Familia,
¿Cómo estáis? I hope everyone is doing well. This week I got a good computer with a good keyboard. The last week the keyboard was broken and the space bar was being difficult. So, what new to update you on... Let me think...
We have a baptism next week! We´re so excited for him. His name is Daniel, and he completely changed his life around. The first time we saw him he was not very motivated. But now, he´s full of life, he loves to read the good book, and he comes to church! Yesterday at church, he was a little late, and we saw him standing outside, so we went outside and we saw him with his girlfriend. We invited them to come in, but she said she didn´t want to. He told us to wait one minute, and they were talking, so we went over and talked to a member for a bit. Then they disappeared! We freaked out, because we didn´t know what to do. We ran down the steps, (The chapel here is 3 stories) and we went outside to look for them and they were walking to the metro. I told Elder Awerkamp ¨we can´t lose them!¨¨ So we ran after them, and asked what was up, and the girlfriend said she didn´t want to go. We pleaded with her and said no we´re leaving. We asked Daniel what was going on, and he said that he was just going to walk her and come back. We said we´d wait for him at the top of the metro. It took him about 10 minutes to say goodbye to her. I´m pretty sure that she was trying to get him to come with her, but Daniel came to church. He said, I´m ready, it´s the first time I feel like I´m doing something right in my life, and I feel it in my heart.¨¨ Oh how happy we were to hear this. He really is so ready, and the gospel really changes people, just like dad said in his email to me. But, the gospel doesn´t change us, we have to change ourselves THROUGH the gospel. We have to put in our part in order to enjoy the blessings of the gospel.
That´s something that we´ve been focusing on a lot lately in our companionship, is a lot of inactivos or menos activos. We passed by a less active girl, and she said that her life was really tough, and she welcomed us in. She said she knew that this was the true church, but she didn´t want to come back to church because the road back is hard. We said we know it´s hard, but ´´vale the pena´´ (Worth the pain). So we´re going to go over to her house 3 times a week to read the Book of Mormon, we call her everyday to see how she´s going, and we´re trying to reignite that flame that was there when she decided to get baptized. She then told us of her sister and her brother in law, both of whom are returned missionaries, married in the temple, and have been inactive for years. We were flabbergasted to hear this! How could you go inactive after serving a mission? It´s easier than it seems though. I remember hearing somewhere that faith has a very short shelf life, and that you can´t continue to be a good member of the church without reading and praying and going to church. You have to constantly be fortifying yourself, constantly reminding yourself of the covenants you made at baptism and in the temple. My companions and I had a long talk about how people who served missions and were faithful in the church go inactive. We decided that if any of us ever go inactive (which won´t ever happen, but you have to have a backup plan!) that the other two of us will go over and will reignite that flame that we currently have, remind them that they know it is true, and that this is the only way. We practiced on each other too while we were walking around. It was fun.
Speaking of walking around, it is really fun to walk around here. It´s awesome taking the metro, awesome having everyone look at you, and awesome just being in Spain. We have a few Spaniards in our ward, and we had food at their houses this week, and it was so good! We had tortilla de patata, with some garlic sauce, fried pork, some other good stuff. Oh man. Napolitanas are so good. Horchata, which is like a vanilla rice drink, OH so good. The food here is awesome. In our apartment we don´t eat very well, but we´re very blessed with a great ward, who loves us and feeds us. I´m blessed to be in such a great area.
Let me tell you about a few people that we´re teaching. We´re currently teaching a sister of a Dominican member. The member´s name is Marienela, and she is the sweetest old lady. She´s so nice. Her sister is Rosalina. She just doesn´t get excited about anything. She´s been sitting in on our discussions, and this last time, I went on intercambios with a hispanic boy, Jose Antonio Hijo, and we taught the first discussion. It was awesome. The spirit was so strong, and I answered all her questions and got her to read and she said she would pray. That´s all you have to do to find out if this is true or not. Read and pray, and come to church. So we´re going back to Rosalinas house this week, so we´ll see how it goes.
Then we have Roxanna. She was baptized right before I got here. She´s 18, she´s Peruvian, and she´s fiery. She reminds me of Gabbi. She was crazy before she was baptized, and she´s still crazy now, but crazy about the gospel. My companions tell me she´s so much happier now. We still visit her to teach her the lessons again and to help her out. She´s a perfect example of how the gospel changes lives for the better.
Next we have Walter. He´s a converso reciente as well, and he´s a stud. He´s about 18, and he knows so much about the gospel. He loves me, because I don´t speak too well. He likes to teach me, and he likes to learn English. He´s not too sure about a mission, because his family is poor, so we´re trying to work on that. He´s a good guy.
One more thing. There is a man named Andrés. His daughters name was on the ward list, so we passed by, and he let us up, and he said he´s only home for about 2 hours every couple of days because he works so much, so we´re lucky we passed him. He told us that his whole family are members, except for him, because he works every Sunday. He is from Bolivia, and his whole family moved back to Bolivia except for him. He is working here, living alone for 3 years in order to support his family. He has a good job, makes good money to support his family, but he works every day, including Sundays. Why does this have to happen? He says that he knows this church is true, and wants to get baptized, but he can´t because he works Sundays. So what do we do? We invite him to request off, or find other Sundays. He was not pleased. He said his wife would get mad, his kids would starve, other stuff. We read him a scripture about do the things God wants, and he´ll take care of the rest. It´s really tough things that people have to do. The good thing is that it is definitely worth it. He said he´d read and pray, and we´re going to go back to his house every couple of days to read with him. Maybe even if he can´t get baptized now, when he goes back to his country, and he doesn´t have to work on Sundays, he can get baptized right away.
It´s funny, I´ve already been here a few weeks, and I´m already loving the people. I love the people, I understand what they go through, I pray with them, (I haven´t cried with them yet, but maybe I will), I laugh with them, I don´t understand them a lot of the time, but I love them all the more. It´s great being here.
Alright I don´t have too much time, I have to write my Presidents letter. But, I love you, I know that this church is true, and I´m excited for a baptism coming up!
Love, Elder Pericle

