Wednesday, February 19, 2014

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 


Monday, February 10, 2014

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 

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

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