Letter from 1/26/2015

Hey dad,

Hey here I am on another Monday afternoon writing my favorite dad. Well as always things are going good here in the field and I know you are there taking care of things at home and finding those criminals at work.

Wow, what a bummer about the snow, but it sounds like you guys still had a ton of fun up on the mountain. It has been super cold around here lately and right now I am wearing a short sleeved shirt so I am not the brightest one out there. 

Well it´s true I speak true Spanish Castilian or in Spanish "Castellano" the true Spanish. Anyway I was thinking if i am not mistaken in Uraguy they speak like Argentinos with the "ch" so it might have sounded a little like Portugese cause sometimes we meet up with people form Portagul and Brasil and it sounds the same to that accent aside from Portugese and Spanish being almost the same. Actually there is a guy in our ward who served in California and he hates how Mexicans speak Spanish because they speak dirty Spanish according to him. 

Yeah, I have actually been looking at my patriarchal blessing too and wow I have a lot I need to change still to be able to make things happen in it. You do your part and God has no choice but to bless us. 

Boom! This Saturday habra un Bautismo! hemos estado ensañando un chico catalán de 21 años ye este chico es super super listo. su madre y hermana son miembros de la iglesia y desde que yo llegue aquí he esperado el día cuando el diría quiro bautizarme y a noche fue esta momento. el ya ha leido todo del libro de mormón y los doctrinas y convenios y ha vuelto a leer el libro de mormon. en sus palabras dijo " se que no puedo aprender o progresar más sin bautizarme y recibir el espíritu." entonces escogimos este sábado por el bautismo. ¡va a salir genial!

Con amor

Elder Blake Billingsley    

Letter to Mom

Hey mom,

Yeah that was differnt wasn´t it? Well I tried to open the box for like two days and then the other morning as I  was waiting for the iron to heat up to get my shirt looking all nice, I sat down at my desk and grabbed the box and poof it opened. Now I have all my money in it. It´s actually super sick. 

The week here was super good. We hit pautas or standards of exellency, wich is a certain amout of lessons taught in different catagories and baptismal dates. So we had a pretty good week. And last night we had a visit with a Catalan kid who is 21 years old who I have been waiting my whole time hear to say I want to be baptized. Well he is a super smart lkid and he loves learning about the gospel. He has read the whole Book of Mormon and started it over recently and is halfway through D and C. Well he basically realized to shorten it up that he can´t learn anymore or progress until he hets baptized and gets the holy ghost. BOOM! So this Saturday we will be having a baptsim for sure. Heck the kid goes to institute every week and is just super ready. He was ready 2 years ago. 

Yep my companion is still district leader. 

Well it sounds like you guys have had a super eventful week with Bren getting hurt and you all being sick again. That is the worst. 

Well I am waiting to hear if she gets into Provo, but she should. I don´t know why not. 

Love you

Elder Blake Billingsley

Letter from 1/20/2015

Hey Dad,

Well first off, I am still in Lleida. I am going to be here for another six weeks and everyone in our district will be going home in 6ish months so we have a super old district. 

Boom all about those seahawks! Can´t wait to hear the outcome of that super bowl game. I guess God has been answering my prayers. It reallly does vale la pena to work hard and pray hard. 

Yeah I got to study a little bit more with the language. Definitely have falted a little bit in that area my entire life. I would definitely like to come home with more than just a missionary vocab too. Well I can talk about most things, but I would like to talk about anything. 

I think Ammon is one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon. I started reading Jesus the Christ and wow, that is a good read definitely a lot to take in while reading though.

We didn´t end up having those baptisms this week, cause one we haven't seen in a while and the other got work in Bilboa for like a month so we won't see him for awhile. Guess things are still going good though. We have some future prospects though for baptism so it looks pretty good hear in Lleida. One more transfer and I am super stoked this will be the area en que llevo mas tiempo. Man I know I don´t study very well but there are sometimes it is just easier to phrase things in Spanish. 

Well, love you dad

Elder Blake Billingsley

Letter to Mom

Hey mom,

Well this last week was super good but...... no baptisms. The one we were counting on ended up getting work in Bilboa for a month so we won't see him for awhile. Freakin Satan sucks! And I am still in Lleida. This will be the longest amount of time being in an area. Super crazy. And same companion. And my distirct well at least all of us elders will all be home in 6ish months so we have a super old district. 

Boom you are the best! Cant wait for the face wash. Thank you for sending it. 

You might want to tell the Hammonds and Grandma Kay to send everything to the mission office cause I just got their stuff today. They sent stuff to Santander and I was there a year ago. Lucky the stuff they sent got to me today by a really good elder who just came to my district from there. And tell Traci that little wood box is probably coming home with me. I am to dumb to figure it out. 

