Letter from 10/28/2014

Hey,

 

Wow I can't believe that fall sports are coming to an end. That is crazy. 2 years of football since I have graduated have gone by. It makes me feel so old but I am postive that I graduated yesterday. Sometimes I wake up from a dream at the sound of the alarm clock every morning and then I realize I am in Spain 2 years ahead of what I was dreaming about. Usually dreaming about football of being in class and something weird happens like I am naked then I wake up. I have never had those dreams in my life. Weird stuff. Oh well, I guess when you are tired your mind does weird things.

 

Wow Kenzie is getting ready for college and that kills me to think that we will be freshman in college together. What weird stuff.

 

Super good that you got the day shift cause night shift has to kill the sleep routine.

 

Well this coming weekend we have 2 baptisms and I am super stoked. Can´t wait to send pictures of the baptisms.

 

Hey that pose of the American girl is not my idea but I had to go along with it. We were kind of making fun of girls in America cause everyone here in Spain does for the fotos all the girls take like that. 

 

Well time is flying here and I can´t believe how long I have been gone for. Lots of good stuff happening here in Lleida. Don´t have much time to write cause it is transfer day and we have to go pick elders up at the train station so I will try and write better next week.

 

Love you,

 

Elder Blake Billingsley

 

Letter to Mom

 

Hey mom,

 

Well the days go slow but the weeks go fast here. We just finished another transfer and they brought two elders back here to Lledia so I now have 4 elders in piso now. I wish it was cooler here it has been so hot and we have to wear sweaters and jackets every day.

 

Wow so cool that she got here patriarchal blessing. I read mine very often out here and I love it. Sometimes I get things that I didn´t get before. It is interesting to see how somethings stand out at certain times.

 

Well the baptism didn´t happen last weekend but we have two this weekend. Valentina and Celica. I will send pictures next Monday but they are so ready. Valentina is from Romainia and Celica is from la Republica Dominicana. I am so excited for them.

 

Well as far as the wisdom tooth goes it is coming in and I think it will be fine. We will see how it goes. But no worries if it causes problems I will just call Hermana Pace and she will take care of everything. We have had a few elders who have had dental work done here but I thnik for now I will be fine no worries. Yep my retainer still fits and I wear it every night.

 

So mom I still think you cut hair great, but I would recommend to anyone if they want to get there hair cut really well and for free go on a mission where there are Domincans that will cut your hair. They do so good. I suppose it is because they have such difficult hair to deal with. 

 

 Well love you,

 

Elder Blake Billingsley

Letter from 10/20/2014

Hey,

 

Well I can feel the season change but not that much here wish I was home for that right now cause we have to wear sweaters or suits and it is super hot out here. Hotter than sweater weather.

 

Wow Brazilian food. That makes me hungry. It´s not like I am complaining but the food here is not the best. In fact it could be some of the worst food ever. The only thing I really enjoy is when we eat with South Americans or paella. Which is pretty good but still not my favorite.

 

Wow, the Seahawks are letting me down. This is just not cool.

 

So this last week here in the Spain Barcelona mission Elder Billingsley traveled about half of the mission. first we had and entercombio with the Andorra elders. Then Wednesday we had entrevistas with Presidente Pace in Zaragoza and then Thursday I had to go to Barcelona and redo paper work for my residency so we didn´t spend much time in my own area. I think this week I traveled like 800km. It was a lot of train time but I got to see some people in Barcelona who I haven't seen in like a year. Super cool.

 

We had the same lesson to cause I think we should be on the same schedule but anyways no worries it is hard for me to love people too and that is like my job as a missionary. It is one of the hardest things for everyone to do but it is true that service is the only way to do it.

 

Well I feel like a pringao right now cause I don´t really have anything to write about. Well we do have one investigator named Celica like the car who I am almost 100 percent positive will get baptized on the 1 of November. She is super good. She is from the DR.

 

Well here is a foto of mi distrito intentando de hacer lo que hacen las chicas americanas cuando sacan fotos.  es un poco feo... creo yo pero bueno

 

Love,

 

Elder Blake Billingsley    

 

Letter from 10/13/2014

                        
                Blake's district at the Zarogoza Train Station after a zone meeting.

Hey Dad,

When I got here to Lleida they pulled the zone leaders out of here and put them in another area that was being opened and left 4 elders here. Which really surprised me to know that my area was struggling when I got here because it was the previous area of a zone leader. Anyway they just pulled the other two elders out of here and put them in a group that just opened 3 weeks ago outside of Hospitalet which is right next to Barcelona.

