Nov 22, 2012

Hello Everyone!!! How are you all doing??  I hope that your Thanksgiving is sooo good! Mine was amazing.  Today is my pday. President switched it so we could play today.  The sweet thing is that we have a Senior couple here, sooooo they cooked for us a great meal!! OHHH SWEEET GOODNESS!! hahah, yes we had turkey and stuffing and all the good stuff.  It was great.  Thank you for your letters, emails, and all the love!  I love you all so much!!  

Well, Ferrol is getting better, we are starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel. It´s been a long, hard, and dark tunnel, and at times, I didn´t know what to do or say.  But right now we are seeing some light, which is great.  I am glad that  some things are starting to pick up.  One great thing is that we are seeing a change in an enternigator, Enrique. He has a great testimony, and he knows a lot about the gospel.  He has read the BoM a couple of times and has been coming to church.  He just has one problem, he smokes.  We just started to meet with him again, and there is a real change in his acciones in his manner of meeting with us.  He really wants to change, so we set some goals and we shall see what else we can do.  It has been a good soul lifter for me that we now have someone to work with.  Thank you God! 

Well right now I would just like to say what I am thankful for.  My appreciation of things has grown on my mission.  I am thankful for my mission, for this calling that I have right now.  I am thankful for it so much.  I have truly learned so much here on my mission.  I have seen many things that have really opened my eyes to the important things of this life.  I am thankful for you all, my family.  I will always be thankful for you all.  I truly feel all of your love day to day here.  I feel your prayers for me.  You don´t really understand somethings till you don´t have them.  Like you all, I am here alone, with my comp, and my Lord, I love it, but you know, I´d love to get a good mom hug, or a dad hug, or a nice talk with mandy or mitch or jana. I am so very thankful for the challenges that the Lord has put in front of me.  These challenges have changed the way I look at many things.  My whole mission has been a challenge, from the language, to the people, to the day to day troubles here.  But I am thankful for it, you know why? Because I´m learning.  I am gaining more of a testimony of the strength of this message everyday as it holds up to countless bashes from these spaniards.  I am thankful for my testimony that I have of these teachings, of this gospel in my life.  It has truly blessed me on my mission.  Having this testimony is priceless, it is my testimony, that no one can take away from me.  They can question it, the can bash it, they can spit at it, but it´s mine, and I´m thankful for that.  The last thing I want to say is that I am thankful for, My God, My Savior, and My Companion.  All three of them have helped me so much.  through the rough times and challenges, My God, My Savior, and My Comp have always been there, never fearing, there wavering, always at my right and left hand when I need them.  Always.  It has been a great blessing for me in my life, whenever I needed Elder G, he was there for me.  He is my best friend, through the times that I wanted to cry, yell at the world or do whatever, he was there to help me.  

I have so much to be thankful for, for this gospel, for the scriptures, for my friends, everything.  One thing that I have learned in the past little bit is that everyday I should be thankful for everything, not just one day :)  I love you all, have a great Thanksgiving.  Ferrol is getting better.  Our minds, hearts, and strength are on the up beat, that´s always good, they´ve been on the down for awhile.  We are workin our little tails off over here :P  I love you, thank you for everything you do for me and Elder G.  

Love,

Elder Laubaugh 

November 15, 2012

Hey all!! How is everyone doing??  I have to say I had a good week.  With all our sickness going on, it was nice to finally get a good week in.  We have people to teach, but just not as many as we used too.  Yeah we still are getting on track, but it just feels better.  I have to say that I still don´t know why I got sick, I don´t know why my comp got sick, I still have no clue why everything went wrong during those weeks, but what I do know is that the Lord is still with me.  I know that he still cares, that he is wanting the best for me.  I know that he wants me to find the answers to these things, he wants me to really search. He just can´t give it to me, I gotta do some work.

I have to clarify some things.  Today I got a letter from Mom, she was wanting to know what type of "hard" is this?  Emotional, expectation, or what?  I have to say all of it.  During this time when all of this was going on, I didn´t know what to do.  That was the hardest part.  During the first part of my mission I went through this same type of deal, when I didn´t know what to say or do.  But I had my trainer, I had people to help me get through those times, and I learned a ton by that.  Time goes by, I learn more, gain more knowledge of this gospel, things started to get easier, the language, the teaching...  When both our sicknesses hit, I didn´t know what to do.  That scared me, I didn´t know who to turn to or what to say.  My friend is in the hospital, I´m sick, our area is going down the drain and I am here... alone, with my mission leader trying to do everything at once.  Of course it is impossible to do it all at once.  Visit my comp, go to a lesson and all that.  It was hard on me, on my mind, my body, everything.  Soooo when I was saying it was hard, that is what I was saying.  I didn´t know what to do, I turned to my Lord and that´s all I could do.  My president couldn´t do a lot and others as well, they just watched me do it all, but I have to say I have learned a lot from this. I started to learn a lot more in my scripture reading and my prayers.  I have always turned to those 2 things when I am in my hour of need, and always, I have gotten my answers.  This past week I have been finishing up the chapters of Alma, good ol war chapters and things just started to make more sense.  I have to say, my studies have meant more to me. Also I have to say my man Capt. Moroni, Alma, Helaman have really been helping me through this.  This isn´t my time, this isn´t the time of Elder Laubaugh, but this is the time of the Lord.  I have learned that these things too shall pass, I won´t be stuck in this time for all eternity, that there will be an end, that I will learn from this.  I had really been in the moment latey and it´s been bringing me down, that ohhh nooo this is going to last forever, but it´s not, it will take some time yes, but it too shall pass.  That has helped me out a ton with this little problem right now.  We are both doing better, we are learning a ton.  Our bodies are getting better and stronger, I´m working out a little more and getting better. 

Well on to some fun things that have happened to me in the past week.  Well we have been helping a MA with a new house, we have been doing some service for him.  One of the members is moving out and is letting him and his fam live there for free.  So we ask if we can help.  He said sure and off we go.  Welllll what we didn´t know is that this house is bad... It´s not ohhh a little messy, it´s realllly messy.  Lets just say this fam is a fam of hourders.  They keep everything!!! It smelled sooo bad like something died.  So of course we get down and dirty.  I´m cleaning the shelves and finding weird things and old food and mold and all this grossness, but i have to say, now that house is alright, still needs a lot of work, but it´s better.  So yeah, it was a good day. 

Well on to some food things.  So in Madrid, I ate a lot of different things, as you all know. Up here not as much, a lot of octopus, pig, that stuff.  Well Naty and her fam love us... they feed us all the time. Well Flor cooks amazing food, yes good ol peruvian food.  mmmmm soo good! good ol papas a la juanciyna(spelling) its potatos, with this amazing sauce that I lovvveee!!! Then of course we get to have ceviche!! I loveeee ceviche!! yes raw fish that is cooked by lemon juice, yes it might be gross to you all but it is so good.  We had sooo much of that the other day!! AHHHHHH I miss Madrid!! I used to have that a lot.  Did you know that each country has ceviche, just made differently, I didn´t know that till a couple of weeks ago, pretty cool. 