Hospitalet

Familia,

I love it here. I love the members. I love the area. I love the heat. I love that I sweat so much and that I can't shower and night. I love that we can´t control how cold or hot the water is. I love that none of us know how to cook so we eat peanut butter and corn flakes (like the cereal) for our sandwiches. I love that we don't have a dryer and that my clothes get rock hard in the sun. I love that we walk everywhere and take the metro. I love that the members feed us, ALL THE TIME. I love that I´ll probably get fat. I love getting called Jehovahs Witnesses and politely correcting people. I love speaking Spanish. I just love it.
L´Hospitalet is a little city right outside of Barcelona. The members are all so great. A lot of them are from Ecuador or South America. There are a few Spaniards in the ward, but not many. Everyone is so nice. On Sunday, I tried to introduce myself to everyone. People smile, they try and talk to me in Spanish, and it´s so hard to understand them, but I just smile big and try to answer them back. They love me all the more for that, at least I hope so. All the Brothers love giving the missionaries hugs, and all the sisters love giving handshakes. I swear, I´ve shaken more hands and learned more names and faces already than in my whole life before. I simply love it here.
So my companions are Elder Awerkamp and Elder Atkin. Both are from St George. Elder Awerkamp is 6´3 and went to the same high school as Andrew my room mate. He did a year at BYU too. Elder Atkin played basketball at Dixie State college in Southern Utah, and he´s about 6¨5 Both of them are great Elders. They are very impressed with me, and said that I´m one of the best missionaries they´ve ever been with. I´m humbled by that. I hope that you got my letter to the President. I tried to include a lot of the stories in there, so read that.
So, you can send mail to the mission office, which is the Barcelona address. That´s easier than sending it to me in my piso, because who knows how long I´ll be here. I hope it´s for quite some time, because I love it here. It´s pretty much a small city here. It´s awesome. We should have a baptism by my birthday, which will be awesome. I´m also excited for general conference.
So like I said, we don´t have time to shower at night. We go out at 11:30 and we usually don´t get back at 10:30 at night, so it´s pretty much a super long day. It´s good though, cause we get home, plan, I wash my face, write a few things in my journal, pray, and pass out. I fall asleep so fast here in the field. I wake up tired, I go throughout the day tired but excited, and I come home at night pretty much ready to pass out. It´s awesome though, I feel like we get so much done and we teach and preach. The food here is great. We´ve had a lot of different things. We´re going to have to do some shopping today, because we literally have no food at the piso. And the water here tastes like chlorine. This definitely isn´t the states.
So, in Spain there´s a problem of people living together. Like everyone lives together and isn´t married. We have to fix that.
So the other day we went to a members house, and I cooked hamburgers. That´s right, me and my companions cooked hamburgers. The woman wanted to teach us. It was fun, and I learned new words. People like talking to me, and I just try and smile and pray that I´ll understand what they´re saying. There´s a boy in our ward, named Walter, and he´s from Ecuador and he´s about 18 and a total stud, and we get along great. He speaks so fast to me, and I catch a few words every now and then, and he loves teaching me spanish. He´ll make a great missionary.
My testimony for this week is that we are products of the Restoration. Because of Joseph Smith´s question to God, and because God loves us, we have the fulness of the gospel. We live in an exciting time, and I´m lucky to be a missionary. I´m lucky to have the chance to share this with people. It doesn´t make sense to why people won´t join the church, but that´s something that I have to figure out and to help them with. We have a prophet on the earth today, and supposedly General Conference is Christmas on the mission, so I´m extremely excited for it. I love the mission work, I love everything. Life is hard, but life is great. I love wearing my black name tag with pride. Time to go. Continue to fight the good fight, because that´s what I´m going to do.