You can definitely tell those missionary's that this is definitely not an easy part of the world to serve in. There is a saying in our mission that they send boys to South America to become men and boys to Europe to become apostles. I don´t know who started it but we looked at the apostles and most of them have served in Europe as missionary´s I believe. We couldn't remember where they all served but whoever made up that saying was fairly accurate. 

Well as a mission  and with the members that live in our mission we are reading the Book of Mormon together. We started September 1st and end and the end of the year. We have seen so many miracles form it. Recently me and my companion have been having some super great conversations about the gospel trying to keep them as basic as possible because if you think to deep it hurts your head if you know what I mean. Anyways it is just so cool to go sharing what we have learned with the members and those that we have invited to read with us as well as have them share with us. 

One thing is for sure my testimony has become so much stronger and the gospel makes sense to me now. It is kind of interesting. I believed it all before I came but I didn´t really understand the doctrine until I had to teach it. We really are here for ourselves as well as to help others but I firmly believe we are here to make ourselves stronger members of the church too. 

I have also learned that people stop coming to church usually for stopping to do one of two things or both reading and praying. These are both super basic but super important and then we need to go to church not that we have to or get to but we need to. People drive me nuts when they don´t go members, less active members and investigators. And when they don´t read the Book of Mormon and when they don´t pray. I wish they would just get it through there thick skulls to do it sincerely. 

Nope we have heard about the movie but we have not seen it. It looks really good though because I have seen the trailer for it on the church website. 

Anyways just want to say the same you said. Keep an eternal perspective on everything and it will all make sense and be worth it in the end. To know what we know sure helps. 

Oh yeah, I don´t think I have ever been more tired in my life. The only thing that gives me any energy is depending on the night if I can sleep or not 4 to 8 hours of sleep and going to the gym in the morning which we have here. Gotta love body building Spanish members that own gyms. 

But seriously, I have never been more tired. 

Love you,

Elder Blake Billingsley

Letter to Mom

Hey mom,

Well yeah the week here has gone by super fast too. It is super crazy how time flies. There is one of the sister missionary's in my district and we were talking today and she has five months left and I have 10 it is super crazy to think about that because we were in the mtc together. She will be home six months before me but the next 10 months for me will probably fly by. After Christmas 8 months and then after my birthday 6 months. That just seems way to fast. I won´t lie though there are some days where I think to myself that I wish I was in my last week or two cause I am just getting my but kicked out here. 

No we have not seen the movie but we have heard about it. There are a bunch of English speaking members here that have told us about it and we have access to the church website so I have seen the trailer. It looks good. 

Hey I don´t blame those missionaries. We always try to go to the houses at least once a week that have cute daughters. 

Yeah we have three baptismal dates right now. All three are women we have  Luz Elena for this weekend but I think it will be moved back a week or two. Valentina a lady from Romania and is a little hard to understand for the 25 of October and Celica from the Dominican Republic for the 1 of November. We are super excited and have some great investigators. 

Oh it is definitely a palace by Spain standards. I don´t know how we got this place. Well this week we received like 10 references to follow-up on form 2 different families and all of them are part member families which are usually the best to work with. For sure we will see something come of that. 

Well for Christmas I can´t think of anything I would want right now but you always could put money on my card and I could buy something or keep it around till the end of my mission to by some stuff. 

Well love you

Elder Blake Billingsley

Letter from 10/6/2014

Hey,

 

Wow what a busy week you guys had there at home. Wow, what a wedding, fishing and skeet shooting! I don´t think the activities get much better than that. Wow I missed the treager, that stinks. To be completely honest the meat here in Spain sucks. They eat so much pork that I think I vow to never eat pork again in my life.  At least when I get home because I think it is impossible to not accept the pork hear if we eat with people. 

So something crazy happend here in the Lleida district. We were 4 elders and two sisters with 2 elders in a branch up in andira right on the border of France but now we are just 2 elders in Lleida and 2 sisters with the branch up north because back down south of Barcelona by about 2 hours they are opening up a group and they requested missionaries to grow it into a branch. Well they decided to take out 2 elders from Lleida and put them down there tomorrow actually so I get to inherit food from these two. But the thing is, is that our piso here is huge and with just two of us it is going to suck. I can´t like two man pisos are the wrost they are just so boring. But it is super good to see that more areas are being opened. It is the secound area to open this year with a group in our mission so there is progress. Little by little. 

Wow there were some great talks in conference, but I had to listen to the whole thing in Spanish because we had investigators there so we sat by them. But the coolest thing was the talk in Chinese and the talk in Spanish. I don´t know if you guys saw it but it was freaking cool. I learned something. It is actually so much easier to follow and to understnad when the talk is given in the speakers native language because the translators are so monotone. So when the one guy spoke in Spanish it was so easy to under stand and engaging. Overall it was just a really good conference. Conference has become so much more improtant and I get so much more out of it now that I have been out here. Modern day prophets do exist that is for sure. Wish some of are investigators would get that into their heads. 