But yeah it´s been good, still truckin along, but the Lord has really been helping me out for the past couple of days, well this past week.  Thank you all for your love, for you letters.  I love them! Family, I love you so much, keep on being great!! I love you!!

 

Love,

Elder Alex Laubaugh of Spain 

November 7, 2012

Hello alll!!! First off all, I need to thank you all for the birthday wishes!! thank you!!!! I loved my gifts as well!! My birthday was good! I didn´t tell a whole lot of people, but many knew about it(thank you Elder G), but yeah it was super cool.  The Stephensons(couple missionaries)  made me a cake with cream cheese frosting(my fave) it was soooo goood!!!  Then after we go to a members home and they made Empenadas also, another fave of mine.  They didn´t even know it was my bday, but they still made the best ones I´ve had! hahaha.  After we went to play practice, Yes I am in a play in the church, it´s about the Plan of Salvation. Everyone made me cards and got me a little gift.  It was cute and it really meant a lot.  After we went to another members house to eat.  My special dinner was Pulpo or octopus.  That was super good, well yeah I guess it was super good, it was rubbery but the taste was right.  They got me all these cookies, and chuches, and all that good stuff.  They are so cool!! They decorated their whole house with birthday stuff.  I have to say it was a good birthday.  Also I got your package last week, I opened it yesterday and I loved the gifts... Also Elder G says thank you so much, he loves it! hahaha, thank you all so much.  

We are slowly but surely getting back up to speed.  Elder G is still recuperating, but he is getting better.  I am mostly better as well. Life throws you some curveballs here and there. I do my best to keep on a smile.  I gotta keep happy.  I can´t get sad and be like wo is me, my life is so hard, well it is, but it´s just time to suck it up.  I´m on a mission, things pass.  I have learned so much so far, in a short 10 or so months. It´s my life right now, I have to learn from these things.  Elder G and I had a really great moment on sunday.  We just talked a bunch just about all of this stuff, we just feel bad, we haven´t been able to do more lately.  If you really look at it, yeah good we had a baptism but after the sickness and all that, it just has been hard.  The Lord knows, and President knows and thats all that matters. It was hard because well I felt I was being judged by others... Ohh he hasn´t been working or anything, but after that talk and after some other little things said and written to me, i forgot about that, it doesn´t matter what people think, I just have to put it all out, do it for me, and that is good enough for the Lord.  That has helped me out a lot, knowing that my Lord is there for me.  That is a big part of my testimony that I didn´t get to finish the other week.  That he knows us so well.  He is there for me every step of the way, guiding us, yes there are times that we need to take that step of faith, but that´s when we learn and grow the most.  Yes I have to say, during those times of adversity and all that, it was hard, but I had to rely on him, really trust in him... I have to say I made it through, it´s not over but I´m making it.   

I love you all so much, you know that right? I hope you do.  I love you all so much and you make me so happy.  Thank you for everything, for your love, support, and your testimony in this gospel.  Thank you.  

Like I said, life is hard, and I´m ready to Fight in the Shade any day.  ;)

I have to say that I have eaten some different things lately, I have had some good lil experiences putting down food.  Like I had a tortilla thing, i forget the name but it was filled with olives and all that, which is fine, then just huge chunks of big skin and fat! What the freak! haha, then some pig things here and there, then some big pieces of pig skin and that, I´m gettin used to it ;) hahah Ihope! haha I love you!

I love you all!!! 

Love,

Elder Alex Lobo

october 31, 2012

Hey everyone, sorry but this letter will have to be very short. I finally got to see the Fort in Ferrol. It is a bit of a trip so it took most of the day.  So in that case, I don´t have time to write a nice good letter. 

On the me front, I am doing well.  My health has been much better this past week.   I got some good meds from the Hospital that put me back on my feet.  That was a great blessing.  President as well can´t believe the things we have to go through up here.  Well Elder G is doing good as well.  He has been better since last week, but we still have to take it slow.  It´s really hard for me to take it slow, but it´s what I need to do.  I have to say it was hard to keep a smile on my face these past couple of weeks, but I kept advice I got when I was in Madrid in my mind all the time.  This sister from my ward told me this.  Elder Laubaugh, first off, don´t lose those eyes, people get lost in them, Second, don´t lose that smile, people just melt when they see that smile.  Never lose it.  Thirdly, work, don´t ever stop.  I have been keeping that in mind.  That smile was hard to put on this past week, really hard.  When everything was going against me, I kept it on.  When I was just in pain, just wanting to go home, sleep in my own bed, hug you all, I kept it on.  Just a smile kept me going.  I´m glad I smiled during that time, my mind changed when I did.  It was nice, just to smile, be happy, not sad. 

Well Mom this is for you, well all of you.  I sent you some advice for my talk but I have to say I just felt I needed to tell you some more of my testimony.  

 

Life is hard, when everything piling up on me, all the area work, health issues and just everything else.  I just knew that the Lord was with me.  I know that My Savior lives, that he loves me that he cares for me.  The reason I love Isiah 41:10 so much is because it says I am with thee.  God is with us, always.  In this work I have felt his love for me, my investigators, and the members, every day.  I want to say that he loves you too, that He is there for us.  I know that the Book of mormon is true.  I love you all I need to go.

 

I love you!!

photos!! Wahoo!!

Alex sent us a cute little letter with a memory card full of pictures! Wahoo! Here are some of my favorites and highlights from our favorite Elder!! Yay! He's seriously doing so good right now and is LOVING his area and his companion, Elder Gonzalez is just as great! They work hard and have a ton of fun. They are seeing great success in their area and are excited for what is ahead! We couldn't be prouder of these two missionaries!

 

i'm not exactly sure what's going on but this is one of my favorite pictures 

october 13, 2012

Well I gotta tell ya, this week has been freaking crazy on my end.  Doing A: Missionary work with a member  B: Going to the hospital and back everyday, it just was too much!!  But..... I got through it.  President pulled some strings, said some words, and now... drum roll please!!! Elder G is back!!!! OOO OOOO!!!!! What a great day that was.  He came back on Monday after 8 days in the hospital.  AHHHH!!!  Well that in itself gets an OO OO! hahaha.  Well he is doing better.  He can´t go on long walks or do activity for one month.  He can just do a little bit at a time.  So it´s going to be a little hard, but he is a trooper.  We just went walking and he just told me when to slow down, but he´s doing great. 

Well our members are sweet!! They are so good!!!  I love them.  I have to say, good members change the work.  I have seen it in my areas and others too.  When you don´t have good members, the elders well, they don´t want to work as hard.  It´s hard up here I have to say, and without members we have no work.  No one wants to talk to two elders on the street for 10secs.  But I have to say I need to give many members a big hug.  They did so much for us.  They made food, called Elder G, visited him, and did many more amazing things for us.  

We had zone conference in the Santiago Zone and that was a good treat.  I got to see President and his wife, talk to them and figure some things out for them.  I have to say I´ve been in many zone meeting and conferences, but this one was one of the best I have ever been in.  There was a sweet spirit in the room.  Just of peace and some other feeling, their isn´t a word for it.  I knew I would be learning a lot.  Through this experience I have had with Elder G I had an open mind on what I needed to learn.  What type of things I needed to do better, do more of, that type of thing.  I came with many questions and through each talk and practice, I learned and my questions were answered.  

