I am in Bilbao!!!!!!!

Dearest Family,

I love you all so, so, so much!!! And I AM SO HAPPY TO BE HERE IN THE LAND OF MY FATHERS!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

I live in Indautxu, next to a pretty park with white structures, a 5 minute walk away from church -- this is a huge difference from Sabadell, where we were about an hour away via public transportation.

I love working in Bilbao!! The people on the street are super friendly!! You can stop just about anyone and talk! It's awesome!! Not to mention that people go crazy when they see that my last name is Basque, and then find out that it's actually because my dad is from Bilbao, too!! It seriously helps!!

We work in the following neighborhoods of Bilbao: Indautxu, Ametzola, Recalde, Zabalburu, San Francisco, Basurtu, and some pueblos that my companion doesn't know because he's never been to them. :) This doesn't mean that I can't go to other places to visit family/friends of family (I don't think... my companion and my district leader just confirmed this -- we CAN go anywhere within the Bilbao zone's boundaries (from Santander to Irun/San Sebastian) ). AWESOME!!!

I am so, so happy to be here in Bilbao! I love working with Élder Cook -- he is a deep thinker, and he is very sensitive to the Spirit. I hope I can learn the area and the ward faster, so that I can better help him in more planning situations. Apart from wanting to help take off a load of stress, I want to be able to help more in our efforts to work with the members.

This week, I would love to love and get to know these members. Yesterday was a day for "firsts" for me in our ward: I finally met the Bishop, and I gave my first talk in the ward (on The Family: A Proclamation). I'm excited to get to know the rest of my Bilbao-ward family this week. I hope to be able to visit as many visits as possible while coordinating intercambios and area changes (the Bilbao Fiestas are all this next week).

I will never forget the intense, Spirit-guided experience I had this week in the baptismal interview for Carmen in San Sebastian. Within the first 5 minutes of the interview, she communicated to me that she had come to our interview with the intention of telling her missionaries that she didn't feel ready for baptism, and that she wanted to postpone her baptism for some distant, future time. Her baptism was scheduled for the following day, and for a brief moment I was mind-blown; what on earth was I supposed to do? I offered a silent prayer for guidance, and felt impressed to ask her some questions. I don't remember everything that was said, but I remember that many of her "doubts" were almost word-for-word the same doubts that my companion and I had practiced last transfer, as part of our training program. As I spoke to her, I saw my friends from my last area who had been baptized in my mind's eye, and I felt a great love for this person who I had just met, and a desire to help her choose to be baptized. I know that the Holy Ghost guided both of us during that interview, and I am grateful for practicas, because the Spirit guided me to apply them to Carmen in the critical moments of her interview. I felt such great peace when, with tears in her eyes, she said, "Thank you... I want to be baptized tomorrow. I know this is true."

I also know that "this" is true -- Heavenly Father is real and lovingly aware of us; Jesus Christ truly did sacrifice completely for my imperfections, and thanks to Him I can be forgiven; Joseph Smith, Jr. really was the prophet through which God restored the fullness of His church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; and the Book of Mormon is divine evidence of the truthfulness of all of these things. I hope to help my family here in Bilbao to put these things to the test; I know that if they do so sincerely, they will know for themselves, and we will get to be together for all eternity.

I am so excited for eternity! I love being a covenant missionary!! I love you, family!!!!!

Families can AND SHOULD be together forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sincerely,
Élder Zubeldia