Hola Todos

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had the best week of your life... Let's be real, that
probably didn't happen, but maybe your week wasn't the best.  If
that's the case, hang in there.  I love ya, and the lord loves you
even more.  Prayer will get you through everything, never forget that.

It was a pretty good week here in Vecindario.  There's always good and
bad to everything, but life's easier when you remember the good, so
that's gonna be my focus with this email. This week we had an awesome
ward activity.  We hiked to this waterfall as a ward. The hike was
super pretty, but pretty hard for a lot of the members.  Most of them
went home and barely made it to church the next day because they were
so sore.

One of the best parts of this week was we baptized one of our
investigators, the Cuban who has been reading the Book of Mormon like
crazy. Holy cow, he is such an incredible example for me.  This man
went from never having prayed in his entire life to reading and
praying every day, and absolutely loving church. You truly can see the
change in his countenance that has come by his decisions to grow his
faith and change his life by accepting and living the gospel.  It
truly was an unreal experience to baptize someone.  As I stood there
in the front with him, the mission became way more real. I realized
where I was, what was happening, and how lucky I was to be there at
that moment. I cannot even describe it completely, but it truly was a
special experience.

One thing that really helped me a lot this week that I would like to
share with you is the story of Peter and the Savior walking on water.
The scripture is the following

Matthew 14:
25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking
on the sea.

26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were
troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it
is I; be not afraid.

28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come
unto thee on the water.

29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he
walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning
to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and
said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

There are so many times where my faith is tested out here.  There are
times where I feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel
with some of these investigators, like I will never be even close to a
perfect teacher, or like I will never be able to speak this language
fluently or understand it completely.  Like Peter, we need to keep our
eye on the savior though and on our goals.  Forget about the obstacles
that are all around us. But we aren't perfect though.  There will be
times where we can't just forget about those trials that are around us
that easily, and our faith may dwindle a bit, but if we look back to
the savior, he will catch us before we fall, and pull us out of any
difficult situation. I love this scripture from Mosiah 29, which says

20 But behold, he did deliver them because they did humble themselves
before him; and because they cried mightily unto him he did deliver
them out of bondage; and thus doth the Lord work with his power in all
cases among the children of men, extending the arm of mercy towards
them that put their trust in him.

The Lord really will lead us on the right path, and help us, but we
have to humble ourselves and trust him.  Sometimes it's really hard to
do that, but it becomes easier when we have the right perspective. The
lord knows the past the present and the future of our lives.  He has
divine potential for each and every one of us. He wants us to be
successful and happy here and in the eternities.  We just need to do
the things that are right and trust him.  Even when we do all that
though, it doesn't mean that the hard times go away, but as we trust
in the lord, he fills our hearts with the hope to make it through.
Obedience to the gospel really will make one happier right now, and
forever.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Hope all is well with everyone, have a great week


Elder Baron

                       El bautismo

              Despues del bautismo

The coast here yields Norwegians in speedos and ships

               The Church building 

     Waterfall on our hike with the ward 

HEY AMERICANS

Hello amigos,

Well this week went pretty well here in the canaries.  Every week has
its challenges but this week was pretty tranquilo (Low key, yeah they
have a word for it in Spanish)  Today, we played soccer again but this
time with all the missionaries on the island on this court right on
the beach up in las palmas.  I don't have my converter, but next week
I will for sure send more pics and videos of what the court looked
like, but it was weird to be so close to the water again and to not be
able to jump right in.  Our area is so huge here.  We've got everyone
from the people who live up in the mountains to the people who live
right along the beach.  Yesterday we walked to a less actives house in
the coolest little pueblito I've seen yet on this whole island.  It
kinda reminded me of San Clemente.  There was a sweet surf spot right
out there too, and people getting ready to go out.  Except here they
don't really get towel changing into wetsuits, they kinda just do it
without the towels, we didn't get too much of a view because we had to
leave at that point, but before that, it was sweet to see a place that
reminded me so much of California. Other than that, things are going
forward here.  Investigators progress and digress like crazy. Every
day is a new opportunity here with ups and downs, but the mission
moves.