For the past couple months I have been praying if my work for the day has been accepted by the Lord.  If I put in my full day´s worth, if I went all out.  Yeah my body was telling me yes, I was tired, dead, sore, headaches that tore me apart, but I felt as though there was a piece missing in my heart, or something like that.  After I would pray I would hear Dad, his voice saying to me ¨Son, just get out there and work, get it done, Light it Up!¨  day in and day out I would hear some voice saying Light it Up Lil A!  Just get it done! I would look around and wonder what the freak, who said that to me.. hahahah, but it pushed me every single day of my mission.  I know I still have a long ways to go but for some odd reason it just made sense to me.  I can´t put it into words. During Zone conf, It just started to make sense to me.  I don´t know, I just pray that when I get done after these 2 great years, that the Lord will accept my work.  I know if I do my best, if I know I did my best he´ll accept it, but it´s just a thought that comes in here and there.  

With that said, I want to say I feel myself changing.  This past week I really started to feel it.  After the little experience with Elder G, with learning a lot about myself, my mission, the work here in Spain.  I just felt this change in me, this change of heart, this change of mind set.  I love it, I feel myself growing, learning day in and day out, it´s beautiful.  Right now I know why I´m here in Ferrol, in Spain, just so many things are starting to make sense.  Like I told President, The Lord knows what I need to learn and when I need to learn it.  The only way He can teach us, is through these experiences.  

I love you so much family.  Elder G loved his cards, thank you for that.  That literally made his whole day, and probably week.  He loves you guys and He loves our family.  I´ll send him your love.  I love you!!

Love,

Elder Laubaugh

P.S  I bought me a new pair of shoes!! YEEEE HAA!! 

October 24, 2012

Hello family.  Sorry for the wait, I´ve been writing back you all from last weeks emails.  Thank you for those. 

I have to tell you, this has been quite the week.  I have to say we have had many blessings.  We have been in contact with a couple of our old Investigators.  They have been progressing a lot since we last met with them.  One of them didn´t believe in God... Now he does, and he wants to read the Book of Mormon, and wants to learn more.  He has been blessed with work as a Doctor for praying.  He now has a testimony.  How sweet it that!  That was a great lesson.  Also, I have noticed recently that I don´t have a stutter.  It's been great.  On Sunday we had a class and we were talking about talents.  I was thinking about my speech.  And I thought back to the last transfer till now and I don´t think I have stuttered much.  I have occasionally, but it is not that noticable.  Elder G knows I have one and he keeps me in check, which is nice.  But how great is that, it has been a great blessing to me.  I can speak in English and Spanish.  I just speak, without a stutter.  That was just great for me.  It gave me so much joy just thinking about that. 

I have to say this again, I love teaching.  We don´t teach a ton here, but we still do.  I just get this spirit of love for these people that I have never felt before.  It´s amazing what the Lord puts into our hearts day in and day out.  I love it!!  On a different subject, this week has been a tough one.  Elder G is fine he is doing great and getting back into shape, but now it was my turn to get really sick.  Saturday night, I was up practically all night.  I had a fever and just wasn´t good.  Sunday, I had a big stomach ache and it just wasn´t good.  Sunday night I lost it.  I woke up with the chills, but my head was on fire.  I went to the restroom and lets just say, it was bad.  Supppper bad.  I had the runs, vomiting, and a bad fever.  I took some Nyquil and went back to sleep after a good 2 hours in the restroom.  Monday we stayed low, but still worked.  I didn´t eat at all, I just drank a lot of water.  Monday night, same thing, just not getting better.  So Tuesday, We went to A Coruña for our district meeting.  I called up President's wife and told her what´s up.  I go to the doctor, They won't take my health card from the Church (we just got them, it´s a pilot program for us).  So I went to another one, and they still won't take me in.  So I went to the ER.  They took me in and I was hooked up to all the stuff.  They were rushing around and doing what they had to do.  I stayed the night and I didn´t sleep. I still had the runs, but not has bad.  They got back the tests and said I had a case of salmonella.  I think that´s how you spell it, but they said it just tore me up.  The doctors and nurses were really good.  They really liked me.  I was talking with them, cracking jokes and all that stuff.  I kept a smile on my face during this hard time.  Well this morning at 7, they let me out with 4 things of perscriptions to get.  It was a long day but I am better. 

During this time I have to say I was thinking that I was going to die.  Not DIE DIE but just not being able to get out.  Dad wrote me a letter that I read about 2 hours before I went to the ER.  He talked about Adversity.  I thought about that the whole time.  This was just another great experience that I have had.  I am not sure why I have had it, but it was for a purpose.  It gave me a ton of pain, but I got through it.  The Lord knows what he´s doing here in my life, in our lives.  We just have to submit to his will.  I have learned that a lot here.  We want lessons and baptisms.  But the Lord has a plan for us, for me.  It might not be as much as we want, but when we submit to His will, we will learn more, and and recieve more blessings.  I have to say, I still don´t know why I had this sickness, but I have to learn from it, get better from it.  I´ll find my answer in the scriptures or in a talk, but it should be fine. 

Family, I love you.  You are all the best in the world.  I am fine, Don´t worry about it, I am healthy, I am out, I am doing good.  I love you all so much!! Say hi to everyone for me!!

 

Love Your Favorite Elder In Spain!

 

Elder Alex Laubaugh!

October 11, 2012

Elder G in the hospital :( 

 Wow this has been quite a week.  Last week my comp said that he had some stomach problems at night.  I knew because I would wake up when he would get out of bed.  The next day he said he had a fever.  A member checked him out and gave him some medication.  The next couple of days Elder G was not getting better, vomiting, and so forth.  Saturday night, after our baptism and conference, he did not look good.  On Sunday morning I got ready for Conference and Elder G is on the couch.  He called up a member and said to get a taxi and to get him to the hospital.  He asked for a blessing before and I gladly gave him one.  After he said that he was sweating, had a pain in his chest and in his arm.  You all know that I am an Eagle Scout and I am grateful that I am, and that I knew that that pain meant something had to be wrong with his heart.  We went right away to the hospital, but he didnt have his health card.  It took 2 more hospitals for them to accept him.   It's a bigger one and we soon found out that he has a problem with his heart.  Elder Gonzalez is doing a lot better, but I have to say Sunday was a long day for me and him.  The membrane around his heart got an infection and was causing his heart to mess up a little.  He is fine like I said, but he is still in the hospital.  He was in the UCI for 3 days, that´s the only nurse allowed type of deal.  It was hard. I was worried and scared for my comp.  He´s my brother.  Thankfully he is okay.  

 Don´t be worried. I have talked to so many doctors and they said he is fine.  He just needs to rest and medication right now.  He feels great.  Right now I am in A Coruña. I am off to Vigo tonight for Zone meetings tomorrow.  I am actually glad this has passed with me.  I can´t lie, it has been hard.  I turned off my phone for 1 hour to visit him, and I got 15 missed calls.  I have lost a lot of sleep wondering what would happen but there is always something to learn from this, always.  When I was in the hospital I needed to see him.  I was freaking out.  I am very big here and I raised my voice just a little bit.  I said I needed to be with him, I´m his comp, we are missionaries, and they just said sit down, and I wouldn´t.  Finally I had that little small voice say, READ YOUR SCRIPTURES.  How can I read at a time like this?  So I sat down with a member and I read.  Peace, Love, Hope, swept all those hard feelings of anger, madness, doubt away.  I felt my Father with me, and I had a peace sweep over me.  I got up again after a good hour and I walked back. No one stopped me, I just walked and I got to see my comp with all the wires and oxygen hooked up to him.

