Crazy Baptism Moment

Hey Everyone!

So crazy week this week here in Lleida! We had our Christmas Zone Conference which went really well! We have been running around for the past two weeks to make this Christmas Zone conference special for everyone, and it ended up going really well! The food was a hit! We served Half of a chicken, Patatas Bravas (Typical Spainish Food), A really nice salad, followed up by some amazing sugar cookies!  I think it is the best I have ever eaten in a Zone Conference! haha It will definately be one to remember! 

We also had a baptism here in Lleida this week! Im not sure if you guys remember me writing about Lina and Angela awhile back. Elder Weiss and I contacted Lina on the street a couple of weeks ago! She is the Lady that reminds me of Rosy ODonald! haha Well she got baptized this week! It was great! Elder Weiss and his companion are still teaching Angela, but she will soon follow! :)

Well anyway, The baptismal service was a little nuts! I have never seen so much chaos in such little time! Elder Wright and I showed up to the church about an hour before the baptism was supossed to start and eveyone was running around everywhere! haha So we continue to walk toward the font, and there is Elder Weiss with the bishop. It turns out that the big gate white gate in front of the font wouldnt open. The remotes bateries had died. The bishop was sitting in front of the gate with a box of like 100 keys trying every single one to see which one would open the gate! haha So I finally asked them why they didnt just simply go to a watch shop and change the little battaries. Well they thought it was a good idea so Elder Weiss took of with a member. So then I look through the gate and realize that some of the water had drained and they would probably want more in the font... So we needed to turn the water heater on so we could finish filling the font with hot water... Only problem, Elder Weiss had the key to the water heater room in his pocket... Yeah, but then all of the sudden the church phone rings... I answer the phone and it ends up being some man from Canada asking if this was the mormon church. I said yes and he continued to explain to me that he was a member who had come here for vacation and ended up having an alergic reaction to something he ate! He told me that he was ok and everything was fine, but in all of this he had lost his wallet and needed to buy a train ticket to Madrid so he could catch his flight home the next day! haha I itold him that we were in the middle of a baptism and asked if maybe he could wait, He told me that if he didnt catch the train that left in an hour and a half, it would be impossible to make his flight... Well, so me and the bishop took of to pick this guy up from the hospital and take him to the train station while the others stayed behinding waiting for the key to open the gate.... 

Well, I guess the end of the story is this... . Elder Weiss showed up with the remote and the gate was opened! Lina got baptized, a little later than expected, but baptized! The man caught his train and we havent heard from him again, so I am assuming that he got home AND he gave me all his information in Canada and said I could Canada whenever I wanted! Road trip anyone??? haha

So thats the highlight for the week! Other than that it was a pretty average week! We knocked a lot of doors and are finding people! We find lots of potentials, but they all are so busy with the holiday season, that they always tell us they dont have time... We are going to hang in there and keep working hard! We know the Lord will bless us for our efforts! 

Well I love you all tons! Hope you all have a great week before Christmas!! 

Duces! 

Elder Carrigan

Andorra!

Bon Nadal a tots! (Catalan for Merry Christmas Everyone) 

So the Christmas season has started here in Lleida! This past week we set everything up in piso and now we are ready! It sounds like you guys set up the stuff at home as well. I hope my Caga Tio made it into the mix somewhere in all the decorating! haha Who knows, maybe he will poop you out some Catalan suprises this year! So with the Christmas spirit also came the cold this week! Lleida, is freezing! I am telling you. Its not the temperature but its the humidity! It kills me! Its insaine! Here in Lleida, it is foggy everyday! Like a San Fransisco Fog! Its pretty nuts. All the members have been telling us that it is the Lleida Fog that tells them every year when winter really starts, because once it comes. No one ever knows when it will go away! It is a pretty thick fog as well! Kinda creeping! As we were walking to church yesterday we litlerly were walking though a cloud! haha I will take some pics and send them next week! 

This week I did have the chance to go up to Andorra for an intercambio! It was actually a city just outside of Andorra called La Seu. It is a beautiful place! (See Pic) It was really green, BUT for the fist time in a year and a half, I saw snow!!!!!!! It was awesome! It was up in the mountains, but hey I saw it! :) The bus ride up there reminded me so much of home, up and down through the canyons. We passed by a beautiful lake as well! Iwas incredible, but freezing! haha I froze for 3 days up there. The Elders Heaters are broken so they have just these tiny radiators that do nothing! haha I froze for 3 days! haha I came home and drank one of those hot chocolates you sent me and then jumped in a hot shower! Best shower ever! haha But anyway, La Seu reminded me a lot of Park City. Just a small but beautiful city. The thought came to me while I was there, wow, the only thing I am missing is my snowboard! Would have been great but we had work to do! :)

Anyway, the work is going well here in Lleida. This week kinda threw us for a swing because it was the first real cold week. There werent as many people in the streets and so we have started knocking lots of doors again. knocking always brings such fun experiences, but is also a different type of missionary work, I feel. It takes jsut a bit of adjustung and a different mindset. I am sure we will be knocking lots of doors these next couple of weeks! :) Any suggestions? 

We have lots of potential investigators, like always, we are still just continuing the constant prosess of weeding out those who are going to progress and thore who arent. The hard part is now getting them to church due to the cold! Bottom linem the elect will come no matter how far or how cold. We are also working a lot with menos activo families. We are hoping that with the spirit of Christmas in the air we can use this to our advantage and get a couple families back into church. We are excited!

Well thats about it! Until next week!

Elder Carrigan

I was able to steal a pic from my comp of the fog! This is a better day…

Christmas Season!

Hey Everyone

So I dont have much time so this week I attached the letter I wrote to President Pace... Enjoy! haha

All is well here in Lleida! Elder Write and I are enjoying our time together. Unfortunately this week was a little tough because we both caught the 24 hour flu that is going around the mission, but other than that it was great! We are working hard to find new investigators by using the area book a lot. I have found to love the area book! It always gives me a purpose in where I am going! I never need to say, where are we going to go from 5 to 7. We simply find the registros that are close to the area and let the area book guide us,always contacting along the way. When we arrive to the building, we look for the old investigator. If they dont live there anymore we simply knock the whole building! 

We are having a great time together and we have seen many miracles! This week we placed some fetchas and found some great potential investigators! 

We placed a fetcha with Chidi for this coming week. He is from Nigeria. Unfortinately, I dont feel like he is really reading the Book of Mormon so we will see how it goes. We still need to teach the commandmetns and resolve some doubts he has, but I know that if he doesnt get baptized this week, it will be in the near future! 

We also set a fetcha with Berta. She is from Bolivia. She showed up to church with a friend (another iinvestigator) and we are beginning to teach her now! She has a daughter that is 7 years old that turns 8 on the 21st of December. Just so turns out that she also has her baptismal date on the 21st of december. We are excited to teach them both. 

Overall, we are working hard and we know that as we continue to work hard through this holiday season, we will see many miracles! 

Love you all

Elder

Carrigan

Transfer Week

Hey guys!

