Baptisms, Birthday, and Being Asked to Stay an Extra Week!

Note from Mom: (This post will cover two weeks!) Gabe is still having a great time with Elder Cabrera. Over the past two weeks, they had two baptisms (Amine and Alice), they had a Zone conference, they had a visit and lunch from Hermana Jensen and her parents (she went home at the beginning of March and is now back there visiting her mission already!), and Gabe found out he is "extending" by one week! :(  Sad news for me! I found that info out from some of the Spain moms in the group chat, and then I asked Gabe about it and he hadn't even heard it yet! But then he asked President Obando about it at their zone conference, and I guess they are having all the boys missionaries in Gabe's group stay an extra week. It sounds like now he will be coming home around July 15th (I was expecting him by July 8th!) Soooo that's super depressing for me. I had been really excited to be getting him home for my birthday! 

March 9 - March 16 summary email:

We had 3 exchanges this week which was super fun but kinda tiring. We had the Elders of Aguadulce B, Jaén, and Almería here in Granada. I was with Elder Weggersen🇳🇴, Elder Tellington🇺🇲, and Elder Almieiro🇧🇷. It was a super good week and after meeting with Cristina and her family for the past 2 months Cristina finally accepted a baptismal date. It's been awesome to see her progress. Her niece Ariana will also get baptised with her!

The Baptisms on Sunday went super good! The Elders of Linares also came because they used the baptismal font for a man they baptised. Amine and Alice were great then gave some really great testimonies after. 

Day-by-Day Notes for March 9 - March 16, 2026

Monday, 9 of March: We went to Mercadona this morning and after that, we went to the mall with the hermanas which was chill. We ate KFC which was good, then we all headed to the chapel and hung out till district councel. Then we also drew the lines for the areas and gave the hermanas blessings.

Tuesday, 10 of March: I had exchanges today with Elder Weggersen (the Norwegian) which was fun. He taught me some Norwegian, and I sounded very fluent. We street contacted and ate Dominos with Elder Jara and Elder Cabrera but then it rained so we lost all our lessons but 1 with a guy over video call. Then we had the Book of Mormon class and then street contacted some more. But it was fun being with Weggersen and Jara again.

 

Wednesday, 11 of March: Today I was with Elder Tellington for exchanges. We had the best lesson I've probably ever had with Jose Sanchez today. It was still like 44 minutes but that's a record. Then we street contacted till our lesson with Breena. She's super great and just needs to have some stuff clarified. She already has a testimony she just doesn't realize it. Then we meet with a woman named Lisseth and she basically said "I don't know" to every question so that was annoying. But Tellington is funny and it was fun to be on exchanges with him.

Thursday, 12 of March: We went to Loja today. It's a pueblo 45 minutes away from Granada where a bunch of strong member families live. We visited the Días family. They're from Brasil and it was super good. Then we street contacted and had a lesson with a Brazilian named Leidy. It was all in Portugués but I could understand and respond in spanish because she understood spanish. She accepted a baptismal date for the 12 of April! Then we met with Zacarias and after with Bruno. They were both good but Zacarias definitely seems more promising, even though he didn't understand the restauracion😭.

Friday, 13 of March: We had exchanges today and I was with a different Brazilian named Elder Amieiro. It was pretty good and we found basically no one. But after, we ate Mercadona pizza and we went out with the goat Joshua and found a couple people and then called a bunch of people at the church and hit some more street contacting. 

Saturday, 14 of March: We had a bunch of calla this morning and after we planned zone stuff. Then we had a lesson with Leidy. Portugués immersion again. Then we had english class which is always funny. Then we taught Alberto. He is so close to being baptised. He just needs to quit smoking.

Sunday, 15 of March: We had the Legendary baptisms of Amine and Alice today, which went great. We had first woke up at 5 in the morning to fill the font for elders from Linares. Their cool friend Moises got baptised. Then after church, we had our baptisms. They were both so happy and shared awesome testimonies. Then we visited Selvin in the evening because his phone had broken and we though he died. But he was chilling, just sick.

