Elder Carrigan, Signing Out!

Hey Everyone!

Well, this is it... This will probably be the last email I send home from here in Barcelona, and I dont even know where to start! To begin to explain how I am feeling would be dificult and to explain how I have felt or what I have learned over these past two years would be impossible. 

These two years of my life are something to me that will never be replaced nor forgotten! The lessons I have learned, the memories made, and the people I have met will always be a constant reminder of what the Lord has shown me who I am and what I can become. Before my mission I thought I understood the gospel, and maybe I did, but I only understood it with my head. I only understood what the teachers taught me in church. I can now say that I understand the gospel with my heart. I know it works, I have seen it. I know its true, I have lived it!

And so I leave you all with my testimony. Simple yet strong.

I know God exists. He is there. He is our Heavenly Father who loves us and wants the best for each and every one of us.

I know Jesus Christ is the savior and redeemer of the world. He suffered for us so that we can become better each and every day.

I know the doctrine of Jesus Christ is true. That Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Recieving the Gift of Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End are essential steps on our path to eternal salvation. 

I know thanks to His wonderful atonement, ANYONE can change at ANY time. Anything is possible

I know that Joseph Smith was called to be the prophet of the restoration. He saw the Father and the Son. He was given the priesthood and restored the church of Jesus Christ.

I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. The promises and blessings it contains are true. I know there is not a single man or woman on this earth that has read it, pondered it, and asked god with a sincere heart, that has not recieved an answer that it is true.

And last of all, I know this gospel blesses families! Families CAN be together forever, and that is the greatest blessing that God has given us! :)

I love you all! 

Que Dios Os Bendiga! 

Elder Carrigan

Now to go spend my last Preparation Day in Camp Nou! My heaven on earth! :) 

Good Week!

Hey Guys!

It was a great week here in Barcelona! We are still working hard and I am just enjoying every moment! :)

We are working trying to find news and also trying to get the investigators we have into the water! I want to get wet at least one more time! haha This week was hard becasue it was semana santa here. It is funny because everyone we talk to here in the streets say that they dont believe in God or Jesus Christ and yet the whole country shuts down for a week to celebrate easter. Intersting! 

Because of easter lots of people were out of town. Edilenia went to Madrid for the whole week so we havent met with her in awhile and also she wasnt able to come to church so she wont be able to get baptized this next week... Hopefully she gets home soon so we can put a set date with her, teach her the remaining comandments and get her baptized! The good news is that we have been calling here and sharing little messages with her over the phone! She tells us she is also reading the BoM, so we think everything is still going well!

The family from Ecuador... They have fallen off the face of the earth. Kind of sad because they are ready to be baptized, but their mom just doesnt show much support. She is a member who hasnt been to church in a long time, and at first she was super excited and now she goes in her room everytime we go over... It is disappointing, but we are keeping our heads up, and we know there are more people for us that are prepared! We jsut need to find them! :) 

Other exciting news is David recieved the priesthood this week and came out and worked with us twice this week! The kid is incredible! He was talking to everyone on the street! He would just go up to them and be like hey! Do you believe in God, they would reject him and he would turn to us and be like what the heck, they dont even know who we are, what we have to offer, and what they are missing out on! It was incredible to see! Hopefully he will keep it up and maybe one day serve a mission.We are going to talk to him a little bit this week! See if we can get him pumped up a little bit! 

Well thats it! All is well! I love you all lots! 

Elder Carrigan

Photos

1913 Me, Elder Rasmussen, David, His Mom (Liliam)

1921 2 baptisms in the district two weeks ago! 

1945 Another baptism this week! Left to right Elder Alder, Elder Tidwell, Hermana Hair, Kevin (Recient Convert. He was baptized a month ago) Genesis (Kevins friend) Hermana Nalbandyan, Me, Elder Rasmussen

Baptism Weekend

Hey Everyone

So the big news this week was that David got baptized! It was a really good baptism and everything went great! My companion baptized him. It was probably one of the best baptisms I have seen on my mission. We had almost all the youth there, and it was really cool to see them all support him! The ward was really excited for him as well. On Sunday he was the most popular kid in church! haha It was great! This next week he should be getting the priesthood if everything goes to plan.

