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!!