Trapped for 17 hours

This week we made a mistake.  We had family home evening in the church
building Friday night and thinking everyone had left, we left as well.
Well, our church here is a little building and it kinda looks like a
prison.  Let's just say you could not get out very easy even if you
wanted too.  Turns out we left a poor old lady in the bathroom that
night and when we returned 17 hours later, she was very grateful we
let her out.  Man the shame was real.  I felt very very bad.  But nobody is perfect, and thankfully she said she had a very spiritual
experience in the church that night. True story....

But other than that, we had a really good week here in Parla with a
few more lessons than normal.  We were able to finally set a date with
our investigator from Romania whose girlfriend is from Honduras, and
although they have a large journey ahead of them, we are super stoked
to help them along the way as best as we can! We also have this
investigator who is crazy old but reads sooo much.  He read all of
first and second Nephi in a week as well as the pamphlets we gave him
and came to church Sunday.  He's old and he talks more than anyone I
have ever met in my entire life, and doesn't let us do much teaching
with the amount of time he talks, but he loves the Book of Mormon, and
loved church.  He's super funny though and super awesome.

My companion and I gave talks on Sunday.  I felt prompted to talk
about service.  I wish we had more opportunities to serve here in
Spain.  Sometimes it's like the scene in Up where he's like "Can I
help you cross the street.... No...... Can I help you cross your
lawn..... No....... Can I help you cross your porch......no....
There's gotta be something I can help you cross!!!!" But hey, the best
way to serve is to share your testimony with other people, and we
get to do that every day. I'm so grateful for the chance I have to do
that.  That's what my talk was about.  The joys of service and the
joys of serving by sharing your testimony.

A scripture that stood out to me this week is found in Doctrine and
Covenants 10:5.

5 Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may
conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of
Satan that do uphold his work.

I know that prayer can be one of the most powerful tools we have if we
use it sincerely and honestly. We use it sincerely when we pour out
our hearts to our Father in Heaven each and every moment of every day.
I testify that he hears prayers and he answers them.  If we pour out
our hearts to him in the hardest times, he will fill them up again
with his love, and that will carry us through anything that Satan
throws at us.  I testify that this is true because I've seen it in my
life

In the name of Jesus Christ, 

Amen

Elder Baron 

This is my second mom Victoria.  She makes me this drink called morir
sonando which means to die sleeping.  It's a mix of orange juice,
milk, ice cubes, and tons of sugar! TRY IT

So the worst thing happened.  I know I'm making up for not sending
good pictures and videos for a long time.... Well at least sending
pics and videos, but I deleted half of the good videos I made for you
guys going to this super cool town called Toledo last p day where they
sell all of these swords, including the sword of LABAN AND CAPTAIN
MORONI.  So these are the pics that didn't get deleted, enjoy!

Two p days ago after playing soccer and having a water fight in the heat

Costco pizza ❤️❤️❤️

Every room in the piso as requested

Study den 

Poke my eyes out please

I'm sorry if the title of this email is a little too visual for some
reading this email, but there is a story behind it. Basically the
story is that modesty is something that hasn't really reached the
stores here, and the weather is not helping in any way. After
unexpectedly seeing something my companion nor I wanted to in the
streets, that was my companions response.

Oh man, there is an amazing family in our ward that fed us some of the
hottest peppers I have ever had this week. They got them out and
invited us each to eat just one the size of a finger nail. This can't
be that bad we thought. Oh man that bad boy burned my mouth so bad.
Other positives from the week were having a water fight last p day at
the drinking fountain with the members of the ward after playing
soccer in the heat, and eating my companions birthday cakes from the
members with him and with his permission.

This week went really well here in Parla. I would say the highlight of
the week was this new investigator we have named Costine who met with
us three times and introduced us to his girlfriend and less active
sister in law. He's brought us quite a bit of new work. Other
highlights were seeing our investigator Estrella bear her testimony of
the Book of Mormon as an answer to her fathers doubts about another
volume of scripture. She also watched the restoration movie and the
first two work and the glory movies this week on her own which helped
her a ton too. Although we have mountains to climb to get some of our
investigators to baptism, we are incredibly grateful for the Lords
hand in bringing his children closer to him. Honestly it is the best
feeling to watch people take even the smallest of baby steps to
accepting the gospel and making covenants with him. I came across
another quote this week about serving others and the happiness it
brings us that I love. It's by Spencer W. Kimball "...the more we
serve our fellowmen in appropriate ways, the more substance there is
to our souls. We become more significant individuals as we serve
others. We become more substantive as we serve others--indeed, it is
easier to “find” ourselves because there is so much more of us to
find!"

I want to bear my testimony that a mission really does help us to find
out who we really are. Yes we come to know and feel of the
truthfulness of our spiritual identity as sons and daughters and
brothers and sisters of God as we grow closer to Him, but we also are
able to find out our divine potential even more as we lose ourselves
serving others here. I've been able to recognize so many things i wish
I did differently and found so many things to improve on here on my
mission, but serving others has helped me find a greater purpose in my
life.

Now this isn't just something that applies to missionaries but to all.
Serving others is the way to come to know who we really are. No matter
where you are or who you are with, looking out and finding ways to
serve others will bring you more joy than anything and help you find
out who you really are.  I testify of that in the name of Jesus
Christ, Amen

I want to say that I Love each and every one of you and hope this week
has lots of surprises in store

Elder Baron

They are old and slow until you take them to play soccer

The temperature is rising.....

