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.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
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 =)
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.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
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!
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.
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!
7 de Enero de 2014
Hola! So, I have a lot to share, but I don't know how to start and honestly I don't have a lot of desire to type it all...if only I could just telepathically send it across the world. Oh well, cound my blessings I guess =) We'll see what we can do here.
First item of business: Elder Gil is still with me! We went into Lleida for Zone Enfoque on Wednesday. Elder Gil's package had arrived monday, but he couldn't pick it up because the mailman still had it whereever he was in his route, and Tuesday and Wednesday the office was closed for holidays. So, he came with us, and the Zone Leaders planned an intercambio with us, and Elder Weiss was to come back to Zaragoza with Elder Gil and I and E. Dixon stayed in Lleida with E. Carrigan. Well, 5 min before our train was supposed to leave, we get a call from President Pace. He said that he thought Elder Gil's package was a divinely sent sign, and it gave him more time to think about things and that he felt much more comfortable with sending Elder Dixon to Barcelona. "Uh, sure President sounds great! One problem...he's in Lleida and we're boarding our train." So, we got back to Zaragoza and put E. Gil on the first train back and E. Dixon got a train to Zaragoza to come pack his bags, then Thursday morning he left! So here we are!
First item of business: Elder Gil is still with me! We went into Lleida for Zone Enfoque on Wednesday. Elder Gil's package had arrived monday, but he couldn't pick it up because the mailman still had it whereever he was in his route, and Tuesday and Wednesday the office was closed for holidays. So, he came with us, and the Zone Leaders planned an intercambio with us, and Elder Weiss was to come back to Zaragoza with Elder Gil and I and E. Dixon stayed in Lleida with E. Carrigan. Well, 5 min before our train was supposed to leave, we get a call from President Pace. He said that he thought Elder Gil's package was a divinely sent sign, and it gave him more time to think about things and that he felt much more comfortable with sending Elder Dixon to Barcelona. "Uh, sure President sounds great! One problem...he's in Lleida and we're boarding our train." So, we got back to Zaragoza and put E. Gil on the first train back and E. Dixon got a train to Zaragoza to come pack his bags, then Thursday morning he left! So here we are!
Next on the list: Elder Gil is going to Madrid on Thursday for an embajada appoitment for his visa, and I get to go with him. Woo!! So he goes in the morning, and then supposedly if all goes well he can have his visa that evening. Then whenever the next transfer day in Mexico is he would go, maybe end of Jan. or something. So we'll have all late morning and mediodía to go do stuff, and maybe go see the temple!
I usually like to share something I learned from my studies this week, but I can't think of what to share out of all the good stuff I learned! I started the Book of Mormon again for the new year, made a comparison chart of the callings of prophets (how old they were, their reaction, their circumstances/background at the time, etc.) and a lot about member missionary work stuff. So yeah, everything in that general area I guess. =) Mainly I guess I noticed how natural the things of God become to those who consistenly study, pray, and live them. Then missionary work is easy and exciting, your relationship with God flourishes, and blessings are abundant.
Hope that everything goes just great and that you have a fantastic week =) Un abrazo!
December Updates
12/9
I love being with Elder Gil! We are in kind of a weird foursome now. Elder Gil is waiting to go to Mexico City on his visa, and we got him here on Wednesday. He is a very prepared missionary, even if he hasn't been through the MTC yet. He is fun to be around and always laughing and causing laughs. He's from the Canary islands. He teaches all the new missionaries in our piso spanish and helps me perfect my vocabulary and accent =)
So yeah, we are getting by! This is only temporary, there is a "mini transfer" on the 17th for missionaries going home early for christmas and school, and we might see a change there. We decided just to keep the area how it is and not split it, then share/trade off teaching people. It has been interesting working four in the area with not too many people as far as investigators go, so we have been working on passing by the list of less active members to get to know them and invite them back, and try to find new inv. No fruits as of yet, it has been hard to find someone home or open their door for now, but we keep working with faith!
It has also been freezing cold this week! Last night it was -1 celcius, but super foggy so like 100 % humidity. It has been a rough adjustment for Elder Gil haha, being from 20-25 year round on his island. I haven't gotten any packages yet. We have Zone Conference on Friday, so I might get stuff then, and I will have to go into Barcelona maybe to renew my residency card sometime.
