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
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