El Espíritu habla

Camp Nou

 Hola a todos!

This week I had one of the best teaching experiences of my mission. We are teaching a person named Micaela. She is absolutely great. I thought she was a member when I first met her, but she hasn't been baptized. She has been always been going back and forth on actually being baptized, and has had some difficulties in making that decision. The last time we met with her, we invited her to read Mosiah 18, which talks a little bit about baptism. As we talked about how her study went, she said she cried when she read the part, "what do you have against being baptized?" Hehe, I was hoping that would happen. We talked about it, and she said she talked with her mom, (who originally wouldn't let her get baptized), and her mom gave her permission, and Micaela wants to be baptized in November. We asked why November. And she said well that makes 1 year from when I met the sisters. Now we wanted to get her baptized sooner, and the perfect scripture came into my mind at that moment. Alma 13:27, it says:

27 And now, my brethren, I wish from the inmost part of my heart, yea, with great anxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the day of your repentance;

I know, a little fuerte, strong, but it was the perfect thing she needed. That scripture, along with her older Sister's testimony and experience, (who was baptized about 8 months ago) helped her realize that she should consider having it sooner. And so, in October she will be getting baptized. Pray for Micaela!!!

Anyways, great experience this week. Hope everyone is doing well!

Until next week! Can only say that a few more times!
Élder Van Wagenen 
God Bless America, Viva España 

Fotos:

1. Dope Barcelona members 

2. Mate, scriptures, and alfajores made by yours truly

3. Sandy, a good friend from when I was in the office

4. Elder English told me to get a pic in front of this. I'm glad I did

5. Hermana Olson! I worked with her for MONTHS on social media through zoom, and she made it to Spain not too long ago!

6. A 2kg kebab in the flesh 

The power of the first vision

Tibidabo with the district

 Hola a todos!

It has been an amazing past few weeks in the heart of Barcelona. I have a very nice view of the Sagrada Familia from where I study, and I love being in the city. We cover 2 wards, and so I get to meet with even more people! But these past weeks have gone by pretty quickly.

A super awesome teaching experience we had this week was with a new person we found, Nelson. He just wanted to learn more about God and was interested in the Church and how it came to be. So we taught him about the Restoration, and we had a great experience there. When we got to Joseph Smith's first vision, we showed him a foto of his experience as we recited his experience. He said after that, upon hearing the experience, and especially seeing the picture, he said that he felt something he hadn't felt before, in his heart. We quickly helped him understand that said feeling in his heart was indeed the Spirit. We met with him again today, he came to church, and he loves the Church. We are super excited to keep teaching him, and I know the Lord has prepared him for this time.

Until next week!
Élder Van Wagenen 
God Bless America, Viva España 

Fotos:

1. Tibidabo

2. The Sagrada

3. What else do you do when a cita cancels?

4. I love all Spanish cathedrals stained glass windows, but this one is the best by far. Jesus is confronting the devil on Tibidabo, love it.

Alexa, play Barcelona by George Ezra

Palacio de Aljafería, a super old palace in the middle of Zaragoza 

 Hola a todos!

2 pieces of information. We do not own an Amazon Alexa, but playing Barcelona by George Ezra sure would be appropriate because that is where I'm heading! We got a call from Presidente, and later the Zone Leaders about some transfer news. I will be leaving Zaragoza, and spend the last 5 weeks of my time in Spain in Barcelona. It is very bittersweet because I was really thinking I was going to finish my mission in Zaragoza, and I have met some super amazing people and members here, but, I am super super excited to be going back to Barcelona. I won't be in the office this time, so I hopefully will be able to meet some more members in Barcelona, and I am super excited for this final chapter of my mission. 

This past week was been super busy. Like one day we had 6 citas, we were driving from cita to cita, and we were barely making it to our citas, it was crazy! One of our citas was an English class. We teach lots of English for free as a service, in hopes that the people we teach English will want to learn about the Gospel. This was like the 4th of 5th class we have had with these people, and at the beginning of the cita, they asked, hey just out of curiosity, could you explain to us where your church comes from?? We were kinda shook, commenced with the lesson of the Restoration. I felt the Spirit so strongly as I shared the first vision in the words of Joseph Smith. It was an awesome lesson, and they were very interested and grateful for teaching them. I hope they keep having interest in learning more, even after I depart.

Until next week!
Élder Van Wagenen 
God Bless America, Viva España 

Fotos:

1. Saying goodbye to gente part 1

2. Saying goodbye to gente part 2. I kid you not 2 seconds after this selfie Presidente called😂

3. Saying goodbye to gente part 3

4. Big doggo