Chapter 8: Hola de Barcelona!! May 6, 2013

Chapter 8: Hola de Barcelona!!

Yes, my first area in the mission is Barcelona!! At first I was slightly disappointed (because of Catalan), but I have gotten to love it and realize that most people speak Spanish. My trainer is Hermana Wilson. She is fantastic, and we are going to be great friends. It’s weird that I am almost the youngest Hermana here, but that will change when we have 20 hermanas coming in during the summer through September (in case you don’t realize how great that is, it’s huge. Especially since we only have about 30 in the entire mission). Now, on to the bigger and better things. My area is Barcelona two. Aka--a little more of the rough area. So, it’s not the plush Barcelona that you see in travel commercials. For instance, we cannot drink the water. (Even though most of the missionaries in the entire mission can’t either--only in the North where it’s the really nice areas like Bilboa and San Sebastian.) I feel like I am in the CCM all over again, relearning everything and know nothing. haha My first couple days for instance, I forgot Spanish. Whenever I was contacting in the street I was like, "Somos misoneras por la iglesia de Jesucristo....uh....uh...." and Then I would look over frantically at my companion with a look of I-have-no-idea-what-to-say-next in my eyes. BUT we did contact this man named Fransisco from Peru, and GUESS WHAT. He came to church! Without even having a cita with him (cita means appointment). We just asked him to come to church and he showed up for all three hours. Hopefully, that means we will be having a baptism around the corner. Other than that, we have been meeting with a lot of menos activos (less active members). Actually, my first cita of my mission was with a "menos activos". She is an Evangelical. Apparently, that only makes her menos activos. hahaha Anyway, she was a hoot. She is like 80 years old and has a lot of spunk. Sunday was a little hard because it was their Mother’s Day here, so the primary children came in and sang all their cute songs. Really? My first week out in the field and you are singing about mothers? Yes, I cried. Don’t judge me. I hope the kids just thought I was feeling the spirit. Then we had a cita with a reference, and she wants to know about the Book of Mormon, so she is officially our newest investigator. That’s pretty exciting as well. We had FHE with the Paredes family (I believe he is either the first or second counselor in the Bishopric) and it was so much fun. We played Book of Mormon Headbandz and had dinner with them. They don’t speak any English, but I was pretty much able to understand what was going on. They were shocked that I only had 6 weeks of language training, so I guess that’s a good sign that I am picking up the language. Today was P-day and we went to Mt. Tibidago (I think that’s it). It’s a cathedral on the highest mountain in Barcelona. It was super pretty, but I just don’t like cathedrals very much. They are super dark, and they have a lot of gruesome depictions of Christ. I much prefer our churches and temples, obviously. But it was still way pretty, and we got to hang out with all the missionaries in our area. We all get together every Pday and go to a sight in Barcelona. Also, my companion and I had a startling experience. There we were, walking down the street from a cita with one of our Filipina members (that’s how you say and spell it in Spanish, don’t judge my spelling), and we just see a bunch of Spanish FBI like cars go by with sirens blaring and blocking off streets, and I was like great. I am going to die. Anyway, it was just kind of weird. Five minutes, or so, later their bomb squad goes flying by. And then we heard it. A big bang and everything went white. Ok, so that’s a little dramatic, but there was a big bang. My companion and I just grabbed each other and started booking it towards our piso (apartment). We noticed nobody else was running though, and we were like, "ARE YOU BLIND AND DEAF??" Then, we realized that up the street there was a protest with fireworks...and that is it. Apparently, the police force here is like it is in Highland. We realized that they were protesting the treatment of prisoners in their prison though, and that’s why they had tons of policemen because it’s a sensitive subject...? I don’t know. It was a "Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore" moment. haha But, the Lord protects his missionaries. I know this work is so important. I love it. I don’t think anything can quite prepare you for how hard it is going to be: frustration with the language, waking up thinking you’re at home and mom is fixing breakfast (that’s happened twice to me and its awful), rejections, etc, etc. BUT I also know that there is no other time where I could become this close with the Savior. I love you all, and can’t wait to talk to you more about my adventures in BARCELONA.