A Baptism!!

Baptism of Andrea, taught by her brother, an RM, both from Ecuador.  Jared and Elder Ward

Questions:

You said that you miss peanut butter.  Does that mean that peanut butter is unavailable, or it's too expensive to buy?:  Both. It´s too expensive if you find it, and it´s really hard to find.  plus it doesn´t taste the same as american peanut butter.  

What's the story behind your T-shirt and red scarf of San Fermines?:  It´s just what the people wear for san fermines.  I don´t have access to wikipidia.

Have you met President Dayton yet? :  yes when they first came in they had a tour of the mission in the beginning of july and we had interviews with them this past week.

So did you get a chance to see any of the running of the bulls?:  no we aren´t allowed to go there during the festivals for our safety.

So how are your investigators progressing? :  this past week, none, but we have a fecha for this weekend for a man from camarun.

have any of them made any progress towards the baptismal fecha?:  see the previous question.  Kevin is his name.  He was progressing fine until a few weeks ago when he just stopped coming to church and last week had a bunch of faith crushing questions.  It saddens me to work so hard and have him slipping from our fingers, but we´ll keep on trying.

Well I want to quickly go through the random stuff I write down during the week.

First we went to this thrift shop and I bought a ti 83 graphing calculator, in english, in great condition for 6 euros, which is like 7 or 8 dollars!  prepping for school mom.

There was a poster in the street the other day that said " there are others who fear vaccination."  it was propaganda for people to help the people in africa.  We are so blessed to live in the united States.

I had been holding on to this romanian restoration pamphlet for like 4 months and finally handed it out to a man we contacted the other day.  Being prepared weighs a lot but the reward is even sweeter.

We went to victoria to have interviews and Hermana Dayton made rice crispy treats.  yum.

Happy 24th of july.  I was sitting on a bus when the time and date sign flashed by and it hit me, IT´S PIONEER DAY!!!!  But i´m in spain and so that has no effect here....

Girls should never wear thin t-shirts, it´s not good for elders....

I contacted this lady on a bus the other day and on our way to a visit the next day I said hi to her I said " buenos tardes" rather than "buenas días"  que greengo.  I´m still imperfect, but that´s okay because I´m improving.

I got to pass the sacrament on Sunday because we were a little short on priesthood holders.  It was a blessing to do that.  The sacrament is the only ordinance in which we do for ourselves over again.  I was told that by Pres. pace and it was a hit to the head to understand that we do it every Sunday to renew our baptismal covenants.  Also, people are very grateful for what we do for passing and blessing the sacrament worthily because there are some people, like me, who wait all week to take the bread and water in remembrance of the body and blood of the lamb of God.  We had missionary prep with the JAS yesterday (YSA)  and we were going over chapter 3 lesson 3 in pmg.  It says that the sacrament is a commandment.  just a few things I have been thinking about this week.

A talk by Carlos Galarza, the brother of andrea who was baptized this past weekend!  gave a really good talk about prayer.  He said a few things that I jotted down.  He said  "all great miracles come after prayer"  examples: Christ prayed in the garden of Gathsemane, or Joseph smith and the first vision.  When we pray we are to do two things every time.  1) pray for forgiveness 2) pray for things we need/want.  Always pray with faith.

We were walking and we met a bother of one of our investigators.  His daughter is in the hospital in Romania and was very depressed and sad.  We sat by him on a bench and shared a little about the plan of salvation and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon.  We read Alma 7:11-13 with him and to me it was a really spiritual experience.  We are hoping something good comes from it.  I love sharing my testimony of the plan of salvation.

Well those were the things which I wrote down in my planner that I thought I ought to share with you.  This week has been good.  We are working hard here in Navarra.  We received a reference from the office that a person in the south of Navarra wants to listen to us, but he or she lives like 2 hours away in car.  um....we´ll find a way to get in contact with him or her.

It has been a while since I have truly said I love you, but it´s true.  I truly love you.  I got your letters mom on Wednesday and they were great.  I loved the pictures you send.  Keep sending more.  My mission president says you all look sweet.

I love the mission.  It is hard, because like Elder Holland said " because it was never easy for him."  We all have to experience a little of what he had to go through.  It’s hard but a wonderful journey.  I love handing out books of mormon.  it is a physical way of seeing my progress as a missionary.  I mark how many boms I have handed out in my mission and it is a lot.  Sometimes I think a missionary is one who goes to south america, and partly it´s true, but it´s one who gives up his or her time to the lord and all their wants and desires and he will gives us in return a changed person AFTER the fire of affliction and refinement of challenges and tests.  We all live in God´s family, not a yellow submarine.  I know the church is true and the Book of Mormon too.  I love you all and hope you all have a great week.

