One last goodbye to the Canary Islands

Well, it's really sad to finish your mission. I was sitting in church the other day  and thinking about how much my life has changed as I have been here in Spain these past two years. I feel like a huge part of my heart belongs to Spain and to the people I have gotten to know here. With getting smart phones and Facebook and all that I have been able to talk way more with the recent converts and less actives I have been able to encourage to come unto the gospel. Although I'm super stoked that I will be able to continue talking with all them, It will be sad to no longer see them and give them a hug and a pat on the back to encourage them to keep moving forward. 

Today I'm in the canary islands for the last zone conference I will go to on my mission. I know it's all really sad! But on the bright side I have the chance to make a couple last visits to some people I met here! It's going to be great to say goodbye to them and leave my testimony with them for one last time. I hope to stay close to all of them though. 

We had an awesome p day today. We went to the highest point on the island and to the alligator farm here on the island. It was sweet to see those two things one last time also. 

One of the highlights of my week was for sure having a lesson in English over Facebook messenger with one of my friends from high school! It was weird to teach in English and share my testimony in English again but awesome at the same time. I hope to reach out to more of my friends from before the mission in the next couple weeks and share some more with them. 

Another highlight of the week was working with a few missionaries and going to a zone conference in Leon which is more or less in the north of Spain. Every missionary brings his or her own personality to the mission and also his or her testimony. It's very cool how each missionary can use those things in different ways to carry out the work of the Lord. It was inspiring to be with other missionaries throughout the mission all week and to see the way that they are all doing that! 

That's pretty much all I got for the week. These last couple weeks are really the refiners fire that's for sure. You really have to catch yourself and keep yourself focused at times. I hope to finish off strong though. 

God be with you until we meet again

Elder Baron

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

Almost have less weeks left than years in the field......

Hey! 

Well, sorry for not writing for so long. It's been craziness over here! I haven't had any free time for quite a while! I've been traveling quite a bit to go to Zone conferences and just been trying to make up for the time we have missed working in our area! 

Things are going very well. I'm so loving this last transfer! Wow definitely excited out of my mind to be at the beach again and see everyone again but for real feeling sad to leave all these incredible people behind. 

We had a really spiritual lesson this week. One of our investigators came to a fireside and we had the chance to meet with him afterwards. We talked a lot about baptism and about how following Jesus Christ makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE. When we follow Christ we are not only blessed spiritually but also temporally like it teaches us in Mosiah 2:41 

41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

As we explained all this to him, we could feel the spirit very strong. That was confirmation for us that we were not only teaching him a lesson we share with everyone to make him feel Good, but that God was backing our words. 

It really is a beautiful and true principal though! God blesses those who keep his commandments both temporally and spiritually and one that I know is true! 

We've had a couple other cool experiences this week too and many others I would love to tell you more about in a couple of weeks from the comfort of my or your home haha. The technology has been a huge blessing for us! We already have been able to teach recent converts who live far away over video chat and have been able to connect way better and way easier with the people here! The Lord is moving his work forward that's for sure with all of this incredible technology that we have! 

Welp, other than that, I've been trying to bear my testimony as much as I can to the people here and trying to leave all the influence I can to help people come unto Christ! It's great to be a missionary for sure! 

-Elder Baron

Smart phones and social media for missionaries , that's a joke right?

Well,

The day has come when we are getting smart phones and social media to use in missionary work. Pretty crazy right. I'm going to do all I can to make an effective use out of it, but it feels pretty weird at this point. The Lord sees it convenient though so I'm just going to trust Him. 

