hourly or minutely basis, and yet in many other things God trusts us to make the right decision. It is necessary that investigators learn and understand the principle of revelation. It is their chain that connects them to the Rock of Christ. Nobody ever sneaks into the Church or leaves from an exposure to it without the adversary noticing...he always knows and always sends opposition. If the investigators don't understand how to pray, receive answers, and receive daily inspiration from scripture study, they won't be able to see through the clouds of darkness, especially if "their missionaries" leave or if they are for whatever reason distanced from the Church for even a week or two, and they are prone to be deceived. It is important that we strive to understand the thoughts and ways of God, how He works with us and through us, and what His will is for us.

This week I am going to repent on this, and strive to deepen my revelatory experiences. We have a lot of work to do! I've been thinking between various points, mainly "Would it be worthless to strive and bring people to the Church if it won't be able to retain them? Will God guide us to His prepared children if he knows the members aren't prepared to fellowship them?" and "new converts can help the members kindle their conversions and faith. They can be what turns them around!". In any way, I feel like the Ward has been making good steps of change. Our relationship with the Bishop has been improving a lot, and he seems a lot more open, trusting, and even talks with us! We have seen a lot of good in him these last couple weeks and even the way that he runs things has been changing. I think he sees our willingness and our efforts to help. We have been struggling to find a time to meet with the Ward mission leader however, which is not good haha. We do have a big activity planned for this Friday that should be great for all who come!

Thanks for everything. ¡Qué tengáis una semana fantástica! Un saludo!

February Updates

Feb 3rd

We had a really neat miracle this week. We were teaching María Angeles, one of our recent converts, about temple and family history work. She had said that she felt comfortable to do the work for her brother who was open and passed away at a young age, but was hesistant if she should do the work for her father, worried that he was "pure 100% catholic" and impossible to change. We were explaining the principle to her, and was still kind of unsure. In part of my example about how it works, I used "Juan" as an example (being the random name that came to my head) as someone who had passed through to the Spirit World, heard the Gospel message, and wanted to progress but couldn't until someone did his ordinance work. Then the most interesting thing happened: I had no idea what her father's name was, but apparently it was Juan. She said when she first heard it she got the chills, and thought, "Oh, it was probably just an example. Next he will say "Pedro" or something. When I kept using the name Juan 3-4 more times, she was just overwhelmed and knew it was the Holy Ghost inspiring me. She understood not only in her mind she said, but then also in her heart. As we read scriptures from DyC about the ordinance work and binding the families on earth together, she understood perfectly. Then, Elder Gleason extended a bold invitation and promise: That if she would prepare to enter the temple and begin preparing names, that her desires to smoke will leave her (her big challenge still). It was such a powerful lesson! The member who was there with us, Bishop's wife Karen, had a little booklet to help get her started and was explaining it to her. It was such a powerful lesson!

As far as charity grows, it is interesting. In one of the talks they invited us to think about our goodly parents. As I thought about my great parents I was filled with love and apreciation for all that you do. I also imagined you both teaching, in Sunday School and in Elders Quorum, and I'm proud of the great teachers you are. It was also funny, President Pace said something that reminded me a lot of grandpa Valberg. I wish I could remember what it was, but I can't.
My thing to work on this week are my 3 things I took away from Specialized Training:
1. Use the Sacrament as a moment for revelation.
2. Pray earnestly for the ward and stake leaders. Work with them to build them up!
3. Consecrated obedience for personal sanctification.

There was a neat experience we had in the second day of our zone conference. President Pace had invited one of the counselors of the Lleida Stake Presidency to come and share something. He shared his family's conversion story and it was so inspiring. After he finished, President Pace felt inspired that we all kneel and pray. It was such a powerful moment!!

Feb 10th

We had a good week. It felt like we worked a lot and then it seems like we didn't because we didn't get a lot of huge changes, but hey, I figure most things happen a slower pace than we want. We passed by a lot of names on the lists, but not many of them were home or still live there so that was a little frustrating. There also seemed to be an unusually large amount of mockers and fingerpointers this week haha. They always come on harder weeks, those weasels... Nice faith refining for us I guess =)

A miracle this week was trust that we've been starting to see from some of the ward leaders. We decided to start supporting Hno Diaz in his institute class and it seems he talks to us more. He even got a hold of a guitar and a saxophone for us to play for a little bit today during preparation day, even after we said it wasn't necessary (I hope that's ok haha...I probably don't remember how to play anything by memory...I guess I can play through the whole hymnbook haha). We've also seen the Bishop become more energized and active in the work. The past couple ward councils have seemed to be a little more productive. We gave him an organized list of menos activos and he's been starting to assign us few to go and seek out.

We had an Enfoque de zona that talked about faith and hope, which was good. Now it's just a matter of exercising that faith, which sometimes feels harder than exercising muscles, but obviously the first is more worthwhile haha. Speaking of which, Elder Gleason is starting to worry about his coming home appearance and wants to get in top shape again, so we're probably going to kick on some more crazy workouts in the morning than push ups and situps haha.

