3 MONTHS! Getting Sick and First Baptism!

Note from mom: First Baptism!!! (This post will cover the last two weeks, plus a few extra days because their P-Day got moved to Wednesday for a temple trip!) Just yesterday, Gabe and Elder Bright had their first baptism together! It was a man named Adamir whose wife is already a member. Gabe and Elder Bright had the interesting experience of filling up a small pool-like font and then emptying it out afterwards into the street! It was a very funny video! ;) Gabe is entering into his second "transfer" (set of 6 weeks) now. I think he's been in Spain with Elder Bright about 8 weeks now at the time of writing this. Every time we talk on Facetime, we can tell that he and Gabe are laughing and joking with each other and seem to have a really fun and "chill" relationship. Gabe talked about some highlights of a few members that seem to have them over for meals regularly. I can't remember all their names, but I swear they all have dogs! I ask, "Is this the little white dog family? Or the black dog family? Or the brown dog family?" He always says how much fun they have talking with members thought at their meals. There's a little bit of a shortage of "amigos" (people they are teaching) at this time! People can be pretty flaky there it seems. He says the Latinos will always be nice and act like they will show up to church or want a second lesson, but then they don't show up or answer phone calls. Gabe said, "Just TELL me straight that you aren't interested so I don't walk all the way over there!" :{ So that's a bit frustrating for him. He also was telling us that Elder Bright was pretty sick this past week, so they stayed home a lot. Then the morning after we talked on Sunday, HE said he woke up feeling like trash. So it's Gabe's first experience being sick without his mom nearby, and I DON'T like it. He told me he was going to be in Madrid at the temple this Wednesday (they switched their P-DAY) so I sent a little care package for him via Amazon Spain that contained a fuzzy blanket, some sore throat lozenges, some vitamin C, and a couple snacks! It's hard knowing your son is sick and not being able to take care of him! :( Also, Gabe made the box of blueberry muffins I sent him in the "Denae" suitcase! He said he had never been so careful making them because he really wanted them to turn out! (I only sent one box.) He said they turned out great and it did make him a little homesick, but they were so good. That's all of my mom notes! Here are his notes for the past two weeks!

Spiritual Experience for mom/book: During our lesson with Roberto on Sunday we taught him with a guy in our ward and his wife. They were both so passionate and had such powerful testimonies. Them helping us teach was so cool and I understood a good amount of it. Then at the end when I bore my testimony I tried to talk more about everything we talked about instead of just the basic memorized testimony. It all came out really well and I was talking pretty fast. I can't wait to continue teaching and improving in spanish. Seeing progress is spanish and teaching is so rewarding and I love it.

Tuesday, October 15: After our studies and a mentoring session this morning, me and Elder Bright went to Valdemoro. We did a lot of passbys and one of the members invited us in and gave us Costco muffins and invited us for a meal tomorrow. So that was a highlight. They were really nice. But after that we just did passbys all evening and then came back to Aranjuez and got ready for bed. When I got to Aranjuez everything was pretty brown and dead. But it's been pretty rainy lately and everything is green, which is really nice.

Wednesday, October 16: This morning we went on a pretty long run then came back and did our studies. We then went to Valdemoro and had a really fun member meal with the family from Tuesday. Every member meal we've had they always ask me how many continents there are. Everyone here says theres 6, because "North America and South America are 1". So then they harass me when I say 7😂. But then we finished all the passbys in Valdemoro and came back to Aranjuez and got ready for bed.

Thursday, October 17: Elder Bright had hopefully the last dentist appointment this morning. Then after we had studies and a really fun member meal. We've had a member meal with them before and today they made some really good food. It looked kinda weird though. We chatted with them and taught them a nice lesson. Member meals are so fun. Then we finished our day with weekly planning. 

Friday, October 18: After our studies this morning we traveled to Toledo and did district counsel. It was so fun. I understood a lot more of the meeting today. Which was really nice. Then we went and got pizza at Papa Johns. District counsel is always so fun. After, we went back to Aranjuez and street contacted for a bit. Then we finished our day with family home evening with the Obandos. The streets today were kinda dead because most people go to Madrid in the evenings to party.

Saturday, October 19: This morning we did studies like always. Then we spend the whole day in Valdemoro. We did street contacting for the whole time and found nobody. Which was not that cool. Valdemoro is a very nice city though, so walking around was kinda fun. Someone got hit by the train in another town. So the train wasn't running. We had to walk to the bus stop, and the bus was too full for us. So we had to take an Uber to Aranjuez. So we didn't get back to our Apartment till 11. But it was still a pretty good day.

Sunday, October 20: I had a really good time at church today. I had some good conversations and I understood a lot more than last week. We also had a lesson with Roberto and a member family helped. Ademir also asked another member if he could baptise him soon. We had a really good member meal and the brother and sister both spoke english and told us a lot about their missions. The food was so good too! The brother is so good at cooking. Then we went back to our apartment and did studies and I called my family. 