I'm glad everything happened in the move!! My thanks to all who helped you guys. It sounds like the new place is great to be in, with a few future additions haha. We've had to go buy more stuff to house us 2 extra missionaries in our supposed 4 man piso too. Last week the Belén was closed so we might try again soon. Today we are going ice skating down at that giant super mall complex. =) Congrats on all the wins, keep working hard. Sorry to hear about all the crazy things happening, and losing stuff =) New Christmas gift, right? ;)
This month of December I am studying the attribute of humility and trying to put it into practice. To remember the humility of our Savior in condescending below everything to be born here in the earth in normal, or below normal circumstances and how he demonstrated it throughout his life. It's been really great. Also, as a mission we are going for a "white christmas!", not only for baptisms but also being purified, as in the story of 3 Nephi 19. So some great things happening.
Well, that's about all I have for this week. Keep being great, keep sending prayers! Hope all is splendid =) ¡Qué Dios os bendiga!
I love being with Elder Gil! We are in kind of a weird foursome now. Elder Gil is waiting to go to Mexico City on his visa, and we got him here on Wednesday. He is a very prepared missionary, even if he hasn't been through the MTC yet. He is fun to be around and always laughing and causing laughs. He's from the Canary islands. He teaches all the new missionaries in our piso spanish and helps me perfect my vocabulary and accent =)
So yeah, we are getting by! This is only temporary, there is a "mini transfer" on the 17th for missionaries going home early for christmas and school, and we might see a change there. We decided just to keep the area how it is and not split it, then share/trade off teaching people. It has been interesting working four in the area with not too many people as far as investigators go, so we have been working on passing by the list of less active members to get to know them and invite them back, and try to find new inv. No fruits as of yet, it has been hard to find someone home or open their door for now, but we keep working with faith!
It has also been freezing cold this week! Last night it was -1 celcius, but super foggy so like 100 % humidity. It has been a rough adjustment for Elder Gil haha, being from 20-25 year round on his island. I haven't gotten any packages yet. We have Zone Conference on Friday, so I might get stuff then, and I will have to go into Barcelona maybe to renew my residency card sometime.
I'm glad everything happened in the move!! My thanks to all who helped you guys. It sounds like the new place is great to be in, with a few future additions haha. We've had to go buy more stuff to house us 2 extra missionaries in our supposed 4 man piso too. Last week the Belén was closed so we might try again soon. Today we are going ice skating down at that giant super mall complex. =) Congrats on all the wins, keep working hard. Sorry to hear about all the crazy things happening, and losing stuff =) New Christmas gift, right? ;)
This month of December I am studying the attribute of humility and trying to put it into practice. To remember the humility of our Savior in condescending below everything to be born here in the earth in normal, or below normal circumstances and how he demonstrated it throughout his life. It's been really great. Also, as a mission we are going for a "white christmas!", not only for baptisms but also being purified, as in the story of 3 Nephi 19. So some great things happening.
Well, that's about all I have for this week. Keep being great, keep sending prayers! Hope all is splendid =) ¡Qué Dios os bendiga!
12/16
My fingers are a little slow typing this from the cold outside, but we're doing great.We have been passing by the list of Less Active members and trying to visit members to get to know them. We've also had a lot of people busy and hard to get a hold of! Normal aspects of missionary work I suppose.
The Zone Conference was really great. I always love messages about the Book of Mormon because I love the Book of Mormon! It is always a good reminder to refocus on the Lord's chosen evidence for His work. I am going to rededicate myself to teach from the Book of Mormon with greater power!
A miracle that we saw this week was the Christmas Program here. It was such a neat experience to be a part of the Christmas Program here in Zaragoza. All of the missionaries here in Zaragoza (like 14) participated, and they even brought up Elder Glenn from Valencia (a fellow Pleasant Grove-ite! He's Patrick Glenn's (the good saxophone player from Jazz Band a few years ago) brother.) to play in a piano duet with Hermana Pace, that Sleigh Ride arrangement. They did super great of course. We sang tons of Christmas songs, in English, Spanish, German, Aftrican, you name it haha. An Hermana here from Sweden sang a tradicional song from her country as well. I felt the Christmas Spirt, the Spirit of Christ, as we sang and helped others to feel it. There was a lot of work put into it, so I was glad to see good results! It was also a great privilege for us and for the members to have the Pace family with us for the weekend. Their testimonies and comments inspired many and they always tell us what a great mission president we have =) Their daughter just finished her mission in Norway and has been visiting President and Hermana Pace before going home for school. Their son should be coming to visit this month too I think.