Have a great week! I pray that God bless you all with the strength and ability to do everything you need to! Keep up the great work in everything. Love you all! Un abrazo.

January Updates

Jan 20th
It was a nice week for us. It seemed like we were busy and yet that we were not at the same time...kind of a strange sensation. We did have a couple visits though. We have our new fecha, Favour, for the 1st of Feb.. He is the friend of a member who came to church last week. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and he said that he understood it all and was going to read. We couldn't have our second visit with him though, and he didn't come to church yesterday.

We also finished our planning with the WML all of the activities we are going to do this year. It seems like it should be pretty successful if we can get the members to come out to the actvities. I think our miracle for this week was being able to meet with the Bishop, Elders Quorum President, and a couple other members who always tell us they don't have time during the week!

Elder Gil takes a train into Barcelona tonight and I still have no idea who my new companion is or when he's coming. We might have to sit around in a trio again for a bit. I am excited for Elder Gil though, because I know what he has been passing this past month and a half, and probably more since I waited triple his time and closer to home haha. He seems to be pretty excited, although not looking forward to the long flight. He leaves to Paris at 6:30 in the morning, then waits until 1:30 or so, and flys to Mexico. Although it is like a 13 hour flight he will get there at 6 or 7 in the evening haha.

Jan 27th

Buenos días! What a crazy week! I don't even know where to start. First off, thanks for your messages as always. I love to hear news! It sounds like lots of great things happening back home.

We had a pretty good week here. It seems that just when I get a grasp of how we are going to do things the Lord throws me another curveball and it's back to square one. Haha it's good for me though, change always keeps one on his toes! We were in a trio this week with Elder Roberts and Elder Gleason, because there wasn't any other missionaries to send our way here. Then, Sunday morning on the way to church we get a phone call from President. (Yeah, I know right? "What's next?" Is the first thing you think!) There is an Elder who is going into the office to be a trio and start getting trained in his duties there, and Elder Roberts is going to take his place in Terrassa. He left this morning =( I am going to miss Elder Roberts though! We had a lot of fun this week and lots of laughs and had some really good visits. It is weird though, because I got here to make 5 in the piso, than Elder Gil came and we had six, then with E. Wiscombe, Dixon, Gil, and now Roberts leaving one by one it puts us down to 2!

The areas will be interesting. Mine is in the top of Zaragoza right by our piso and the church, so it is easy to work in, just that we don't have very much going right now. The other Elder's is the bottom of Zaragoza, like 30-40 min in bus, depending on where we have to go. I can tell that they have been talking with a lot of people though...there have been a lot of people saying hi to us in the street down there! A lot in our area know us because of the church and everything. We have a few investigators to work with, lots of new references and people to start with, who have been hard to contact by phone recently.

Elder Gleason has a good memory of things that he has talked about with people. He can always remember what they talked about last and follow up and also to help people. He will be great for Zaragoza in his time here. We are praying for 2 more great missionaries that the Lord needs here when the transfer comes around. It is fun to work with him though, he reminds me a lot of Kaleb Rassmussen. He did MMA stuff and has a similar personality and everything. So we get along pretty well =)

This week I am going to work on charity. Elder Roberts gave an excellent talk about love and charity on sunday and it has impacted me from other talks and messages. I feel it is something the Spirit would have me think about throughout the week. And that was even more confirmed when you sent me all of those quotes by Pres. Uchtdorf haha. 

A peek into the past

Hola!
It was a great week for us here! We saw a few miracles this week. The first one: We need new investigators, and we prayed and fasted to be able to have new people to teach. What happened in the following 2-3 days was incredible! We received at least 6 or 7 references! Hopefully this week a lot of these people can convert into new investigators! We did have a visit with that mailman, but we went and they called him in to deliver an urgent package or something, so we didn't get to teach him.

Another miracle was that everything went well in Madrid, that Elder Gil received his visa, and that we were able to enjoy TWO sessions in the temple, one Thursday mediodía and another Friday morning before the embajada opened up! It was a once in a lifetime experience! I was impressed by the peace and serenity and above all the Spirit. We had been that afternoon to a Catholic cathedral, an Egyptian temple, and couple other places, and there is a noticable difference between the true temple of the Lord and those of the world =) I felt the Spirit strongly and was impressed more about the person who I am deep down and what the Lord expects of me a little better. And it was SUPER beautiful =) After one of the sessions we walked around the temple and saw all of the rooms and such too.

Oh, and my peek into the past: We ate dinner and breakfast in the MTC there with the other missionaries, and stayed in the hostel for members on temple trips that is downstairs. It was interesting. At first they all thought we were new missionaries, but then we proved ourselves to be missionaries out in the field. They didn't really talk to us though, just the teachers. I think I didn't miss out on too much in the MTC, I think I would have still liked the Provo MTC more. So, looking back, the Lord is indeed merciful in His mysterious ways! And I still got to go to the temple! ¡Toma! It was great =)

Well, that's all that I have for this week. Hope that you have a wonderful week and keep the faith burning bright!