Baptisms in Azuqueca

This week was a very good one all around! 

First thing, missionaries aren't allowed to participate in the Spanish tradition of "besos" which is giving two kisses on each cheek to great someone! The other night we were contacting and we went up to this group of girls to contact them. We introduced ourselves and I shook hands with the first. She went in for the besos.... was I going to get smacked? Was she going to make contact? Not today she wasn't. She went in for it but I dodged it at the last moment. She about feel over and I felt bad, but AINT NOBODY KISSIN MY FACE YET! My companion said it was one of the best beso doges he has ever seen.... 

ANYWAYS, we had a super awesome zone conference with a member of the presidency of the 70, Elder Suarez! He rocked the house by helping us realize that we need to talk with everyone, set goals, plan our days, and do it all with way more faith! It was super super awesome and what we needed as a mission! I got to have an interview with him afterward to talk more about it as well! It was a very inspiring zone conference that's for sure! My companion and I put it into practice that very night! We set goals to give out Books of Mormon and find new people to teach that night and we met our exact goal! I learned that incredible things are possible with faith! At the same time I learned that we have to set the goals that the Lord wants us to set because at the end of the day, it is his work! 

Other than that, we had some super fun soccer activities this week on Saturday and on p day with some investigators and less active members! We also had two baptisms on Sunday for two 12 year old adopted kids we have been teaching! It was a way awesome service and even more cool to see the non members come and really feel the spirit in that service! We had a really awesome lesson that day two with a family! We asked the mom to pray at the end of the lesson and it brought her to tears how great she felt praying to God! It was a really heavy experience and the Spirit of God was in that room soooo strong! I know that God listens to our prayers and helps us feel his love for us through them without a doubt! 

I also was able to go to an amazing baptism back in vallecas for a man I thought for 6 months trying to help him prepare for baptism! Primo did it and wow I am so so happy for him! 

Little by little my mission is just going by super fast! See ya soon! 

                            Primo! 

Azuqueca is kinda out in the middle of no where

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

Toledo part 2

Weekly summary.... I can't say that there was too much that happened overall this week.... to be honest it was a little on the slower side. That's ok because there were some more awesome things that happened. 

Our English class is bumping right now, and there are like 7 kids that come. Oh man last week they were nuts! We could not control them at all! I brought some jelly beans this kid in Barrio 8 gave me to help keep them at bay. I thought they were normal. Well, I started to hand them out and the little girls were like, this is absolutely horrible, what the heck did you give us.... turns out that they were the Harry Potter jelly beans that taste like booger, vomit, and other gross stuff. I was way nervous about them going home and telling their parents that the Mormon missionaries gave them vomit candy, but they came back! My companion and I split English class and he taught the kids! He promised them a race at the end. That was pretty awesome too! Other things in this week, well, this guy asked me today in the metro to take his picture. He then casually took off his coat and hung it on his shoulder, leaned against the wall, and posed in perfect model position for the picture.... that one got us laughing too. 

We've been doing a ton to work with the members and show them we love them recently! This ward has some really awesome people in it. We made them a ton of little missionary t shirts out of paper and gave each family a note of appreciation, We played soccer with some active and less active kids, we watched the Young single adults get their PDA on at the ward party and then do the EFY dance, we ate a couple of really good and really sketchy meals at their house, we went to seminary, and yeah, life's a party! We are really hoping to work hard with the members here so that we can find more people to be blessed by the gospel! 

Ive learned a lot to treasure the tender mercies of the Lord on the mission. There's always little miracles that happen in the life of the average missionary. Sometimes we just forget about them. That's why it's so important that I repent and write more in my journal so that I can remember more of them! But this week we've seen the hand of the Lord and felt his love. We've given it our best to work hard and share the gospel in every opportunity we've had. It's been a successful week. 

Today we went to this sweet little town called Toledo in the outskirts of Madrid where they make a ton of swords and cool stuff out of gold and silver, and yeah life is going good! We have a sweet missions tour with a member of the 70 and we are hoping to have two baptisms with two twelve year old kids this weekend! 