Another small miracle was being able to catch the train from Lleida right after the meeting because it came 10 min late =)
12/23
Hola! I can't believe how fast this month has just flown by! It feels like the middle of December still! It kind of doesn't even feel like it really. We are excited though =) It hasn't been quite as cold this week, mainly because the fog blew out finally and we had some sun. It was still 0-8 degrees C but more dry with sunlight so it was hardly noticable with a coat and such.
Lots of news this week:
First off, it is great working with Elders Dixon and Gil. They are great missionaries. Elder Dixon has a spirit of obedience and in doing good. Elder Gil connects with everybody. EVERYBODY in the ward loves him =) Maybe because he is Spaniard, but he is just super fun to be around. They both love to learn and work hard.
This week's miracle was María Angeles' baptism. It was E. Wiscombe's last day, so it was special for him especially. It was such a neat and spiritual experience. The Spirit was strong and she just has such a special testimony. She has a long life's story of difficulties and hardships, which are evident in her outstanding character and personal strength. She is already connecting so well with the members! At the Relief Society dinner they all had a great time and she has already donated clothing and jewelries and service to so many people in the ward! She is just incredible. She will be a great strength to the ward here. She was a little late for Sacrament meeting, but made it just in time to be confirmed =)
We have spent a lot of time finding--knocking doors, contacting in the streets, looking for less actives. We don't have many investigators right now so we hope to find many soon! We have been blessed to see miracles and if not new investigators yet, the Spirit has come into us.
Most of Spain celebrate the 24th largely, and dinner on the 25th, but the main gift giving and presents are on 3 Kings day, the 7th or 8th of January. Also, no, we do not have iPad's yet. I would love them, but it's whenever they roll around I guess.
Thanks for your neat messages and comments. I hope that Christmas will be a nice day for you all and that you can continue to feel the Spirit! Thanks for all of your prayers and remembering me =) The Senior couple serving in Lleida are going to the office today to pick up mail and they're supposedly delivering stuff to us tomorrow maybe, so hopefully my package is there! Anyways, that's all folks. ¡Bon Nadal a tots!
12/30
I have been seeing a noticable change in many of the members throughout our time here. I feel like we are reaching the hearts to the members in a unique way. Elder Gil has been wonderful at getting many to open up and they love talking with him. I have been trying to comment more during Sunday School and church meetings. I feel like a lot of missionaries tend to sit back and not participate, leaving it to the class, when for me I feel that a missionary's involvement can be a great opportunity for teaching and inviting the Spirit by testimony. Elder Dixon has proved to be a talentful person and impressed a few people as well!
We did get some sad news however: They are moving Elder Gil into Barcelona because someone's companion needed to go home to fix some medical things and so we got a change a week earlier than transfers next week. President has already told me that he plans on me staying for a while, so we'll see. We're all sad to have Elder Gil leave though
We have been blessed to have such great missionaries working here in Zaragoza. I hope that things do start for the better this year. We have some plans to put into action as far as helping the members catch the Spirit and the ward I think will hopefully catch on with some resolutions for the year.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
November Updates
Hola queridos aficionados. Hoy es el día de escribir! It has been an interesting week. We didn't have much work or progress in our area though, being in Palma for a lot of it. We had Zone Enfoque (Focus) on Wednesday, and then Interviews with President on Thursday, and we stayed the night there and didn't come back until late Thursday. But we saw lots of good things Saturday when the Gardners (Senior couple in Palma) came for piso inspection and helped us with a lot of visits! We were able to take them to see lots of less actives and a couple of our investigators, namely, Yamile/Percy/Angelica, Ruth, Miguel/Alejandra, Luis/Maruja, Fabiola, and then also yesterday to Steve/Maca/Nicole. The Gardners really helped us and touched a lot of these people in new and unique ways. As they come and work more in Menorca I see great things happening, and hopefully as well some progress in our efforts!
