Thursday, May 5, 2011
Conferencia de la Estaca de Hospitalet
¡Hola!
This week was stake conference. The stake center is in Hospitalet, which is the last metro stop south in Barç. The ward filled up two buses to make the 1 or so long trip up to barc. This was a miracle in itself. The Bishop was so pleased that they had to get a second bus. We got to ride up with the ward in one of the buses. it was really good because we got to talk to members and build up our relationship with them. I realized on the way there that no matter where you are in the world, members are exactly the same! You have the same stereotypes of different groups of members. And everyone always ends up singing hymns to pass time! haha. The bus ride was beautiful! Many times the coast was in view from the highway. You looked out one direction at sea and the other direction at mountains covered in trees. Absolutely beautiful. Right outside of Barç there is this really cool cemetary. The cemetaries here are buildings. And this particular one covered and entire hillside!
Conference was amazing! The speakers were all really good. First the stake president gave a moving talk about Joseph Smith. Then three returned Spanish sister missionaries shared their testimonies. Israel from Lleida who is about to serve in San Francisco also bore his testimony. After the intermediate hymn, two general authorities from the Area Presidency spoke. I don´t remember the name of one of them. Elder Caussé (or something like that) spoke last. He is French. He spoke in English, pausing after every other sentence for someone to translate into Spanish. I actually found myself listening more the Spanish than the English. The choir sang really beautfully too.
I got to see a lot of members from Lleida! It was really fun. They were all excited to see me. It made me feel loved! I hadn´t had a chance to get a picture with Mario, the ward mission leader, before leaving. I was finally able to take a picture with him.
The conference was not held in our stake center. It was held in the new Barcelona stake center. The new stake center opened just recently in January. It is the most expensive stake center in Europe! ¡Es super guay! You walk in and your jaw just drops! There are three floors. And a hardwood basketball court! It´s hard to explain. I didn´t take many pictures because I was too distracted talking to people. But some of the other elders did. I will get the pictures from them. Apparently the elders in Barç get quite a few new references each week from people stopping by to see what that beautiful building is.
Well that´s all exciting that really happened this week. We are really excited for the near future in Tarragona. Everyone we are teaching is a member reference. Thus, there is a lot of potential! This is the way missionary work is supposed to happen- member references!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
This week was stake conference. The stake center is in Hospitalet, which is the last metro stop south in Barç. The ward filled up two buses to make the 1 or so long trip up to barc. This was a miracle in itself. The Bishop was so pleased that they had to get a second bus. We got to ride up with the ward in one of the buses. it was really good because we got to talk to members and build up our relationship with them. I realized on the way there that no matter where you are in the world, members are exactly the same! You have the same stereotypes of different groups of members. And everyone always ends up singing hymns to pass time! haha. The bus ride was beautiful! Many times the coast was in view from the highway. You looked out one direction at sea and the other direction at mountains covered in trees. Absolutely beautiful. Right outside of Barç there is this really cool cemetary. The cemetaries here are buildings. And this particular one covered and entire hillside!
Conference was amazing! The speakers were all really good. First the stake president gave a moving talk about Joseph Smith. Then three returned Spanish sister missionaries shared their testimonies. Israel from Lleida who is about to serve in San Francisco also bore his testimony. After the intermediate hymn, two general authorities from the Area Presidency spoke. I don´t remember the name of one of them. Elder Caussé (or something like that) spoke last. He is French. He spoke in English, pausing after every other sentence for someone to translate into Spanish. I actually found myself listening more the Spanish than the English. The choir sang really beautfully too.
I got to see a lot of members from Lleida! It was really fun. They were all excited to see me. It made me feel loved! I hadn´t had a chance to get a picture with Mario, the ward mission leader, before leaving. I was finally able to take a picture with him.
The conference was not held in our stake center. It was held in the new Barcelona stake center. The new stake center opened just recently in January. It is the most expensive stake center in Europe! ¡Es super guay! You walk in and your jaw just drops! There are three floors. And a hardwood basketball court! It´s hard to explain. I didn´t take many pictures because I was too distracted talking to people. But some of the other elders did. I will get the pictures from them. Apparently the elders in Barç get quite a few new references each week from people stopping by to see what that beautiful building is.
Well that´s all exciting that really happened this week. We are really excited for the near future in Tarragona. Everyone we are teaching is a member reference. Thus, there is a lot of potential! This is the way missionary work is supposed to happen- member references!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Happy Easter
¡Hola!
He is risen! Yesterday was Easter! What a great holiday! The day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ. It is through him and no other that we can attain eternal life. Through faith in Christ and his gospel, we can return to live with our Father in Heaven. We can remain with our families for eternity in happiness. How great is this?! Doesn´t it just make you smile?! Christ suffered in the Garden Gethsemane and died for our sins and sufferings. Then three days later he rose from the tomb. Truly miraculous. A great show of love! I am so grateful for all the Christ did and still does for me!
This week was fantastic! Well the week was normal. The weekend was awesome! Friday we finally baptized Sandra! It was a nice baptismal service. Since it had been rescheduled, not many people attended. But there was still good support from the ward. It was also a nice length, not too short or too long. It was great to be at a baptism again. It helps give you animo and reminds you of the purpose of missionary work! And I love how spiritual baptisms are! We had a small scare on Sunday when Sandra arrived to church late. We walked out to meet her husband and had to run to the capilla in order to get there on time to get her confirmed this Sunday. If she had been late, she would have had to wait two more weeks becuase next week is stake conference and so we won´t have normal church. Oh by the way...I don´t know if I mentioned this before...I met Sandra way back in January when I came here for intercambios. She couldn´t get baptized back then because she wasn´t married to the father of her children, whom she was living with. They finally got married so she could baptized.Thus, since I already knew her, it is really cool that she is my first baptism in Tarragona.