 

So this week was transfer week and guess what... I was transfered.... Yeap! Im gone! I will be headed to Lleida! haha The transfer was kind of interesting, but yes I did get transfered... Kinda... I am still here in Lleida but I am working in a different part of the city with another companion... I am still the ZL but I am also the DL... Its kinda weird! haha I guess when all the new missioanries came president put a bunch of missionaries everywhere and it kinda messed things up. There are so many missionaries trainning now that some have to take on more responsibilities. There are even some missionaries that are Zls, DLs, and Trainning. Lots of work! haha

 

So my new companions name is Elder Wright. He is from West Virginia. He is a pretty sweet kid. We both arrived here to Lleida together and have been living together for 6 weeks already and we get along well so I cant really complain. Elder Weiss will be staying in the old area and will be recieving a new companion. We had a good time together and worked really hard. The area is on a real uprise right now so it was hard to say goodbye. the good news is that if all the investigators still keep progressing, luckily I will still be here in Lleida to see them be baptized.

 

Lots of our/their investigators are progressing well. Lina and Angela continue to progress really well. They came to church on Sunday and they both absolutely loved it! Lina at one point did get a little tripped out at one point though. During the sacrament she leaned over to me and said are they baptizing someone right now??? I said what?? She thought that under the table cloth there was a person and while the 2 priests were preparing the bread, they were preparing this "person" for baptism or some sort of sacrifice... haha At the end we both just ended up laughing! Honestly, she is the greatest lady in the world! We are always just laughing together! I am bummed I wont be able to continue teaching them both!

 

On Saturday we had a culture night here in Lleida, like we did in Barcelona. It went really well! The members really enjoyed it and they also brought some friends! In the US table, I made like 6 liters of Koolaid. It was the hit of the party! haha It was a fun night! I always love trying all the food from all over the world. All of it is SO good! I will definately need to travel some more when I get home!

 

Well anyway... So thats about it for the week! All is well here in Lleida!

 

Love you all lots! Talk to you all in less than 30 days! :)

 

Elder Carrigan

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Hey Everyone!

 

Lots of rain here in Lleida this week! Winter is starting and its freezing outside! haha

 

This week was a good week! Lleida had stake conference this week and we saw lots of miracles and... WE ARE FINDING!!!!

 

I am telling you that the blessings come when we stay out every night and work to the very end. The other night we were out working and we had finish our lessons for the day and it was just time to go to the street and find some new people to teach, so we began to contact and we were litterally talking with everyone! Well we had been contacting for quite sometime and it was getting late, so we started heading back to piso. I will be honest, we were tired, wet, and cold and we hadnt seen too much success with our contacts, but we knew that we could find somebody! Anybody! Well, on our way back, we made a couple more contacts, but I kid you not. The last 5 contacts of the night not only said yes to listen to us another day, but they all invited us to their homes! Within the next couple days! It was incredible! We have visited with some of them and have also found family members that live with them! We placed fechas and they are now preparing to be baptized! we will be visiting the rest within the next couple days! It is amazing to see the miracles that come from the Lord when we strive to be diligent and obedient!

 

Right now some of the people we are teaching are

 

Eva... She is an older spanish lady that has 12 cats that live with her! :) haha She is incredible!

 

Lina and Angela... They are from Columbia! Lina is Angelas mom. We found Lina that night. We had a lesson last night and invited them to be baptized! They both said of course! Still a long path a head but they are great! Lina reminds me of Rossy ODonald! She is crazy hiper! haha Its great!

 

Angi and her mom... Another contact from that night. They are from Peru. Angi accepted a fecha. We are still working with the mom. Long road ahead but they are progressing well!

 

Josefina, Victor and family... They are a family from Camaroon! They were a reference from a member! They are really good! Victor has like some crazy thought about Revelations and the bible but we are working with them little by little!

 

Paul Brown... My boy from Ghana! Unfortunately he didnt come to church this week so we will have to replace the fecha this week, but we gave him a big BoM this week with giant letters so now he can start to read it! :)

 

It has been amazing to see the work boom this week!

 

This week Lleida also had zone conferece. We had to go to Sabadell for the conference. It is a city close to Barc. A 70 came and talked to us. He is from northern Spain. He cracked down hard on missionary work, and for part of his lesson he had us teach the Restoration to the whole stake, I have never been so nervous to teach the Restoration in my life! haha I dont know why I always get so nervous when I am up there!  At least I didnt call anyone a girl over the pulpit this time! haha After the conference we slept in the mission office and Hermana Pace made us Breakfast in the morning. It was the best breakfast I have eaten in a long time! haha Man I miss moms cooking! ;)

 

Well thats about it! Hope you all have a good week! LOVE YOU ALL!

 

James

 

1459 Me and Elder Weiss... Just a little wet

1456 The Day in the life of a missionary... haha Dont worry! Im happy! :) haha

Zarragoza!

Hey Fam!

So this week was great! I was able to go on an intercambio with Elder Wiscombe in his area. I think I forgot to tell you that both Elder Wiscombe and Elder Garcia (The Elders I trained) are in our Zone. They are our District Leaders! haha It ahs been fun! So anyway, this week I went on an intercambio with Elder Wiscombe is Zaragoza! We had a great time and he is doing WORK! This past weekend he baptized a family of 4 and has 2 more baptismal dates for the end of this month! He is such a stud, I am really proud of him! He is working in a city named Zaragoza, which is a city that is outside of Catalunya. It was my first time out of Catalunya in a year and three months! haha Crazy! I found out that I have the habit of speaking some Catalan in my contacts because everytime I had to say goodbye to someone I said Adeu and they would always get mad at me! haha Such an intesting thing! It was good to be able to work with Elder Wiscombe again! We had a good time. They have an investigator that is trying to quit smoking and President Pace told us an interesting story of how some missionaries burned a package of cigarettes infront of the investigator and after they we done burning all that was left was ash and a bunch of tar. We thought that it could work. Im not going to say that President gave us permission, but I am also not going to say that he told us we couldnt do it... haha we tried burning a pack, but it didnt really work and it just made us smell like we had smoked a pack of cigarretes! haha Anyway, it was a story for the books!

But this past week we found a man named Paul Brown from Ghana! He is the man! We had a lesson with him and he accepted to be baptized on the 30th! He has talked to the missionaries before in Madrid. He told us that he has been here for awhile and he started wanting to go back to church. Well, the moment he started thinking about how he wanted to go back to church, we contacted him. Miracles! I love this work! The Lord truly does guide our footsteps! We are seeing him again this next week and I am really excited for him! He is super humble and super prepared!

Other than that, it continued to be a pretty average week. We are still cleaning out hthe area book and we are startign to work more with the ward list to see if we can find some less active part member families. Lleida has turned out to be a little harder of area than I thought it was going to be, but we are still ont he rise! We just need to make Lleida the area that we want it to be. As soon as we put our heads down, Satan won and we lost. We are working hard and I think my feet are going to fall off! haha Naw just joking!

Dad, I got the small package you sent me with my card and the treats! It got here really fast! I wasnt expecting it that fast! Thank you so much! I dont know if it is activated or if you were waitign for me to tell you I got it. If you were waiting, well you can activate it now. :) The big sales are coming up and its the last sale that I will be in Spain for. I plan to buy myself a couple of Christmas and Birthday gifts! ;) All I can tell you all is that I will be looking fly! haha

Well I love you all lots! Hope you have a good week!

Love James

Looking, Looking, Looking

Hey Fam,

Hope it has been a good week at home... Sounds like it was pretty exciting with Jonnys baptism! Congrats Buddy! 

