Monday, January 28, 2013

James' Baptism




Hey Guys!
 
Another week here in Tarragona! The bisggest news was obviously James´ Baptism! The Baptism was great with an interesting twist at the end! haha Details to come... but anyway! It was super awesome! We were able to have the whole baptisms in English with the Elders translating into Spanish. it was pretty cool! A ton of members showed up as well as a ton of investigators! Lots we werent even expecting to be there. We truly were blessed! James Loved the baptism and said he felt super good. He came out of the water and gave me a huge hug! it was awesome! I asked him how he felt and he said, "Cold man! Cold!" haha yeah... The water heater in our church doesnt work... So anyway, I guess a couple days before, James got bitten or stung by a bug, and after the baptism it started to bleed really bad. It started to bleed so bad that the Bishop and our Ward Mission Leader had to take him to the urgent care. We were kind of scared that he wasnt going to be at his confirmation. Thankfully, he showed and all went well. He brought some friends to church! In a couple of weeks, maybe we will be able to start and English Speaking Branch here in Tarragona! haha
 
So this week we also taught Milady, Francisco and Fifi, Milady is progressing really well and I am highly possitive that she will be baptized on the 9th! Fifi will also get baptized, we are just trying to get Francisco to get baptized with her. He is progessing really well, just very slowly. Last time we had a visit with him, he said he loved the Plan of Salvation and also that he thinks he will get baptized someday, he just needs to know FOR SURE this is the path he needs! Luckily he is also doing his part, he is reading in the Book of Mormon and praying everyday. I have no doubt in my mind he will get his answer from the Holy Ghost! It always comes when we do our part!
 
President also came to Tarragona this week and gave a talk in Sacrament meeting. He talked on the importance on having Family Home Evening and inviting over the Elders. It is amazing how fast your schedule goes from, visiting with maybe 1 or 2 families during the week to visiting with almost every family in the ward! ha ha The power the President has! We are hoping to use this opportunity to gain some trust with the members and maybe recieve some references as well! But hey, at least I klnow I will be eating well this week! haha President really is the man!
 
Well thats really all I got for this week. Transfers are this next week, but I am pretty sure I will stay here in Tarragona to finish trainning Elder Garcia, but you never know, There can always be some suprises! I will be sure to keep you guys updated! I love you guys a ton! Keep up the good work at home! Love you all!
 
Elder Carrigan
 

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Miracles, Blessings, and Gas Leaks


Hey everyone!
This week was absolutely crazy busy! Which is always a good thing right? Thanks everyone for the advice on some activities! We are goign to try and figure something out! But anyway, Right now we are seeing Miracles and the Lord is truly blessing us for the hard work we put in over the Holidays. We have four baptismal dates and a couple futures thart have some real potential!
James is honestly such a stud! He still have a date to be baptized this coming weekend. We have taught him just about everything and we dont see any problems that could jump out at us. We are super excited for him. Unfortunately, his mom dies this past week and he was pretty down. It was good though because a day or two before we had taught him the Plan of Salvation. Although he was sad, he new exactly where his mom was and is content to know that she is in a better place. When he told us, the spirit was so strong in the room, it was amazing!
Next, we are still working with Lupe, but she still has a lot of changes in her life, and is progressing very slowly. She couldnt come to church this past week because her boyfriend was in the Hospital sick. We werent able to visit her too many times this week and because she didnt come to church we will have to puch her baptismal date back a few weeks. We are praying hard and keeping our Faith!
Then we are working with a Father and Daughter named Estefania (FiFi) and Francisco! They are a reference from some members here. Fifi is really good friends with one of the young women and one day told us she wanted to get baptized! So we started to teach them both. Francisco, at first, wasnt so interested in the church and more just wanted to know what his daughter was getting into, but now he comes to the lessons and church really to learn and find out for himself if the church is true! He says he doesnt have any Faith because of certain things that have passed in his life, but we she the light in him. It will take some work but they both are progressing really well! This past Sunday was a great Sunday for them! When we talked to them after church, FiFi and a huge smile on her face and came running out of the church and gave her dad a huge hug and just started telling him 100 times! I said my first prayer! I said my first prayer! And it felt so good inside! It was awesome! Later that night we had a lesson with them and Francisco said his first prayer! It was a great moment! Little by little they are progressing towards baptism! I love it! I love the Spirit! I love this work!
After that we have some more member referals we are goign to have visits with this week and hopefully help more people come unto Christ in these coming weeks! Im excited!
So the big story of this week was we had a gas leak in our piso this week.... It was awesome... No, it was terrible. Because of the Gas Leak, we had to sleep with all the windows open for two nights in a row! It was terrible! I honestly almost walked outside in the middle of the night to the Hotel down the street! haha It was such a joke! I attached a picture of what I slept in... On top of that were about 12 other blankets! haha I froze to death! But hey, Its the best two years... haha
Well thats about it for this week! Hopefully Justin gets his call this week! Please keep me posted, I was dying to know all week! haha Please keep our investigators in your prayers! I really can tell a difference! I love you all and wish you all a great week!
Much Love!
Elder Carrigan

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Happy Birthday to me!!!


Bon Dia Tots!
 
Thank you everyone for the Birthday wishes and for the gifts that were sent my way! I really enjoyed them! Mom thank you for your package! The popcorn and Beef Jerkey was great! And the cake.... I love you! :) You know me too well! Oneals thank you for the package! I will love wearing my Ole Miss shirt around Spain! For those that sent stuff to the office, I should get it sometime next week!
 
