Week 14

Hey guys,

So I organized this email a little. So there is a paragraph for the miracle of the week, fun, food, and other stuff. You know, the important things. 

So daylight savings was this weekend so we change our schedule. Now we wake up at 7:00 instead of 7:30 and go to bed at 11:00 instead of 11:30. That also means P-day ends at 6:30 now. 

Fun: We had tons of fun this week. We had some good service on a new farm this week and we went to a Halloween party last night. We haven't been working on farms much lately cause the work here in Zamora has really picked up. We had 2 days this week with 5 lessons. But Saturday we were able to go up to Benavente to visit a less active member and do some service. He makes cheese so he has about 600 goats and sheep, so we thought that's what we would be helping with, but instead he had us painting. We were there for most of the day cause it doesn't make sense to drive for 2.5 hours there and back and only visit for 1 hour. So I painted a big tractor and part of a barn. I was actually thinking of Emma and Erin the whole time. They would have been in heaven.Painting and animals. Then last night we went to a Halloween party, that's a pretty fun story. Last week we were just talking to people on the street and we were asking people about Halloween cause it's not a huge thing here. This one lady was actually prettycool though and said her husband lived in the US for a while and loves Halloween. She invited us to a neighborhood party cause she wanted to know if I thought it was a legit American Halloween party. It was. We had to be creative with our costumes since we still had to have missionary attire, I'll attach some pictures. But we definitely stood out, everyone else was pretty scary looking. They don't mess around here. 

Food: this week was kind of boring as far as food goes, but I think this is an important category to have. We spent a lot of time with Spaniards this week, so the lady from the Halloween party offered to teach us how to make Spanish tortillas. I'm super excited for that. She makes some good ones too, like really basic but good. Some people try to hard and put hot dogs or something in it and it's just not good. The other Spanish food we eat a lot is cocido. We ate it 3 times this week. It's the essential Spanish fall/winter meal. I would recommend finding a way to try it. 

Other: So this last week we had Intercambios here in Zamora. That was super fun. I was with elder tribett. We had 2 lessons, one was with the hippies. It was really funny watching his reactions to the prayer circle and the other weird stuff we do. This next week we're going to vallodolid for Intercambios with the zone leaders. That will be really fun. I'll try to get some pictures for cari. I think dad asked about what kind of workouts we do in Zamora... We go running every morning and take a soccer ball with us and a basketball. Then if we see someone playing soccer we play with them, if not we stop somewhere and play a game of HORSE or something. On days where we dot have as much time we have an app called "7M Workout" that's pretty good. We found a good 5k route that passes by a few courts though, so that's my favorite. Its actually cool hearing about young men's. You guys are doing some cool things. That song they sang is one we sang in the CCM. Super cool song. I kind of wish I would have been more involved in young men's and taken it more seriously. I have a completely different view on that now. 

I attached some pictures of our adventure this morning with the rio duero and the castle. That was super cool. We took some cheesy pictures too. I'm still debating whether or not I should send those. We had some fun though. The other ones are from the Halloween party. 

Talk to you next week. 

Josh

Week 13

Hey guys, 

So yeah I suck. I didn't mean to leave you guys hanging like that last week. I didn't even think about that. We eventually did get into the piso and back to zamora. We did miss a lesson but we rescheduled and had it wednesday. This has been a pretty weird week. A lot has happened, but at the same time I feel like it's all the same. I think it's just cause we're really busy, but I'll try think about the highlights cause I'm sure it doesn't all sound the same to you guys. 