Con amor,

Élder Jared Alex Gonzalez

Libraries are so much better than ipads, let me tell you

Well this week I have decided to write using the library computer because it is just so much easier, and my hands don´t get so tired, and I can type so much faster without auto-correct. Even though I will still need that because I am really bad at spelling and grammar.

First I have some things that I had written down from 2 weeks ago that I haven´t told you about. A member helped me out on a visit. Sadly it fired. But as we were driving away I asked him his conversion story. He said that one day he came down from France to vacation in Pamplona and was camping in the mountains. He stumbled upon a group of YW. He was talking to them and found out that they were mormons. They invited him to come to church and so he did and later he was baptized. cool story.

mom what is the difference between us and we?

We were on a bus and I can´t remember where we were going, but as we were exiting the bus I ducked down, but not down enough, and watched my head hit the hand rails that you use to hold on to when the bus is moving. A few people laughed including me.

We were on a bus ride to Logroño for a district meeting and the bus passes by the stops in the middle of nowhere. There´s a world famous pioneer trek here in spain called el camino de santiago and people from all over the world go to walk it. I had the chance to talk to a lady from NY and she was walking with a man she has never met before until the trip, a man from Denmark. We had a nice talk about gospel stuff.

We were on another bus and as we were getting on a muslim lady with a cane who is quite young actually and had a young daughter paid the extra ticket for a girl who didn´t have enough money for the city bus. All religions in the world teach of good principles. Look for the good in everyone.

We were walking one day and I looked down and found 5 euros. We tried to find the owner, but no luck. We bought some candy afterwards.

 We were walking and we met a young lady from NY who contacted us and asked if we were missionaries because her friend just came back from her mission in Chile.

During san fermines the church was very empty, we only had 2 investigators come.

We have two phones now because my area was closed and now we have all of navarra (have you looked it up yet, it was once an entire country!) and later the office called and wants my phone back. so that’s a bummer because one phone for 1 set of missionaries.

So that was 2 weeks ago. I said I was going to write a lot. San fermines was tough because there was a lot of the city that was blocked off from use to see, visit, and work. THere were a lot of drunk and crazy people on the streets, on the loose so we had to avoid the sketchy areas and go to safe areas to work with or go to members’ homes, who too were not home because of the holiday!!! San fermines is great, but not for missionaries.

Now thoughts that I have been writing down this past week: For ward council last week we were told to do a few things. 1) read a talk from chi wong hong from GC on working in unity. 2) write a talk in case we were ever called to give a talk, and that´s what i did on monday, i wrote a talk on the book of mormon and used a lot of stuff from pmg.

Elder ward and I were contacting on the last day of san fermines, and he had contacted this guy who didn´t want anything to do with the restoration, but I prayed in my heart and handed him a BOM and he accepted it. miracle!!!

Mom, please send english stuff to me for english class. For example sentence structure, grammar tips, anything. misspelled words. I´m teaching english class again.

President Echarri, 2nd councilor in the stake presidency, had to accompany me to the bus station and drop off Elder Steadbeck. We drove back to my piso and he was going to fix a broken light in our piso, but he decided to do some personal studying as we were waiting for Elder ward to come in. As he was studying I was cleaning up piso because I felt really embarrassed to have him in our messy piso.

We bought new bus passes and now we don´t have to spend so much money to recharge the cards every time we run out of passes. We can just pay monthly.

The temperature changes a lot here in pamplona, it gets hot and then cool. When it’s really hot the clouds will change and it will rain a little to cool of the evening. one night it was really raining and there was a big thunderstorm and the wind blew all of our windows shut and that woke us up in the night with a fright.

There’s a kid here in this ward who’s from columbia and looks a lot like victor. So maybe victor is from columbia. it makes sense right? he likes to party and that is a big party country.........well....maybe.

Elder bednar´s talk is coming to pass from GC about how we might have worldly fears about things in the world. one thing he mentioned that struck me this past week was how some nations are fighting for independence. this can be scary, especially when you live in the middle of it, but always remember that Godly fear dispels worldly fear.