FIRST OFF! I NEED SOMETHING FROM ALL MY RETURNED MISSIONARY FRIENDS/FAMILY!
We are wanting to start some activities for the members here. Exspecially the youth. If any of you saw something in your mission that worked, maybe you could just shoot me a short email and tell me what worked best! I would love you forever! Thanks!
 
Anyway, My birthday was nothing special, honestly just another day... I made the cake mom sent me during mediodia and then we went to the roof last night, took photos, and ate cake. Nothing special...
 
This week was a really good week! Finally we were able to escape the fiestas and get to work, and man did we work! Right now we are trying to get as many visits as we can with a huge list of future investigators! It has been a pain but rewarding! Right now we are still teaching my boy James from Nigeria, and he is progressing really well! I am super excited for him and he is definately on track to getting baptized on the 26th! He is honestly a golden investigator! I love it! We also found this lady named Lupe! She is a Spanish Jypsy (Or however you spell it) She is living with a Muslim man from France, and is a hard core smoker! Everytime we leave her house I feel as though I have smoked a pack myself! haha It is going to be a long journey for her, but she is super interested! She needs to make some changes in her life, but she does have a desire to follow Christ and be baptized. Right now she has a goal to be baptized on the 2nd of Febuary! We will see what happens! I have faith, if we do our part, the Lord will always do his!
 
 We also experienced a miracle this week! A couple weeks ago, we had a member come up to us and tell us that her daughters friend wanted to be baptized! We tried to schedule a Family Home Evening or something to get things going, but with the Holidays it was super hard and we werent able to schedule anything. Well last Saturday night we ran into the member and I asked her what happened and if she was still interested etc... She said she didnt know, and the parents were a little scetched out blah blah blah. So we incuraged her to call them on Saturday night and invite the girl and her parents to church the next day, and she did just that. So, yesterday, this girl, Estefani came to church with her dad, and her dad LOVED church! He was super interested and has tons of questions! We have a visit tomorrow night with them, with thier family! Im stoked! This will be my first Spanish family that I am going to teach and they are super ready for the gospel! I cant wait! We are hoping by the end of this week to have four baptismal fechas! It would truly be a blessing!
 
So Justin Weaver gets his call sometime soon... Lets see, my guess... One in states and one out of the states...
In states-Washington State Spanish Speaking
Out of States-England English Speaking
 
Keep me updated! :) Congrats!
 
Other than that, it has been a normal week of missionary work. Nothing else to really report! Mom and Dad, I am planning on sending that package  that I was talking about either this week or next week. Dad be careful because the USB that I am sending home, I think it has a virus so heads up! Just keep an eye out for it! :) I will see if I can put some suprises in there!
 
Well thats it for this week! I love you guys tons and hope you dont all freeze to death! Love you all!
 
Love
Elder Carrigan
 
Photos
0825 Happy 20th!
0837 Me and Elder Magallanes partying on the roof! haha


0829 The Beautiful City of Tarragona!

Monday, January 7, 2013

Happy 2013





Happy New Year Everyone!
 
Its official... My Black year has begun... Im not sure if all of you know what that black year is. On the mission we refer to the Black Year when you are on the mission for the entire year. Meaning, you can no longer see the light behind you or infront of you. haha During this year, rumor has it that all of your friends back home (ecspecially girls). Prove me wrong!!!!! haha
 
So this week was another tough one! Like expected... Lots of knocking doors and contacting in the streets. We do have a huge list of people who told us to call them after the holidays, so this week we will be spending a lot of time following up on all these people to see if they really want to listen of not! We have faith so we will see if we can get some solid investigators this week!
 
I am super stoked though! This week we had a man show up to church named James. He is from Nigeria! Yeah Buddy! He attended the church in Nigeria for a couple years but was never baptized and then moved here to Tarragona and wasnt able to find the Church. Well this week he found it and after church he said he loved it! I offered to come and teach him this week, and he said of course! So we will begin teaching him this week and hopefully he will be baptized sometime soon! Hopefully... No. He will be baptized in the future! Mom, are you sure im not part Nigerian because all the Africans here just seem to love me! haha Im stoked!
 
So this week was also fully of Spanish Tradition! It was pretty fun! On New Years we didnt do anything special. We helped a member move and then just at some pizza. At midnight here in Spain, everyone eats 12 grapes for every second after midnight. So thats what we did... It was kinda fun I guess haha. Eh... What was really fun was 3 Magos Day or 3 Kings Day! The night before there was nobody was in their pisos. Everybody was in the street! It was crazy! I will try to send some photos! They have a huge parade and the 3 kinds are on these giant floats! It was pretty cool! We contacted a ton and handed out like 300 pass along cards! haha It is honestly their Christmas!
 
So thats about it here from Spain this week... Other than that it was just the normal... I love you guys ton! Hope everything is going well! Thank you for the birthday package. I will keep my eyes out for it!
 
Love you all
Elder Carrigan
 
0817 One of the 3 kings!
0809 We knocked this door this week! haha
0805 New Years Day we went back to the olive orchard with the members again. The decided to dress me up!
0782 Classic Spainish Nativity scene... Notice the birth of Jesus in the church and the man pooping on the side of the church... Nice...