Last week I mentioned prayer circles and igloos. That wasn't a joke. We have some investigators with some pretty whack ideas. I don't remember if I told you guys about our hippy investigators or not. It's the same guy that took us on a tour of the castle. We have a lesson with him and his 2 friends every 2 or 3 days for the last 2 weeks and they're actually progressing really well. They're artists, and one of them actually made me a really cool sculpture. We always meet in the second floor of the art shop, which is really cool. So in our first lesson with them we asked if we could say an opening prayer and they were cool with it, so I prayed, and then it got weird. As soon as I finished the guy next to me started praying, then when he was done the next guy started. So when it was elder Jagers turn he tried to explain how we normally do it for a second and then he was just like "eh, why not" and just went with the whole prayer circle thing. Luckily we don't do that anymore. Afterwards they invited to hike up to Lake Sanabria with them to do the prayer circle ritual thing with them in an igloo. Apparently they all get naked and do a prayer circle and they're "Reborn again". Idk, it's weird. But as we have been teaching them we keep finding that we have a lot in common. They were telling us about this energy that is in all of us, and how when we do good things or talk about God the energy is stronger. 

We have a name for that, it's called the holy ghost. They also told us about these other worlds we would live in after we die. Like other worlds God created and if we're good in this life we can become gods. So tonight we're starting with the plan of salvation. I think that whole thing is pretty cool. People here are definitely prepared. 

We have lots of new investigators this week. In fact, every week our mission sends an email with all of the stats from the week and a message from President pack. And this week and last week we made up 10% of the mission with how many new investigators we found. We found some creative ways to talk to people. The first one is a survey with the tablets. We have 4 questions that we ask people, like "do you believe in god" or "do you think you can receive answers to your prayers" and it's going well. We automatically have a conversation about the gospel. Its easy. We have 2 new investigators from that. The other thing we do is a selfie competition. We just take Selfies with people on the street that we don't know. We just ask them to hold the BOM and take a selfie, then we add them on facebook and we can tag them in the post. The goal is to make more friends here in Zamora on Facebook, but this way the BOM is already in their hands-how easy is that. So we have 4 new investigators from that. The only thing is they're all girls between 18 and 25. This is what I was talking about when I said I got kissed twice last week. It's tricky not to make it sound like you're 1flirting when it's a foreign language. 

Good news with the language though, I speak spanish. It's not perfect, but I can say what I want to say. I still need A LOT more vocab but I can communicate just fine. Yesterday we had our first video lesson over skype. Super cool. There is so much potential for the technology. This week we had more lessons than elder jager has ever had in his mission. I think 16 or 17. 

I'm out of time, but now that I look back on it, this week was pretty interesting.

Talk to you next week,

Josh

From our Hangout conversation this morning:

Last night I had some Bolivian dish that was basically just boiled meat with the salad from pausas on top. But the meat was just pig parts, bones, whole ears, snouts, all kinds of stuff. I liked it though. The tapas were amazing. I tried all kinds of stuff. I also had rabbit and chicken hearts this week.

Pinchos and Tapas are the bomb

Hey guys, 

I don't have a ton of time today. Transfers are a really crazy thing. Elder Rosales from Salamanca is going up north so we had to come down to hang out with elder Bateman so he's not alone. Here's where it gets crazy. Elder Rosales missed his train this morning. So we bought another ticket and went back the piso to wait for the next train, but since we had an hour we decided to go get haircuts and when we came back to grab his bags we realized we were locked out. So now we have waiting for the landlord in a burger king for the last 4 hours. I'm not really sure what's going to happen. The landlord is in Barcelona right now and our car keys and tablets are in the piso so we can't leave. (I'm writing emails on the phone today.) So yeah, elder Rosales has missed 2 more trains today and it looks like he will miss at least one more. It's been crazy. 

Other news from Zamora, we have 2 more new investigators, both are Spanish, Toño might be one of the best guys I've ever met, Pinchos and tapas are bomb, and we tried an idea using Facebook to contact that probably won't continue because I have already been kissed twice this week. Yeah I know, crazy right. I don't really want to explain that right now. 