Monday, 16 of March: We had a fire District councel this morning and then had a lesson with Amine, and Gaby came and helped. It went super good. Then we had a lesson with Cristina, Ivanna and Ariana. And after all this time we finally got Cristina along with Ariana on fecha. She has been so close for awhile and now she's ready. Then we went and visited the foreign exchange girl's family that dad gave us a reference for! So this girl is apparently a foreign exchange student and is living in Rexburg with a family that my dad knows. The dad of that family is a police officer for Rexburg that just started last year. His daughter is in high school and they have an exchange student who just so happens to be from Granada, Spain! My dad was talking to him and I guess the exchange student girl who lives with them has been coming to church in Rexburg a lot and she wanted missionaries to visit her family and talk to them about the church. We had actually wanted to go there to that side of town before, and so it was a coincidence that this address was in that area! Then before we went over there, our member friend, Selvin, came out of nowhere over text and said he was also going there to visit friends. So in the end, we went to the house with Selvin too. The girls' family were super nice and we are meeting with them again on Friday!

March 17 - March 23, 2026

Elder Keller!

Zone conference

My 20th Birthday!

I had some good exchanges with my boy Elder Keller this week. It was super good and we ate at a very high quality rotisserie chicken place. 

Zone conference was super funny as normal and we got to stay in a hotel across from the church which as super nice. I also got a new suit🕴. I translated for the entire conference which was really fun. I liked it but at the end of the 3 hours by brain felt kinda fried. Great conference though. 

I also turned 20 and Venezuelans made me a cake and smashed an egg on my head to bring me good luck!

MLC in Madrid and Exchanges with Aguadulce

Note from Mom: This post will only cover one week! Yay! I'm so on the ball this week! This was officially the first week of Gabe's second "transfer" in Granada. Here are Gabe's notes for the past two weeks!

March 3 - March 9 summary email:

MLC

Aguadulce exchanges

We had MLC this week, which was super good. We traveled up Thursday night but then the meeting went long on Friday so we missed our train and had to leave Saturday morning at 7am🪦😭. But we got to stay in the Dorms with Elder Taylor and Elder Kreipl, who were also up there for the conference. So it was fun.

We also had some super good exchanges with Elder Leonard and Elder Zayas. We got to meet with Amine and he's so ready for his baptism next week. He still wants to confess his sins weekly to the bishop though. Which isn't a bad thing, it's just kinda funny when he goes up to the bishop at church to confess he got mad during the week. He's super elect.

Day-by-Day Notes for March 3 - March 9, 2026

Tuesday, 3 of March: We had hype exchanges today. I was with Elder Leonard who's a goat. He's in his last transfer because he extended. After Pstudy, we went street contacting and we met with Amine which was super nice. He's awesome. (He is getting baptized soon.) Then we ate at Dominos with Elder Cabrera and Elder Zayas. Then we visited Selvin and his girl plus a random Spanish girl. We gave blessings to them and after that, we met with a slightly crazy lady named Magdalena. Then we had a gas lesson with Cristina and Ivanna and Bishop Nefi came with us. To end the day, we met with Jose which was awesome. We just gotta get my boy to church.

Wednesday, 4 of March: We had some hype street contacting this morning with Brigham after our lesson with Miguel. Miguel is super nice and could definitely get baptised eventually. After, we went to Karina and Jean Mark's house and talked to him about coming to church, which went well. After with Neji, he took us to his house and introduced us to his 9-year-old sister named Sophia who wants to be baptised next week🤯. (Vaughn drama). Then we went to the Banks' house to visit them which was super fun. They're a couple from the United states that comes here to Spain every year for a couple of months.

Thursday, 5 of March: The morning was just street contacted until we had a super good lesson with a girl named Breena. She is from North Carolina and is studying here in Spain. She came to church all by herself last Sunday because she had been going in the United States and in a middle eastern country. It was a good lesson, and after, we headed to the train station to go up to Madrid for MLC tomorrow.

Friday, 6 of March: We had a good MLC today and we also got to start the day off with a temple trip. So that was super nice. We ended up staying here in Madrid another night because MLC went long. So we will go back to Granada early tomorrow morning.

Saturday, 7 of March: We had a nice little sleepover with Elder Taylor and Kraple and we all woke up a 5 in the morning to get our trains. When we got to Granada, we went to Laleshka's house with Selvin and had some gas food. Then we journeyed and hiked into the mountains next the the Alhambra. It took like 30 minutes just to find the house of Jose and his kids. (When we found it, it was basically a cave. It was crazy. It was kinda sad. The craziest house I've seen in my mission (delete and ask me about it). Then we went to the church and taught the English class and also had a lesson with Amine. He's super ready for his baptism. Then we went to Neji's house and taught Sophia (the 9-year-old girl). She's super smart and also ready for her baptism. 