This week we worked really really hard. Our investigators we had last month got baptized and we have been pushing hard to find some new people to teach. We contacted a ton of people in the street and got their numbers but that is never really the best way to find them. We end up going through a ton of people before finding someone genuinely interested. The best way to find solid people is through the members though. We are teaching a man right now that the members met through advertising a business and contacting in the street who is really awesome. We have been working hard with him and he has been doing awesome at keeping his commitments. He has some fears about baptism though. He hasn't really seen himself  ready up until this point. We see him as super prepared though and have felt prompted to give him a date to work towards. The other day we were teaching him when we invited him to be baptized on a specific date, he was very unsure so we told him to just pray and ask God what He thinks. He did it and my dear friends the Lord told him in his mind and in his heart that this was true and that he should be baptized. It's at times like these where I realize how little I really am in the work of the Lord. This really is His work and I am just blessed to participate in it in any way that I can!

I know that God answers all of our prayers, just like he did with our dear friend who wasn't sure and had his doubts. If we trust his answers and move forward acting on what He tells us to do, we can live the life he wants us to live. God wants us to live the life that will lead us back to happiness in his presence. As we live this kind of life, we will see how he helps us every day and feel little pieces of that promised happiness.

So keep on living the life that will lead you to the promised land my friends! Ask him what you should do and he will answer you! Act on those answers and you will find the bright side of life! 

God Bless you!

Elder Baron

THE beginning of the end.... transfer 18 first week!

I AM NOT DEAD YET, BUT WE ARE GETTING DOWN TO THE WIRE HERE! 

It's insanity to begin my last 6 weeks here in the missionary field! The whole idea of being at home, studying, and getting a job are now becoming a little bit important to me, but I'm still working to give it my all here as we come into the last 6 weeks! 

This week was quite exciting! We worked hard on companionship exchanges with the Zone Leaders and saw some really cool miracles! One of the coolest miracles was finding an investigator named Wendy! Wendy was progressing and doing amazing until we lost contact with her a couple weeks ago! We were kind of bummed because we had no lessons planned for the morning, but as we were walking down the street, all the sudden we saw her! There she was on a bench where we used to always see her! We immediately ran up to her and sat down and just had a very open lesson with her! We talked to her about her life and found out she has been going through a rough time. As we talked about the gospel principles though and how they bless us, she realized that she needed them in her life with some help from the spirit and decided she wants to keep learning and try her best to live the gospel so that it can change her! We were very excited to once again be helping our sister Wendy out! 

Besides that, my companion turned 21 on Saturday and the members went crazy to throw him surprise parties and make him feel loved! I would love it though if some of you guys could write him and wish him happy birthday though! He deserves it and he's a great guy! He's helped me a ton! If you love me, please show some love to him by writing him and sending him some birthday love! His email is diego.barrales.funes@myldsmail.net ! Thanks guys! 

Another awesome thing about this week was that Jeronimo got to bless the sacrament for the first time and we were able to take him to the temple for the first time! The temple was not only a really great experience for him but also for us! It's crazy how much peace you feel as you enter into the temple from a world full of problems and craziness! Jerónimo really felt it! He told us afterwards that he just felt weightless there and an emotional peace he needed to feel! That was very cool to see him enjoy the temple so much! 

This week the Hermanas in our ward had a bunch of success and we got to be at the baptisms and confirmations of those investigators. It is always fantastic to see people take these steps to come unto Christ. Although they are the "Hermana's Investigators" that's not what matters. What matters is that we were able to see two of our sisters take a huge step to become closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! It was a very spiritual weekend and a great way to cap off another week! 

Looking forward to seeing you guys soon and always love hearing updates! If you are reading this and we haven't talked in a while, I would love to hear from you! 

Peace in the Middle East, rain in Spain! 

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

Jorge and Nixon's baptism

Hey, 

This week was another crazy one but really awesome! We had three companion exchanges this week! I loved every single one of them! We have some incredible leaders in our mission who teach me so much! I especially loved the opportunity that I had to work with Elder Corbridge again! We haven't been together since the beginning of our mission when I trained him. I was amazed by what an incredible missionary he has become! He has no fear to talk to people, speaks incredible Spanish, he teaches with all of his heart, and he takes advantage of every moment he can to share his testimony! All the missionaries I worked with this week were awesome but it was especially unique for me to be with Elder Corbridge! 

