Wahooo!!! First area!

Hey family!! How are all of you? Well, this week was my first week in the field. How sweet is that!! My new address is: 

Calle de la oca 2, 3ºB

28025

Madrid, Spain

 

Well, a little about my new companion, my new best friend, Elder Woodbury.  He is the 5th of 6 kids.  He is from Phoenix Arizona, and has been out for a year and four months.  He is a great missionary and he helps me a lot on my Spanish and other things as well.  He is sooo awesome! We do what you told me to do Mandy, we read out of PMG for around 20-30 min a day so I can work on my Spanish.  Thank you for the input on what to do to help me.  I will definitely do that :)

We are in a piso (apartment) with another companionship (Elder Wilson, and my old comp, Elder Johnson).  By the way, Elder Bagley is in the Canary Islands!! How sweet is that!  Elder Woodbury and I serve in barrio (ward) 9 in Madrid. We have a huge area! We could take the metro for a good 30 min and still be in our area.  Our ward has around 150+ members in it.  They are so nice, so nice that I had to bear my testimony and intoduce myself on Sunday.  

We also have a lot of dinner and lunch appointments. :) ahhh yeahh! We also have a set of sister missionaries in our ward. The food is amazing here, but don´t worry it is not like 24/7 eating.  I eat a small breakfast like a yogurt and a piece of fresh bread.  Then lunch is usually bigger, like a dinner. We usually eat just at the piso, but sometimes a member has us over.  Then dinner might be with a member but, most of the time we have it at the piso, and that is like a little snack or something light.  But, I am telling you what, the food here, is SO GOOD! On Sunday for lunch we ate at Miriams piso (member family).  She made these half a chicken things (not like a real half of chicken, but they were huge legs and thigh pieces) with these huge potatoes (sorry for my spelling, Spanish has ruined what was left of my spelling skills)  She gave everyone 2 potatoes spit apart each with a chicken half with strips of meat and some other type of meat.  Yes, she gave everyone that, and also yes, it was amazing! Ohhh and rice and salad of course.  It was just huge.  Lets just say i didn´t eat till the next morning.  I was so full!! 

Well, I am doing good! Our teaching pool is not huge, but a good size.  We have about 5 good investigators.  Well, to let you know we walk a lot!  I´ll say at least 5-6 miles a day.  We are always on the go and talking to everyone.  Spain is so awesome! But it is also hard.  It is hard to teach and speak because people don´t want to listen.  We get some fake numbers and all that. Some people actually give us their number, but when we call, they turn us down.  But every so often someone wants to hear from us :)  

Well the language is hard because people speak a mile a minute here and it really stinks, I´m not gonna lie.  But I push on and study and speak more.  The Lord has really blessed me with a lot.  He has put a lot of peple in my and Elder Woodburys way.  Because I have made a goal to talk to everyone i see. It is very hard, but I want to be bold, like a lion.   

I´ve met a lot of people who don´t believe in God or just don´t care about religion.  I just wish they would listen, for just 2 min. of what we have to say, but they don´t.  When we say hi, we usually get, I´m in a hurry, don´t talk to me, or my favorite, good bye. hahah  Occasionally, we do get those nice people who actually care and want to know what we are all about :) 

Well everything else is good! I love life and the mission, just livin the dream!  I always look up at the stars mom and dad. I always think of you all :)  Don´t worry, I work my hardest everyday, but at night when we are getting ready for bed, I look out my window and see the stars and think of you all.  

Well, I will be in this area for at least 2 months because I have more training that the church just started to do.  It´s a 12 week program for new missionaries to help us more with the lessons and the language.  And yes my p-day is on wednesday! :) Ohh fun fact about our piso, we have no dryer so it´s the good ol´ drying racks or hanging things out-side :) 

 

I love you all so much and I can´t wait to hear from all of you :) I love you all!!!!

 

Love your son, brother, and brother in-law,

 

Elder Alex Laubaugh

 

ps. when you send a package to me,it doesn´t have to be like right now, don´t worry I am fine, but please put a jar a peanut butter  in there... :) creamy please :) Spain gets this other stuff that doesn´t taste that good :( i think it´s from china... hahah but yes that would be great...

 

pss also I would like if all of you could please send your testimonies to me by mail.  I can´t really print here, but I would really like that.  :) thanks

 

I love you!!

Alex's last week at the Spain MTC!

Hola familia!!!!!!! 