So today I bought 2 sweaters because it is sweater season agian and my sweaters from last season are wearable but look terrible after wearing themfor 6 months straight. It is still freakin warm though. It has started to go down a little but it is still hot. 

I am going to forward a letter that we get every week from president and the office elders but the part I want you to look at is the talk from President Uchtdorf because we watched the video clip in our last zone reunion and it was super good. I loved it. I really related to Peter I think even as a missionary tal como miembro normal. 

Anyways it sounds like everyone is doing good and tired from such a long trip that happend to be short. Well have a great week. Love you guys

Elder Blake Billingsley

 

 

Letter from 9/29/2014

Hey,

Well everything is going good here it is just raining a ton here in Lleida too. I hate the rain as a missionary. So I live in the biggest piso in our mission. It is two stories and it is just super super nice. The top floor has three balconies, 3 showeres which are top of the line showers and it is just the biggest piso I have ever been in. It has wood and tile floors and the floors are heated we have heated towl racks for the showers. It is like a spa. Ok so I feel like a pampered baby right now in Europe.

Not gunna lie I miss yard work. Actually I just miss yards grass trees and dirt. That is the hardest thing to find here. I am sure you guys will have the funnest trip to Utah and back in a three day time span.

Well it sounds like everyone is doing good and keeping busy like always. Nothing better to do than to be busy. I miss sports so much. I think a miss high school and college sports more than anything. Wow a school record of 500 passing yard that is ridiculous.

That is so cool Jamaica. I actually finally got an email from Garrett after like the last 6 months that said that. Super happy for him. Can´t wait to here where Smith goes. I love hearing about it. Especially since I was one of the only ones right there at the beginning of my mission.

Well things are going to pick up here in Lleida. It has potential the work has just never been organized so we are going to be working on that.

Well love you have a great week.

Elder Blake Billingsley

 

Letter to Mom

 

Hey,

Doing great here in Lleida. We set 2 baptismal days and found some new investigators. My area has a lot of potential but the missionaries have been kind of unorganized so if it gets organized this place could pump out baptisms for days. Wow that is super cool that there was a nother baptism in the ward. I have never seen a baptism that I can remember from before I left. The church is really pushing it and it is true this is reallly the greatest work that there is.

I know the months are just flying by and everyone says that it will just go faster and faster towards the end of the mission and I am now on the downhill side. The girls that came into the mission with me only have 5 months left. That is crazy.

Well I haven´t thought about anything for Christmas but if I think of anything I will tell you for sure.

Wow I can´t believe that Spencer is getting married this week. I totally forgot about that. It will be nuts but for sure it will be fun. We hope. haha

Well doing good for the most part here. Although I did get sick last week for a bit and my suitcases broke but I think I can fix them Another thing, do you remember how they couldn´t pull my wisdom tooth out because it was so far up? Well it is coming in now. So I am just hoping I can take care of it without anything happening to it or it jacking up my teeth. It seems to becoming in straight for now but I will tell you about it if something happens. Heck if I really need to I can have it pulled but then I would look like a chipmunk for a while again.

But everything is good. I did get a little trunkie this last week thinking about home and the weather change at this time and football. It kind of killed me.

Love you

Elder Blake Billingsley

Letter from 9/22/2014

hey,

Well this is definitely one of the most different areas of the mission. There are so many Africans here just straight out of Africa that walk around with traditional African dress or not. And then we have what are called gitanos(gypsies). So needless to say we actually have a super ghetto area to work in. It kind of is a little creepy to work in during the evening. The ward here is full of Dominicans too so that is just one more accent to get down for me.

Well I am super excited to hear about the things people are doing at home especially with Smith getting his mission call soon hopefully.

Well this last week I have been kind of sick with the start of a transfer so that kind of sucks. It is definitely the worst. You feel like you are about to die but it is always worth it somehow. It started out with just a sore throat and then I got an ear infection I know I did then I got a massive head cold and I am starting to get rid of it. So hopefully this week I can get to work hard in my new area. I was just kind of working and getting to know the area a little this last week.

I guess when we have stake conference here in November in the Lleida stake Elder Quentin L. Cook will be there at the conference so that will be exciting. Not to often that you get to be at a stake conference when that happens and  it is so crazy to think that a year ago I was in Madrid when Elder Ballard came to talk to the missionaries there.