It truly is awesome to see how the Lord sometimes just puts people into our path who are ready for the Gospel! Two of our investigators Jorge and Nixon just got baptized and confirmed this weekend! They moved here to Spain from Honduras looking for a new life and found the gospel through one of their friends! They just showed up to church one day and every since then, we have been teaching them! They have overcome many battles to make it to this point, but they were able to take the step and be baptized! They have a very bright future and I know they have the potential to be great leaders in the church as they live the gospel with all their hearts! 

Our mission is doing really great right now and we are seeing a lot of miracles! I'm so grateful to have served exactly where the Lord wanted me to be! 

HAVE a great week! 

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

Bautismo de Andrés

Another amazing week has gone by here in Barrio 8! 

First, our 9 year old buddy Andrés got baptized! He was nervous and so was his dad but it all went over really well! That family is a huge miracle! A couple of weeks ago the missionaries in Barrio 8 planned a lunch with an investigator! For the lunch they had to go buy a special kind of fish! The Elders didn't exactly know where to go to get what they needed but chose a little market! They got the fish from the market and as they were leaving the market they were saying hello to everyone. One lady responded, hello Elder's. That led the elder's to talk to her! They discovered that she and her family had been inactive since moving from Paraguay to Spain! They arranged a day to go by and visit and when they got there, they said, here is our 9 year old son. He needs to be baptized. Can you help him? Ever since then the family has come back to church and are doing great! Before the baptism we were talking to the family about temples and sealings! It was super sweet when Andres said the closing prayer and said "Please help me and my family to be able to be sealed! That was really powerful to me! Well, we were talking and all the sudden my companion looks at me and says "the water!" We ran to the baptismal font and discovered that we left it on! The bathrooms flooded on both sides! The good part was that there is no carpet and the parents of Andres are professional cleaners, so they helped us clean up super fast! The baptism and confirmation went great and there was an awesome spirit there! 

The other thing that happened this week was that jeronimo got the priesthood! He asked me to give it to him too! I was pretty nervous because I have never given anyone the priesthood! As I laid my hands on his head though everything calmed down and I was able to just speak the words the spirit put into my mind. It was a great spiritual experience for both me and for him! 

This week we also saw a huge miracle! We had these two super solid investigators from Honduras named Jorge and Nixon who were on track to get baptized for this next weekend, but the opposition came and they got a job that made them work on Sunday! We were so bummed because they were progressing so well and were really ready for their baptismal date! Well on Thursday we got to their house and they started by telling us that they were moving back to Honduras! Part of me was happy for them because I saw it as an opportunity for them to find a better life and be able to find the church there! I was also really sad though! Then they told us just kidding, but we do have something else to tell you guys! Oh no what is it! Well, they quit their job and can now come to church again! They came last week and passed their baptismal interviews! We are looking forward to their baptisms this coming weekend! Wahoo! The Lord works miracles and really does touch people's hearts! I know this step will help Jorge and Nixon greatly! 

Today we are visiting a beautiful Spanish town called Segovia! I will work on getting some more pictures later, but for now, here is a picture of Andrés, his family, me and my companion, and Elder Mitchell Brady who I replaced here who is back visiting us! Have a great one! Love you guys! 

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

JERÓNIMO!!!

Heeey Fam! 

This week was really really solid! Definitely did not want to miss the opportunity to write home about a couple of the things that happened! 

First off, we had an awesome ward activity this last weekend! We went to this park and played a ton of water games! We found a really cool guy at the activity who came with his niece named David! We asked him if he wanted to come to church and listen to the lessons and he said yes to both! He came to church and really had a great time! Then we had an amazing lesson with him the other day! It's crazy how the spirit can direct you exactly what to do during the lessons! I was on an exchange for this lesson with another missionary and we both felt really strongly like we needed to have a lot of pauses throughout the lesson! He had really really good questions and after answering his questions, there were long pauses. It wasn't awkward at all! In fact, we could see that during the pauses he was really processing everything in his head and by knods of approval, we could tell that the spirit was really testifying to him that our message was true! It was a cool thing to see the spirit really testify to him during those moments! I really hope David can keep progressing because he is really prepared spiritually! 