That sucks that Bria is having bad dreams, but kinda funny that you got kicked in the nose. She must have been sleeping upside down. 

Super crazy that Chas flew out yesterday. Maybe he stopped in Provo to get his visa or something or they just flew them a day early but that doesn't make sense cause the group of new missionaries doesn't leave the mtc till today. weird. 

Well I can´t think of anyone who is going on a mission here in Lleida, but it could be someone from Catarroja. Well the days keep getting shorter and I have one more transfer here in smelly old Lleida but it is pretty good we still have some prospect baptisms coming up so I am super stoked. 

Love you 

Elder Blake Billingsley

Letter from 1/12/2015

Hey Dad,

Well this last week we got are butts kicked here in Lleida, but whatever we have a baptism coming up. I feel pretty good about it because I  have been blessed enough to have seen more baptsims than any other missionary in this area in the last 2 years. Miracles. Well aside from that we had our interviews and President Pace looked at me during our interview stopped and said ¨"Elder Billingsley I feel impressed to tell you that your Spanish is good but the lord expects it to be better. Study a little bit more each day" which scared me cause sometimes I miss my langugae study and then he said: "also when you go home you need to do everything you can to keep it and speak and study it because I feel like your language skills will be needed in the chruch some day" kinda cool, but freaked me out a little bit. And if there is one thing I know about my president for the last year and a half it is that he is a very inspired person. I have seen things happen that he said would happen or tells things like that before.

Well so we are expecting a baptism this week at least and then maybe I will be leaving next week we will see what happens cause we get the call on Saturday. It will be a good week.

Wow I have actually never really thought about how Christ never had a home during his ministry. It kinda makes me think a little bit more.

Well love you dad and thank you for everything you have done for me. You are the best. You better tell mom that she is the best also. I guess it took two of you to get me out here on the mission.

Love you

Elder Blake Billingsley

Letter to Mom

Hey mom,

Wow not fair! I want to go skiing!

Well mom, wish I could help you with your talk but I think you are on your own now. Just don´t stress like you always do. If there is one thing I have learned in my mission it's that I hate talking and when I stress that is when it sucks.

Wow I can´t believe that chaz is leaving already. Is he going to madrid or to Provo? Get me his email so I can talk to him.

Well things are going good here. We should be having a baptism this week and to top it off I might be leaving next week and if I do it could be my last area. Oh yeah today I found out that my mission president for the last month of my mission will be president something. I actually can't remeber his name but the switch is at the begining of July.

Wow we got our butts kicked this last week but this week is looking super good for us. Well just want to tell you that I love you.

Elder Blake Billingsley

Letter from 1/5/2015

Well to make it short, I got sick too this last week so that was super duper fun.

Well I think that we will be having two baptisms on the 17 of this month. An African guy who is probably one of the best guys ever and a Catalan/Spaish guy. It is going to be super dope. This African guy, when I asked him to be baptized he looked at me and goes, boy, put my name down. Basically we just found out he wanted to be baptized super bad. He was like this is the only church I have ever felt the spirit in. Africans are great! 

Well sports sound super good right now. You will have to keep me updated as it comes to an end with all the scores and who wins what. Sounds like it is back to the grind with everyone and school. Still seems like I graduated yesterday and we will be going on two years soon. 

Yeah he wrote me back this week. I think he likes the idea too. Thanks for talking to him. He has worried me my entire mission.

Love you dad.

Letter to Mom

Well let me start of with last preperation day. I sprained my ankle running. Luckliy it is only swollen and I can walk even run on it just fine but it is for sure swollen. Then we went to a members house for new years and ate pretty good. Then on Thursday and Friday I got super sick and couldn´t go out to work almost all weekend. I went out if we had visits that were super important but mission presidents wife made me go to the doctor and it turns out I had an infection in my throat so they gave me some antibiotics but I am feeling better now. It sucked and other than that we had a good week. We should be having some baptisms coming up super soon. Can´t wait to Send pictures. One is an African guy from the country where all the child warfare was going on like Sierra Leon or soemthing I don´t know. It is one of the only countries colonized by the states. 

Oh yeah, I forgot to thank you guys for the sausage and crackers and cheese. Boy, that was easily the best part. 

I think that that is the best goal to have, I really do. It is something that we should all strive for even more than that new year resolution to loose wight or have a beach body, but to become more like Christ and focus are lives around living His gospel, but really living it. That is something that President Pace has been really trying to get through to us as missionaries and when I ge home you will have to ask me to explain to you  why my mission president's view changed from baptism to preparing the missionaries for life after the mission because it is to long of a story to explain over email and too complicated. 

Anyways, love you a ton mommmy