Adoring the Spain Barcelona Mission

Well another week down! Crazy that I have been here for over a month already! So many great things happen everyday, I need to start keeping a journal because I literally cannot even remember what I did yesterday!  My comp and I have been working really hard to find new investigators.  I'm pretty sure that we have spoken with every single person in Martorell! We might have to start giving people their second chance...? Haha.   Every night we walk down the rambla- a place in the middle of the road with a bunch of trees and benches. For some reason everyone is there from like 8-10 at night, just sitting in the benches. My comp and I walk it every night and I seriously feel like I am on a catwalk because everyone just sits on their bench and stares at the blond American girls walking by- again! Haha it is great. I feel like one of the Cheetah Girls ("strut like you mean it." Anyone?) ... everyone who is anyone will know what I mean...! Haha we...

Wow, what a week! I am sure everyone has heard about the terrorist attacks in Barce. Thankfully no missionaries were hurt, but apparently there were some office elders who were going to be going to the Rambla at the time all the commotion went down, but last minute our mission president's wife told them not to go! Miracle! I know God is watching out for all His missionaries! As of now, there are just a ton of police everywhere... I feel very safe because they all carry giant machine guns and battering sticks... don't mess! Paco continues to amaze. He started talking to all his druggie friends about church and is inviting them on the regular... should be interesting, haha. Also he is so excited about going to the temple, but he doesn't have enough money to get there by train, so the other day he literally told us he was going to walk there! WHAT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? that would take like an entire week.  But if anyone would be crazy enough to do it, it would Paco, haha...

Well Paco is officially a baptized man! His baptism was so fabulous! He invited just about everyone he knows, including his Catholic priest friend who conveniently had a "full calendar," haha shocker! Also the chapel does not  have a font, so we set up a little swimming pool in the basement and filled it with water.  It was quite the process to assemble it, but it all worked out in the end (with a few minor leaks!). The real miracle is that Paco only took 5 mins to bear his testimony.  The man can talk FOREVER. We told him he had a time limit and he did pretty well. The best was the end when we were waving him down, he lifted both hands in the air and made peace sounds and yelled "PAZ, PAZZZ, PAZZZ EN EL NOMBRE DE JESUS" jajaja it was the BEST! Now we are supposed to reteach him all the lessons, but usually he ends up teaching us!  He has taught me so much about faith and really handing everything over to the Savior and letting him change you! We all have di...

Another fabulous week! I am learning so much everyday. My trainer is a saint for putting up with me! Despite our differences we get along great and she has already taught me so much. She has been here for 3 entire transfers so she basically knows everything about this place and leads me around like a blind dog, haha.  idk what I'm going to do when she is gone!  Pretty much this entire town is full of Africans and South Americans. So needless to say, my comp and I definitely stick out, jajaja.  And the gringo accents always make things better too. I think that just this town has more diversity than the entire United States! It is amazing to hear their stories and how they ended up in Martorell. My favorite part about the Africans is that most of them speak English.  So when we teach them I can actually comprehend the entire thing! They all speak the "language of their country" which is some unwritten form of speech that is so crazy to list...

GUYSSS! I am no longer allowed to say guys, cool, awesome, sweet, or sick--those words make up about half my vocab so we will see how that goes. My mission president is really big on using "dignified language"-- Pray for me!!  I AM OFFICIALLY A REAL MISSIONARY...wut? I made it out of the mtc alive and I am now serving in my first area called Martorell. It is a ciudad about 40 mins outside of Barcelona and our area includes some adorable little pueblos as well. I ADORE being a missionary! It is the bestttttt--especially being able to walk around and talk to people instead of sitting in a classroom all day. The ccm was wonderful but by the end I was defs ready to break out!  We have a miracle of an investigator named Paco who has a baptismal date set for A ugust 12 ! This man has seriously been through it all. He has quite the story but I don't have time to type it all out... basically he has been on the streets since he was 8 and served 30 years in prison for robbe...

HOLAAAAA, Well I have 5 days left in the ccm/mtc before I am released into the real world again! I am so excited to go to BARCELONA and be a real missionary!! Although it will be sad to leave all my pals that are going to different missions.  :/ Also, I forgot how many scars I had until they all came back because I am sooo beyond white right now! AYUDAME!!  I think I am now a ghost because I have spent an entire month indoors...oh well.... We went to to the plaza one last time today, and also to the government office where they have gnarly guards with machine guns... but now I AM OFFICIALLY A RESIDENT OF SPAINNNNNN! At least for the next year... This week we are not allowed to speak English at all. We made a rule in our "district" that every English word spoken in the classsroom = 2 pushups... let's just say I'm getting really strong, jajaja. Also my Spanish is improving too, although very SLOWLY!! I try to listen to people on the metro, but usually all I catch i...