Another Day in Paradise

Dear family,
So I got the package, and all the candy is already gone. Me and Elder
Hansen and Elder Atkin and Elder Booher all had a good time eating it
all. Thanks for the razor, it´s the greatest thing that maybe has
ever happened to me. I don´t have to use shaving cream! Also, thanks
for the tie and the music and the sweater. It has gotten pretty cold
here lately, and I´m about to go and buy a nice Spanish jacket. I´ve
decided that on the mission, you can still be stylish.
So anyways, life has just been a joy this past week with Elder Hansen.
He´s a major stud. He has about 4 months left in the mission, and
he´s just on top of things. He speaks great spanish and he is always
helping me out. I´m hoping that I can really improve with him. We´ve
been laying the foundation for a great work this past week. On
Tuesday we had the singing for the angels, and it was raining and
freezing! Also, something sad happened. One of my companions that I
had in the CCM in Madrid, pulled me aside and told me that it was so
good to hear my voice. He told me that he was going to tell me
something and that he didn´t want me to be disappointed in him. I
said never. He told me that he was going home, that he thinks he has
depression. It was a sad time. I hated seeing that. I just gave him
a hug, told him I loved him and that everything was going to work out
and to keep in touch. He was crying, I was crying. It´s a hard life,
but the truth will go on. Singing for the angels was good. There
were a few elders that served in the ward that I´m currently serving
in, and almost half the ward was there. That´s how it might be for
me! I think in July 2012 it won´t be raining, so it will all be nice.
On Wednesday, we did a lot of passing by former investigators, and we
got rejected all day. We finally got let in at an investigator named
Julio. He´s living with a menos activo woman named Hipatia. All they
have to do is get married and he´ll be baptized in less than a week.
I love them. Then we visited Juana, a recent convert from Africa and
once again I sat by Gustavo and let him play with my watch. I love
little Gustavo. Then we went to Roxanna´s house, and she´s just like
Gabbi. She´s 18 and she´s a recent convert of two months, and she´s
great. She was crazy before she got baptized, but now that she´s
baptized she wants to serve a mission and do everything. She loves
the gospel and she loves helping out the missionaries. The gospel is
the greatest. On Thursday, we did a lot of walking, and we only got
into two houses. It was a long day. But the longest day that I have
had on my mission was on Friday. We had 4 good citas set up with
people, and at every single one we got fired. It was extremely
frustrating. We did more walking this day than I have ever done in my
life. It was insane. Elder Hansen and I did a lot of talking, and we
had a grand time, but it was a long day. Some people just don´t
respect your time. They set up citas with you, blatantly don´t show
up, then think all it takes is a simple sorry to suffice. Oh man, I
got a little mad. But I calmed down alright. It was a really long
day, but I got back to the apartment, and I felt good about the effort
that I put forth that day. I felt good about the people we contacted,
the phonecalls we made to reach out to people, and our overall effort
and attitude. I´m pretty sure the Lord was pleased with our effort to
serve even when it wasn´t easy. On Saturday, our first two citas got
dropped again, and it was so annoying! We finally got in with a Menos
activo man named Salva, who gives us good hugs. We talked about being
temple worthy. Being temple worthy is so important. It makes me kind
of sad that some people aren´t. We´re really going to work with him.
He brought us out some Sardines, and I was nervous at first, but it
was actually pretty good. I´m getting like dad - liking scary scary
foods. So then we had lunch with a member and that little girl
definitely reminds me of Izzy. Are my sisters growng up? They
probably are. Don´t grow up too much! So then we met with Daniel.
He said all the right things, had pretty good excuses for missing
church, but ít just didn´t feel right. I don´t know about him. It´s
so hard! He was so good, and all of a sudden he got blessed with
work, and his snake of a girlfriend came back to him and he forgot
about God. It´s so frustrating! He said he was going to come to
church for sure on Sunday, but he didn´t show up. Now that´s
annoying, when people say things that they don´t mean. I´ve really
started to learn about the importance of words. Words are so
important. I made it one of my goals to really mean everything I say.