Last two funny things that happened this week with those two twelve year old twin boys. I will never forget the look on their faces of disgust and horror as we talked to them about the birds and the bees and the law of chastity. Kids man are the best. I will also never forget what the missionary who did the baptismal interview told us after. In asking one of the boys who his favorite sibling was, he replied Jesus Christ. 

May We always remember how much our older Brother Jesus Christ Loves us this week! 

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

Week 1 from Azuqueca de Henares

Hey hey hey, 

So I'm in this new area with this missionary who has three months in the mission and is already like the next AP with how awesome he is. He literally goes for it so hard. It's super super cool to see someone so young in the mission be so dedicated and committed to serving the Lord. Elder Barnes is a pretty sweet companion. 

Azuqueca is literally Utah. I felt that way the first Sunday. A little backstory on Azuqueca taught to me by Elder Bennett. Azuqueca is basically the same thing as Utah because all the mormons from all of Spain moved here when the temple was close because property was cheap and it was close to the temple. It's super awesome though. It's a really small town but a huge ward. The spirit was incredible in that meeting as the chapel was filled with faithful members there for all the right reasons and intentions. 

The work is going really good here right now. We have a couple really solid investigators with some serious potential and desires to progress. Our buddy Iván who speaks literally 11 different languages and has lived in 36 different countries and has read the Book of Mormon like 80 times and has been a member of like every church there is besides ours, came to church this last week. The members really dug him and he said that he really felt the spirit of God there, so we are hoping to have a really good lesson with him this week with some big commitments. We also have a couple solid people I don't know super well yet who are on the banks of the river Jordan at the moment. Knock on wood for me but we have a lot of hope right now. It's going to be a long battle to help everyone though. 

Today we had a sweet p day. I went back to parla to see some old friends I know from my time there and it was awesome to see them. My favorite part was going over to Francisco's again. He told us some pretty awesome stories from the past, we listened to some Spanish Flamenco music together, and we admired all the little things he has in his house. That man will forever be my hero. He is such an example for me and for the members of the Parla Branch. 

Some of the funny things that happened to me this week. We were in this house the other day eating dinner and I looked down and saw this turtle on the ground. I asked the members if it was a real turtle and they were like yeah! Did you know that you can domesticate turtles and keep them as house pets? NEITHER DID I. They told me it didn't have a name yet so I thought maybe they had just gotten it. Nope, been there for 6 years now and is basically the 5 year girls equivalent to a dog. It follows her around, sleeps with her, and lives in the house. Turtle-ly rad! Another thing that happened this week is we went to this American shop in Parla where I had asked them to order hot cheetos and root beer 6 months ago. Guess what, my order got there today! We bought a ton. The sad thing is that I left it all in the house of some members in Parla that we visited. Dang.... 

Welp, that's the report troops, tune in next week! 

It's a good thing they left him room to get out.. 

My hot cheetos I almost ate 

My African bud 

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

We out.....

They kicked me straight outta B8..... oh man it was so so hard to say goodbye. I have lived so close to those people of that ward for the past 6 months, and we had really made so much progress helping those investigators, and now it's just all over..... i will for sure stay in touch because I love that ward and those people. They are my family Man, I got super close with Elder Mangum. The bruises I got from doing MMA during morning work outs will heal but man I'm gonna miss that guy a ton too! 

But I got called to a really really cool ward in this place called azuqueca de Henares. I don't know what it means either, but its a super cool ward with a lot of Spanish people! A ton of the members in Spain moved here when they built the temple in Spain because property was cheap so it's kinda like the Utah of Spain. My old companion elder Bennett served here and we even went to a waterfall back a bit ago with one of the members here, so I feel like I already have some friends too! Elder Bennett told me this is a sweet place too and I have hoped to serve here for a bit now, so I'm pumped!  I'm back to being a district leader and I'm super super pumped to be able to plan district things again. Had a very interesting phone call with president about it all, but I know the Lord sent me here for a reason! My companion is Elder Barnes and he is super awesome! His grandpa was like the first mission president in Spain or something! 

