Week 8

So last week was rough and I wasn't too cheery but now I am loving it!  The Lord finds ways to make us happy, for example, right after I sent that last email, Elder Jennings and I went out to do pass-by's of our recent converts.  Anyway the visit fired and fell through so we decided to knock the rest of the doors in the building!  My first true knocking session...so we started and nobody answered.  Then Elder Jennings told me, "You've got this one," so I knocked and a very tired looking lady came to the door!  I asked her if she believed in God and if we could share a message about him.  And SHE LET US IN!!  I was so surprised!  I didn't think that door knocking actually worked!  We had a solid lesson and now we are having trouble contacting her....but it was still a huge testimony builder!!

One of our investigator families speaks some African language and English so we teach in English.  And let me tell you, after only praying and teaching in Spanish for almost two months, teaching in English is a nightmare.  I was literally translating my prayers and testimony back into English from Spanish!!!  But overall the lesson went well!  

We have a perfect investigator family, they are from Bolivia and they are litterally GOLDEN!!  They have two boys and they don't drink or smoke, don't like coffee, and only drink herbal tea!!  It is perfect!  The one issue is that the mom is going to Switzerland for a month so we may have to wait to baptize them.  But the dad and two sons came to church last week and they aren't as on board with the church as the mom is!!  It makes me so happy!!  It was a miracle we got to meet with them during the week, we stopped by on a pass-by and only the boys were home so we couldn't go in.  So I stopped to tie my shoe and Elder Jennings told me to stay down tying my shoes because the parents were coming!  It was perfect!  We got in and taught them the first lesson and they ate it up!!  They are going to be baptized in like a month and a half is my guess!

Food:  Food here is pretty normal, we make most of our food because the members feed us about once a week if that.  So that both positive and negative.  We got food from a restaurante for lunch one day and its this thing called a Kebab.  It has lamb and a whole bunch of vegetables in a sandwich with a spicy sauce put on it.  There are a billion shops that sell them here, all run by Arabs.  It was delicious!

I got to set my first baptismal date with an Investigator so if everything works out, he will be baptized on the 22nd!!!  I am so excited!!!!  His name is Byron and he is really smart.  He can speak like 5 different languages!

We missed a thing called "Pautas" this week by only a couple things.  When achieved, you and your companion get your names on the mission wide note email.  It is a big deal.  You have to get three of the following in a week: 1 Baptism and Confirmation, 3 Baptismal dates with investigators, 12 lessons with a member present, 6 investigators in Sacrament Meeting, and 6 new investigators.  We got 0/1, 1/3, 7/12, 5/6, and 6/6.  We were so close, but we are going to get it this week!  

Found out something really of cool this week, we get to go to Bilbao for Zone Conference next week!!  They are flying our zone out to the conference for two days!  I'm excited to see another part of Spain!!

I want to close this email this week with one of my new favorite hymns for you all to look up.  In Spanish it is called, "Brillan Rayos de Clemencia."  In English it is Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy.  It talks about a light house which is the nickname of the Barcelona Mission so its our mission song.  It is great, you should all go read the lyrics! [See Blog post below]  Anyway I love you all and hope you are doing well!!  Remember Filipenses 4:13!

Con amor, 

Elder Jonson

[Philippians 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.]