10/26/09

Family! How´s everyone doing there back in Utah? Things are going well here. This keyboard is terrible though, so sorry if there´s any errors. This past week we set a baptismal goal! His name is Roberto. He´s the friend of one of the youth in our branch named Josué. Josué gave the invitation of asking him to be baptized, so that was good. He said he would be, and it´s for the 14th of November. He´s been being taught since like July, and he´s been going to seminary and church too. So he knows everything. The only thing is that his parents aren´t members. So they´re not really against it, but they´re not there encouraging him or anything. We´re going to try teaching them, the only thing is that the dad is not interested at all. We´re going to see if there´s some way we can teach the mom during the days or something though, because she seems to be interested. I´ll let you know what happens there. Things are going well with Claus, and Rosemary. We also started teaching Rosemary´s other daughter, Claus´s sister, Gabriela. They´re progressing well, so that´s good. Rosemary says her only doubt right now is baptism, she said she needs to study it out for herself for a while to know if it´s right. Which is exactly what we want. We were going to commit them all to be baptized this past week, but Claus and Gabriela were gone, and Claus is the one that we most want to commit. She said she´d be baptized, we just haven´t set a date or anything. So that´s that. I don´t know if I told you, but there´s a family, la familia Durán. They´re way good. All of the people we´re teaching that are progressing and their friends and they go with us to all the citas. It´s just hermana Durán and her son Josué in the family, but they´re super good. So yeah. We´ve also been teaching a lot of menos activos and conversos recientes too. Things are going well with all of them. Hopefully we can get some people re-activated, and get the recent converts to stay activated. So yeah, everything´s going well with that. Oh, cool thing. So this past week we figured out that Claus is friends with a girl named Nelly (another girl we´ve taught), and they´re both friends with Yirka (a recent convert that´s way strong, 25, and preparing to go on a mission). So we´ll see what we can´t do to get all of them baptized. This past week we also had Zone Conference. It was good. They took another picture that I´m guessing is probably on the mission blog by now if you want to go look at it. Also, that same day my companion got sick and had thrown up and all. He asked me to give him a blessing and I did. I gave it in Spanish, the first blessing I´ve given in Spanish. Anyways, it was a great experience and he went out that evening and we had two fantastic citas, and is fine now. SO yeah. Okay, now for something I thought of that you guys may not know. In our mission here we have to part our hair. I´m sure Kevin and Bruce are laughing at me right now, but it actually doesn´t look that bad once you get used to it. So yeah. I have it so it´s like still how my hair was before, but there´s a part in it. So yeah, just some interesting info. Also, something you might not know. The Spain, Barcelona mission is called "The Faro," which means the Lighthouse. It was called that by an apostle because all the other european missions look to us. Apparently we have the highest baptizing mission in all of Europe. So that´s good that I belong to the best mission. Well, this keyboard is really bugging me (all the keys stick), so I can´t think of anything else to say. Things are still going good with me and my companion Elder Morales. Also, anyone that sent me letters to my old address, I´ll get them in two weeks, and I´ll reply then, para que sepa (just so you know). So yeah. Things are going good here with me. Have a great week. ¡Chao!
-Elder Sommerfeldt

10/19/09

Family! How is everyone doing? So here´s the big news. I´m in Vilafranca right now, not Cornellá. I think I told you last week about how there was an elder that went home after only being in the mission for a week, and how since the other companionship in our Piso was a trio I thought one of them would leave. Anyways, Monday evening they called me and told me to pack and be ready to leave the next morning. They took someone from the trio and put them with Elder Johnson, my old companion, and now I´m with Elder Morales, a Spaniard. I was way sad when I heard, and even for a few days after, and I still am a bit. I didn´t even get to say goodbye to any of our investigators or anything. I hope they´re all still progressing though and can still be baptized the 30th of October. We´ll see how that goes. So yeah. I´m now in a city called Vilafranca del Penedés. It´s about an hour away from Cornellá, and like an hour and half to two hours away from Barcelona. Just so you know, my address now is C/ Amalia Soler 18,4,1 08720-Vilafranca del Penedés (Barcelona) Spain (España). So yeah, if you can get that forwarded to Jen so she can get it on facebook for everyone, that would be great. And anyone who wants to write me can send it to that address now. I´ll still get everything that was sent to Cornellá, I´ll just have to wait a little bit. So yeah, that´s that. I´m now here in Vilafranca. I´m still getting used to the area and all, but it seems good. It´s a branch, with around 70 people or so I think attending church each week. Our goal is to get it to a ward. We´ll see what we can do about that. This past week we started teaching a girl named Claus who is progressing very well. She´s from Bolivia, but one of her parents is Spaniard, and she´s lived here for a couple years now. She´s living with her mom Rosemary. We´re teaching both of them, but Claus is progressing the most. She even came to church yesterday. We´re going to try to set a baptismal date for her the 7th of November. So we´ll see how that goes. There´s also a kid named Roberto that´s doing well. He has friends that are members and comes to Seminary almost every night and church almost every week. So hopefully we can get him baptized the 7th of November too. I´ll keep you updated on that though. Okay, so funny story. Here in Spain they do besos, where you kiss each other´s cheeks (kind of weird I think, but I hear it gets more normal the longer you´re here). Anyways, so normall when we´re with a group of people everyone gives besos to everyone then shakes the hands of the missionaries. When we first met Claus though she was doing the besos with everyone then got to me and started to go in to do the besos thing, and I was just like, uh... And she realized and stopped and apologized and said she didn´t realize we couldn´t and all. It was just a funny story, and a little awkward for me... haha. So that´s the funny story. I can´t thinik of what else has happened. Oh, we met the Stake Patriarch, because he lives in our ward, and he´s a way good guy. He also drove us out to a Pueblo on Saturday to go teach a girl named Carola. He´s very dedicated to the gospel though, so that´s good. My spanish is coming along pretty good, and it should come along even better now that I´m with Elder Morales, a native. He helps me with my spanish, and I help him with his english. So far we get along very well, so that´s good. It´s weird because we´re the only two people in our Piso. So I went from having 5 elders in a piso to only having 2. Crazy. It´s quieter, but still good. So things are going well with that. Well, I can´t think of much else to say now, so I think I´ll go ahead and start the individuals. Have a great week!
Elder Sommerfeldt

