12/11/09

Hello everyone! How is everyone doing? Things are going great here for me in Spain. Things have been really good this past week, and really bad all at once. I´ll start with the bad I guess. Okay, the worse thing is that Iván, he had a baptismal fecha for the 19th, disappeared. We have no idea where he is. We haven´t talked to him for like 3 or 4 days now. The last cita we had with him was way good, and since then we´ve passed by and or called 50 times or so but haven´t been able to get a hold of him. He was having problems paying rent, so we´re wondering if maybe he was kicked out, but we have no idea. Hopefully we can find him this week though. He lost his fecha though, because he needed to come to church this past Sunday to keep that fecha, so that was a bummer. Let´s see, also this past week one day I had to wake up at 6:30 and get ready to go to do my fingerprints to get my DNI, my identification. We had to go to Barcelona, because according to the paperwork and all I´m ¨living¨at the office right now. It´s so the office elders can deal with all the legal stuff. I had to go get fingerprints and sign some stuff though, and it took the entire morning. We left at like 7:00 a.m. and didn´t get back until after 2:00 p.m. So that was a bit of a bummer, but at least we were able to do it all in one morning, and we ended up having a pretty productive afternoon. Oh, this past week we had a meeting with the whole zone and afterwards we went to a restuarant called Freeway. It´s an all you can eat argentinian buffet. It was way good. I ate a lot of meat and crepes and ice cream and a lot of other good food. It was like 11 euros or so though, which is a bit much... But yeah, let´s see, what else has happened. This past week in church we had three menos activos that we´ve been working with come to church. So that´s good. The number of fechas in the mission went from like 35 to 73 in 3 or 4 days because the leaders said they wanted to double the number invitations by the end of the week. So that was nice to see. I was just thinking about some things that are normal for me, that maybe I haven´t told you about. Every Monday night we do a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) mainly for investigators and single people, or families with just a mom and a son, etc. Anyways, that´s something I don´t think I´ve said. We always do a game or activity to explain a gospel principle. Also, this past week we started English Classes. We had 6 people come the first night and 1 the second night. So we may be switching it to just one night, we´ll see. Things are going well here for me though. We found 4 new investigators and we´re going to see if we can´t help at least one of them to get baptized by the end of this year. That would be nice. Well, I´m just a little short on time, so I´m going to send this, but I´ll talk to you later and have a fantastic week.-Elder SommerfeldtAnd enjoy the SNOW!!!! (That´s something I don´t get here, just cold...)