Here in Lleida it was a pretty average week as well. We continue to look, look, and look! We cleaned out our area book, unfortunately it didnt bring too many results... We found some investigators but they are still unable to progress due to some problems or they really just dont keep commitments. We also continue to talk to as many peopel as we can! This week we were able to fast as a mission, I know that with our continued effort and with the help from this fast, the Lord will bless us! Anyway, we talked to the bishop and ward mission leader this week and we are going to start cleaning up the ward list. We did it while I was in Barcelona and we found lots of less actives that wanted to come back to church and also many part member families. We are hoping that though this we will be able to find some people to teach. Lleida is a great ward and we are also trying hard to visit as many members as we can and win the confidence in us.

We are finding lots of people that tell us that we can come by and teach them, but whenever we pass by, they arent there... Weird right? Usually this never happens! haha On Saturday we set up visits with 7 new investigators! Friday night I called all of them and confirmed the visits! We were pumped! Come Saturday... Only one showed up to the visit... haha Usually after a day like that we would just go get some icecream or something to eat, but the worst thing was that it was FAST SUNDAY!!!! haha Blessings... Thats all I have to say! haha

But hey the work moves forward! :) 

This week was also filled with some great experiences! haha On Saturday the one visit we did have was with a lady here from Spain. We taught here in here store (I hate store visits) Well anyway her store is kinda in a sketchy part of town! haha We were teaching her and then all of a sudden a man, totally high, walked into her store and just asks Fumáis puros? haha Or in english, do you guys smoke weed? haha We all just started laughing! He then tried to sell it to us like 6 times! He had like a tiny bag and he kept saying come on! Its cheap! Its cheap! haha So I can proudly say that the first time anyone has tried to sell me weed was on my mission! haha There is a first for everything right? haha Well anyway... We set up another lesson with the lady, but I think next time we will be teachign her in the church! haha Maybe a better setting! :) 

But thats the story for the week! haha 

Well I love all you guys! Talk to you guys next week! 

James

P.S. Dad Happy Birthday this week! Im pretty sure its the 8th haha! If not well then happy early brithday! Hope its a good one! :) 

Lleida

Hey guys!

This week was great! We just got back from Barcelona! We had a meeting with President Pace today. We headed out Sunday night, stayed the night in the mission office, had the meeting this morning and came back this afternoon. Pretty crazy! Short trip, but the meetings are always incredible! Such an incredible spirit! 

This week was pretty much the same as the last. we continue to look for investigators. The good news is that we are finding! The bad news is that the people we are finding are also easily falling of the face of the earth or cant come to church for some reason. Just the normal difficulties of missionary work. We are working hard and we know the Lord will bless us and that is what really matters! 

To be honest I cant really remember what happened haha it all blends together so easily... What I can tell you is that I am happy! :) Sometimes I dont really understand why because I am always tired, sweaty, I walk like 1000 miles a day, and I never stop hearing peoples problems...  but I am the happiest I have ever been! haha its strange but true! The mission in the greatest thing in the world! 

Well, I love you all lots and I am so greatful that I have such a wonderful and beautiful family You guys are amazing! 

Loves! 

James

Lleida!!!!!

Hey Everyone!

What a week here in Lleida! Going into the week I was a little worried that it was goign to be a long week, but this week has been incredible! Elder Weiss and I had a blast together and we have already seen SO many miracles!

So basically after writing you guys last week we headed back to piso and actually looked at everything for tyhe first time. Well, I think Elder Rios might have gone home a little trunky haha. There wasnt much... In fact, there wasnt anything haha! We found an area book that hadnt been opened for about 6 months, a phone that had a ton of numbers but we had no idea who anyone was so, we just went to work! We organized the area book into street names and just startedpassing by and calling EVERYONE! Well because of it we have found some really great people!

We found a couple from the Dominican Republic. Their names are Jeffery and Jhosmary. They also have a little one year old daughter, Ashley. They are really great! They arent married, BUT they dont live together! Score! haha They talked to the missionaries about 6 months ago. We asked them why they lost contact with the missionaries and they said we dont know, they just stopped coming... We talked to them about The Book of Mormon and Baptism. We put a baptismal date with them for the 9th of November. Unfortunately they didnt come to church this week, but that only means that we have some work to do! :)

We also found a lady named Dali and her son Ruddy. They are incredible! Dali has been to church a lot and she loves it! She said that the only reason that she isnt baptized is because she is working on Sundays and cant come to church, but she wants her son to start coming to church so that he can learn the truth and learn good values in his life. We placed a baptismal date with them as well!

We also found a lot of potential investigators that said that we could come back this next week and teach them. We are excited for this week to see how all of these potential investigators play out. We are praying that we can get some people to church and hopefully we can see a baptism here in Lleida really fast!

Elder Weiss is a great companion! The thing that I have enjoyed the most so far is that we think almost the same. We both know what needs to be done and it gets done faster! I have turned to him like 20 times this week and have been like hey we need to do this and he just turns to me and says, I already did it! Its been incredible! haha We have been passing by these people but also talking to everyone! I think we have already talked to about half of Lleida in the first week here! haha Bottom line, we are having a lot of fun and we are working really hard! I couldnt be any happier!

The good news is that the piso we live in is amazing! haha Its a two floor piso that has like huge deck! Its incredible! Probably the nicest piso I have ever lived in! haha We had to clean it up a bit because Elder Rios is kinda a messy guy, but with a little bit of cleaning, its shining again! The only bummer part in that our fridge is broken right now! haha I have been eating a lot of PBJ haha! 

Well I love you guys tons! Looks like it was a fun week at home! Glad everything is going well at home! Makes me happy! Well, thats it for this week! Got another week of hard work ahead of me!

Love you Guys! 

Elder J. Carrigan

Adeu Barcelona. Benvenguts a Lleida!

Hey Fam! 

Knowltons! Congrats on the baby! She is a cutie!

Well...transfer week this week. I got hit! I thought there was a good chance of me staying one more in Barcelona and finishing trainning with Elder Seegmiller, but I got hit! And so my time here in Barcelona has come to an end... Its been really fun serving here and I have really come to love all the people here in Barrio 1. It was also tough saying goodbye to some awesome investigators we have found in the past two weeks. This week we set three solid baptismal dates with these investigators and I know they will all be baptized. Its hard to see the hard work slip away just like that, but I know that really the success isnt seeing me in white, but seeing them in white. Ans so I am off to Lleida. 

Lleida is a pretty big city that is still here in Catalunya. It is a little south of Barcelona. Basically you head down south to Tarragona, hang a right to go to Madrid, and boom you hit Lleida. I have been there a couple of times for some conferences and interviews. All I remember is that the city smelt kinda weird and it was really cold. Funny thing is, thats all I have been hearing from everyone as well! haha everyone asks me where I am going, waits for a reply, and then they say, Good Luck, Its really cold and smells funky! haha I am sure it will be great! 

My new companion is Elder Weiss. He is from Switzerland. He kinda talks with a funny accent! haha It reminds me of the accent the three little pigs have on Shrek! haha Not that bad, but still! He is a little older than me in the mission. He goes home one transfer before and is a great missionary! I am really excited to be working with him! We will be white washing the area so I am sure the first 2 to 3 weeks will be a little rough but I am sure we will see LOTS of miracles! The funny thing is Elder Rios just finished working there... No wonder we are white washing... I now have to go clean up the mess he made! haha I actually talked to him one last time today and he said it is a really great area! Lots of Africans and lots of Dominicans! Ya Tu sabes Papi! Dad you may need to send me a list of good dominican baseball players! And Ty maybe give me some tips on how to win the hearts of a Dominican. I already have some sayings that you taught me, but I know you can fill me in on some more! 

