¡Hola!
One year down.....you can believe it?! The truth is, this is super sad. I only have one year left in Spain. Only one year left devoting all my time as a full-time missionary. Today happens to be my real birthday. On a day were most jovenes in the US. celebrate their right to legally purchase alcohol, I am out serving the Lord. I believe I am having more fun!!!
Well I had a lot to say. But the computer froze and I had to restart. And now I dont have time. Everything here is wonderful. We have baptisms scheduled for every weekend for the next few weeks.
We saw MANY miracles this week. It is amazing how blessed we were by the Lord! However it is hard for me to remember off hand all the different miracles because one affected me profoundly. We left our last visit on Monday quite discouraged. At the beginning of the month we had several fechas set for the month of August. However some of them found work, others moved away, and others we lost contact with. On Monday our last fecha for August told us that she wanted to wait until September (we later found out she has problems with the Word of Wisdom). As senior companion I felt really bad. I kept thinking of all the things we could have done better with our investigators. I felt as if I had let my companion down and President down (because he had received revelation about every companionship baptizing this month). That night during my nightly prayer I asked God for a miracle. I told him I had the faith that he could lead us to one of his sons or daughters who was ready to be baptized. On Thursday we met Juan Carlos. He had been attending church for several weeks. We thought he was a member until his girlfriend approached us during church that Sunday before to set up a visit. His girlfriend, a member, is on vacation here, visiting him for several weeks. She brought him to church and has been teaching him everything. He even started reading the Book of Mormon. During the visit Thursday, we invited him to be baptized on 10 September. When we did so, he turned to his girlfriend. She interrupted, telling us, "Well the problem is that I leave on the 30th." And then he followed saying, "Yeah. And I would like her to be here." So problem-solved...we set the date for 27 August! I know that the Lord answered my prayer. I know it without a doubt. When we have the faith, the Lord guides us to his prepared sons and daughters.
Thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Elder Malan de Mallorca
¡Hola!
BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!!! I am so tired! But I love it! jaja!!! Anyway we had the opportunity to be a trio again this week. Elder Malan is from Mallorca (well actually Ecuador but raised in Mallorca). He is actually serving in the Salt Lake City South Mission but has been waiting for his visa to enter the States. Thus for the past 4 months he has been serving in Zaragoza. He finally got his visa. So, he came and served with us for several days so that he could be close to Barc for interviews with President and such. He is a great missionary! We´ll miss him in the Spain Barcelona Mission.
We were in a lesson with one of our investigators who has a fecha bautismal, Pablo. We were teaching the Restoration. Halfway through the lesson, I felt inspired to go back and summarize what we had thus far taught, relating everything to how Heavenly Father loves him. After we did this, he got excited and said, "Oh, I am starting to see the body of the message." Meaning, he understands the importance of everything we were teaching. At the end of the lesson he was really excited and told us he was going to talk to his girlfriend about meeting with the missionaries. Again I am reminded of how we do not convert people, the Spirit does!
This week we should have a baptism. Fran(cisca) from Paraguay. She is wonderful!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!!! I am so tired! But I love it! jaja!!! Anyway we had the opportunity to be a trio again this week. Elder Malan is from Mallorca (well actually Ecuador but raised in Mallorca). He is actually serving in the Salt Lake City South Mission but has been waiting for his visa to enter the States. Thus for the past 4 months he has been serving in Zaragoza. He finally got his visa. So, he came and served with us for several days so that he could be close to Barc for interviews with President and such. He is a great missionary! We´ll miss him in the Spain Barcelona Mission.
We were in a lesson with one of our investigators who has a fecha bautismal, Pablo. We were teaching the Restoration. Halfway through the lesson, I felt inspired to go back and summarize what we had thus far taught, relating everything to how Heavenly Father loves him. After we did this, he got excited and said, "Oh, I am starting to see the body of the message." Meaning, he understands the importance of everything we were teaching. At the end of the lesson he was really excited and told us he was going to talk to his girlfriend about meeting with the missionaries. Again I am reminded of how we do not convert people, the Spirit does!
This week we should have a baptism. Fran(cisca) from Paraguay. She is wonderful!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Monday, August 1, 2011
Standards of Excellance
¡Hola!
AUGUST ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In every mission there is something called the "Standards of Excellance." They are the numbers that every companionship should strive to achieve. They are not easy to reach, but neither are they impossible. For most of my mission the standards of excellance have always eluded me barely. We would always barely miss reaching all the standards of excellance by one lesson or one fecha or something. Well this week we finally reached all of the standards of excellance!!! We have been working like crazy! We constantly have to go on splits with the members. President is thinking about putting another companionship in Cornellá. I hope he does! The funny thing is I thought reaching the standards would make me feel super accomplished. But I feel normal. In fact I am even more motivated to do better. August is going to be an amazing month. Many children of our Heavenly Father are going to enter the waters of baptism and begin the path to salvation!!!!!
