C/Virgen De Pilar 30, 3
08940 Cornellá
España
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Por Fin! Yessi es bautizada!
¡Hola!
I really wish I had more time to write, but today has been CRAZY! To start out, Yessi finally got baptized on Saturday. It was a wonderful baptismal service. I actually don´t have many pictures but I believe she is going to post some on facebook. Then Saturday evening came the surprising transfer call. Sadly I got transferred already! My new area is Cornellá. It is a suburb of Barcelona. I am really excited. It too has been seeing a lot of success. My new companion is a native, Elder Manotas. He has been in the field for only one transfer, but he is a stud missionary. We are really going to work hard together.
I promise to update on everything next week. I have so much to tell. Los Birnbaumer threw a party for my farwell/Elder Greep´s birthday. It was so great. I almost cried.
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
ps. Ask my mom for my new address.
I really wish I had more time to write, but today has been CRAZY! To start out, Yessi finally got baptized on Saturday. It was a wonderful baptismal service. I actually don´t have many pictures but I believe she is going to post some on facebook. Then Saturday evening came the surprising transfer call. Sadly I got transferred already! My new area is Cornellá. It is a suburb of Barcelona. I am really excited. It too has been seeing a lot of success. My new companion is a native, Elder Manotas. He has been in the field for only one transfer, but he is a stud missionary. We are really going to work hard together.
I promise to update on everything next week. I have so much to tell. Los Birnbaumer threw a party for my farwell/Elder Greep´s birthday. It was so great. I almost cried.
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
ps. Ask my mom for my new address.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sad Dream
¡Hola!
Well how about some good news to start! We finally had the miracle that we have been praying for! Yessi has been very upset over the lack of support her sister has been giving her. Yessi has been making several big changes in her life and is quite prepared for baptism. However her sister has refused to give her support. Yesterday, we finally received a text from Yessi saying that her sister is finally okay with her baptism. When we asked Yessi what happened to change her sister´s mind, she said, "I don´t know. She just changed. It must be all the changes I´m making." We know what happened. The Lord answered Yessi´s prayers by touching and softening the heart of her sister. Yessi will finally be baptized this weekend without any further obstacles!
Next week is transfers again....already! I really cannot believe how quickly the time is passing. I just do not know where it all goes. Time flies when you are working hard....and having fun doing the hard work!
I had an interesting dream this week. It was the end of my mission. In the dream it was normal for the mission office to do a big presentation/ceremony for the elders going home. Anyway all of us elders going home arrived together in a bus and all the parents were waiting for us outside. From the moment I got off the bus all the way through the entire ceremony I was crying because I didn´t want my mission to be over. I am not even halfway through my mission yet and I am already afraid of going home! Luckily for me I don´t have much time to think about that. And I still have plenty of time to enjoy bring souls unto salvation!!!
I think that is all for this week!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Well how about some good news to start! We finally had the miracle that we have been praying for! Yessi has been very upset over the lack of support her sister has been giving her. Yessi has been making several big changes in her life and is quite prepared for baptism. However her sister has refused to give her support. Yesterday, we finally received a text from Yessi saying that her sister is finally okay with her baptism. When we asked Yessi what happened to change her sister´s mind, she said, "I don´t know. She just changed. It must be all the changes I´m making." We know what happened. The Lord answered Yessi´s prayers by touching and softening the heart of her sister. Yessi will finally be baptized this weekend without any further obstacles!
Next week is transfers again....already! I really cannot believe how quickly the time is passing. I just do not know where it all goes. Time flies when you are working hard....and having fun doing the hard work!
I had an interesting dream this week. It was the end of my mission. In the dream it was normal for the mission office to do a big presentation/ceremony for the elders going home. Anyway all of us elders going home arrived together in a bus and all the parents were waiting for us outside. From the moment I got off the bus all the way through the entire ceremony I was crying because I didn´t want my mission to be over. I am not even halfway through my mission yet and I am already afraid of going home! Luckily for me I don´t have much time to think about that. And I still have plenty of time to enjoy bring souls unto salvation!!!
