july 11, 2012

Well this week has been a little different, I just want you all to know that first.  Second I just want you all know that I am still in Barrio 9, so I did not leave this past transfer.... Elder Woodbury did. He is now in the Canary Islands!!!!  How crazy is that!! My new companion is Elder Raiano, and if you were wondering, he is from Argentina :)  He has been out one year and 8months, so he has 3 transfers left.  He is really nice, funny and he speaks a little bit of English, just enough to help me out here and there :)   

Well, Benito loved his gifts.  Thank you all so much for sending that to me.  Seeing his eyes light up like that when he saw Marvel things was amazing, thank you for making that happen.  Also, Elder Woodbury gave him a white shirt and a tie and I put in a tie of mine.  He loved it all.  It was a great sight to see him just so happy.  They don´t have that much.  Diana does have work, but it still isn´t a lot for them.  What is so good, is that they still want to tithe out of their money.  Which is amazing.  I told them that they will be blessed for this.  The Lord always keeps his promises.  Well, Antonio just used his priestood and passed the Sacrament.  I was trying to look for him during church then I see this  45 year old man sitting with a bunch of 12 and 14year old boys :)  He was so happy and he was in his nice little suit.  Rosa is still on fire.  She really likes church, which is really good.  It´s an I told you so moment.  I told her she has to put forth a little action to know if this is the true church or not.  She just didn´t understand until she went to church.  Her daughter- in-law is great too.  Her husband came to church as well.  They really liked it.  They have 2 boys.  Jonathan and Christian.  They both love church and all the youth.  Our ward has a lot of youth.  They really like how we just are a family here.  

Well last week, I was a wreck.  It was a hard week for me.  I was just nervous for change, for the unknown.  It was hard for me to do anything, like speaking.  I finally figured out what was up.  It was because of transfers.  I didn´t want to leave, nor did I want Elder Woodbury to leave.  But the Lord needed him in Santa Cruz and the Lord needed Elder Raiano out here in Madrid. I have calmed down now and my stutter has gone away, well most of it. Elder Raiano is really helping me with it and speaking.  He really knows how to teach, which is good for me.  He really likes to work and everything.  

Things here are still good.  I am the area trainer and I am glad that I know my area pretty dang well.  I do have to do a lot more work, which is a little stressful, but Elder Raiano knows what to do also :) which is always good.

Thank you all for everything. This week has been good, change is a good thing.  Thank you for all your support and love :) I feel it :)

Loves all around!!!

Love You All!!!

Love,

Elder Alex Lobo :)

july 7, 2012

Hello All!!  

This week, wow.... it has been a lot of ups and downs if you know what I mean.  I would like to thank you all for the package, it really means a lot to me, I am sure that Benito will love those little Marvel things :)  He tells me every visit what I have missed that past week. It´s pretty funny.  Well on the topic of them, they could be a lot better, but they are still kickin!  They moved to a very small room.  They don´t have any work... until Diana fasted!! Now she does!!  It was a blessing that was very needed!!  We taught them more about why it is important to fast and to do those things.  So Diana did and now she has a job working for a family in Pozuelo, about 45min away, so some of our members paid for a Abono so she can go out there.  I love good members that care about our investigators. 

Well we have had many great blessings this past week.  First off, Rosa, is really good.  She told us about 2 weeks ago she didn´t want anything and that our church was a joke.  She hadn't been to church or prayed about it.  She likes the Book of Mormon but it´s just a book to her.  Well, we took another chance, we had a good lesson about doing things and having faith in our message.  Well, she finalllly went to church... and she LOVED it!!! She wanted to bring her sister inlaw and her family!! She just couldn´t stop talking about it. That Saturday we met with her sister in law and her son and they wanted to go to Engish class and come to church too.  That Sunday, I see a huge smile on Rosa´s face and her sister inlaw is there and her son!  Ahhh what a great blessing that was.  We had a lesson right after church, and her son pops a question  "how do I become a member of your church?"  Well let´s tell you how.  That lesson we set a fecha for all 3 of them.  Wow that really was a great help.  They love going to church, and they are really getting it.  The Lord can do some amazing things :)  

So with that said, we just had a great week of teaching and just everything.  We just have been really blessed this past week.  Elder Woodbury and I have been on our knees thanking the Lord for these great people and great blessings we have.  People just need to take a step of faith, then they will see what we are talking about.  

