Week 46 BAPTISM!

BAPTISM! and Elder Quentin L. Cook
11.24.14

This week Marie got BAPTIZED!!!  Bishop Merrill was able to baptize her so that made it even better!  Her husband wanted to make the baptismal service very well attended and it definitely was!!!  Marie has been investigating the church for a long time and originally was meeting with the Jehovah’s Witnesses...but thankfully her husband was able to help her find the truth and get baptized!!  The best part about this baptism is the baptisms that will follow.  For the past 6 months or so, Marie´s husband, Romuald has been doing family history work, and this next week they are going to the temple together to do baptisms for the dead!!!  I am so excited!!!!!  The gospel really is about families and now we have one more family in the church.  I can't wait for them to get sealed next year.  My favorite part about this baptism was to see a phrase Marie and Romuald use all the time, put into action, Perseverar Hasta Al Fin!!! (Endure to the End)  

 Also this weekend we had Elder Quentin L. Cook come to our Stake Conference!!  It was a very spiritual meeting and he focused a lot on the Family. He was also able to make time for a missionary meeting with almost our entire mission!! I got to see all of my former companions!!  It was a blast!!!  I really feel so spiritually charged up after those conferences!!  Elder Cook is really an Apostle of the Lord.  I got to shake his hand twice, once in the Missionary meeting and a second time when he came out into the congregation and shook basically everyone's hand on Sunday!  The best part was to see the joy on everyone's faces as he shook their hands!!!  It was such a touching experience!

This week has been so amazing and I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Cuidaos! [Take care]

Elder Jonson

Bishop Merrill and Marie

 

Elder Jonson, Marie, and Elder Loaiza at Marie's baptism

Week 45 - Merry November, Baptism?

Week 45 – Merry November – Upcoming baptism!

This week has been fantastic. We saw so many blessings but the biggest one was with a "dry-member" [someone who functions in a ward as a member would, but hasn’t been baptized], named Marie. On Sunday before church as we were leaving we prayed to see a miracle. I left thinking that some youth we contacted would come and that would be the miracle, but no. As we got through the classes, we got to Sacrament Meeting, and the youth we contacted weren't there. I was little bummed, started looking for the little miracles, and began to find them. By the end of the meeting I was satisfied, but then our Bishop came up to me and said, "Elder Jonson, Maríe wants me to baptize her this next weekend, would that be possible?" After picking my jaw up off the floor, I said that we would be able to do it. ;) I am so happy she can join her husband and daughter in the church and in just over a year get sealed in the temple! Basically the mission is awesome!

This week we get to have stake conference and Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is coming!!!  This also means that he's going to visit with our mission and give us a special conference!!!  I'm so excited!!  That is all I have to report, and be sure to get your turkeys ready, we sure are!

Con Amor,

Elder Jonson

[Here are Tikal’s answers to some of my questions this past week.]    People say stuff like, "Oh New York!!  When I say I'm from the US. I've resorted to telling people that Utah is near California or near Las Vegas.  Everyone knows where those places are...The cold here is different.  It's a humid cold so it chills you to the bone...but it is still 15 degrees outside.  I don't know what that is in Farenheit....sorry. [59 degrees]

Christmas will be fun!!  Between the 24th and the 25th, 5 different families in the Ward have invited us over so it's going to be a great Christmas!!  

 

[This brings his mom great comfort to know he will be well taken care of for Christmas.  We are so grateful to all of them!]

 

Elder Jonson and Elder Loaiza

Elder Jonson & his new companion Elder Loaiza.

Maybe they're happy because McDonald's is near.

Week 44 - Happy November, Tree, and soccer for conversion?

11.10.14

Well first off I would like to notify you all that we found a 2 meter tall Christmas Tree in our apartment a couple days ago, so needless to say it is now up and has lights and everything on it. Anyway this past week has been so great!!  The other Elders had another double baptism!!  The Lord is blessing them like crazy!! 

This week we got to see a miracle with some kids playing soccer in a plaza.  We were walking along at 9:30 yesterday (Sunday) with a member from the Dominican Republic.  He said, "Hey, we should go talk to those kids. Do either of you know how to play futbol?"  I replied in the affirmative. J I walked over and asked if I could play with the ball for a second or two.  I did a couple tricks and they loved it.  We then started talking to the boys and invited them to play soccer with the Elders Quorum on Thursday at the church.  They sounded interested, so we kept going.  Henry, the member who was with us, asked them if they had any siblings and the most interested kid said yes and ran and grabbed his two sisters who were sitting on the bench with their friends.  They came over and talked to us and one asked us if we knew an Elder Nielsen out of the blue!  We asked where did he serve and she said in Bolivia so we didn't know him.  But, then she began to tell us that she got to Spain 3 months ago and right before she left was about to get BAPTIZED but didn't.  So basically we have a pre-prepared investigator now!!  I'm pumped!! 

Anyway, I have no time as always but I hope you all have a great week!

Cuidaos!  [Take care]

Elder Jonson

A Mysterious Tree Appears!

Christmas Tree delivered to the Elder's apartment. 

A very early and much appreciated gift! 

The Elders wasted no time getting it fully decorated. 

Week 43 - FHE and Every Member a Missionary

This week has been fantastic!!  To start off, the members here in Sabadell 2 are the best!  Elder Loaiza's second day here, we passed by a member's house (Los Ortega) and mentioned to them that he had a growing hole in the side of his pants and they immediately brought out a change of pants and sewed his pants on the spot....It was incredibly nice! 

Then the members did something else that blew my mind this week.  Yesterday was Fast and Testimony meeting and so Hermano Ortega started off by bearing his testimony on Missionary Work, his wife then followed by bearing her testimony on Missionary Work and reading a part of her son's letter home, over the pulpit.  Followed by another member speaking about missionary work and then I bore my testimony of missionary work.  There was a continual line of members waiting to bear their testimonies and EVERY SINGLE ONE of them bore their testimony on Missionary Work.  Two girls from the Primary invited the ward to keep the commandments and INVITE THIER FRIENDS TO TALK TO THE MISSIONARIES!  Two return missionaries bore their testimonies of the divine work and then to cap it all off, our Spanish investigator Paula got up and bore her testimony about the example of the members.  She got up and started off by saying that she wasn't a member but she first came to church when a member invited her to his farewell...at that point in time she didn't believe in God and wanted nothing to do with religion.  She said, "....when I started coming I didn't believe in God but slowly I realized that what I saw in all of you (members) proved that God exists.  I now know that God exists, and I just want to thank you all for your example..."  It was the BEST Sacrament meeting I have ever been a part of!!  Really the members are the key to this work, without them we are limited on our success as missionaries.

To all you back at home or wherever in the world, remember that there is always someone watching our example as members.  We as members are the missionaries, not just the people with the name tag.  I would like to invite you all to hold a Family Home Evening and invite the Missionaries and a non-member friend or a less-active member to the Family Home Evening night.  I promise you that you will be able to feel the spirit stronger in your lives and you will be happier in everything.  I know that because I have felt and seen that from the missionary's point of view and know that it works.  I hope you all have a great week and I expect a report back after having the Family Home Evening. 

Con amor,

Elder Jonson

Halloween Picture

Tikal & Elder Skousen at Halloween