I think that is all for this week!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
A Culture of Obedience
¡Hola!
This week was my third zone conference in the Lleida Zone. It was also the third ever Lleida Zone Conference. It was amazing, as always. I just love listening to President Hinckley. We focused a lot on working with members again. Zone conference always gives you the refueling you need and a new drive to keep working hard. Spain is really seeing many miracles right now. The month of May was the best month on record in the mission. President told us a story about Elder Jacinto, one of my old zone leaders. He went home almost 2 transfers ago and has already come back to visit. He told President a story about his friends. Elder Jacinto had been with a group of friends. They were all telling stories about missionaries who were sent home from their missions for disobedience (you only get sent home for really bad actions). They turned to Elder Jacinto and asked him for a story. He merely told them, "We didn´t do that in our mission. Noone was sent home my entire mission for disobedience. But uh...we got home late once." The truth about our mission is that it really does have a culture of obedience and hard work. I am so grateful to be surrounded by such diligent missionaries!
My miracle story this week comes from asking someone to be baptized. We usually have a visit with Lucho once a week. He is the husband of one of our strongest members. Lucho knows the church is true and that he needs to change. He has known the missionaries for YEARS! Yet he won´t be baptized. Several times he has come close but never committed. This week during the visit it was only him, his daughter, and us. The Spirit was super strong. I felt deeply impressed in my heart to invite him to be baptized. Knowing Lucho´s history and I laughed to myself and ignored the Spirit. (I am a BAD example). A little later on I felt the same prompting. I was worried because I didn´t want to ruin our relationship with him by pushing him to be baptized like everyone else has. Thus I decided that I wouldn´t. I also decided that later that night I would pray about it, and if I still felt good, I would invite him the next visita. Well a little bit later my companion turned to Lucho and said, "I know you´ve been asked this a lot....will you follow...." The rest is history. The amazing thing is that Lucho said, "Yes." And that baptism is something he wants. His only worry is that he has a few things to change. We asked him if there is anything we can do to help with these few things. And thus the topic drifted and we didn´t have the chance to set a formal date. There is always the next visit! To me this is a miracle because it shows that the Spirit really does talk to all of us. He knows what is best and when is best! I am also grateful to have a companion. With the both of us feeling the Spirit it is easier to follow His promptings.
There haven´t been anymore cockroaches. Thank goodness!!
The members here in Tarragona are great! They are so excited about missionary work. We have received so many references and a ton of help!! It is wonderful. We are super close with one family, Los Birnbaumer. They are from Bolivia. The older daughter, Margareth, is the one who brought Yessi to church. (She has also given us several more references). They fed us during mediodia today because it´s a fiesta (holiday). We ended up spending a lot of our Preparation day with them just merely talking about Gospel related themes. They are such an amazing family! The Spirit is super strong in their home!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
This week was my third zone conference in the Lleida Zone. It was also the third ever Lleida Zone Conference. It was amazing, as always. I just love listening to President Hinckley. We focused a lot on working with members again. Zone conference always gives you the refueling you need and a new drive to keep working hard. Spain is really seeing many miracles right now. The month of May was the best month on record in the mission. President told us a story about Elder Jacinto, one of my old zone leaders. He went home almost 2 transfers ago and has already come back to visit. He told President a story about his friends. Elder Jacinto had been with a group of friends. They were all telling stories about missionaries who were sent home from their missions for disobedience (you only get sent home for really bad actions). They turned to Elder Jacinto and asked him for a story. He merely told them, "We didn´t do that in our mission. Noone was sent home my entire mission for disobedience. But uh...we got home late once." The truth about our mission is that it really does have a culture of obedience and hard work. I am so grateful to be surrounded by such diligent missionaries!