Really other than that, there isnt much to tell. Its the same old here in Barc! We are working hard to find people to teach and the other investigators we have are progressing well. Edilenia set her own date for not this weekend but the next. She is Madrid this weekend, but eveything is going well. She is like half way through the BoM, its incredible! haha Melisa, Evelyn, and Moises are still there. They are progressing but slowly. Its hard to meet with them because they are teenagers and their lives are crazy! They are super great and need to be baptized, so we are trying really hard!

This week is a holiday week here in Spain. For Easter, everyone gets the whole week off, so we will see how the week goes! Since everyone is out of school, today we are going to go play scatterball (dodgeball) in the church with all the youth! It should be really fun! 

Well love you guys lots! Hope you all have a great week! 

Love

Elder Carrigan

Conference Weekend

Hey Everyone!

So first I must apologize for my April Fools joke! haha I sure did think it was funny though! My companion and I were both dying laughing while we were writing it and I think I probably won the best April fools day email contest we had in the zone! haha Any way, I hope I at least got a smile out of you! :)

So conference wsa incredible! Its always so great to listen to the inspired words of the prophets. This morning I was reviewing some of my notes that I took and I just kept thinking to myself about how blessed we really are that God has called prophets in these days. While many people feel like they are lost in this world, we can always feel guided and on track if we choose to act upon the words of the prophets. I dont know if I have a favorite yet, but I will say that I really enjoyed the prophets message about love and charity. Could you imagine a world with people who just slowed down and stopped for 2 seconds to listen to others and tried to help them with their problems. I guess being a missionary just helps you see another side of things and one of the things I have learned here is that the little acts of love really do make a difference in life. A handshake here, a hug there, a smile, a laugh, a simple thank you can change the whole day of a person, and more than anything, what the other person thinks about you. The world truly would be a different place if we all just looked out for eachother a little bit more.

Well, what more... The work is going well right night! We had interviews with President this week adn the only thing he told me was "Elder Carrigan, Finish like a man!" haha I am trying my best! We are working hard!

This coming Saturday, David will be getting baptized!!!! This week we were able to tie everything down and we are planning everything right now! We are really excited and we are glad that he is making such a great choice! He is really excited as well! He has changed a lot during this time we have been teaching him! It has been a great experience seeing a boy who, at first, said he didnt believe in God, change into a man with a growing testimony!

Edilenia had a set back this past week. She is recieving lots of pressure from her aunt and parents... We were calling her all week and she wasnt answering. Finally we asked the sisters if they could call and she how she was doing. She answered and talked with them. The next day was here birthday so we all made a cake and suprised her for her birthday. She came to an activity later that night in the church and we were able to talk. At least now she is willing to talk with us again. We will see what we can do to get her to start progressing agian. We owe the sisters! Without them, she would be gone!

We have some more investigators that are there, but they arent so commited. We are working hard to get them to keep their commitments, but there is only so much we can do... 

I guess another highlight of the week is Elder McMahon and I have started teaching the Zumba classes on Saturday mornings! haha Its pretty great! I will let your imagination do the work on this one! Yeah, our attendence is pretty high right now! Its pretty amazing some of the things you can do to get people coming to church! haha

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

Loves!

Elder Carrigan

Barca! Barca! Barca!

Hey Everyone! 

Great week here in Barcelona! Lots of hard work. Unfortinately, David wasnt baptized this week... We had a great lesson with him, but he said he didnt feel ready... On Saturday we saw him again and talked with him about why he didnt feel ready and he said that he hadnt recieved his sign yet... Turns out that his mom had a dream before she got baptized so he was waiting for something like that.... We talked about the Holy Ghost and set a new fecha with him for the 12th of April. I was kinda of bummed because it is kinda far away, but we are planning really helping him read the Book of Mormon and feel the spirit. By the 12th, he will be ready! Please keep his mom Liliam in your prayers. She will be having brain surgury this coming week... We are hoping everything goes well! 

Jose has a fecha for this week, but he told us that if he doesnt find a job this week, then he is going back to Argentina on Friday... We are praying he finds a job. If not, then some missionaries are going to be very happy in Argentina! haha 

Edilenia is also progressing really well! She is reading a ton! She is half way done with 2 Nephi right now! She is great! The only thing we are worried about is that she is really shy! We are trying really hard to get her involved with the young adults. If we can get that done. She will be baptized! 

