Hola Again

To My Family,
Everything is going great here in little L´Hospitalet. Did you know that we´re pretty close to where FC Barcelona plays? I want to go to a game some day. I bought a David Villa jersey a while ago, one of my first weeks here, and I wear it all the time in piso. It´s just part of the Barcelona, Catalunya pride! So this past week was just a joy. It was just a blur. Sometimes when you´re out on the street and you have no where to go and no one wants to talk to you, it seems like life will never end, but then all of a sudden it´s preparation day again and you´re sitting in a Muslim Locutorio writing home. So this past week we got 6 new investigators! It was really cool. On Monday, a family in the ward, Los Cedeño, invited over a friend for a family home evening, and we went over. We just talked a little bit about the church and about the Book of Mormon. The family dedicated the Book of Mormon and the girl was so touched that we would share this with her. It was really cool. Members are really the best way to do missionary work.
On Tuesday we had our district meeting, and it was really spiritual the whole time. We talked a lot about ways that we could do our part as a district to help the mission reach the goal of 400 baptisms. I felt the spirit strong the whole meeting, and we all had a testimony meeting at the end, and we all feel really good about what we can do as a district. One of the ideas that we got is that in our visits, we are going to ask people for who we can pray for that night, people they know who need prayers, and we are going to give the people a dropped call, just to let them know that we are praying for these people and for them. So every night at 10:30 we stop what we´re doing, give a handful of dropped calls, and kneel down and pray for these people. Praying for them really has increased my love for all these people. Our investigators and our menos activos love it. We love it too.
So after the district meeting I went on an intercambio with Elder Morrison, who is serving in Cornella. It is not too far from here. I was reminded of dad telling me to hang up my towel (something that I ALWAYS do!) because in their piso they didn´t hang up their towels and they all smelled of mildew and they hadn´t done their dishes in weeks! It was an absolute mess. I had a good time on my intercambio, and I definitely learned the importance of hanging up towels and keeping the place clean. I can´t believe how messy I was before the mission! I´ve gotten so much better at keeping things organized. Yes, I still have a bit of clutter, but it is not requisite for a man to run faster than he has strength. Anyway, also on this intercambio, we also did a lot of Noche de Hogars (family home evenings) and I hope that you´re doing them at home! The members here are so good, and it´s so weird that we just go in there and talk Spanish. I did get Grandma and Grandpa´s letters (Thanks so much for that!), and in one of them they said that I don´t even realize that I´ve learned a new language. It´s already like a part of me, and that´s so true. It´s so weird. I´ll be sitting in discussions, telling people how I feel about the gospel and explaining it, and all of a sudden I´ll stop and think to myself, this is weird, I´m talking in Spanish like it´s nothing. Now my Spanish is not perfect, but I´m working on it. It´s really cool how 19 year old boys go out and preach the gospel in foreign languages. I love it, the chuch is true.
On Thursday we had our weekly planning session, and Elder Hansen realized that he only had 14 weeks left on his mission! We made appropriate goals to finish out this transfer strong. I don´t know if I´m staying or if I´m going, so we´ll see in two weeks!
So on Friday, we had a meeting with our new ward mission leader. I always thought that that calling was probably the worst, but boy was I wrong! That has got to be the best calling that there is. We had such a good time planning on the mission plan for the ward. His name is Omar and he´s from Argentina, and so he speaks funny (people say the Spaniards speak funny - lies!) and he´s super intense. He has major tiffs with the Bishop and the Bishop's wife, and he always tells us about it. He´s a good guy, and he´s very excited about missionary work. I can´t wait to be a member missionary later on in life, but as for now it´s my time to serve full time.
On Saturday, we found a new investigator, LeBron James! Okay it´s not really LeBron, but he looks just like LeBron. His name is Kelly and he plays professional basketball around here in Barç and he is a model as well. He really looks like Lebron, and he is so ready for baptism. We´re going to work with him to get him baptized, and he´s excited. He was taught by Elders long ago, and he moved and was kind of forgotten about, and we tracked him down. The only thing is, is that he´s 27 and not married but expecting a baby in the next couple of weeks with his girlfriend of 4 years. His first baby. We asked him about marriage and he said that he was way too young! People are funny. We´re going to work with him, and we invited him to play ball with us today at 3 in the chapel, so we´ll see how that goes. He does look just like Lebron though.
On Saturday afternoon we were in the chapel eating lunch with some members, and they had a super sábado in the chapel. There were youth from Barcelona, Hospitalet, Zaragoza, and Valencia! Basically all over Spain. It was cool to see all the Spanish youth. I kind of wished that I was a youth in Spain, but then I realized that all of them wish they were growing up in the states! It was weird seeing the super saturday, I kind of felt like I should be in there. It wasn´t too long ago that I was a youth. Time flies sisters! Take advantage of all the youth activities. I have fond memories of mom forcing me to go to stake dances!
So then we had a small miracle. It was Saturday night, and a contact we made said that he wanted us to go over to his house at 7. So we went over there, and there was no one there. So we knocked on some doors around the building (so fun, because you never know who is on the other side!) and we came back to the guys door 15 minutes later, and a little girl opened the door, and we asked for Miguel, the contact, and she said hold on. A mom and a teenage girl came to the door and they introduced themselves. Their dad recently died, and they had been reading the bible, and they said that they want us to come over and to teach them about the word of God! (people say that a lot in Spanish - la palabra de Dios - and it sounds weird in English, but who knows). We are so excited to work with them. They were super nice.
So on Sunday, we had 3 investigators in Church, Angel, the intense Spaniard, Victor, the humble Dominican, and Johnathan, a 22 year old who could pass as 14, who was their with his Menos Activo wife. People loved them to death, and they all loved church. Church is such a privilege to go to! (I´m reminded of myself and of Annie, and our kicking and screaming and saying we didn't like church. We are too funny) I love the Church in Spain. It´s a different world over here. We had the primary program, and it was still the same - kids screaming in the microphone and some kids who spoke so softly. I love it!
So yeah, it was a really good week. Dad, I´m taking multivitamins, so that should all be good. Elder Hansen and I wake up every morning to go run stairs and jump rope . I love it. I´m really good about getting up on time, if not early, so you should be proud of that! I sure am. I can´t imagine lying in bed for hours on end like I used to do - so lazy! Congratulations on the girls, Gabbi on her smoking fast half marathon, Izzy and Annie on their ear piercings, Alex on being Alex.... So when I got the emails, about half of them were about crying over Luna. That is sad I will admit. Life is a tender thing. We only live a mortal life once.
I got Nonno´s letter, planning on writing him back today or next week. I got letters from the youth, from our hometeachers, from Bishop Carter, from Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks for all of them!
Well I got to get going. I´ll get you a picture of the styling Spanish coat that I have. It´s weird that my sisters are growing up! Keep growing, keep me updated on everything! Life as a missionary is great.
Love,
Elder Pericle