Well my last week here in Barcelona went really well! Like I said we worked a ton and landed some great fetchas. I told you about Betsy last week, well she continues to progress towards her baptism on the 26th. The cool thing is this past week she intruduced us to her friend Marta. Marta is froom the northern part of Spain. Well, she was super interested too and we invited her as well to be baptized on the 26th! She is really excited! The amazing thing is, her boyfriend, is a member that lives in Lleida! Small world! haha She is amazing and progressing really well! They both came to church and to a baptism as well as to an activity we had this past week! Its has been amazing to see how prepared they are! They both know a bunch of members from the church and they just fit right in! If only they were invited to church by their friends, they could have been baptized for ever ago! 

Like I said, we had an amazing activity this past week! It was a platos típicos activity! The greatsest thing in the world! haha All the members brought food from all over the world, and just enjoyed the time together. We had about 120 people there and we counted about 40 investigators! It was incredible! Like I said, the missionaries here have lots of work ahead of them! It was amazing the response we got out of the members! I truly love every single one of them! They are definitely my family here in Barcelona!  

The great news is I did end here in Barcelona with a Baptism this past weekend. Here name is Adriana. I contacted her and here mom in the street one day, they ended up living in the area of the hermanas of the other ward, but it was a nice suprise when the hermanas called me and told me that she wanted me to baptize her! The Hermamas are still working with the rest of the family! 

Well I love you all tons and I hope you all have a great week! 

Love Elder Carrigan

Conference Weekend!

Hey Everyone!

 

How can I even start this letter! Conference was amazing!!!! I was able to watch all 5 sessions, but Im not able to tell you what talks I liked more... There was so much!  am definitely excited to go back and study all the talks that were given! But, there is one thing that I am positive of I found a common pattern in the talks. It seems that they alll talked about anchoring our testimonies and staying strong to our covenants we have made! I also found it amazing at the very beggining of Conference on Saturday morning, Elder Hales, I think, said that we have blessed that we have not been persecuted as a church like the church was in the past. He said that this blessing will surely end son as the worlds standards move farther and farther from the church´s standards. found it super interesting. I truly believe that we really are in the last days! Like all of the leaders taught us this weekend. We need to find ourselves daily, buried in the scriptures! e need to be prepared!

 

Mom, as for those guys on the plane... Open your mouth next time. :) I know its hard sometimes, but honestly, those moments are the best time to share and bare testimony and I am positive that anyone will feel the spirit as you bear it to them. I made a long time ago on my misión that any time I Heard anyone call us Jehovahs Witnesses or anytime someone said something bad about us as we walked passed, I automatically talk to them! It is amazing how may people change. Like the apostles taught us this week, its no longer just the missionaries responsibility to share the góspel. It is all ours. Every member. Those two men dont know the truth only because they dont know what we believe.

 

I read a story this past week that changed the way I looked at things. I wish I would have read it early in my misión. It was about an investigator who reciieved the first lesson. (The restoration) After the lesson w sat back in his chair with a kind of blown away look on his face and asked the missionaries one question He asked, Do you guys really believe all that you just taught me? Do you really believe that God and Jesús Christ came down to earth to restore their church? Do you really believe that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God? Do you really believe that the same power that Jesús Christ had is on the earth? The senior companion then reponded. Yes, We know its true! The investgator then responded! Wow! That is incredible! Why in the world are you not running door to door, person to person and sharing it with everyone? It hit me hard, and ever since then I have been trying to talk to as many people as I can a day! Many people arent members of the church only because they still dont know the amazing message we have! We need to share it wth everyone! We always need to be looking for oportunities in which we can share the góspel.

 

Well this week was great! I have found that the week before General Conference always brings miracles! We found two amazing people this week who are solid! Both came to conference! The first mansname is Seli. He is from Camaroon and he has an amazing story! Only problem... He only speaks french! No Spanish... No English! haha We have a member in the ward who translates for us in our lessons. But he has been in Spain for 1 month. He told us his lifes story and it is pretty incredible. Bottom line is before he got here to Spain he didnt believe in God. In his journey here, some things happened and he came to know that Go does exist and he feels that he arrived here to Spain for a certin reason. When he arrived he prayed to God and promised him that he would do everything posible to become closer to God if only God would show him the way.... He started Reading the Bible and praying, and then two weeks later.... 2 Mormon missionaries contacted him on a park bench! I was lucky enough tobe one of those missionaries! :) We are going to start teaching him the lessons, In French! Wish me luck! haha

 

The next lady we met this week is named Bitzabet. She is from Peru! When she was younger she atended church here in Spain with a friend, but then things happened, she traveled back to Peru and stopped going to church. Well, Elder Thorpe and I went on an intercambio this week and we contacted her. She told us that she has always wanted tcome back to our church because she remembers that she always felt something different in church, but never knew how to start coming again... Well, this week she was able to come to church and feel the spirit once again! :) We are meeting with her again this next week!

 

At General Conference I also had 2 great experiences!

 

A man came up to me after a sesión of conference, I had no idea who he was, and said Hey thank you so much for inviting me to this conference. I will be honest, at first I had no plans of coming, but something told me I should come so I came. I absolutely loved it! It was incredible! I guess during this week I talked to him in the Metro and I gave him a card. ell he came, he loved it, and nw is starting to take the lessons from the isters in the 3rd ward!

 

There is an investigator that the Elderes from the 3rd ward are teaching right now. I asked them how they found him and they said that it was a miracle! He had just showed up to church. So I went ans asked him what motivated him to come. He told me the following story. He said, You! I asked him what? How? Did we talk before? He told me that we never talked, but one night he was super stressed because he ealized that his church wasnt on the right path that would take him back to God. He didnt know where to turn. He prayed to God and asked him to show him what to do. Just then Elder Thorpe and I walked by... He said to himself. Those two guys have God in their lives! I need to go to their church. As Elder Thorpe and I walked away he turned to some guy walking on the Street and asked. Those two kids, who are they? The man responded, The Mormons. He looked it up onine. Sent a reference to himself to the church. The next day he was sitting in conference in a shirt and tie. He is getting baptized in 2 weeks!

 

People are prepared to recieve the góspel! Im possitive! I feel so blessed to be here now and to really be an instrument of God. Inboth these situations I didnt even do anything. The Lord truly pepared both of these people to recieve the góspel. All I did was my best! I know this work is Gods work adn its incredible to be apart of it! I hope that all of you too can find small simple ways to share the góspel with those who need it. The feeling you feel when you realizr that you have brought one of the Lord´s children to his church is the best feeling in the world.

 

Mom and Dad, dont try to cut me down to 6 months yet... I stll have 7. :) Dont get trunky on me! Thank you both for the advice you gave me tis week! It was exactly what I needed to hear! I am gla the family is doing well! It sounds like my prayers are being answered! :) Love you all tons! 

 

Remember always!

The Church is true, and God loves you!

 

Elder Carrigan 

Bishop Brewster

Hey Everyone!

So I am sad to hear that Bishop Brewster passed away.... That is a huge bummer! Such a great guy! He will truly be missed! Please give the brewster family a huge hug from me! :) I can honestly say that Bishop Brewster helped me become the man I am today! As I was sitting here thinking about him and some memories I had, all I could think about is he is the most patient man I have ever met in my life! Anyone who can deal with that many scouts for that many scout trips is my hero! haha Love you Brewster Family! 