Another great thing that happened this week was that our friend Jerónimo got baptized! The service was awesome! Everything went over really smooth despite a few little complications. The best part of the whole baptism though was Jeronimo's testimony! It was so awesome because he shared in his testimony how the gospel had really touched his heart and changed him. He hadn't really shared all those things with us yet! It was a really really powerful testimony! I also felt the spirit super super strong after it all was over and we were singing the Spirit of God! I felt so good during the song and so grateful for my mission and all the opportunities I have had to help people see the truthfulness of the gospel in their lives! 

Today we went to the temple again! What an experience! So we went through the session and at the end I was just sitting there thinking in the temple a little bit! I went to the temple a little bit preoccupied about some things but I grabbed some scriptures. I just opened them up and on the very first chapter and on the very first verse I found exactly what I needed! It only got better as I kept reading too! The Lord lead me exactly to the words I needed to read today and I am so grateful for the spirit I felt there in the temple! 

Go to the temple this week my friends and have an awesome day! 

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

Beginning of second to last transfer in Barrio 8

Sorry I didn't write last week! I have been pretty head over heels busy here. 

Things are going super super well here in Barrio 8 though! The Lord is carrying out his work here right now more than I have ever seen it! My companion and I feel really really blessed to be here right now to take part in it all! 

WE have this one investigator right now named Jerónimo who was a pure miracle! He was a reference from some missionaries in another area we received a couple weeks ago. He has just come with so many desires to change his life and has accepted everything in the church so well! We had a lesson with him this week and he had summarized every single chapter he had read so far with a sticky note. He shared with us how much reading the Book of Mormon has blessed him in his life! He passed his interview last Saturday and should get baptized and confirmed this weekend! We are so so happy for for him! 

Another cool thing that happened recently is that I was on a companion exchange with a missionary in the beautiful city of Valladolid and we had a really cool finding experience! We were walking down the street and I looked to my right and saw this guy sitting on a bench a little ways off and not in our immediate path. The Prompting was very strong to change our course and to talk to him. So we did! As we sat down, the spirit just filled our conversation. He listened really intently to everything we said and expressed a lot of amazement as he heard about the restored gospel for the first time in his life! It was to the point an emotional thing to realize how the Lord had guided us to one of his prepared children and to bear my simple testimony to him. He accepted the gospel very very well and has a ton of potential! I really hope he continues to progress, because I feel like he was very ready! Maybe you can't quite see this experience in your heads like I can, but it was way cool and very powerful for me! 

Other than that, I've been able to really see missionary work from a different perspective here! I've been able to refocus more on the reason why I am here and have realized that I need to improve my sincerity and love in the work! I want to develop those things because the work is way better when we do it from our hearts! That's my goal to improve from here on out! 

Other than that, our o day was great. We went to a little town called Toledo again and toured some museums and enjoyed some Spanish culture stuff. Hope you guys had a good week too! Love you guys 

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

Aranjuez!

Well, 

This week was insanity to say the least! I wasn't in my area hardly at all but had a couple highlights! 

1. Got to see some recent converts from Azuqueca who came to the temple

2. We had a baptism from some work my companions have been doing recently in our area 

3. My companion and I are able to really get close and have some really good conversations. The truth is I am super grateful for him and for all he does for me! 

4. We got to go tour the Real Madrid stadium again which was really fun! 

5. I got to go see Aranjuez which is a really pretty area in our mission for a couple days

6. I got to eat some really good food 

7. Helping with transfers was a stressful experience but a good time! 

Want to say something about transfers. I've been able to really see how this is a revelatory work and how much the Lord influences my mission president in transfer decisions and planning decisions in our mission! It's incredible to see how much missionary work is led by revelation and what a blessing that is! President makes many decisions at times not knowing exactly why, but later finds out that they are exactly what the Lord needed to happen! The Lord is the head of this work and he is leading it all! 

