Baptism Day!

Hello my family and friends!

Things here are going pretty well! This past week has been really great and super busy. The office has been keeping us super busy. The biggest thing that has been keeping us busy has been prepping for transfers. It's been super crazy, but it's working out. (Our office credit card isn’t working correctly, so we can’t buy travel tickets.)

This past week Vilma was baptized! The service was super great! Afterwards, Vilma shared her testimony; the Spirit was there so strongly. I think that was probably my favorite part. I love being able to see and hear the testimonies of the people we meet here in Spain. She was super happy, and it was a special experience.

We have started to meet with Vilma’s family, too, which has been great. When we first met them, they were a little cold with us and didn't want to talk too much, but they have opened up a bunch since that first time. They are still opening up little by little, but this last week after the baptism, we were able to share the restoration with them. The message seemed to touch them. We are going to be passing by to drop off some Books of Mormons for the rest of the family. 

Sorry so short

Hey everyone

I just wanted to say sorry ahead of time, because I have very little time today. A large chunk of the day I had to spend trying to figure out this problem that we have been having in the office, and it took a lot longer then planned. 

The people that we have been teaching are doing Great. We have 2 people who are going to be baptized this Saturday. Their names are Vilma and Daniela. They are both super ready and excited. The only struggles they have at this point would be opposition from their family. If you can keep them in your prayers so that they can hopefully recieve a little more support from their families. I love you GUYS! Till next time!

- Elder Bassett 

Big Email

President & Sister Bussey 

Hello everyone!
Well, it has been a very interesting week to say the least. I remember that last week my email was super short, but I don´t remember what exactly I talked about. Ha, so I will try to fill you in on a lot of good details from this week to try and make up for it. 

So after p-day, we had a normal Tuesday in the office working on well...office stuff. That night, we went to the train station to pick up all of the zone leaders who would be attending the Mission Leadership council the next day. That night, 8 elders came to our piso to spend the night. Being in the office, we have a lot of extra mattresses for this exact reason. The most I´ve ever seen in our piso was 14 missionaries who were going home plus us 3. 

The next morning, we went off to Concilio; we arrived early and helped get everything set up. We ended up setting up the tables in a big U in the gym to have more of a council like setting. Not going to lie, it felt really cool. I laughed a bit when one of the elders said that he felt like we were in a huge Jedi Council. 

Normally, the office elders help with transportation and setup and then head out, but right as we were about to get started, we realized that they needed someone to translate. So Elder Liza and I stayed to translate while Elder Jäger and Elder Keffer went to the office. Downside of the situation, Elder Liza’s English is pretty decent but not to the point where he could translate very easily. So I ended up translating the entire meeting....10:00-5:00 with an hour lunch break. I downed maybe 6 water bottles, but my throat was still feeling a little hoarse by the end. 

But I really did enjoy being able to attend; it was a very amazing experience. We talked a lot about making sure that we are centered on Christ and that we do all we can to be examples to the other missionaries. A big section was also focused on setting goals as a mission as we progress forward together. It was really cool to see all of the leaders from both the north and the south who used to be from different missions working together and having good open discussions about how we can all improve and get better. I lot of good goals were set, and it was cool to see it all.

Changes

Hey everyone.

So it's only been a couple of days and normally that would mean that not a lot has happened, but it's actually been a pretty busy weekend. So I'll start where I left off last Thursday afternoon.

So that night we received our new companion. His name is Elder Liza, and he comes from the office in the south. He came up with Elder Hernandez who is one of the AP’s from the south. They are both really great guys and missionaries. I'm looking forward to working with them both.

A little more info on Elder Liza. He has been on the mission for about 19 months, and he has been serving in the office for the past 4-5. He is from Peru but has spent most of his life here in Spain in a city close to Pamplona which is part of the Barcelona mission. He is a really great guy and a hard worker. I'm really excited to be with and learn from him as we are companions in this transition. I'm also really loving only talking in Spanish with him. It helps me a lot with my Spanish, which isn't the best, and he helps me out a lot.

So that Thursday night we stayed up a little late preparing a contact list to have ready for President Bussey for when he came into the mission to have a way to get in contact all of the missionaries whenever he needed. The next Friday morning, the Busseys came!

The Packs, the office Elders, and the AP's all went to pick them up that morning from the airport. It was super exciting to welcome them off the plane and say hi to them. After that, we went over to the office so the Packs could brief the Busseys on a few things. So we were there working while the Packs, and the Busseys were talking, and then the Packs came out and said "OK time to go; this is goodbye".

It was pretty abrupt, and not gonna lie, it was pretty hard. We were all getting pretty emotional, and it was rough. I know realistically that we will see them again some day, but it felt for a bit like we were saying goodbye forever. Hermana Pack started to cry, and I was having a hard time holding it back. I'm so grateful for the Packs and all that they have done for me and the mission.