Well sound like everyone is just destroying there new school year and sports year. So today when we went to the gym I ended up having some Spanish body builder ask me to spot him in the gym. a little weird talking about lifting weights in Spanish. It was a little weird he just looked around the room and then came straight for me and asked me to spot him. Big dude.

Well here in Lleida no worries we are still speaking Spanish. There are still a fair amount of Africans that speak Spanish. Not all speak very well but it is what it is and there are still Spanish people and Latinos so we get work done but I would like to see it go to how I saw it in Catarroja. Guess we have some work to do. Missionary work is weird. It is just a weird lifestyle and I have a year of this stuff under my belt. Oh yeah you are never going to believe this but those indestructible suit cases handles broke on me this last transfer. The way we travel in Europe just is rough on them. Everyone's suitcases break though mine have actually made it a long time. I think I can fix it and get a few more moves out of them. The bags themselves are fine it is just the handle but that can be fixed I think. Who knows, I could only have one area after this place.

well love ya

Elder Blake  Billingsley 

 

Letter to Mom

 

Hey mom,

 

Well I am doing good here. I have been sick the past week however. As soon as I got here I came down with something wich really sucks but whatever. Yeah this gym is awesome. The guy that owns it is a member and is actually a body builder he is huge but it kind of is disgusting but whatever I get in for free. This morning I had to help spot some Spanish body builder while he benched. That was a trip. that dude put up so much weight but it was weird because it was all in kilograms which I am not use to at all still. He was massive though. He probabaly asked me because my companion is a small little guy. Needless to say I felt pretty big. 

I still can´t beleive that kenzie is going to be starting here college application. That is crazy. 

I have gotten a few things from the Hammonds and not really anyone else but i have been super bad about sending thankyou letters. I feel terrible about that. 

Well here in Lleida I feel like I have been reasiggned to Africa because there are so many Africans and the majority are Muslim. It is just crazy. And the ward is all Domincan basiclally but they are super good people. It is just a really lazy area is the only way I can put it and they have always had a hard time baptizing here. We defintly have some work cut out for us. 

My companion is Elder Nuemiller for Orange County California. His mom is from Peru but he didn´t speak spanish at all befroe the mission. We are geting a long great so far. He is definitely a BYU guy.

Well love you

Elder Blake Billingsley

Letter from 9/15/2014

Well I am transferred to Lleida they call it the armpit of the mission. They almost never baptize here so looks like I got some work to do and just when things where getting good in my area in Catarroja. We had 9 investigators in church and wow I have never seen that many in church in our mission. Usually about 6 is the max because it is put as a mission goal but some how we pulled 9 out of the hat. It has just been a killer summer litterally a killer but I had a stud companion for my last transfer a we just gelled and I don´t know the work was just on fire. We taught people right and left. By far my most successfull transfer but now I get to start where I was with my first transfer there in Catarroja. 

So with saying bye to everyone the last two days it kinda sucked. I actually said bye to more investigators than to members. I had one lady who is an investigator at the end of church come up to me and say thank you for stopping me in the street and talking to me you answered my prayers and you really are an angel and went on for a few minutes and then she just gives me a big fat hug and a kiss. Weirdest momet of my life get a kiss from a Columbian lady. No worries it was all lips. Nah just jokin she left lipstick on my cheek though. 

So I guess here in Lleida there is a member who owns a gym and lets us in for free in the morning.  

Well sounds like everyone is doing good there. Hope that I hear more about some mission calls soon. Boy I miss sports. 

Love you

Elder Billingsley

 

Letter To Mom

Well I got transferred to.........LLeida! About an hour North of Barcelona and well looks like I am in the same situation here as I was in Catarroja just  a lot of finding to do. They litteraly have no one for investigators. Seriously as soon as the area booms they pull me out and stick me somewhere else. Not cool. Pero es lo que hay. Sunday was my last Sunday in Cattarroja and we had 9 investigators at church and when I got there we had 0. Oh yeah and when you leave an area you eat about 20,000 calories. I ate so much yesterday. I had to catch the train early this morning to Barcelona and then caught one to Lleida. I got transferred with some people that I really havent seen in like a year since the mtc. So that was really cool.

Oh yeah gotta love that seminary. Just glad I don´t have to go anymore. Hey you can tell Mike Peck that I am working out. Here in Lleida there is a member who owns a gym and he lets us in for free in the morning. So we wake up at 6:30 to go hit it up. Got to take advantage especially since I will be here through the holidays most likely. I don´t think I have had a hotter summer ever than the one in Valencia. I am going to miss that place so much. It is so good there. 

Love you

Elder blake Billingsley