8.31.09
Thanks Aunt Laura and Mom for the letters. It was also fantastic to hear from Nick, Ethan, and Reese this week. Where is Aaron?
Dad, Fire him if he continues to not write me...
Well the week has most definetly been an eventful one. Wednesday night we traveled to Alicante and I slept on the Balcony of some other missonarys piso. Thursday we then rode first class to Barcelona and were feed breakfeast. We got to Barcelona super early so we were able to see a ton of the sights and I really enjoyed my time there. I really like the city and learning a little better about all the history it has. Thursday night we watched the Sunset in Badalona which is where my old comp moved. We stayed in his piso and the sunset and rise were amazing from the 9th floor overlooking the ocean. The meeting we had with the Zone Lords and President went really well and I was shocked at some of the changes he is making. I felt the spirit confirm the changes and am very excited for the new direction the mission is taking. He is giving us a lot more slack and trusts us a lot. He wants us to start using our talents to bless the work more. Like by doing free guitar lessons etc. We have alos stopped counting and reporting contacts which is huge. We use to have to talk with 15 random people everyday and contact them by giving them the name of the church and seeing if they wanted to learn more. He wants us to continue doing contacts but also find more effective ways to find people. He says it dosent matter how many people you tlak to every week but how many investigators you find. I was so excited to hear some of these thigns because they were thoughts I have had.
I m afraid a lot of us feel like robots and just wait to be told what today and now The new president wants us to to what works best and think out of the box. Its greta and I am excited to see where it takes us.
An Elder that recently finsished the mission came back and was staying here is Murcia so him and his Mom invited us to drinks at the 5 start hotel they were staying at. It was way nice and we 2 spanish B ball players that play for the Lakers and the Grizzles. We felt cool as we walked past all the guards at the front of the hotel and when we walked out there were people camped all over the side walk taking pictures.
RIght now our area is going well and we are teaching a ton of spanish people which is unheard of. Antonio is already so strong and will be baptized the 19th. I m super excited. We also had a good lesson with an older Spanish Couple and at the end we read the Moronis Promise and then prayed togther paying attention to our feelings. It was amazing how we felt the spirit and received an answer so quickly. We hope to get them baptized but they have a harder time making it to church due to old age. Well everything is going well. I am getting along alright with the old/new comp. We also are living with a kid thats hald mexican and he is from Casa Grandes which is crazy because Ive ben there. It was funny talking to him because we actually know some of the same people. Well That is plenty for today, Love and miss you all.
elder G
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Logan - Murcia Week 6
8.23.09
Thanks Dane and MInette, Jess, Mom, and the Schamels for your letters. Yes the address is correct and I have received letters there. The postal code is 30009
Well the biggest news is that my comp Elder Petersen has been transferred. We were both really sad because he has become one of my best friends. I enjoyed everyday with him and we never once argued over anything. He will be opening an area and training a new missionary for the last 3 months of his mission. We have talked about going to byu I-do and I was hoping that someone could register me for the summer semester. I at least want that door open, however I haven’t made any concrete decisions.
My new companion is that new lol I have already served with him in Lorca. Elder Worthen was called as Zone leader and we arrived this morning. I am excited to work with him and to better our relationship. Murcia has been a hub for missionaries traveling this transfer and I have already made 4 trips to the train station on the other side of the city. Yesterday we had to get up at 4 30 and drag luggage all the way across the city. It was delightful.
The other big news is that Antonio one of out investigator excepted a baptismal date and will be baptized the 5th of Sep. He is Spanish which will the first Spaniard I´ve baptized. He will be a great leader in the church. He already has such a strong testimony and I m excited to hear from him in the future. He is 26 yrs old.
I have been frustrated lately work with the bishopric. They don’t appreciate anything we do and always try and correct us or tell us how to do our job and that’s never fun to hear after working hard all week. They haven’t even read PMG and it’s hard for me to `just listen to them. Needless to say we are trying to combine our efforts and bring about more good here in Murcia. They just don’t have a lot of unity and their meetings are them just arguing about nonsense. My mind can’t even handle ineffectiveness and that’s all they do. I like to pin out the problem, brain storm, pray and then follow through with a plan and fix the problem. Anyways maybe I ll be able to learn something from them.
I translated for an English man during the High Priest meeting and I am not sure I ever want to be a high priest after attending that meeting. I won’t go into details but it did test my testimony lol jk
Well that is all for this week. The weather is becoming tolerable and the work is going amazingly. God has really blessed me with new ideas and approaches that have advanced the work here and I am grateful to be that instrument. My love for these people has become immense and the feeling indescribable, it motivates me to keep working hard.
