Dia de Sant Jordi

¡Hola!

Remember how I said last week would be busy? Well this week will be even busier! Since we had to leave Tarragona last week, we couldn´t keep daily contact with Sandra. We tried calling everyday to keep her excited for her baptism and the other elders offered to meet with her for us. However, she went out of town too and wasn´t answering her movil (cell phone). Thus when we finally talked to her again, we all decided it would be best to wait until this week. So, this Friday will be Sandra´s baptism.

Then, on Saturday, is el Dia de Sant Jordi. This is a Cataluñian holiday. This is a day for couples. The male buys a present and a rose for the girl. And the girl in return buys the male a book. Thus all day Saturday we are going to run a table with free (like always) copies of the Book of Mormon. Our ward mission leader, Jordi (appropriately named), is really excited. He has a ton of plans for the table. He wants to have as many members as possible helping, a small choir, laptops with Mormon Messages playing, and more. It should be a fun day. We hope to get bastante referencias! Then on Sunday we are going to have a Noche de Pelicula, showing The Work and the Glory, at the capílla. We are inviting a lot of menos activos and nonmembers to come learn more about this history of our Church, while watching a movie that isn´t too preachy and is of Hollywood quality. Also this week we are visiting some recent converts who live 1 hour away and another who lives 1 1/2 hours away. We have been promising to pass by for past few weeks but haven´t made it. Thus it will be another busy week.

I really enjoyed my week in Zaragoza. It is a beautiful city! I met some great members and investigators there. I also enjoyed my time with Elder Hastings, the greenie. I learned a lot about myself being with him. For example, my Spanish is waaaaay better than I thought. Thus I need to stop being overcritical of myself and start being more confident when I talk to others. Also I was reminded what it is like to have the enthusiasm of a new missionary. It kind of renewed my own enthusiasm; for I have fallen into too many ruts, ie. only contacting certain types of people when I should be contacting anyone and everyone. Elder Hastings is really nice too. The entire week, whenever he prayed, he thanked God for the opportunity to work with and learn from me and for our new friendship. It made me feel good. He also made me laugh a few times with his naive comments like "We can just run to the store and get some Brownie mix." (we were making brownies for some members) and "They don´t have peanut butter here?!" As fun as it was, though, I have NO desires to be a trainer! haha. The weather in Zaragoza reminded me of home. It was cloudy and windy! haha. I am glad to be back in warm, sunny Tarragona. We did our studies outside, today, by the river. My base tan is starting to come in!

Hmmm....let´s see....an update on the work here. Cesar, the husband of a recent convert, is super close to baptism. He told us this weekend that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith was a prophet, etc. We are really excited!

I suppose that´s all for this week. Maybe I´ll upload some pictures.

¡Hasta luego!

Love,
Elder Buchkovich