¡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
Monday, July 25, 2011
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
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
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