Finally a Good Week September 27, 2010

Well it was about time we had a good week, for my compainion's sake. I think the poor kid was getting tired of it and starting to get a little depressed, but we had a good week so life is better......

So lets see, no baptismal dates set up but I can see some in the future.... so to add to the testimony, the only way to do missionary work is through members. So we picked up 3 new investigators this week, all three from referrals from members, and all three seem pretty legit. One of those members being Omar and his family, gotta love recent converts. They are doing awesome. Omar is an amazing guy. Didn't get a chance to go up and visit Rosa and Julio this week. We will go up tomorrow. Keep them in your prayers, please.

Last Monday we went to the Barc stadium... it was amazing. We went with Monks (my old companion ) and his greenie, Elder Lloyd.

So yeah, life is good. For my bday we are starting our English class, lucky me.

Well I love y'all, hope all is well,

Love

Elder Roos

September 20, 2010

Homemade Root Beer

So yeah, it was another slower week. I have decided contacting people on the street normally ends up in fake doors or people who don't have time when they tell us to come. All I can say is you can never beat member references!!!. But yeah the back half of the week was alright.

The companion is doing alright. He is really timid... and rumor has it I'm not, so I think at times i overwhelm him. I have been making him sing at citas, LOL. The members and everyone loves it. He has an amazing voice.

Rosa and Julio haven't been to church in 3 weeks. Its hard for them to come because they have to go with the bishop and that means leaving at 7 and getting back at 5. It's especially tough when they only get 2 days a week to spend with their 15 yr old daughter and one is Sunday, so we are gonna see what advice Pres. Hinckley would give them.

Omar is awesome as always. He didn't come yesterday cause Santi had his first on-TV game. I guess that's a pretty good excuse.

Well I love y'all.

Elder Roos

September 13, 2010

So another week down in Terrassa and another lesson learned. It is important to be very specific in your prayers, for instance.... when you pray to find people, it might be good to add in that they are there when you set up the visit. So yeah, we did a very good job finding people. we set up about a visit, if not more, a day with a new person.... then 8 times this week we got to doors and people weren't there. Ironic that I read in Mosiah 23 where is says that at times God finds it just to try his people.... yeah.

Oh well, all is good, we lost the baptism but I wasn't sure if it was going to happen.

Let's see, the companion is doing okay. He is young, last night in a 50% joking manner I told him I didn't know that deacons could serve missions. I'll make that reason 258 why I'm not going to home school my kids. But you got to love new missionaries, they want to work, and you can't complain about that.

So my day was made today by Ashley Warner. I finally after a year got a letter from her!!!!!

Well life is good, hopefully this week will kick last weeks butt.

Love all of yall,

New Companion

So because we are having a conference with a couple GA´s tomorrow, we have P-day today and transfers Wednesday.

Well, I have a new companion. It was funny the look on his face when President jokingly called me SGT Roos. But I figured I've said too much crap about my trainer to be a bad one, so I have to be good. He is pretty cool, he is from Park City and check this out, He was a pro Jazz Singer, funny right. Yeah, I guess he sang at several of the really pijo (fancy) restaurants in Park city and got paid a couple hundred a night.

So, tomorrow will be my last day with Elder Lindsey. I'll miss that kid. He drove me nuts at times but he will def go down as one of my favorite comps, I mean what more do I want? I baptized 3 people with him.

So, funny miracle story:

Yesterday we were sitting in gospel principles (Sunday school) and one of the members opened the door and told us there was a family standing in the entrance. So we went and talked to them and took the kids to the primary classes then the parents came to our class. After we talked to them we found out he talked to the missionaries 10 years ago and wanted his children to have a spiritual knowledge so they searched out the church. We didn't set a baptismal date with them. They are getting married in Oct and said right after then they would like to be baptized. I love the way the lord works.