I really enjoyed Zone Enfoque about fasting and having the Spirit. There were lots of good things to learn and try to put into practice, particularly in the fasting part =) I realized that my fast could be a lot more meaningful than it has been recently. I had also recently read a quote on lds.org about planning and the Spirit:
“If you plan well, you will have promptings, elders and sisters, telling you the things you should do, and you’ll have some promptings telling you things you should not do. The power of this work is when we get to the point in our relationships with Heavenly Father that we know the voice of the Spirit, and we know it so well that we know exactly what we should do” (Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, devotional address at the Provo Missionary Training Center, June 25, 2002).
So that's the goal. I really want to focus on deepening my relationship with the Spirit and to really learn how to obtain guidance from on High. Like President said in our interview, my experience here in this special place will be a great blessing for me in the future, and I want to be able to say that I learned how to obtain answers and guidance from the Spirit during hard times from my mission, and here in Menorca has been and is a great opportunity to do so. I also really appreciated some of President's comments and the scripture story from 2 Kings that he shared. It has always been one of my favorites, and bringing that to my memory has expanded my vision. Actually pretty much all of my interview was talking about various people we are working with and pretty much nothing about me haha.
Nov 11th
Pues, no puedo creer que ya es el 11 de noviembre. How fast time flies! Except for this week. Someone must have dropped the clocks in vats of cold tar or superglue, because the time here passed very slowly this week...
This has been a pretty difficult week here in Menorca. It has been rewarding as well though! Looking back and counting up all the visits that had fired us, it was at least 15+. We did have a good amount of other lessons though. And so we spent a lot of time in the streets, knocking antiguos and such. We actually have started to teach a couple antiguos, Felipe ( a young brazilian guy. we've taught the first two lessons and read a chapter), Patrocinio (a 66 year old crazy spaniard lady who came to church on sunday. We're not sure how she liked it or what she thought though. She only told us she wasn't sure if she was going to continue or not, and that she left "agotada"...). We taught a few others, but they weren't too interesting in learning more.
Well, as a random sidenote, today is super windy here. The tourists are mostly gone now, and the streets are pretty empty, in a sad, lonely way haha. And the bus schedule for missionary work is terrible! Oh well, we're getting by. We fly into Palma again on Friday for specialty training,which should be really good. That's about all I have for this week. Have a great day and have a fun week. Badup badup badup that's all folks!
Nov 18th
We should write our own book of Lamentations!
Hola! Buenos días. So, as you have already probably read my subject, you are probably thinking of what kind of a week we have had. Wondering what it means. Wondering if we had success or difficulties. Wondering if we are doing well or depressed. If we are prophetically inspired or just aspiring... well, the answer is yes! A little of everything. It has been a pretty good week with lots of ups and downs.
We had a pretty average amount of lessons, and I would say that they went pretty well. I do feel like we've read the first few chapters of 1 Nephi a lot recently though =) Which is good. It is a sign of slight progress!
Another up of the week was the specialty training, like usual. I always love those kinds of meetings and finding new things to apply and adjust. I appreciated the comments on teaching the restoration, I feel like it was really good. I applied from it more of teaching people, not lessons, to find their concern and hit it instead of focusing on what I think are the most important points for them to learn. We always try to get through the whole lesson so that they understand, which sometimes puts us into teach-the -lesson mode. So we are going to work on teaching ASAP (as simple as possible =))
Yes, transfers are coming up a week from tomorrow. I have almost completed by third transfer, almost 4 months here. So by normal standards that's maybe one more transfer here, but then again I haven't heard of a missionary being in Menorca longer than 3 transfers, they tend to change a little quicker. Whatever President feels though. I would like to stay in part for Elder Alder, we have a great companionship. Also we are finding some news with lots of potential. Then on the other side, it is getting cold here, there are less and less people in the streets and I hate door knocking in Spain, so I'm not sure how our strategies will have to change. And working with a few of these duds for so long is wearing my patience and making me frustrated. I am starting to develop a large pet peeve for two faced people who never keep their word or commitments...There's a lot in the world haha.
