Push ups for Ligia

Well, this week was a really really solid week!

Highlights, well I love something my companion said this week. It goes
something like this.

Sometimes we think that God is just moving so much further away from
us. But in reality, it's just us moving away from him.

Boom. I told ya you would like it. But how true is that. Hombre,
everyone has to deal with trials at some point, despite all we do to
try and avoid them. But many times we just try to face the trials on
our own, not doing anything to ask for his help. If we do all we can
to bring ourselves closer to him though, we will notice that he is
without a doubt there, pulling us along, carrying us most of the time,
and supporting us in so many ways. I needed that lesson this week. And
thanks to my incredible companion, I was able to get it.

This week I had a sweet experience. I got called up by the elders of
Parla because this lady I taught a ton wanted me to baptize her. Her
name was Ligia. I remembered her weighing more and man I was nervous.
I did my morning push ups all week though, and prayed for help. The
Lord filled me with peace though and I knew it was going to be ok. It
was awesome to be back in the water with someone and to be able to
help her take that step in her life. The spirit was super super
strong.

There are a lot of really amazing little blessings happening here. We
are still in need of investigators but incredibly grateful for the
faithful people we do have to teach. Helping less active people come
back to church and experience the blessings of the gospel is amazing.
Especially when they bring their family and friends back with them.

We have some great dominican and Bolivian families feeding us and
helping us to encourage the investigators and working on bringing
their friends back to church.

My favorite scripture from this week comes from the book of psalms 46:10

10 Be still, and know that I am God

Let's remember that this week as hard things without explanation come
into our lives.

Con mucho amor


Elder Baron

                        Llao llao

Baby steps in barrio 8

Heeeeyoo,

Well this week we set up a ton of lessons with people we met in the
streets, and they all failed.... Wowsers, but hey we've seen some
really incredible things this week, especially on Sunday. We walked
into sacrament after ward council and our investigator who dropped us
told us he didn't want to talk again was there with his active Mormon
wife! We were super super stoked. We've also been working with this
super cool guy named Marcelo. He left the church for 23 years and
then after studying again, decided there was no better path for him
than the one he could have in the church. He wants to go to the temple
and get sealed to his girlfriend. His girlfriend has some friends who
are telling her all kinds of awful things about the church, and that's what has 
kept her from meeting with us and coming on Sunday. We prayed all week
and when we called Marcelo on saturday afternoon, she said she didn't
want to come. Well, Marcelo fasted and she changed her mind at 1 am on
Saturday night and came!!! She brought a friend too!!!! This friend
actually came because she was impressed by Marcelo not drinking
despite the fact that they all were a little while back at a friend
gathering.

Other than that this week, I had a really incredible experience giving
a blessing to this man during exchanges. He used to be a Jehovah's
Witness but he is investigating the church now. I was able to give him
a blessing and the spirit prompted me to pronounce some blessings, like
him one day having the ability to go to the temple with his wife and
help other people come unto Christ. After the blessing I felt an
incredible peace come over me. I know this man will accept the gospel
completely one day and be able to experience those blessings.

Well, I missed America this week on 9/11.... I was actually overcome
with gratitude for the country I live in. 9/11 is a catastrophe, but
also has really helped our country to come together and be more
united.

Hope you all have a great week

Elder Baron

                        My district 

                  My new best friend 

Ground Zero

Hello to all,

Welp, I've got another fresh start here. We have quite a few less
actives to teach here, but as far as new people to teach, we have a
ton of work to do here to get things really rolling. We had an
amazing lesson this week with a guy who was inactive for 23 years and
is now ready to come back completely.... Oh man the spirit was so
strong as he shared his story. He was worried about if he would be
accepted again, but we were able to bear testimony of him of the power
of the atonement. That was super awesome.

Other interesting things that happened this week. Well, I gave this
homeless guy my vans and then as we were walking away, I turned back
and he threw them away, so I ran back and got them again. I still have
the vans but intend on finding someone else to share them with. We
also got to eat some super good Peruvian chicken hearts with bread
which was super super cool.

The temple saved me today. This transfer has started really rough for
me. We live with two other missionaries on top of it all, and every
night they come home and tell us about all the success they had that
day, and we are looking back on some days and seeing dropped
investigators and a full day of contacting in the streets with little
results. It's a rough start, but I know that the lord will hasten his
work in his time here. We've got to continue giving it all we've got.

At the temple today, I was able to just feel the spirit super strong.
I came in kinda stressed with a ton of questions for the Lord and that
kinda was on my mind for a bit of the session. At the end though, I
was able to feel the spirit super strong and felt this enormous
feeling of peace come over me. I know that I am not alone here, and I
know He will help me here.

Hope this week is solid. Love all of you and wish you all the best.



Elder Baron

"Chicken hearts from Peru are so good"

Finishing in Parla with some fireworks

Well.... The call came... I'm gone from Parla to serve in a huge ward
in Madrid. I still had a lot I wanted to do in Parla, but it's a good
thing I'm not here doing what I want to do, but what the Lord wants me
to do to help his Children. My companion is a transfer older than me
and we are both just focusing on the work. I don't know why things
turned out the way that they did, but I know that the Lord has things
for me to do here in the heart of Madrid with the companion I have.

This week was rough..... So many people failed us.... But on a super
positive note, FRANCISCO GOT BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED! WOOT WOOT! He was
ready. The baptism was far from perfect. We had to do it in another
ward because we don't have a baptismal font, and when I got there, the
filling was going super super slow. So we got some buckets and began
to help out. Well, we left the water on for the first part of the
service because hey, you can never have too much right? Well.... When
we got to that part and walked into the room, it had leaked through
the walls and flooded onto the hard floors where people were going to
stand. After cleaning it up, we got to the service.... The prayer goes
smooth, and the moment is critical. The member baptizing him did it
very slow.... Francisco slowly went under the water.... Seeing that
his arm wasn't submerged, the member held him down there until it went
down. Well he waited forever, until finally everyone was like pull him
out! He was way out of breath and we had to wait a good 10 minutes
before trying again. Eventually he made it all the way down and got it
all done.

The best part of the baptism and one of the best moments of my mission
was to hear him bear testimony that these things were true. He talked
about how he really had been born again with that whole experience and
almost drowning, but more than anything, he bore a sweet testimony of
how the church has changed his life, and brought a new feeling of
peace and happiness he had never found in all 65 years of his life. I
will never forget asking him after the service how he was after the
service and seeing that toothless smile and hearing Estupendo
(stupendous). It was a great weekend and a great experience to have
leaving Parla. I will never forget PArla or Francisco. Especially
because FranCisco gave me one of his canes, and a nail clipper to
remember him by... The nail clipper was nice and all but the cane is
up there with one of the best gifts I've ever received. I will use
that bad boy often when I go hiking or maybe even on my first date
home.

Well, I wanna leave you all with a scripture from Mosiah 4

9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things,
both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all
power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not
comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

God has a purpose for each and every one of us. Sometime we wonder why
life is the way it is, especially when we feel like we are on the
right path and then we get bulldozed by a semi truck. God knows us and
loves us. There is only one way to find out why life is the way it is
and to find peace and knowledge. Keep trusting and keep moving
forward.

May you all have a great week!

Elder Baron

          My second familia los León

     My investigator thought I was a legend because I could play smoke on

the water and iron man and Beethoven  with one string.

           My investigator Francisco 

    Look at him in that tie we gave him,        he's single ladies

              Francisco's baptism 

Torture at a ward activity

Bueno....

This week was a gooood one. Lots of lessons again and blessings from
the Lord. It's been busy but really rewarding.

Today we have been at a ward activity. That's why I didn't really read
your emails before writing some of you because I had to download some
early in the morning, and I didn't get to read all of yours in time.
Just for the future, this happens sometimes on p days, so if you have
time to send your emails before like 10 pm Sunday night, there's a
better chance I'll be able to read them in time every week when I have
wifi Monday mornings and respond.

Anyways.... This ward activity was at a natural pool. They told us
they wanted us to go to give a spiritual thought and do activities
with the people who could not swim. So we went. Oh man it was brutal.
It was the equivalent of going to the beach in the middle of the
summer and being told you cannot swim. Plus we were surrounded by
people in bathing suits which made things awkward, but I did my best
to keep entertained eating and talking to our two old investigators
for like 4 hours straight hahaha.

Francisco and Ligia are their names and they are both awesome.
Francisco talks a ton and let's me mess around with his cane and
pretend like I'm an old man and Ligia loves to talk to me about my
life and family. Two super huge blessings from the Lord with a lot of
potential. Francisco is actually 65.... I thought he was way older
because of the sickness he has which doesn't make him super mobile.

One of the most spiritual experiences I had this week was in Zone
training. The Zone leaders put on this football video I'm sure all of
you have seen where this coach tells a player to do the death crawl
with a player on his back blindfolded. The coach tells him to make it
as far as he can and they kinda come to an agreement that the player
can max out getting to the 50 before he collapses. The coach tells him
to go until he can't any more and they will see how far he makes it.
The football player begins to complain at about the twenty without
knowing how far he has gone. As the yards go on, the player keeps
complaining saying how bad it hurts. The coach stays with him the
whole time and constantly gives him encouragement and tells him to
give him the very very best that he has got. By the end it gets way
intense. The coach is screaming and the player is yelling in pain
until finally he collapses. The player asks his coach if he made it to
the fifty, and the coach takes his blind fold off and tells him he
made it all the way to the end zone. The coach then talks with the
player about how he's gotta give it all he he's got and don't look at
any of the things that appear to tell him he isn't strong enough or
can't make it far enough. This hit me hard.

