Holy Canoly it's almost Christmas 12/21/09

Merry Christmas everyone! How is everybody doing? Good I hope. Of course it is Christmas season and usually everyone is at least a little bit better than usual. I love this time of year. Call me crazy but I also like the weather a lot more. I´ll take the cold over heat any day. Its been cold and windy lately (Around mid 40´s during the day and freezing point at night) and today its rainy but I love it. I guess the ward found out that we don´t have heating in our apartment so they announced it in church and afterwards a family told us they were going to give us a heater for Christmas. I thought it was really nice of them. I love this ward. We taught Silvia last night. Well actually my companion and the district leader did. I had to stay in with the district leaders sick companion so he could do the interview. I got a lot of reading done haha. The appointment went really well though. We taught her the remaining commandments that she needed to be taught and she accepted them all. She has actually been paying tithing for about the last three months. She will be baptized by her son this Sunday after church. I´m so excited for her! What a great Christmas present right?! Its going to be hard to leave this area, which I am sure is going to happen, but this will be the best way to leave it. With a baptism. I love this ward and the bishop is an amazing man. We had a meeting with him yesterday morning and he was so happy when we looked over what we had done lately. A few families have been re-activated and we will have had 3 baptisms in the ward the last 2 months. I have been really blessed to see so many miracles in my mission so far. This Christmas is definitely different but it is going to be great. I hope you all have a wonderful week as we remember the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and the miracle that it was and is. I love Him so much. I love you all and thank you for all you do. I may be across an ocean, but I can still feel your love just as strong. Talk to you next week!

Weekly Report From Taylor Lynn Langston 12/14/09

Dear Everybody,How is everything going?! From all the emails I get it sounds like you are preparing for Christmas. And did I hear something about snow in St. George? Dang I missed it. Well the temperature is definitely dropping here in Barcelona. I´m sitting here in the internet cafe with my coat and scarf on! I don´t think it will get too cold here though. This week wasn´t very exciting to tell you the truth. It was pretty hard actually. It was full of appointments falling through,so our numbers we reported to President looked pretty bad. It is frustrating but what can you do? Keep trying right? We didn´t even get to teach Silvia this week. She works in a little city nearby during the week and is only in Barcelona on the weekends. She wasn´t able to make it to church but we are hoping we can teach her today. I´m not worried though because she is an amazing lady and had definitely been prepared after all this time. Well as for news that doesn´t really have to do with missionary work, last monday we sang carols on a stage in a plaza next to our new chapel. The thing is we sang in Catalá which is a language they speak here in Barcelona and surrounding areas. I had no idea that they actually speak about 6 different languages here in Spain! It sounds like a mix of french and spanish. It was a lot of fun even if we didn´t sound too great. We are going to do it again this week in the busiest part of Barcelona. We´ll see what happens. I can´t believe this transfer is almost over. I am sure I will be leaving this time and I really don´t want to say bye to the ward. My ward missionary leader has already started taking pictures of me haha. Its going to be tough but the work has to go on. I wonder where I´ll be heading off too??? Anyway, I love you all and thanks for everything that you do. You are all a huge blessing in my life. Talk to you next week! Love, Elder Langston

One More Baptism Coming Up! 12/07/09

Wow this week was great just like the last one! Last night Elder Reynolds and I set a baptismal date with Silvia (the mother of the second counselor) for the 27th of this month! I am so excited for her. She has been investigating the church for years now and has finally decided to take the step of faith. It is just proof that there is a time for everything. Teaching her yesterday was a really spiritual experience. We went over some basic commandments and then I asked her if she had any questions or doubts that we could possibly clear up. Then through her tears she bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon. Of its truthfelness and how it has changed her life. I know the Book of Mormon with the Spirit is a powerful tool in the conversion of Gods children. It really is an amazing book. I´m so thankful for Silvia and her decision to be baptized. It is an answer to a prayer. Our misson has the goal of 400 baptisms this year and we are getting so close. We did a special fast and made plans to invite every progressing investigator to be baptized and we have seen miracles. I believe we now have around 360 in the mission with 70 new dates! It is amazing. It will be a huge increase from the 307 last year. With about 30 less missionaries! Heavenly Father is truly blessing us. Vanessa came to church and bore her testimony. She is really strong. I couldn´t believe how excited she was to pay her tithing. She loves being a part of the ward. Time is flying out here. I can´t believe its almost Christmas! Hermana Hinckley is calling it our white Christmas because we are having so many baptisms. Pretty clever if you ask me haha. Well I think thats about it. I love you all and thank you again for the support! I couldn´t ask for better family and friends. Have a great week. Love, Elder Langston