This passed week was a good week! We are working really close with the bishopric here in trying to find the menos activos in the ward. The ward list here is SUPER long and the bishop doesnt know like half the members on the list.Because of this, we spent the week passing by a ton of houses! We found a good mix of everything! One reason I love the mission is because you honestly have no idea what you are going to experience everyday! You always plan, but at the end of the day, your plans always go differently and the things you see and hear are incredible! haha We passed by people who didnt want anything to do with us, people who had died, people who havent lived in there for over 30 years, everything! haha It was a mess! we also found a couple people who let us in and we were able to talk to them! 

We found one family from Gautamala that is super great! Its a mom and here 3 daughters. They are all really great! The mom has been inactive for some time now, but the 3 girls are starting to come to church activities and to church! We had the whole family in the Family Home Evening we do in the church each week! It was a great sight! So we have some work to do!

We also found a really great lady from Bolivia named Ana. We knocked on her door and got to know here a little bit but she would let us in. So we just talked with her and got to know here a little bit. We set up a visit to come and visit her later in the week and she kind of hesantly agreed. As we were ending I had the feeling to leave her with a prayer right there in the doorway. I said a reallly basic sincere pray and prayed for her and her needs. As we ended, we all opened our eyes and she was bawling. It was a touching moment. I asked her if she was ok adn she just started apologizing beacuase she felt bad because she couldnt let us in. Its was amazing how the Holy Ghost touched her heart during the prayer!  I love prayer! we had a lesson with here yesterday, and she is great! She has some problems, but she is great and has a desire to come back to church! we can help her with that! 

Other than that, we are looking for new investigators like always! Talking to lots of people! Tomorrow we have a visit with a family from the Manilla, Phillapines! Maybe Julie and Branigan can give me some advice on what I can talk about! Any food I should have them make us or should I stear clear from that? haha Help me out a bit! What do the people usually love to do or maybe a funny saying in their language! haha

Well, all is well! Lots of love! 

Elder Carrigan

P.S. Mom, last week you asked us what kind of food I eat and I forgot to answer. We eat alot with the members and they normally make tipical food from their counties (Which is amazing!) I honestly can say I have traveled south america´s food! haha and when we eat at home, I usually make something easy. a sandwich, pasta, easy stuff. To sum it up. I eat like a college student! haha Loves! 

P.S:S Loved the school pictures! We have such a good looking family! What are we going to do for our Christmas card photo? If im not in it.... There will be some major problems!! haha 

Great Week!

Hey guys! 

Alright I am going to apoligize now, this letter is going to be a short one! I have been doing a ton of stuff with all the pictures I have because I havent touched them in 3 months. I had to pass them all to pin drives so I can send them home to you guys! Hopefully I can get that done soon! 

Well Everything is great here in Barcelona! Elder Seegmiller and I are working really hard to find new investigators! Maybe thats why he is always sleeping! haha He is a good kid and just a new missionary! It has kind of been hard for me to slow down and actually train him. I had gotten used to working with someone who already knows what they are doing that my patience has definately been tried this past week. It has been a stuggle to stop and explain what we are doing, where we are going, why I we are doing this and that, where we are goign next... ETC. but it has been good for me as well. 

Like I said, the biggest thing we are doing is looking for new investigators... We are stuggling to find people who live in our area. We have been talking to a ton of people but all of them live somewhere else in Barcelona! I know the Lord will bless us! We have started going with the basics again and we are trying to find some less active members that live in our area. The bishop is really excited to have more missionaries here in the ward and we are creating a"plan of action" about how we are goign to work effectively! 

Nick Well done on the homecoming date! She looked like a cute girl! 

Ryan, Way to take one to the throat! Thats my boy! I would love a picture of that nice bruise you have! 

Annie, I heard about your goal! Nice job! Nad against your rivals! Thats awesome! Keep up the good work! 

Other than that I am still lovign Barcelona! Im not sure I have much more to tell you all! I love you all tons and I am glad you are all having a good time at home! 

Sorry its short! Talk to you all next week! Loves

Elder Carrigan

A New Son is Born!

Hey

Sounds like a great week at home! I found out this week that I am the worst older brother ever because I forgot to wish my brother happy birthday! I still cant believe he got an Iphone... Such crap! haha I feel like as soon as I left for my mission, everyone at home started recieving sweet stuff! Wow I am sure everything has changed at home! Today I hit 8 months left in the mission... ARE YOU KIDDING! It goes by way to fast. Got to enjoy what I have left! 

So this week was nuts! Like I told you guys, 45 new missionaries arrived this week to the mission and it has been absolutely crazy! I havent been in my area like all week and it was tough but now everything is settled down! 

So I do have a new trainee, or son! His name is Elder Seegmiller! He is from Troy, Idaho. Never heard of it! He tells me its in the North of Idaho! He comes from a large family of 8 kids and is the youngest... Classic Idaho mormon family! haha His dad is some sort of scientist and he wants to be one too! He is a really great kid who is excited to be here and is ready to work hard! 

Unfortunately Benito wasnt baptized this week.... He has dropped smoking a lot. he has gone from a pack a day to about 2 or 3 a day which is good, but unfortunately its not stopping. We are still meeting with him and hopefully we can get him to stop completely! The only problem is that h eis going to Brazil soon for a wedding and will be gone for a couple of weeks... So we will have to wait for him to get back for him to be able to be baptized...

After that, investigators are running dry. We are headed back to stage one and we are looking, looking, looking! We recently dropped some investigators that werent progressing and then I actually just barely recieved a text from an investigator saying that she doesnt want to meet with us anymore... Lovely! haha But Im not worried! There are prepared people everywhere! :) 

Claudio recieved the Priesthood this weke! So that is great news! Only problem is that he found work and now wont be able to come to church for about a month.... Bummer! But he did say that he is going to come to all of the activities and everything during the week, plus we will still visit him during the week as well! All is well here in Barcelona! Still loving life! 

Love you all and I am happy you guys are doing well! 

Loves! 

Elder Carrigan

Traslados

Hey Guys!

So I guess I will let you guys in on transfers! I am super excited! I will be staying here in Barcelona for another transfer! :) Elder Feller and I will not be companions, but we will be living together. Like we thought, President split us up and both of us will be trainning! IT should be really fun! I am going to stay in our area and Elder Feller is going to go take over a part of the sisters area in the upper half of Barcelona. It should be pretty exciting! We are trying to get the members excited as well! With so many missionaries in the field, we could see a lot of amazing things happen, but only if the members help us in the work! We had a meeting with the bishop yesterday, and next week we are going to sit down with the bishopric what we are going to do to be the most productive has possible! We are going to see miracles! 

This next week is going to be nuts though! Becasue we live here in Barcelona we have to help all these new missionaries with residency and all this stuff! It is going to be a disaster! haha 45 new missionaries will arrive in Barc Sants (The Train Station) tomorrow at 9 O´clock in the morning! The will all come up the esscalator together and Im not going to lie, it is going to be an epic sight! haha I am glad I get to be apart of it! Then after we have to take them everywhere and do a bunch of paper work for them and all that stuff... That part im not excited for! haha It will be an interstign week for us! Thursday afternoon I will recieve my new companion and then get back to work! It should be great! 

