Family and Friends! How´s everyone doing? Things are going great here in Barcelona. I guess the big news is that Alberto was able to get baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He got baptized on my birthday, February 12th. So that was a lot of fun. I don´t have a ton to say since the last time, since my last preparation day was on Friday, but that´s okay. On my birthday though we had a normal day for the most part. We did go out to eat though. We were going to go to a place called Freeway which is an Argentine meat buffet, but because it was Saturday it was way expensive, so we went to this other place and got some take-out food. We got pizza and some other meal thing. It was good, and fairly expensive. So that was fun. Later, we got ready for the baptism and had a couple visits, then at 7:00 we had the baptism. President and Hermana Hinckley were able to come too, so that was nice of them. They actually invited Elder Keller and I over for lunch Sunday after church to celebrate my birthday. It was a really quick lunch because they had to leave for Bilbao Sunday afternoon, but it was still good. It was good too, because it also gave us time to talk about a few things we needed to talk about in the mission before transfers get made this week. Just so you all know, transfers are this week, but I won´t be leaving. I´ll probably finish my mission here in Barcelona. That could change, but I´m pretty sure it won´t.
Anyways, so with Alberto´s baptism, a Young single adult named Cesar baptized him. Then on Sunday he was able to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and the Priesthood. So he´s doing really well. I gave him a pair of my suit pants and one of my white shirts and I´m going to give him my suit when we don´t have to wear suits anymore. It´s not in terrible condition, but it´s falling apart a bit. So I figure I wasn´t going to bring it home, so I´ll just leave it with him. He was super excited at his baptism too. The other elders told us when he and Cesar walked out of the font that Cesar was bauling and Alberto was just beaming and smiling so much. So that was good. His mom came too. We´re trying to get the whole family baptized, but it´s been a bit difficult to be able to visit with his family. We´re hopefully going to visit with him and his sister this Thursday, so we´ll see how that goes.
We also have an investigator named Christian that´s doing well, so that´s good. He just doesn´t know if he should get baptized now, or wait until he goes back to Colombia. We´re going to fast with him this week so he can figure out what he should do. We also have another girl we´re teaching named Sabrina that´s nine years old, and we just need her dad to give permission. He basically has given permission for her to be baptized, we just need it to be more firm. So hopefully both of them can be baptized here within in couple weeks.
Well, I can´t think of much else that´s new to say. Everything´s going well. Sorry this e-mail is shorter than normal.
I´m going to attach a few pictures though. The first is of me in Bilbao a few weeks ago in front of a massive dog statue made of flowers. Next is me on my birthday with presents I´d just opened. Next is me, Cesar, Alberto, Ana María (Alberto´s mom), and Elder Keller. Next is Me, Alberto, and Elder Keller. Next is last night at a FHE, Gladys, Isabel (one of our recent converts), Elder Southwick (the missionary I replaced, he had to come back for a day to have a medical checkup), Jaime, Elder Keller, me, and Archie and Coral on the front row. So there´s some pictures. Sorry I haven´t sent home pictures for so long. Well, I´m running out of time now, but have fantastic weeks. I´ll write more next week. ¡Chao!
-Elder Ryan Sommerfeldt
2/18/11
2/8/11
2/2/2011
Family! How´s everyone doing? Things are going great here. I don´t have as much time today, because we put internet off until the last minute, so I´ll be a little rushed today. Things are going great though. This past week we finished off all of the zone conferences. We went first off on Monday to Bilbao. That was a lot of fun. We went to the airport and flew over with the Hinckleys. We had to go to a piso that´s further away, so we didn´t get to bed until like 12:30, then we had to get up early, again, at 7:00. It´s fun though. I´m still doing fine. I´m always tired, but it´s a good tired. Anyways, that conference was incredible. There was just a great spirit in that zone. Then we flew back Tuesday night to Barcelona and Wednesday morning we woke up early, again, and went to the Barcelona zone conference in the new stake center. It´s really nice. It´s like as nice as the conference center. You should look it up online. It´s the most expensive church the church has built. One reason is because Barcelona is an expensive place to build, but also because it´s really nice.
Anyways, that was also a good conference, then we went down that night on train to Valencia. We taught a guy on the train and gave him a Book of Mormon. He lives in Castellón actually. We gave his information to them, so hopefully something good happens of that. The conference there was also good. Thursday night Elder Keller and Elder Ames, from Valencia went back to Barcelona and I stayed with Elder Atkin for intercambios there in Valencia. Then Saturday morning Elder Keller came back and we switched back. It´s a 4 hour train ride back to Barcelona, so that was fun / tiring.
Anyways, this week we´re in our area the entire week and we have a ton of work to do. We´re teaching two families. One is a family where the dad is less active, but coming back, and his wife is listening as well as his wife´s sister. The other is a family who has cousins that are members, and they´re doing really well. All of them will come on Sunday. Then we´re still teaching Alberto who is doing really well to be baptized on the 12-Feb, (my birthday), so that should be good. I´m excited for that. Well, let´s see, what else. We´re also teaching another couple where the wife is a less active and her husband (Enrique) is a non-member. They came to church this past Sunday and liked it a lot, so that´s good. We´ll see what happens with that, but I´m thinking we´ll have 3 baptisms or so in February, and a few more in March too, so that´s good. It´s a really good area, we just need to learn how to do everything with the mission and with our area all at the same time. It´s good though.