A mission is super hard..... there are a lot of things that happen to you that are just really not the best.... your testimony is tried time and time again, but you come out of each trial with an even stronger person who knows even more afterwards how much the Lord loves you. Life is the same as a mission too! 

Last week was one of the best weeks yet in Barrio 8. We were able to really have some solid meetings and it was super neat to have the opportunity to say goodbye to all the great people here and thank them for all the love they showed me! 

One of the greatest things that happened last week was we finished our temple p day, and went to the house of an investigator that we have been working with since I got here! We've been pushing so hard to help him prepare for baptism and when we walked in, the first thing he said to us was, IM READY TO BE BAPTIZED ELDERS! Wowsers! Our jaws dropped and we were able to really testify with power that he was making the right decision. I wish I could be there to see it, but it brings me incredible joy to see one of my brothers accept the path and make a decision with eternal blessings! I'm so grateful to have been a part of his life! 

Have a good one fam! 

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

                         My friend Francisco

                My friend Primo!!!!!!!

My MMA buddy Elder Mangum

This guy played Nephi In a ward play being mighty and large in stature

My peeps from Barrio 8!

Scaring the metro driver, meeting new people, and finishing in vallecas

Temple day!

I'm gonna talk about that later.... 

The funniest thing happened last week! We were in the metro train and I was in the first car.... I was just waiting for my stop and then the train stopped upruptly! I was right in front of the locked drivers door when the train stopped, I was the only one to fall over! Not only did I fall over but I busted the door open to the cockpit where the driver was. He looked back at me like what are you doing kid and everyone in the train was laughing at me! Hey! At least those people aren't going to forget who the missionaries are! 

We've met a lot of new people recently! I love teaching new people soooo much! I just love teaching people the restauración! We especially had a really spiritual lesson on a companion exchange I got to do with Elder Mangum! We taught this guy who didn't believe in any churches and told us he absolutely did not think they were necesary. As we taught him about the restauración, he was staring us down paying super close attention. It was so hard to teach him at the same time because he had this puppy that was literally eating my hand off and it hurt so bad while I was sharing the first vision with him. I wanted to react to it but he was staring straight at me and so interested. The Lord helped me ignore the fact that my hand had been chewed off in that moment though. We really felt the spirit despite all that was being done by the dog to distract us. We were able to invite this man to be baptized and he accepted! It was a super super cool experience! 

I think the temple gets better and better every time we go. I can't share too much but I can share that the way I felt today being in the temple was absolutely one of the most incredible things I've ever felt! I truly know that the temple is the house of the Lord! If there is anyone reading this, go to the temple this week. Maybe you have doubts, go to the temple. Maybe you haven't done everything in the temple yet, prepare to go to the temple! It will change your life. 

There is something I want people to know about THE MORMONS... our message is not to convince you that the Book of Mormon is true because it makes sense that Jesus Christ went to America and that there were inspired men there. Our message is to not show you that there are good people who are mormons and for that reason this is a good thing. Our message is not even that this church is true because of any other factor. Our message is that God speaks to us. Our message is that if you read the Book of Mormon and come to church, BUT most of all if you have desires to follow God and if you pray to ask him if this message is true, he will reach out to you! The Lord will fill you with his love, He will answer you very clearly, and He will change your entire life as you follow this path! We are not here to tell you, but He will show and tell you this is true as you do your part. As missionaries of this church, we teach people how they can do their part. It's a glorious experience to watch the Lord change the lives of others as they follow these things, and it's amazing to watch him change your life as you do the same! I know this is true because THE LORD HAS TOLD ME SO MANY TIMES! What I have felt here is the most real feeling of love I know. I invite people everywhere to come experience this joy too! 

Have a great week and go on a mission! 

Love you guys

Elder Baron

Calle Fuerteventura 4, 2, Office 8B

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid

Spain

Ps it's very likely I will be moving soon!