This week we had a really neat experience with a new investigator.
Right now we have a pretty solid amount of investigators, but most of
them are from other countries.  The Cubans we have are golden though.
This investigator was a man we found outside of the house of one of
our other investigators.  Actually, we didn't have a ton of time and
we were on our way home, but he stopped us and just started asking us
about who we were.  We got his information to meet with him, and he
told us he was going to be at church the next day.  Well, that week he
wasn't there, but we saw him again in the streets a couple days later
and talked again.  He left us with, ya know, I don't think it's a
coincidence we saw each other twice.  We taught that guy the next day
and had one of our best lessons yet with the restoration.  The spirit
was really strong as we shared the first vision with this man, it
really did fill the room. We gave this man a Book of Mormon and when
we met a couple days later he had picked out alma and read almost all
of it.  We were stunned.  We had another good lesson with him, and
invited him to church the next day.  My companion spoke as well as one
of the hermanas in our ward, and a member of the stake presidency.  He
absolutely loved it. There was an incredible spirit in that meeting
that day though, it was unlike any other Sunday. (Especially as we
closed the meeting singing families can be together forever. Another
one of our Cuban investigators brought his wife that day too and she
was crying through the meeting. But back to the first Cuban, it's
amazing how the lord works.  We have been trying so hard to think of
all these new ways to find new people to teach here, and the lord led
this man just right into our hands.  Now, we don't know what is going
to happen with this man.  But we know that the lord has already given
us incredible opportunities to share the gospel with him, and we know
that the rest will come when the Lord has planned.


This morning I was reading in Mosiah 18, which is where alma baptises
a ton of people.  There were a couple versus that stood out to me
though.

27 And again Alma commanded that the people of the church should
impart of their substance, every one according to that which he had;
if he have more abundantly he should impart more abundantly; and of
him that had but little, but little should be required; and to him
that had not should be given.

28 And thus they should impart of their substance of their own free
will and good desires towards God, and to those priests that stood in
need, yea, and to every needy, naked soul.

29 And this he said unto them, having been commanded of God; and they
did walk uprightly before God, imparting to one another both
temporally and spiritually according to their needs and their wants.

I love these simple versus.  The Lord truly does command us to share
all that we have.  It's hard to leave to go on a mission.  It's
difficult to leave things behind, and sometimes you miss things about
home, but really, almost every missionary who goes on a mission is sad
for the day when they have to go home, and every day, it only gets
easier.  Why is that so?  It's because there truly is great joy that
comes from sharing what we have with other people.  That's something
that happens out here.  As we see how others are blessed by the
message that we have rooted as the center of our lives, we have a
desire to share it with even more people. The more I give of myself
out here to both the lord and to my investigators, the happier I am,
and the more I want to share the gospel with others

If any of you guys are at home and are thinking about the decision of
whether or not to serve a mission. GO! It's only been a few months but
I've learned so much here about myself and about the gospel, and this
already feels like one of the greatest adventures and blessings I've
had in my life.  I can promise you it will be the same for you too!

Other than that, I really want everyone reading this to know that I
love you. I'm grateful the Lord crossed our paths.  I'm grateful for
every day, and I'm grateful to be a missionary.  Hope you all have a
great week!



Elder Baron

                   Me and my Dad 

   Playing with the thousand stray cats               we find in the streets 

Weekly update!

HEYO

Well, today's situation with the wifi is not good and I've got five
minutes to write something to change the world,  so here it goes...