Mucho amor y un abrazo fuerte,
Elder Pericle

First Area

Nicholas Pericle to Tony, me
show details Sep 9 (11 days ago)

Hola from L´Hospitalet! I have arrived in Barcelona and iI´m officially in my first area and one of the things that President has us do is write an email to our family. I´m in a 3 some! again! I must have to learn something from a 3 some. I´ll probably be in one forever. My companions are Elder Awerkamp and Elder Atkin, and they´re both from St. George and have about 8 months left. They´re great elders, and they´re very committed to this work. They´ve very obedient, and that´s what I was praying for, was obedient trainers so that I had a good example to me in my first transfer. The Lord listens. So I´m in L´Hospitalet, it´s right outside of Barcelona. It´s a nice place, and the missionaries and the President told me that this is the best place to start off. The work is really progressing here, so that´s exciting. The bed here isn´t the comfiest, and the shower was freezing! But I´m happy to be here. A mission is already very tough, but nothing that can be done easily is worth it. There´s so much that I have to do! Both of my companions are from St. George, and they´re zone leaders, so I´ll be doing a lot of traveling with them. I´m in my first area, I taught my first lesson last night, invited someone to get baptized, and they declined but we´re going back again tonight. We have lunch with a member in a little over an hour, and that should prove to be great. Then we have about 5 appointments tonight. It´s going to be a good time.
A few things that I´ve learned on the mission - it is hard work. It´s the hardest thing I´ve done in my life so far, but that´s okay, it will be worth it so much. It has already taught me the importance of planning and goal setting and being bold. It´s almost impossible to understand people here! I can talk pretty well, and I can say what I have to say but when it comes to understanding I am very lost. My trainers are amazed with the way I was prepared with Spanish and my knowledge. I didn´t think I was prepared at all, but they say that I´m so lucky to already be able to speak. now i just have to learn to understand. The mission is treatin me great so far, and i´m thouroughly enjoying all aspects and all parts of it. i´m a little overwhelmed at it, but it´s time to buckle down and put all that stuff that I learned in the MTC and in mission prep and from all my young men´s leaders and from dad into practice. it´s very easy to just talk about HOW to be a good missionary, but BEING that good missionary is tougher than in sounds. I can do it though. I´ve prayed longer and harder than I ever have before, and it´s paying off. I need to continue to do it, because without the Lord´s help, I´m doomed. It´s very frustrating not being able to understand, but I´m not going to get frustrated, because that will make it even harder. I´m just going to give it time. I´m actively listening, actively learning, and trying to speak and contribute when I can.
So last night, because we´re so close to Barcelona, we got to go into the town and sing for the missionaries that were leaving, and it was way cool. People stop and take pictures of you and think that you´re famous or something. Little do they know that we´re just lowly missionaries, who are trying to do the right thing. That´s the only thing that I can do, is the right thing. I contacted a pretty attractive Norwegian woman on vacation here , and me and my companion talked to her for about 10 minutes about the gospel and spain, and when we gave her a handshake afterwards, she beso´d me (kissed me on the cheek) and everyone who was singing was watching me, including President Hinckley. How embarrassing! I talked to him after and he told me to repent, while he was laughing. It was a good time. YEsterday was kind of a daze, partly because I couldn´t believe that I was in a 3 some yet again, then because I was going to my first area, then because I taught my first lesson, then because I saw my first living area, then because the Spain MTC is so much nicer than our living areas here! Yesterday was fantastic. It was just a shocker. Now today, reality has set in, and it´s time to do work. I´m excited. Thanks for sending me that inspirational thing mom, and thanks for the advice dad. I´m reallly trying to not compare myself to others, because then pride and discouragement come. My Spanish is pretty good, but there´s so much more I have to learn and do. It´s so weird meeting new people with real problems and real concerns, who need real help. It´s really awesome, but it´s really weird. You don´t want to mess it up, so you pray extra hard. Talk about pressure. I have already gotten discouraged once when I coudn´t understand much, but my companions bought me a chocolate filled bread thing, called napolitana, and it was absolutely incredible. Now I´m here, writing this email. I got to get going, but I´ll write to you on my pday, which is on monday. Feel free to write me back before then. Mucho amor.