 I am so gratefull for great members.  I have to say I had some doubt in me.  I just thought, okay, the members just want to feed us and that´s about it.  It´s just a little tradition.  No lie, I told 2 people about this.  Out of those two people (President of the branch, and a member.) I recieved a call from about all of our members.  They all joined in, wrote cards and called me.  Members came so fast to see him, to see what was going on.  That took out my doubt.  They said if I needed anything, just call. I have done that and they did it so fast for me.

Alex eating "chinese food" 

 This week has been hard and long I gotta tell ya.  It´s hard talking Spanish in doctor terms.  It´s really hard.  Another great blessing was Irina.  She´s a member that called up the taxi and took us to each hospital while missing conference, and stayed till everything was all taken care of.  I now have a hate for doctors.  Not a hate hate, but come on, I am from the states, don´t know a lick of this type of spanish and they think I know the whole world. They are saying his heart is stopping and this and that, and I´m freaking out.  She steps in and just takes it to them, just tells them what is up.  I then step in and say, what is wrong, and in simple terms they say what´s up.  hahaha, ohhh good times.  Elder Gonzalez is still in the hospital and he has visitors all the time from the members.  Which is great.

 I have to tell you I have learned a lot from this experience.  I can´t put it into words, It´s just things that made sense in my head.  My Spanish has been very good. I am understanding a whole lot more from reading in Spanish all the time and just talking in it alllll the time.  People do get frustrated, I do to, when I ask a million questions but it´s been good.

 Well I am doing well also.  I feel this was more for me than for Elder G.   I just learned a lot of good life lessons.  The Lord heard my prayers of help, of strength throughout this whole journey.  He truly loves his servants.  I have been on the phone a lot with President, his wife, and everyone. haha, but it´s been good.  I love you all so so much, I am doing well.  I am also sick, but that´s the least of my worries right now.  I have a sore throat and all that from talking and a little bit of sickness, but I am doing good.  Just know that I am learning a ton right now and that I am safe, Keep Elder G in your prayers, He needs them.  He got to talk to his parents and do all of that so they know.

 One thing I want to say is that the conference that I did see was great.  Ahhh I love it! I only saw Saturday morning and then I was gone for the rest of the time.  Santi came to that and he loved it!! Ahh He just was ohhh wow that was sooo cool! One of our less actives watched all of it online in her house.  she said that the prophet's words just filled her whole house and soul.  What a great experience that was.  I love you all so much!! have a great week and I love you!!!

Love,

Elder Laubaugh!!

Naty's baptism! 

Naty's family and the Elders! 

October 3, 2012

Hey, how are you all???  Well this week has been a great week that I have been learning a lot about me, about my future, and well, about everything.  Many things... many questions have been answered over this past week, which is super nice.  Of course many have been answered through the scriptures.  I´ll inform you all later in the letter.  Well this week has been good.  It was a little slower, but we have been doing a lot of exchanges.  I have been running around a lot just me and another comp.  I was in A Coruña for one and the rest in our area.  The ehh thing is that I have been with the Jr. Comps.  They are very new, like first or second transfer out, sooo I have been talking a lot, going to bed feeling like I have been run over by a train, wake up feeling the same thing.  Fun times here.. OOO OOO! But I have been learning a lot, which is sweet.  Ohhh just almost forgot, we are still the same in Ferrol.  Neither Elder G or I am getting transferred.  I still have Elder G as a comp and we are all good, but they white washed A Coruna and took out the other comp, so they took out 3 elders from there.  Fun Fun.  Well yeah, things have been good.  One thing that is sweet is that I am here with one of my best friends, Elder Levorsen.  He is in my district and we get along great. Sweet! haha, but yeah, nothing changed here.  But yeah, we get one older elder and 2 new ones.  They often send new missionaries to the north.  Many go up here for a couple of transfers then get sent down to Madrid. 

Well that´s enough of that.  On the other hand we had a great week with Santi.  He has been feeling a lot of the spirit.  He says something is different in his life.  He says he has more joy.  Last week, we set a fecha with him.  He just was saying he wanted some goal, something to work towards. Well that hit my bell and I heard, give him a fecha.  So we did.  He was so happy, he was like a little kid in a candy store.  I´m going to be baptized, yay! Exact words right there. hahaha He is so awsome! He is 70years old, and just wants to change.  He has some problems with some things, but we are working with him.  He gives me these big hugs and I give it to him back and he just loves it.  He just has changed from the day I met him.  Naty is getting baptized this week, so I hope things go well! I am so excited for her, she is so ready! haha :) She just wants it so bad, her parents are right there for her which is great!

I love you all so much, i love you more than anything.  Have a great week. My back is good, not 100percent, but good.  I am still looking for shoes, just a good pair. I´ll buy one by the end of this week.  I love you all!

 

Love, Your favorite in Europe,

 

Elder Laubaugh!

sept 26, 2012

Hey all, has it been another week already??? What the freak!  Wow how fast is that.  Just to mention, transfers are coming up this week.  I don´t think I am going anywhere, but I do think some of our district is.  You never know! But yes that is the big news of this week.  Now on to last week.  Lets just say... it was different.  Fast like always but just a lot has happened.  First off, thank you for the pictures.  They are great and Elder G loves them too.  Also thank you for my clothes.  I just needed something a bit different and I just picked up the package today from the post office!  :) 

Well on to last week, sorry, hahah.  I don´t know, I just had a hard time on Friday.  You know when you wake up and you are just in a bad mood, and you don´t want to talk or do anything, well that was me on Friday.  I woke up and I don´t know, I just wanted to punch a wall, yell, scream, do whatever.  I don´t know why, must have been a dream.  With that said, I really wasn´t feeling the spirit.  After I got ready I was feeling fine, I calmed down and all is well, nothing huge.  But I still didn't feel the spirit.  Elder G was in a weird mood too, so we were both off.  Not sure why.  But anyways, we get going to work and we have contacting planned.  Bad idea, I just wasn´t feeling anything.  Usually I talk with everyone and knock doors, and I am in the spirit of the work, just ready to tear it up, but I wasn´t the same.  Something had happend, and I couldn´t put my finger on it.  I ran through my morning and just was lost.  From the moment I woke up to then, I had been praying and keeping a prayer in my heart.  Just trying to bring back this spirit.  But nothing.  Well we were in Naron, a near city to Ferrol.  It has a tad bit more people and is just a great area.  I wanted to pray in peace, just kneel down, and pray.  Well we walked around for a good 5min and I was tired of this mood. I tried to change but nothing.  I was mad, sad, gloomy, not feeling the spirit, not anything good!!!! AHHH!!!  Finally I found a little nook in a road, a dead end.  I turned the corner and there is a little walkway and just no one.  I told Elder G to just go away for a bit.  Finally I am alone, well sort off.  I knelt down and prayed.  This spirit of peace came to me.  I finally felt that love that life that I needed to push on.  At the end of my prayer the scripture Isaiah 41:10 came to mind.  I am telling the truth, I have never read that scripture, maybe once in seminary, but I am not sure.  I personally don´t like Isaiah, it´s hard to read in English and Spanish.  But I looked it up, and wow... just beautiful.  Just look it up.  I love it now.  The words Yo estoy contigo, just got to me.  Just to let you know at the end of the day I was fine, back to normal, and just doing great.  We had a great day too, we both were back to normal. 