Last night was an amazing night here in Barcelona! Last night Barcelona played in Madrid in soccer and everyone was in a bar watching the game! It turned out to be one of the craziest games ever! I kept thinking about how I was probably the only one in the whole city not watching the game... I was dying inside! haha The only parts I could see was when we walked past a bar on our way home... Luckily we walked passed right as Messi put one in the back of the net! It was awesome! haha the whole city just jumped! Man I love this place! haha We were going to go to a game this next Saturday, but unfortinately it doesnt look like its going to work out... Too much stuff to do, and if everything goes well, Jose will be baptized! Just means I am going to have to come back and watch a game! Dad, you bought those tickets already right? :) 

Well, thats it this week! Love you all! Thanks for everything you all do for me! I love you all lots!

Elder Carrigan

Photo Me in my Barc jersey today celebrating the win in front of a huge Catalan flag. VISCA CATALUNYA!!!!! :)

Good Week

Hey Guys

So yeah I kinda lost track of time doing other things, so its going to be a short one this week. Sorry! 

The week went really well! We continue to work really hard to find new investigators here. The good news about Barc is there are always tons of people in the street to talk to. the bad news is that most the time they dont live in your area... haha We have passed lots of really good references, but as long as they are taught the gospel, I am happy! 

The great thing is that we have a fecha! We put a fecha with David this week! His mom in a recient convert! He turned 17 this week and he is progressing really well. We has started to pray and read and he always comes to church and loves it. He will get baptized on the 22nd. We are lucky that the youth here in Barcelona are so great! He already has tons of friends in church and I feel like the date is pretty set! 

The bishop in our ward invited us to knock doors in our area close to the church to find some people as well. It has been hard to leave the street and to go up into the buildings just because its so easy to talk to everyone in the street, but I know he is the man that recieves the revelation in this ward and I know we will be blessed in some way by obeying his council! 

Other than that, We just keep on working! Couldnt be happier! Love you all! 

Elder Carrigan

Pics

1816 Me and my companion teaching one of our investigators who is in the hospital right now... She is great but has a hole in her lungs... Super sad! 

1810 Me next to the Med Sea! :) Beautiful!

1807 Me and about half the zone on the beach after playing beach volleyball! It was a great day!

Great Week!

Hey Guys

Sorry not a lot of time this week but this week went really well. Barc is the greatest place on earth! Better than Disneyland! haha 

So this week was a rough one but we saw some incredible miracles! We have been doing lots of pass bys looking for menos activos and more than anything people to teach! The greatst thing is that I am in Barcelona and leterally there are people everywhere! haha This week we found another incredible family!!! TOMA! The mom is a less active member that hasnt been to church in quite sometime, we set up a visit with her and we werent expecting much. We walked in and BOOM! 5 kids!!! Greatest thing in the world! Huge miracle! The oldest Melissa (16) is incredible! She needs to be a member! Evelyn (15) Is obsessed with Justin Beiber... I made a joke about him and lets just say I learned my lesson really fast! haha Moises (12) is a stud! and Angela(9) is a doll. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and she started to reading right away! It was super cute! Then their stepdad is also a nonmember but he wasnt home in the last visit to hopefully we will meet him soon! Well anyway, we invited them all to come to church this week, we went by Sunday morning and the mom didnt end up waking up, but all 5 kids walked down the stairs ready to go to church! It was awesome! haha We hope that their mom will support them and jump on board with them. The good news is that their greatgrandpa is a really active member and helps us out a lot! The bummer news is that we found out on Sunday that they live in the sisters area... LOVE IT! So we had to pass them... We will be blessed! haha

The good news is David is progressing well! We have been inviting him to lots of the activities here in the church and he always comes and he loves them! He brought a friend as well! We talked about baptism with him and he said that before he didnt really believe in God but that now things are makign more sense. We are going to invite him to be baptized again this week and try a little harder to put a date.

Other than that everything is going really well! Life couldnt be better! 

Love you all

Elder C

Barcelona!

Hey Guys!

First off, Thank you all so much for the Valentines Day hearts! I am glad I am still loved! haha They are all hung up on my wall! :) My companions make fun of me! 

This week was incredible! I cant start to describe how much I love Barcelona! haha It has been really fun seeing everyone here that I already know! We have been in and out of the church all week and I love walking in and someone from the 1st ward sees me and says, ELDER CARRIGAN!!!! haha Its the greatest thing in the world! I feel so loved! haha So anyway, its been a fun week! 