11/23/09

Hello everyone! How´s everyone doing back home? Things are going good for me today. I got two letters with three weeks of letters from Jen today. I still haven´t read them yet, but it was a long time without getting anything because of the move, so that made me happy. Anyways, this week is going well. I have a list of some things I want to say, so if this email doesn´t sound very orderly, sorry. Okay, so first things first I made a Christmas Countdown this past week! I made it just like normal. I have a star in the middle, then the pattern, red green red green yellow... repeated with the rings. It´s good. The next CDs of pictures I send home will have them on it. I´ll probably send another CD in January, or end of December. The other thing, we went to Cantan por los Ángeles. That´s where we go and sing for everyone that´s going home. So we did that. I got to meet Elder Johnson (my trainer)´s family. So that was a lot of fun. I also saw a bunch of people I knew from Cornella, and I got to see Elder Bodily (my companion in the CCM), and a bunch of other friends. So that was a lot of fun. So if you ever meet an Aaron Johnson, he´s going to go to BYU next semester, he was my trainer. You could try and call him I guess if you want to talk to him, but I don´t know his info. Sorry. Also, just so you know, President Hill, the President in the Spain CCM is going home in December if I remember correctly. You should keep an eye open for that and go meet him when he´s home. He lives in Springville and he´s a really good guy. Okay, also, I don´t know if I told you guys, but our mission has a goal to have 400 baptisms by the end of the year. We´re at about 345 right now I believe, so I hope we can do it. Now the good news for Vilafranca... We´re going to add 3 to that number this weekend! We´re going to baptize Susanna, Karlita, and Raquel. Susana´s 23, Karlita´s 17, and Raquel´s (Karlita´s younger sister) is 14. So that´s good. Susana will be baptized this Friday at 7, and Karlita and Raquel this Saturday at 11. I´m super excited for them. We have to teach them tithing and have the interview, but other than that, everything´s set. So keep them in your prayers this next week. So yeah. It was interesting, this past week we learned that all of them had problems with the word of wisdom. One with coffee, one with tea, and one with tobacco. They´ve all dropped what they were taking though. They´re all amazing. They all had testimonies and had received answers to their prayers before we taught any of the commandments so it´s been relatively easy for them to follow the commandments, because they know what we´re saying in true. So yeah, everything´s going well there. We´re still working with Montse (Susana´s mom). She could be baptized the week after, except she and her pareja, spouse maybe ?, aren´t married yet. They´re working on it though. Hopefully they can get married really fast, then we can get her baptized, and maybe him too. We´re also going to start working with Karlita and Raquel´s parents. I don´t know if I told you, but the branch had a goal of 10 baptisms for the year. So far we´re at six, so after this week we´ll be at 9. I think we´re going to do it. It´s really cool too because last year they only had 1, now we´re going to get 10. Anyways, that´s the gist of my week. I´m sure there´s more to say, but like always I´m short on time. Oh, I guess I´ll say a few more things. We´re singing with the ward choir for a christmas concert for the community and guess what, the songs are in Catalan. So I´m going to know how to sing Joy to the World and one other song that we don´t have in English in Catalan. Crazy huh? Well, I think that´s all for now, but know that I´m loving the mission, and there´s nothing that could be better for me right now at this time of my life. Have fantastic weeks. ¡Chao!

-Elder Sommerfeldt

11/16/09

Family! How´s everyone doing? Things are going really well here for me. I´m in the new piso and it´s super nice. Just for example, I have a king size bed! It´s so fun. I also have two pillows that cost 120 euros each, and they´re the memory foam pillows. It´s so nice. Me and my companion each have our own bathroom, and each bathroom has a shower and two sinks. In our living room we have a super nice couch, a chimney, automatic blind things. Wow. It´s super nice, that´s the gist of it. And we´re paying 5 euros less each month than we were in the old one. The next CD or DVD I send back will have a video of it on it. So yeah. Okay, Roberto didn´t get baptized this past week... He didn´t pass the interview. He´s had some problems that came out in the interview, and he´s not really repentant at all. We weren´t going to baptize him, because we didn´t think he was ready, so we called the Ayudantes and told them, and they told us get him baptized this Saturday. So we did all we could, but when they don´t pass the interview, what can you do. This past week, so that Roberto could have the interview, I left on Intercambios. I went to Lleida for a day. It´s about 3 hours away. In the piso I stayed at for a night there were cockroaches all over in the kitchen! I saw probably about 20 or so at night. It was pretty grose. But I´m gone from there now, so that´s good. But when I was there I was younger in the mission than the other missionary, but I speak better spanish than him,so I was basically the senior companion. I had to do all the calls on the phone, lead all the lessons, etc. It went really good though. We had one lesson where it was so good, the spirit was so strong, and I´m certain if the missionaries there do everything right she, Nurka, will be baptized. Anyways, back to my own area. Susana (23 years old), Karlita (17 years old), and Raquel (14 years old and sister of Karlita) are all doing really really well. They´ve all received answers and are all going to be baptized the 28th of November. They all came to church this past week and all really enjoyed it. It was way good. I don´t see anything getting in the way of their baptisms. Susana´s mom, Montse, still has a baptismal date, but it´s now Dec. 5th, because she couldn´t come to church this past week. So we´ll see how everything continues there. But yeah, things are going really well with all of them now. This past week we had interviews with President Hinckley. He told me everything he´s heard is that I´m doing really well. So that was nice to hear. I´m doing my best, so it´s good to hear a compliment occasionally. But yeah. Things are going well. This past week was the transfer change, that´s why I´m writing on Tuesday this week. My and my companion Elder Morales are both staying,but he´s now the District Leader, which means we´ll be doing a lot moreintercambios in the future. So we´ll see how that goes. Well, sorry this is short, but I think I need to go to write all the individuals now. But yeah, I´m going good here, and have fun with everything that´s going on in yourlives. Have a good week. ¡Chao! -Elder Sommerfeldt

