First Christmas away from home

12/29/14  This past week was really pretty crazy! On Tuesday, we had a zone conference which lasted practically all day. I really enjoyed listening and learning from President Pace! After the conference, me and my companion went out contacting, and got to teach 3 lessons about the true meaning of Christmas. My favorite person we got to teach that day was Felix. He is 17 years old, and he has so much faith in God and Jesus Christ. He is so friendly, and excited to learn more from us. Me and my companion both have a really good feeling about him, and I can´t wait to teach him about the restoration tonight!

Christmas eve was a slow day. We spent most of the day trying to bake cookies for our neighbors in our building, and that took a long time. Dinner was incredible that night. All of the missionaries in Zaragoza got together in the chapel, and one of the members cooked us a ton of food! It was all decorated super nice, and the member even gave all of us gifts. I have no clue where she got the time or money to do all of this for us, but somehow she managed. She is from Brazil, and she is the nicest lady ever.

Christmas day started out a little rough mostly because I was missing my family a lot. The missionaries got back together in the chapel for a breakfast, and I attempted to make homemade pancakes. Key word being attempted. It turned out to be a miserable failure. Same with the syrup I tried to make. Oh well, the breakfast turned out alright anyways. Everything lightened up after me and my companion had a lunch appointment with a member family. They were super kind, and it turns out they have a daughter serving a mission in Ogden. After talking to my family that night, it finally felt like Christmas. All things aside, it did feel very good to spend Christmas time spreading the word of Christ, and helping others remember why we celebrate Christmas.

So I have had a very full week, full of adventures and spiritual experiences, and I am looking forward to my next Christmas in the mission. Though it is a lot different without family, it is great to spend helping other families find the truth and joy this gospel brings.

Miss you all, and love you tons! Hope your Christmas was great, and Happy New Year!!

Justin and his companion Elder Contreras

Zaragoza!!

I was only in Barcelona for one night, but from what I saw, it is a really cool place. It is possibly the largest city I have ever seen! So big! I also got to see the Segrada Familia. If I can I'll send a picture. President Pace is a great guy! He is super nice and funny, and he is very spiritual! I'm excited to get to know him better!

So we had our transfer meeting in the mission home, and I was called to serve in Zaragoza with Elder Contreras. He is from Argentina, and he is super awesome! I arrived in Zaragoza on Wednesday night, and from what little I saw, there are some really cool bridges here! Such cool architecture. There is also a huge cathedral just down the street from our Piso.

The members here are super nice, and love to talk to the missionaries. That's great, but I really can't ever understand what they are saying. I live with three native Spanish speakers though, so I'm sure I'll learn really fast.

This week was mostly spent getting everything organized and ready to go. This is a white wash area, which means that both me and my trainer are new to this area. We don't know anyone or anything. Talk about getting thrown into deep water. We spent a lot of time going through everyone in our area book, and set up a couple of appointments, but most all of them fell through. I did get to teach an English class my first day, and that was really fun. It's really funny having all of these Spanish people beaming at me when I speak English. They always have me pray in English, and they get so excited.

Although we didn't have any lessons this week, I know the work will progress much faster now that we are all organized. It's hard to get started when both of us are new, but this next week we are planning to teach several investigators. I'm really excited to get working here in Zaragoza, and to serve the people here.

Love you guys, and hope all is well back home.

Basilica del Pilar cathedral in Zaragoza

My first zone!

Heard briefly from Justin before he left the MTC ...
So I am leaving the MTC at 5:45 tomorrow morning to make it to Barcelona by I think 10:00. I stay in the mission home until transfer day, and all the new missionaries do interviews with President Pace. Not quite sure where I will be going, but I have been told that most of the missionaries stay in the Barcelona area. Super excited to get there. I'm not quite sure when my new P-day will be, but I will let you know. Miss you and love you tons. You´ll hear more from me when I get my next P-day. Only 10 min. today.

And briefly when he arrived in his new area ...
¡Hola familia! Barcelona was an awesome city, and I'll tell you more about it when I have time. I only have time today to write you and tell you that I made it to my first zone. I am currently in Zaragoza! From what I have seen, this city is amazing, and I can't wait to see it. There is a cathedral right down the street from our piso, and I'm excited to visit that soon. Not much time today, but know that I love you, and miss you, and I am still alive and super excited! My new P-day is on Monday, so I'll be writing you soon. ¡Nos vemos!

Justin with President Pace and his wife

A view of the Mediterranean in Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

Final week at the MTC

So it's come down to 5 days. In one week, I will be a real missionary out on the streets of Barcelona. Yesterday we all got our train tickets, and it made everything feel so much more real. I found out that all of us missionaries going to Barcelona are all sitting together. I am so excited to finally get there! I can't wait to see who my trainer is, and I am a little nervous. I feel like I am ready for the field, but at the same time, I´m a little unsure about how hard the real mission is going to be. At this point I really feel like my Spanish is as good as it is going to get in the MTC, and I'm ready to finish my learning in the field. I also feel that my ability to teach is much better than it was when I started. I'm excited to see how things work in the real world.

So last week, we got several new missionaries in the MTC. One of the French Elders is from Tahiti, and his name is Elder Maono. He is possibly to coolest guy ever! He is a really big Polynesian, and he only speaks French. The other day, he came around to all the elders and gave us all these really cool sea shell necklaces. He had a huge bag full of them, and we found out that his family made all of them. Coolest thing ever! He and I are really good friends, even though he doesn't really speak any English. He does know how to say “you are the best”, and he says that to pretty much everyone he sees. He is super cool, and I know he'll be a fantastic missionary.

My last park experience was rather interesting. It was really rainy that day, so the park was practically empty. It was kind of like a creepy ghost town. I was put in a triple companionship, and we spent most of the day just getting to know each other. We did, however, get approached by one man from Holland. He was interested in our name badges, and asked what they were. We were excited because we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to share our message. We were wrong. Turns out, some people from Holland can be rather rude… As soon as he found out we were missionaries, he got really stand offish. He kept saying that we had no experience to be doing that work, and that we had no experience with life. He kept saying that we didn't know God, and that we should just go home. He then began to blame every war in history on missionary work. All three of us were pretty taken aback on that one. I mean I guess the Spanish conquistadors, and maybe the crusaders is what he was referring to. We tried to assure him that that is not what we were here to do, but he wanted nothing to do with us. He did take a picture of my name badge though, so I'm probably going to be famous on some anti-missionary blog in Holland.

Other than that, there's not really much to talk about. The schedule stays the same. Oh we did celebrate thanksgiving with a nice lunch, and we got to watch Meet the Mormons. Great movie! You should watch it if you haven't. I'm excited for a change in scenery, and can't wait to have more interesting experiences to write about. Love you all and think about you every day.