My miracle story this week comes from asking someone to be baptized. We usually have a visit with Lucho once a week. He is the husband of one of our strongest members. Lucho knows the church is true and that he needs to change. He has known the missionaries for YEARS! Yet he won´t be baptized. Several times he has come close but never committed. This week during the visit it was only him, his daughter, and us. The Spirit was super strong. I felt deeply impressed in my heart to invite him to be baptized. Knowing Lucho´s history and I laughed to myself and ignored the Spirit. (I am a BAD example). A little later on I felt the same prompting. I was worried because I didn´t want to ruin our relationship with him by pushing him to be baptized like everyone else has. Thus I decided that I wouldn´t. I also decided that later that night I would pray about it, and if I still felt good, I would invite him the next visita. Well a little bit later my companion turned to Lucho and said, "I know you´ve been asked this a lot....will you follow...." The rest is history. The amazing thing is that Lucho said, "Yes." And that baptism is something he wants. His only worry is that he has a few things to change. We asked him if there is anything we can do to help with these few things. And thus the topic drifted and we didn´t have the chance to set a formal date. There is always the next visit! To me this is a miracle because it shows that the Spirit really does talk to all of us. He knows what is best and when is best! I am also grateful to have a companion. With the both of us feeling the Spirit it is easier to follow His promptings.
There haven´t been anymore cockroaches. Thank goodness!!
The members here in Tarragona are great! They are so excited about missionary work. We have received so many references and a ton of help!! It is wonderful. We are super close with one family, Los Birnbaumer. They are from Bolivia. The older daughter, Margareth, is the one who brought Yessi to church. (She has also given us several more references). They fed us during mediodia today because it´s a fiesta (holiday). We ended up spending a lot of our Preparation day with them just merely talking about Gospel related themes. They are such an amazing family! The Spirit is super strong in their home!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
La Cucaracha
Hola!
Well I almost made it a year in my mission without finding a cockroach in my piso.....my streak of luck ended this week! After planning Wednesday, Elder Greep went into the kitchen to eat some dinner before bed. Immediately as he walked in, he started screaming for us all to come to the kitchen. I immediately came running over to the kitchen took one glance in, did a 180, and went right back out of the kitchen. Because....on the cupboard doors under our sink was the largest cockroach that I have ever seen. And I have seen some pretty large cockroaches on the side of the road. Elder Greep ending up killing it as it came charging at him (yes he claims the cockroach charged him). Unfortunately we did not take any pictures. We were being too big of sissies and disposed of the body immediately by way of the toilet. We convinced ourselves that we were okay. That a cockroach that big could only have come from outside. And that if we had a problem/investation there would be smaller cockroaches. Well two days later I turned the light on in one of the bathrooms and there lying on the floor, acting dead, was another cockroach! And this one was smaller! The good news is that it was still huge. Pictures of the second one (post death) are included. We told a member about them and she told us that those types of cockroaches live in the streets and come in through windows and doors. Thus I believe we are safe. We are yet to see any baby cockroaches so I don´t think we have an infestation. And we have been extra careful about the windows and so no more (that we know of) have come inside. On the bright side everyone finally agrees with me that we need to keep our kitchen cleaner!
We had a great week. Our investigators are progressing so well!
On Saturday we finally had our first visit with Yessi after she cancelled her baptism the previous week. She is still progressing amazingly! Unfortunately because we were really rushed to catch our bus, we did not have time to teach a good lesson. As we were hurrying to leave, I felt impressed that we should stay and not worry about catching the bus. Thus we stayed. We ended up clearing up several small questions about the Word of Wisdom and piercings. When we finally left, we decided to try taking the train, since we had missed the bus. We arrived at the train station five minutes after the departure time, but the train arrived 10 minutes late. Thus we caught the train and made it to our next visita with time to spare. And the next day at church, Yessi no longer had her tongue piercing!
Natalie´s father, Manual, finally came to church yesterday. We have been trying endlessly to get him to come. Everytime he gives a flojo (flimsy) response of maybe and never comes. We decided to stop directly asking him and wasting time on trying to persuade him through words. This week we focused hard on following the Spirit in our visits. On Saturday we finally mentioned church again to verify that Natalie was coming. She of course said, "Yo, sí!" Then we turned to Manual to extend the invitation and he said, "Yes. We have already made the plans." And he came! (Natalie did too of course!)