How are all of you???  Well, this week was awesome!!! It was full of amazing experiences with the spirit and the people!!  Since I am a visa waiter (just because we still need our residence things for Spain) we have no schedule, so we get to go to the park.... a lot!! We get a lot of time to talk to people and teach them.  This isn't TRC anymore!! This is the real deal!!  This past week we got to go 5 times to the park. Best experiences ever!!! I love going out and actually talking to real people who need help.  Since we get to go out a lot, Elder johnson and my goals are very large and very challenging, but with the Lords help and with his guidence we accomplished those goals.  I am always on the move and talking to everyone with that in mind.  I know the Lord wants me to always talk to everyone. I am telling you what, we contact a lot! Our goals have been above 20-25 contacts a visit, which is kinda hard to do in an hour. 

So two stories.  First was with Elder Johnson.  We get out of the metro, and this random guy comes running at us saying  "I want that book!!! "We talked and got his info and gave him "the book" and gave a quick lesson.  He was so excited that he found us.  He was saying he had been waiting for awhile at that stop because he knew he would find us there.  It was so awesome how the Lord works.  Then we get to the park and met with a middle aged man.  He wasn't from Spain, but he needed help.  He works in Madrid.  He has a family and is just having a really hard time.  We talked for about 20min about the plan of salvation and the Book of Mormon and how it can help him.  So we had about 30 min left and we had only talked to about 10 people tops.  Our goal that day was 22 contacts.  Personally, I didn't care if we got to our goal.  I saw 2 people that really were excited to see us and to hear our message. I felt that was a good day, but I wanted to get our goal.  Also we had a goal to plant at least 9 Book of Mormons and get 3 referrals.  We walk, talk, and people are not listening.  They just didn't want anything from us, until we met with 3 college age kids.   They were very nice, and we taught them and got all of their info and placed 3 Book of Mormons.  At that time we are about to leave and 2 more of their friends came over and wanted a Book of Mormon also.  We were so amazed!! 5 people all at once!  We taught them and they all wanted to hear more about everything.  So good!!! Well it was time to leave and as we go back, we talk to more people and get rejected and accepted.  As we left, I felt I should talk to these 2 men.  I wasn't sure why, but I did.  We placed 2 Book of Mormons and got their info! How cool is that! All in all, we placed 10 Book of Mormons and got 7 referrals, all in about 1hr! The Lord really helped Elder Johnson and me out a lot.  Without the Lord, we would have only had a little success.  Without him we wouldn't have anything. 

Second story, I go on splits with an elder from Mexico, Elder Barragan (I think I spelled that wrong) So we go to the park just ready to rip this place up! We were so ready and I could feel the Spirit with us at all times.  I just felt good and and I was ready to serve!  Well we did light that place up! We placed 13 Book of Mormons.  People wanted to read and wanted to know right now.  In the last 2 weeks I have been here, my companions and I have placed 36 Book of Mormons.  It was a really good experience for me because I saw how much the Lord helps out.  I saw that because of this little experience.  So our  last park day was not so good.  It was good that we talked to a lot of people, but they didn't really like us that much.  They said get out of this area, go home, and some words I am not sure what they mean.  I saw that this isn't my work, it's the work of the Lord.  Dad thank you for sending me that letter.  It was at the perfect time because I was having a rough day with wrapping my head around this and you just helped me out a lot. Thank you!!  I love Spain!  The people are very nice... well sometimes... we get yelled at a lot by some people.  All I say is "Hello, we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints"  around half way through, I usually either get, ohhh who's that I'm interested.... orrrrrr You all are sinners... get out of here... or my personal favorite... the hand in your face!!  hahahah I just hand them some info and a pass along card and I go on my way... Most people don't even want a card.. they say it's not right for them.  I just walk off and say have a nice day and Elder Johnson does too.  We both learned how to laugh it off and say, well lets go to the next one.  It is sad to say that most people are like the second response.  The work here is picking up, but there is still a lot of people who just don't want anything from us.  That's why I talk to everyone, because you just don't know who is like that.  Young people, older people, a random mom, they all can be like that, but I still love them with all of my heart.  I pray every day that the people that I talk to will listen just for a little bit. 