Well on to another subject, Yolanda is doing great.  She is a less active and she is getting back into the groove.  She has had a very hard life with many bad things.  She is from Brazil and she mixes up her Spanish with other very hard to understand words.  She just quit smoking.  She said one day she bought a pack, looked at it at her house.  Just staring at it, and just got angry.  She said and she said this loud... well screaming.  "I don´t need you, ahhhh, I was like a buffalo and just started to snort and act like one and I tore the pack up, just tabacco going everywhere and it was all me. Just like a buffalo"  When she yelled, it was like a buffalo sound, like a snort. rawr! hahaha that was a nice lesson :)  

Naty is doing great.  She is really pushing for her baptism and she really wants to get to eventually get to the temple which is great.  Everyone else is doing good.  I am loving life here.  The members are great, the work, well is work, and my comp is great! I am betting there might be a change. I hope not, but you never know.  Well family I love you so much, thank you for everything!!! Thank you so much again for the great package that I got today! Love it!  Ohh by the way I had pig stomach again this week. mmmm tasty! Wish I didn´t ask what it was before I ate it.  hahah ooops! I love you!! Have a great week!

 

I love you!!

 

Elder Alex Laubaugh!! 

Sept 19, 2012

Well, I love Ferrol.  Thanks for writing me and I´ll talk to you all next week, Bye.... Joking! I can´t leave you all hanging like that! haha  Well life has been good.  We work very hard and are very tired and just want to sleep a lot, but we push through.  My back is still out of whack, I´ve been stretching and yesterday, I couldn´t touch my toes... oh snap! The day before I could, but yesterday, I couldn´t.  My back was just hurting.  So we had a companionship strech time.  I know it takes time to get everything good, but ahhh just hurts!  Well time for the good stuff! Ready? Okay, good!

Well this week we have had many milagros, miracles in English.  Remember when I talked about our new family, that we met at church, well, that little girl is a fire cracker.  When I was on splits in A coruña, she said many things to the point of just get me baptized.  After the lesson Elder G asked what she thought about things. Of course being a miracle girl she said, and I quote  "I want to be baptized as soon as possible."  Can I get an amen... AMEN!  Thank you.  What a great blessing that is.  She is so good.  She said that she wants to know more about Joseph Smith.  To tell you the truth, I about cried when I heard that, we both almost.  Just tears of joy just from working so hard, walking up so many flights of stairs and not one person having interest.  The Lord knows his sheep, he knows each and every one of us.  AMEN!  Well she is just a miracle.  We set the fecha for Oct. 6.  and we can do it earlier if she wants it.  

Second miracle.  I am just saying the Lord has worked on Santi for the past transfer.  He is a 65 old Spaniard.  He has 5 kids, all of them out of the house, and his wife passed away.  He is great and very nice, but he talks a lot.  That is totally fine.  Well the first couple of lessons he would just pull the  "how am I supposed to believe this crap" on us.  But after some time he warmed up and started to listen.  He came to church, prayed, and now reads all the time, and wow, a total change.  We haven´t set up a fecha, but he has been feeling something.  He´s called us up about 5 times saying thank you and I feel different.  He gave me and Elder G a big hug the other day and he just started crying.  He said sorry, but no need, and just left.  What a guy! But he is great, he is so ready, just needs to change a little still. It´ll be some time but he will.

Well things have been good, the Lord has blessed us a ton!  Also I have a challenge.  It´s a zone one.  To read the Book of Mormon by Christmas.  Seems good, but I decided I wanted to challenge myself, so I´m reading it in Spanish.  It´s hard, but the good thing is that I understand a lot of it.  Spanish has been coming along this past transfer.  I´m talking more, reading more, and having more of a convo with people, which is super nice!  

Well Pday was also good.  I just want to say that before I thought that seeing the mountains in Utah was beautiful, or seeing a nice sunset was just grand... but I was wrong.  Today, we went to A Coruña, and we went to the coast.  It was sooo beautiful.  Waves crashing up against the rocks with a nice big view of the ocean.  Just beautiful.  We went to torre de Hércules.  It is just the Roman built tower that just has this great view.  I have a lot of pictures that I will send later! Don´t worry a lot of them are of me and my district.  I love you all so much! I hope that you all have a great week!!

 

Love your favorite!!

Elder Laubaugh!

Sept 12, 2012

Well hello again! It just feels like yesterday was Pday, but guess a week has gone by.  Wow how fast was that, well for me at least.  This week in Ferrol has been good, hard... super hard, but the outcome has been great.  Like I have been saying for the past little bit, we contact a lot.  Not just on certain days, but everyday.  When we get a little bit of free time, we contact, knock doors, talk to everyone we see, just trying to be a missionary.  Well, as I have said it has been hard,  I have been very sore in the mornings. The north is a little more hilly and steep.  The streets are so steep and seem like they just go on forever.  We walk everywhere.  We don´t have a bus or metro so it´s straight walking.  That´s always fun.  But it´s been good.  I get up in the morning rolling on my knees and just praying that my body can get up with me.  hahaha  I´m fine, just really tired all the time.  Eight of sleep goes by fast, then you get up, then it seems like I lay right back down  to go to bed.

Well the Lord has definitely been with us, a lot.  He has put many people in our paths and in our church, wait what, in the church. Oh did I just hear a miracle? haha Well, that has been the best thing that has happened.  Mandy told me that since we are new we will see many miracles.  Well this is one of them.  On Sunday we get to church, greet everyone and sit down.  I saw some new faces in the middle of the chapel, so I sit with them and talk just a bit before the meeting.  I thought they were just passing through and were just attending our church.  Well after the meeting I talk with them some more.  The father Roy said that they are less active members and that he and his wife, Flo, haven´t gone to church since they were in Peru.  He said it had been a good 7 years.  They have a daughter.  She looked older, but come to find out she is only 12 and is not a member.  Say what! Can I get a Amen! AMEN!  We just talked with them on Monday, and the daughter told us that she wanted to be baptized, and the father and mother want to be sealed in the Temple.  They said they just wanted to come back.  They live very far from the church a good 30min walk and they said that they just passed by it walking and they just felt they should go in.... During the lesson I was just speechless.  I couldn´t talk.  We were in awe that the Lord has put this wonderful family in our way.  

We have been working a ton and have been doing a lot of contacting.  The President is impressed that we are bringing many less actives to church.(He didn´t believe that this would work)  One of them, Yolanda, (she´s from Brazil and has a pretty sweet accent) got up and she bore the most amazing testimony of how she is coming back, quiting smoking and wants to get married with her boyfriend.  That´s a miracle.  It just has been great here.  It´s super hard, don´t think that it isn't. I go to bed and I wake up and I haven´t even moved.  Usually I roll around, but nope, I am dead.  