Had to say goodbye to many friends in the mission going home here this transfer but I look forward to working hard in my last two transfers in the mission until I go home in October! 

I love you guys and will be praying for the people who write back to talk about what's going on in their lives and who need it! 

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

First trip back to the islands

Silence Broken! Sorry for the delayed response on this one. 

Wow this week has been a crazy one that's for sure. From now until the rest of my mission, there will be weeks where I don't write home on Mondays because there are always things that come up and we have to change our p day a lot, but I will do my best to try and get something home to keep everyone updated. 

Things are going very well here in Barrio 8. I feel like I have just come right home. The members and I have a really good relationship from the 6 months that I was here before. We look forward to seeing some miracles as we can work with them to find, teach, and baptize. 

Im overall super super tired at this point. Not just because of the time I have on the mission but because of how much work we are doing. Today was supposed to be p day but that one isn't going to happen due to a companion exchange that is going to last the rest of this week! But we have also done a lot of super amazing things too recently! This week we got to go back to the Canary Islands for Zone conference and I was able to work in vecindario, my old area! Got to see a lot of the old members but the best highlight was seeing Jorge. Jorge is an older guy who moved to Spain from Cuba that we were able to teach and baptize when I first got here! He's been very ill and it was so good to see him again because it not only lifted his spirits a lot but mine as well! I also got to see my old buddy Elder Bennett at Zone conference in the islands just before he goes home which was awesome too! 

WE had a really cool experience at Zone conference. As part of mine and my companions part we were going to teach the restoration in 4 minutes. The moment we got up to teach the restoration, I could feel the spirit really strong and i just felt a confirmation that what I was teaching was true through the promptings of the spirit that came to me in that moment. I didn't know until after but one of the people in one of the married couples said that they loved our part and asked us if we noticed what happened with the air conditioning. We didn't notice in the moment but the air shut off right as we went into the restoration, giving us complete silence as we taught. We don't know why the air shut off right in that moment, but we were very grateful for the effect it had on helping us to feel the spirit though in that moment. 

Im discovering a lot of my weaknesses and imperfections every day. Especially because I feel like I'm kinda teaching alongside Alma and Amulek over here with the way my companions teach with power and authority, and I just see myself as average compared to them, but I'm going to continue to give it all that I've got here and try to be not what I think I need to be, but what the Lord needs me to be right now. 

Im very grateful for the way that the mission has helped me to grow stronger in the gospel and at the same time as a person! This one is hard for me, but I think it's a secret to happiness. We've gotta have hope in ourselves and push forward and not beat ourselves up if we only move a little each day. That's all I can do, but a mission has taught me that my baby steps matter to God, so I need to keep taking them. 

HAVE a good one! 

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

First week once again in Barrio 8

Things are going good here in B8. It's been very busy and I've already had to do some interesting stuff here with my new assignment as assistant. It's not too stressful yet though. We have got a couple important meetings coming up here in the next couple days that should put things to the test. 

This week we have taught a lot of new people and had a lot of success. The work is really going well in Barrio 8. My companions are truly one of a kind. First you've got Elder Brady from laguna Niguel who goes home in two weeks, and then you've got Elder Barrales from Chile. They both teach with a ton of power and authority, but most of all with a lot of sincerity. It's really cool to work with the two of them. Every lesson this week has been really really spiritual and we have been able to see the spirit touch the hearts of our investigators in a powerful way. A lot of the people we are teaching though have come from old investigators who the other companionship was teaching when I was here before. Don't know how that happened but bueno. 