Its also been a little stressful just getting things going, but I I have just about everything organized how I want it and this week should be a great week. When I arrived there was lots of lists full of future investigators, less actives, and investigators. It was messy. Im not a messy guy. haha We have been out contacting and talking to everyone and when we are in piso for lunch or for the night, I have been trying to clean things up. It is just about there. To be honest though, this is what I love about Barcelona! There is so much to do! So much work that can be done. There is always someone to go, someone in the street, someone to talk to, someone to visit, someone to teach, and someone to baptize! :) I am living the life. 

Because of all the lists, I have been spending a lot of time on the phone trying to figure out who, out of all these people really wants to listen. So the miracle of this week, is that I found a lady named Mariella from one of our lists. We went and visited her last night and there with her were her two daughters Brenda (21) and Kriss (18) and her friend Rosa. They are all from Peru and they are great! They have a cousin who is on his mission in Madrid right now. It was fun because when I was in the 1st ward I went to visits with their cousin all the time. They had lots of questions about what he was actually doing and what our purpose is as missionaries. After answering lots of questions about us, we had a great lesson about the Book of Mormon. They commited to read and we are going to visit them this coming Thursday. They all were very interested in the message and I think they really have a desire to know. The only bummer part is that they live in the sisters area... haha Its alright though. We will help them progress! :)

We are also teaching the son of a recient convert. His name is David (16). he is a great kid! His mom was baptized a couple of weeks ago. Im still not really sure why he didnt get baptized with her... We visited them last week and I got to know them and they got to know me. Now its time to come down hard and talk baptism! haha I think he will start to progress fast. We took him to a party that was in the church this past weekend for all of the youth, and he absolutely loved it! He met a ton of youth and made friends really easily. It was funny because we left to another visit and came back later and we werent expecting to see him there anymore, but he was there dancing, laughing, and having a good time! After we talked to him and he said, Wow I wasnt expecting to stay so long, but I am glad I did! He will be baptized!

Not much more to say. We are talking to lots of people and finding new investigators! Its only a little bit of time before the area explodes! :)

Love you all lots! Have a great week! Its time to go kill it in Barcelona! You guys better hope I dont fall in love with this city too much because right now I could stay here forever!

Love

James 

Barcelona Bound!

Hey Everyone! 

The transfer call came in and I unfortunately be leaving Lleida, BUT I am headed back to Barcelona! YEAH BUDDY! haha I served in the 1st ward 6 months ago but now I will be serving in the 3rd ward. The great thing is that the 1st and 3rd ward attend church in the same building and I already know like half of the ward! haha I am so pumped! I had the feeling that I was going to be moved and I was kinda nervious about where I was going to go, when President called me and told me I was going to Barc, I was SO happy! I had the biggest smile on my face. The 3rd ward is known for being one of the best wards here in Barcelona but reciently has been having some trouble. President called and just said, Elder Carrigan I need you to fix it, and I know you are the man to do the job. I dont know if he said it because that is really what is happening or if he just said it to make me feel good, but either way I couldnt be happier! haha He also told me that I will most likely end my mission here. Like I said, couldnt be happier! 

My companion is Elder Rasmussen! He is from Trimont, Utah and is a stud. He has been here in for about 6 months. Elder Sutton, one of my favorite companions, trainned him. He told me really good things about him and so far he seems like he is a pretty cool kid! 

It was hard leaving Lleida though. All the investigators we found were progressing really well and should be baptized within the next couple weeks. I dont know it always happens to me, I find people, but just like a week or two late... haha I guess the important thing is that they get baptized, not who baptizes them. Its back from ground zero though. I just asked my companion if we had any investigators and he said he basically didnt have anyone... Lovely! Well now I know what I will be up to all week. Knocking Doors and Street contacting! LOVE IT! haha 

Well thats about it from me this week! Please, I need your prayers! Pray that we can find people to teach, AND FAST! :) 

Well, I love you all! Take care!

Loves! 

Elder Carrigan

P.S. Since we will be knocking lots of doors this week, I will send a picture of a spanish door nob next week! haha 

Grinding it out!

Hey everyone!

This week was a roung one, but we have seen so many miracles! It has been incredible to see the Lord working right with us! 

This week we have been loaded with visits and teaching so many people! It has been incredible! 