Spiritual Experience for Mom: Today, on Wednesday, we had a really good lesson with this inactive member. During the lesson he told us his life story and how he had been struggling with a lot of things. The biggest thing he was struggling with was just feeling and being alone. Then he talked about how he prayed about what he could do to feel less alone and he thought of us. The majority of lesson was just us talked about life and listening to him. After our message he thanked us for meeting and said he would try and come on Sunday. That experience made me so happy because I could see how much us just listening and being there helped him. And I'm so excited to continue to help the people here.

Monday, October 21: Today was pday and it was really nice. We went to Madrid and hung out with a bunch of missionaries and went to Burger King. After, we went to the chapel and played basketball and I got to know some of the new missionaries who got here this last transfer. They all seem pretty cool. One of them is insane at basketball😂. Then we headed back to Aranjuez and did some studies and online contacting.

Tuesday, October 22: On our run this morning we went to this really nice area right outside of Aranjuez. It was so green, it was awesome. After studies and a mentoring session we went to Valdemoro. We had a lesson with a man named Cesar, and that went pretty well. He had us sign the Book of Mormon we gave him and I realized I need a better signature😂. Then we just street contacted for a while and then went home and got ready for bed.

Wednesday, October 23: After studies this morning we did online contacting then went to Valdemoro. We did street contacting for a while. Then we spent awhile trying to find a inactive member we were gonna meet. The directions he gave us were not good, and then we would go to the spot, he would be somewhere else😂. But when we finally found him we had a really good lesson. He was a really cool guy and he spoke english and tagolic so we did the whole lesson in english which was nice. Then we went back to Aranjuez and finished our day.

Thursday, October 24: Today was really boring. Everyone in the misson right now is getting sick and Elder Bright woke up this morning sick. So we stayed inside and contacted online most the day. We did like 2 hours of street contacted at the end of the day though. I studied a crazy amount of Spanish today though. We have a pretty busy day tomorrow though so I really hope he's feeling better by then.

Friday, October 25: Bright was still sick today. We had District counsel and then a member meal in the evening. But he's been really sick. So we'll see how he is tomorrow. I've been fine so far. Just a couple headaches and I've felt really tired. But DC was fun. The member meal was with the old bishop and they made really good empanadas.

Saturday, October 26: Elder Bright was dead again so we were inside the whole day. I studied a lot of spanish, did all my laundry, and did a lot of other random stuff. I'm very excited for church tomorrow. 

Sunday, October 27: Elder Bright was feeling way better today and we had a really fun time at church. We set Ademir's baptism date for Tuesday, I really hope that works out. After church we did our studies and I called my family which was really nice. Then we had a member meal with the Daguimar's. Then we celebrated Mitchell's birthday and his whole family came over to the Daguimar's. And the old bishop's family was there. They're all so funny, they act like little kids. It's the best😂. 

Monday, October 28: I was sick all day. I sleep most the day and I really hope I'm better tomorrow because we have Ademir's baptism.

Tuesday, October 29: I was Feeling a lot better today which was good. All day was basically spent getting stuff ready for Ademir's baptism. We had to call a bunch of people because we don't have a key to the locked closet where the buildable font is. We also couldn't get anyone from the presidency to come so Elder Bright had to preside over the baptism. The actual baptism went really well. I gave a quick 5 minute talk and Ademir's family joined over video call from Peru. After Me, Elder Bright, Ademir, and Francisco(member) went and got kebab. It was a really cool experience and seeing the joy that Ademir and his family had was amazing. I do miss normal baptismal fonts though😂.

Special Delivery to Spain!

Note from mom: Prayers were answered this week! :) First off, I sent this suitcase full of treats and Christmas stuff to Gabe with my friend Denae, who hand delivered it to Gabe at his apartment on Sunday, October 13th! Then she and David went to church in his ward! Isn't that awesome! But the reasons I say prayers were answered this week are: 1) Gabe found out he is staying with Elder Bright in Aranjuez for the next 6 weeks! (He is not getting transferred.) This is good because he really likes it there, he's getting to know the members, and he won't have to try and carry all this food I just sent to a new location next week! :) 2) It seems that Sophia and Gabe are DUNZO. Gabe is fine with it, and I'm very happy about it. ;) Sorry Sophia is you ever read this. :{ But now he can just focus on his mission and not be thinking about that! Anyways! Our P-day chat with Gabe was on Sunday and he's still doing well. He still doesn't feel confident with Spanish, but he and Elder Bright seem to kid around and have lots of fun, and he was really excited to get a suitcase full of Ramen and Halloween candy! haha I also sent him some Christmas stuff, but he isn't allowed to open that until December! Here are his pictures and his update email!

