Goodbye to President and Hermana Pace

 

6/22  Well this week we saw several miracles, the first of which was a little disguised.  We didn't have a visit set up with Malena, but we decided to pass by her house with a member anyways. We planned to go there at 7:00, but the member called us and told us he would be a little late. So we sat and waited in the park right in front of Malena's house and made some calls. At about 7:15, Malena waked by with her two kids. She saw us and invited us in, and in that moment, the member walked around the corner. At first I didn't realize what a miracle that was, but later I realized that if we had passed by at 7:00 when we had planned, she wouldn't have been there, and we would have left. It's amazing how the Lord uses what seem to be inconvenient little things to bring to pass miracles.

I don't know if I have written about him yet, but we have an investigator named Jorge. He is from Peru (yes, almost everyone we know here is from Peru). We have been teaching him rather often for the past couple of weeks, but he is missing something, we just can't find it. He has told us straight up that when he feels like getting baptized, or when he feels like he should, he will do it. While we were having a lesson with him this last week, I got the strongest desire for the ability to give him all the knowledge I have about the gospel. He is so intelligent, but there are just a few things he is having a hard time understanding. I just really wish I could share everything I know in one night. I got the sure feeling that he will get baptized some day, and when he does, he will be the strongest, most faithful member I have ever seen. 

Another really cool thing about this week, WE MADE CONTACT WITH LANA!!!!!! We tried calling her, but she didn't answer, but she called back a hour later! I'm not quite sure what is up with her because she didn't talk much. She was sort of acting as if nothing had really happened. But at least we got contact with her. We are going to keep trying with her, but we are at least one step ahead now! 

We also had our last meeting with Pres. and Hermana Pace on Friday. It was super good, and they taught me so much. It was really sad too. I am going to miss them so much. I'll look forward to seeing them in future mission reunions. 

Anyways, love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!

Yummy Paraguayan food!

6/15  So this last preparation day was a little bit of a bummer. Elder Johnson got really sick on the way into Barcelona. It got to the point where we had to turn back and spend the day in piso. We really didn't do anything, but at least we got to rest a little. Now he is feeling much better.

Monica is doing surprisingly well even after a little catastrophe she had at home. We visited with her on Thursday, and we actually walked her dogs all the way out to Azucena's house to visit her. It's pretty ironic, Monica's sister lives right by Azucena, and Monica asked us if she could get to know her. We went out there and had a great lesson about following the living prophet. Monica has really strong desires to get baptized, and she is doing everything she can to get everything figured out. We are all really excited for her to get baptized on the 18 of July!

Julio invited us over to eat twice this week, and the food was incredible both times. He gave us a really good chicken wrapped ham with a sauce and rice on Thursday, and then on Saturday, he gave us carne al orno, which is basically a huge pan full of oven cooked meat. He also cooked something called sopa Paraguaya, along with a really good salad. For dessert, he gave us cheesecake!! He knows we absolutely love that stuff and so he makes it for is a lot! He is a professional cook too, so everything he does is super good! He sent us home with a lot of leftovers, so we will be eating good for a couple days!

We were unable to visit with Malena this week, but last I know she is still doing very good. Still nothing from Lana. Our bishop said he spoke with her, and she is going through a rough time, and has lots of studying to do. I hope that's why she is not answering our calls, but I guess we will see.

iPads are here!!

6/8  So this week was a really good one! To start it off, on Tuesday we had an excellent lesson with Monica about baptism and confirmation. It was super good, and she absorbed everything. At the end, we asked her if she wanted to be baptized, and she said "of course I do". We had a little chat about what she needed to do in order to be baptized, and we set a few goals. She has a baptismal date for the 18 of July, and we are really excited about it. She seemed very motivated when we left.

The next day was a very interesting day. We had one set appointment, but it fell through last minute. We decided to pass by several people with Julio, but all of them weren't home. As we were walking through the streets feeling a little discouraged, we actually ran into every person that wasn't home. Everything seemed to be timed so perfectly. Right when we finished talking with one person, we would turn the corner and run into the next person just in time. One really cool thing was that we went to ring an apartment, we asked for Luis right as someone walked up to the door. Turns out that it was Luis, and we got to meet him and set up a visit with him. I could really see the hand of the Lord guiding his work that day. It was very humbling. 

We were also able to see Malena and her husband in the street the other day, and that was really cool. Normally her husband doesn't seem really interested, and he is normally a little closed off. Talking with him in the street, however, we noticed that he seems a lot more open and sociable with us now. I'm really excited to see how our relationship with him can improve.

So guess what??? On Thursday, we had a zone meeting, and we left with our new iPads! It's pretty cool I guess. It will help us a lot in lessons and stuff. We can share videos, talks, magazine articles and all that stuff. The gospel library app is incredible! We also have a few apps for language study which will help a lot! I am super excited to see what we can do and how much help these new tools will be. 

So everything is good here and we are both really excited! I hope you all have a great week, and I love you all! 

P.S. I have recently grown fond of a drink from Paraguay and Argentina called Mate. Look it up. I'm almost 100% sure you wouldn't like it.  

An adventure to Narnia ...

