Day 167

Well, I tried to post earlier in the week but blogspot was being weird. We got this email from the Mission on Thursday. I didn't even know that there was an earthquake but was thankful all were safe.

To the concerned families of our dear missionaries,



As you may or may not be aware, two earthquakes struck southeast Spain Wednesday causing significant damage to buildings, injuring many and killing at least 10 unfortunate victims. The epicenter of the quakes – with magnitudes of 4.4 and 5.2 – was close to the town of Lorca which is approximately 50km (31 miles) southwest of Murcia, Spain.



Richard Clegg, President of the Spain Malaga Mission, has reported that members and missionaries are all safe. Miraculously, the two young missionary Elders assigned to the Lorca area had planned days in advance to work in a town outside of the affected zone and received no injury. The mission president is currently in Murcia at a conference with all missionaries in the surrounding areas.









Here is his email for the week:

man
this week has been the hardest week of my life. do you know how hard it is to babysit a 20 year old kid. its not easy. but dont worry about that because my hardest week of my life is coming to an end. i wont go into very much detail because it just pisses me off thinking about it. BUT.. something that helped is transfers are coming up AND IM LEAVING!!!!!! im going to my second area its called VALEPEÑAS .. its up by madrid im leaving andalucia and they will be speaking better spanish so i will be able to understand them better. haha so thats good news. This really has been the hardest thing that i have ever done. i dont know if i have been more exhausted doing emails or not. just always trying to get him to work and stuff is just not working out. but soon it wont be my problem.

im excited to leave but at the same time its hard to say by to my family that i have made here. i love them. My investigators that i found didnt want me to leave. The crazy ladies are what we call them and they pretty much gauranteed their baptsim. but just so you know i am not here for the numbers of baptisms because thats just not me. if i baptize them i mean thats cool but id rather have the relationship with them maybe thats why im leaving because other people care more about the numbers and stuff.

uhmmmm im still chugging life is crazy right now. i cant think very straight cause everything is changing. if there is anything that you need to send me send it to the mission office and then ill email you my new mailing address for my new piso in the week that is coming. just know that im still happy its just hard when the mission is the hardest thing i have done and i have to be with people that are making it even more harder than it needs to be. anyways i dont have much time we are having an american breakfast today with some members.

ill update more next week i love you all your in my prayers. keep your heads up. the lord works in mysterious ways i still am trying to figure out why i had these last 3 weeks the way i did.

Day 160

First I have to say that it was sooo good to talk to Brad. It was clear, no delay. He was worried about that because we only have the cell phone. Probably the funniest part of the whole thing was when Abby was pass the phone to Kelsey, Ryker grabbed it and hung it up. We all just sat there staring at each other but AMAZINGLY Brad figured that out and called us back. I can't even begin to thank the family that hosted them in their home and let them call from there. It was just great to hear his voice and know that he is doing good. Sometime his emails are a little sketchy. But anyways here's the latest installment from Brad:

well.
yesterday was a great day to talk to you all. it was kind of weird haha i wont lie but it was good. it helped me a lot. ha you guys sound like you are doing well. thats great to hear. things were rough the last couple of weeks but one of the biggest things i have learned over here is how important the family is. ha when you get people together who are a family and they arent .. i dont know how to say it . cuando no hay amor. when there is no love. in the home then it makes it harder. but as we share with them the things of the gospel you can see how they start to want to spend time together. they dont know how to have a family night or anything. so the first month or so we spend family nights with them . we have the message we bring the snacks (we make rice crispies super yummy still) haha and everything and they loveit. they cant wait til the next week when the elderes come back (some times we are called misis [meesee´s] ) just because they are happy then. and soon they start doing it on their own. and you can see the change that they have in their home. cool experiences. umm. its hard to send an email the day after you talk cause its so much easier just to say hey this is whats up or this is whats buggin or this or that but its ok.
On saturday we were fasting again cause we often do that as missionaries. haha and we were focusing on 2 of our fechas that we have a mother and a daughter. and the week before we had to teach the gospel principles class and it was on the fast. (we havent taught them the word of wisdom) and we found out that the mom was fasting to stop smoking . ALSO the daughter was fasting so she could have a better relationship with her mom. and we were fasting that they would come unto christ. ha what amazing ways the lord works. she also asked us to come by on thursday. so if nothing else that is going on. thats happened lately. haha and in the last 8 weeks we have fasted 6 of them to have something and it reminds me of in alma. 5: 45- 46 i have fasted many days ha. yeah sometimes you have to fast a lot to get things going .. was well as working. and the hardest fast of my life was on saturday. we ended up closing the kitchen door and putting post it notes to help remind us haha. but yeah . anyways we areexcited for the work. Elder masterson and i talked last night .. pillow talk..super cute i know. and we were just talking about how all the members loved elder west and the relationship i had with elder west how it helped the work. and i think he has just been jealous of going to every member and having it not be about us. or him. and the thing im realzing more and more is how crazy it is and how much more people like you when its all about them. people want to feel wanted in this world. maybe thats whats missing. ha . so its something i will work on more .but like i said elder west is my best friend. ha i like elder masterson but he is still upset that he had to leave his last area and stuff. anyways.
keep doing good read your scriptures .. enjoy the normal life.
love you
elder b