Spiritual Experience for Mom/book:

On Sunday when we had the member meal with Andrew and his family and we spent the whole time just dying of laughter with the dad(Andrew). After, the wife texted and thanked us for coming, because of how much fun we were having with her husband. She was just so happy we all were having such a fun time and said it made her week. Being able to connect with people like we did today makes me so happy, and I love having a fun time with the people here. I know that we can bring joy to the lives of the people here by having genuine connections with them. I can't wait to continue to help and brighten the lives of the people here and I know as we are kind and genuine we will draw others to the Savior.

Tuesday, October 8: We had study time and a mentoring session today online, so not too exciting. We went to Valdemoro and had a lesson with Hector and it went really well. He was so interested in the Book of Mormon and start reading the introduction while we were still there😂. He said he really wants to learn more about Jesus. Then we did passbys for a while in Valdemoro. (This is where we visit members that are on the church records in our area, but who haven't come to church in a while.) Nobody answered except for 1 guy. He said never to talk to him again. But someone has to clean the area book I guess. It was still a really good day because of Hector though. 

Wednesday, October 9: Today was pretty normal, we studied in the morning and then did some contacting and passbys in the Aranjuez. We stopped by a lot of houses and practically everyone didn't answer or doesn't live there anymore. We've been going around a lot lately and checking in on members who haven't came to church in a long time to "clean" the area book. But while we do that we also just do normal street contacting. We visited Rene(the old member) and I practiced the restoration on him which was fun. 

Thursday, October 10: After our morning studies today we had we had a mentoring session. They're always pretty funny because Elder Bright always tunes out during them without even trying. Then when she asks questions he panics and sayes the stupidest stuff😂. We went to Ciempozuelos and did passbys and every house we went to the person didn't live there anymore. We went home and had a really good lesson over call with a woman named Quelina, and a member helped us. Then before bed, me and Bright did a lot of ukulele, guitar, and really bad singing😂.

Friday, October 11: We did a lot of contacting online this morning and then had district counsel. We also got our transfer calls today!! Me and Elder Bright are staying in Aranjuez! I'm pretty happy about that because I really like Aranjuez and I'm finally getting to know a lot of the members. Our whole district is staying the same, except 1 sister is leaving. We all got burger king after district counsel which was fun. Then we did studies and Elder Bright had baptisms interviews so I got extra time to study spanish, which I definitely needed😂. 

Saturday, October 12: We had a good lesson this morning with a woman named Nellita which was fun. Then we did our studies and went to Ciempozuelos. We finished visited all the member there. Only 2 answered, and one didn't live there anymore and when we called she only spoke Chinese😂. The other family was active and offered to drive us to the train station after we had a lesson over call with one of our recent converts. We had the call in a McDonald's and then the member family drove us to the train station. It rained a lot today. I'm really glad my mom made me take an Umbrella😂.

Sunday, October 13: Today was really nice. We had church this morning and it was great. My neighbors from Summerfield (Denae and David Love) were visiting Spain and that was fun because I saw them at church and they gave me some stuff my mom sent from America. There was a lot of Halloween candy, some Ramen, and some stuff for Christmas that I'm not allowed to open yet! On Sunday night, me and Elder Bright the funniest member meal I've had yet. Me and Elder Bright talked to the dad the whole time in Spanish and English and it was just so fun. We were just joking around most the meal, which was really nice. Then me and Elder Bright did our studies and got ready for bed. I also put away all the stuff my mom sent me and called home. Getting the stuff from my mom and calling home made my week. Thanks Mom!!

Monday, October 14: Me and Elder Bright went to Madrid like always and meet up with the Hermanas in our district. We went to Taco bell which was pretty good. All the fast food restaurants look super fancy in Madrid. Like even the McDonald's looks cool😂. After that though, we went to some stores and looked around. Elder Bright bought some pants at a thrift store for 3 Euros each! haha Then we went to the temple area and we hung out with the zone and played Volleyball which was super fun. Afterward, me and Elder Bright traveled back to Aranjuez and studied and got ready for bed.

General Conference and Zone P-DAY in Ciudad Real

Note from mom: This blog post is going to cover two weeks instead of one because I forgot to update it last week! :{ Gabe is doing well still with Elder Bright, and he's hoping not to get transferred this next week. It's kind of crazy that he's already been there in Spain for almost six weeks now! Initially, they had told him he would be with the same companion for at least the first two transfers, but on the most recent phone call he was saying there's a chance he would get transferred. I hope he doesn't because I just sent a big suitcase full of snacks and Christmas stuff with my friend, Denae, who just so happens to be traveling to right where Gabe is in Spain this coming week! She served her mission there about ten years ago, and she and her husband are spending two weeks traveling around southern Spain! She was so kind to offer to take a suitcase of goodies I packed to Gabe! So if he DOES get transferred, he's going to have fun carrying around all that Halloween candy and Christmas stuff! Anyways, it seems like he's doing well though and he enjoyed watching General Conference this week and spending time with everyone on his P-days!