 

Well things here are doing good!! I have some news for you all.... I will be going to the City Hall tomorrow to get my visa stuff taken care of.... and I might be leaving for the field tomorrow also!!!! After all the things!!! Actually, everyone is leaving tomorrow.  I was held back from the group with some elders that couldn't go to city hall today.  I am not sure why, they just said that I needed to.  That is fine with me because I get a full Pday to pack and get ready to leave tomorrow!! so good!! Well I am way excited to meet my trainer and get into the swing of things.  I am so ready!  I have been ready since I first entered into the MTC in Provo. 

 

I love you all so much and I am so excited for you Mom that you finally got to see MITTTTT!!!!! I am soo excited for you and Dad!!! Hey, blessings of having 2 missionaries out at once ;) hahahaha Well I need to go.

 

 

Love your son, brother, and brother in-law.

 

Elder Laubaugh!!!

 

Light it up Everyone!!!!

Spain MTC

Hola!!!!!!!!!!  Well this week has been very different for me, but in a good way!  First off, I would like to say that my companion is so awesome.  Elder Johnson and I knew each other back in Provo, and now we will be companions until the field.  We have been working a lot on getting used to the schedule and the work here. It’s been great!

Well, let's see here, Spain... IS AWESOME!!!  I love it here!! It´s winter now, but there's no snow.  It’s in the mid 50´s every single day!!! Love it!!!  At the MTC here, we are allowed to wear short sleeved shirts and no suit coat so it’s really nice. So good news moment - we get to go to this huge park and talk to everyone. It is so nice.  Elder Hooper and I (we switch companions at the park so we can learn from others how they do things) walked for a good hour and we didn’t hit the same road twice.  This place is huge and has these 80-foot tall bronze statues. It’s so beautiful and ohhhh I love it here!!  Well, at the park, we just tore it apart!! Every person I saw, I talked to.... yes they might have ignored us or said some things to us but oh well.   Our goals were to talk to at least 15 people and have a good conversation about the church, plant at least 2 BofM and get at least 2 referrals.  Well we blew that out of the water!! We planted 5 BofM, talked to 25 people and sorry to say no referrals but we did get a couple to say they wanted to know more so we gave them the number.  We loved it!!  We did this all in an hour by the way.  It was so much fun.  But, with that said, it was also really hard and sad.  Yes, I got laughed at, shut out, and I think maybe cussed at... I’m not sure…but it hurt because I want people to have the joy that I have... they just need to listen for a couple of minutes and they can go on their way.. but, no.. they just look at you and that's it.  We talk and we get no response and we hand them something and they just say that’s not for me and walk away.  Oh well, it’s the mission.  Not everyone will listen but the people who do will be blessed for it. 

I do speak a lot of Spanish.  I also speak a lot of English.  Many people at the park are from London, France, and even America. They’re from all over since its a tourist spot.  When I speak in English, it’s really getting hard.  I think in Spanish a lot so I can get better at speaking it so my mind is all over the place!!!  I still speak but it’s just a little hard.  With speaking now the subject, I just want you to all know that my stutter is coming back a little bit.  I slow down and breath, but that doesn’t seem to work as much.  I calm down and really try to think on what I need to say but that doesn’t help that much.  But the Lord is always with me and has really helped me out a lot with it.  But yeah, so I am really doing well and don’t think that I am having a hard time.  Dad warned that it might happen.  I have such a great joy to say and Satan just doesn’t want me to say it.  I just will pray harder and longer for help.  Well things are all good on this end!

The food here at the MTC is okay... not the best of what I have been hearing about, but it’s actual real food...like the shrimp... still have the heads on them.. hahaha and the meat.. actually has bone in it..  but at least it´s real :)  (Oh Alex, heaven forbid you have fresh seafood and meat at the MTC, what a hard life you live)

Well, the teachers here are so good!! Most of them speak English and Spanish but with us, totally Spanish!! haaha but it´s all good! I understand 60% since it´s really fast and the lisp is very strong!! (When he spoke to my mom and dad, Alex said that he was told that in Spain they form their words and it sounds like a lisp to us.  He said that they warned him that it will take him a good month when he returns home to not lisp when he speaks!)  Well another quick story…I was on the Metro going to the park a couple days ago.  We were just going down the row talking to everyone.  Well we planted 3 BofM and got one referral and then at the park we planted 4 more BofM! It was such a good day.  We were talking with everyone, just the way I like it!!  Spain needs me a lot.  Some elders don’t want to interrupt someone’s convo with someone, so I bust in and do it for them!!! They all are like... no don’t do that.... I´m like... ahhh our message is a little more important on what to do today…so I just go in there and light it up!!! :)  I love talking to people and I just want everyone to know what I have :) 

Well I love you all so very much!! Yes mom I would like my card back. I already bought another one so I will send my other one when I get enough to send back so just send it back when you get done and I’ll send the other one.  I love you all so much and I can’t wait to hear from you all soon!!! I miss you all!! I love you!! I’ll make sure to make each letter nice and good for you all!!

