Nothing to see here!

Well,

I would say this week has been a pretty average one. I haven't been
super good about updating my journal and for that reason.... Not a lot
is coming to my mind right now.

One of the weirdest experiences was when we were teaching this family
and the mom began breast feeding her one to two year old kid in front
of us.... Yeah that was super uncomfortable. But other than that they
asked us to speak in church again, so that was a sweet activity.

Other than that, things are still moving along really well here
actually. Francisco is still a boss. He tells me every time we talk
that we all are gonna be Mormon some day and that none of us will ever
forget how me met, because that was an inspired event.

Something that's been on my mind a lot and something that we've shared
a lot is the story of David and Goliath, especially these verses.

1 Samuel 17: 40-51

40 And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones
out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even
in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the
Philistine.

41 And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man
that bare the shield went before him.

42 And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained
him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.

43 And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to
me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

44 And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy
flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.

45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword,
and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of
the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast
defied.

46 This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will
smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the
carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the
air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know
that there is a God in Israel.

47 And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with
sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you
into our hands.

48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew
nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet
the Philistine.

49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and
slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone
sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a
stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword
in the hand of David.

51 Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his
sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut
off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion
was dead, they fled.

We all have difficulties, be financial, physical, familiar,
temptations or whatever it may be, there are so many things of this
world that get us down and make things hard for us. Those physical
things that beat us down are our goliaths. I love how David says that
the lord doesn't fight with swords or spears, because he doesn't need
to. No matter how difficult the trial may seem, he can help us
overcome it and bring us peace. The words of John 16:33 have a really
big impact on me thinking along these lines.

33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have
peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I
have overcome the world.

Have faith and God will help you overcome all! And have a rad week


Elder Baron

Post basketball game with the other elders 

Calling the people of the Parla branch to repentence.... Attendance
has been on the lower side

Don't you dare spit on me...

I really do like Parla.  From playing soccer with the Nigerian
investigators every Saturday ( By the way, that's a pretty successful
way to find people to teach if your president allows it), to teaching
a class at the last minute every Sunday. Parla teaches me tons, and
it's such a blessing to be here.

The title of my email this week refers to something that happened to
me last p day in the streets.  On my companions first day, we were
just waiting to cross the street, and this kid on a bike went racing
by.  He looked at us as he passed, and as he passed, he tried to spit
on me because I was in front of my companion waiting.  He was
literally like two feet away.  He spit..... As he rode off, I just
looked at him with this confused look and thought, why would someone
do that... In shame I looked down at my shirt to assess the damage.  I
was confident that I had been shot.  I saw the spit pass by me and my
companion saw it pass by me on both my right and my left.  To my
surprise, I found no trace of being spit on when I looked down. I was
completely clean.  Some may call this little story a fluke or even
good luck, but I feel that I was protected by the Lord. I feel like it
was a miracle I made it out of there without a single bullet wound
that day.

Other than that, we had an incredible experience in the house of an
investigator talking about the sabbath day.  The conversation began
with the commandments, then shifted into obedience, and then shifted
into miracles and ultimately how faith brings miracles.  It was a
lesson inspired by the spirit in the moment.  We talked about Moses
and the Israelites, I was able to share with her my experience with
getting running over by a car when I was three and how a priesthood
blessing and the faith of my parents caused a miraculously quick
healing.  More than anything, we promised her the Lord would bless her
with whatever she needed if she showed her faith by finding a way to
not work on Sunday and keep the Sabbath day Holy.The best part of the
lesson was when she shared an experience with us about how she too had
felt that she needed to change one Sunday as she was working.  We told
her that those feelings come from the spirit, and she could be
confident that it was God's way of telling her he was going to take
care of the rest if she just took a Leap of faith.  The spirit was
super strong during this lesson and It was an incredible experience to
give her a blessing as we left.  I know that if she makes the
sacrifices necessary, the Lord will take care of her, no matter how
unlikely it seems.

Matthew 16: 31-33
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and
all these things shall be added unto you.



Other than that, one of our investigators is basically the coolest
people I've ever met in my life.  We met him because he was listening
to Flamenco (Spanish Opera Basically) super loud with the window
open and we decided to go talk to him.  He is in love with
everything about the church and we have a ton of hope for him.  I
won't say too much but his name is Francisco.  Someone tell me if I
already talked about him before please haha.

Anyways, hope this week is awesome

Elder Baron

PS, some people send me some things to look at in links, be pictures,
videos, or whatever.  I can only really see it if you send me directly 
the original picture, video, or recording.  Other than that, I can't
really see it.
Elder Baron

My companion and I 

DONT EAT THE HEADS OF A SARDINE!!!! ITS NOT GOOD

Football with the Nigerians and traslados

Hello to all!