Gerard, one of our recent converts, has had quite the miracle story! He really wants to serve a mission. However, unfortunately, the university only allows students one year off of classes. A mission is two years. Gerard has been trying to get permission to take two years off for a mission. However, everytime he tries, he gets pushed from office to office and is treated quite poorly. Finally Gerard decided to pray to Heavenly Father, telling Him of his desires to serve and how he needed help getting permission. That same day Gerard tried again. This time the receptionists treated him nicely, helping him out the best they could. By the end of the day, Gerard had permission from the president of the university to take two years off of classes at the end of the next school year. Next summer Gerard will be serving a mission!
If you take time to actually listen during your prayers....it´s amazingly miraculous the inspiration and revelation you receive...and how clear the answers are. Just something I have learned on my mission.
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Well I almost made it a year in my mission without finding a cockroach in my piso.....my streak of luck ended this week! After planning Wednesday, Elder Greep went into the kitchen to eat some dinner before bed. Immediately as he walked in, he started screaming for us all to come to the kitchen. I immediately came running over to the kitchen took one glance in, did a 180, and went right back out of the kitchen. Because....on the cupboard doors under our sink was the largest cockroach that I have ever seen. And I have seen some pretty large cockroaches on the side of the road. Elder Greep ending up killing it as it came charging at him (yes he claims the cockroach charged him). Unfortunately we did not take any pictures. We were being too big of sissies and disposed of the body immediately by way of the toilet. We convinced ourselves that we were okay. That a cockroach that big could only have come from outside. And that if we had a problem/investation there would be smaller cockroaches. Well two days later I turned the light on in one of the bathrooms and there lying on the floor, acting dead, was another cockroach! And this one was smaller! The good news is that it was still huge. Pictures of the second one (post death) are included. We told a member about them and she told us that those types of cockroaches live in the streets and come in through windows and doors. Thus I believe we are safe. We are yet to see any baby cockroaches so I don´t think we have an infestation. And we have been extra careful about the windows and so no more (that we know of) have come inside. On the bright side everyone finally agrees with me that we need to keep our kitchen cleaner!
We had a great week. Our investigators are progressing so well!
On Saturday we finally had our first visit with Yessi after she cancelled her baptism the previous week. She is still progressing amazingly! Unfortunately because we were really rushed to catch our bus, we did not have time to teach a good lesson. As we were hurrying to leave, I felt impressed that we should stay and not worry about catching the bus. Thus we stayed. We ended up clearing up several small questions about the Word of Wisdom and piercings. When we finally left, we decided to try taking the train, since we had missed the bus. We arrived at the train station five minutes after the departure time, but the train arrived 10 minutes late. Thus we caught the train and made it to our next visita with time to spare. And the next day at church, Yessi no longer had her tongue piercing!
Natalie´s father, Manual, finally came to church yesterday. We have been trying endlessly to get him to come. Everytime he gives a flojo (flimsy) response of maybe and never comes. We decided to stop directly asking him and wasting time on trying to persuade him through words. This week we focused hard on following the Spirit in our visits. On Saturday we finally mentioned church again to verify that Natalie was coming. She of course said, "Yo, sí!" Then we turned to Manual to extend the invitation and he said, "Yes. We have already made the plans." And he came! (Natalie did too of course!)
Gerard, one of our recent converts, has had quite the miracle story! He really wants to serve a mission. However, unfortunately, the university only allows students one year off of classes. A mission is two years. Gerard has been trying to get permission to take two years off for a mission. However, everytime he tries, he gets pushed from office to office and is treated quite poorly. Finally Gerard decided to pray to Heavenly Father, telling Him of his desires to serve and how he needed help getting permission. That same day Gerard tried again. This time the receptionists treated him nicely, helping him out the best they could. By the end of the day, Gerard had permission from the president of the university to take two years off of classes at the end of the next school year. Next summer Gerard will be serving a mission!