Love,
Elder Pericle

I´m two months into my mission. You might ask what my feelings are. Nervous, excited, apprehensive, joyful. It´s a "mesclavo" or mix. It´s weird. Tomorrow, I will go to Barcelona. I´m about to begin my real mission, and I´m excited for that. It´s going to the best. Let me tell you about an experience I had on saturday. I got to go to the park, and they put me with another American. They trust me to speak Spanish. Weird. So we go out, and we got rejected so much! Some woman told us to forget her, because she was Catholic. You tell a lot of people to have a good day on the mission, let me tell you. So then, we found the guy, who last saturday, told us that he wanted to meet us at the same bench and discuss the Book of Mormon. He was there! And he had read! He didn´t pray though. It made me sad, but we had a good 45 minute talk about the Book of Mormon and the gospel, and we got his information, and passed it onto other elders in the Madrid mission. We also invited him to come to church at the stake center by the temple, and that we would go with him, and he said he would go and we were so excited, and we didn´t show up. It was really sad. I guess I´m just getting prepared for more and more rejections. It´s all good though. I got to talk to him for 45 minutes in Spanish. IN SPANISH. I´m basically native. Not quite, but I´m working there. I put in my work, and the Lord will take care of the rest. I love this work. It´s really a privilege to be able to be a missionary. I learn more and more about how awesome this gospel is everyday. My testimony is constantly growing, I take a lot of gospel notes. It´s hard to write in my journal, just cause I´m so busy. It´s okay though, I´ll get around to it.
Sometimes I feel down, but then I remember the missionaries that came before me. Heber Kimball went on how many missions? Followers of Christ have to make sacrifices, that´s the price. The reward? Glory in the kingdom of the Father. There is no rest right now. There will be rest later.
I´m excited to get to Barcelona. I will take some pictures of my first area for you. I´m excited to meet President Hinckley. I´m excited to preach the good word. I´m just very excited. I love this gospel, I love my family, and I love Spain. Look at Romans 15:24. This isn´t the first time the gospel has been preached in Spain.
-Elder Pericle