11/12/09

Barcelona
Barcelona

Elders Sommerfeldt and Johnson

CCM

11/9/09

¡Familia! ¿Cómo va tots? The word "tots" is Catalá for "todos," para que sepa. Things are going good here for me. This past week we had another slightly slower week. We had to fix up the Piso a whole bunch, including painting one bedroom, and our main living room area. We also had to replace a lot of doors, putting hinges on etc. It´s basically been a huge pain balancing all the work in the Piso with everything else. At the same time we had to finalize things with our new piso. Just so you know, the new address for my new piso is:

Avinguda Tarragona 16,3,
108720-Vilafranca del Penedés(Barcelona)
Spain/España

So yeah, hopefully I can start getting mail soon. This past week we had a district meeting out in Tarragona again. I don´t think I told you last week, but it´s right next to the beach. Man, I love the ocean. There´s several parts of the city where you´re up on a hill, and the beach is just right below you, then the ocean just goes on and on forever. It´s awesome. After my mission when I come back I´ll for sure go to the beach. Also, this week our heater, for the piso and the water broke. We´ve had about 5 days without heat and with only cold water. It´s been miserable. I´m excited to move and not have to take any more cold showers. Now for the good news, in spite of all of the hardships of moving etc., we set 4 baptismal dates this past week. Roberto is going to be baptized this Saturday, the 14 of the November, the following Saturday, November 21, Karlita´s going to be baptized, and the following Saturday, the 28th, Montse and Susana are going to be baptized. This past week was Stake Conference, an hour to an hour and a half away. We invited Karlita and she came! So that was good. She had to come to that, and then she has to come this next Sunday to still be baptized and all. And this past week we brought a girl named Fabiola with us to teach her, and then she rode home with her from conference, so she has a friend now. Things are going well there. This past week we had some bad news with Roberto. He told us he wasn´t going to be baptized anymore. We ended up having an activity that night, the seminary, then I gave him a blessing, and now he´s still going to be baptized. So that´s good. The baptismal font here in Vilafranca is just a swimming pool. It´s similar to our pool at our house, but the surface area isn´t as big, and it´s a square shape. But yeah, we set it up last night during correlation meeting, so that´s good. Oh, with Montse and Susana, I´ll tell their story. So my companion got this guy´s name, Emmanuel, a while ago on a bus, and his phone number. He hasn´t been able to visit with us for a while, but we got a hold of him this past week and went to teach him. We went in there and he was there, as well as two girls from Cataluña. Their names are Montse (mom) and Susana (daughter). They now have baptismal fechas. The only problem that´s come up is that just a bit ago we learned that Montse and Emmanuel are boyfriend/girlfriend and living together. We´ll see what we can do about that though. But Susana, I think all is well with her. We assigned her with 2 Nephi 31 a while ago to read, and told her to read to the end of the chapter. She was confused I guess and read to the end of 2 Nephi, so like 4 chapters or so. That was cool. Karlita´s also been doing her reading and all, and yesterday when we went to Stake Conference I think we became pretty good friends with her, so all is well with that. Lets see, what else. Mainly that´s what we´ve done, fix the piso and teach those people. Oh, this past week we also made no-bake cookies one night. We make no-bake cookies a lot and give about half away, then eat the other half. Anyways, this time my companion accidentally doubled about half the ingredients, so we had to double the whole thing. Anyways, we ended up with 44 cookies and... we ate them all in one day... All I can say is that I don´t think I´ve had such a bad stomach ache for a long time, and I won´t be eating that many cookies that fast again. They were really good though. Also, as I said this past week was Stake Conference so I was able to talk to Elder Johnson, my old companion. The news is that Isabel (the lady from Cornellá that moved out of her own Piso and let her boyfriend stay there so she could live the law of chastity) got baptized the 30th of October! I was super excited to hear. Apparently it was a huge pain because she wasn´t able to come to church the next day because she works at a hospital and had to work, so they had to make an exception so that she could get the Holy Ghost on Saturday, but luckily it all worked out. Well, I can´t think of much else to say, and I´m a bit short on time, so I´m going to go now. Have a fantastic week!
-Elder Ryan Sommerfeldt