This week was pretty challenging to have lessons because everyone is
doing things for the holidays, but we still had some great experiences
with our investigators, and feeling the spirit.  As far as a scripture
that really helped me this week, Moroni 7: 45, 47-48 is one that comes
to my mind.  It's about how charity suffereth long, is kind and
envieth not.  That's something I am working on a ton out here.  We
have these Christ like attributes that we work on from preach my
gospel, and that's the one I'm working on now because I think I
struggle with that the most.  As I have tried harder to give more love
to others though, I really have felt more love from my Heavenly Father
in my Life. Tip of the week I guess is you have to give more love to
feel more love.

As far as what is going on here, they have a huge holiday on the 5th
of January here bigger than Christmas called the day of the kings
(That is when they do gifts for Christmas), so everyone is all amped
for that. New Years was interesting.  We ate some delicious turkey at
the bishops and got firecrackers thrown at us, but the only thing we
kissed was goodbye to our childhood.  Today was rad.  We played soccer
on a court with a bunch of the youth in the ward and some non members
and less actives.  Seriously was such a blast! The people here are
pretty passionate about soccer, they don't mess around that's for
sure.  But it was sweeeeet.

Hope all is well with everyone at home and hope you guys had a great
holiday season.

Hasta la vista baby

Elder Baron

Weekly update

Hello everyone!

¡I hope everyone had just an outstanding Christmas!

On the night of Christmas here in Vecindario, we had the awesome
opportunity to sing to some people! Honestly, top 5 best caroling
experiences ever. The Spanish people absolutely loved seeing us
singing, but also we were able to really bring the spirit to some
people. Caroling resulted in a lesson with someone who wouldn't let us
teach him much before, and getting back into the house of a less
active woman and her less active 16 year old son. Both of those
lessons were super powerful, and we are so incredibly grateful for the
lords hands in the work through instances like these.

So here on the island and I think in general in Spain, we don't fill
the font up every week. James isn't  crying cause he just got dunked
on in other words, but there are definitely incredible opportunities
to bring others unto Christ. That doesn't just mean with investigators
too. There are so many less active people here and even members of the
church who just need a little animo (encouragement) to do the things
they know they should be doing. We are brainstorming every day to try
and find ways to have more lessons with people, to try and find ways
to meet people's needs, and to try and be the missionaries the lord
knows we are capable of being and wants us to be. There are many days
where we come home after being failed five times in a row, but we get
back on our knees  and although slightly discouraged at times, we do
our best to keep calm and plan on. We know the lord will lead us to
new opportunities as we give him all we have got in the days of the
near future.

I don't know, I guess where I am going with this though is that I want
to share with all of you how much missionary work has blessed my life.
I feel like Satan pushes against me every day for what I am doing
here. He's exposed my weaknesses and drilled me on many of them. There
are times where I don't feel capable, smart enough, or even too
imperfect. At the same time, I've never felt so close to my father in
heaven, and I've never felt the power of the atonement so strong
before in my life. In those times where I feel down, all I have to do
is get on my knees. After I do that, I'm filled with hope, and the
energy I need to carry on. I know this is where the lord wants me to
be in my life right now, and I know he has a plan for me here. The
other day I was reading a scripture in 2 Nephi 26:33 which says:

33 For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that
which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it
be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come
unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come
unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he
remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and
Gentile.

I know I am here because the lord wants all his children to come unto
him, no matter where they are, or where they have been. The savior
performed the atonement for everyone, and his arms are and will always
be forever extended to those who come unto him. It truly was an act of
amazing grace. I'm here to try and help others feel that love here. I
would encourage any of you who are going through some hard times to
take some time and have a conversation with your Heavenly Father. I
promise he will help bring you out of any hole you are In, no matter
how deep, and I promise you that you will feel the empathetic love the
savior has for you.

Another thing I have learned here is that giving service to other
truly does bring happiness. The best days here are the ones where I
get home and reflect on that day, and can honestly say that I gave all
I had to help others. Those are the times when I feel happiest here.

