Merry Christmas

Ok, I’m gonna write a weekly real fast because it’s Christmas and I’ll leave it there.

Not much memorable happened Monday Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday we had intercambios down in Murcia. Number 4 with Elder Krummenacher. Highlights include getting a free napolitana from a mom of a member at a panadería. She wouldn’t accept my money, I left feeling I robbed the place. Playing soccer with a Chinese kid and an African.

On Friday we had the best ward Christmas party I’ve even been to. Instead of settting up and organizing and cooking and cleaning, our ward decided to go a different route. We just set a date and a time and everyone went to the Chinese wok buffet. It was awesome and the ward even payed for us. By the end we all thought we were going to throw up, but hey it’s Christmas. There was a really good turnout (why wouldn’t there be) and everyone had a great time.

The next more we got up to help and investigator move. They weren’t really packed yet and had more stuff than they thought. The elevator was also broken. Not exactly what we expected but we were happy to serve on Christmas Eve eve. 

🇺🇸  Élder Pearce 🇪🇸

Christmas Conference and Teaching

Hey family

Tuesday everything failed, but a member called us asking if we had an extra suit. And we have one laying around in a closet so we took it to him and gave the suit to his son. It was a little big for him, but he didn’t seem to notice. Then we had a small family home evening where we went around telling our conversion stories, because the son is less active. 

Wednesday after a morning a walking around street contacting for three hours we went to Murcia and had interviews with president and gave me some interesting news about the area. After we went back to Molina and we taught Diego and Israel. We had to hurry because we needed to catch a bus to Murcia again for a district leader training meeting. While we were waiting for the bus, a random future that we contacted a few days back walked up with his wife and we ended up teaching them the whole bus ride. Then I had the exact same meeting that I had about 5 months back. After we had 6 other missionaries come home with us to spend the night. 4 on beds 2 on couches and 2 on the ground. I was one of the ones on the ground.

Then next morning we had our Christmas half mission conference, hence the 6 missionaries the night before, we waited outside for an hour in 35 degree weather for the car to come and pick us up, but they came an hour late, after we called them saying we’re still in Molina. We had a talent show and then went to a mall and sang carol in front of it. Then we went back and had the spiritual part of the meeting. A lot about developing Christ like attributes. It was really good.

Friday we met with Israel and Diego again. Then we had English class with them. After we finally were able to meet with an investigator named Pedro again. I asked him about where he has lived before and from that he went off for about 10 minutes about how he hates people from England. It was funny. After all that we able to have a good lesson with him about the importance of the Book of Mormon.

Saturday, we had our normal soccer game in the morning with the less actives. Afterwards we ate churros and chocolate. Then we went and ate with a member and his wife. The wife is going to South Carolina tomorrow so they wanted us over. Later that day we walked for 30 min to the building where the people we taught on the bus live. They weren’t home, but we knocked the 12 stories. We were able to talk with one person. That’s pretty good odds. I’m used to nobody wanting anything. But by the time we finished we went back to the couple and the wife was home, but we got her number, because she seems a lot more reliable than the man. Then we went 30 back down to meet with Manuel. The weird guy that shows up to church randomly. His wife Manuela talks way too much so it’s hard to do anything with him.

Sunday we had the children’s program in the ward. Diego participated even though he isn’t a member yet, and he bore his testimony, super good. I also got to give Israel the priesthood. It’s always super cool participating in ordinances. And then as the weekly argument in elders quorum, they spent a solid 20 discussing where Jesus was born Jerusalem or Bethlehem. Fun times. Then after church, the relief society went huge and gave the 4 of us missionaries a ton of chocolate for as a Christmas gift. That night we decided to pass by a random investigator and we actually got in. Crazy huh. 

 🇺🇸  Élder Pearce 🇪🇸

Lots of Teaching

Hey fam

Monday night we went over to Israel and his family and discussed about Diego (the 9 year old brother) getting baptized the 23rd like he told us on Sunday. It will probably be a little later than that but it’s good.