11/2/09

Family and friends! How is everyone doing this week? Things are going well here for me. So last week I figured out that we need to move pisos. They told us last Monday and said we have to be out by the 9th of November, giving us two weeks to find a new piso, fix ours up, and move. So this past week we spent a lot of time finding a new piso. We have it narrowed down to two and just have to decide between those two now. So yeah. We wasted a lot of time with Pisos though and weren´t able to teach as much as we normally do. This next week will hopefully be better. Next week also I will write and tell all of you what the new address is. As for now, don´t send any letter to the piso on C/ Amalia Soler, because I will probably be gone by the time it gets there. Anything that´s already been sent I´ll hopefully get before leaving, but don´t send anything else. So yeah. Our Piso apparently was the worse piso in the mission. I don´t think it´s that bad, but the leaders do, so that´s why we have to move. Both of the pisos we´re looking at are a ton nicer than our current piso. They´re also cheaper too because of the economic crisis and all, so that should help save the church a little bit of money, and put us in a nicer piso. We did still get to teach Roberto twice this past week. We´re helping him progress, but he doesn´t always seem to have the excitement we wish he had. We still have two weeks though, so I´m pretty sure we can get him some excitement and get him baptized still. We´re going to teach him the Law of Chastity today, so hopefully that goes well. He´s only 14, so you´d think he´d be just fine, but here in Spain he very well could have a problem with it. His friend that´s a member, Josué, told us that he was a little concerned with it, so hopefully we can teach it really well today and get him to be perfectly okay with living it. Claus, interesting story with her. We were told by her friend that´s a member, well, she´s friends with Claus´ mom, that she wasn´t interested anymore because she didn´t have time. We didn´t want to just give up on her though so we passed by a few times to try and talk with her in person. One time we got a hold of her and she said she´d love to still visit with us, but she doesn´t have a lot of time since she´s studying for some big medical exam, she´s a doctor, but hasn´t taken the big test yet. So we are now down to just visiting her once a week. We´ll see what happens with that. So yeah, everything is going well with all of that. We also found a new investigator. Her name is Carolita. We taught her once and invited her to church. She wasn´t able to come to church, but we have a cita for this week, so hopefully we can get her interested too. She´s only 16 or 17. We´re focusing a lot on youth it seems, well, we´re really teaching whoever is ready to hear the gospel, and right now in Vilafranca it looks like it´s the youth. This next week we have a lot of potential. We met a bunch of people that we set up citas with for this next week, so I just hope everything works out and we can get in and teach all of them and help them all to realize the importance of the gospel and of being baptized and following the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, I can´t think of much more to say, but have a fantastic week everyone! ¡Chao!
-Elder Sommerfeldt Oh, I almost forgot, we had some members take us to a really nice chinese all you can eat restaurant this past week. It was like 15 euros a plate... I felt kind of bad, but they took us and I decided to try some new food so that I could write home about it, so I ate rana! Which is frog! I ate the legs. It was pretty grose, I could see everything just like it was a frog. It didn´t taste that bad, but just the fact that it was a frog was grose. Anyways, that´s that. Oh, I also ate shrimp yesterday with some members at their house. It was grose because I had to pull off the head, then rip off all the legs and the tail, then take off the skin... Not so pleasant. Anyways, that´s that. ¡Chao!

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