Last thing, is I have absolutely fallen in love with the Book of
Mormon again in the past week. I've received answers to prayers in
this past week in my daily study in it, and have really grown to
understand a lot more what a blessing it is to have it. The Book of
Mormon is so key to gaining a testimony of the gospel. If your
testimony is on the border, read the Book of Mormon again. If you feel
like you've already done it, keep doing it. I promise you with
everything I have in me that you will receive an answer if you read it
with a desire to find answers, and pray with real intent to feel of
its truth. We all have doubts at times, that's normal. Heck, some of
the people here present me with some pretty logical doubts, but my
testimony is firm, because no one could ever take away from me the
sweet spiritual promptings I have had that the Book of Mormon is true.
Maybe it will take some of you some time and some perseverance, but I
promise all of you that if you continue reading and praying and doing
the right things in your life, the answers will come.  Doubts will
also come, but just keep reading, and you'll find out the truth is
really what you feel in your heart.

My companion and I are trying to memorize these words from Jeffrey R
Holland about the Book of Mormon because they are so true:

For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and
deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in
modern religious history--perhaps like no other book in any religious
history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have
been born and parroted and have died--from Ethan Smith to Solomon
Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these
frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination
because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young
unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather,
who said simply enough, “No wicked man could write such a book as
this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were
commanded of God to do so.”
    I testify that one cannot come to full faith in this latter-day
work--and thereby find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in
these, our times--until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of
Mormon and the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it testifies. If anyone is
foolish enough or misled enough to reject 531 pages of a heretofore
unknown text teeming with literary and Semitic complexity without
honestly attempting to account for the origin of those
pages--especially without accounting for their powerful witness of
Jesus Christ and the profound spiritual impact that witness has had on
what is now tens of millions of readers--if that is the case, then
such a person, elect or otherwise, has been deceived; and if he or she
leaves this Church, it must be done by crawling over or under or
around the Book of Mormon to make that exit. In that sense the book is
what Christ Himself was said to be: “a stone of stumbling, … a rock of
offence,” a barrier in the path of one who wishes not to believe in
this work. Witnesses, even witnesses who were for a time hostile to
Joseph, testified to their death that they had seen an angel and had
handled the plates. “They have been shown unto us by the power of God,
and not of man,” they declared. “Wherefore we know of a surety that
the work is true.”

To sum it up, the lord loves us all.  He will always be there for us,
and through Jesus Christ, we will always have someone there to comfort
us in our time of need who knows exactly what we are going through
because Jesus Christ came and fulfilled the atonement.

I know the Book of Mormon is true, and because it is true, Joseph
Smith was a prophet, and this truly is the church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints restored back again here on the earth, and I know we
have a prophet here on the earth today.  I say these things in the
name of Jesus Christ, Amen.


Elder Baron

    P day hike in the middle of the island 

    The public bus they take everywhere.   They call it "Gua Gua" pronounced Wa Wa

         Waiting at the Gua Gua stop 

FELIZ NAVIDAD

MERRY CHRISTMAS AMERICANS!

I hope you all are having just a jolly ole good time!

There are a ton of Norwegians who speak English on the island, so we
are going to have an English Christmas dinner today!

This week has been one of those weeks of ups and downs. One of those
weeks where you fall to your knees and someone picks you back up. My
companion and I have spent a lot of time on our knees the past couple
days, but we've had some good experiences too.

So one of our investigators was supposed to get baptized this week,
but after receiving everything, he decided he did not agree completely
with the church anymore. That was a hard loss.... But life moves on,
we are going to continue to invite and continue to press forward as
best we can here.

On a more positive Note though, we have one investigator who has just
fallen in love with the Book of Mormon. He's trying to move to America
soon, and in an attempt to learn about the gospel and English, he's
just been reading like crazy! The lord has blessed him with the gift
of tongues as he has made decisions to change his life and come closer
to Christ. This sweet humble Cuban man is such an incredible to us of
faith, and we are really hoping he sticks to it and is baptized on his
set date. I'm not going to say much more but if you are reading this,
please find the nearest wood and knock on it!