Nov 26
Hey everybody! I am going to start of with a scripture:
"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." (Prov.25:25) So here you have it! We'll get down to the big stuff first. It feels like so much has happened that I for sure will probably forget something. But anyways. As you probably already guessed, and how mom has the spirit of prophesy, I have indeed been transfered: To Zaragoza! It's a giant city towards the center of Spain with a river running through the middle of it. Yes, it is very beautiful. And just as cold and windy as Menorca was!
Kind of some interesting news as well. Menorca will now have 4 elders on it! President called us on Tuesday to tell us and all week we were dividing the area, making lists and maps, looking for a 4 man piso, and such. We found a super great piso that I was excited to move into. We had planned on me taking one half with a new elder and E. Alder the other. Well, transfer calls said otherwise! We saw President in the office today, and he said he wanted to keep me there, and probably would have for another 4 months, but he said I have other work the Lord wants me to do. So here I am!
Since I thought that I was staying, I asked that the Gardners bring my coat and long sleeve shirts to me, so they had them in Palma with them. Luckily a few Elders from Mallorca flew out about the same time and they brought them to me! Actually, Elder Biddle came from there to Zaragoza with me, but with another companion in the other ward. I am here with Elder Wiscombe (from my MTC district!!) and Elder Dixon (a new missionary of 6 weeks that we are tag team training I guess). They are super great =) Also, Zaragoza is my first area outside of a catalan speaking dialect, so everything is in spanish! That makes things easier haha.
President Bladimir seemed excited to be getting two other elders. It was hard to say goodbye to his family, and Steve and his. They are doing great though!
As for the hundred push ups, I worked my way up to doing 80 or so consecutevly ( I can't spell that word anymore), which meant sets of 30-50 and doing like 300 every other morning. Then I called it good and stopped doing it, and now I can probably only do like 50-60 haha.
No, I had not had heard anything about the Philipines. THat is pretty crazy! I know like two people I think who are still there. Hope all is well!
Well, I'm out of time and that's just about everything from my list today. Have a great week! Keep being great! Hope that you all have happy holidays and eat lots this week =) ¡Un abrazo!
I don't have anything unpacked so I don't know where my cable is, but here is a pic of our early thanksgiving we had =)
I really enjoyed Zone Enfoque about fasting and having the Spirit. There were lots of good things to learn and try to put into practice, particularly in the fasting part =) I realized that my fast could be a lot more meaningful than it has been recently. I had also recently read a quote on lds.org about planning and the Spirit:
“If you plan well, you will have promptings, elders and sisters, telling you the things you should do, and you’ll have some promptings telling you things you should not do. The power of this work is when we get to the point in our relationships with Heavenly Father that we know the voice of the Spirit, and we know it so well that we know exactly what we should do” (Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, devotional address at the Provo Missionary Training Center, June 25, 2002).
So that's the goal. I really want to focus on deepening my relationship with the Spirit and to really learn how to obtain guidance from on High. Like President said in our interview, my experience here in this special place will be a great blessing for me in the future, and I want to be able to say that I learned how to obtain answers and guidance from the Spirit during hard times from my mission, and here in Menorca has been and is a great opportunity to do so. I also really appreciated some of President's comments and the scripture story from 2 Kings that he shared. It has always been one of my favorites, and bringing that to my memory has expanded my vision. Actually pretty much all of my interview was talking about various people we are working with and pretty much nothing about me haha.
Nov 11th
Pues, no puedo creer que ya es el 11 de noviembre. How fast time flies! Except for this week. Someone must have dropped the clocks in vats of cold tar or superglue, because the time here passed very slowly this week...
This has been a pretty difficult week here in Menorca. It has been rewarding as well though! Looking back and counting up all the visits that had fired us, it was at least 15+. We did have a good amount of other lessons though. And so we spent a lot of time in the streets, knocking antiguos and such. We actually have started to teach a couple antiguos, Felipe ( a young brazilian guy. we've taught the first two lessons and read a chapter), Patrocinio (a 66 year old crazy spaniard lady who came to church on sunday. We're not sure how she liked it or what she thought though. She only told us she wasn't sure if she was going to continue or not, and that she left "agotada"...). We taught a few others, but they weren't too interesting in learning more.