We do also have another baptism planned for the 23rd of Sept. Its a little shaky, he didn't come to church yesterday but we will see what happens. So yeah thanks for all you prayers and I think we can all tell they are working. Well I love y'all, looking forward to hearing from you next week. I think today we are going to take a tour of Camp Nou (the FCB stadium)

well love y'all

Elder Roos

A Very Happy Missionary

So it's official, Terrassa ward has 3 new members, 2 being converts (an eight year old boy whose family are members was also baptized). It was amazing to see the change in Julio in only a month or so. He really has surprised us, I might just say he is more solid than his wife, not that she isn't solid, but he has jumped in head first. At the baptism he went up to bear his testimony and it was amazing. He said how he has years and years away from God and for the first time in his life he felt like he doesn't have a cargo on his shoulders. I have learned that I love the testimony and prayers of investigators and recent converts 10 times more than members. They are so sincere and unrehearsed, you can tell without a doubt that it is from his heart. It made me laugh when he was done he was like "Thank you all, thank you all very much," then went to walk off, then ran back up and said amen. LOL

So Rach and Evan might be able to relate with me about the one problem with baptisms.... at least in my case it seems to always leave me without investigators. We have one right now, an 18 yr old girl named Kerly. She is doing everything we ask and the Young Women are doing an awesome job of showing her love, but she is just a little low on faith. Hopefully we could see a baptism with her in the next couple weeks, but still pray for new investigators; it worked last time.

So this week we had 2 pancake eating citas. One with a 1/2 American family and the other with a guy who has an American wife (also is probably going to be our next bishop, we should find that out next week).

I got a interesting phone call last night. It was a mission number but not one on our records, I picked up and heard, "Hello Elder Roos, it's President Hinckley"... and yeah I had a feeling I knew what he was going to say.... I get my new companion a couple days early. Elder Lindsey and I get to be in the office Wednesday morning to get trainer training. I'm just glad I answered the phone well and wasn't like, "Hey who is this?" LOL

Elder Lindsey is doing well. We have been working together fighting against trunkiness. I think it will be good that his last 4 days he will have a greenie watching his every move.
Elder Roos

Everyone who was baptized that day and those who baptized them.
An eight-year-old from the ward baptized by his Grandfather, Elder Lindsey baptized Rosa, Julio was baptized by Stevie, and a gentleman baptized in another ward by a missionary whose name I don't know.

Stevie and Elder Lindsay with Julio, Rosa, and their daughter.

Three very happy missionaries after the baptisms.

So i don't know what you're saying in your prayers over there, but keep it up. Rosa and Julio are doing AMAZING. So you'll like this. We were a little nervous about teaching them both tithing and the Word of Wisdom. About a year ago, Julio lost his licence for a DUI but when we taught the WOW, he was excited about it. I was amazed how easily they accepted it. I'm almost wondering if this DUI was preparatory to his stopping drinking so he could be prepared when we got there. When we were finishing teaching tithing, Elder Lindsey asked Julio if he thought this was a law from God, and Julio surprisingly told us no... then a couple seconds later he said... "It's a right." I thought that was a pretty good answer. Also, he asked me to baptize him... so I'm a little nervous to do it. Rosa was sick yesterday but we will see who she wants to baptize her.

The rest of the week..... Wednesday we had a office couple (a husband/wife set of missionaries who help run the clerical side of things) come check our piso, so i went into military mode last week, they said it was the cleanest one in the mission, even better than the hermanas. Wednesday and Thursday we picked up 3 new investigators. One has some potential, but it might take a while, we are starting with finding faith.... fun!!! Saturday we visited Rosa and Julio, so I'm gonna restate how awesome they are. We had a good Sunday, 4 investigators in church, good day, and we might have had the best numbers in the zone for the week, not like it's a competition... but if it was we would have won. LOL

Well, I love y'all. Hope all is going well.

Chapter of the week, 2 Nephi 31, Gospel of Christ

Well I love you all,

Elder Roos

A Great Week in Terrassa!

So if you remember correctly Rosa and Julio where the ones who were going to be baptized at the beginning of July but we lost contact with them. well you'll like the story.

Well, last Thursday we got a call from a man who had moved here from Australia (originally from Argentina) and wanted us to come visit him and help him figure out a way he can come to church. Just so happen that he and his family live in the same pueblo as Rosa and Julio. So we set up a Noche De Hogar for Wednesday and me and my companion asked a member who helped us with Rosa and Julio to drive us out there and if we could just drop by their house just to see if we could find them.
Well we did and they were there. This is where is gets good. As we were talking she was telling us how she kept thinking about us and the church and how she really needed to come back, she even told us that last Thursday (same day the new member called us)she couldn't stop thinking about the church.... God works in wonderful ways,. We taught an awesome lesson out of 1Nephi 8 (tree of life, thank you Rach for the silver Parker pen because I used it as the iron rod) Now we are going to baptize them both on the 28th.