Besides that, been busy with companionship exchanges and working hard to improve my imperfections every day. Being on a mission has caused me to look back and see many things I can improve on. Not just from my mistakes but also just the way that I was, I see many things I can improve on to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ. I hope to finish off my mission strong and come home a better person when I go home. 

I've been super sick since last night with a fever of 101 and all the symptoms of the flu! I got a priesthood blessing though and although I was pretty worked when I got the blessing, and really suffering from the chills, I felt like everything was going to be ok very soon! Today I stayed home and rested and now I am doing way better sincerely! Hopefully I will be well enough by tomorrow and later this week when we travel back to the Canary Islands for Zone conference! 

With lots of love! 

Ps- these are my companions 

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

Gonna miss this guy with all my heart that's for sure!

They made me a cake to say goodbye.... SWIM away!

One awesome family I am going to miss from Azuqueca

See you Later Azuqueca

Well, 

This are my last couple days here in Azuqueca! I've been asked to go back to Barrio 8! My companion will be Elder Barrales from Chile and wow I am so excited! I'm so excited to see the people of Barrio 8 again (Barrio 8 means Madrid ward #8). I'm also super exited for this new assignment which means lots of traveling and lots of exchanges with many different missionaries! I also get to work really close along side the mission president with things like transfers, and zone conferences! 

This week was a really good one! I wanna share two highlights from the week! The first one was in a chat we were having with an investigator named Sara! We were sharing about the plan of salvation and in the middle of the lesson she was just like, no way, you guys are kidding me. I had a dream years ago and saw all of this. She also told us about how she has a dear grandmother who passed away and that she had so many desires to give her a hug again! We got to explain the principles from the plan of salvation like the resurrection and other things that brought her to tears and helped her feel the spirit really strong! It was quite the experience! 

We also had an opportunity to meet with Rosa, Dylan, and Astrid, the three members of the family that we got to baptize a couple weeks ago. We got to share the restauration with them and there was a part in the lesson where I began to tell them how grateful I was to have gotten to know them and wow the emotion overcame me. I had to stop and pause for a good 10 to 15 seconds and realize how grateful I was to my Heavenly Father for the opportunity that he gave me to get to know them! 

Other than that, we had some other really great experiences this week. From doing some serious  yard work in the yards of the members, to great companion exchanges, to knocking doors in a far away town, to all the great experiences I feel so blessed to have as a missionary! I'm so so grateful for all the wonderful people in this ward and for all the love I have felt from them and for all the work that we have been able to do together! 

Life is really good! It's got trials mixed into it every day but it's incredible how much better my life has gone as I have realized that gods hand is in all of it! 

I hope you all can see that this week too! Love you! 

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

Noche de Hogar's in Azuqueca

This week we've had some great member support that is absolutely for sure! One of the coolest things to see is the members share their testimony with their friends during the lessons! We have a couple family home evenings (Noche de Hogar) in Azuqueca this week where the members have taken charge of the lesson and taught the principles to their friends! I truly feel so lucky to be around members who have gone through so much adversity to get to where they are right now and to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

One of the family home evening lessons we had this week was huge for me! It was all about the scripture Joshua 1:9 which says the following: 

9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

We then watched a video about a football player who carries his team mate on his back across the whole field from end zone to end zone. The video is awesome because the coach cheers the player on and the player has no idea how far he has gone because he is blind folded! He thinks he's only gone like 50 yards when he collapses at the end only to realize he's made it across the whole field! 

I love this message and the investigators at the family home evening loved it as well! We can do more than we think with the Lord at our side! We tend to see ourselves as less than we are, or not worthy to reach what we want to, or too insignificant to be something great. I testify that we are each and every one sons and daughters of God, with the potencial to reach way beyond our own reach! So Keep trying my friends. 

Other than that, this week was really good! We ate some Chinese Wok with all the youth in the ward, we had the family home evenings, a really sweet soccer activity which I played goalie at because the doctor told me this week I was cleared for sports! 

That's it folks, stay sweet! 

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain