Great things happening in Spain. It will be a White Weekend.

What an interesting week. Stake conference and tons of miracles!

Lot´s of things that reminded me of my family and all they do and did for me.

First of all a counselor of the stake president talked about his kids loving interviews every so often with Dad. I loved PPI’s with paps. It was always a great opportunity to receive the help that I needed that I didn´t think I did.

Thanks paps!

Maricarmen. Boom! She be getting baptized this week! We are definitely excited for that one! Four things about her.

1.She is reading like crazy and loving it. Questions, prayers, everything she is supposed to do. 

2. The ward loves her! She has a billion friends in the ward now and everyone wants to come to her baptism to support her.

3. Omar (A great member that I love) brought her to Stake Conference and  I didn´t think much of it. He got her there early and got her a good seat next to other members that she knew. After he gave her a whole tour of the giant Barcelona stake center. What a great man. I know the Lord will bless her for that.

4. She had a dream where she saw Jesus but when she talked with him he didn´t talk back. So she went and changed into a robe and sandals like him and said  ¨Lord I will follow thee.¨ Baptism!!!!!!!

David. A door knock in the same building as Maricarmen. After our first visit with him we invited him to pray. he began to cry and thanked God for our visit and explained how he only wanted friends. What a huge miracle.

The miracle this week is a strange one. I felt the impression to go talk with a 16 year old Spanish girl who was not dressed appropriately. Usually I avoid those situations but I felt the need. When I began talking with her she showed no interest but I felt the need to insist so i continued talking about my testimony, our beliefs, and what we do. Still nothing. To end I invited her to English class, still nothing. As I walked away the lady next to her said that she had contact with the missionaries prior and loved English class. She accepted a return visit then loved the message. What a strange miracle.

Blessings. Obedience and companionship unity.

President came up to me and Elder Alder and said ¨You know why you two are seeing success? Because you are not the same person, actually extremely different but you are working together.¨

This weekend there will be 3 baptisms in the Sabadell Chapel. Boom!

Please pray for Maricarmen, Salvatore, Walter and Family, and David.

Love you all!

Élder Smiley

Joaquin and Andrea.

Things are Great in Barcelona

What a week!

Let´s make this good.

1st experience. On exchanges in Elder Greenwood´s area while we were walking we crossed in a marked cross walk  and I was almost hit by a car. He slammed on his brakes. Knowing me y´all know I have an attitude, so when he almost hit me I stopped in the middle of the street and looked at him then continued, When I started walking they revved the engine and I turned and pointed at the cross walk and said ¨Let´s think about this¨ in Spanish and everyone in the car blew up. I heard every word from a sailor and back at us. You could say that Elder Greenwood and I got out pretty quick.

Maricarmen. What a blessed soul she is. She is progressing so well. Reading and praying. We taught her the word of wisdom and she has a bit of trouble with coffee. I think she´ll get over it quickly. The next time we taught the Law of chastity and y´all knowing me, after a bit of lack of understanding I said ¨Will you not have sex with anyone until marriage?´´ She just stops and says ¨That was direct.¨ After we all laughed, but it was a bit awkward if I don´t say so myself.  She is on fecha for the 30th.

Salvatore has returned from Italy. He is my favorite. Have y´all already received a picture of him? I love him a lot. He´s on point for marriage and baptism. I straight asked him when he got back if he didn´t have these impediments if he would be baptized tomorrow. He said yes.

We found a young Spanish man in a plaza in Barberá on Saturday night. He was playing soccer with his kid. We began to talk about God and how it could bless his family. He expressed how God had abandoned him and how rough his life had been. We talked with him and really helped him. Victor was his name. I could see the light in his eyes and the want he had for the happiness in our eyes.

I gave a talk in church on Sunday about hope. I talked about the dumb hike that Colton, Harley and I did. It was a good talk, probably my favorite I´ve ever given and the most attent the audience had ever been while I was giving a talk.