Another amazing experience we had this week was with a family that the
lord brought to us. One day we got a text from a less active man who
asked us to come over and give his 7 year old daughter a blessing. As
we entered this home, it was evident that this family was not in a
good shape financially. The husband expressed to us great desires to
come back to church and have his girlfriend and their daughter
baptized. At first, we were a little worried about this being about an
attempt to get money from the church, but in the past couple weeks,
this man has had an obvious change of heart. We've put a ton of energy
into helping this man and his girlfriend to change. It truly is
amazing to see how the gospel blessed families. They have two major
hurdles ahead of them, but we know they have the faith to make it.
Those hurdles are Finishing papers for divorces and marriages and
quitting smoking. Two nights ago we had an incredible lesson with them
about the word of wisdom. We brought them a framed picture of the
temple and wrote: recordad siempre vuestra visión ( always remember
your vision ). They both began to cry. They want to be married and
sealed in the temple for eternity one day, and we are going to do all
we can to help them do so.  The gospel truly does bless families. We
bought a ton of juice, mouth wash, toothpaste, and fruit and brought
them a plan for quitting smoking our bishop had. We also put a picture
of Christ on their door with Philipians 4:13 "I can do all things
through Christ which strengtheneth me" underneath.  We just bore
testimony to them of how much the lord loves them and how much we love
them and know they can do it! The spirit was so strong! I know they
have the faith to quit smoking if they give it all they have and find
the strength through Christ!  So far they are going strong and we are
praying for them and calling them every day. We know the lord will
bless them with the rest if they are able to quit. We are gonna keep
fasting and praying though!

I too have been able to see the lords hand a lot in my mission this
week. There have been some hard times this past week with everything,
but the lord always brings me hope, always keeps me going.

I'm so grateful for this time of year we have to think about Christ
even more. I'm so grateful for the chance I have to bring others unto
him here. He truly is the source of happiness in this life and in the
life to come.

I know that Jesus Christ is my savior and redeemer. I know that
through him, we can overcome any challenge, any trial, because he
suffered pains and afflictions of every kind. Through him there is no
death, only life eternal.  Through him have the ability to return to
the presence of God free from sin as resurrected beings, and be happy
forever. All he asks is that we follow the five steps of his gospel,
and keep the commandments.

¡Él es la dádiva!

Have a great day!

(Alma 7:7-11)

Elder Baron

                      "Ward Party"

              "Baptismal font"

                    "Ward Party" 

                      "Sunset"

Weekly update

Hey earthlings!

Wowsers I don't know how I'm ever going to find time to get all these
emails in, but I'll do my best to leave you all something short and
sweet!

This week I learned a lot about humility! My companion and I have been
in the category of needs work as far as our relationship. This week I
came to the realization that I need to stop focusing so much on what I
thought he was doing wrong and try more to show more constant love and
correct myself. We both have been working on this a ton and we have
seen some improvements in our success and In our ability to teach by
the power of the spirit.

. We have one investigator with a baptismal date right now and another
one who is going to be baptized in January. We just have to go back
and set a date with her and her parents! We are super animo about
those two though. As we do things to show our faith to Heavenly
Father, he blesses us soo much! I'm so excited for these two
investigators, and I really hope everything goes according to plan
with them because I know they are going to be so blessed as they take
that act of faith. We shall see what happens though.

This Christmas season has really had an impact on my testimony of the
savior more than ever before. I have truly grown to understand how
much we need a savior, and how blessed we are that he came to the
earth.

I am officially out of time for now but I love you all tons and hope
things are going good!

Elder Baron

                  "Green Canaries" 

Weekly update

Hola amigos, familia, y todo

It's crazy how fast time goes by out here. It feels like just
yesterday I was running out of time writing this same email. At the
same time, It feels like I haven't seen a ton of you in such a long
time but I guess it's only been like two and a half months. I hope
everything is going good with everyone though. I'll keep you in my
prayers but if you need anything in particular, shoot me an email.