Unfortunately we werent able to meet with Silvia or her sister, Mar, because everytime we set something up they had to cancel because of something... Satan is working hard, but Im not going to let him take this miracle that easy from us! haha The good news is Mar was able to come to church this week and again abslutely loved it! We just need to meet with her, teach her, baptize her! haha She is great! Silvia wasnt able to come on Sunday because she was out of town, but we are going to see her tomorrow! 

We also found a man named Maikel. he is from Guinea Bisuo? No idea how to spell that. he is the man! haha He came to church this week as well! We invited him to be baptized and right now he is on date for the 22nd

We then also found a man from Spain. His name is Javier! He is great. We still are a little unsure about his story and he either can be really good or someone iffy. haha We are tying to figure out whats going on. We had a visit with him and he explained a little about his past and how he was on drugs and had lots of problems when he was young. He told us that when he was young he met with the Elders as well but it was more of just to be their friends and not to actually find the truth. He told us that he is now drug free and that now he really wants to find the truth, and to be honest, I believe him! We invited him to be baptized and he accepted! He is on date for the 1st of March. Like I said, He is either really good or maybe still on drugs... We will find out! But hey! The gospel changes lives! 

We are also teaching another spannish man named Oscar. he is a reference from a recient convert! He is really Catholic but he shows interest. I know that if we can get him reading the Book of Mormon and comign to church, he will be a great investigator! We taught him the resturation and accepted it. He told us, What you are teaching me makes sense, but I am just not sure if it really all happened that way. Refering to the great apostasy. We expalined the importance of the Book of Mormon and he understood really well. He commited to read and pray! 

The work is going really well right now and in our spare time, we continue to knock! haha I think that is what the Lord wants us doing, so we keep doing it! haha Another amazing thing happened the other day! We found aa American door handle! It made my day! (See Pic) Its probably not that cool to all of you, but here in Spain all the door handles are in the center of the door. For the first time in almost 2 years. I saw a normal door handle. It was an amazing moment! haha

Well, Love you all!

Elder Carrigan

PICS  

One is of me and a door handle haha

The other is of me and my little buddy Brian! He is a absolute stud! He is from the Dominican Republic. His parents just brought him here and he still speaks with the sickest Dominican accent! haha 

Knocking Doors! :)

Hey Everyone!

It was a great week here in Lleida! Lots of great stuff went down! haha Also lots of stress...

This week we had a huge two day conference here in Lleida. It went really well, but it was also a lot of work on our part or should I say preparation. The conference turned out really well. Really inspirational and definitely raised the faith of the zone! After the first day all 42 missionaries that were here for the conference went to work here in Lleida. It was AWESOME! Lleida just got attacked! haha There were missionaries everywhere! We received a bunch of references and numbers from all the missionaries so it should be a good week coming up as well! :) In the end it was worth it!

Elder Wright and I also saw an a huge miracle this last week. We were visiting a member on Friday night and we asked them if any of her neighbors would be interested in hearing the Gospel. They told us that they had no idea so I told them that we were going to knock her whole building. She laughed thinking that we were joking, but we werent... haha We left the visit and went to the top floor and just started knocking. We knocked about 3 floors and didnt find anything, but then I knocked a door and a middle aged Spanish lady opened the door. I started talking to her and she explained to me that she was athiest and didnt want anything to do with our message but she was really nice and didnt slame the door in our face. haha I kind of just blew of what she said and just started teaching and testifying that there was a God, she was His daughter, and that she could know it for herself. Right then everything changed! She began listiening and let us in. We started talking about faith. She told us that she didnt have any... How she had been to lots of chuches and had never felt anything. She told us that the only time she feels good in her life is when she serves other people. We told her that she did have lots of faith. That she showed her faith by serving others just as Jesus did. We testified that the reason she felt good while serving is because the Holy Ghost filled her heart as she served others. She then asked the most incredible question::) Well how can I feel this way all the time? Boom! We explained the that that is our Job as misisonaries and that we can help her faith grow! We taught her about the Book of Mormon, Prayer, and Church. She started crying and said that she doesnt know if this will work, but she has nothing to loose and wants to try. Although she did not except to be baptized YET! :) She promised to come to chruch. She came AND brought her sister! They both loved the church and both felt so loved by the members. They both comitted to come this Sunday as well and were both asking. So when can you two come by and teach us more?? It was incredible to see such a big change is a small amount of time! We will be teaching them both this week! It was a great miracle from the Lord! 