If you take time to actually listen during your prayers....it´s amazingly miraculous the inspiration and revelation you receive...and how clear the answers are. Just something I have learned on my mission.
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Bring on the Heat
¡Hola!
Whoa it is hot!!!! 30 degrees celsius with lots of humidy is not fun proselyting weather! Summer has arrived! With has come lots of work. We have so many great investigators!
Yessi was not baptized this weekend. She did not want to be baptized without the approval of all of her family. We had several spiritual visits with her mom present, so she gained the approval of her mother and subsequently her father. Her brothers are indifferent about religious matters and didn´t care. Thus the only one who didn´t approve of her baptism was her sister. Thus she did not get baptised in fear of upsetting her sister. Elder Greep and I are not too concerned. After a visit or two with her sister, we believe that the Lord will soften her sister´s heart and she will get baptized.
Natalie is our most progressing investigator. She has come two church 3 times with a menos activo family! She attended mutual this week for the first time and LOVES going to young women´s activities. We are also teaching her dad and brother who aren´t progressing as quickly. Todavia they are great people. In our last visit with her dad, we asked him to give the closing prayer. He struggled to through a simple heartfelt prayer. This was odd because I have heard him pray before. At the end of his prayer in the most sincere humility he asked us to help him learn to pray better so that he can pray with his family.
We also have Fatima. She is the niece of one of our eternigators (eternal investigators), Lucho (through a previous marriage). Lucho is married to one of our strongest members in the ward and his daughter, Milagros, is one of the other strongest members in the ward. Thus, Fatima is indirectly related to two of the strongest members of our ward. Fatima is really interested in learning more about our message. She has already been to the Work and the Glory movie night and a baptism.
Ramiro has been really hard to get a visit with due to his work schedule. He genuinely wants to learn more about his relationship with God. We taught him the Restoration in our last visit and the entire time he asked us questions and took notes on scripture references.
We have so many more great people! But I don´t have much time. This was a good week. I really felt the Lord working through me. It is an indescribably great feeling!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Whoa it is hot!!!! 30 degrees celsius with lots of humidy is not fun proselyting weather! Summer has arrived! With has come lots of work. We have so many great investigators!
Yessi was not baptized this weekend. She did not want to be baptized without the approval of all of her family. We had several spiritual visits with her mom present, so she gained the approval of her mother and subsequently her father. Her brothers are indifferent about religious matters and didn´t care. Thus the only one who didn´t approve of her baptism was her sister. Thus she did not get baptised in fear of upsetting her sister. Elder Greep and I are not too concerned. After a visit or two with her sister, we believe that the Lord will soften her sister´s heart and she will get baptized.
Natalie is our most progressing investigator. She has come two church 3 times with a menos activo family! She attended mutual this week for the first time and LOVES going to young women´s activities. We are also teaching her dad and brother who aren´t progressing as quickly. Todavia they are great people. In our last visit with her dad, we asked him to give the closing prayer. He struggled to through a simple heartfelt prayer. This was odd because I have heard him pray before. At the end of his prayer in the most sincere humility he asked us to help him learn to pray better so that he can pray with his family.
We also have Fatima. She is the niece of one of our eternigators (eternal investigators), Lucho (through a previous marriage). Lucho is married to one of our strongest members in the ward and his daughter, Milagros, is one of the other strongest members in the ward. Thus, Fatima is indirectly related to two of the strongest members of our ward. Fatima is really interested in learning more about our message. She has already been to the Work and the Glory movie night and a baptism.
Ramiro has been really hard to get a visit with due to his work schedule. He genuinely wants to learn more about his relationship with God. We taught him the Restoration in our last visit and the entire time he asked us questions and took notes on scripture references.
We have so many more great people! But I don´t have much time. This was a good week. I really felt the Lord working through me. It is an indescribably great feeling!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
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