Well this week has been a bit tougher for me.  My Spanish is good enough to get me by, but I want to be better than that.  Unfortunately, this past week my stutter just wanted to come and say hi in full force.  It was really hard to speak.  I don´t know what happend.  It was hard and I just wanted to sit down and cry some days.  People couldn´t understand me and my Spanish just took a dive down.  It was hard, very hard for me this week, even talking in English was hard.  I tried to slow down, breath more, but nothing was helping.  I got very frustrated and very angry of why this was happening.  Then, on Monday I was reading in the Book of Mormon.  I was praying hard on what do you want me to learn?  Why is my stutter back now?  I had a very strong impression  to read in Doctine and Covenants.  I was reading in section 122, I was reading in this and i started to read in Verse 7.  It just hit me.  I don´t know why I was freaking out.  In the verse it just says that when you are in the worst part, in the hands of the bad guys, it´s all for an experience.  It´s gonna be okay.  I felt a lot better after that, I just thanked God after that, for giving me just a plain answer about what he was doing right now.  My stutter is doing better, my breathing is good still, it is still hard to speak but it has been better.   Just yesterday I had a lady tell me I didn´t sound like a person from the US.  I sounded like I was from Brazil or somthing :) that was new.  hahaha 

Well I have a food story (Dad I would skip this if I were you).  Well on Saturday we are at a members home that is known to give us bad food.  Well we get there and it doesn´t smell good.  She said she has spent 4 hours making this soup.  Oh noo... Well she said it is sheep.  Well that´s fine, then she said, well just the insides.  Say what lady???  Well I had sheep heart, liver, stomach, everything, even solid blood from the sheep.  Yeah that was gross.  And yes, I said no when she offered more.  

Well I love you all!!  I am home sick right now.  I miss you all so much.  We had a 4 of july party, and our new president was there :)  He is very nice and his wife is just so great.  That´s what got me home sick, just seeing them and she acted like mom, it just got me a little home sick.  I love you all so much, I miss you all like crazy!! I hope everything goes well!! I love you all!!!

Love your favorite son in spain!!

Elder Alex Laubaugh

june 28, 2012

Well this week has been really good :)  The sad thing is, weeks have been going by fast, a little to fast!  In one of my letters from dad, he said that this wasn´t a 2 year mission anymore, the time is ticking.  Something of that sort... I tell you what, that is so true! It feels like it was just yesterday that I was on this computer! Ahhhh!!  Welll last week I was a little weak on the response of how the language was.  Well I am happy to say that I can now translate for people :) I know, I was amazed myself,  the Church is true :P  I learned this from the barbaque and that next sunday.  Well we have a couple American families in our ward.  They just work here and they really don´t know Spanish, so usually we just sit by them and translate sometimes.  Well, one of them, The Bidolfs, had their parents come in.  Sister Bidolf had her baby so her Mom and Dad came.  Well, during Priesthood meeting, the dad looked a little bit confused.  I wonder why :P Well I asked if he would like me to translate, knowing very well I have never done that before.  I wasn´t sure if I could do it, but I took a leap of faith.  After the first sentance out of the teacher's mouth, words started to come out of my mouth.  Then the rest is history.  I got a good 70% of what the teacher was saying to us.  It was a great experience that really helped me out.  After the meeting I told him sorry that I didn´t get everything, my Spanish was still a little shaky, he didn´t mind at all, thank goodness.  It just felt good to do that, to know that I can understand more than I thought.  

Well This past sunday was a great one!! Antonio recieved the Priesthood!! He was so happy! The week before Luís recieved it.  It's good knowing that they are on there way in the church! We still meet with both of them at least once a week.  Antonio is so funny!  He just comes up to me and gives me a big ol´ hug :)  You will see that he is not the biggest person out there.  Well on Monday, we met with Antonio and we found out that he has read the whole Book of Mormon. I was so proud of him and he really knows his stuff.  He was naming off scripture about this and that, and I am just so happy for him.  

Well I just want to say thank you to dad :)  He sent me a great letter with one great question that I should tell someone.  "Where do you want to be in 5 years?"  Well in a lesson on Sunday, this same question came into mind.  The lady is just lazy, so I asked her.  I could tell that it hit her hard, but she just said, back in my country with my family.  It was a lame response but that´s what she wants.  I told her that our Savior can give her way more and can make her more happy than anything in the world.  She seemed to like it, but she was still in the lazy state..  So thank you dad for giving me that great letter. 

Well on the food side, I had some great dish from Ecuador.  It´s called Ceviche!  They don´t cook it at all.  They told us that they boil water then dunk the fish in twice real quick then put it into the lemon acid mixture.  It was so good!! It had shrimp, fish, and some other great seafood things in there!  :)  

Well today we went to the temple :) It was a great time and this was the last time I got to see President and Sister Watkins.  The new President comes in tomorrow!  Well the great thing is is that I got a picture with President :) Also I got a hug from Sister Watkins.  She was so funny.  We were just standing around, and she comes up to me and Elder Woodbury and just says "Give me a hug!  I´m allowed :)"  hahah it was funny but everyone really liked it.  

Well this week has been filled up with contacting and lessons like always.  It has been fast, really fast, but so good at the same time.  I really love how the Lord works on his servants.  He has taught me a lot this past transfer.  A lot with patience and just being humble.  He has put a lot of hard days in my path, and yes I hate it, but I have learned so much from them.  

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

Love your Son and Brother,

Elder Alex Laubaugh