Well, Love you all lots! Hope you all have a great week! 

Loves

James

Searching...

Hey Everybody! 

Long week here in Lleida! We knocked, knocked, knocked some more, and then knocked just a little bit more! haha Lots of doors. We found a couple people, through our efforts this week but unfortunately they have kind of fallen out of the investigator pool already, but we keep our heads up! We know the Lord will bless us through our effort and our obedience. Not more you can do! One thing that is hard, but missionary work definately requires patience! haha But we have seen miracles! One of the many miracles I think we have seen this week is that every building that we have knocked, we have gotten in to the first door to actually be able to talk to the people face to face. To me this has been a huge miracle. To be honest, I think it is a sign from the Lord. All week I have just had the feeling that what we are doing is right and all though we werent seeing a whole bunch of success at the moment, it is what the Lord wants us doing. That it all will be worth it when that father of a family opens us the door and we are able to teach them the restored gospel. I know that they are there and we will find them! Just a little bit of patience, diligence, and obedience! 

Let me explain how we knock doors, because if you dont know then you wont understand the two stories below... Here in Spain there are giant appartment buildings. To get in to the door at street level you have to ring the "timbre" down below. Sometimes there is a camera on the timbre so the people upstairs can see the people below. (I like to put the nostrle of my nose right in front of the camera so when they answer they are looking up my nose! haha or sometimes down my ear lob. One of the two! haha) Anyway, the key is to get past the first door so you are able to actually knock one by one the doors in the building. If you just contact through the timbre, nothing ever happens. So usually we just ask them to open the door. Sometimes they do, sometimes its more complicated. Anyway, Here are some stories... :) Hope that made sense! 

Knocking doors also brought many funny stories! haha I love the face the people make when they open the door for us down below and then we go up the elevator. When we get there, their face goes from a huge smile to a Oh no! What have I done sort of look! haha Everytime I just start laughing and usually say something funny to make them laugh as well like, "Hey, Come on now! Im not THAT ugly!" haha or something along those lines! They usually are still just so confused! Its funny because in almost every building that says in huge letters, DONT OPEN THE DOOR FOR ANYONE, but everyone opens... haha Miracles! Miracles! 

There was one guy this week that refused to let us in the first door and then stayed over the phone so that he could tell the rest of his neighbors not to open the door. So we continued ringing the timbres, but no one answered because everything I said he would just talk over me. I asked him if he would please hang up, that we werent here to bother him or anyone just to share a message about God. He refused and was convinced to stop the work of the Lord. Well, we all know that the work of the Lord cant be stopped. So I had the great idea just to start teaching him through the timbre... haha He continued to tell me that he was going to call the cops and that he wasnt goign to hang up until we left so I told him if he wasnt going to leave I was just going to teach him and the cops that came! haha We started talking about God and sharing our message with him. Well, he finally gave up and hung up the phone, the cops never came, and we continued to knock the building! haha Maybe I was in the wrong on this one, but hey the days get a little long when you are knocking... Sometimes you just need a little something to spice things up! haha It was fun! 

Anyway, thats about it for the week! This week we will be doing lots of looking as well. We have some potential investigators as well so hopefully they come around. We have planned to visit some members as well. Hopefully we will see some fruit! :) I love you all! Thanks for your prayers! 

Love

Elder Carrigan

Hey Everybody!

Hey Everybody! 

Thank you all so much for the Birthday wishes! You guys are all the best! The birthday was a pretty normal day! We didnt even have Preparation Day... Yesterday we had interviews with President Pace and so yesterday we worked and then today in our Preparation Day. Overall it was a pretty good day! Elder Wright and I spent the whole day knocking doors! haha We knocked about 300 doors yesterady! Lots of doors!!! haha but we also talked to a lot of great people! We continue to look for a family willing to listen to the restored gospel. The families I wrote about last week are still in the mix, but unfortinately there things are going too quick yet. We are calling and every once in awhile but they either havent answered or havent picked up. For this reason we knocked so many doors yesterday! we have just decided to start back up and find as many new people as we can. We headed like right up next to the church and just started going! This area is a great part of the city! Not too rich but definately not poor. I have a really good feeling about the area!  We are being blessed as well! Yesterday we found 2 Romanian families. We have a lesson with one tonight and then a lesson with one tomorrow! We will see how it goes! We also found a mom and daughter from the DR but I called today and the number didnt work... Either I wrote it down wrong or she lied.... We will pass by and find out! :) 

Last night a member invited us over to her house to eat for my birthday! It was really nice! We walked in and they had decorated the whole house with Balloons and birthday stuff. She made these HUGE hamburgers and also made a cake! They are a really great family! They ended up giving me some cologne and after shave haha It was awesome! And thats about it for my birthday! 