This past Wednesday we went to a Noche de Hogar that the Young Single Adults center does every Monday night. We went, but our investigators that were going to come didn´t. We had seen a bunch of 17 year old kids just outside on our way in though smoking and what not, but we thought hey, let´s go invite them. So we did. They came, and it went okay. It wasn´t the best lesson for a bunch of 17 year olds. It was just extra boring, and a little long. But, we invited them to come back the next day, and they came back, plus two others, so five total, and we gave them a tour of the church. None of them believe in God, so now we just need to help them with that. It might be a slow a process, but we´ll see how it goes in the end.
Also, this past Sunday there was a guy that went to the first ward in Barcelona and told the hermanas there that he just got here from Colombia, he´s been taught everything, and he wants to be baptized as soon as possible. Well, it turn out he lives in our area! So that´s fun. We´ve called, but he´s living in a welcome center right now, and we haven´t been able to get a hold of him for a bit now, but we´re still working on it. It´s only open after 8 p.m., and we´ve called, but they can´t get him since we don´t know his last name. We´re going to go up there sometime this week and try and find him. Worse case scenario we´ll see him on Sunday and go from there. It´d be nice to meet him as soon as possible though. His name is Carlos.
The other families we´re working with, just so you know, are Ivan, Patricia, and their son Fran, then Jorge, Gina, and Gina´s sister Yexenia, then Enrique and Leidy. There´s a few others too, but they´re progressing the most. Tonight we´re also going to visit with a family that´s part way active, and part way inactive. The dad in the past wouldn´t let the nine-year old daughter, Sabrina, get baptized, but just a few days ago they told us that he´d changed. So we´re visiting with them tonight, we´ll see how that goes. Well, that´s about all I can think of. Things are going great though. I love being a missionary.
Well family and friends, have a great week! ¡Chao!
-Elder Ryan Sommerfeldt
Anyways, that was also a good conference, then we went down that night on train to Valencia. We taught a guy on the train and gave him a Book of Mormon. He lives in Castellón actually. We gave his information to them, so hopefully something good happens of that. The conference there was also good. Thursday night Elder Keller and Elder Ames, from Valencia went back to Barcelona and I stayed with Elder Atkin for intercambios there in Valencia. Then Saturday morning Elder Keller came back and we switched back. It´s a 4 hour train ride back to Barcelona, so that was fun / tiring.
Anyways, this week we´re in our area the entire week and we have a ton of work to do. We´re teaching two families. One is a family where the dad is less active, but coming back, and his wife is listening as well as his wife´s sister. The other is a family who has cousins that are members, and they´re doing really well. All of them will come on Sunday. Then we´re still teaching Alberto who is doing really well to be baptized on the 12-Feb, (my birthday), so that should be good. I´m excited for that. Well, let´s see, what else. We´re also teaching another couple where the wife is a less active and her husband (Enrique) is a non-member. They came to church this past Sunday and liked it a lot, so that´s good. We´ll see what happens with that, but I´m thinking we´ll have 3 baptisms or so in February, and a few more in March too, so that´s good. It´s a really good area, we just need to learn how to do everything with the mission and with our area all at the same time. It´s good though.
This past Wednesday we went to a Noche de Hogar that the Young Single Adults center does every Monday night. We went, but our investigators that were going to come didn´t. We had seen a bunch of 17 year old kids just outside on our way in though smoking and what not, but we thought hey, let´s go invite them. So we did. They came, and it went okay. It wasn´t the best lesson for a bunch of 17 year olds. It was just extra boring, and a little long. But, we invited them to come back the next day, and they came back, plus two others, so five total, and we gave them a tour of the church. None of them believe in God, so now we just need to help them with that. It might be a slow a process, but we´ll see how it goes in the end.
Also, this past Sunday there was a guy that went to the first ward in Barcelona and told the hermanas there that he just got here from Colombia, he´s been taught everything, and he wants to be baptized as soon as possible. Well, it turn out he lives in our area! So that´s fun. We´ve called, but he´s living in a welcome center right now, and we haven´t been able to get a hold of him for a bit now, but we´re still working on it. It´s only open after 8 p.m., and we´ve called, but they can´t get him since we don´t know his last name. We´re going to go up there sometime this week and try and find him. Worse case scenario we´ll see him on Sunday and go from there. It´d be nice to meet him as soon as possible though. His name is Carlos.
The other families we´re working with, just so you know, are Ivan, Patricia, and their son Fran, then Jorge, Gina, and Gina´s sister Yexenia, then Enrique and Leidy. There´s a few others too, but they´re progressing the most. Tonight we´re also going to visit with a family that´s part way active, and part way inactive. The dad in the past wouldn´t let the nine-year old daughter, Sabrina, get baptized, but just a few days ago they told us that he´d changed. So we´re visiting with them tonight, we´ll see how that goes. Well, that´s about all I can think of. Things are going great though. I love being a missionary.
Well family and friends, have a great week! ¡Chao!
-Elder Ryan Sommerfeldt
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