I would like to finish with a brief testimony that I have on the joy that I have on the mission in the service of the Lord. When we serve other people we forget our worldly cares and think of only helping others feel the love that God has for each and every one of us. I know that from experience. Elder Ward bought me an ice cream last week and it help me out when I was feeling stressed. We are all on the same team with the service of the Lord. We will receive many blessings when we serve with a full heart. I wanted to testify that this is true.

Well family that is all that I have for now. It feels so good to write home and receive letters from family. I pray for you all and hope that you have a wonderful week.

Con amor,
Élder Gonzalez

Run From The Bulls!!!!!!

July 7, 2015

 

It's San fermines here in Pamplona.  We are super scared because the population just jumped by a lot because of all the tourists here visiting and having a good time.  The weather is getting hotter, but we are staying alive.  Everyone is wearing white shirts and pants with
red scarves and belt things.  Like me!

Well the big news...transfer calls came in on the 4th of July, and I'm staying here.  My companion left, and there will only be two missionaries here in ALL OF NAVARRA!!!  If you haven't seen a map yet, I would advise you to because we have a lot of area to cover.  I'm with
elder ward from Ogden.  He was already here in Pamplona when I came in.  He's going to finish his mission here and as for me...I don't know yet.  We'll be working a lot in both areas.  It so weird how everything turned out.  Our district is now part of a city called logronio.  We are going to take a bus to district meeting there tomorrow, so that will be fun.

The stores are closed today, so we'll buy food another day.  We have eaten so much food here because of elder Dixon leaving.  But now, I'm hungry again.

I was really sad when elder packer passed away this past week because it was in fast and testimony meeting when a few members were mentioning him in their testimonies.  It really caught me by surprise.  I know that the Lord has a plan for him on the other side of the veil and one day our number will be called but we will rejoice when we see each other again.

This week we are preparing one of our investigators to get baptized.  I'm a little nervier when we have to do splits and I'm the one in control.  It puts a lot of responsibility on my shoulders, but the thing is that the Lord calls the weak to teach His perfect gospel.  I just need more faith and less fear, because faith and fear cannot be in the same place together.  I hope I don't become a leader in the future, but by saying that it will happen.  Because I hate calling the shots I would rather be a follower.

Well family I have got to go.  I hope you all have a great week and to always remember to read the scriptures because they are the waters of life because they teach of Jesus Christ who is our savior.  See you later

Con amor,
Élder Gonzalez

Questions:

Are you running?:  no but I'm doing a lot of push-ups lately and I'm
just loving it.  I'm addicted.  But my running shoes Have a wet tear when I pass by...

Does the power go off on a regular basis?:  no

did the members feel at a disadvantage when playing volleyball as you tower over them?:  yes, one member from chile keeps telling me to "hit with love". I tell her no way,  and just smile. :)

how is the iPad working out during the lessons?: we are in steps right now in using the iPads.  The first stage is going and doing the legal forms.. Stage two is setting up a plan of how to stay focused on our missionary purpose.  We can't use online proselyting yet because we are waiting for salt lake to give our mission the thumbs up so we can bring them to lessons, share videos and use the scriptures and that's about it.

are you still running in the mornings?: no, see question one.

are the members feeding you?:  not as much because the other
missionaries don't like eating visits and we had some problems with
ward calendars, so we have only a Few meals a week, like 2, which hurts because we are always recharging our bus passes every week to work and that uses a lot of our money.  For example, I'm out of money and it's the beginning of the week!  Oh well.

what has been your favorite dessert so far?:  my apple pie I made last week, but forgot the whip cream, but my favorite dessert is zucchini bread from mercadona  or a nepolitani.

have you made any pies lately?:  yes, see the last question.

does your piso have A/C? do you have a fan?: just a fan.  But the
nights are not too bad, just the days.  It is so hot this week.  Happy
4th of July!  As we melt in 100 degrees!!!

Random thoughts this week

I helped a lady throw some trash away when we were in Victoria.

My Spanish is getting better, but still needs improvement, had like
two straight days of all Spanish with my companion.

 

Got your letter mom, but my question is how did you know that Joseph smith is a prophet? What are your testimonies?

I was given caña on the bus by an old lady.  She hit me with her walking cane.

We visited a less active in the hospital and gave him some chocolate as a get well present.

I went on splits with a member on Friday, and I was playing good cop, bad cop with this less active family.  It was strange, but turned out to be a good lesson.  Went to the church and spent the last 10 mins at a ward party/dance.  Awkward as a missionary.