So as for this week... A lot caught us by suprise! On Thursday morning we received a call from a member of the church and he told us that some one had broken into the old church building and had made a mess. They needed help cleaning up, so we went as soon as we could.. On the outside of the church, everything looked normal, but as soon as you took one step into the church, it look as if a hurricane had hit the place! It was destroyed! It made me sick! It wasnt like someone had broken in, stole some stuff, and left. No, people had broken in like 3 months ago and they had been living there for who knows how long and in the meantime just destroyed the place! It was terrible! There were beer cans everywhere, paint all over the walls, and the whole place smelled terrible! They had taken one of the fire hoses and just wet the whole place down! The basement was flooded and it was just an awfull sene. Something I deffinately didnt think I would ever see in a chruch... So we spent the morning cleaning the place up, but I cant say I did much... There was way too much to clean up. I think they just ended up hiring a professional cleaning team to just go in there and take out everything! It was nuts!

This week we dropped some investigators and hopefully in the future they will accept the gospel. Its always hard to let peopel go, but if they dont do their part, we cant do anything for them... The good news though is that Benito is going to be baptized this next week! At the end of the month he is goign to Benito for a couple weeks and he wants to get baptized before then. So, he is lettign smoking go this week, and he will be baptized on Saturday! Please pray that he can stop smoking!! He needs the prayers! Dad, thanks for the program. We are using it! :) We think everything will go well. We know it will be hard for him, but everything is possible with the Lords help! 

Well thats about it for this week! I still love the mission! haha Nothing better! O I do have one request! I need a special marking pencil... I know it sounds lame, but they are the best adn I cant find one anyone here! You can buy them in the MTC store and i am sure in deseret book as well. It is just a marking pencil wih tons of colors. Ty knows what I am talking about... Ask him. 

Well, sounds like all is well at home! Love you all lots! Dad, dont dream about me too much! Dont worry, the Mediteranian Sea´s waves arent that crazy and President will never find out! Im way too sneaky! haha 

Love you all lots! 

E. Carrigan

Same Old, Same Old

Hey Everyone!

It was a bitter sweet week this week! Elder Feller and I have decided that we are going to have to start dropping some investigators. At least for now... Some of the people just arent progressing! The worst part of missionary work! Like I have said before, I hate free agency! haha The worst thing about a visit is when you go and you ask them if they have read and they say no... It kills me! Or they say yes, yesI promise I will be in church! Sunday roles around... They dont come! It kills me! haha but hey, thats the mission, life goes on! The great thing about Barcelona is that there are always new people who show up at church! :) 

 

We had a couple new people show up this week and we set up some visits with them and they both seem to be pretty good! Its actually kinda funny, both are named Gloria and they both have been to church at least 3 times. We have planned to meet with both of them this week we will see how it goes!

We are seeign a huge miracle right now with a man named Benito! He is a spanish man that contacted us and he is incredible! Unfortunately he has a problem with smoking. We taught him about the Word of Wisdom this week, and he asked us if he had to give up smoking before he could get baptized and we told him that yes he needed to stop before he could be baptised. He replied, Alright Lets do it! It will be tough because I have smoked my whole life, but I am going to do it! It was amazing! We are going to meet with him tomorrow to make a plan of how he can quit smoking. We have some recent converts that had problems before help us out! It will be great! I know he can do it! 

Nancy and Yuly are progressing slowly. Nancy didnt come to church this week because she had to work. We also couldnt meet with Yuly last week because she was scared that we had to meet her in here house, but we solved the problem and told here we were going to meet in the church... Easy doubt! haha Little by little! 

Other than that, everything is great! Just trucking along! I honestly cant believe we are going to start September! Crazy!

Love you all! 

Elder Carrigan

Fun Week

Hey Guys! 

Looks like you guys had a great week at home! Park City looks really fun! I just hope that you all know that I could beat you all in the Alpine Slide ANY DAY! :) I cant believe school starts tomorrow! Thats nuts to me! Time flies by! I hope you guys all enjoy your first day of school today!!! O man the first day of school is always great! And Ry Guy! Holy! Your first day of high school! Thats nuts! 

I also still cant believe that Ty is home... It still blows my mind! You guys all looked really good in the photo you sent me! Ryan looks huge! Nick needs a hair cut! (I hope he didnt go to his first day of senior year like that haha) Annie looking good in her Blue Knights jersey! (Congrats on the championship!!) Ty... You chose the ugliest tie to come home in! haha But really do I expect anything different... haha

Well anyway... All is well here in Barcelona! This week was actually a week of mixed feelings! We are teaching a lot of people right now which is really good! The only problem is just none of them come to church! It kills me every Sunday! There is no way they can progress if they dont come to church!

The worst part of the week is that we ran out of calls and messages on our phone so we werent able to call anyone during the day... We had to call everyone in the morning and confirm the visits and then just hope they would be there in the afternoon. We had to work like they did in the olden days! I dont know how the missionaries did it back in the day! Never had I had so many cancelled visits in my life! 

We also werent able to meet with Celeste and her family this week because of this. The hung us out to dry twice this week! It was rough... We are trying so hard to help this family but the dad is always working and we just cant meet with them. This week we are planning on passing by a couple times by suprise this week. We need to find out if they really are interested. If they are, they need to start doing their part as well. It seems like that is always what holds us back. The part of the investigator...

As far as progressing investigators.. We have a couple! This past week we had a Spanish man call us and he told us that he wanted us to help him. We have started talking to him and he came to church this past week! It was pretty sweet, in Elders Quorem we got into a "heated discussion" about unity. Im sure you know what I mean, and at the very end of the lesson he raised his hand, stood up, and said I think if we have the Holy Ghost with us, we can do all things! BOOM! Roasted! haha after that, no one said anything! haha 

We also have a lady named Yuly. She came to church for the first time this week as well and absolutely loved it! We set up another visit with her and she said she is also going to bring her sister! We are excited to start teaching her and her sister! More info to come! 

We also found a lady named Nancy this week! She is from Columbia! She is really smart and super nice! She just moved here from Italy and is figuring things out. She also came to church. The only problem is we think she got really confused in the 2nd hour. The teacher of the Gospel Principles class is kinda stupid.. We are sitting in a class with a bunch of investigators and he asks stupid questions like. Is there anyone here who doesnt know what a patriachal blessing is??? Well Duh!!!!!! He tried to explain the priesthood this week and it didnt go well at all. She ended up leaving right after the class so we are going to try to meet with her this week... We will see what happens. 

O fun story! So a couple just got married in our ward and for their honeymoon they went to thailand! So they got back this week and so I told them that Justin was serving there and was asking them what it was like... They told me that it was absolutely beautiful, that the ground never stops moving...(Becuase all of the bugs crawling around) haha, and that the food was interesting! I hope Justin is having a good time! :) haha Please send me his emails. I would love to hear from him and his intersting stories! 

Well. Thats it this week! Love you all lots! Hope school is fun! Live it up! No regrets! 

Love you guys!

Elder J. Carrigan

Claudio goes DOWN!

Hey everyone! It was another great week here in Barcelona! 

Claudio got baptized!!!! It was an incredible service! Honestly the spirit was probably the strongest I have ever felt in any baptism! HIs mom came from a pueblo of Barcelona and shared their story on how hteir family found the church and it brought an incredible spirit into the room! Anyway, he asked me to baptize him and everything went perfect! He showed up to church on Sunday in a suit and a tie and was looking FLY! haha It was incredible! The change I have seen in this man is the greatest thing you can ever see in the mission and honestly it is why I am here! The gospel changes people! It honestly completely changes their lives! Its the greatest thing in the world! I wish I could send pictures, but these computers dont work... I will work on sending all my pictures home... There just isnt time! Too much to do! haha

Rocio was also supposed to be baptized this week but unfortunately she decided to wait until her husband gets here to Spain... Kind of a bummer, but it is what it is...

