Weeks 2 and 3 in Granada - Baptisms of Ivana and Jose, and A Trip to the Mountains!

Note from Mom: This post will cover the past two weeks (weeks 2 and 3 in Granada for Gabe!) Honestly, everything just seems to be going along really well for Gabe ever since he arrived in Granada. He has a companion named Elder Cabrera that he really likes. Elder Cabrera is from Brazil and he only has ONE transfer left! Gabe is hoping that he gets to stay with him in Granada for his last transfer, which would be from March 3 - April 14. This transfer already feels like it has gone fast because they got there a week late because of that train crash! So, he may only have 2 weeks left there, which is insane! I hope Gabe stays there for one more too. The ward seems awesome, the city is awesome, he loves his companion, the apartment is nice, etc!

Here are Gabe's notes for the week!

1.Talleres

2.Baptism

3.Exchanges

We had talleres(workshop) last week so I forgot to write but it was super fun to have the whole zone here in Granada. Afterward, we went to the Alhambra and walked around outside of it for a bit, which was fun. (We couldn't go inside because we didn't have tickets, but we will go back!)

This week we had the Baptisms of Ivanna and Jose! They are both really great and it's be super fun getting to know them. Ivana is a 9-year-old girl whose grandma is a member (we need to her get mom baptized), and Jose is an older man.

I also got to go on Exchanges with Elder Petersen this week! He's newer in the mission but lived in Ecuador for a couple of months and already speaks really good Spainish. It was a good exchange!

Day-by-Day Notes for February 2 - February 16, 2026

Monday, 2 of February: First P-Day in Granada! We got haircuts this morning which went good. Then we got protein powder at Primaprix!! Then we went to Burger King, and then to the Alhambra and took some pictures around it! (pictures of this are in the last post) We didn't have tickets to go in and you need to get them online in advance, so my mom went online and bought some for us to go inside in about a month. It should be an awesome trip! Then we went to the church and had a good District councel. 

Tuesday, 3 of February: We woke up one and a half hours early today to take a bus to Malaga for exchanges! It was super fun. I was with Elder Durst and they are white washing, so they basically had no lessons. So we street contacted all day!! But Malaga is a nice city, and was fun to find in it. We ate with the STLs and planned Talleres. Then we had a ward activity here which was super fun. We did a spiritual thought that went well also.

Wednesday, 4 of February: We woke up early again and left to go back to Granada in a bus. When we got there, we ate breakfast and studied until we hit the streets😭. It was raining all day, so there was nobody outside. We had a member named Luis with us too, which was unfortunate because there was barely anyone to talk too. We did find a Nigerian Athiest who was talking about how God doesn't exist because everyone says Jesus christ is named Jesus Christ even though "J" wasn't a letter back then💀. Then we had a different member named Selvin come with us to visit Cristina and Ivanna. Ivanna is a 9-year-old girl and Cristina is her mom. We are thinking Ivanna will get baptized soon. He grandma is a member, but her mom is not. She has been really receptive to everything we have taught and she asks a lot of good questions for a child. It went super good and we gave them some cookie casserole. Then we contacted and had a video lesson before ending the night. 

Thursday, 5 of February: Today was super rainy! We had a couple calls and studies this morning, but after, we went street contacting, which went pretty good. We had 1 or 2 video calls, but almost every lesson was canceling because there were rain warnings, even the though the last halfs of the day it wasn't even raining. They seem more cautious after the DANA thing, but because so many people have been canceling we've done a lot of street contacting.

Friday, 6 of February: I got to have the long awaited exchange with Elder Jara!! He and Elder Weggerson arrived in the morning and me and Elder Jara did a bunch of street contacting! We actually found a crazy amount of people, which was awesome. Then we picked up the GOAT Jacob (a kid from the ward). And we street contacted till our activity in the church. We also had a videocall with Anyoli, which went good. Then, we called a bunch of Amigos with members.