Day 153

Well to all the mothers in the family. yestererday was mothers day here in spain. so Feliz Dia de Madre! i hope that when you celebrate it you will enjoy my voice to accompany you guys. i will be calling it will be around 9 in the morning for you guys. IM SO EXCITED!!! can you believe its almost been 6 months??? right now it feels like it has gone by really really fast. but dont forget there are the days that are slow too haha im running low on time. but the work is good here. just oging slow this last week because of the transfers. my new comp is named elder masterson he is from california. brea is the pueblo he is from there its right by los angeles. The first thing that Elder west taught me is every missionary has their own way of working. we will see how it goes. anyways. sorry its short this week. I MISS YOU and i LOVE YOU ALL. ill talk to you guys on sunday!!! BE EXCITED hahaha ok anyways have a good week, its rained like every day this week so its super humid. it reminds me of utah like every 2 hours its a different season. we just skip winter here haha ok love you!




He also sent a second email.
I told him that I wanted to live near the Mediterrean because there is no snow and we had snow on the ground on Saturday.

you want to live near the mediterrean? haha ok ill go back to utah then. haha then i can sleep. haha im so tired. this whole week has been people failing us and not being home and stuff and with transfers its hard to figure out what to do because he doesnt know where anything is or who any body is and so we just go to the people i know and go by antiguos and everything . its just frustrating . he is in love with video games and loves to sing. he walks so slow but the thing that i do to help out with that when we are running late is just tell him to tell me about a video game and as he is talking slowly start going faster.
That makes me laugh that ab just picks out the shrimp. she would love the "Paella" here it is usually made with shrimp. its super good too.
finally more males in the family. its about time. and let me know whats going on with that
carson won?? hahaha thats good!! thats super funny how she would have wrote different stuff down hahahahaha that makes me laugh i dont even think i wrote down the real stuff.. oh well .. good for her.
there have been posters for hop all over here. on the bus stops and stuff. so i know what your talking about a little bit.

Day 146

Ok, so they dont say easter here they just call it the resurrección.
Ok lets start off.. Semana Santa. They dress up in wierd out fits and carry idols of jesus down the street and play music and cheer. it was super weird. so i dont really know. it kind of just throws the bus routes off and we had to walk everywhere and kept getting lost. But that wasnt super bad. its just everyone knows who we are. the missionaries have been in the area long enough .. everyone knows so it was just hard trying to get through the crowdsd when no one would really let us. ha but thats about it for semana santa. its over now. and yeah.
I hope Easter was good. i miss the food but im glad that every time there is a big family get together i get a great update on everything you ahve been eating. i usually eat rice with some kind of meat. usually pollo. with a salad or something. but they cook everyithnig with EVOO its on their food pyramid with equal importance to fruit and stuff. kidna weird. haha. So Carson emailed me and said that Texas roadhouse for graduation??? what is this? that definitely isnt tradition. GOODWOOD!!!! thats my vote. haha not like my vote really matters right now anyways hahaha
ok bad news. ELDER WEST IS LEAVING ME!!!!!!!!! we found out as a surprise on thrusday because apparently there are like 10 new kids coming in so people are getting moved mid transfer all over the mission. i was pretty sad when i found out. but the funny thing is how all the members want us over all of a sudden haha its like they cant and then they find out we are leaving and its like wow why havent you been over before?? hahaha its funny. im trying to think of what else... oh im still going to be here of course but my new companion is Elder Masterson. i have heard some..... i might have a rough transfer or two. but im not too worried about it. thats just what other missionaries have told me.haha ill be fine no stress.
im trying to think i know i had something but i really just forgot. haha do you know how stressful that is????? its actually more annoying than stressful because ill remember after we leave and write it down for next week and then forget why i had it for next week. HAHA OH I REMEMBER..
KIND OF REALLY IMPORTANT. moms day
ok so we got the letter from Pres. today that said mothers day in spain is the 1st in the states is the8th. here is the situation. You guys need to call me. i dont know thats just what the email said. but the thing is. i dont know where we are going to be we can go to a members house and do it there and give you their number and stuff. or we can do it at the capilla. but this sunday isnt enough time to get the times and numbers so i was thinking on the 8th. yeah. ummm but the other thing is we have baptisms scheduled for the 8th as of right now. im kind of thinking they wont be ready by then but you never know with baptisms. soo this is what im goin to do. when j master dre (elder masterson) gets here ill have a chat with him talk with the members and find a time that is best for the 8th. ill email next week. and then you all will just have to go with that time. haha sorry thats super harsh. but thats the way its going to be. so dont plan stuff for the 8th (usually i dont say this.. but even if its church) haha ok and i dont know what the time difference is anymore with daylight savings and stuff like that. so yeah anyways. something super important ... more info next week ok?? ok.
well mom ill send pictures in another email real quick. LOVE YOU ALL ... keep smiling. email you next week!!