"Find the good in your family"- Antonio, elders quorum president.

Saw my first Honda Odyssey!  I was blown away.  Never have I seen a real mini van and not these vw's or the Mercedes vans.  Yuck.

Well with the rest of the time I have left I want to share a few
things.  First, as of tomorrow President and Hermana Pace will be
leaving for home tomorrow, and president and Hermana Dayton will be taking their place as the 15th president of the Spain, Barcelona mission.  A sad but happy moment.  I don't know when the paces will have their farewell, but I hope you go.  They live in. 2292 edgemoor drive. Holladay, Utah 84117 USA.  Use the church Google maps and see what ward they live in and see what time they start.  They are such wonderful people.  I hope you get to know them.

This week has been really good, too.  The Lord has been giving us some slow pitches to relieve some stress, and I am very grateful for that.

We did not have any baptisms for the month of June, but we worked so hard.  Our goal was for four baptisms, but it just didn't happen.  President says that this mission/ every companionship can baptize every week, and that is our new goal for July, four baptisms.  We have some that are so close.

The work is slowing down this month because of the world famous
holiday in Pamplona, San fermines, aka running of the Bulls.  We have already been yelled at by rude, drunk people who are getting ready for the holiday.  It's about 2 weeks long.  Depending on the transfer, I may leave.  Élder Dixon may finish his mission here in Pamplona.  I don't know what will happen.

Read the headline on the website about the church's stance on same sex marriage.  "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acknowledges that following today's ruling by the Supreme Court, same-sex marriages are now legal in the United States. The Court's decision does not alter the Lord's doctrine that marriage is a union between a man and a woman ordained by God. While showing respect for those who think differently, the Church will continue to teach and promote marriage between a man and a woman as a central part of our doctrine and practice."   My faith is in the lord, and he will guide us in these latter days with his living prophet, Thomas s monson.  We Would do well to do all we can to uphold "the family, a proclamation to the world".  The lord does not change his commandments to adjust to what we want.  We must change our view towards his will and plan for us.  I would encourage you to watch the new Mormon message about the
commandment from l Tom perry(a beloved apostle of the lord) called "Obedience to the Ten Commandments ".  I know this to be true in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Con amor,
Élder Gonzalez
Sent from my iPad

Finally Sunny Skies and No More Rain, I think...???

Questions:

Have you had any stake conferences during your time there in Spain?:Yes
how about ward conferences?:Yes
Which stake do you belong to?:  Victoria stake or estaca de victoria.
Are all the apartment ceilings that low? : well....yes but it depends if I say they are low, or if a short South American person says they´re short.

First I´ll start off with what I have been writing down in planner to write to you all.

The other day we were sitting at a bus stop and there was an ad for the new iphone 6 and on one of the apps was the built in maps app and the picture was a road with i280 on it.  I don´t think anyone here in spain gets it  because that’s an american road sign. 

Next at a different bus stop there was a big ad for a lady in a bikini!!!!These ads are all over the place.  Summer is here and girls are starting to strip the coats and jeans and go for the short shorts that are more like underwear because they block nothing.  lock your heart, ( talk given by President Kimball that the whole mission read when we got to Barcelona).

We were contacting one day and we met a lady who has a niece in Utah on a foreign exchange and we talked to her about it.  She says that her niece loves it in Utah!!!  However, the aunt is a super core catholic and has no desire to change to the mormon side, but would like us to pass by some time and talk about Utah with her niece when she comes back this summer.

I saw another man with a Salt Lake City shirt on, but could not contact him because we were in a car and on the road.  I love Utah!!!!

We had lunch on Saturday with these members from Bolivia in a small, really small town an hour away from town in these deep foresty mountains.  Don´t worry I took pictures.  It was really good.  We had a lot of chocolate and desserts.  With american treats too!  I have come to believe that my favorite south american people right now are Bolivians ( claudia from Castellón who´s in Galicia right now), Ecuadorians, and Peruvians.  Really good visit, but mostly it was for them.  They are a strong family, but live in a quiet town with nothing much to do, but have the gospel in their lives.  They told us of a great miracle that happened to them when they were living in Bolivia.  They said that they were on a bus going to Chile to go to the temple for the first time and they had a day lunch, but when they came to the Chilian border the guards were taking all the food from the people on board.  But when they came to this family, they said they were on their way to the temple and they were able to keep their lunch.  What a miracle.