Tuesday we had district meeting and then went to Pacos. We ate some spaghetti, and a lot of it. Then we met with a guy named Jonathan and had a nice lesson with him. He’s super cool, a little shy, but it’s fine. And we finished the night going over to a less active newlywed and sharing the light the world message with them. It’s been super cold the first half of the week. And what’s even worse is that our piso is even colder than it is outside so we’re always covered up more inside than outside. Just like last year. Let’s go.

Wednesday morning we went and taught a Muslim/Evangelical couple. Very interesting lesson. Then we celebrated Elder Wilde’s birthday. We went and ate with an investigator for lunch. And met with Gladys again for English class. And then we had a small party/correlation with the ward mission leader with cake.

Thursday we went over to Jonathan’s again. And then we went to a member’s house to give a blessing because he was sick. I also started an in-depth study on faith and hope, because I don’t understand them. Clearly faith is hoping for things you can’t see but are true. But still.

Friday we traveled down to Murcia to have a district leader council and it got warm that day as well. 

Saturday we played soccer in morning again with the ysa. And then in the afternoon we tried to watch a stake conference broadcast, but the WiFi has been terrible for the past 2 weeks so it was rough, but we were unable to watch priesthood, but we did manage to get the adults session. 

Sunday we drove down to Cartagena for stake conference. We missed the exit to get off and got a little lost, and we were driving around the city trying to figure out where we were. We made it to the church and nobody was there. Turns out it was in a conference center that we actually drove right past when we were lost. The seventy talked about how it was necessary to take a time out and find a place to pray and receive guidance. After we went straight to Pacos to eat again and we ended the night meeting with Hilda and talking about the importance of reading, praying and going to church

Until next week

🇺🇸  Élder Pearce 🇪🇸

Fed Well

Hey fam

Whelp a new transfer. And it brings changes. But you already knew that.

So on Monday night and Tuesday we said goodbye to everyone we could. And we were quite busy. Tuesday was a bit rough because we ate a ton of food. For medio día we went to pacos again, and we decided we weren’t going home with leftovers so we ate a ton. A tortilla de patata for each of us and a plate and a half of paella with a big piece of his flan (it’s not good flan). Then we went to Viviana’s and Anthony’s to say goodbye and they gave us a big slice of cake. Then we went to Maria Daisy and she fed us a good amount of Colombian bread. And then we went to a noche de hogar with some members and they fed us a rosco (bread in doughnut shape but bigger) sandwich and some pizza. I decided to do a nice fast on Wednesday to give the stomach a break.

Wednesday was transfer day. I was in the bus station from about 10-4. It was a bit cold just sitting there all day. I saw a good amount of missionaries in transit. And I talked to a Bulgarian guy for about 30 min about stuff. He talked to missionaries back in Bulgaria. So there was that connection. Then elder Wilde came in. And we went and had English class in the church.

It’s finally beginning to get cold here in Spain. We’re probably dropping down to about 50 degree weather. So that makes walking the streets less fun because nobody’s out and it’s chilly. But that’s ok

On Thursday we took a member to a lesson and then after he invited us over to his house to warm up and fed us some good soup.

Friday we started the light the world initiative. We went down to Murcia and had a devotional about service and sharing your light and all that good stuff. One of the fun things of Spain is that nobody shows up on time. It was supposed to start at 7 and 1 person was there. At 7:30 we started with about 10 and then at around 8 we had a solid 30 members. Anyway, then we went with the members outside sang a carol and then went street contacting with the members to give out cards with glow stick bracelets. It was fun.

Saturday we went and played futbol with the ysa. And we had a good turnout. It’s a lot better playing with them than playing with a bunch of 11 year old and under Muslim kids. Then we went to the church and helped a member clean it. Then he fed us afterwards. All of our citas failed that night so we walked around. There was a giant light/firework show in the middle of the town to start off the Christmas season here. So that’s why I’m guessing everything failed.