Saturday, 7 of February: I said "goodbye" to my son (Elder Jara) and then me and Elder Cabrera went to the capilla because the elders of Linares were going to have a baptism, but a car broke down so it got canceled💀. But we had a fire lesson with Cristina and Ivanna and then we had an English class, which was funny. Afterward, we had a super good lesson with Francis and Alexandra. We are getting them married through Utah and Ricardo Pires helped us in the lesson.

Sunday, 8 of February: Church went great and we had a lot of amigos at church!! Afterward, we had a bunch of planning. Literally for like 3 hours. And a member named Moises helped us. After, we had a super fire noche de zona with President Lopez and brother Kenny. It was great. Perfect day, except for the hermanas opping. (They were mad at us because they thought we stole some people from their area, but that's not exactly how it happened...the people requested to meet with elders.)

Monday, 9 of Febrero: We had talleres today which went super well. It went a little long, but everyone enjoyed it. Afterward, us and a couple elders went to the Alhambra and saw the outside. Then we ate Burger King and went back to the church. It was a pretty good day overall. We also have Elders Petersen and Tellington here for exchanges. 

Tuesday, 10 of February: I was with Elder Petersen for exchanges, a younger missionary with about 4 months from Oregon. He's super nice and has really good spanish. It was a good today and we first had a lesson with Medi and we almost gave her a baptismal date, but she's right now too busy to come to church. Then we street contacted most the day. We also metbwith Laleshka and taught her with a member helper named Selvin, which was good. Then we taught a Book of Mormon class after the other Elders left. It went super good! Then we dropped Selvin off at home and street contacted on the way.

Wednesday, 11 of February: I had to use my Excel skills this morning and make a sheet on the computer for all of our numbers😭. After that, we had the average lesson with Jose Sanchez. He's a D1 iPad kid scroller. We are trying to get him ready for baptism. Then we drove to see Cielo and she invited her friends Paola y Yaribel. Cielo made mythical food and then we invited her friends to church and they are coming! After, we went to the chapel and language studied until our lesson with Jhoan. He was hype and made us a desert. Then, we met with Christina and Ivanna and taught them a quick lesson and filled out the baptismal form. Then we went home and had to film the youtube apology video with the hermanas.... 

Thursday, 12 of February:

We did some planning this afternoon, and then we journeyed in the car to the pueblos of Baza and Cullar. (We have a car to use just for this week.) The drive was super pretty and when we got to Baza, we visited a super nice older couple from Columbia who gave a salchipapas!! Then we went to Cullar and visited Limhi and his girlfriend who's not a member. It was a super good day. 

Friday, 13 of February: We had some DLC this morning and then met with Jose and his 2 kids, Rosario and Francisco. We taught the 2 kids, who were super funny. The daughter was super smart. The kids were like less then 10 years old but knew like 5 languages. After that, we went to the church and we met with Daniel and after with Ami(David). Ami was Muslim but converted to Christianity. Both lessons went great and after, we called all of our friends to invite them to church. I got a videocall screenshot of my lesson with a nun. (She was an online reference.) 

Saturday, 14 of February: This morning we met with Jose Sanchez (we call him Santa) in the church and tried on the baptismal clothes and also taught him a little bit more about the priesthood. After that, we went street contacting until mediodia where we made cookies for Christina and Ivanna. Then we studied and did more street contacting till we met with Christina and Ivanna. They should both be good for the baptism tomorrow! The Merrills also came to the lesson. 

Sunday, 15 of February: We had the baptisms of Ivanna and Jose today which went super smoothly. It was a really good baptism. Then we planned the day and did studies and calls the DLs. After the baptisms, we had a super good lesson with Alexandra and Francis. They are getting ready to get married so they can get baptised. 

Monday, 16 of February: Super high quality pday. We woke up super early and went to a nice lake, and then we went to Mercadona with the Jaen elderes because they had come to pick up the car. Then we went with the Merrills to the mountains so Elder Cabrera could touch snow. Then we went to the church and hung out till distrito councel. After that, we had a lesson with Luis Reyes. 

First Week in Granada!