We just had transfers! I'm still here in Parla in the heat of the
summer, but my companion is gone! Ah man we were so different but
found ways to bond with a shared dorky personality and a commitment to
serve. My new companion is on his way here and is from Colorado. His
name is Elder Cheung ( kinda like the Darth Vader song) Cheung Cheung
Cheung Cheung Cha Cheung Cha Cha Cheung.

But wow this week was way cool! We got to go play soccer with the
Nigerians this week again and man that was sooo fun! They are super
humble and cool too! We are slowly trying to teach all of them as
well! There is some potential there!!!! One of the coolest moments of
this week was in our lesson with our Nigerian investigator Joshua.
Joshua hasn't been able to meet for a long time and we kinda convinced
him to make the time by telling him my comp was leaving the next day.
We explained to him the importance of reading in the Book of Mormon
and how the Lord would bless his life if he did that. We watched a
video about showing faith and overcoming trials. Afterwards, the
spirit was super strong, and we sat there outside in silence for like
5 minutes. Finally he just said "I need to read the Book". The Spirit
was so strong there as we sat there in silence and I thought that was
really cool that he listened to it and knew what he had to do in his
life to make things better.

A scripture that has also really impacted me this week is Philipians
4:13 I can do all things in Christ which strengtheneth me. I thought
about this scripture in a new way this week. Instead of thinking about
how it related to Tim Teebow and Football and things like moving
mountains, I thought about how it related to our every day lives. I
think that all things in this scripture refers to the little things we
have to tackle each and every day of our lives. Maybe it's a struggle
with someone else, maybe it's a doubt, maybe it's feelings of a lack
of self worth. We can overcome all these things each and every day as
we trust in Christ. FAITH IN CHRIST WILL STRENGTHEN US IN EVERY
SITUATION, NO MATTER WHAT IT MAY BE.

Hope you all have a great week and here's a picture of us with Joshua

Elder Baron 

Discovering a little bit more about why I am here

This week, I would say it was pretty average. The investigators we
have are still looking promising.  They came to church, and are
keeping their commitments, but we are still going around every day
talking to everyone and their mother.... Literally trying to find some
more.

To be honest, I've had maybe a little bit too much time to think about
my mission and what I've done here.  Spain has been incredible.  Ive
learned so much here and met so many incredible people, but recently
I've been kinda getting a little down on myself for not being able to
help more people so far....

Reading in the Book of Mormon has helped me a ton though.  I've
learned a valuable lesson from King Benjamin's speech to his people
and reflecting on some words from Elder Bednar.  In Mosiah 2 it says
the following...

15 Yet, my brethren, I have not done these things that I might boast,
neither do I tell these things that thereby I might accuse you; but I
tell you these things that ye may know that I can answer a clear
conscience before God this day.

16 Behold, I say unto you that because I said unto you that I had
spent my days in your service, I do not desire to boast, for I have
only been in the service of God.

17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that
ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye
are only in the service of your God.

18 Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your
king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one
another?

19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his
days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit
any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!

20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the
thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that
God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has
caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in
peace one with another--

21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from
the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you
breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will,
and even supporting you from one moment to another--I say, if ye
should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be
unprofitable servants.

22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his
commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his
commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary
from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his
commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto
you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.

24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath
commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and
therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and
are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to
boast?

25 And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay.
Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet
ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to
him who created you.


Really, I think that my heart may not have been in the right place
before I read this and I was complaining about not having success on a
mission.  I'm not here so that I can talk about baptizing tons of
people in my farewell talk when I go home, and boast about how I
brought about a huge change in the hearts of many here in Spain.  I'm
here to serve the Lord.  He has commanded me to share my testimony
with other people and to do HIS work.  I can not do anything here
without him.  I'm merely an instrument in his hands.  I invite other
people to do things, but as people come unto Him, He helps them change
their hearts and live a better life.  I'm here to serve my maker.  I
will never be able to repay my Heavenly Father for all he has given
me, nor for the blessing of repentence through Christ's Atonement.
But I can show Him how grateful I am by giving it my very all to serve
Him.

Like Elder Bednar once said, I was kinda being like the Cookie
Monster. "I want cookie now" or in other words "I want success as a
missionary now".  I'm here to do whatever the Lord wants me to do
here, and to aid HIM in any way that I can so that He can help his
children come to know Him better.

I testify that GOD is our loving Heavenly Father and that He loves us
all. I'm so grateful for the Atonement in my life and for the way that
the Gospel has changed my life. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen



Elder Baron