Sunday was normal. At the beginning of church we maybe have 15 people and at the end we get up to 75, the normal. Also Israel’s brother came up to us at the end of sacrament meeting and told us he decided he wants to get baptized the 23 of December. Crazy stuff. We then went to Jose Benjamin’s house to introduce elder Wilde and then fed us some chicken and gave us 2 grocery bags filled with fruit and veggies. Now I don’t have to buy fruit. Let’s go.

Until next week

Elder pearce

Ps the length of this email is because I didn’t get distracted by other stuff like normal. And I did it early enough that I don’t want to do anything else yet like play games with the other missionaries and stuff like that. You’re welcome. 

🇺🇸  Élder Pearce 🇪🇸

Staying in Molina

November 27, 2017

Hey fam,

Transfers have come and gone. And I’m staying. Nothing surprising. Both Elder Cazier and Elder Moffat are out. And Elder Wilde is coming in.

But we went all out for thanksgiving this year. Full turkeys don’t really exist here so we bought 5 kilos of turkey breast, and I made my dope pumpkin pie. Good stuff. So we spent Thursday morning having district meeting and ate. And we ate good. And left overs.

On Sunday we were invited to a birthday party of our Ecuadorian investigator gang. We got driven to a park in the middle of nowhere and had some super good food. They love the missionaries, but they want nothing. We spent the rest of the night saying goodbye to members and ate more food there.

Tuesday we had a long day. We woke up at 5:30 to go take Israel to seminary. He loves it. And then that afternoon we went to meet with a less active girl. She’s been needing to meet with the bishop for a while to clear up some stuff and after a super good lesson with her we got her to meet with bishop. He couldn’t meet until 9:30 and she wanted to stay with us so we canceled everything and stayed with her until the appointment. We ate some pizza and just stayed with her to make sure she didn’t bounce before the meeting. But we didn’t end up making it home until 11:30, but we did get permission from president, even though it was a hassle because our phone was dead. But she’s doing really good now.

We spent most of the week calling futures, from a long time ago, making appointments, a lot of numbers that don’t exist. Getting failed by those appointments we set, getting hung up on. But of all of that we did end up meeting with one person. That’s like a .02% success rate. Good stuff though. She has a ton of faith in god.

Until next week

🇺🇸  Élder Pearce 🇪🇸

Baptism!

November 20, 2017

Hey fam

So, I know nobody reads these, so I’m just going to write it in the boring way so I can pack in the most info and we’ll see how it goes.

Monday night we went to Israel’s house and did another family home evening. We ended watching the Joseph Smith video and preparing him for this Saturday.

Tuesday Elder Cazier went off with a member and me and Elder Moffat walked the streets. We saw some interesting street names. Calle mujer trabajadora (Street worker woman) and calle donantes de sangre (street blood donors). Also we talked to Gladys awhile on the phone and while Moffat did that I got shut down about 20 times in the 10 min. And then we ended the night making some nice programs for the baptism.

Wednesday Elder Moffat went off with a member and me and Elder Cazier hit the streets again. Nothing new we got rejected a good amount, and not even in fun ways. But it don’t matter because Israel’s getting baptized. We finished up the rest of the lessons, and finished the night teaching English class to Gladys, but it always ends up being in Spanish and about the gospel. In other words we don’t do a good job teaching English. 

Thursday and Friday morning we went off to Murcia for some intercambios, I went off with Elder Krummenacher and Elder Anderson. As with most intercambios we walked the streets and contacted all the day long.

Friday night we went and had another family home evening, they forgot we were coming but we still killed it.

Saturday we got wrecked by some Muslim children again in soccer, after we went down to Murcia to participate in the baptism of Israel. It went super well, no mess ups, super strong spirit, and an overall great time. Afterwards his mom and the ward members came through and just went crazy with the refreshments. 4 cakes, a giant lemon flan, and it turned into a madhouse. Cups of soda flying everywhere. Fun stuff. But that wasn’t the highlight of the event.

Sunday comes around, the confirmation goes good, and as usual we don’t have an elder’s quorum lesson because the quorum goes off about some manual stuff. Funny stuff. After we went over to Paco Martínez to eat spaghetti, and we ended the night going over to a newly wed RM, they’re super cool and we just told mission stories.