The storm you warned me about hit during sacrament meeting at the park so we had to move to a friend's piso. I'll probably post a picture on Facebook of the meeting. But we asked Toño to speak and he was amazing, he told the story of his conversion. I'm hoping that was a turning point for one of our investigators. The spirit was so strong, I know she had to feel it. So that was great. President sort of gave us permission to start looking for a building for sacrament meeting. The other option is that we find a bigger piso and meet there. IDK, we're just going to keep our eyes open until he gives us full permission. But that's really cool. There is already so much growth here. Toño took us to get Pinchos andtapas Saturday night. I'm glad I was able to get the real spanish experience. We met him at a bar at 9:30 and then went from bar to bar trying all kinds of new things. That was amazing. Anyway, I'm out of time, but the church is true. Read the book of mormon, it's a good book. I'm gonna go go have a prayer circle in an igloo. (that's next week's topic)

Talk to you next week. 

Josh

Weeks 11 and 12

Hey,

Well dang, I have too much to say and no time to say it. The technology has been a huge game changer this week, which is good, but now I have too much to tell you guys. The nice thing is though, because it's been 2 weeks since I sent an email, when I look back on it I can really see some cool progress.

So things started off pretty well last week. We had a lesson or two everyday and were spending the rest of our time knocking doors and contacting on the street. We were staying really busy, working hard. The best part was eating with our investigators. Everyday for like 5 days straight we ate with somebody. And it's so cool 'cause everyone is from a different country. (I'm not supposed to send names of investigators home now that we have Facebook) But one of our solid families is from bolivia/dominican republic and the mom taught us how to make empanadas and these little bocadillos this week. She really has been like a second mom for me since I've been here, but I'll tell you more about them in a minute. So yeah the week started well, we worked hard and had some good food.

Then by Saturday it was getting rough. Elder Jager was really feeling down. I mean, I totally understand it. Everything kinda seemed like it had stalled. Not one of our investigators was progressing, we had just been dropped by one, and even though we have been killing ourselves in the street every day we hadn't had one new investigator since I arrived. So on Saturday Elder Jäger wasn't really feeling motivated, but I dragged him along and we got stuff done. Then Sunday we kinda switched spots and I was down. We went to Benavente for sacrament meeting and I really wanted to talk to the group leader about an idea I had, but he kinda shut me down on it. Then I was conducting our meeting in Zamora and we had planned on 15 investigators coming, but we didn'thave any and some of our members didn't even come. We have 7 members and 2 came. So that was a flop. Then on Monday elder jager was struggling again. It's hard sometimes to keep working so hard when you go so long without seeing any progress. But we both knew that all we could do was keep doing it and have faith good things would happen.

But Monday night everything changed. We asked a guy on the street for directions to the castle and it turns out he's a tour guide or something here. So he took us to the castle and explained everything to us, then to the cathedral, then to the it her church's in Zamora. We ended up spending almost 2 hours with him. As we were talking about the churchs we were able to explain the restoration and that's where it got cool. He really related personally to what we explained. He said he had always believed in God, but never liked the churchs. So as soon we finished explaining that he took us to a friend's house and we shared the restoration with him. Just like that we had 2 new investigators and they're both Spanish. I thought that was impossible. Then we had intercambios and I was with elder Bateman. He only has 6 more weeks than me here and we were in Zamora this time so I had to take the lead. That was pretty stressful, like I really didn't think I could do it. I was convinced that it would be make or break for me. So we started off by going to the main square and setting up a picture of Christ and talking to people there. It's funny, but I think what really turned things around was a game called "what are the odds." if you don't know what it is you'll have to Google it cause I don't want to explain it through email. But it's basically a game where you dare each other to do stuff. So that game gave us some good ideas to talk about with people and how to use Facebook while contacting. You'll probably see a post this weekend with some of the results. We have so many appointments that we can't even contact until then. So that's cool. Then we had 5 lessons planned between the 2 companionships on Tuesday, so we took 2 and Rosales and Jager took the other 3. It was definitely a night of miracles. We taught the family that taught us how to make empanadas. In fact, this was when I learned how to make the little bocadillos. So we ate and then we read a chapter in the book of Mormon. I was planning on just reading, sharing a short message and leaving since that would be easy. But I'm telling you guys the gift of tongues is a real thing. We had such an awesome discussion. I mean, normally I listen and talk when I can and then I can teach the portions that we practiced, but this time I really just wanted to listen and understand. But every time it was like I just knew what to say. Whether it was a word in spanish or a scripture that I should share or a memory that I could apply, it was just flowing. Everything came to my mind when I needed it. I know that that lesson was taught by the Spirit, and that was a cool experience. So then afterwards we went to another friend's house. We met him on the street the week before, but never taught him so this was an important step. I'll have to write more about the story next time, very interesting, but long story short he's coming to sacrament meeting on Sunday with his family. Things went well. Then we got back to the piso and Elder Jager said one of the lessons fell through, but while they were walking back they found someone new and ended up eating with them and teaching a lesson. So overall Tuesday alone made up for all of the frustration we've had building up over the last 6 weeks.