For the past few weeks, my back has been killing me.  Elder G´s back has been hurting him too.  We called up President's wife and she said to put some hot pads, take some advil and all that stuff.  Well, we have been working out and doing crunches, working on our backs to strech them out.  But I´m sorry, it´s not helping.  So we shall see here soon.  But going on, I have just been a tired and sore all the time, just really hurting, so I do the thing I know how to do.. pray..  That´s all I can do, some scriptures came to mind and also during our lessons,  Alma 31:31 and Nephi 7:17.  I´ll let you read those but a quick sum up is that they both prayed for strength to get through the tough times.  That´s what I got out of it.  So that´s what I´ve been doing.  It´s been hard, but the Lord is right with me and Elder  G.  We have felt him very strong for the past couple weeks, guiding us to where to go.  We might contact for hours and find just that one person.  He knows his fold, his sheep and he is guiding us to them.  It´s hard to do it, but it´s so worth it.  I have told him many times a night, Padre, dame fuerzas.  Just like Nephi said.  

This has been a learning experience.  I'm learning things that I couldn´t learn at college or anywhere, just here.  The Lord needs me here, and I am ready to serve him.  He has given me a lot of strength, a lot of it to get through this past week.  I love you all, I am doing great, don´t you worry about me, I am fine. I´m on His errand and he has been showing me the way.  I love you, I hope the best for you, and I am lighting up this place.  Love you!!!!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Alex Lobo

Sept 5, 2012

Welllll what a week it has been!! wow!  I have to tell you what, Mandy was right.  She told me my comp and I will see many miracles since we are both new here, or something like that... she was right.  The Lord has blessed us a lot.  Like I have said before, our teaching pool was pretty slim when I arrived.  Well since that, we have been really pushing on the contacts, member referrals, everything.  This past Sunday we of course fasted for more work, more people to teach.  Well the Lord has given us that.  First I would like to say the area book is a great way to find people, yes we have called many people, but we got one person.  He is gold.  When we called Jacobo, he said he just started to read the Book of Mormon.  Hmmm thats weird.  He said every time that I read this book, you all call me.  Must be a sign.. Right??  We just had a lesson with him and he just said, I want to be baptized.. on the first lesson! :) What a miracle!  That same day, we go out contacting in the ghetto part of Ferrol (not really ghetto, just a lot of apartment buildings and old places.) The first building we knock on has 13 floors. We pick the very top floor.  The first door said no, but let us in.  The 2nd door we knock, a man comes to us says no and slams the door.  During this time I would like to add we have been focusing on the less active members of the ward.  We fasted, prayed, worked a lot with the members just to find them.  Well we go to the next door... A different man comes to the door that we just knocked and tells us to come over to him.  We get to talking and he lets us in.  Hmm thats sweet.  We get to talk some more and he´s a less active, actually his whole family is less active.  He is about 70yrs old.  Has 2 kids and his wife doesn´t live with them anymore.  Just another miracle.  The Lord has blessed us so much in the past week. 

On the same end, this is a hard area, very hard.  Like I´ve said there are a lot of people that don´t believe in anything. They just think that they are here to die, it´s super sad.  I just say hi to people and they say "NO!" I was just saying hi. hahaha, oh well.  So Jana, I know how you feel now.  But this just means that we have to lean on the Lord even more now.  We need to let Him guide us.

I had a great experience with that the other day.  We had a good 2 hours to contact, so we just started to walk.  I just started praying to know where to go, what to do in this moment.  Well I see this building a couple miles off.  We started to walk to it and there is no one on the street.  A lot of old people and what not.  People say hi, we stop them, they say no, just no luck with this.  We finally get to this building. I said a silent prayer of what do I need to do here. This building was yet again a good 11stories high.  We knock every single door.  Each floor has 4 apts and we got 1 referal.  Yes, that seems kind of silly and wow, good job Elder Laubaugh, 1 referal. but to us that was a miracle. She was in her mid 20s, seemed to live with some other people and she seemed really interested, we made her think and she asked if we could come back.  I don´t know, to me that was a big miracle. 

Well on to some sweet things to talk about.  Yes the members still feed us... a lot, but I have learned to be a little better on my wording with things... And my comp has used me a lot. When we go over he just says, well Elder Laubaugh can´t eat a ton, he gets some weird stomach ache thing.  Or I just say, well, I am full, I´m sorry... okay heres some more... no, I´m fine, thank you. hahah ohh Members!

Well one neat thing about ferrol is that it is a stop in the Vuelta!  It´s like the Tour de France, but in Spain.  It is huge and we lit up that place. Ferrol grew a good 25,000 people, so we just took a good stack of cards and started contacting a ton of people. I also got some sweet video and pictures of the Bikers.  I will send you my card soon!! 

I also have to say that Elder Gonzalez is amazing.  He just is a wonderful companion.  He loves to work and has a great attitude.  I am having a great time in FERROL!!

Well Family I love you!! I love you all so much!! Have a great week!!

 

Love, Elder A!!

More pictures!

 So, I found these in my email from my mom recently, and I can't remember if I posted them at all...so here they are now! wahoo!!!

 

Here are some recent photos of Alex!!! Wahoo!!!

tie-dying some t-shirts

Alex, his companion on the right, and another set of Elders

Alex on one of his preparation days

Alex, his companion Elder G, and Amanda

Aug 30, 2012

Well the title is just a little something that Elder G and I came up with :) hahah yes we have had a great time here.  Ahhh I love Ferrol!!! It is so beautiful.  Well, a little bit more about this great area. It is a pretty big port city.  There is a base here for the Spanish army.  A lot of people come in and out, but most are cargo ships.  Yes I can see the ocean everyday :)  It is a bit cooler, which is soooo nice.  The Elders are dying in Madrid. It is super hot now down there, but here, it is nice and cool and there is always a breeze.  The bad thing though, is there is often a suprise weather change.  So in a matter of an hour, it could be raining, but ohhh well!

As I said, I love it here, the members are amazing!  They are just so nice, so giving.  No wonder every Elder that has served here, loves it.  The other good thing, and bad thing, is that they love us sooo much, they like to feed us... a lot.  No lie... on Tuesday, we ate 3 times... yes 3. They just feed you, even when you say, No, I am fine, thank you..  That is just a trigger to put more on you plate.  Well I have a little experience for you.  We were at a members home and we get in and get to the table and I see this huge roast with these potatoes.  I´m down for that, but no, she gets our plates and she opens up a pot and scoops a ton of a rice, mussel, clam(with shell) mixture.  Ohhh thank you.  I eat it and it was soo good.  Then she starts to cut up the roast.  Oh, it smelled so good, but she cuts off a good quarter of this roast and slaps it on my plate!  Good thing a lot of it was fat.  Then she cuts off some more and slaps it on mine again.  Ahhh I ate so much. I said I was fine, but she didn´t believe me :(  Thats just a little bit of my life, but I have been running a lot more in the mornings, don´t worry, I still work out. 