That’s the week and until next time.

🇺🇸  Élder Pearce 🇪🇸

More Changes

November 13, 2017

Hey fam

So there has been quite a few changes this week.

So last Sunday, we found out that Elder Sarmiento was going home. His dad is really sick and his nonmember family wanted him home, so yeah. So we spent all week a little stressed because one of us was most likely leaving, and one of us wouldn’t have been here to see the fruits of our labors, but we got a call on Wednesday and we were told that we’re staying, and our good old friend Elder Moore (the office Elder Moore, and not the fellow Lindonite Elder Moore) is coming to replace elder Sarmiento. So our week has been kinda out of whack from that, but we had a really good week still

On Monday we went and had a family home evening with Israel’s family. We explained baptism and then played the game where you put a donut on string and eat it without hands. They loved it. And to make things better, they came to church. Well at least the family members that we taught came. 

Tuesday we taught a super cool Spanish guy named Pedro in a cafe. He also showed up to church, and we got a follow up appointment. Hopefully.

Wednesday we were finally able to convert one of our English class peeps to an investigator. Gladis. She’s really funny in church because she doesn’t have the Mormon culture. And whenever someone asks a rhetorical question in sacrament meeting she just yells out the answer.

Thursday we went down to Murcia to drop off Elder Sarmiento. We took advantage of being in a city and went and ate out, the place we planned on going didn’t open for another hour so we went on a contacting party until the place opened up. 

Friday we made cookies with Israel, Elder Moffat forgot to put in butter, which we went out of our way to go buy, so they failed.

Saturday we got demolished by some 12 year old Muslim kids in soccer. Then we went and got stuffed with paella by Paco Martinez. And we got stuck in an elevator for 30 min.

Sunday rolls by and the priesthood quorum does its thing and goes off about some silly manual 2 topic for 40 min as usual, (it was a good thing Pedro only stayed for the first 2 hours). After we went to a Bolivian family and made and ate pique macho.

🇺🇸  Élder Pearce 🇪🇸

Busy Week

November 6, 2017

Hey fam

This week was a bit busy.

On Tuesday we went to our investigator Juan’s house. He’s an antiguo (old) investigator who was about to get baptized but then had some doubts and stuff so we went and visited with him. Right when we got in he started arguing with and getting super heated. So after a bit we told him we couldn’t teach him because the spirit wasn’t here, then he got offended and told us to leave. But we called him after and now we’re all good

On Wednesday we took a road trip over to Alicante for a zone conference. We had the pleasure of being joined by Elder Bennassar. He talked to us about being diligent and anxious in the work. I also got my flu shot there. And I got to see Elder Stewart and Elder Bushman again. Fun stuff. Also president dropped an updated chapter 8 to preach my gospel. More or less it’s just a more simple version.

On Thursday it was Elder Sarmientos birthday. So we made some cake, but while we were making the frosting, Elder Moffat accidently put the butter in the cake batter. So we dumped a ton a sugar in and baked it up. It actually turned our pretty good. Super sugary. But we didn’t want to give it to him, so we made some brownies and went to a members house and had a fiesta.

Friday we went down to Murcia and had some interviews with president. We taught Israel and gifted him a triple combo. He really liked it. 

On Saturday we went down to Murcia for a zone meeting but it turned out to be only for the district leaders so me and Elder Cazier wander Murcia and contacted. Highlights: some college kids going crazy in the park with foam swords and shields and chain and balls. A 40 year old mom riding her son’s scooter. And getting rained on. That night we went to a less actives home and when we got in the living room, the dad and daughter skip out and we’re just waiting there for about 15 minutes alone. Then the mom comes in asks us to leave because she needs to go shopping.

Sunday we went on splits with the other elders. Me and Elder Sarmiento went out and walked the streets. I’m done writing and now we play soccer. 

🇺🇸  Élder Pearce 🇪🇸