Day 139

Well, it sounds like he is certainly learning, growing and enjoying himself. I wondered at times how he would survive the Catholic traditions. But really eating only once a day. That's crazy!!!

Hola!!!
Thank you for all the support!!! so mom dont worry ill send some pics in another email for you its because elder west is using his thing right now and so yeah . obviously i cant. anyways. life is chugging here. Its officially Semana Santa. i know there was some questions about how that goes down with easter and what not. Pretty much people here say that they are catholic but dont really do anything about it except for the traditions. thats why its hard to baptize the spaniards because they get really uncomfortable leaving their traditions. but they do stuff all week i dont really know what it is but they dress up and have bands and march down the streets and stuff. and yeah. its just a whole week of festivals no one really works and no one really goes to school. but the members dont like it and yeah. anyways i can probably give a better description next week after its happened.

yeah Elder West is like my Brother that i never had. We are definitely learning from each other a lot. At first when we were first put together he was always worrying about everything and super tense about stuff. but we are always joking around together. its because i was telling him to calm down and relax and stuff and he just does funny stuff so im always laughing at him. and then he realized one day how dumb it was and so now we just laugh together. at some people for how dumb they are and some of the things they say. it reminds me of when i was working at the shool and nancy told me how iw as really good at getting and giving with the jokes. ha he is really fun. and i am really enjoying my time here with him. So yes mom i havent changed that much. haha yet? i dont know. The Hermanas have had problems with their piso so we went over there and helped them paint last week and then their water ran out so they cant shower and cant drink because they dont have any. so elder west and i went and bought like 40 liters of water and took it to them and then gave them 50€ so that they could buy food and stuff and they wouldnt take the money so i was like CHUCK IT and he through it and we ran down 13 flights of stairs becuase the elevator was taking too long. hahaha so we ran down the stairs and caught the next bus (luckily it was right there waiting still) and they called us and got mad. so the next day we had Fútbol with our investigators and menos activos and members as an activation activity and they gave the money back to us. haha it was funny because they were trying to be descreet about it. so they had given us a couple of EFY cds to copy and stuff and we put the money back in the cd´s and gave the money back to them haha its funny. but they are fine now.

just trying to share the love thats all. plus our members feed us like every day (p.s. did you know that i only eat on meal a day?????) who would have thought that i would be able to actually survive off of only eating once a day. haha so yeah. but really everything is going good here. its just hard when we have a lot of people and we can see the potential and they arent really putting in their effort. haha something that president Clegg told us in a Specialized Training was you can have fun and joke around with your comopanion before and you can after but while your in the meeting you are all business.. and i think that has helped a lot with our Companionship because i dont know i like having a good time and if im not having fun then i dont want to do it. (as you guys know) so we make everytihng we do fun. contacting and studying and everything and im actually learning. i had my first lesson this last week were i actually did half of the lesson and not just little parts here and there. haha anyways. its coming.
thank you all of you for helping me buy supporting me and stuff. It sucks walking around all day trying to talk to people and always getting failed by EVERYONE. BUTTTTT on the flipside. its good to know that you guys will ALWAYS be there for me.
keep smiling. keep working hard. keep loving the scriptures. and make sure you have fun while you work. but work. because you always need to be doing your part I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!

Day 132

We're not sure if his pants are falling down or he just doesn't know how to dress. It's about 6's. Haha And when did he get so tall!?!?!?