Love you all
Elder G
Thanks Dane and MInette, Jess, Mom, and the Schamels for your letters. Yes the address is correct and I have received letters there. The postal code is 30009
Well the biggest news is that my comp Elder Petersen has been transferred. We were both really sad because he has become one of my best friends. I enjoyed everyday with him and we never once argued over anything. He will be opening an area and training a new missionary for the last 3 months of his mission. We have talked about going to byu I-do and I was hoping that someone could register me for the summer semester. I at least want that door open, however I haven’t made any concrete decisions.
My new companion is that new lol I have already served with him in Lorca. Elder Worthen was called as Zone leader and we arrived this morning. I am excited to work with him and to better our relationship. Murcia has been a hub for missionaries traveling this transfer and I have already made 4 trips to the train station on the other side of the city. Yesterday we had to get up at 4 30 and drag luggage all the way across the city. It was delightful.
The other big news is that Antonio one of out investigator excepted a baptismal date and will be baptized the 5th of Sep. He is Spanish which will the first Spaniard I´ve baptized. He will be a great leader in the church. He already has such a strong testimony and I m excited to hear from him in the future. He is 26 yrs old.
I have been frustrated lately work with the bishopric. They don’t appreciate anything we do and always try and correct us or tell us how to do our job and that’s never fun to hear after working hard all week. They haven’t even read PMG and it’s hard for me to `just listen to them. Needless to say we are trying to combine our efforts and bring about more good here in Murcia. They just don’t have a lot of unity and their meetings are them just arguing about nonsense. My mind can’t even handle ineffectiveness and that’s all they do. I like to pin out the problem, brain storm, pray and then follow through with a plan and fix the problem. Anyways maybe I ll be able to learn something from them.
I translated for an English man during the High Priest meeting and I am not sure I ever want to be a high priest after attending that meeting. I won’t go into details but it did test my testimony lol jk
Well that is all for this week. The weather is becoming tolerable and the work is going amazingly. God has really blessed me with new ideas and approaches that have advanced the work here and I am grateful to be that instrument. My love for these people has become immense and the feeling indescribable, it motivates me to keep working hard.
Love you all
Elder G
Monday, August 17, 2009
Logan - Murcia Week 5
8.15.09
Thanks Aunt Laura, Gabby, and Grandpa for your letters!
Well a few amazing things have happened this week and I will start with those stories. Lately like I mentioned before we have been visiting all the memebers and gaining their confidence by teaching powerful lessons and then making a plan with them about how they can help us in the work. We have set goals with almost every family of bringing either one less active person or family and or one INvestigaor or family of investigators to the church. This has proved to be incredibly effective. Yesterday I counted 15 Less active in Church that have been rescued through this strategy! We visit each pueblo or small outskirt city once a week and have a family night with everyone that lives close. Non memebers, less actives, and active memebrs. We are seeing a ton or results and have a ton of people to teach.
Yesterday at church Lorca ( my previous area) was also mentioned as a miracle story durning church. They have to expand the building because they have doubled in numbers over the last few months. I felt like I was a big part of that and it makes me happy to know that its still growing and the memebers have caught the idea.
As for the work here things are just going incredibly right now. We are recieving refrences like crazy and finally I think we will have a spanish baptism. We should be seeing the date this week so I will let you know how it goes. Hes about our age and dating a member from our ward.
Confrence was last week and it was funny to see how relaxed the new president was. He put on a slide show of spanish clips and we all sang vive españa togther. I was shocked but it was a nice change. I felt so comfortable around him and that was a nice change as well.
The new piso is great and it has made such a huge change! IT has so much more light and makes studying so much more effective. I cant believe how much the old one was effecting me. I am glad we got out of there. I dont understand why some people think the mission has to be a survival camp. I want to punch the elders that even signed the contract for the old piso. I dont even like going into the neighborhood where the old one is. Anyways we are much happier now. Oh and last wednesday we did service witht the english couple which I always enjoy. First of all I always to to pray us safely there because the man dirve like a lunatic. We went 180 km which is about 111 mph in his car. Whihc he was shouting crazy english things like ¨ohh do behave ¨ I do enjoy the accent but the almsot dieing part not so much. We were seriously burning out around turns and the man is in his 70s. I wonder if he even realize what hes doing sometimes. When we ot there we had a nice afternooon working in their fruit orchard and then sat up as they say in england to a nice mela of Curry which was fantastic. Well I have said plenty. I hope all is going well. I am happy to be here and love being guiding in so many ways everyday by the spirit. Its amazing what can happen as we put all we have into one thing especially with the help of the Lord. Have agreat week
Love
Elder G
Thanks Aunt Laura, Gabby, and Grandpa for your letters!