We had a deep clean at the church and me being so tall was called a lot to help the other member clean high places like the girl´s bathroom, the kitchen, and windows.  I didn´t even need a chair!

In the Barcelona Spain mission, right now we are doing a mission wide preach my gospel program for this entire transfer.  We are studying pmg together as a mission and this week we are studying chapter 2.

A return missionary came home last week and we got to listen to him in church.  He served in Malaga and is about 4 feet tall.  He was baptized a year and a half before he left on his mission.  He is such a good missionary.  I have a lot to learn from him.  He wants to have his family baptized, which helps when our baptismal goal for this week is 4.  We are going to baptize every week because that´s what we do here in Barcelona, Spain!

In the 5th Sunday class yesterday we learned about emergency preparedness and personal finance.  I don´t have to worry about that for another year, but it still worryies me sometimes.

Last week a member named Juan Carlos lost his son dew to a motorcycle accident and left during sacrament meeting because he was just in tears, crying like a baby.  I would if I received news like that.  Luckily a member drove him home, but yesterday he came back to church as if nothing happened.  He is a tough cookie.  The gospel is true and the plan that God made for us is perfect.  There are no loopholes or any errors.  When we die we will live with our family again IF we make sacred covenants here on earth and repent of our sins.  This is why were are here on a mission, to invite others to repent and have them be able to live with their families.

I love you all and hope you have an awesome week, even though a year ago I graduated from high school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That´s so crazy to think about!!!!!!!!!!

con amor,

Élder Gonzalez

 

A Feast for J's Mom's Eyes (from a memory card recently mailed home)

Change a light bulb?  Why, yes I can.
 

countryside via train
 

Barcelona in background
 

daily catch
 

The finest is called jamón ibérico de bellota (acorn). This ham is from free-range pigs that roam oak forests (called dehesas) along the border between Spain and Portugal, and eat only acorns during this last period. It is also known as jamón ibérico de Montanera. The exercise and diet have a significant impact on the flavor of the meat; the ham is cured for 36 months.
 (not going to eat on a missionary budget)

When in Badalona (suburb of Barcelona), J and comp would run down to the pier and watch the sun come up.  He LOVED that and misses it now that he has been transferred.

Barcelona Zone rented bikes one P-day



J mentioned how tired his legs would get in Badalona with all the hills, but it appears that he didn't mention the escalators (cheater)

Designed by Antoni Gaudí, La Sagrada Familia, or Holy Family Church, was begun in 1882 in Barcelona, Spain. Construction has continued for more than a century. It's well-known that Gaudi's obsession with this one structure contributed to his death in 1926. He was struck by a nearby tram and went unrecognized in the street. People thought he was a simple vagabond and took him to a hospital for the poor. He died with his masterpiece unfinished.
Gaudi was eventually buried in La Sagrada Familia, which is scheduled to be completed by the 100th anniversary of his death.

This has been a long week, but now it's the start of a new transfer

I´m still here in Pamplona with Elder Dixon and the two other elders in our district are here too, so nothing new.  I still have lots to do here, and the Lord is still true to his word, which is to help us when we need someone to help us.
 

Questions:
Was the hotel picture you sent from the 5-star hotel in Bilbao or the 4-star hotel in Barcelona?  The 4 star in Barcelona.
 

Well I don´t have a lot of time today, but I just want to tell all of you that this has been a long week.  I have some energy and hopefuly I get some more.  I know that the mission is tough, and sometimes I forget how hard it is, until the Lord lifts us up.  He has called the weak and the simple to do the work.  I think he means me.  I´m weak and simple.  I wish I could do more, but I do what I can.
 

I finished my journal this week, and might send it home if I can.  I found it enjoyable to write in it, and later to read through it and remember all the good times I have had and the tough moments too.  I enjoy the mission and sometimes I don´t.  It's  the same if I was at home, I would still have problems, I would still have to get up early, go to work, school, learn things and read my scriptures and pray every day.  But the difference is that this is the Lord's work.  It takes more than just putting off our wants and desires for 2 years or wearing dress clothes every day.  It´s changing lives and converting ourselves by means of the refiner´s fire.  It´s not about us, even though I still think about myself a lot.  I miss running, I miss my friends and family, but I would hate to miss the time I waste if I let a minute go by on the Lord's time.  I know that this is true.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true.  I still speak spanish really bad and am lost in a different world, but it´s the spirit that converts people, not wise phrases or logical thinking.  We walk by faith rather than by sight.  I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Con amor,

Élder Gonzalez