We continue to see a lot of miracles here! This week we went to see this family we found last week and they are super great! They came to church thsi week but got there a little late. They called us in the middle of sacrament and we went out to get them. They ended up bringing two other friends with them as well. Not going to lie. It was kind of fun to walk into sacrament meeting a little late with 5 investigators! haha I think more than anything it pumped up the ward! After the meeting the whole ward was talking to them and inviting them to activities and all this stuff! It was incredible! Honestly I think they felt a little overwhelmed, but hey, I loved it! haha 

Other than that, we continue to work hard, and both Elder Feller and I are loving the time working together! We are seeing miracles daily and we truly are seeing the hands of the Lord in our work! I love it! 

But thats about it for this week...

Mom, I havent gotten the package yet, but like you said I am sure it will get her this week! I am excited! But yes please! Send pictures of the wedding! 

Also, Nick please give Ty my love... I will let you decide how... Just dont be the way that Ty wins 50 bucks! haha 

Love you all tons! Have a great last week of summer! :)

Love

E. Carrigan

PS

Brian, Congrats on the wedding. Wish I could be there!

Also Mathew B. Happy Birthday big dog! Hope you have a good one!  

Miracles!!!!!

Hey everyone!

It was another great week here in Barcelona! It seems like the Lord just keeps blessing and blessing us! This week we saw more miracles than I have ever seen in my life! My testimony has truly grwon this week in how the Lord really does still work miracles in these times! 

So first off! Claudio is getting baptized this week! Boom! I am super stoked! I wish I could send you a picture of this man! He is incredible! If you all remember, we met him about 2 weeks ago and I remember puttng the baptismal date with him, Right as I was putting it with him I kind of thought to myself, there is no way this man will be prepared in two weeks! Where in the world was my faith?? The gospel changes people! I am positive! Claudio has changed so much in two weeks and I know he is ready to be baptized! He went from die hard rock and roll to just an insainly spiritual man! I love this gospel! 

So we are busy planning his baptism.... Rocio also still has the goal of getting baptized this week! I have learned my lesson, and I have faith that she too will enter the water, but she told us on sunday that she would rather wait for her husband to get here so they can get baptized together... we told here that the temple should be there real goal and that he could be baptized in Peru and she could get baptized here and then they could enter the temple togehter when he got here, but she is convinced that her hhusband wont like the idea. We have a family home evening with them tonight and we are hoping that we can have the dad on skype with us, but we will see what happens. 

We also experienced a crazy miracle this week! So It was in the afternoon and we have been working on cleaning up our area book so we have been passing by lots of people. Well we were in one part of the city and we had planned to pass by some less active members, so we jumped on the metro to go to this house well on the Metro I had a really strong feeling that we shouldnt go visit this family, but that we should get off at another metro stop and continue passing by some of the records we had. So I told my companion and he said alright lets go! So we exited the Metro and we pulled out the map to see where this person lived, when my companion stopped and said, wait! We need to contact THAT lady! We went up and started talking to her. As we talked to her, her little boy pulled up on a scooter. We talked about the family and how the gospel can bless their lives. She than siad, well my husband is in our piso right now. I then asked her, o well can we go meet him! She accepted! We walked to their piso, and also met the father! It turns out the the father was baptized when he was a teenager and that he wants to return to the church. Him and his wife are happily MARRIED and have a wonderful 10 year old boy. We shared a lesson with them and have a return visit on Tuesday. I am super stoked and its all becuase both me and my companion followed the promting of the spirit. After is was all done, we both looked at eachother and were amazed with what just had happened! 

AND!!!! On Sunday, we were passing by some more records looking for old investigators. We knocked this door and no one answered. I sat down to look and the map again when a spanish lady walked by. All I said to her was hello and she stopped and looked at me and said, Do you happen to have a pamphlet that talks of God. Im having a rough day and maybe this could help. Well, we began talking to her and she started crying and explaining the things that had happened. We gave here the Book of Mormon and testified of it power and she LOVED it! She started explaining to us how she has always thought it was weird that there is proof that the Native Americans believed in God and yet there is no record of them and their relationship with God. Well... BOOM! Book of Mormon! We also have a return appointment with her this week! Honestly, the Lord is placing people in our path! It is incredible! 

Well, I am running out of time... I love you guys a ton and I know this work, this church is true! It really is run by Jesus Christ himself! Hope you guys have a wonderful week! 

Love 

E. Carrigan

P.S. Dad, stay away from the cherries... I recieved quite a few complaints! :) Loves! 

Train Crash!!

Hey Everyone!

SO its been an incredible week here in Barcelona! We saw so many miracles this week it was unreal!

So first off, I just want to clear some things up. The missionary that was in the train crash is actually from the MADRID mission, so I really dont know too much about the whole thing. I saw a video of the crash! Nuts! The conductor is an idiot! Last I heard he is being charged for man slaughter and is willing accepting being put into jail. Kind of interesting. Last I heard the Elder is doing fine and will be in the field soon. There was also a member couple on the train... The Husband is doing fine, but the wife is still in critical condition in the hospital. Pretty intense. Hope everything turns out well! 

Another thing, I think some of you might have misunderstood me. They are NOT splitting the mission. They just split my ZONE. haha President Pace is still the mission president and I still serve in Barcelona! :) 

But anyway, like I said, this week was a week of miracles! Last weekend, Elder Arce and I fasted for our area, we knew that one of us was going to leave, but we decided to fast for the ward because Barrio 1 hasnt seen a lot of convert baptisms this year. Well, Elder Feller and I saw the miracles this week! On Tuesday we received a couple calls. The first was from a lady named Maria. We set a visit for the next day to go and visit her. We got there to the door and as she opens the door she says Hello, Im Maria. My boyfriend is an exmissionary who lives in Chile. He is on Skype right now, and I have been talking to him and I want to be baptized! The only bad part is she left the next day for a month long vacation... BUT we gave her a Book of Mormon and when she gets back we will start to teach her the lessons! Miracle! 

Well, We also recieved a call from a man named Claudio. He was born in Chile but moved here when he was 13 and has been living here for 30ish years. He called us and said he wanted to talk to us. We arrived to his house and he was super nice, as we sat down on his couch I ask him how he is doing and he says really well thanks. Really I want to get baptized and I just want to know the process and what I need to do! haha Boom! Miracle! I guess his mom is a member here as well and he decided he wanted to become closer to God and knew that baptism is the best way to do it! Well, I couldnt agree with him more! 

As for Nikole and Rocio, everything is still going really well! Hopefully Nikole gets out of the hospital soon, we still dont know when they will release her... Everything is going well though! Rocio is still progressing. We have a visit with her tonight and we are excited! I talked to her the other day and we  might have some potential problems with her husband not wanting her to be baptized, but im positive the spirit will help us! Please keep her in your prayers! 

Elder Feller and I are having a blast together! He is a really great kid! Really down to earth, has a lot of desires to work, but also likes to have a lot of fun! We are having a really good time together and have already seen a ton of miracles together! I am positive we will also see many more! 

