ITS ISLAND TIME!!!

You´re not going to believe this!!!! I´m in Menorca!!! This Island is going to be on fire! There used to only be 2 Elders here but now they are bringing in two more. Elder Alder is the only one that has been here before and he is my companion. They are bringing 2 more over tonight. One is a trainee, and none of us carry more than 6 months in the mission. They call us the Young Bloods. Woooohooooo!!!!

This island really needs some animo!! It´s a tourist town in the summer and during the winter the whole island is just kind of sad. On the positive side it´s like a small comunity of humble people that have way to much time! You can bet we are going to take advantage of that! With the split I think we are going to have no investigators in our area. It is going to be quite interesting. Lot´s of finding and we are going to have to figure some new formas para contactar. My spanish is getting so much better but it is just going to get better and better with a companion that I can´t just dump things on at any time in the lesson or during the day.

I saw so many miracles this last week in Bilbao,  it was incredible. We had a Salt Lake City reference come to church and we got the friends of Jessica on fecha. It is tough leaving an area. I just remember when I got there all we had was Andres!  Now leaving I had to leave 14 people ready to be baptized. It was super difficult but I guess that is just how it is in the mission. This really is the best time of your life. I don´t have more time because we have to go finding and I can´t waste time emailing. Know I love you and that I will email you on Monday. Much love and suerte!!! Bautismo!

 

Can you just pray that Elder Alder and I can find all the thousands of people here prepared to be baptized and recieve the gospel? Continue being a missionary wherever you may be. Love you all!

MISSIONARY SPLITS IN BILBAO November 18, 2013

First I am almost positive we Skype. I have no idea how to work it so I am hoping my companion will know. I´m sure it will all be just fine. Another thing. Money. Can you keep me updated with how much money I have in my account? Also can you put some more money in my account so I can try and send something home. Another realization. I forgot to pay my tithing before I left. Can you take out $50   and give it to Bishop from me and tell him thanks for the stuff he put in the Christmas package. Are their any special requests that I should try and look for, send ´em my way.

This week is looking up. We have some solid looking investigators. Everyone is moving up, looking forward and progressing towards baptism. This week started with splits and it was Elder Ward and I in my area and we got to visit a less active who has tons of friends that we need to baptize.

On Tuesday it was Elder Ward and I again but in his area. We got fired on by almost every one of his visits. We had used up all of our back up plans by 4 in the afternoon. Whoops. Then we did a double switch when the ayudentes del presidente arrived for zone conference and I paired up with one and went and taught a lesson. It was excellent. We had 8 missionaries in Bilbao all at different visits. It was excellent. I contacted a man with out legs who plays professional wheelchair basketball. We need to baptize him! It would be legendary. Also he is a son of God. I contacted an African from Nigeria and when I told him I was from the United States he said do you know Barack Obama? He is my brother! I replied that he could bring him to the visit this Saturday! We all got a kick out of it. Sunday was crazy good!!! I can´t even explain how good it was. We brought our best fecha Jerry to church. All the single girls his age swarmed him and made him feel like an all star. He was on cloud nine. That is how every investigator needs to feel. That is how everything needs to be. 

Our African family is doing work. Our last visit when we walked in the door the family was sitting down with their Books of Mormon on their laps ready. It is just something else I can´t even explain.

Adolfo and Liliana are still skeptical. They say they want to be baptized but just don´t want to put a date to it. I don´t know what else to do for them. I am giving them everything I got!

I love it here. Spanish is coming and the people are growing on me and we are just doing everything we can to baptize weekly. That is the goal and that is what we will do. We have to baptize everyone.

Dad you should set a side a Sunday and invite all the priests to bring a friend to church, especially priest quorum, and make sure the missionaries can come and have them teach the lesson. That would really get them fired up about missionary work. Mom you should invite all the young women in the stake to do something together (make blankets, cook food, etc.) and invite nonmembers to help do it or take the stuff you make to the nonmembers.  Invite all to bring a friend or someone off the street to come to an activity or to meet with the missionaries. What Scott did with that instagram post is missionary work. If there is one thing this mission has taught me is that everyone needs to be baptized. (Could you get Scott´s email for me?)

Elder Archibald is going home this week. He is exactly the kind of missionary I want to be like. He is working his butt off right now even though anyone he would have found in the last week couldn´t be baptized until after he left. Elder Wilkinson and Elder Ward are animals. I love them to death. I love all of you and thank you for your support. The only thing I want you to do though is find someone that could use the Holy Ghost in their life. That is what I want more than anything. I love you and thank you again. Reminder just to send letters to the mission home just in case of transfer. Much love.

Prayer list:

1.Jerry: just keep on keeping on. He is doing great. Fecha for the 30th. Also for his sister.

2.Victoria,Richard,William, Clinton, and Fred: They can keep reading and pray to know it´s all true. Come to church and leave their old church behind.

3.Adolfo and Liliana: They can take that next step in their life. We can find the iceberg stopping them.

