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!