Well this week has been really busssyy!  We talked with the President and we set up the mission plan and they all love it.  He said if we have no investigators at church we are going on splits.   We will just go out and contact for a pretty long time to get more numbers.  I said lets do that now, we can get to know the area a little better, this area needs it.  Well as I said about contacting, that´s what we have been doing all week.  I was really thinking about our plan, but for some odd reason, Elder G and I had a good feeling about just setting up more time for contacts, going to larger areas with more people, and just contact!  So we did that.  The hard thing is, this isn´t Madrid.  There are a lot more hardend hearts here, which is fine, I can pry one open, but people just don´t listen.  I´m used to that, but its just a little bit more here.  Here´s an example, we knocked a good 5 or 6 apartment buildings, each one had a good 6 floors.  A lot of people right.  Well we knocked each one, and not one person listened.  Yeah I´m used to that, but wow, just a lot of hard words and doors slammed on my face.  It´s okay, This week I have grown a little bit more, used the Lord more and just leaned on Him more.  I am so glad that I am here, This area needs 2 elders that just love to talk.  The great thing is, I can talk off an ear in English and in Spanish :) Hows that for talent :P  hahahah but really, I am so blessed to be here.

It has been a real weird time too.  Not really sure that weird is the right word for this experience. So we get to a members home and met them said hi and that´s about it.  For some odd reason, I saw them before.  I asked if they were in Madrid or in Ohio for a period of time, but no.  I thought and thought and I couldn´t think of anything.  Then it happend again.. and again.  Just a lot of people, members, investigators that I have seen before.  I was telling Elder G about this and he said maybe in a dream or something.  Maybe, or maybe not.  I am not sure, but it was just so weird. Maybe the Lord is trying to say that I am meant to be here.  No Se! Well one thing that is different is that there are a lot more athiests here, not sure if that´s the spelling but it´s ateo in Spanish.  With that, I get challenged a lot.  How do you know God is there, How do you know this is true, that is true. How do you know if Jesus really lived. Blah Blah Blah.  This has been a really good time for me to bear my testimony.  Some odd reason they don´t talk after I bear it.  One man told me,  How do you know there is a God.  I have heard that about 30times that day and I told him straight up, because I know, I know he lives, I know there is a God.  Do you know why?  Because I have prayed I have done the things that I need to do to know.  He then just stopped... looked at me, and said.. Vale, or Ok.  Yes I might have gotten a little bit angry, but not that much, he got the point.  He just starred at us and I said, now, do you want to learn more about our message? No, okay, heres a card, have a nice day.  

You just can´t beat a testimony.  No one can, if they know you do believe it, they´ll feel it.  I want you all to know that I am meant to be here, that I am meant to be in El Ferrol at this time with my new comp, Elder Gonzalez.  We are having an amazing time. He is such a great worker and Elder. We have a blast while contacting.  We just crack little jokes and laugh and just have fun.  People like that, they always comment to us that why we are so happy, why? Well, we´ll tell you why.  Well that is about it for this week. It has been rough, but I can get through it.  I love you all so much and I am sorry that this letter is a bit long! Thank you all so much for the support and for everything!! I love you!!!

 

Love,

Elder Alex Laubaugh!! 

Aug 20, 2012

Well the title of this letter says it all!! I have been transferred!!  El Ferrol is in the North of Spain...the WAY NORTH!  El Ferrol is a great place.  I will love it here.  It is the farthest area the mission has and it is right on the coast.  That is correct, I can walk 5 minutes and I will be on a port.  Well that also means I had to travel.  That was a story.  I was in a train for a good 8 hours just to get to A Coruña, then a  45min bus ride to get to El Ferrol.  It´s fine, but just a lot of sitting down.  Well I have a new companion.  Elder Gonzalez is a great missionary.  We are going to light up this area.  We have a lot of the same ideas.  El Ferrol gets a good amount of baptisms, but they don´t have a very good retention rate, so we need to work on that.  We plan to work more with the less actives and get them active, and work through them to get more people to teach.  Well I still don´t know a lot about Elder Gonzalez, all I know is that his parents are from Guatamala, and he already knew Spanish.  He is from California and just loves his mission.  He has a good year and a couple months.  He only has 1 month in this area so we are both new, which is a good thing.  We both really don´t know where things are but that just means we need to use the members that much more.  This is just a new adventure, a new chapter in my life, in my mission.  Ohhh I forgot to say one thing.  El Ferrol is known to get Elders really big.  They feed us everyday, sometimes twice a day. I talked to many past elders and they said they all had at least one meal a day with the members.  This is good, meaning we have a lot of trust and they like us, but bad, because well, we gain weight.  I will work out hard in the mornings Mom and Dad.  Don´t you worry.  

Well I just have to say that, leaving was hard, really hard.  One thing that I wouldn´t think would happen is that they just started crying.  It hurt, a lot, I wanted to stay in B9, oh so bad.  I love it there, they were my family.  I just told them that I still have a long time left and I will be back, I will come and visit you all when I am back in Madrid.  When I got up to bear my testimony just a feeling of thanks came over me, so I bore my testimony thanking them for being great members.  Don´t you worry, I took many pictures with me in them, not just the members Mom and Dad.  I have many pictures that I will send.  Wellington, one of my faves, hahha we were talking and he just started crying, just thanking me for everything.  Well, I don´t know, transfers are hard when you have to leave.  When you see that when the members are just so sad when you leave, well, it hurts a lot!  The hardest part was saying bye to Diana and Benito.  They said many kinds words and they are going to be missed.  I told them that I will be back, maybe not in B9 but in Madrid.  

I just want to say something about what they said, it really helped me out and it changed my view of me as well.  They said something to the effect of when I walked into there home, the church, anywhere... they could feel something about me, they could see something different.  Diana said that there is a light about me, just this light that enters the room when me and Elder Woodbury or ·Elder Raiano entered the room.  It just got me thinking.  It was a very nice comment and it means a lot. But just yesterday I was eating with one of the members here in Ferrol.  He said to me, "What is different about you?"  No one has this but you.  You just are happy, this whole time, you have had a smile on your face, you have this glow about you.  I feel this is going to be something great in the near future here.  It is the North, yes it is a lot harder to A. talk to people, B. get a lesson, and C. to even baptize here.  I am here for a reason, me being always happy I think is going to be a good thing to have.  Elder Gonzalez has the same thing, we are always laughing, having a good time working.  That is what this area needs.  

Before I forget, I have me new address for this area.  Ohhh by the way, our Piso is beautiful.  I would live here if I could. It is big, has 2 bathrooms, a big kitchen, a big family room, a nice big bedroom, and another bedroom.  It is just amazing.  We have a lot of room, but there is only our companionship here, so maybe in the future we might get another one, who knows.  Okay here ya go!!

Rua Bolivia 19, 2

15404 

Ferrol (a Coruña)

Spain

Well all, I love you so much, I am way excited for this new and exciting area.  We are going to Light It up!! I actually told President that, I told him that We will Light Up El Ferrol!  I love you all!! Have a great week!! I love you!!!!

Love your  favorite son!! Take it Mitch,

Elder Alex Laubaugh!!