We found a lady this week contacting and it was her birthday. She told us she was interested in learning more so we told her to come to church on Sunday and we would make her brownies and celebrate her birthday! Well, She came to church, but the brownies didnt turn out so well! haha In fact, the didnt turn out at all! haha 

Dad, as far as the whole Ipad thing... Yeah, I still think we are a little behind... My phone is still one of those little bricks! haha Hopefully the come around soon! I think they would make things a whole lot easier, but we will see! We are trying to work a lot closer with the members. I think President Pace said it best. The members arent here to help us with our missionary work, we are here to help them with their missionary work! Its so true! As members of the Lords true church, its our responsibility to share our blessings with others! 

Well, I love you guys lots! Keep up the good work and enjoy your last month of summer! :) 

Loves! 

Elder Carrigan

Transfers

Hey Everyone! 

So as you all know, transfers were this week, and I was expecting a transfer call, but the Lord wants me here in Barcelona a little bit longer! Im not complaining! :) Unfortunately Elder Arce is off to the Valencia zone so I will have a new companion. His name is Elder Feller. I have talked to him a couple of times, but dont know much about him. I do know that he is from Utah and went to Alta. From what I have heard and seen, he seems like a pretty cool kid and a great missionary. I am excited to work with him! Opening an area is always tough, and I feel like this next month or transfer we are going to see lots of miracles and lots of work here in Barcelona! 

The transfer was pretty nuts! You can tell that President in trying to prepare the mission for next transfer. We recieve 43 missionaries next transfer! Crazy! Because of this lots of people were moved around and put into areas where next transfer they can easily open a new area. They split the Barcelona Zone is half!! It is so fun to be in the mission right now just because seeing all the growth of the church and of the mission pumps me up! haha

As far as the work goes for us.. The week was filled with some ups and some downs. So Nikole was supposed to get baptized on Saturday but unfortunately she didnt... Thursday night we found out that she was sent to the hospital due to some issues... Please keep her in your prayers! I dont want to say this has turned out to be a good thing, but it kind of has. The young women in our ward are incredible! We called the young womens president as soon as we found out and on Sunday almost the of the young women in the ward went and visited her with signs, balloons, and everything! She loved it and felt really loved! Her mom also saw this and I think she is starting to open up a little bit now. Now she actually talks to us! :) Its a start. Hopefully she recovers well. When she is released from the hospital we will put another date. I know she she will be baptized and hopefully we can reactivate the whole family as well! 

We do have a new inestigator!!! Her name is Rocio. Both of her kids are members and her paretns as well! She is incredible and ready to get baptized! I guess not so long ago she wanted nothing to do with the church, but we invited the whole family to a family home evening with another family and it went extremely well. We talked to her, and at one part of the lesson she started explaining about how she didnt want anything with the church at one part in her life, and yet now she is at church every week. SO I asked her "Well why is it that you come to church now?" And she said it was because she felt good there. So I asked her."Well. what makes you feel so good at church?" She responded with the answer that I love! "Thats just it, I still dont know why I feel so good!" BOOM! We both testified about the Holy Ghost and how we can feel the Holy Ghost in places like chuch and FHE! The spirit was incredible! Not goign to lie! I love teaching by the spirit! It is incredible how much the spirit really helps me while we are teaching! We invited her to be baptized and she accepted! She is working to be baptized on the 10th of August! 

Then, we had a lady call us this week and said, Hello, My name is Maria and I would like to listen to the message you share.... It blew my mind! haha I was like... Um, Yeah, I think we can help you with that! We will try to fit you into our busy schedule! haha We have a lesson with her today at 4! Hopefully it goes well! If everything goes as planned, we will invite her to be baptized on the 10th as well! 

So thats about it for the week! :) It was a good week of missionary work! 

So to answer some of your questions! 

Dad you asked why it feels so hot. Yes it is really humid! You walk out the door and imidiately start sweating! Its one of those heats where by the end of the day you just feel nasty like you are sticky and smell... Plus we have been in the street LOTS the past couple weeks! Put me at the beach and I dont think it would be that bad, but just the fact that I am in the sun all day everyday, in a white shirt and tie, makes it that much worse! haha

As for the package that both of you talked about... Honestly, I cant think of anything that I need right now... As of right now I am good! I will probably need some white long sleeve shirts in the winter because I have given some of mine to converts and peopel that need them, but I am going to buy some european style shirts so I can come back looking real spaniard :) My pants have all ripped but they have been fixed by the members here! I have holes in my shoes, but they still are hanging in there! My ties are stained with food, sweat, and who knows what else, but I wouldnt want it any other way! :) All is well! If your going to send a package, I would love lots of photos, some letters from my brothers and sister and just some goodies maybe some Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew Code Red, if its possible! We were talking about it the other day and I suddenly have a craving! haha  Other than that, all is well!! 

I am also trying to get a package off to you guys sometime soon with some things and lots of photos. The only problem is the computers we use dont let us plug in our cameras, so I need to find another computer... but im working on it! :) 

Well I am headed off to pick up Elder Feller from the train station! Love you all tons! Nick and Ryan, let me know how camp went! Annie, I want to hear about your tournament as well! Love you guys ton, and I pray for all of you everyday! Thanks for everything! 

Elder J. Carrigan

Lake Powell

Hey everyone! 

Hope you all are enjoying your trip in Lake Powell! Dad sent me some pics and I feel like I got my little piece of heaven just looking at them! I am glad you guys are having a good time! Luckily I have been able to stay focused this week and I havent thought of you guys too much! haha

Overall this week went well. It was a little tough... Maria, the girl from Peru that was really good dropped off of the face of the earth. I called her this week to confirm a visit and she told us that she cant visit with us anymore. I think its because he mom doesnt want anything to do with us. She is 21 so really she can do whatever she wants, but she lives here with her mom, so i am sure she plays a major part. We are going to continue trying to meet with her and maube we can talk to her a little more and help her with some of the doubts she has, but as for now, she doesnt want anything...

we also found out this week that there is a chance that Nikole might not get baptized this next week... She is super ready and he have taught her everything, or I guess I should say repassed everything because she already knew everything, but her mom doesnt want her to be baptized until the end of August... The worst part is the mom wont even talk to us so it is pointless. I am kinda bugged with the whole situation... We are praying hard and I knwo if the Lord wants it to happen, it will happen, but unfotunately people have this thing called agency that really bugs me! haha More than anything, I feel liek I am lossing my patience for a lot of people... Its either that or the heat is driving me crazy! Maybe its a little of both! haha 

Thsi past week we had an activity with all the youth which was really fun! They all came super early to the church and had a mission day. We ate breakfast, had personal study, companionship study, and then visited some families in the ward. We taught them how to teach the Plan of Salvation, and then they had to teach it to the families we visited. It was really fun and I think the youth also had a reallt good time! We are trying really hard to work with the bishopric and get a lot of the youth here out on missions! Almoth everyday we have a young man helping us. Wether its with a visit or just contacts, we take them with us and do splits all the time. Its really fun! 

We also have an activity today in the church. We are having a big sports day! One of the sister missionaries made a ton of mexican food and we told the youth that if they bring a friend, they can eat Mexican food!! haha We are just going to play a ton of sports! Of course I am going to teach them how to play scatterball! I just hope I dont hit a little girl in the face today!! haha Its going to be a fun day! 

Alright, Im out! Thanks for everything! Love you all! I am looking forward to all the pictures of Powell you are going to send me next week! :) 

Loves! 

Elder Carrigan