6/1  So first things first, you all know that my new companion is Elder Johnson. He is from Utah as well from a city called Fruit Hights. Never heard of it? Me either, but he told me it is right by Kaysville. He is just about finished with his mission. He will be leaving in two transferes, so that either means I am only staying here for one, or I'll stay for 3 more. He is a really cool guy, and we get a long so well! I know I have pretty much said that about everyone, but we really have had a great first week. Super excited to see what we can do here in Vilafranca over the next month!

Elder Johnsons second day here, we went to visit Monica. We had a great lesson about the word of wisdom in which we learned that she is already living it. She told us that she has absolutely no problem with any of those things. It made me really happy to hear that. After that great lesson, the real adventure began. We had to go out to visit an old member named Azucena who lives way out in Narnia. Really, we had to climb up into the mountains and walk for 30 minutes to reach her humble home way out in the middle of nowhere. She is a really nice lady though, and her testimony is very strong. She is one of those naturalist people that believes living like the indians is the only way to live, but she is really a great person. 

When we finally hiked all the way back, we went to Julio's house to eat. Julio is the old ward mission leader who helps us a lot with visits. Julio always cooks so much food, and it is always super good too. This time he cooked something called Milanesa (could be spelled wrong...). It is kind of like a battered and fried steak. It was super good! We then accompanied him to a hometeaching visit that went on a bit longer than planned, and we were in a panic to get all the way back to Vilafranca in time for a visit. After a while, Teo, Julio's hometeaching companion, decided to drive us all the way back. It was funny because Teo doesn't speak much spanish, but he said ¨God has just told me to drive you to the chapel¨ and so that is what he did. Over all, it was a really fun adventure.

Malena and her family are still doing good, and we plan to visit them on Wednesday. Unfortunately, still nothing on Lana. A little discouraging, but we are working hard to find her and get her baptized.  In other news, iPads are on the way. Rumors have been spread that we might be getting them this Thursday. Don't know if they are true, but it could happen. I'll keep you updated.

Justin & Julio Bordon

Goodbye to Elder Jonson, hello to Elder Johnson!

5/26   So we found a new investigator a week or two ago, and she is just now starting to progress. She has actually been an investigator for quite some time, but the first time we could meet with her and her family was two weeks ago. The few lessons we have had with her were ok, but it didn't seem like she was really that interested. This Sunday, she showed up in church and she loved it. She invited us to eat papa a la guancaina (a Peruvian dish that could be spelled wrong...) at her house yesterday. We are now starting to see her open up to us a little more. That was a huge miracle this week. She is from Peru, and her name is Malena. Super nice.

Monica is still doing super good, and we are starting to see the members take her in and invite her to ward activities already. It made me super happy to see her unexpectedly in the ward garden on Saturday. Unfortunately, we still haven't heard anything from Lana. Our bishop spoke with her Mom, and she told him that Lana was really busy with tests and homework and stuff, so I really hope that we can talk to her soon.

We had a few companionship exchanges this week, and the funnest one was with our zone leader Elder Daily. He is super funny! Most of our visits failed that day, so we spent a lot of time in the streets, and to make it interesting, it was pouring rain all day. We only had one small umbrella, so we got home all wet. My left side and his right side were soaked, but we were dry as a bone in the middle! It was really fun though.

So today is transfer day and guess what??? Yeah, I'm staying here. But Elder Jonson is going to Santander!! It is super far away! Funny story though, my new companion's name is Elder Johnson. Yep, I won't have any trouble getting use to his name. He is a little older in the mission, and will probably die here (when I say die, I mean he will finish his mission here). I will stay at least one transfer more, and possibly two. I'm totally fine with that, because I love the members here. It will be really hard to leave.

Justin and Elder Daniel Johnson

A trip to Tibidabo

5/18   So this last preparation day, we went to a cathedral called Tibidabo. You should look it up on google, cause its pretty sweet. It is on top of a mountain overlooking the entire city of Barcelona. We had to march half way up the mountain to get there because we didn't want to wait for the bus, but when we finally got up there, the view was incredible. We went inside, and we were approached by a priest who started talking to us about all the history and stuff. Then he invited us to go to the very top of the cathedral. Normally you have to pay to get up there, but he let us go for free because he figured we didn't have any money. He was spot on. Missionaries don't have money. He gave us each a little paper heart with a Christ-like attribute written on it, and told us to put it on our head and let it blow away in the wind when we got to the top. The view from the very top was even more incredible!

Tibidabo in Barcelona

iPads are coming!

5/11  So I guess there's not really much to say, seeing as I just spoke with you guys yesterday (Mother's Day), but I guess I'll tell you a little bit more about the conference we had this past week. On Tuesday, we had two general authorities, Elder Dyches, and Elder Alen, come to Barcelona for a mission wide conference. They are both really good speakers, and Elder Dyches used a lot of movie quotes which made me happy. The main focus of the conference was being an agent and not an object. They explained a little bit about what will be expected of us when we recieve iPads, but it was mostly about how to make sure we are obedient to the same rules even when the temptation is there. It was a great conference, and I learned a ton!

Not much to update you on. This week was a little slow, and we weren't able to visit Lana or Monica, but they are still doing very good. Lana did tell us that she feels like she needs to finish the Book of Mormon before she gets baptized, then told us that she would have it done by Sunday. That was pretty cool, and I'm excited to hear where she is at.