But oh man this week one of our investigators invited us to go play
soccer with him and his Nigerian friends. They play every week, and we
were expecting to have a nice chill game of futbol. Well, these old
Spanish dudes showed up with their Spanish national team jerseys on.
They divided the teams. Old Spanish dudes versus Nigerians and
Americans. This was going to be the easiest match I had ever played
in. Oh man, these 65-75 year old Spanish dudes were legit. They were physical,
they were fast, they were smart, and they totally humbled me. This was
100 times more intense than church ball too. They did not mess around
for 1 minute. It was sooo crazy.

Other than that we met a crazy cool kid on the way to our piso a
couple nights ago. He practically stopped us in the streets to start
talking to him. We invited him to listen to more and he gave us his
number. We met with him the next day. He then set up three
appointments with us this week with him his girlfriend and his sister
in law. We will see what happens but man he loves us.

This week I learned a few lessons. One thing, that the heat can really
make things complicated here. I have never been so tired in my mission
before. Seriously there are times where I have to fight so hard to
keep moving forward and I actually have to fight my body and force
myself to talk to people. NEVER LET THE BODY RULE THE SPIRIT.

We had a really good week to be honest though. We were able to have a
lot of lessons with some new people and had a lot of less actives at
church, including a woman who left the church just because the JW's
helped her when she needed it. Let's hope things continue forward from
here.

We had a really good zone conference this week with president Pack. He
and the APs gave us a bunch of really good things to encourage us to
keep going forward and encouraged us to talk to more people each and
every day. I found a scripture I loved while studying before the
conference.

Mosiah 4:17-21

17 Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his
misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of
my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer,
for his punishments are just--

18 But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great
cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he
perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God.

19 For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the
same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both
food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches
which we have of every kind?

20 And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name,
and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye
have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and
has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused
that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance,
so exceedingly great was your joy.

21 And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for
your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you
whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall
receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have
one to another.


This scripture is one that helps me a lot as a missionary. Kinda like
I mentioned last week, it can be hard to have the motivation to keep
talking to everyone in the streets. Sometimes we even get to the point
where we look at people and we just assume they don't want anything.
Yet this scripture helped me want to make some changes. First off, it
taught me that I have no right to judge others by the first glance, or
even after they reject me. I don't know their situation, I don't know
their lives. Who knows, I might even do the same thing if I didn't
have the knowledge I have of the gospel. The Lord does know them
though and he can help them. He Loves them, and he can't help them
unless I open my mouth and try. That's the second thing i felt reading
this scripture. It's hard to not give up on these people until I think
about all the Lord has given me through this gospel. I owe him all
I've got, and These people need this so so bad. That's my goal this
week, to remember that really, I owe the lord all I've got, and that's
what I need to do, share the gospel with all I've got to show him I'm
grateful

Hey, if you have a hard week this week, there's always next week.
Inspirational quote of the day.

Elder Baron

OYE, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho

Hi,

So due to the amount of time it took my companions and I to make
pancakes and to the lighting tournament we are trying to start with
the people in our ward today, this email will likely be short.

Top moment of this week as far as cultural things is that the
Ecuatorians made us some delicious callos this week. Callos is a plate
of rice, potatoes, delicious salsa, and pieces of cow stomach.  It
sounds weird, but if you haven't tried it, you haven't lived.  Man it
was pretty dang good.

This week we had a really cool experience.  We were just having a
normal morning trying to talk to as many people as we could in the
streets and looking for any opportunity to help others when we walked
up to this Nigerian pacing back and forth.  As we walked up to him, we
asked him what he was doing.  He told us he was just thinking and
waiting for someone.  Well, we began to talk to him in English about
the gospel.  As the conversation went on, he opened up.  He told us
that he was pacing back and forth because he was looking for
inspiration from God to know what to do in his life. He told us he
wasn't actually waiting for anyone, just inspiration.  All three of us
realized at that moment what was really going on here.  It was no
coincidence that the Lord had put us there at that time and sent us to
him when he did.  Truly, the Lord had answered this mans prayer
through a miracle.

So the title is the way it is because his name is Joshua, and my
companion has been singing the song with that line in it over and over
again. This example is something that happens to us a lot in
missionary work.  Is Joshua going to get baptized? I don't know, but
did the Lord work a miracle in all of our lives that day? No doubt in
my mind.  Although to some it may seem small, it is a miracle.

We live in a hard world.  Here in Spain, the words of a popular black
eyed peas song comes to our mind often: "What's wrong with the world
mama, people acting like they ain't got no mama..... Father Father
Father help us, send some guidance from above, cause people got me
questioning, WHERE IS THE LOVE."

People don't believe in God as much anymore because the Lord isn't
parting the Red Sea very often... They don't believe in a God of
miracles yet the Book of Mormon tells us otherwise.

"19 And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be
a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say
unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he
ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.

20 And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of
men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the
right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust.

21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting
nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it
shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends
of the earth.

25 And whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him
will I confirm all my words, even unto the ends of the earth."
Mormon 9

The Lord has not ceased in any way.  His words will never cease, and
neither will he cease to be a God of miracles.  The only thing that
changes is us.  We have less faith in him sometimes, and sometimes we
just aren't looking around enough to see the little miracles he does
for us in our lives.

I testify with all my heart that God works miracles in each and every
one of our lives each and every day.  I also testify that the more we
bring ourselves closer to the Lord, the closer he will bring himself
to us.  KEEP GOING MY FRIENDS, KEEP PRESSING FORWARD, AND MAY GOD
BRING TO PASS MIRACLES IN EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOUR LIVES THIS WEEK.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen



Elder Baron