As for the rest of the week. It was pretty normal. Like I said, Lots of doors slammed in the face but also tons of laughing! haha Knocking doors has got to be one of my favorite things in the mission! You never know who is going to pop out from behind the door! haha I have also been practicing my Catalan with them! haha That has been fun! They pop out and see some american missionary want nothing and then BOOM he starts talking Catalan! Bona Tarda. Som missioners de lesglesia de jesucrist y compartim un mensatje de Deu. Creu en Deu? (Giid Evening, We are missionaries from the church of jesus christ and we share a message about God. Do you believe in God?) It blows there miind. haha They always respond in Catalan and then I just start speaking in spanish again. It has been fun practicing! It is kinda weird, but I actually can understand what they say in Catalan about 60 percent of the time! 

Well thats about it for the week! Love you all lots! Please keep praying for the family we need to find! I know they are here! I love you all lots! 

James

Feliz Dia de Reyes!

Hey Everyone! 

I hope everyone had a great 3 kings day! haha I dont know if you guys remember but here in Spain on the 6th of Januray the 3 kings come and bring all the toys to the kids! It is bigger than Christmas! The Reyes come on the night of the 5th and here in Lleida they arrived in Train! They then have a huge Parade! It is pretty nuts. It is my second time that I have passed Reyes and I have really come to love the tradition. The kids all write there letters to the Reyes and then at the verry start of the parade people come around and colect all the letters. They put them into huge bags and by the end of the parade it is nuts to see how many they have! Then night of the 5th the Reyes pass by the houses give all the kids their gifts.  I think it is pretty cool! So for the parade basically the whole city shuts down so my companion and I made a ton of cards and headed down to the parade route! haha We got to see a little of the parade and talked to a ton of people. I thought it was really great because there were a ton of families in the street. We also saw a ton of members there with all their kids. It was a really fun moment! The 5th was a great day! The 6th.... Thats another stroy. all our visits cancelled us and there was absolutely no one in the street who wanted to stop and talk to us! But hey, we made it fun

The good news is that this week we have been blessed and we have found some potential families to work with! We found a family of 4 from Bolivia. We had a visit with the father this past week. They are 7th day adventisits, but we taught him about the Book of Mormon and his eyes really opened. He was really interested. Lots of potential there! We will see what happens this next week! 

We also were knocking some doors this past week and a lady opened the door. She was a Catalan lady who was super nice! We began talking to her and she told us that she listened to the missionaries 13 years ago and that she still has the Book of Mormon. She likes to read it every once in awhile. We asked if we could enter and share a message with her, but she said she was busy with her kids at the moment and asked us if we could come back next week. Potential there! 

We also found another Catalan lady knocking doors who lived in the states for some time and she too told us we could come back after the Holidays. Although we did not see any kids at the door. There was lots of screaming coming from behind the door! haha Potential!

THEN we were passing by some old investigator teaching records this week and we found a family of 8 from Venezuela! haha We were pumped! They invited us in and told us that the missionaries had taught them in the past. The father explained some doubts he had and to be honest the spirit really guided us! we resolved some of his doubts and then he kinda just stopped and thoght for a second.. He then said, well alright, how about you guys come back next week and we can talk a little more.  

To be honest I feel really blessed! It is interesting how just last week I was talking to Dad about how I felt a family is out there somewhere ready to hear the gospel. This week I have been praying to find this family and we have been trying hard to focus on finding this family and the Lord has blessed us much more. Im not sure if one of these familes is the one we have been looking for, but there is one thing I have reallized! You find what you ask and work for! I think many people in this world often read in the scriptures, Ask and you shall recieve, and they expect exactly what it says, but I think what the Lord was trying to say was Ask, GO TO WORK and then receive the blessing. Many times that blessing is going to be what we asked for but many times what we receive is going to be something else the Lord wants us to learn. All I know is I am going to continue focusing on finding as many families as I can. I have got to find that family that is ready!

