Curtis, Alex

Lot of new stuff going on! People  Wild success Thiago is getting interviewed on Wednesday and baptized on Saturday! I was here in Talavera when he first started getting to know the church and now I'll get to see him get baptized! This guy is the absolute best. Our friend Jesús is very close to baptism and just visited the temple with some branch members! He's a good friend of Thiago's so we're thinking about suggesting that Thiago baptize Jesús when he gets the priesthood. Getting there Milena and her two kids are ridiculously accepting of the gospel and eat up everything we teach them, plus are currently living with the branch president while they get settled here. They've even said that they want to get baptized! The problem is that they're very hesitant to set a date. Milena keeps saying she wants it to be sincere, I guess like waiting for the perfect moment. We ask how they're feeling about a date at every lesson, trying to make it casual and avoid nagg...

Se que algunos de vosotros hablan español y van a pensar que esta línea de asunto es broma también. No es. Muchos sentimientos esta semana. Now that you've closed Google Translate, let's talk about this week. Biggest highlight is that Nemesio got baptized! This is the guy who attended church religiously (rim shot) for a few weeks but wasn't willing to meet with us until the right member (Mauricio) reached out to him. Goes to show how members are the absolute key to missionary work. He got baptized on Friday, and aside from being an awesome moment for Nemesio, it was a great opportunity for lots of people we're teaching to see a baptism!  We did an exchange on Tuesday so our District Leader Elder Baird could interview Nemesio. That while day was great, plus it rained the whole time. Spanish speakers have a really hard time with Elder Baird's name, so he introduces himself as Elder Oso, which is Spanish for "bear". It's hilarious.  Thiago's on date f...

Happy P-Day yall! This was a great week. Let's jump right in. Teaching: Nemesio started coming to church about a month ago because one of our members invited him. We tried every week for a month to corner him after church and set an appointment but he always had some reason he couldn't. He also wouldn't answer our texts or return our calls. In a weekly branch correlation meeting we casually asked a ward missionary named Mauricio Etayo to try with him, but didn't think much of it. That Wednesday Mauricio called us and mentioned that he'd taught Nemesio about the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, and Gospel of Jesus Christ over the phone! Two days later, he tells us he's asked Nemesio to be baptized. Hilarious as it is to have a baptismal date for someone who won't meet with us, we still needed to go over everything with him and make it official. We did that on Thursday and Nemesio will be baptized this coming Friday. Totally nuts. Thiago continues to be a great...

It's hard to describe how much the Lord is blessing this area. This branch is legendary. Multiple members are hosting families that are brand new to Spain and inviting us to teach them. Everyone we bring to a branch activity is welcomed with open arms. It's honestly unbelievable. Specifics: We started teaching Jenny and she came to church last week! We also visited her home and met her daughter, who is injured and has a hard time leaving the house. Both of them were receptive to the message we shared. Hard to believe we only found her because she called our number on one of Adelina's cards. Thiago has been really busy for the last few weeks but suddenly opened up! We taught him and his uncle half of the Plan of Salvation (the uncle is a hardcore Spaniard and talks a lot), then saw him at Noche de Hogar on Friday, football on Saturday, and church on Sunday! He's also a barber and his tools just arrived so he's going to give us haircuts this week. The branch loves him...