We had a cita cancel on us and our back plan was to pass by antiguos investigators in the area. So we timbred the home of Lorena, an antigua. Lorena was not home. However her family was. We met her mother, boyfriend, and younger sister! Her boyfriend and younger sister were really receptive to our message. Being missionaries of "El Faro," we invited the younger sister (Maria José) to be baptized during this first visit. And she accepted! The boyfriend of Lorena (Armando) will follow as soon they get married. Finding families really is the best!
I met some French members in church yesterday. It made me miss French a bit. I wish I hadnt forgotten so much of it.
Well with loads of work and being senior companion, I had un monton de cosas to report to Presidente this week. Thus I may have spent all of my time writing him this week. Sorry for the short letter. Everything is wonderful!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
AUGUST ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In every mission there is something called the "Standards of Excellance." They are the numbers that every companionship should strive to achieve. They are not easy to reach, but neither are they impossible. For most of my mission the standards of excellance have always eluded me barely. We would always barely miss reaching all the standards of excellance by one lesson or one fecha or something. Well this week we finally reached all of the standards of excellance!!! We have been working like crazy! We constantly have to go on splits with the members. President is thinking about putting another companionship in Cornellá. I hope he does! The funny thing is I thought reaching the standards would make me feel super accomplished. But I feel normal. In fact I am even more motivated to do better. August is going to be an amazing month. Many children of our Heavenly Father are going to enter the waters of baptism and begin the path to salvation!!!!!
We had a cita cancel on us and our back plan was to pass by antiguos investigators in the area. So we timbred the home of Lorena, an antigua. Lorena was not home. However her family was. We met her mother, boyfriend, and younger sister! Her boyfriend and younger sister were really receptive to our message. Being missionaries of "El Faro," we invited the younger sister (Maria José) to be baptized during this first visit. And she accepted! The boyfriend of Lorena (Armando) will follow as soon they get married. Finding families really is the best!
I met some French members in church yesterday. It made me miss French a bit. I wish I hadnt forgotten so much of it.
Well with loads of work and being senior companion, I had un monton de cosas to report to Presidente this week. Thus I may have spent all of my time writing him this week. Sorry for the short letter. Everything is wonderful!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Monday, July 25, 2011
¡SUPER-BIEN!
¡Hola!
As far as numbers, this was the best week of my mission. There is so much work here in Cornellá!!!! Unfortunately there are not enough missionaries in the mission to split the area. However next transfer there is an odd number of missionaries coming in. So I am hoping maybe we could have a tripanionship and constantly go on splits. We´ll see though.
We had interviews with President this week. As always I learned so much from talking to him. He told me that he has noticed a big change in me. During the interviews, the zone leaders gave an amazing training. Again, I learned so much. I really love being a missionary. I look forward each Monday to starting another great week!
This week we met Morelia, a member of the church. She had plans to visit her son and the temple. However, she missed her flight. Thus, she is stuck here in the Barcelona area, staying with some friends who are nonmembers. Sunday morning we visited her to arrange a way for her to come to church. While we were talking she mentioned to us that she is close friends with the family she is staying with and that she has been praying for them. We invited the family members who were present to join us for a spiritual thought. They enjoyed our message and invited us back to eat some food and have another charla! We learned two things from this experience. First, the Lord does answer our prayers for loved ones. Second, the Lord will do whatever it takes to introduce the elect to the missionaries, even if it means someone has to miss a flight!
We had another great experience involving an ice cream man. One of the member families gave the ice cream man a Book of Mormon. We wanted to pass by him this week but we weren´t sure which ice cream man he was. The members were never home to take us to him. Finally on Saturday we were passing by various investigators wiht our word mission leader. We passed by a small ice cream stand and noticed the man inside was reading. Then we noticed what he was reading....a small blue book (the book of mormon). I couldn´t believe it! We went over to talk ot him. Antonio, the ward mission leader thought we were going to buy ice cream and yelled, "¡Elderes no! ¡Estamos en ayuno!" (We had been fasting for a few investigators.) We talked to the ice cream man, German, and invited him to church. He already had plans to come with the member family. He came! He is going to come to a Noche de Hogar with the same family and us tonight.
I love missionary work!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
As far as numbers, this was the best week of my mission. There is so much work here in Cornellá!!!! Unfortunately there are not enough missionaries in the mission to split the area. However next transfer there is an odd number of missionaries coming in. So I am hoping maybe we could have a tripanionship and constantly go on splits. We´ll see though.
We had interviews with President this week. As always I learned so much from talking to him. He told me that he has noticed a big change in me. During the interviews, the zone leaders gave an amazing training. Again, I learned so much. I really love being a missionary. I look forward each Monday to starting another great week!