Well thats about it for the week! We have a lot of potential going into the week, and we are hoping we come out next week with some big smiles on our faces! Its an important week here in Lleida! We would be grateful for your prayers! I love you all and thank you all so much for your support!

Loves

James

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everybody! 

It was great to get to talk to you guys on Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with the love of Christ! My Christmas was great! It was very relaxing! We ate like kings and really I was just able to enjoy the day! 

The rest of the week seemed to be pretty rough... haha The Holiday season here is hard because its not like in the states where its Christmas and done. Spain seems to put all of their holidays real close to each other just to get everything done at once! haha The 24th we they have the cagatio, the 25th is Christmas, the 26th is like the Spanish Thanksgiving (At least that is what someone told me this week haha) Then New Years, and then Reyes on the 6th of January. So they still are celebrating the holidays here. haha It is hard but all you can do is just keep working! And thats what we did this week.

This week we were able to place a baptismal date with Berta. The single mom with her daughter Esmerelda. We had a great lesson with her and we tooka recient convert with us. This recient convert was going through a really tough time in his life before he was baptized and his life has completely changed since his baptism. We came to the lesson and shared one of the most powerfull testimonies I have heard from a recient convert. She accepted the date for the 11th of January and we are working hard towards that date! The daughter will be a little bit of work because her mom and dad are separating right now... We talked a little bit about it with her mom and basically she just doesnt want to cause more problems right now. We will see what happens.

The Hermanas this week also passed us a reference of a lady from Nigeria. We called her and set up a visit with her for Saturday morning. We went to the visit and when we entered the house we found a father (Momo), his wife, and three children! A family! As we sat down, we began talking to the father. He told us he has talked to the missionaries before. He wanted to show us pictures of the elders. Unfortinately we couldnt find pictures of the elders, but we did find pictures of his wedding. BOOM! They are married!!!! haha it was great! Well anyway, we didnt have much time so we shared a message about the Book of Mormon, set up a return visit for Wednesday and invited them to church the next day! Unfortinately, they all didnt come to church, but the father, Momo, did show up and he ended up knowing a really strong member in the ward. Turns out he used to work for him back in the day! It was great! We will be visiting then this week and be putting the baptismal date! 

Well, so thats about it for this week. I hope you all have an amazing week and a Happy New Year! I love you all lots! 

Elder Carrigan

Service...Service...Service...

Hey Everyone!

Well, this week was a week full of.... SERVICE!!!! Yeah! My body is dead! haha This week we were busy helping with a ton of people! Which in a way was good! I dont think I have had a Christmas season quite like this one before! We were busy helping the food bank here in Lleida one day, we were just packaging, counting, and storing food for a couple hours. Moving giant pallets of food here and there. And to top it off, in the rain! haha It was a fun but also work! Never have I moved so much food before! haha

The next day we helped a family here in Lleida move their buisness into a new store. The lady was the biggest pain! haha I am sorry but wow! I was so done with her by the end of the morning! haha For example, she would tell us to take these giant bookcases down the stairs and when I saw them I told her, yeah this isnt going to fit down the stairs, we are goign to have to take it apart... Of course she told me I was wrong so... We started hiking it down the stairs. We get to the first corner and what do you know, doesnt fit.... So we show here and she says oh, you just need to turn it the other way! So what do we do, hike it back up the stairs, turn the bookcase. I look at it again and told her, No.... Its not going down these stairs... She insists, so we try and hey... Doesnt fit! haha So thats how that morning went! 

Then on Saturday we had a big Christmas party in the church! It was also a lot of work but we had a lot of fun! Almost the whole ward came to the party! We all ate together and then had an open mike talent show. Lots of people ssang christmas songs, told jokes, and we even had a small skit! we then played musical chairs! haha It was the funniest thing I have ever seen! At first we just had the little kids play, but then we told the adults that they were going to play! At first it was a little hard to get them excited to play but then once it got going, it was the most competitive game of musical chairs I have ever seen! Everyone was laughing and I would say it was maybe the highlight of the night! haha We then pulled out a giant Cagatio and sang and beat the Cagatio! haha They let the missionaries participate as well so I officially have a video of me beating the Cagatio! :) It was one for the memory books! Almost all of our investigators came to the party and they absolutely loved it! It was a success! Thats for sure! 

Well that about it for this week! I will talk to you guys on Tuesday! :) Merry Christmas! Love you all! 

James!