Today we visited Camp Nou. Barcelona futbol stadium. That was lots of fun especially for us sports lovers. I miss sports a lot!

What a blessed week!

I love all of you!

Would you all unite with me in prayer for our friends that they can make sacred covenants with the Lord!

Élder Smiley

Our miracle this week was Sandra. I contacted a man in our area who then said that he was a member. Of course we were excited. He said he was a R.C. from Barrio 1. As we were talking with him his girlfriend came up and started talking with us. It was her time! She loved what we said and we set up a return visit. She was great and very accepting. Baptism.

Tie is the same as their Crest...must be fate

Dave trying to look like a thug...didn't work!!

Quick letter after a Mothers Day SKYPE

What a week we had.

Lots of miracles, I´m so glad I had the opportunity to talk to y´all.

MariCarmen is doing incredible like I had explained. She is coming to church. She is reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. We are just waiting for permission from her sister.

I am not focused on emailing right now I´m sorry this one is not going to be a good one so I will try and give you something worth your while.

The miracle of the week was Caty. When we were walking in the park on Saturday evening after having had the person fire on us. When we were about to leave I saw a lady looking at us. She would only glance. She was around a bunch of other people so I was a bit hesitant to go only contact her with so many other people. I felt like we needed to contact her. We did it. We sat down next to her. She accepted our message and the invitation to be baptized.

Another miracle is the fact that the kids of Walter and Doris are super fired up about baptism. The only thing is that the parents aren´t married. We are working on it.

We are working hard. 

Would you please pray for our friends. I love all that y´all do for me! Love y´all!

Élder Smiley

Elder Alder Junior, Elder Smiley, Elder Alder Senior

Is this the Mormon Church????

Looking a lot like Tokyo!!

Cow stomach & Chicken Feet to eat!!! Serve me up some more!

I will start this email with a good theme common to all missionaries. Gross foods! In the last few weeks we have been working on reactivating a sister who lives far from the church and just wants to feed the missionaries. The last two times we have gone we have been blessed with Cow stomach (Elder Alder made the joke that there would be plenty because cows have not only 1 stomach but 4. I almost gagged at the comment) and Chicken feet. The one I got might have still had calluses on them because it was pretty rough. haha

Let´s talk miracles first.. The miracle of the week was Maricarmen. In the morning we knocked 3 doors. One of them answered and said maybe we could come back later. Not much interest but we decided to return later that evening. When we came back and knocked she screamed, ¨¿Quien es?¨ a bit rudely. When Elder Alder said “the missionaries” she ran to the door with alegria (joy) then let us in. She accepted the Book of Mormon, came to church and is preparing to be baptized. One of my first “news” found by door knocking. What a blessing.

Let´s talk about our friends first.

Shirley. A recent convert’s cousin. She came to church. Loved it. A bit nervous to accept a baptism invitation but she loved the church and couldn´t explain how she felt.  (Side note: What a blessing it is that we have the Holy Ghost in our life. I don´t know how miserable I would be if I didn´t have that wonderful gift in my life. That is one of the biggest blessings of helping someone be baptized.) 

Walter and Family. They are all reading the Book of Mormon and loving it. It is a bit rough for them to come to church because of Walter´s work. I sure the heck hope they can continue to progress and have the faith to give up the weekend job for church. I have faith. I love that family. A lot!

Fina. A member reference. I contacted her on an missionary exchange with another missionary and she was kind of like I´m not interested. Then I told her that we were friends of Laura and Montse. After that she was like ¨Say what?!?¨ She loves the Book of Mormon but not a push over by any imagination. She is a bit hesitant to come to church but she´ll get there.

The rest are pretty new and have great potential. Things are looking great! We have set our goals and now we are putting our shoulders the plow and we are not looking back.

It´s time to get to work!

The Lord is hastening his work!

I love all of you and especially my family and am excited to talk with y´all for the last time this mothers day.

Will you please unite with us in prayer for our friends so they can be baptized and confirmed members of the true church.

Love you y´all!

Élder Smiley

El Faro missionary