Yeah the only problem that came up is they don't have a car, nor the two member family who live up there and the first bus doesn't come until well after church starts. So Sunday we went up with the bishop and his family to do a sacrament meeting with all them up there. This is how amazing our bishop is (remember what he has been through the last month, and without a job). So he is going to leave an hour earlier then he normally does, go up there to pick up the 8 people in his nine person van and drive them to church and put his kids on a train.... amazing right? Yeah, I hope my mansion in heaven is in the same neighborhood as his.

It's been a really good week. We had a good zone conference yesterday (meeting with the missionaries in the surrounding area). Thanks for prayers, they get answered don't they?
Love,
Elder Roos

Two More Baptisms!

Omar and his eight-year-old son were baptized! Here is what Stevie had to say about it:

Well, just like Juana and her daughters (Augustine's family), I had doubts that this day would ever come, but it did. It was awesome. I was happy that the ward made a good appearance. I would say there were about 50 people there. Also, there were several of their friends so hopefully they could feel the spirit and have a little more interest in the church.... so we will see...

So yeah, we are still super dry on investigators (people to teach), we did some good searching on Thursday, but then Friday and Saturday my companion got sick so we didn't get the chance to capitalize on it. The companion is dong alright. I have to tell you I hate killing Elders (being the last companion before an Elder returns home). Its like he is in a moral fight between when he know he needs to do and what he feels like he can justify dong only cause he has 4 weeks left, I can give you the days if you want them, he keeps reminding me. So, yeah, I have to fight not only to keep myself motivated, while trying to motivate him without him getting offensive about it. He is pretty good he just kinda took a downward turn this last week and a half.

We are seeing a good amount of success with one less active family we have (the one the Assistant to the President insulted). We got the entire family to church yesterday, that brought a big smile to my face. It's pretty much because the sixteen-year-old she broke up with her bad news bf so her mom told her church would make her feel better.

The bishop and his family seem to be doing really well (The Bishop's wife lost her battle with cancer a few weeks ago). We caught a ride with his from his pueblo back to Terrassa last week and I got to have a good talk with him. He is a awesome guy.

The year mark went well, we didn't really do all that much cause E. Lindsey got sick, so I bought me some cookies and a soda and celebrated like that. LOL, oh the exciting life of a missionary. So pray that we find some investigators, and more importantly that they are really interested.

Elder Roos

Omar, his eight year old son, and his older son who performed the baptisms.
Elder Lindsay and Stevie with Omar and his sons.
Stevie with Omar and his family and friends.

Update

Well, Stephen lost his camera (I know you are all shocked!), so we are no longer receiving audios. Hopefully I'll be better at posting again.

Just a quick update - Stevie is no longer in Manacoor, he is now in Terrassa, a suburb of Barcelona. They have had a tough couple of weeks but it looks like things are looking up - Here is his latest letter:

So yeah, much better week than last week. It wasn't perfect, we are still low on investigators (people to teach) and lessons, but saw some awesome success with Omar (a man they have been teaching for a few months) and others.

Okay, so funny story first. There is an OLDER LADY in our ward. Very strong testimony and very good member, but is kinda losing her mind a little. So, she is really good about sharing the gospel with everyone, especially the Muslim lady at the fruit store she goes too. A couple weeks ago she asked us for a Book of Mormon to give her, so of course we took one over to the member. Well, Friday we went to visit her and she wass like, "You know my friend,I took back the Book of Mormon. I told her if she wasn't gonna read it then I'm taking it away. She didn't believe me so i took it from her right there." I guess we need to count our blessings that we cant teach her anyways. LOL

Saturday we had the most spiritual cita I have had my entire mission with Omar. His son, the older one, not the soccer player had just got back from EFY (a week long conference for youth in the church) so he was on a spiritual high. We decided to have a testimony session right there. It was amazing. Omar gave an amazing testimony how he knows all of this is true because sometihng that wasn't of God couldn't make him feel this good. It was amazing. We announced his baptism at church and he got even more excited about it. The ward is giving him really good support. We are also going to baptize his 8 yr old son, so come Saturday the entire family will be members.

