Hospitalet--Could this be it?

Dear family,
Here it is, yet another week, sitting in a Muslim computer shop on a
computer that doesn´t work just right. The work is going so great
here in L'Hospitalet, I basically love it. It really is awesome.
Elder Hansen and I are doing really well, and we´re getting a lot of
work done and seeing some pretty cool miracles. So on preparation day
of last week, we invited the guy kelly that looks like Lebron James to
come and play basketball with us. We played, and he was pretty good,
but I was playing pretty well. We just played half court, and I kind
of went off. He said that I could easily get on the team he plays for
and makes 400 € a game. Worth it? Not really. I love basketball
though. On Monday of this week, we had a family home evening with
this one man, named Rodrigo. Served a mission, married in the temple,
now he´s completely inactive. It´s pretty sad, I won´t lie. We
talked to him about prayer, and we asked him about some stories from
his mission. He told us two, and one of them was about when he was
really hungry with his companion, because it was near the end of the
month and they didn't really have any money to buy any food. So they
were kind of forced into fasting. They were talking, and Rodrigo told
his companion that all he wanted was some chicken and potatoes. They
said the prayer to go out that morning, and the companion asked the
Lord to bless his companion with chicken and potatoes. They just kind
of laughed, like 19 year olds do, and they went out to work. He said
he remembers it was a hard day, but they worked hard, and they didn´t
eat all day. As they were walking back to their apartment, a member
invited them over to eat, and fed them chicken and potatoes. He
started to cry telling us about it. He knows that this Church is the
true church, he´s just got to come back. I really enjoyed that visit
with him. On Tuesday, we visited a 20 year old girl, who is a menos
activa and comes to church every now and then because her mom is super
inactive and doesn´t want anything to do with it. She tries her best
and has to basically raise two little brothers. We raised her spirits
with a scripture, told her thanks for being an example to her
brothers. She was very thankful for our visit. Being an example is
so important. So on Tuesday, we also had a really cool experience.
This family of three, the mom, the 17 year old daughter, and the 8
year old daughter from Bolivia that looks just like Dora the Explorer
let us come over. They don´t have electricity, they don´t have water,
they don´t have gas. They´re basically dirt poor. We went over, and
the mom talked to us for 45 minutes and told us her life story. It
was so intense. The kids used to beg for food, the mom was abused,
the 17 year old girl has a 2 year old kid, almost got killed by the
father. It´s nuts what these people went through. We got to the
visit at 5, and we had to leave at 5;45 because it was so dark I
couldn´t see her face. It was sad. The good thing is, is that they
all accepted to be baptized, and we´re working with them. The mom
told us recently that our presence has changed the feeling in their
home. Little do they know is that it isn´t us, but the Spirit. She
said usually the girls hate getting up in the morning, but now that
they know we´re coming, they get up and they´re all excited and
everything. I love the change that the gospel of Jesus Christ makes.
The mom and the 17 year old daughter love to learn so much, and they
have so many questions. They are good. We actually brought them to
church on sunday, and the mom said she
didn´t like it. She said she felt weird, and that she didn´t
learn as much as she wanted to. She said that in Relief Society,
people didn´t talk about the gospel as much as they should. She said
that all they talked about were going away pàrties and what happened
that last week. She said that she didn´t really like it, but that she
still wanted to keep learning from us. How can people not like
church!! We talked with her, and on Sunday night, we took her to a
members house and watched the Restoration DVD. It was so good. I
loved it, she loved it, we all loved it. This member family is the
greatest, and I love them so much. The spirit in their home is just
so good. The woman was crying, and said she felt so good and that
she´ll continue towards her baptism. The 17 year old said that her
birthday was December 9th, and she wants to be baptized before then.
I love it. The member family then brought out these huge plates of
rice and beans, and the little 8 year old girl, Dora the Explorer look
a like ate the food just as fast as I did, and I eat fast. She must
have been starving. We are so blessed, we don´t even know it. This
poor little girl must have been so hungry. She ate so much so fast!
I´m so glad that the Lord allowed us to meet and to teach this family.
This family has been prepared so well, and they need baptism so bad.
They´re scheduled to be baptized on Dec 4th, and transfers are next
week. With my luck, I´d be transferred out of here. I know, I know,
everything is done for a purpose, and it´s a team effort, but it´s the
natural man in me, and I hope I´m here for their baptism! We´ll see
how it goes. (¡Iré y haré!)
So yeah, that was the coolest part of this week, we found this family,
they want to get baptized so bad, they´re so prepared, and they love
having us over. These two big American boys who come over and teach
about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It´s wonderful. The
church is true!
It was a really good week this last week. It was a little long at
some points, but it´s funny how the minutes and hours are long, but
weeks fly by. It´s crazy to me that it´s already November 22nd.
We´re going to have a thanksgiving meal on Tuesday with our district.
We´re pretty excited for it.
For the Book of Mormon reading dad, there´s a part in Preach my Gospel
in chapter 5 that talks about the Book of Mormon and how it answers
questions of the soul. Check it out, it ´s really good. I´d have him
read Mosiah 3, 3 Nephi 11, Moroni 10:3-5. All are very popular, but
all that guy has to do is to feel the Spirit. If the Book of Mormon
is true, then everything falls into place. I´ve been reading the Book
of Mormon a lot lately in my personal study, and I really like it. I
learn so much every time I read it, and I´m really loving it. It´s
absolutely the word of God, and it´s absolutely what the world needs.
Do you remember the talk by Elder Holland about Safety for the Soul?
It´s incredible. It talks about Joseph and Hyrum going to their death
with the Book of Mormon, and how they didn´t deny it, not even once.
It´s so good, I highly recommend listening to it. The spirit is so
strong with that. Elder Holland says in there, that he wants it
absolutely clear when he stands before the Judgement Bar of God, that
he declared to the world in the most straightforward and simple
language he could summon, that the Book of Mormon and all that it
entails is true and is the word of God. I love that. The Book of
Mormon is true, and that´s all that matters. It absolutely testifies
of Christ. I´ve gotten to be so much closer to Christ now on my
mission by reading it. It´s wonderful. Girls, I hope you all serve
missions.
So yeah, that´s about it. We´ll see how everything goes. It sounds
like you all are having a good time at home. Count your blessings,
that you have running water and electricty, heat, comfy beds. It´s
such a good experience to be here and to see the other side of things.
Really humbles you. I love it.
Well, keep being great. I´ll keep serving.
Love,
Elder Pericle