Girona

It's time I continue my narrative of my missionary experience before I can no longer say it was 10 years ago I was on my mission. I served in Girona from November 2000 to February 2001. November 2010 to February 2011 were very crazy for me, so I'm a bit behind.

Girona is the most beautiful city I saw in Spain. It is very picturesque and how you would imagine a European city would be with narrow, brick roads, windy pathways between buildings, arches across the pathways, cathedrals, and other castle-like structures.

My companions in Girona were Elder Carpenter and Elder Whittaker. We taught Elias Obyangabon the second discussion on Christmas day and committed him to baptism. It was neat to see him take that important step in his life. He gave us a scare when he disappeared for a while; it took us a while to find out he was in the hospital having his appendix removed.

Our ward mission leader was Andy Toolson, who played for the Girona basketball team after playing for the Utah Jazz. The branch president was President Rekow from Idaho, his wife was a native of Spain.

While serving in Girona, I had the opportunity to go to Barcelona to see a futbol game at Camp Nou. There was a large group of missionaries that went, including our mission president. It was an awesome game! It was tied at 0 at the half, and tied at 1 with just a few minutes left in the game. Barce got the ball and scored, the other team took the ball down to try and score, and missed, Barce got the ball back and scored again! So the game ended 3 to 1. I still enjoy wearing my Barce jersey. When we were in New York a couple weeks ago, I noticed 5 different people wearing Barce jerseys. Later that night I found out Barce had just beat Manchester United for the cup! I'm proud to be a Barce fan, even if I don't get to see their games very often.

Tomas Carbon was a less active member of the church we were working with to help him understand the gospel better. We had a couple of visits with him, then one night we were teaching him in the chapel. He told us he had been reading the scriptures all day. He had become convinced that he was "El Cordero de Dios" (The Lamb of God). That made me a little nervous. We continued to talk with him, when he got up and put his hands on our heads and started babbling words like he was trying to give us a blessing. Now I was very concerned. I stood up and walked away from him. He followed, continuing to try to put his hands on my head. Now I was scared. I walked out in the hall and saw President Rekow. Tomas grabbed me by the front of the shirt and started walking the opposite direction. I called out to President Rekow for help. He smiled a devious smile and told me, "go with him Elder, it's OK". Now I was totally freaked out! President Rekow was crazy too! Tomas dragged me into a room where he and President Rekow had been laying tile earlier in the day. President Rekow followed us in and told me Tomas just wanted to show me the work they had done. I told him that Tomas thought he was "El Cordero de Dios". That got President Rekow's attention. He went back to the chapel with us and helped us teach Tomas who "El Cordero de Dios" is and how we can follow him. After Tomas left, I told him what had happened. He laughed and laughed, saying he thought Tomas had been a little more forceful than needed and that my face when he told me to go with Tomas showed true fear. What I learned from this experience is that it is better to consistently read scriptures a little each day, than to go overboard and try to take it all in at once.

Another day between Christmas and New Years we met a man out walking on the street. He told us he used to attend our church and asked if President Rekow were still around. Then he proceeded to speak poorly about President Rekow and criticize his leadership. Finally I could take it no longer and said, "look, I know President Rekow isn't perfect, but he is trying. He brings his family to church every week and is consistently making an effort to become better. I haven't seen you at church in the month and a half I have been here. I invite you to come and repent and also try to do better." He then told me he wouldn't be able to come to church because he would be back in prison. He just was out for a couple days over the holiday. Later when we told President Rekow we had met this man, it took him a while to figure out who we were talking about, and then he said, "stay away from that man, he is a dangerous man!" We found out the man had been excommunicated from the church for practicing polygamy and had been put in prison for ending the polygamy by killing one of his wives. I learned that when you stand on the side of the leaders of the church, you are on solid ground. I was grateful I had stood up for President Rekow.

This photo taken when I was packing to leave Girona shows how thin I got on my mission. No wonder Grandpa Richards said I needed some of Mom's cooking when I got home!

My deepest desire throughout my mission was to teach an entire family the gospel. Teaching "one of a family and two of a field" was rewarding, but I really wanted to teach an entire family. In Girona, we found a family, a husband and wife and three young daughters. I was so happy that they let us come teach them the gospel. They were definitely touched by our message, unfortunately they didn't have time to meet with us regularly and I was transferred before they progressed much further. I still pray for them. I am excited for the opportunity to teach my own family the gospel.