I had to ask myself How easily do I give up when everything around me
tells me that I can't achieve a goal or have success? Where is my
faith?

We got to give it all we've got and put the rest in the lords hands.
If we give it all we've got to the end, he will help us do incredible
things we didn't even know we were capable of. In the name of Jesus
Christ, Amen




Elder Baron

Missionary by day and by night

Ah man this week has been crazy eventful but I'll try to keep it brief
and send pics later

First off, I have some serious Sleeping problems. My companion is
super weirded out. A couple nights ago I got up half asleep to go to
the bathroom. Our room is super super dark. I was half asleep, and the
only thing I remember was that it took me forever to find the door.
The next morning my companion told me that in my search for the
bathroom, I ended up grabbing his feet and feeling every single one of
his toes..... I said it was bad. I've also not ceased to teach lessons
in my sleep.... My companion asks me to please not touch his toes or
teach him lessons every night.

We finally got to meet with Joshua the Nigerian I talked about a
couple weeks ago. He has been reading in the Book of Mormon and we got
to answer a ton of his questions. He told us we were prophets at the
end of the lesson and gave us money to go buy some water. He's crazy
cool!

Prayer works. We've been praying to start having more lessons here and
we've almost tripled the amount of lessons we started with here. We
pray every day for opportunities to teach, and he has been providing
for us.... Prayer works!

The AP's came to district meeting this week, and we got to do a little
mini split with them. I got to be with one of my favorite
missionaries. His name is Elder Guerra and he has been the AP for a
super long time now, since I was being trained. We got to have a nice
long chat during lunch about the mission and how really small we are.
How we really do so little. It doesn't even matter so much what we do.
As long as we give it our absolute all and listen to the spirit the
best we can, he makes all the difference in the world. I'm so grateful
for missionary work because it is incredible to be apart of the
miracles the lord works.

The lord showered a gold investigator upon us this week from Barcelona
who we are pushing to get baptized the same day as Francisco. Her name
is Ligia and she is from Venezuela. Holy cow she's amazing and super
prepared. Other than that, the investigators are doing super well and
we are doing all we can to find more.

GO ON A MISSION PEOPLE. GIVE ALL YOU CAN TO THE LORD AND THE BLESSINGS WILL COME

Elder Baron

Interesting hair cuts and Finding out the truth

Well....

This week went super super well here.  This is by far the better of
the two areas I've had here on my mission.  There's been more drama
and more excitement, but also some super super cool experiences.

The investigators are doing pretty good right now.  My 85 year old
buddy Francisco is keeping me young out here.  That guy is a legend
man,  He knows I love strawberry and candy.  He brings me strawberry
ice cream every time I go over to his house, strawberry jam and candy
on Sunday's, and he just has the biggest smile all the time, even
though he doesn't have many teeth.  This week we also got to play some
more soccer with the Nigerians and teach one of them a lesson while
his million kids were jumping around the place going crazy.  We also
got to eat some really good peruvian Causa and drink some really good
chica morada with a family in our ward.

Spiritual part:

One of the biggest lessons I've learned this week is to trust in the
spirit.  Elder Bednar taught us a very key lesson when he was here.  A
lot of times we may not understand something 100% in the gospel.
Instead of giving up that point and trying to move in the other
direction, keep moving forward.  Keeep studying, keep praying, keep
having faith, and the Holy Ghost will give you understanding sooner or
later.  I testify that this is the truth.  Even as a missionary
talking with many people, my faith is sometimes put to the test.  Yet,
every time I have a question, I try to keep moving forward and keep
studying.  The Spirit has helped me to understand so much more here by
doing this, and helps my questions be answered always.


I love this scripture from John 15
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will
send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things
to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

To those who may be suffering from any kind of doubt, or who feel like
they are passing through underserved trials, keeeep moving forward.
Go to the temple if you can, read the scriptures there.  Read the
scriptures every day, and pray always.  The spirit will tell you the
truth of ALL THINGS like it says in the verse.  I testify of these
things.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Baron

Peruvian Causa y chicha morada with the Ortiz Family

Life is super good in Parla

Soccer in the blistering heat with the Spaniards versus Nigerians and Americans