Sunday, 8 of March: We started church off strong with 10 people at church which was awesome. I also gave a talk which went super good. I had my Grandma Sue share her conversion story with me via email earlier this week, and I talked a little bit about it in my talk and how it took her seven years to get baptized! Then we ate with the Villamizar family and Sophia and Amine got their baptismal interviews done. Then we called all the DLs. The Hermanas also had the baptism of Samuel today! That was also super nice. Then had a priesthood meeting and the bishop gave 2 of the recent converts the Melchizedek Priesthood, which was fire. Then we had the Consejo de Zona with the Stake patriarch, which was also great!

Visiting the Alhambra and Transfer News!

Note from Mom: This post will cover the past two weeks (weeks 4 and 5 in Granada)! Gabe didn't have much new to report in the way of baptisms, but I know they are busy teaching people all the time. Gabe and his companion, Elder Cabrera, finally got to take the long-awaited trip to the famous Alhambra on their most recent P-day on March 2! I had to get those tickets online a few weeks ago and it was kind of a stressful process that involved getting their passport information and other stuff, so I was relieved that the tickets worked and they got to go visit there and it all went smoothly! 

Gabe also found out recently that he would be staying in Granada for a second transfer! He was really happy about that. It will be Elder Cabrera's last transfer of his mission, and he was hoping to be with him to end his mission. I think there was some slight concern that he (Gabe) would be called to become an AP with Elder Bohn (who he does know and really likes) but he really wanted to stay in Granada instead of being stuck in the office. There's still a chance that could happen in the future, but he was kind of glad to put it off, at least for now, because he really is enjoying being in Granada. He really likes the ward, his companion, the city is beautiful, and they are keeping really busy with lessons and stuff!

Here are Gabe's notes for the past two weeks!

February 17 - February 22 summary email:

Exchanges

Ward split🙏

Amine!

I got to go on 2 Exchanges this week which was super fun! I was with an Elder Koistinen(Finland), Elder Smith(Colorado), and Elder Dougall(Oregon). The Exchanges all went well and we also had a super good lesson with Amine!

This Sunday, the hermanas had 2 baptisms and President Obando came for the ward Councel because the ward will split! The leadership from both wards are super good.

This week we also gave Amine a baptismal date. He stopped us in the street and said he recognized we were missionaries and wanted to say hi. We talk him a little on the street and met with him 1 more time before giving him a date. He used to be Muslim but converted to Christianity a few years ago. Typically, we aren't allowed to teach Muslim people because they can get killed for switching religions, but since he was already a Christian now, it was okay. He loved the Story of the Restoration and we should have his baptism on March 15.  

February 23 - March 2 summary email:

We got transfer calls this week, and I will fortunately be staying another in Granada! This will be Elder Cabrera's last transfer, which is crazy, but things are going great here. Hopefully, in 2 weeks Amine will be getting baptised and right now everything is on track for him.

We will also be going to the Alhambra today which is super nice!  

During the week I had exchanges with Elder Steadman and Elder Zuñiga which was super fun!

Javier and Ariana from Aranjuez went to the temple for their first time!! (Those were two people that I helped teach and baptize in the most recent transfer. I will include a picture of them with Elder Hulterstrom and his companion with them in front of the temple.)

Day-by-Day Notes for February 17 - March 2, 2026

Tuesday, 17 of February: We had a lesson this morning with Jose Sanchez, which was funny as usual. Then we did street contacting, and then went to Luis's house to fix the blinds. Then we street contacted with Jacob until the Book of Mormon class. After that, we street contacted until we did some baptismal interviews for the hermanas. 

Wednesday, 18 of February: Today, we started our journey to Madrid for zone conference. It took 5 hours😭. After, me and Elder Alcazar went street contacting with a super nice member that got baptised by Hermana Telford and Bravo. After that, we had a lesson with a nice little girl and her grandma. The girl had recently been baptised. Afterward, we met with another family who is trying to get married so they can get baptised. It was a good exchange though, and me and Alcazar had a good day.