Well a few amazing things have happened this week and I will start with those stories. Lately like I mentioned before we have been visiting all the memebers and gaining their confidence by teaching powerful lessons and then making a plan with them about how they can help us in the work. We have set goals with almost every family of bringing either one less active person or family and or one INvestigaor or family of investigators to the church. This has proved to be incredibly effective. Yesterday I counted 15 Less active in Church that have been rescued through this strategy! We visit each pueblo or small outskirt city once a week and have a family night with everyone that lives close. Non memebers, less actives, and active memebrs. We are seeing a ton or results and have a ton of people to teach.
Yesterday at church Lorca ( my previous area) was also mentioned as a miracle story durning church. They have to expand the building because they have doubled in numbers over the last few months. I felt like I was a big part of that and it makes me happy to know that its still growing and the memebers have caught the idea.
As for the work here things are just going incredibly right now. We are recieving refrences like crazy and finally I think we will have a spanish baptism. We should be seeing the date this week so I will let you know how it goes. Hes about our age and dating a member from our ward.
Confrence was last week and it was funny to see how relaxed the new president was. He put on a slide show of spanish clips and we all sang vive españa togther. I was shocked but it was a nice change. I felt so comfortable around him and that was a nice change as well.
The new piso is great and it has made such a huge change! IT has so much more light and makes studying so much more effective. I cant believe how much the old one was effecting me. I am glad we got out of there. I dont understand why some people think the mission has to be a survival camp. I want to punch the elders that even signed the contract for the old piso. I dont even like going into the neighborhood where the old one is. Anyways we are much happier now. Oh and last wednesday we did service witht the english couple which I always enjoy. First of all I always to to pray us safely there because the man dirve like a lunatic. We went 180 km which is about 111 mph in his car. Whihc he was shouting crazy english things like ¨ohh do behave ¨ I do enjoy the accent but the almsot dieing part not so much. We were seriously burning out around turns and the man is in his 70s. I wonder if he even realize what hes doing sometimes. When we ot there we had a nice afternooon working in their fruit orchard and then sat up as they say in england to a nice mela of Curry which was fantastic. Well I have said plenty. I hope all is going well. I am happy to be here and love being guiding in so many ways everyday by the spirit. Its amazing what can happen as we put all we have into one thing especially with the help of the Lord. Have agreat week
Love
Elder G
Monday, August 10, 2009
Logan - Murcia Week 4
8.9.09
Thanks Audrey, Ashley, and Mom for your letters!
Where do I start.... Today my head is kind of spinning beacause we have been moving out of the old piso and into the new one. The new flat is way nice. Its a first floor flat looking over the park,it has AC (which is rare in Spain) and is super new and clean. I am very pleased with it and it also is the same price. I am super glad I wouldnt put up with the crappy living conditions and that we were able to find a better place for the same price. I dont know if I told you about the old piso but it was horrible. There are so many buy and the walls are molding and the texture is just crumbly off. I took some video of it so you can see. As I was going through the checklist of things that the landlady said there was I could hardly find anything and just thought of all the stupid missionaries that had broken and thrown away things that were hers. We will defienetly not get back the security deposit.
As for the way of missionary work things are going incredibly well. We have been visiting all the members and winning their confidence. In every small city outside of murica we have been holding bbqs and Family nights at one members hosue and then inviting everyone that lives in that pueblo. Its really effective and we got some less actives in church yesterday because of it.
Yesterday we were visiting someone and it was just after we had finished eating and it was hot. As this guy was talking to us my eye lids just got so heavy and next thing I know I am waking up. I dont know how long I was out for but when I woke up I looked over at my comp to make sure he was listening and to my suprise he was sleeping too. lol then I looked at the man and he was still talking as if nothing had happened. I dont think he is very good at reading body language. lol
The only other exciting news is that I met a member who surfs and is from brazil. We hit it off quickly and he says we can take a surf trip to brazil whenever we want and he has family that will give us free housing and food. They live on one of the best beaches in Brazil.l You might have to look into plane tickets Dad. Oh I loved the pic of Brenna in canada that is the best pic I hva e seen in a long time. Ia m excited to get the card. ç
Well that is all, I am getting along super will with Elder Petersen and enjoying the heat. I just have to make it through Augusto. I ve enver sweat some much in my entire life. Hope all is well I love and miss you all.