Oh and the Madrid temple is by the MTC and it is beautiful!!  I have already done 2 sessions in it. It is very nice, but not as big inside, but I love to go!

I love you all so much!!!

Love your favorite missionary in Spain!

Elder Laubaugh :)

Oh by the way, I will be in this MTC till the 15 or 16 of March because of residence things we need to do, esta bien!! 

the flight to spain!!!!

Hello all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am in SPAIN!!!!!!! Well, I get some time to write you all and say that I am here safe and sound.  I would first like to say that I loved talking to you all and hearing your voices!! I got really home-sick but I am all better because I have some great news.  After I got off the phone with mom and dad I walked over to see Elder Bagley.  I see these 2 girls going to the Spain gate.  I told myself that I need to teach them.  As I get on the plane and get to my seat and guess what... it was the same girls I saw!!  So I pulled out my Book of Mormon in both Spanish and English and start reading.  Both of them look over and ask what I was reading, it looked different to them.  I soon find out that they were speaking Portuguese.  Both of them were about 24, both are un-married and I found out about what they believe in and so on. Well the Lord blessed me again and they could speak English too!!  I taught them in English about the Book of Mormon and most of the first lesson.  It was so cool because i was solo! Elder bagley was down a couple of rows and i was just sitting there with an elder a couple seats beside me.  The best part about this is that they have never heard of our church.  It was a great time to ask them questions and to have them ask me questions.  All in all I taught them for at least 2 hours.  This wasn´t just me talking... they took the Spanish Book of Mormon and started reading it!! They asked all of these questions about Joseph Smith and about the prophets and what not.  They were really interested in it.  So about an hour into it they handed back my book but nope I said I wanted them to have it.  They were shocked I said that, but they took it.  I asked them if they could read later on Moroni 10 and they did right at that moment I asked them to.  I committed them to read some more and to pray about the message and about what they have read.  It was a great moment!  Later on around 1-2am, they asked if I could sign it and if I could write a message about what I had said to them. I did and they were so happy. I could really feel the spirit so strong!  So yeah, that was my flight to Spain!! I told you all that I wanted to hit the ground running, and I am!  The MTC here is great and really small.  There are about 50 elders and sisters.  We have Russians, Italians, and a lot of people from Spain!  Oh and by the way, the flight was horrible... I couldn´t sleep! I tried to but I couldn´t... so, I just read and wrote in my journal for about 5 hours.  Oh and here's another story.  On the plane after everyone wakes up it´s around 630 or 7ish... the 2 girls start to ask some more questions...  I love making people happy! It is the best part and that is what got me through that flight.  Seeing two people that have never ever heard of our church wanting to hear more and more that they stayed up till about 3 or 4ish talking about it with me... and then asking more when they got up!  It was one of the best experience yet!  When I was about to leave, I left them with mormon.org card and some other little cards and I said if they wanted to hear more that there should be Elders like me near them.  They of course said they would be searching for them. 

I love you all so much and I loved that flight.  Yes it was long, but now I know why the Lord held me back for a couple of weeks for that flight.  Because he knew that I wanted to teach... any other person would have just left it at giving the BOM but I went deeper and commited them to read it, to contact the Elders and to pray about the things they have heard and read.   I love my mission family.... I love it so much!!

The MTC here is great!  the food is all home made and yes I ate a lot because I was starving!!!! I had like a dinner thing at 8ish at night and a roll in the morning so I was very hungry, but didn't go overboard.  We do have a lot of freedom here.  It is a lot about trust here.  The new president is really nice.  Sorry for being all over the place I just have a lot to say!!  We get to go out on our Pday and go to the park and go shopping and go to the Real Madrid stadium if we want to!!! ahhhh yeahhh!! 

Well I am alll out of time!! I love you all and Spain is going and is already being torn up!! I light it up every day for you alll!!!!  I love you all so much and thank you again for all that you have done for me!!!!

 

 

Love your son and brother,

 

Elder Alex Laubaugh

 

 

ps.  thank you for the ties and the candy Mandy and David!! It really means a lot to me!! I love you and miss you all!!!