10/12/09

Hello everyone! Things are going well here for me. I can´t remember if I told you last week, but we have a goal for 5 baptisms October 30th. We are now at 3. We had four, but one lives three streets out of our area and has to be taught by some other missionaries (she wasn´t happy about that at all). So yeah. We are still on with Isabel getting baptized the 30th. She´s doing great, and we´re meeting with her twice a week still in a member´s house while her boyfriend is out of town, because we need a guy in the house. José Luis is also doing well. He´s the boyfriend of Penelope. The only thing with him is that he has to work weekends. He´s looking for a job, but was only able to find one where he has to work Saturdays and Sundays. He´s looking for another one, but it´s hard for him to quit until he has another one because it´s his only source of income. He doesn´t have all his papers finished, so that´s why it´s difficult. We´re just hoping and praying that he´ll find one soon so that he´ll be able to go church the Sunday after his baptism to get the Holy Ghost. If he doesn´t have a way to take that Sunday off by then we´ll have to hold off, but I think something will work out. The other guy is new. His name is Ricardo. We met him one day when we were walking and he stopped us and asked if we were the mormons. Long story short he went to church a bunch back in Ecuador before moving here, and really liked it. So we set up a time to meet with him in the house of some members that live nearby. We had the cita and he mentioned at one time that he didn´t know why he wasn´t baptized, so right then and there Elder Johnson committed him to be baptized the 30th of October and he accepted. We´ve taught him twice now, and if all goes well that will work out too. The only difficulty is that this past Sunday he was going to come to church (it´s like an hour and half away from his house), but he realized that he didn´t have money right before so he couldn´t take a bus. If we can get him to come these next two times though we´ll be good. So yeah, we´ll see how that goes. So we should be at three now. Yesterday we met with Rossy (the nine year old we´ve been trying to teach for forever, but have never been able to). Things went really well. She likes to draw, so I was able to get in there, and I told her I´ll bring some copies of some of my pictures for her next time, and I´ll give them to her. So yeah, hopefully that helps too. She also loves reading, and we left her with the Book of Mormon for kids, and asked her to read and pray about it. So we´re hoping she can get baptized too. Hopefully the 30th, but we don´t know for there. We asked her, and she said she didn´t know, so we´ll have to wait and see. Hopefully that all goes well too. So that´s the update on investigators I believe. I don´t think there´s much else to update there. We went bowling today for preparation day and I got 164!!! I was excited. It was good. So, some weird things (or things you may not know) about Spain. Okay, let´s see, here in Catalunya (the province), everything is in Catalan. That´s the language that´s the official language of Catalunya. Everyone speaks Spanish (or Castellano as they call it here), but almost everyone that was born here or went to school here also speaks Catalan. So like all of the signs and stuff are in Catalan. It´s kind of nice, because I can look at the words and usually figure out what they´re trying to say, and when I come back, I´ll probably speak just a little bit (not much) of Catalan as well. It´s things like Salida is how you say Exit in Spanish, but in Catalan it´s Sortida. Instead of Pierna for Leg, you say Cama (which is also how you say bed). So yeah, it´s just a little different. That´s one thing. The other thing is that there´s always trash and stuff all over the streets and sidewalks. It´s not terrible because they have people who have the job of basically constantly sweeping a plaza, but it´s still dirty. People here just throw trash and such all the time. So yeah. Also, for trash, like from our Piso, they have a bin for plastics, one for cardboard, one for glass, and another for other stuff. The bins are about a block away from our house and a whole neighborhood shares the same bins. So that´s that news. Well, I can´t think of much else to say. Things are going well here though. Oh, we have a new elder here. His name is Elder Dillon and he´s companions with Elder Romney and Elder Tonge, but living in our piso. It´s actually a lot of fun having five people now. It´s good. He´s a good guy too. However, really close to us, in our same zone, a new elder who´s only been here a week went home, so we´re thinking they may take one of the missionaries from the trio over there... I´ll let you know next week what happens. We should find out later today. Well, with that I think I´ve said everything I can think of. Have fantastic days and weeks and I´ll talk to everyone later. ¡Chao!
-Elder Sommerfeldt