Well, as a random sidenote, today is super windy here. The tourists are mostly gone now, and the streets are pretty empty, in a sad, lonely way haha. And the bus schedule for missionary work is terrible! Oh well, we're getting by. We fly into Palma again on Friday for specialty training,which should be really good. That's about all I have for this week. Have a great day and have a fun week. Badup badup badup that's all folks!
Nov 18th
We should write our own book of Lamentations!
Hola! Buenos días. So, as you have already probably read my subject, you are probably thinking of what kind of a week we have had. Wondering what it means. Wondering if we had success or difficulties. Wondering if we are doing well or depressed. If we are prophetically inspired or just aspiring... well, the answer is yes! A little of everything. It has been a pretty good week with lots of ups and downs.
We had a pretty average amount of lessons, and I would say that they went pretty well. I do feel like we've read the first few chapters of 1 Nephi a lot recently though =) Which is good. It is a sign of slight progress!
Another up of the week was the specialty training, like usual. I always love those kinds of meetings and finding new things to apply and adjust. I appreciated the comments on teaching the restoration, I feel like it was really good. I applied from it more of teaching people, not lessons, to find their concern and hit it instead of focusing on what I think are the most important points for them to learn. We always try to get through the whole lesson so that they understand, which sometimes puts us into teach-the -lesson mode. So we are going to work on teaching ASAP (as simple as possible =))
Yes, transfers are coming up a week from tomorrow. I have almost completed by third transfer, almost 4 months here. So by normal standards that's maybe one more transfer here, but then again I haven't heard of a missionary being in Menorca longer than 3 transfers, they tend to change a little quicker. Whatever President feels though. I would like to stay in part for Elder Alder, we have a great companionship. Also we are finding some news with lots of potential. Then on the other side, it is getting cold here, there are less and less people in the streets and I hate door knocking in Spain, so I'm not sure how our strategies will have to change. And working with a few of these duds for so long is wearing my patience and making me frustrated. I am starting to develop a large pet peeve for two faced people who never keep their word or commitments...There's a lot in the world haha.
Nov 26
Hey everybody! I am going to start of with a scripture:
"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." (Prov.25:25) So here you have it! We'll get down to the big stuff first. It feels like so much has happened that I for sure will probably forget something. But anyways. As you probably already guessed, and how mom has the spirit of prophesy, I have indeed been transfered: To Zaragoza! It's a giant city towards the center of Spain with a river running through the middle of it. Yes, it is very beautiful. And just as cold and windy as Menorca was!
Kind of some interesting news as well. Menorca will now have 4 elders on it! President called us on Tuesday to tell us and all week we were dividing the area, making lists and maps, looking for a 4 man piso, and such. We found a super great piso that I was excited to move into. We had planned on me taking one half with a new elder and E. Alder the other. Well, transfer calls said otherwise! We saw President in the office today, and he said he wanted to keep me there, and probably would have for another 4 months, but he said I have other work the Lord wants me to do. So here I am!
Since I thought that I was staying, I asked that the Gardners bring my coat and long sleeve shirts to me, so they had them in Palma with them. Luckily a few Elders from Mallorca flew out about the same time and they brought them to me! Actually, Elder Biddle came from there to Zaragoza with me, but with another companion in the other ward. I am here with Elder Wiscombe (from my MTC district!!) and Elder Dixon (a new missionary of 6 weeks that we are tag team training I guess). They are super great =) Also, Zaragoza is my first area outside of a catalan speaking dialect, so everything is in spanish! That makes things easier haha.
President Bladimir seemed excited to be getting two other elders. It was hard to say goodbye to his family, and Steve and his. They are doing great though!
As for the hundred push ups, I worked my way up to doing 80 or so consecutevly ( I can't spell that word anymore), which meant sets of 30-50 and doing like 300 every other morning. Then I called it good and stopped doing it, and now I can probably only do like 50-60 haha.
No, I had not had heard anything about the Philipines. THat is pretty crazy! I know like two people I think who are still there. Hope all is well!
Well, I'm out of time and that's just about everything from my list today. Have a great week! Keep being great! Hope that you all have happy holidays and eat lots this week =) ¡Un abrazo!
I don't have anything unpacked so I don't know where my cable is, but here is a pic of our early thanksgiving we had =)
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