Yesterday our church service was all the youth talking about EFY. They really did come back 100 times stronger. I loved how one woman went up and bore her testimony telling them if they like this feeling, to serve a mission. it was an amazing meeting.

So yeah, that's about it. I hit a year thursday, also Omar has his interview that day so it could be a day to celebrate. Keep him in your prayers.

love elder roos

Pictures

I realize I have been a major slacker but here are some of the pictures Stevie has sent over the past few months.

I'm not sure if this is a gallery or what, but that is a picture of the two of them.

A close-up of the photo in the gallery window.

All the elders serving on the island of Mallorca.

Stephen and Elder Hansen with Augustine and his family. Augustine was already a member and he baptized his wife and two older children. His son is not yet old enough to be baptized.

We have this same picture of Stevie and an elder who was serving in our ward when Stevie was about seven or eight.

Spain wins the World Cup!
Stephen and Elder Neaseth with a young women and her boyfriend whom they were teaching.

The Manacoor Branch.

Paella - One of his favorite foods since arriving in Spain

Quick Update

Because Stevie now sends us audio recordings each week instead of letters it is much harder to just copy his weekly updates to the blog. I am going to try to transcribe the updates (probably not word-for-word unless we get a really short one) so you all can know what's going on with him.

This week was transfers and Elder Naseath left Manacor for Barcelona; he was replaced by an elder who served with Elder Harris just before Stevie and Stevie has only heard good things. They are currently working with a part member family and the Dad is set to baptize his wife and daughters sometime in April.

Catch Up

December 21, 2009
 So, another awesome week in Spain. Honestly, I'll bet I see 10 miracles (that i recognize as miracles) a week. It's truly amazing. Cati is amazing, she loves the Gospel and she is already talking about wanting to go to the temple, that's good stuff.
  Our other investigators are getting close, I would guess 3 more baptisms in the next month. We could have even more if we have another random one like Cati.
  The Christmas conference was nice. We did a skit about trainers and greenies. I kinda pocked fun at Elder Harris and he was in the crowd, but I still wonder if he caught on. LOL

December 29, 2009
  Well, I'm am glad to say that I am not going anywhere this transfer. To be honest, even if President did try to transfer me, he would have to fly out here himself and drag my butt on to the plane.
  So, the rest of the weekend went well. We had the people who walked into the church asking about it at during church on Sunday. We taught a really strong lesson to them about the Restoration. He had some doubts when we asked him about baptism but I feel confident that he will come around. He is the type that really wants to know the truth and we all know if he searches for an answer he will find it.
  Besides that, nothing too new to report. Elder Naseath and I set transfer goals this morning, lets just say I'd rather shoot for the moon and land among the stars then not leave the earth at all.

January 4, 2009
 Well, I love p-days and don't love them at the same time because that's another week down and I'm never sure if I've done enough in that span of time. I don't think there has ever been a time in my life where time has gone by so fast, so I need you to pray for 30 hour days, can you do that? Thanks, your the best..

January 11, 2010
So, another good week down. Didn't really do too much as far as numbers go, but we are seeing tons of success with less actives (people who are members of the church but do not attend regularly). I think we will see some baptisms soon but never know. People and their agency, sometimes I wish they didn't have it because I know better than them. LOL but true.

Hey, question: Do ya'll have any ideas for Young Single Adult church activities? I'll bet you didn't know that if you are in a small branch, callings that aren't filled like activities commity fall on the missionaries and not people like the branch president.  (Love Spain)

PICTURES!!! (Finally)

This week we received a package from Elder Roos which included two camera cards full of photos. Here are a few of our favorites.

At the Provo MTC with his friend Ty

With the other Elders in his class at the Provo Temple

.

All the Elders in the MTC who had matchiing ties.

All the missionaries in the Madrid MTC singing in the park.

The Madrid Post Office (not kidding).

In front of the Madrid Temple

The Madrid Temple

At the train station in Madrid Leaving for Barcelona

View of Barcelona from a castle overlooking the city.

With the Hinckleys and the others who arrived in the mission with him

View of Manacor from his apartment window

Members of the Branch (congregation) at the Branch Christmas Party.

With his companion, Elder Naseath

With Cati at her Baptism!

A view of Manacor

With members of the Branch at a Branch activity

A Cathedral in Manacor