It looks like changes are happening in Malaga. In the mission president's wife's post they had 14 missionaries go home this week. So that leaves some very new missionaries to step up to the plate. Read on:

Hola familia,
Gracias por el apoyo que me dan. this week was a good week .. we set 3 fechas for baptisms this week. im teaching my first black guy. he is from nigeria. he is golden he will probably be baptized on easter. ummm we also set fechas with a brother and a sister who are from paraguay but they didnt come to church so thats frustrating. that really is the ONLY problem and the ONLY thing that is holding them back from getting baptized is just coming to church. other than that. ITS HOT HERE!!! its like 93 degrees F here 22 C i think something like that. plus the humidity. it sucks way bad in the pants and shirt and tie haha.. butttt the people here say that its not even hot yet. im like dying i wake up de hydrated and have to work all day and stuff. i havent been feeling the best with it but im still adjusting. so dont stress its just the energy level to walk up the hills around here isnt at my highest point. so yeah but Elder west and i are working hard.
We had our intrevistas with Pres. Clegg last week. He asked Elder West if he thinks im ready to start trainging and Elder west said yes.. which i dont believe. i cant understand the poeple here. The speak a crummy spanish. haha when they arent drunk its a mumble. and they cut words and stuff so its hard to know what they are saying.. just imagine when we are talking to the drunk people. haha i get lost really really fast. they just dont open their mouths to talk. ummmm he also asked me in my interview. i said i was here to do what the Lord wants me to do and if me being 6 months into my mission training someone is it.. so be it. but there havent been any official declarations on the subject. just a thought. lets see. i dont know when transfers are cause we have like 10 or so new kids coming in 2 weeks which is in the middle of the transfer. so pres. told me that we dont really run the 6 month thing right now with everyone going home and all the new kids coming in. more than half the missionaries in our mission are under 6 months. which is crazy.
Im glad to hear that everyone has enjoyed conference. it was really a good one. i enjoyed it lots. and yeah as far as i know. thats about all i have.



oh the only thing i dont know is when mothers day is.. for you guys cause the holidays here are different. i dont know when anything is. but as a side note to that. Elder West and i were thinking that we would just give our families the number to the capilla and have you call us. he said its easier that way. instead of having to go buy calling cards that dont really last an hour and stuff like that. so thats probably what will happen is when it comes down to it ill send the number to you guys and tell you what time to call me and we can do that little chatt then.
i miss you all.. i hope everything is going well and everyone is happy! keep reading your scriptures and being examples!

Day 125

¡Hola todos!
yo espero que todo esta bien con ustedes. Aqui esta todo bien. La conferencia General fue un poco diferente porque todo fue en la capilla y no en me casa como los años pasado.
I hope you enjoyed it and got what you were looking for from it. Before conference i got a little bored with studying about baptism so i studied in the Doctrina y Convenios. more about why we have conference and the importance of it. it was fun to read and learn about that just before. i had more animo for it. I loved a bunch of the talks that i was able to listen to (because i wasnt able to listen to them all obviously with the time change and curfew that we have) but i loved the one about where it talked about the women of the church and the important roles they have. In my life with you all mom and sisters you have a played a HUGE role for me in the examples you have set and helped me keep on track in my life, and i am super greatful for that.
Another reason i like conference so much is to hear what kind of themes they have for us. they talked a lot about Children and coming like childeren. they talked a lot about our Examples to others and the way that actions speak louder than words (3 nephi 14:12 and i only have it in spanish with me but it says this "..cuantas cosas queráis que los hombres os hagan a vosotros, asi haced vosotros con ellos.." do unto others as you would have them do to you) and that was kind of a big topic. they talked a lot about Faith Hope and Charity and the importance of those and how they work together (moroni 7) They talked a lot about exhertion and sacrifice as well. And the last them i remember is personal dignity. in my personal studies one of the things that impacted me the most is that we have conference do sustain and do statistics and to hear the voice of the Lord for the things that we need to do until the next conference. and the lord sends voices of warnings in many ways. home teachers missionaries profets. and when people dont listen to their voice of repentance he sends earthquakes and tsunamis to catch peoples attention. (i was using the DandC study guide and he said missionaries are like lighting that was pretty cool) but i was talking with elder West during companionship study and we were talking about how the Prophets in Josephs time were more open with deeper doctrine and stuff and how now what do they tell us to do? more of the basic stuff like have faith be baptized live the gospel keep the commandments. It was just an interesting thought.
Listen to conference, read the talks. Just like the Book of Mormon when Mormon was putting it together. He was inspired to only put the important things on the plates out of all the information he could have put in. why did he put in what he did? its the same today. out of all the things that theProfet and apostoles can talk about why are they talking about the simple things? My favorite parable they talked about was the one with the golden flecks. Make sure you arent skipping any. and dont live below your potential like the parable of the Cruise ship.
Dont worry about me. im doing Awesome. you guys keep doing what you are supposed to and the Lord will bless you! Todas las cosas en nuestras vidas tienen proposito. Las pruebas ne estan en vano. Ellas estan para ayudarnos con la conocimiento que necesitamos para ser como Dios.

Gracias por sus ejemplos para mi. ¡¡Que Dios les bendigas!!
-Elder B.