hello, random thoughts:

on monday it rained a lot and we got super wet as we were making our way to the church to write email with our ipads.  a guy on a moto was trying to switch lanes and pass the bus.  Bus vs moto, bus wins!  the man backed off when the bus driver honked at him.

I had swollen ankles last week and bruises on my feet too because my shoes are old and the insoles have expired,   So I bought new ones and hope that they´ll last for a long time.

My companion told me " ties are antennas to the spirit".

We had a zone enfoque this last week and we had intercombios too.  So I went to vitoria again and after the enfoque we went out to dominos and had pizza as a zone!

During my intercombio, I was with Elder Turner from CA, and we met a man from Morocco who was atheist.  He didn´t really want anything, but we were able to talk about the Book of Mormon and later became very interested to learn more.  He took the copy and was so prepared by the Lord that he was patient as he waited for us to find a tarjeta with the phone number of the elders in vitoria.

Elder Wheat and I were walking and doing some passbys in an area of Pamplona and we passed a girl with a sweater that said "Arizona State,” so I called out to her and she stopped and said no that she was not from the US, but she did have a friend that was Mormon and was some what interested to come to a church activity.  mini miracle.

Soccer is legal in the Spain Barcelona Mission, aka El Faro.  When president pace was here he took soccer away because of the amount of accidents due to this sport, but the angel of pres. Dayton, he made Soccer legal!  yahoo!

I had my last visit with Roberto, an investigator we have from Romania.  He lived in a small candy shop and is moving back to his country because he cannot find work here and is trying to make his way to the UK.  I finally gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon in romanian and signed it, so check my email to see if I have an email from him.

On saturday we went running in the morning with Elder Wheat because he too is a cross country runner!  I am very slow and out of shape...

power of prayer, see bottom.

a member helped a lady with a handicap with her legs cross the street.

Mutual was on friday and we helped out the young men by sharing some missionary videos and teaching about missionary stuff too.  Good kids, good ward.

I wrote a quote that I thought of during zone enfoque last week "we teach a lot but when those we teach keep not their commitments, they receive no promise and gain no testimony."

We talked to a man on a bench last week and his name was Rafael.  An 85-year-old spanish man with hair sprouting out all over his head, nose, ears, chin, eyebrows, etc.  Dad is not equal to this man, if so trim the hair on your face.  You should not have hair so long that you need a lawnmower to cut it all.  But if you are like dad and have a great mustache, it’s okay!

Sacrament meeting was really good this week because of fast and testimony meeting.  If fast and testimony meetings were like basketball, we saw the starting team rush to the pulpit in a matter of minutes.  We had so many people talk that it pushed time of sacrament meeting over!  Also a man walked into sacrament meeting and he had a big beard and jeans.  I thought nothing much about this man, until he went up and bore his testimony about the restoration and I was just outstanded.  "thus the commandment, judge not" thomas s. monson.

I made fried eggs for breakfast this morning.

we rode bikes again and with to the citadel thing, the big castle/fortress in the middle of town.  FUN!

Questions:
was wondering if you eat corn on the cob in Spain.  ?? : sometimes, but mostly no.
Did you have your Visa renewed already?: No
do you have to go to a specific immigration office to get that done? : yes in barcelona

This week has been a roller coaster of emotions.  Missions are great don´t get me wrong, but they can be definitely hard and discouraging at times.  This is the hardest work that I have ever done in my life.  My companion and I were talking this morning and he said the apostles are like missionaries.  They teach the Gospel 24/7, but they do it for their entire lives and not 2 years or 18 months.  The difficult thing about missions is that you can´t relieve stress the same way as if you were at home.  I´m here in a different country trying to teach something that has been so very important to me and that can help men and women find peace in this life and in the life to come.  The language is comparable to my confidence.  If I am confident in what I´m doing I can be sure that my language skills can adapt to the circumstances, but if my faith and confidence are decreased, I can see the same change happen with my language abilities.  The life of missionary work can be so difficult because you are helping others come unto Christ by means of faith, repentance, BAPTISM, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  It is not an easy experience because in order to repent and come unto Christ, they need to make and keep commitments.  As a missionary, you are to teach clearly in a way that the spirit can teach and testify to that person for them to make a clear decision about what road to take to lead to happiness or Missouri( yes I know I spelled the state).  Therefore, there is a great responsibility placed on your shoulders as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.  You have companions by your side 24/7, leaders, and family to you out too, but sometimes you are to walk a path only you may go and your testimony and your strength are what power you to keep on moving forward.  Yes, at times I have had thoughts of wanting to go home and the temptations of the adversary play a big role in making you quit and give up, but the Savior is at the helm of this church.  He has all power.  It is when we are on our knees that we are empowered from on high.  When we keep that continual communication with a being who loves us beyond our comprehension, he can bless with blessings that "we will not have room to receive it".  This past week I took 2 nights and went to a quiet room of our piso and closed the door in order to be alone and knelt down and offered up a prayer unto God out loud.  I spoke to him in the same manner that I would to a friend or family member, personal.  I explained all the troubles of my heart to find peace to my troubled soul.  I received no visitations of angels, neither visions, nor a literal voice of the spirit speaking to me, but a warm feeling that came to me.  I don´t know the meaning of this feeling completely, but I do know that it was a sign from God.  It may be that I am working the best of my abilities and he is pleased with that and I should too, because I have felt for some time now that I am not doing enough and that my best is not sufficient for the Lord and this sacred work in which I am a part.  But I do feel a little better now and I pray that this week will become better and that I can find that THING that will make my mission just the most spectacular time of my life.  I pray that I can "pray and not faint", and speak and have the spirit testify of the truth and that the investigators will hear, feel, and understand and progress towards covenent making, covenent keeping latter-day saints.  This was/is my great depression, which I have had much of in my mission.  I have had many moments of depression, but I am trying to see the moments of good and happiness more often because if I look for negativity I will be sure to find it.  As we put Christ in the center of our lives, read, pray, and go to church, we take upon his name, and his yoke, which is his labor that he has asked to us to do Mosiah 18:8-10 plus sacrament prayers, we will receive added strength to endure trials with patience and love.  We will have a stronger testimony of our savior Jesus Christ and his atonement, the working of it in our lives with great abundance.  I wish I could speak as an angel and a trump and tell the world this joy, but little by little, we learn and grow.

I love you so much family and pray for you all with a heart full of love.  Have a great week and thank you for the birthday wishes.

Con amor

Elder Jared Gonzalez