Proud Papa Paragraphs 11-12-13

Letter from Elder wilkinson to his family about the tracting miracles that they experienced this past week.  Smiles told us about the miracle in his letter, but left out some of these details.  Fun to hear about him from Elder Wilkinson's perspective, and I am sure he was screaming, that would be Dave!!

I´m doing great, we had a week of FINDING, FINDING, FINDING. I thought about something President Pace told me back when I was training Elder Marques in Granollers. He said, "We need you trainers to teach your missionaries how to find." I think this week Elder Smiley truly learned how to find. We worked our butts off all week and on Sunday we were blessed with one of the biggest miracles of my whole mission. We found a family of 6 from Ghana. It was a huge miracle and they´re all on fecha for the 30th.  Elder Smiley was literally screaming for like 20 minutes he was so pumped up.

I´m grateful to be serving with Elder Smiley, he´s changed my mission forever. I´m grateful to be with Elder Ward, he´s one of my favorite people in the whole world. Elder Archibald has taught me baptism. I thank the Lord for surrounding me with good examples.

MIRACLES HAPPEN - MISSIONARIES JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN!!!

This week was so long! It was so hard at the beginning. We dropped every investigator except 2. It was super hard. All we did this week was contact, knock doors, and talk with the members. We did not see any success until Sunday night. It was so difficult. phew.

I chose patience to be my Christlike attribute of the week and I think it was a good choice. We saw some miracles last night for sure!!

Set up with a kid and met with him yesterday afternoon. We couldn´t meet in his piso and it was raining so we had a lesson in a bar. It was hilarious! He accepted the fecha and is so pumped. 

The next miracle the big one but a little difficult to explain but here we go. We are on one side of Bilbao when I got a prompting we needed to go to the house of a future. It was a little crazy but I felt it. So on our way to the metro I felt we needed to knock the doors of this random building. I didn´t know why but we did it anyway. Every door that opened just shut immediately, it was a little strange for that prompting but we just kept going. When we got to the metro we met the brother of the kid who we were going to see. If we wouldn´t have knocked that building we wouldn´t have met the kid on the metro.    We went back to his house and set fechas with a family of 5. It was a miracle. A miracle I say!!

We are trying to work with the members but sometimes it is just tough.

I will keep trying because it is so much more effective but we will see. 

This next week is going to be a lot better than last! Let´s go!!!!

Thanks for your prayers, letters, and support. Baptize boogie dad! I say it 50 times a day as well as "and then we baptized" Woohoo! Let´s go!!

Elder Smiley

Random bit. Have fun with everything you do. Make everything fun. When we have to knock doors we have so much fun. If there is a sensor for the light you have to do wicked moves not to trigger them. Last week we themed a building with how we would knock the doors, like army, lord of the rings, or ballerina. You just got to find fun in the little things.

Elder Archibald and I. Proof you can have fun with anything. We found a pavilion. Set up the cans and bowled oranges while everyone else screamed, booed, and cheered. It was the best!

Just a little dancing in the rain, Elder Ward is sooooo jealous!

With Dave there is no singing in the rain, but there is dancing in rain, his whole district is there to prove it!!

MISSIONARY ROUTINE -- GOTTA LOVE IT!! 11-4-2013

Mark and Cody I got your letter with all those pictures! Those are stellar! Let´s go to New York. It surprises me how similar New York is to here. On the weekends I think people go to bed at 7 in the morning, plus all the big buildings everywhere. That is super interesting.

So I take New York was good and the new term is going good. Anything else new?  Mom thanks so much for those recipes. Those are going to change the theory of cooking in the Bilbao Elders Piso. Let´s go! How did Spanish Fork do? How is BYU doing? How is everything going? (Cody where you at?) Is everything going well there?  

This week was the definition of ups and downs. Holy crap!!!! Adolfo y Liliana told us they know it´s all true but they don´t want to accept a date to be baptized. What? They think they have to be perfect to be baptized. They just don´t understand it completely yet.

Another thing our African family just lost complete interest. They don´t want to hear about the church anymore. They were just really lazy and the church wasn´t evangélico enough for them. Bad news first right?

Good news. We met a lady and gave her a Book of Mormon and told her to read the introduction. When we met with her again and taught her the restauración and when I talked about the Book of Mormon and a way to learn it´s true she kind of interrupted me and said I already read and prayed. It´s true.      What?!?      Let´s go!!!!!   I got fired up!! She also asked if she could bring like 3 of her friends to church. Holy Smokes!!!

This week was kind of tough, nice to have that miracle, so this week we are going to work lots with the members and touching tons of doors with all this rain. Love all of you!!!!!

Prayer list

1. Adolfo y Liliana (know they need to be baptized. It´s the next step)

2. Eusevia y Yesika (Can come to church and bring friends)

3. We can use the members more and they can be pumped about missionary work.

4. We can find people ready to recieve.

I love you and thank you for all you do! We are all missionaries in this great work so let´s all go baptize!!! WE GOT TO BAPTIZE EVERYONE!!!

Elder Smiley