Whether it´s a talk, like I gave on sunday, or whether it´s a contact
or phonecall or just talking with my companions in the piso. I love
them. So on Sunday, Julio, whom I´ve already talked about, came to
church in new church clothes that he bought. He looks way good, all
he needs to do is get married! Tough situation. Church was good, I
gave a talk about charity. Basically all I had time for was my
testimony. I just told the people I loved them and that Christ loves
us and suffered for us. That´s our great message to the world, is
that Christ redeemed us. Everything else is supplemental to that.
Christ performed the Atonement, the knowledge and the authority to
access the atonement was lost, restored through Joseph Smith, the Book
of Mormon proves that this happens. Man, the gospel is beautiful. So
on Sunday, we ate with a Filipino family, and we had such good food.
They have a daughter that can play the piano (by the way, I learned
how to play Nearer my God to Thee!) and an inactive son. They are
very distraught by the son, but we have faith that he will come back
into the fold. It will all work out. People have their agency, we
have to remember that. So after that food, we met with an antiguo
investigator that speaks English. It´s weird being a missionary in
English, just because I´m so used to praying in Spanish and talking
about the gospel in Spanish. It was good though. He said that he
didn´t want to be baptized, but that he liked us coming over. Little
does he know that he can´t play with fire and not get burned (fire of
the holy ghost - when you get two missionaries walking around for such
a long time you come up with silly jokes like this). He is a way nice
guy, and we´re going to continue to teach him. So we did some more
pass bys, got rejected some more, then I called a member, and we went
to her house, and she has 3 kids and a husband, and the kids were all
so bland. They were lifeless. It was weird. We thought that the
whole family were members, just because we didn´t know, and so we
talked about prayer, then we talked about members helping the
missionaries to baptize. I said "As a ward we have a goal of 15
baptisms, and we need 10 more." Little did I know that we were in the
presence of 4 non members, the dad and kids. SO AWKWARD! The dad
talked to us and said that it doesn´t matter what church you join,
because all that matters is your works. How wrong is he! We´re going
to give a knock out restoration lesson this next time, and show him
what´s up! So the last visit we had last night was a pass by, and we
didn´t know who it was, but it ended up being a temple sealer and his
wife, and they were as Spanish as they come, and they let us in and
gave us food and shared with us their conversion story, which came
because of missionaries knocking doors. It really was such a tender
mercy of the Lord. It had been a tough week, and the Lord just put
these wonderful people in our path to lighten the load. The gospel is
the greatest.
So yes, thanks for the package, the wonderful letters, the tie that
I´m wearing right now. Thanks for being supportive and for being
there for me. Thanks for being a great family. Isn´t it so cool that
we´re sealed in the temple? Some people DREAM of that, but they have
vices that they can´t get over to get to the temple. We´re so
blessed, and sometimes we don´t realize it. We talked a lot about
gratitude this past week, about how we need to give thanks. Giving
prayers where you only give thanks - that´s hard for me because I´m
always asking for things! It really makes you realize how blessed you
are. I love this gospel.
So in my talk, I said one sentence. "La mision es la mejor cosa que
me ha pasado" The mission is the best thing that has ever happened to
me. It´s only been 3 and a half months, and I already love it. There
is so much that lies ahead, and I´m so excited to get ahead and to
dive in. This gospel is true, there´s no doubt in my mind.
So Alex, happy 16th birthday. Gone on a date yet? Let me know!
Izzy, thanks for the long letter! I heard that at the park everyone
just loved Stella. You would love all the nasty dogs here in Spain.
They´re cute, just nasty. Annie, how´s procrastinating coming along?
I set a bad example for you by always waiting to the last minute. get
stuff done, you save yourself grief! Gabbi 89 minutes and 10 miles,
that´s flying! Way to go. Let me know how your half marathon goes.
And here´s your shoutout! Thanks for all the prayers. I really do
feel them. When I get tired and down, I just think of my sisters.
So anyways, if you could send one thing, maybe in the mail. Just about
15 or 20 pictures of the family, recent pictures of me, pictures of us
doing things, that would be great. The members loving seeing pictures
of the family of my companions, and I want to share that too!
Anyways, I got to get going. Time to go buy some nice Spanish clothes
for the winter! Much love, and continue to be the best family.
Love,
Elder Pericle