Thank you to everyone who sent me things for my birthday! Seriously
that was very very kind of all of you! I wish I had time to write and
email you all to tell you thanks but once again, don't have a ton!

So as far as the Spanish and lessons and everything, things are good!
I mean I have embarrassed myself in the Spanish quite a bit since I
have been here but that's a must in the learning process. Some of my
best Spanish moments are when I told my mtc teacher you can't have
sexual relations before you are tired, I told some elders at a zone
conference you can't have homosexual relations before marriage, and I
told a guy just the other day that I have been living in Spain for 8
years. Pero está mejorando. But it's getting better. As far as the
island, it's like a Southern California fall here with no rain and
lots of wind.

As far as investigators, we have so many who are so close to
committing to baptism and confirmation, but they all have an obstacle
in the way. We are fasting and praying for these people and working
hard though, and we are gonna keep giving it our all. That's really
what I've learned out here, these are real children of God out here,
not just a baptismal statistic. Although I wish some of them were
progressing a little faster, I have learned that I need to remember
it's more important to teach people, and not lessons. I've also
learned once again that this is the lords work, not mine. As much as I
would kinda like to see some more progress, it really is in the lords
hands, and I know things will happen on his time table, not mine.

As we approach the Christmas season, my companion and I are trying
really hard to help as many people as possible understand the true
meaning of Christmas. We have some great tools like the videos on
gospel library for Christmas and our testimonies. The best tools we
have to help other people come into Christ though Is the Book of
Mormon.

I want to share a quick experience I had in my studies of the Book of
Mormon the other morning. I started the Book of Mormon over again with
the intent of reading deeper with more intent on studying it this
time. I had just begun the first Isaiah chapter. I don't remember who
said this or in what meeting it was from but someone once said they
were protecting from a bullet wound by their Book of Mormon. The
bullet stopped at the Isaiah chapters. I have to admit, I have often
had trouble with them. The other day I was reading in 1 Nephi 21
(compare Isaiah 49) and I was having a hard time understanding. I
finally just stopped and said a prayer. I asked to be able to
understand why these chapters were important in the Book of Mormon,
and how they added to another testament of Jesus Christ. A couple
versus later, I read something that really stood out to me. It went
something like this

14 But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord
hath forgotten me--but he will show that he hath not.

15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have
compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I
not forget thee, O house of Israel.

16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls
are continually before me.

These versus stood out to me a ton. And I not only was given the gift
of understanding the Isaiah chapters, but they also left a big impact
on my testimony as well. Often times it's hard for us to see the lord
in our lives. Sometimes we feel like we are alone. Well, we aren't.
He's always there. Sometimes we just have to look a little deeper, or
a little Harder. But other times, we still don't see him. All we need
to do is think about the atonement. Because of him, we don't carry
around the guilt that comes with sin. Because of him, we receive
comfort in our times of need when we ask for it, because of him, we
can do things we don't think we are strong enough to do. And because
of him, we can live together with our families forever. Because of
him, we can be worthy to have these eternal blessings. This life is
but a blink of an eye in comparison to forever and the blessings that
await us if we just follow the 5 simple steps in his gospel: faith,
repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and
persevering to the end.

As you approach Christmas, remember one thing, he is the ultimate
gift, él Es la dádiva . Take time this holiday season to do what you
have to do to remember him. Spend some time serving others, spend more
time with your family, etc. and spend some time in the Book of Mormon.

I love you all and I hope everyone is doing well.

Que tenga un buen día


Elder Baron

     "Birthday kebab was so legendario" 

    "Ball and shoes I got for my birthday"

            "The dunes were so cool"

              "My companion and I"

          "Hay un tiburón en el agua"

         "The elders of gran canaria"

                    "MTC district"