¡Hola!
Here I am, in the Spain MTC, and it´s great. I am thoroughly enjoying myself now, even though I am in another 3 some! It´s not too bad here though because you´re not joined at the hip like in Provo. They really trust you here, and you don´t have every single hour of your day planned out for you. There´s a lot of time where you just get to choose your focus in your studies. I´ve been focusing and studying a lot, even though today my alarm didn´t go off and I looked at my alarm at 6:50! I was so mad. But it´s okay, it was an honest mistake. So during our gym time, we get to go play football with some kids, and it´s in this cool football pitch that´s like from the movie El Dorado. It´s all concrete, and it´s in like a pit. It´s way cool, I´ve never seen anything like it. The kid´s here were all really good, and they´re all like 13 to 16, and they all have piercings and tattoos, but they are good kids. They´re pretty shy, and when I scored a goal I said ¨"¿Bueno por an Americano sí?" and they didn´t really laugh, but I did. They knew who Landon Donovan was, and that made me happy. But anyways, talking to them made me excited to get out to the field and to proselyte to people just like them. I was talking to this one English elder here, Elder Middleton, and we were talking about how much the church and the priesthood would change these kids lives. It made us both excited. It´s going to be good. Today, we have to go give some fingerprints to some government agency, then sign some papers, and they´re sending all the Americans out into the metro by themselves! This could get dangerous. But we´re missionaries, so we´ll be okay. Then, we come back here for lunch, and head back out into the city for 3 hours to look around.
So yeah, I´m just in SPAIN having a grand time. The teachers here are all very nice, and there are 7 or so Spaniards who I try and talk to all the time. They like talking to me, and I LOVE talking to them. When I first got here they basically shattered my confidence in Spanish, but I am slowing putting it back together. They talk so fast, and they use words that aren´t used in Latin America, which is where my teachers served, so I have a lot of learning to do, but hey, it´s all good.
So I´m glad that you all are well, school´s about to start up I guess, and that will be fun. Make sure to study hard!
Wait until September 8th to send me any real mail, but feel free to email me all you want! I hope to here from you soon. I have to go get ready to go downtown. Adios.
Mucho amor,
Elder Pericle

Familia familia,
¿Qué pasa? I successfully made it onto our flight to Madrid. They closed the gate but when we got there they opened it back up for us. The flight was pretty painless, but it was weird because everyone was speaking Spanish, and this is NOT the language that I learned in the MTC. It´s crazy listening to Spaniards speak. When we got out of the airport we were looking for someone to pick us up, and no one was there, so we exchanged our money, and were going to use a pay phone, but some members walked up to us and asked us what we were doing and they let us use their phone to call the MTC president, who had no idea we were arriving! Tender mercies, let me tell you. So there are only 15 of us in the Madrid MTC right now, and it´s pretty much awesome - 7 north americans, and 8 native speakers. The food is incredible (from the one meal that I had), the temple is pretty much the coolest building I have ever seen in my entire life, and I´m pretty much in the middle of a culture shock. I have to start speaking with a lisp now, and it´s crazy. It´s way difficult, but hey, I can do hard things. The MTC President here is really cool, and he´s letting us go to bed tonight at 5:30 because he knows how exhausted we are - and let me tell you, I´m pretty darn exhausted. You can´t sleep well on a plane, especially when your legs keep getting in the way. I´m sorry that I didn´t get to talk long in New York, but it was due to circumstances beyond my control. I will be in this MTC until Sept 8, when I will take the bullet train to Barcelona, have dinner with President Hinckley, then get sent off to some part of Spain. I love it here - it´s beautiful. The Spanish here is weird, but it´s easy on the ears. I don´t know if it´s as easy on the ears as Italiano, but it´s up there.
Well, I don´t know what else to say! I´m doing good, I´m happy, I´m tired, but I´m motivated to do good tomorrow. I just need to catch up on my sleep and all will be well.
Oh! So there´s this one elder here, Elder Tyson-Boice or something, and he´s from Hyde Park and knows Grandma and Grandpa Leavitt and Jessica. Small world. Well he used to live in Hyde Park, but now he lives in the South of Spain, and he´s lived there for 9 years, so his Spanish is pretty much incredible. It´s kind of intimidating talking to people when you barely know the language. It´s cool though. I´m excited to play soccer tomorrow with some nativos, and to go to the mall and contact and go to the park and contact. This place is like a deluxe hotel. One of the elders who had already been out a transer, Elder Redd, told me that he feels like he is cheating because this place is so nice. I´ll enjoy this while I can. Well, I´m going to go take pictures by the temple. Talk to you later! My new p-day is on Thursday, so make sure you shoot me back an email before then.
Love, Elder Pericle