Thursday, 19 of February: We started out day with the APs with a 3 hour metas call. But it was super good. After, we took a Columbian Elder named Elder González. Then after 6 hours we made it back to Granada and had a super good lesson with Christina and Ivanna. We are with Elder González until tomorrow when his companions will come and pick him up.

Friday, 20 of February: We had exchanges today and Elder Cabrera went with Elder González so I went with Elder Koistinen and Dougall. It went super good, and we found a bunch of people in the morning. Dougall is from Oregon and Koistinen is from Finland. After that, we had a super good lesson with Selvin and Amine. It was a super spiritual lesson and he accepted a baptismal date for next month.

Saturday, 21 of February: Elder Smith and Staker came to Granada for the baptisms of Karina and Jonathon. They don't have a font, so they came here. The baptism was super nice then we ate Dominos, and I was with Elder Smith all day. He's a funny guy, and we had a pretty good exchange. 

Sunday, 22 of February: The Hermanas had their 2 baptisms of Andres y Karina, which was hype. President Obando came because the ward also split which will be interesting. Afterward, we ate with the Villamizar family and then in the evening we took a bus to Malaga.

Monday, 23 of February: P-Day! We woke up early here in Málaga to start off somep P-day adventures! We ran to the church to meet with the hermanas and some members, and then we walked/hiked to a cross on top of a Mountain. It was super fun, and afterward we went back to the piso, we showered, and then walked around town. We got some lunch and then walked up another Mountain. Then we walked around center until me and Cabrera went to Fuengirola to pick up Elder Stedman so me and him could go to the Málaga district councel.

Tuesday, 24 of February: I was with Elder Steadman this morning and we had a video call to start the day with a lady named Ana from Granada. She's nice and would definitely get baptised if she wasn't working interna. After we basically street contacted all day. We found one guy on a bench who was bapstied like 8 years ago but hasn't been in a while. We were on our way to a ward activity and he came with us. It was a good day and the guy is now in contact with the missionaries and might start coming to church. But it was a good day. We took a bus back to Granada to end the day.

Wednesday, 25 of Febrero: I was with Elder Zuñiga today for exchanges and we started with a super hype plan of salvation lesson/invitation to live the Word of Wisdom. Brigham was with us, so it went long, but it was good. After, we ate with the Merrills (senior missionary couple) which was awesome. Super hype food. Then we street contacted with Luis and it was super good! We found 13 people! Then we came back to the piso and it was a good day.

Thursday, 26 of February: We had District councel this morning because we skipped Monday coucel in Granada. It went well beside montril and line glaze. Then we watch the Restoration movie with Jose and the first thing he said was, "but the Chinese were the first people in America." After, we booked it to Selvin's house and he made some gas food. Then we went street contacting with Jacob, which was super good. After, we went to Cristina's house and one of Jacob;s sisters were there (Paula). The lesson was good and after that, we got the Villamizar family tree break down. Then we went with Oscar to help his neighbor, who isn't a member, move some concrete bags. He might come to church and he also gave us some jamon. Super good trade.

Friday, 27 of February: We got transfer calls and we are both staying!!! We had a super good lesson with Amine today as well and he has loved everything we have taught him. Super elect. After, we had an activity and ate with Oscar and his family. They made us Venezuelan Empanadas🙏.

Sunday, 28 of February: We had DLC and a fat phone contacting block because we found a lot of people this week. Then had lunch and Street contacted for a bit until a lesson with Cristina, Ivanna, and Ariana. It went well and we had Moisés with us as well. Then we taught Alberto who is doing great. He will for sure get baptised but he needs to stop smoking.

Sunday - *Gabe didn't have notes for this day, so I will say he probably went to church and then called us in the evening. ;)

Monday, March 2 - (This was Gabe and Elder Cabrera's Alhambra visit! They got there at 11:00am. I know, because I booked their tickets!)  We went to the Alhambra today which was super awesome. It was huga and we spent about 4 hours there, but it was pretty fun to see everything. Overall, it was a hype day just because of the the Alhambra. Then we went to Mercadona for food. Then went with the Hermanas to the train station to say goodbye to Hermana Folda. Rip. Then we had district councel and after that, we went to Luis Reyes' house to give him a blessing.