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