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