Wednesday, October 31, 2012

October 31, 2012

Hello Family!

To begin with thanks for the letters from:
Micah (Elder) Hodges
Megan Eden

Just to let you guys know, this is the 5th week of the transfer so next week is probably when I´ll be moved from Parla since I´ve been here a long time. We´ll see what happens though! Now on to my week!!!

So Thursday of last week was a crazy day!! So, weekly planning didn´t happen since at 11 we had a lesson set up, which ended up failing us, but it´s okay, not much we can do. We didn´t do too much after that except for contacts until 1:00, since we had a lesson at 1:00 with a new investigator. It was the first member reference that we got here in Parla, so things are looking up!!!! She´s really good too!!! She´s gone to church in Ecuador and remembers a bit of what it was like so that´s good!!! We then ate with Venesia at 3:00 and then went from there to Getafe Centro to meet the Hermanas [sisters] to pick up Informes de Progresso [progress report forms] since we didn´t have any in the piso [apartment]. It was pretty crazy since we didn´t know if we´d have a lesson at 6:00 or not, and we got to Getafe at around 4:50.

The Hermanas [sisters] didn´t get there until later too, so we called the cita [appointment] and told them not to worry about having to be there since we wouldn´t be there either. When the Hermanas [sisters] got there and we got the informes [progress reports] from them and talked a bit, then headed back to Parla. We contacted a bit and then went to the church since we were invited by the seminary teacher to share our testimonies. We did, and it was pretty good since each of us had something different to say about seminary and such. We then had to go from there to the Gordon family´s house to have correlation meeting. It was pretty good since we haven´t had a correlation meeting for a while since our branch mission leader now works at the CCM [Missionary Training Center] teaching. Crazy but cool!

Friday was a crazy yet depressing day for everyone. For one thing, I started to lose my voice out of the blue, and Elder Cunningham and Elder Rose within 3 days lost all of their investigators, which is worse than getting sick!! Elena just said that she didn´t want to learn more and tried to return the books that she got from Elders Cunningham and Rose, but they told her to keep them. Then Friday morning, Elder Cunningham got a text from Ana, a really good, prepared lady saying that she didn´t want to take the lessons anymore because she doesn´t want to feel like a criminal sinning all of the time. That day was the worst for Elder Cunningham. Elder Alvarez and I couldn´t really do any contacts since it was just so sad to see Elder Cunningham depressed like crazy!

We then went to the eating appointment with Andy, and Elder Cunningham got better as far as his happy level is concerned. He likes eating with the members since he get´s happy with them, and it shows!!! When Elder Alvarez and I got back to the piso [apartment], we had our weekly planning meeting and then went to see Rocio!! It was great to see her again since she doesn´t live here and lives within the Barcelona Mission. We visited with them and it was cool, but we had to leave at 10:00 and we didn´t get to eat so they invited us over Saturday during lunch time.

Saturday I did exchanges with Elder Cunningham and it was really cool!! We did a few contacts in the morning and we recieved 2 references!! Elder Cunningham was happy I could tell! At 2:00 we then went over to Carolina and Ibeth´s house to eat and see Rocio again. The food was really good!! At 4:00 we had a 1st lesson with a Nigerian called Jose. He´s really cool and we talked a bit about the restoration and he seems interested. We then went and rested a bit since we didn´t really have time for that earlier and at around 7:30 or 8:00 we went to Ana´s house. We just wanted to see her and see what was going on. After about an hour and a half of sharing and her telling us everything, we left our email addresses and facebook to her since I don´t know if I´ll see her again. It was a good lesson, but she needs time to breathe and so we´ll leave her for a bit.

Elders Alvarez and Cunningham busy painting

Sunday we had church, then we ate at the Branch President´s house and it was yummy food!!! Dominican food too!!! We then contacted and got two references from it, and that was it. Monday we had a lesson/message about faith with Carolina, you know, the one where we use the tea bag and light it on fire and see if they have faith that it will fly off!! Yeah, that one!!!!! We did that and it was cool!! Rocio was there too which was cool and she got the lesson too!! I also got a haircut from Carolina and it turned out good, but shorter than usual, haha. We then went to eat with familia Gordon and it was good food!! Later at 3:00 we went back to Carolina´s house to help them paint it from white, to a pistachio colored green. It took quite a while for that to happen and I was pretty tired by the end of the day!! At 9:00, yes it took that long to paint, and no, we didn´t finish either, they gave us a bit to eat and we shared a scripture and left.

Elder Alex painting with his new haircut (Elder Cunningham is in the background)

Tuesday was a great day!!!!! We had Zone Meeting at the Barrio 3 & 9 [3rd and 9th ward] building and it started at 10:00. It was really good!! I was edified as well as many others I´m sure! One of the talks/practices was really creative, funny, and awesome!! So it was about companionship unity, and Elder Bermudez and Elder Hilton were the ones giving the talk/practice. They needed two companionships to help them out and the thing that they needed to do was make a sandwich, cut it in half and take a bite out of it. Doesn´t sound as hard as it seems, right? Well, here´s the catch, when they got the voulenteers, Elders Perkins and Rodriguez-Silva vs. Hermanas Mercado and Hernandez, they put the Elders side by side, and tied their two hands together, and they did the same with the sisters. The two companionships had to use their outer hands to make the sandwich, and it was really funny!!! I took a video of it so it would be easier to show that to you than to explain it all, but long story short, the sisters won, haha. We then had a cita [appointment] with Erick and Yulliana at 6:00 and it was pretty good. Yulliana told us a long story of something that she didn´t like about the members, but then Elder Alvarez and I talked about how we should go to church for the Lord, and not for the members. It turned out pretty good!!!

The District of Parla with the two Zone Leaders!! From L to R starting with Elders:
Elder Perkins (ZL), Elder Me (DL), Elder Rose, Elder Rodriguez-Silva (ZL), Elder Alvarez, and Elder Cunningham. Then Hermanas Farías, Sicán, Voemba, and Piedade.

Today was P-Day!! We went to the temple and that was about it! Now let me answer your questions mother!!

Question:  Is Leganes in my area?   Answer:  No, Leganes is a different area with Sister Missionaries, but it´s in my district area. 

Question:  Is Leganes far? Answer:  Not really, but at the same time it is. It´s about a 40 minute trip.

Question:  Do I take the train? How does that work? Answer:  Yes we take the train over to Leganes. We take the Renfe for 10 - 20 minutes, or two stops, and get off at Getafe Centro. We then change from the Renfe to Metro and take the Metro for about 6 - 7 stops and get off at Casa del Reloj, which is were the Leganes Chapel is located. How it works is here in Parla, we have a Renfe station, and since we have monthly bonos [passes], we just feed that through the machine and it lets us in, then we go and take the train. In Getafe Centro, the Renfe and Metro station are combined, but to change from the Renfe to Metro, you have to use the bono to get out of one, and into the other. If that´s confusing, I can explain it differently some other time.

Anymore questions? Take care and I hope to talk to you guys soon!! Love you all!!

Elder Bauer

No comments:

Post a Comment