I really want to tell you more about the technology and the role it's played this week, but it will be easier to explain when we post everything on Facebook. So I'll do that on Monday. By the way, EVERYONE ADD ME ON FACEBOOK. I don't have time to go through and friend everyone, but I will be posting stuff in Spanish and English. The whole point is to help people everywhere, not just here. It will only help me be more effective if family and friends see my posts as well as the people here.

Today was the coolest pday so far. We went to Sanabria. It's about an hour and a half drive, so that's why I'm writing so much. But it was so worth it. The lake is beautiful and there was no one there. We spent like 4 hours just sitting on the rocks and relaxing. Elder jager brought his ukulele so he tried teaching us. Then we went to a small pueblo or village on top of the mountain and got some massive steaks. There will be pictures of all of this later. So yeah, it was a very relaxing day and we've needed that after 2 weeks without a break.

Last night week took some time to think about our vision for Zamora. I'm so excited, because realistically we think that by the time I leave in January or February we could have some kind of building to meet in, and 4 baptisms. The baptisms will be cool since they're so rare here in Zamora. Oh yeah, and they'll be in a RIVER!! Our investigators are making so much progress I really think it's gonna happen soon. We visited one of them last night that has had problems with the word of wisdom since I got here, I mean real addictions, and he told us he hadn't smoked or had alcohol in a week. Crazy right?? Zamora is so exciting right now. 

Don't worry about the sending clothes. I figured out how to sew pretty well. Maybe that will be a cool 6 month present or something. No rush though. If cream soda is too complicated for Elder Jäger he likes kool-aid too. They don't have that here. We both know you spoil us so don't worry about the package too much. Hermana Pack called me about the debit card and I saw your email. That sucks. I'll be fine for a while since I don't need anything out here in the middle of nowhere. Pdays are free sooo....

I've been out long enough I'm seeing posters for movies I hadn't heard of before. We saw lots of bladerunner stuff, I hope that was good. Add it to my list for when I get home. We've seen some funny posters for other movies where the translation of the title is weird. I'll take pictures from now on. 

Talk to you soon,

Josh

Week 10

     OK guys, this was a big week. Lots of important/cool things happened. I think the biggest things were getting our new smart phones and facebook, general conference and risk, and it's looking like we have a good chance for baptisms this month.

     So the smartphone is a new Samsung Galaxy. There is one per companionship in the mission. Since we are one of the first 7 missions to get them, we are kind of learning as we go. They made a group on Facebook where we can all make suggestions and share what we learn. They told us that since it's so new we should just be smart and follow the spirit with them and we'll make up rules as we go, but as of right now we don't have any. We are all so used to having structure with everything that this is really stressful. We don't know what to do without a rulebook. On the other hand, Facebook has already been tested and we know what works. So they encourage us to be friends with people from home and share with them as well, but I still need to be focused on my area. So anyone that sends me a friend request I can accept, but I am not going to spend time sending people requests. Facebook and Skype have changed everything though. If it's for a missionary purpose I can talk to anyone of my friends. We can even teach people from home lessons of Skype or facebook. Elder Jagers companion before me just went home last transfer, but we are trying to schedule a time where he can join our lesson with on of our families through skype. That will be really cool.