Note from Mom: Gabe is finally in Granada! We talked to him on Sunday and he was loving it so far! He said they've been super busy, but that's good! He likes his companion, Elder Cabrera from Brazil, and he said the apartment is pretty nice. He also said the ward is really nice, has a lot of people, and is super supportive of the missionaries. They also share the ward with two other sets of Hermana missionaries! Then, when we were messaging on Monday (P-day) he and Elder Cabrera were walking around sightseeing near the Alhambra. I ended up having to go online and book tickets for him and Elder Cabrera for March 2 because they really wanted to go in, but the internet at the church wasn't working and they couldn't get tickets! So, we will have to see how that all turns out in a month! Hopefully I did it right!

Here are Gabe's notes for the week!

Well it's the first week in Granada and it been super awesome. I took a train then a bus to get here on Tuesday, and we have just been so busy. We have had a lot of lessons but still have managed to find a lot of people on buses because we probably are on busses at least 2 hours every day😭🚌. 

We have a lot of cool amigos though. One of which should get baptised next week. He's an older Spaniard guy named Jose. He talks a lot about a lot of random things, but he's nice. 

My companion is also super good. He's from Brasil and has about 2 months more than me on the mission.

The ward is also awesome and super aligned with missionary work!

Day-by-Day Notes!

Tuesday, 27 of January: Today was super long! We woke up at 5:45 walked to the train station and went to Atocha where I then took a train down to Jaen and then a bus to Granada. When I arrived, we dropped my stuff off at the piso and went to the church were we picked up a young adult guy (Oscar) and we did street contacting with him until our lesson with a mother and daughter that have baptismal dates. After, we street contacted and got kebob with Oscar for dinner. It feels super weird to be in a new zone. 

Wednesday, 28 of January: We had some good street contacting this morning. We have to travel like 30 minutes to get to our area because the area lines are drawn super weird. But we had a lesson with a nice mom and son from Venezuela. After that, we had a super good lesson with a woman named Rebecca. Afterward, we went to the chapel and wrote some people and had a lesson over call which went well. After that, we traveled to a less active guy's house named Luis and taught him and his family. Then we got home and I am still super tired from traveling all day for the transfer. 

Thursday, 29 of January: We had exchanges with the Elders of Fuengirola today which was super good. I was with Elder Salmeron, and we had basically all of our lessons fall through. We did a bunch of street contacting in the rainy weather until we finally had a lesson with Anyoli. It went pretty well, but she wasn't ready quite yet for a baptismal date. A recent convert named Juan José came too which was good. Elder Salmeron has gotten a lot better since we were room mates in Cartagena, and it was a good day. We found a good amount of people.

Friday, 30 of January: Today was crazy busy. We had MLC online until 1:00, and then we took a long bus ride to the house of a member who had her amiga there. We taught them both, and it went super good. The member is named Cielo and the friend is named Paola. They all made us some awesome Venezuelan food. After that, we traveled back to Granada and had a super good visit with a less active guy named Jhoan. It was a very spiritual experience, and he also made us some gas pineapple cremes. Then we went to the capilla because we had institute, which went super good, and we called a lot of Amigos with some members who were there to invite them to church. 

Saturday, 31 of January: We had our weekly AP call and then we had ZLC, which went well. After that, we did street contacting with the goat, Arthur! He's 17 and from Brazil, and it was a great time. In the evening, us 3 went to the house of Alexandra and Francisco. They were being taught by Elder Pires and Elder Incardon a year ago. They were awesome and they accepted a baptismal date for the 22 de February! After that, we went to the chapel and had a good lesson with Albert (amigo with fecha) and Laleshkan (Recent convert). Bro loves smoking though😭. After, I called my Chinese homie and he was lit. 

Sunday, 1 of February: I had my first Sunday at church here and it was awesome! There's so many members. After church, we had the baptism of one of the friends of the hermanas. I had to do the baptismal interview one of the people we are teaching because his baptism is next week. He was kinda crazy😂. But then we visited Ivanna(daughter) and Christina(Mom) who live with other members and have baptismal dates. They are great. After, we basically spent the evening in calls with the DLs and planning.

Monday, 2 of February: First P-day in Granada! (From mom: I actually didn't have notes from Gabe on this day yet, but we chatted throughout the morning and he was touring the sites! Lots of cool pictures!)