ELder G
Thanks Audrey, Ashley, and Mom for your letters!
Where do I start.... Today my head is kind of spinning beacause we have been moving out of the old piso and into the new one. The new flat is way nice. Its a first floor flat looking over the park,it has AC (which is rare in Spain) and is super new and clean. I am very pleased with it and it also is the same price. I am super glad I wouldnt put up with the crappy living conditions and that we were able to find a better place for the same price. I dont know if I told you about the old piso but it was horrible. There are so many buy and the walls are molding and the texture is just crumbly off. I took some video of it so you can see. As I was going through the checklist of things that the landlady said there was I could hardly find anything and just thought of all the stupid missionaries that had broken and thrown away things that were hers. We will defienetly not get back the security deposit.
As for the way of missionary work things are going incredibly well. We have been visiting all the members and winning their confidence. In every small city outside of murica we have been holding bbqs and Family nights at one members hosue and then inviting everyone that lives in that pueblo. Its really effective and we got some less actives in church yesterday because of it.
Yesterday we were visiting someone and it was just after we had finished eating and it was hot. As this guy was talking to us my eye lids just got so heavy and next thing I know I am waking up. I dont know how long I was out for but when I woke up I looked over at my comp to make sure he was listening and to my suprise he was sleeping too. lol then I looked at the man and he was still talking as if nothing had happened. I dont think he is very good at reading body language. lol
The only other exciting news is that I met a member who surfs and is from brazil. We hit it off quickly and he says we can take a surf trip to brazil whenever we want and he has family that will give us free housing and food. They live on one of the best beaches in Brazil.l You might have to look into plane tickets Dad. Oh I loved the pic of Brenna in canada that is the best pic I hva e seen in a long time. Ia m excited to get the card. ç
Well that is all, I am getting along super will with Elder Petersen and enjoying the heat. I just have to make it through Augusto. I ve enver sweat some much in my entire life. Hope all is well I love and miss you all.
ELder G
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Logan - Murcia Week 4
8.3.09
Thanks Lis, Mom, and Jenny for your letters! Mom thanks for the package! Well somehow Dads email got lost so I wasnt able to read that which is a bummer but I am hoping you can send it to me via mail this week maybe urgent. Things are going very well here In murcia and yesterday we had a great success with the ward memebers who ahred their testimonies about missionary work. The ward is changing and we are seeing the benefits. We found 7 new people to teach last week and all them came from references. Things are now picking up and we have 4 people that will be recieving baptismal invitations this week. Its been fun to see the change within such short time. We have been visitng all the members and exciting them about the missioanry work and have started teaching a lot of their friends. this week we had a zone meeting and I felt strengthed through the Holy Ghost as we taught. I was super nervous but it went really well and I think it hit home with everyeone. The Zone as a whole did great last week and things are continually progressing. We have been eating with memebers a lot but when we are at home I have been bettering my cooking skills. I learned a lot of spanish plates last week and they came out super well. I am excited to cook for you guys when I get back. Sorry I cant think of much more to say. Main things are that the ward has completly changed and warmed up to us and we are now busy teaching alot instead of walking around in the streets. I like work effectively especially in this heat. I am glad to be here and so thankful for all the things I m learning. Elder Petersen is great and everyday is just a blast. Love and miss you all Much Amor Elder G
Thanks Lis, Mom, and Jenny for your letters! Mom thanks for the package! Well somehow Dads email got lost so I wasnt able to read that which is a bummer but I am hoping you can send it to me via mail this week maybe urgent. Things are going very well here In murcia and yesterday we had a great success with the ward memebers who ahred their testimonies about missionary work. The ward is changing and we are seeing the benefits. We found 7 new people to teach last week and all them came from references. Things are now picking up and we have 4 people that will be recieving baptismal invitations this week. Its been fun to see the change within such short time. We have been visitng all the members and exciting them about the missioanry work and have started teaching a lot of their friends. this week we had a zone meeting and I felt strengthed through the Holy Ghost as we taught. I was super nervous but it went really well and I think it hit home with everyeone. The Zone as a whole did great last week and things are continually progressing. We have been eating with memebers a lot but when we are at home I have been bettering my cooking skills. I learned a lot of spanish plates last week and they came out super well. I am excited to cook for you guys when I get back. Sorry I cant think of much more to say. Main things are that the ward has completly changed and warmed up to us and we are now busy teaching alot instead of walking around in the streets. I like work effectively especially in this heat. I am glad to be here and so thankful for all the things I m learning. Elder Petersen is great and everyday is just a blast. Love and miss you all Much Amor Elder G
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