     We drove up to Leon twice this week, once for district conference, I think I told you about that already, and then Friday for zone conference. Zone conference was probably one of my favorite things we've done. We spent a lot of time talking about the phones and activating them, but we also had some awesome training and instruction from President pack. That guy I just awesome. The conference was about 8 hours long, so we had plenty of time to fit everything in, too. I had my first interview with President as well. I'm glad that this weekend was kind of a break though, cause we had to get up at 5 to drive up to Leon and we got back at 11. Long day. But yeah, I enjoyed it.

    We saw most of General Conference. We actually drove down to salamanca at 5 on Saturday night to watch the Saturday morning session with the other elders in our district. We just went to a members house. Then we slept in Salamanca for the next 2 nights. We went to the chapel/school for the priesthood session on Sunday morning. That wasn't what I expected, it was just us and the branch president and his son. Then we went back to the same members house to watch the Sunday morning session and Saturday afternoon session. Elder Bateman, Jager, and me watched in english in a separate room the whole time, and then elder Rosales watched in spanish with the members. Conference is a different experience here. I went into it with so many thoughts/questions and expectations, so I think I got a lot out of it this time. Since we were still in Salamanca this morning we finally played risk. We were planning on it taking most of the day, but then I ruined it and smashed everybody. It was really ugly. Everybody was so excited and I won in 6 turns, the game was barely an hour long. And then I suggested starting a new game since we had time but they were mad and don't want to play anymore. I guess I learned my lesson from that one. 

     We have done a lot with them though. They took a bus to Zamora again on Thursday. They had to come up anyway to go to zone conference, but we took advantage and played soccer. We invited all of our members and investigators plus some people from the street. But when we got there we only had one member show up and 2 guys we found on the street. It was really fun but not super effective for finding people like we thought. Well keep trying though. 

     The birthday package was amazing. I opened it at the conference so everyone was pretty jealous. When I pulled out the recipe for funeral potatoes everyone got really excited and they actually took it from me to take pics of it. The yakitori toto shirt is my new favorite. I can't believe you finally got it. And the turkey gravy was an awesome idea. We're all alone for Thanksgiving this year, so elder jager is excited. For his package, he suggested cream soda (they don't have it here and he wants to try it), thanksgiving stuff (just like stove top or something, I can make the rest), or cream of chicken soup so he can try funeral potatoes (it's the one thing that I really can't find here). I would suggest something about Germany or hamburg. Maybe a hamburg scarf or a flag or something. Nothing expensive and it should be small but he would like that.

     We had some crazy lessons on tuesday, so I have to tell you one of the stories. so this couple has been meeting with missionaries for almost 2 years. 2 week ago we taught the law of chastity and it was tough because they have a daughter and aren't married. The girlfriend really wanted to be baptised, but this was a big decision. So then they said OK whatever and we went 2 weeks without hearing anything. we thought they decided they didn't want to be married and we were done. But then Tuesday she calls and says they split up and he moved to vallodolid but she wants to continue with us. Now she is finally reading the BOM and making some serious progress. We're thinking it's possible that she's baptised this month. but we still hadn't heard from him. Within 2 hours of getting the phone we get a message on WhatsApp from him. He just didn't have our number and didn't want to ask her. So that fast the phones made a difference. He said he had started reading and decided he wanted it for himself, not just for her. So now we have an appointment with him. So I think it's crazy, but the answer to our prayers for them might have been to break up and not get married. Well see how this week goes as we learn more. 

      Yeah, there is another novel. Sorry I can't chat this week, we have a lot to do since we haven't been home in a few days. I'll attach a few pics now and send the rest tonight. The pictures I included now are; Zone conference, sheep, selfie while knocking doors in a pueblo, Spanish risk, the high school in zamora, our photoshoot in a park in the middle of no where, and a bull we saw on the way to benevente. pretty cool

Con cariño,

Josh

Zone Conference

Photoshoot in a park in the middle of no where (Edler Jager).

Selfie while knocking doors in a pueblo.

Risk in Spanish

Sheep

A bull we saw on the way to Benevente - pretty cool.

The High School in Zamora.