Saturday was by far probably the coolest day of my mission. It was packed full of Cataluñian culture! It was el Dia de Sant Jordi. I explained it a little last week. This year was special. The members told us that never before (in recent years) has Dia de Sant Jordi, Semana Santa (Easter holiday), and a Saturday occured at the same time. There were crowds and crowds of people along the Rambla (the main road/blvd in Tarragona with a small park separating the opposite directions of traffic). If Grandma ever comes to Cataluña during dia de sant jordi, she will be in her glory! The street/park was lined with table after table selling books. Grandma wouldn´t be able to choose which books to look at. There were hundreds! There were also a lot of stands selling roses. There were craft stands and information stands, just like a fair. There were even boy and girl scouts walking around selling baked goods. We set up our table and pancarta (giant picture board thing) at the end of the Rambla, near the beach. We were blessed with great weather. It rained all day Friday and they were calling for rain all weekend. We woke up to rain Saturday, but by the time we got set up, there were clear blue skies. It stayed nice all day, then rained all day Sunday and today. A miracle! Anyway it was really fun handing out copies of the Book of Mormon and talking to people about the church. We made some great contacts. We were set up right next to a stage. It sat empty all day and we didn´t know why it was there. Then in the evening at about 7 pm a band set up on the stage. The band played traditional Cataluñian music and people in the crowd, of all ages, started dancing a traditional Cataluñian dance. The dance was a bit boring, but still cool to watch. A little later we looked down the Rambla in the opposite direction and saw teams making castelles (human towers). It was such a fun day!
Last night we had a noche de pelicula (movie night) for nonmembers to come and watch "The Work and the Glory" to learn more about the history of the church in an interesting, nonpreachy setting. Well, it wasn´t too successful at all. A handful of members and three investigators came. However the 3 that did come came with members and have great potential. It was fun watching the Work and the Glory....a nice change from the Restoration movie and Finding Faith in Christ.
That is all I will write this week so that I can upload some pictures.
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
He is risen! Yesterday was Easter! What a great holiday! The day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ. It is through him and no other that we can attain eternal life. Through faith in Christ and his gospel, we can return to live with our Father in Heaven. We can remain with our families for eternity in happiness. How great is this?! Doesn´t it just make you smile?! Christ suffered in the Garden Gethsemane and died for our sins and sufferings. Then three days later he rose from the tomb. Truly miraculous. A great show of love! I am so grateful for all the Christ did and still does for me!
This week was fantastic! Well the week was normal. The weekend was awesome! Friday we finally baptized Sandra! It was a nice baptismal service. Since it had been rescheduled, not many people attended. But there was still good support from the ward. It was also a nice length, not too short or too long. It was great to be at a baptism again. It helps give you animo and reminds you of the purpose of missionary work! And I love how spiritual baptisms are! We had a small scare on Sunday when Sandra arrived to church late. We walked out to meet her husband and had to run to the capilla in order to get there on time to get her confirmed this Sunday. If she had been late, she would have had to wait two more weeks becuase next week is stake conference and so we won´t have normal church. Oh by the way...I don´t know if I mentioned this before...I met Sandra way back in January when I came here for intercambios. She couldn´t get baptized back then because she wasn´t married to the father of her children, whom she was living with. They finally got married so she could baptized.Thus, since I already knew her, it is really cool that she is my first baptism in Tarragona.
Saturday was by far probably the coolest day of my mission. It was packed full of Cataluñian culture! It was el Dia de Sant Jordi. I explained it a little last week. This year was special. The members told us that never before (in recent years) has Dia de Sant Jordi, Semana Santa (Easter holiday), and a Saturday occured at the same time. There were crowds and crowds of people along the Rambla (the main road/blvd in Tarragona with a small park separating the opposite directions of traffic). If Grandma ever comes to Cataluña during dia de sant jordi, she will be in her glory! The street/park was lined with table after table selling books. Grandma wouldn´t be able to choose which books to look at. There were hundreds! There were also a lot of stands selling roses. There were craft stands and information stands, just like a fair. There were even boy and girl scouts walking around selling baked goods. We set up our table and pancarta (giant picture board thing) at the end of the Rambla, near the beach. We were blessed with great weather. It rained all day Friday and they were calling for rain all weekend. We woke up to rain Saturday, but by the time we got set up, there were clear blue skies. It stayed nice all day, then rained all day Sunday and today. A miracle! Anyway it was really fun handing out copies of the Book of Mormon and talking to people about the church. We made some great contacts. We were set up right next to a stage. It sat empty all day and we didn´t know why it was there. Then in the evening at about 7 pm a band set up on the stage. The band played traditional Cataluñian music and people in the crowd, of all ages, started dancing a traditional Cataluñian dance. The dance was a bit boring, but still cool to watch. A little later we looked down the Rambla in the opposite direction and saw teams making castelles (human towers). It was such a fun day!
Last night we had a noche de pelicula (movie night) for nonmembers to come and watch "The Work and the Glory" to learn more about the history of the church in an interesting, nonpreachy setting. Well, it wasn´t too successful at all. A handful of members and three investigators came. However the 3 that did come came with members and have great potential. It was fun watching the Work and the Glory....a nice change from the Restoration movie and Finding Faith in Christ.
That is all I will write this week so that I can upload some pictures.
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
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
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
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