Aug 15, 2012

Helloo family! How are all of you doing?  Doesn´t it feel like I was just on here about 2 days ago? Well that's what I feel like.  The first thing that I want to say is that transfers are this Friday.  We'll we find out who is staying and going.  I am not sure about this one.  I could stay or go, pero, No Se,  Well just pray for the best.  If the Lord needs me here, I will be fine with that.  If he needs me somewhere else, I´ll be fine with that.  I really don´t care.  Well, on to the juicy stuff. This past week we had a baptism!  Rosa, Patricia, and Jonathan!  Wow what a spirit filled day that was.  I tell you what, Rosa has a spirit that can knock. you. out.  It was so strong when she bore her testimony after her baptism.  All three of them had amazing baptisms.  I was honored to confirm Patricia into  La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Dias.  That was a great experience in and of itself.  It was just so amazing, I just started talking.  Things that I wouldn´t have said, but the spirit told me to do so :)  Well, I have some very sad news.  You all know that Benito and Diana are going to get married.  Last week we found out when.... In October :(  the 5th to be exact:(  Okay I might have cried a little after hearing that.  It is just so sad because I probably won't see it.  That is in 2 transfers.  How sad is that.  I really wanted to see it.  I will just pray that I will still be in Madrid when It happens.  Well on a good note,  we have another family.  I will write about them because well, they are doing great!  It´s a mom, her sister, and her two daughters, Jacaline,  Elizabeth, Kimberly, and Fernanda.  They are doing great and we are going to set a date with them this week.  Just to let you all know, my talk went great.  Everyone said that my Spanish was perfect.  It was dead on and they just knew I was trying my hardest.  It just felt good to hear that from the members.  It was about how we can bear our testimony with everyone, and how we need more effort in our daily life with the missionary work.  I used some of my own experiences with that one.  Many people afterwards said that they will talk to many of their friends about the church.  This is a great sign :)  It just went great.  I am happy that it did go well.  

Well now I have a food story. It´s about Ice cream.  Here they just don´t know how to scoop it.  I kinda want to have a clinic on how to give a good scoop.  Well one night we are walking back to our Piso and we past a shop.  My companion and I wanted some so we went in.  I saw some of these scoops and they were weak!!!!  So when it was my turn, my Dad sense came over me.  I said  "I want a big bowl, okay.  I want big scoops, don´t be giving me  small scoops, okay."  I looked her right in the eyes, she understood.  She gets out the big bowl which is our medium, and she scoops it, it was still small, I said, no, I want  big scoops.  She put it back and she loaded it up! I said I´ll pay for it if you want.  Well i didn´t have too :)  Yeah that´s right, I did that :)

Okay now I have a first timer.  So we get to this lesson.  We were teaching Diana and Benito's friends.  We were talking and I scratch my nose, not that hard.  Well I feel something coming down.  It was blood.  So I get up and get out my hanky, sorry dad, and I blow my nose.... there was a lot.  I fold it up and sit back down.  Well Diana saw that and just freaks out, Ohhh Noo Sangre!!  She wips out her wet wipes for her baby and gives me 3.  I hold it up to my nose and wow their was a lot of blood.  I used 6 wipes.  She rips some and roll it up and said, put this in your nose.  Yes I felt like mom when I did that.  It just wouldn´t stop bleeding, just more and more blood.  Well 30min passed by and it isn´t stopping.  I said that we can just hit on the first 2 points of the Plan of Salvation and we did that.  After the lesson, it stopped, my luck.  hahaha  I said I was so sorry for this but they understood.  It was all good, just really weird.  

 Well family that is it for this week.  Elder Raiano and I are doing great.  We are like best friends right now.  We are just working our butts off over here.  If I go, I´ll be sad but I´ll know that the Lord needs me to Light up another area! :)  I love you all so much! Have a great week!!

Love,

Elder Alex Laubuagh :) XXOOxxooxoxoxoXOXOX

Aug 8, 2012

Helloo from Spain!! This has been another great week of growing and learning.  I just want to first say that I love my mission.  Yes it is hard, yes I want to die sometimes, but I love it.  I just love everything about it, the people, the language, the food, the times that I grow, everything!  I also want to say thank you.  Thank you family for pushing me to do my best, to be better everyday.  Thank you for just everything.  Now being in my mission for 7 months I have seen a lot of change.  Yes I am a little thinner, yeah maybe a little taller, but more of a spiritual change.  It just started to hit quite a bit this past transfer.  I have to say, I wasn´t the humblest elder out here.  Yeah I knew that I had to rely on the Lord, but there was something missing.  One thing that I have learned is I can get along with anyone I want to.  I am everyones friend.  By that I mean everyone asks, why do you have a smile on your face, why are you so happy alllll of the time?  I just say, well, I love life and my mission, what´s more to ask for?   Lately, I have had to rely more on the Lord.  I have had to pray harder, to read more, to just do more.  With that, I have noticed that I have grown.  I have learned more and more everyday.  I have seen so many blessings from this.  Just putting forth more action has brought me so much more blessings.  The Lord is the best!  :)  

Well this week we had a baptism!  :) It was a great day.  The sad thing, is that Renzo backed down.  Jorge is doing great, but Renzo just wasn't ready.  He prays but not for an answer.  He just doesn´t have any action.  But on the flip side, Jorge is doing great.  He is just loving life.  On Thursday he said he would like to be baptized on Friday, not Saturday:) How great is that!  Benito and Diana are doing great! He had his meeting for his marriage yesterday.  We need to call him to see how it went, but I am so proud of him.  He is just the best of the best!  He´s paying tithing, living every commandment, just doing great!  

Well one thing that I would like to say is that Elder Raiano is a good Elder.  He recently stood up for me.  During a lesson I started to stutter a little bit.  Nothing big but they all noticed.  Well one of our investigators just starts to giggle and laugh at me.  The mom is just oh it is okay, we understand, but this girl who is 22 is just cracking up.  Elder R just rips her apart.  He says "you know that he has a stutter, right? You know that this is very hard for him to say, right?"  He just said some other things and she just stopped and stared at me with sorry eyes.  I went on and started talking like normal.

On the stutter note I have to say something.  When we were in a lesson with Diana and Benito, they said something very nice, just really hit me hard.  Benito was saying that during the first part of him taking the lessons he didn´t really understand me.  But he said when I prayed, bore testimony, he could feel something, very strong.  Just this feeling of this is true.  It was so nice and I just was so thankful that he said that.  I have been having some trouble with just knowing if the Spirit is there.  I feel it but I am not sure if they do.  It was just nice to hear. 

Well I have no food stories which is good, but I had a really good talk with President :)  He was at our district meeting and he stayed just to talk to us.  Wow what a great person he is.  Both of them.  They just are so nice and just so caring.  They really do love the missionaries :)  We just went off on football topics.  He was a surgeon in Utah and also a doctor for BYU.  He has been everywhere.  He just is so cool.  I love him and his wife so much.  He always says that we need to marry a women like his wife.  It´s pretty funny:)

Well family that is it.  Thank you so much for everything, for just supporting me.  I do really love all of you.  If you have any advice, or anything, please send it my way.  I love you.

Love Your favorite Elder in Spain,

Elder Alex Laubaugh!!