This week we met Morelia, a member of the church. She had plans to visit her son and the temple. However, she missed her flight. Thus, she is stuck here in the Barcelona area, staying with some friends who are nonmembers. Sunday morning we visited her to arrange a way for her to come to church. While we were talking she mentioned to us that she is close friends with the family she is staying with and that she has been praying for them. We invited the family members who were present to join us for a spiritual thought. They enjoyed our message and invited us back to eat some food and have another charla! We learned two things from this experience. First, the Lord does answer our prayers for loved ones. Second, the Lord will do whatever it takes to introduce the elect to the missionaries, even if it means someone has to miss a flight!
We had another great experience involving an ice cream man. One of the member families gave the ice cream man a Book of Mormon. We wanted to pass by him this week but we weren´t sure which ice cream man he was. The members were never home to take us to him. Finally on Saturday we were passing by various investigators wiht our word mission leader. We passed by a small ice cream stand and noticed the man inside was reading. Then we noticed what he was reading....a small blue book (the book of mormon). I couldn´t believe it! We went over to talk ot him. Antonio, the ward mission leader thought we were going to buy ice cream and yelled, "¡Elderes no! ¡Estamos en ayuno!" (We had been fasting for a few investigators.) We talked to the ice cream man, German, and invited him to church. He already had plans to come with the member family. He came! He is going to come to a Noche de Hogar with the same family and us tonight.
I love missionary work!
¡Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Monday, July 18, 2011
Discurso
¡Hola!
Not too much exciting happened this week. Just a normal week in the mission field. Oh wait....we were talking to the ayudantes the other day and Elder Allphin told me great news from Tarragona! Natalie and her brother Luis have baptismal fechas!!!! We were working so hard with Natalie and her dad Manual. Luis sat in on a few visits. I am so excited that they have fechas!!! This means that Natalie has already read half the Book of Mormon. And from what Elder Allphin said, Manual will set a fecha soon. I am so excited. They are such a great, humble Ecuatorian family!
We are working hard here. We have a fecha with a girl named Maria José. She is the cousin of a member family. She wants to get baptized on the 31st of July, but her mom is not too happy about it. So, we have lots of work ahead of us. however we are also teaching her sister and she is progressing a lot too. It won´t be long before the mom softens her heart.
I gave a talk during sacrament meeting yesterday. It was a train wreck. I really do HATE public speaking. My mind always gets all jumbled up. In English I can usually manage to get through making at least a little sense. But in a different language....oh man. And I ran out of time super quickly. I only got to give about a third of my talk!
The ward council gave us a list of menos activos to pass by. Wednesday morning we decided to pass by the houses of these menos activos. Before leaving, we looked up the addresses in the ward directory. Elder Manotas read them out loud and I wrote them down in my planner. We passed by what we thought was the piso of one of these menos activos, only to find out he does not live there. So we tried the piso below. And, the lady who answered the door was very interested. She invited us back to visit her and meet the four other people she lives with! We later realized that when Elder Manotas read me the address I did not hear the building number. Thus instead of going to C/Bonestar 66, 10, 2, we went to C/Bonestar 10, 2. It´s amazing how the Lord leads us to the elect!
Well I suppose that is all for this week. ¡Hasa luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
Not too much exciting happened this week. Just a normal week in the mission field. Oh wait....we were talking to the ayudantes the other day and Elder Allphin told me great news from Tarragona! Natalie and her brother Luis have baptismal fechas!!!! We were working so hard with Natalie and her dad Manual. Luis sat in on a few visits. I am so excited that they have fechas!!! This means that Natalie has already read half the Book of Mormon. And from what Elder Allphin said, Manual will set a fecha soon. I am so excited. They are such a great, humble Ecuatorian family!
We are working hard here. We have a fecha with a girl named Maria José. She is the cousin of a member family. She wants to get baptized on the 31st of July, but her mom is not too happy about it. So, we have lots of work ahead of us. however we are also teaching her sister and she is progressing a lot too. It won´t be long before the mom softens her heart.
I gave a talk during sacrament meeting yesterday. It was a train wreck. I really do HATE public speaking. My mind always gets all jumbled up. In English I can usually manage to get through making at least a little sense. But in a different language....oh man. And I ran out of time super quickly. I only got to give about a third of my talk!
The ward council gave us a list of menos activos to pass by. Wednesday morning we decided to pass by the houses of these menos activos. Before leaving, we looked up the addresses in the ward directory. Elder Manotas read them out loud and I wrote them down in my planner. We passed by what we thought was the piso of one of these menos activos, only to find out he does not live there. So we tried the piso below. And, the lady who answered the door was very interested. She invited us back to visit her and meet the four other people she lives with! We later realized that when Elder Manotas read me the address I did not hear the building number. Thus instead of going to C/Bonestar 66, 10, 2, we went to C/Bonestar 10, 2. It´s amazing how the Lord leads us to the elect!
Well I suppose that is all for this week. ¡Hasa luego!
Love,
Elder Buchkovich
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