Monday, October 24, 2011

Stake Conference

¡Hola!

The Vic branch recently split off from the Granollers ward. Thus the Vic elderes used to live here and know some of the members here. A member invited the four of us to eat tacos with him (because of one the Vic elderes is from Mexico). Thus the Vic elderes came down here Sunday night and spent preparation day with us. The lunch ended up being cancelled. So Elder Saldaña, from Bolivia, cooked us my favorite Bolivian dish- pique macho. It was really fun (and delicious!). I love the Vic elderes. They are hilarious. Elder Saldaña is from Bolivia as I mentioned before, and Elder Prieto is from Mexico. However, both their families now live in Spain.

It seems that stake conference always brings miracles. At the last stake conference, a member (Margareth) introduced us to her friend, Yessi. Several weeks later Yessi was baptized. This stake conference brought us another miracle. We recently started English classes. Edwin enjoyed the spiritual thought afterwards; thus we set up a visit with him next Saturday before the next English class (a week away). However, Sunday morning (the following day) we received a call from Edwin, asking us about church. We told him that this week was a special conference in Barcelona and invited him to come with us in a member´s car. Fifteen minutes later we picked Edwin up. He enjoyed the conference so much that he agreed to a visit that same night. We had a lesson zero with him, and as Spain Barcelona missionaries do, we set a baptismal fecha with him in the first visit!

It is amazing how much I have changed in the mission. This weekend we had a small trial that really showed me how I have changed. We locked our keys in piso. My companion is in charge of carrying the keys. The old me would have gotten quite angry and frustrated. But I did not let it bother me....getting angry would not have helped get back into our piso any sooner. Also as senior companion when something goes wrong it is my responsibility. The members recognized this and kept giving me a hard time and reprimanding me. The old me would have made it quite clear that is was not my fault. The old me would have quickly passed the blame. But the new me just quietly took the criticism. Afterall i should have been more responsible by giving a spare key to a member family. I learned several things about myself in this experience. However, these two examples suffice.

Bueno, pues....i believe that is all for this week. ¡Hasta luego!

Love,
Elder Buchkovich

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

And they continue!



And still more....





Still More Pics




More Pictures from Cornella



Another Daughter of God Baptized

¡Hola!

The baptism of Lucíana went really well. It was quite beautiful. I am so excited for her. She is such a great little girl!

Many of our efforts with the members failed this week. For example, we only had 4 entries in our concurso de empanadas. A total of 6 or so members came. However one important thing happened. On Sunday the obispo pulled us aside and asked to talk to us in his office. He then proceded to give us counsel on what we could do. They were all ideas that we are already trying. As easy as it would have been to be defensive and point out that we were already doing all of that. We felt it was important to just listen and gratefully accept his counsel. Since that moment, the obispo as been a lot friendlier than normal with us. I feel like we are developing a good relationship with him.

We found a miracle family this week! We found the father in our area book. He seemed promising so we passsed by and set up a visit. In the visit he invited his family to join. All 5 of his children came in and sat intentively on the couch, excited to meet us. Even his wife, who according to the registro did not have much interest before, gladly listened to our message. The best part is that they already know many members and named off several people who we are going to call to help in future visits.

Who else just loves the October Liahona/Ensign?!?! It bears such a great testimony of the Book of Mormon!

That´s all for this week!

¡Hasta luego!

Love,
Elder Buchkovich

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Priesthood Blessings

¡Hola!

We have quite the busy week planned for this week! This Friday is the baptism of Lucíana. Then Saturday morning we are starting english classes. Saturday evening we are hosting a concurso de empanadas (empanada cook-off) for the ward. Then on Sunday (thanks to me volunteering) Elder Ellis and I are giving talks in sacrament meeting. The ward has not been helping us much, nor been giving us references. Thus this week were are really trying to build a relationship with them and earn their trust. It will be an important week!

As a mission were are nearing our year goal of 450 baptisms. Everyone is really excited! We had a great Zone Enfoque (a zone wide district meeting). President stopped by at the end and had me share the story of Juan Carlos from Cornellá to motivate them about the power of prayer.

This week I had to give several blessings of health. Being shy ole me, I do not really enjoy giving blessings, nor making promises in these blessings. But, I guess my faith in the priesthood is growing because this week I felt a lot more confident about the words coming out of my mouth. I know that these blessings came from the Holy Ghost. In fact during one of the blessing I tried to ignore a promise that came to mind, but it kept coming back until I finally said it.
One of the blessings I gave was to Yaneya who has lupus. She was in the hospital all last week. Today they received the results of several tests and she is doing great. Next week she can even return to school!

We can only meet with Rolando, one of our fechas, in the mornings. We knew it was super important to get a member to the visits with us, however we could never find someone who could help us in the morning. So finally we turned to Heavenly Father in a prayer during weekly planning. We asked him to help us find a member who could help. After the prayer no names came to either of our minds. But, I felt prompted to read the ward directory. The first name that popped out to me was "Miguel." We gave this Miguel a call and he gladly agreed to help us!

That´s all for this week!

¡Hasta luego!

Love,
Elder Buchkovich

Monday, October 3, 2011

Pictures from Cornella





¡La Conferencia General!

¡Hola!

How fortunate are we to have the opportunity to be counselled and guided by prophets and apostles of God! I just love General Conference. I feel like each conference is better and better. I received so many answers during conference. Isn´t it wonderful!? We are all children of our God. Each and every one of us is precious in his sight. As his children it is our right and privelege to receive direction from Him. By listening or reading the words of the Conference we can receive specific answers to specific questions. I know this true. I know it is true through experience. For God, time after time, answers my questions through His Holy Spirit and holy prophets. It is just so wonderful!!!!

This week we found Saul. Saul rents out a room in the piso of an antiguo investigator. On Sunday we passed by a list of antiguo investigators. We set up a visit with the son of this particular antiguo. However when we came back for the visit on Tuesday, the son nor the mother were home. But, Saul was home. He walked over the capilla with us and we had a lesson. We talked about baptism and the Spirit was super strong. We had another visit the next day. During the second visit Saul agreed to a baptismal fecha for the 22 Octubre! He is so great! He is from the Republica Dominicana. He has a true desire to learn the truth and is super humble.

This week will mark one year in Spain for me. I will be able to say that I have not stood on American soil in over a year. When I teach in English I speak like an African. Daily I develop new Spanish habits. And I LOVE South American food. However, I am still AMERICAN through and through. Elder Ellis received a package with Morman Tabernacle Choir cd´s. One of those cd´s has Patriotic songs like God Bless America. (Side note, Elder Ellis is half American. and quite patriotic for the US). I greatly enjoyed hearing songs about the United States!

As I write this letter I am listening to the final session of General Conference. I am also uploading all of my pictures onto my flashdrive. Thus, in the weeks to come it will be quite easy for me to send pictures home!

Well that is all for this week!

¡Hasta luego!

Love,
Elder Buchkovich