(Gabe's Note to Just Mom:) How I'm feeling about being here:

I feel about the same with my Spanish skills as I did last week, which is bad😂. But I've felt a little more useful this week because I've been messaging people using Google translate. So that's been fun. Me and Elder Bright have been really having fun together lately which is nice. Sometimes I think he's bipolar, sometimes he doesn't stop talking and then sometimes he doesn't speak for like 3 hours. When I ask why he's just like "I got nothing on my mind" or " I'm just chillin bro"😂. But I'm having fun and feel pretty used to everything. Including not understanding almost all the conversations we have😂. I'm mostly just trying to be patient and work really hard at spanish. 

Tuesday, September 24 - Our P-day got switched to Tuesday this week. We were already in Madrid because we came the night before so we didn't have to travel in the morning, which was nice. After we all got ready, the group that we all stayed with in the apartment, went over to the temple. We only had baptisms scheduled. But it was really cool. The font in the Madrid temple is so big. After doing baptisms, we did a little testimony meeting with our zone. It was really nice and I understood some of it😂. Then a group of us went to Dominos again. It was really fun, we all just talked and ate pizza for a while, and also messaged family. Me and Elder Bright had to hurry back to Aranjuez after because he had a dentist appointment. It went well, but they didn't finish his teeth though, so we have to go back on October 4. After we stopped at the store and got food then went back to the apartment. I just studied spanish and Elder Bright went to bed early because of his mouth.

Wednesday, September 25 - We went to the top of the hill that overlooks the city this morning. This time we actually took pictures though. We studied and then had a really fun member meal. The food was so good. The members are this older couple and they have this younger guy staying with them who isn't a member named Roberto. I'm not sure why he's living with them, because I don't think they're related and Bright had no idea. But we had a long discussion with the guy about church doctrine topics and then invited him to church. He's trying to relearn/practice English for his job, so we had the whole conversation in English. He also was excited to just talk in English and said he would come play Soccer on Saturday just to continue practicing English. Then this really nice lady in the ward who always gives us food, gave us food again. Which is always awesome. Then we finished our day with street contacting in Aranjuez, and found no one. 

Thursday, September 26 - Today was a pretty normal day, woke up, exercised, studied and I practiced some lessons on Elder Bright. We had a member meal for lunch which was funny. The guy was telling us crazy stories about his mission in Columbia. They gave us this Peruvian food that was pretty good. It was basically just lettuce, potato, and some really weird-looking brown sauce😂. After that, we came back to the apartment and studied and did weekly planning. I've been doing more online messaging people lately which has been funny. I'll just sit there trying so hard to think of messages I can send to start conversations with people we're teaching😂. Some people are so random. We asked this one guy if he'd come to church and he replied with a video of him next to a really expensive white piano. But then we ended our day with street-contacting in Aranjuez.

Friday, September 27 - We studied and worked out this morning and then had district council in person here in Aranjuez. It was pretty fun and after we all went and got burgers from this place pretty close to our apartment called Restaurante Robert. After we went to Valdemoro and spent the rest of the day street contacting. It was pretty boring to be completely honest. There weren't a lot of people outside and everyone was uninterested. The one couple we found that was interested lived in another area so we could only give their number to the other missionaries. Then we came back to Aranjuez and had family home evening with the Obando's (mission president and his wife) and the rest of the mission over zoom.

Saturday, September 28 - We started our day street contacting in a small town in between Aranjuez and Valdemoro called Ciempozuelos. There was actually nobody on the street. And we don't knock doors here because they'll call the cops😂. Then we came back to Aranjuez and had breakfast and studied. We were supposed to have soccer tonight and people said they would be late, but then nobody came. Me and Elder Bright just 1v1 each other. He was literally a pro player in Spain and I got destroyed, it was 3 to 43. It was crazy. Then we came back to the apartment and had dinner. 

Sunday, September 29 - Today was a pretty good Sunday. Church was fun, and Roberto came which is awesome and he said he really enjoyed it. Also, he got along really well with other members. Me and Elder Bright spent awhile after church talking to some crazy rich, old ladies who were traveling around the world. They are from New Zealand and they were really fun to talk to. We had dinner with the Daguimar's (the big family we ate with last Sunday that made fun of me for being from Idaho😂). It was super fun and they had some relatives visiting and they were really funny. After we came back to the apartment and I scrambled to plan the day on Tuesday because I have a zone leader coming to work with me. We're doing exchanges on Monday night and all of Tuesday and we usually do those in Madrid. So we had nothing planned on Tuesday. But for some reason only Bright is going to Madrid and I'm gonna be here in Aranjuez with the one of the Zone Leaders. So I planned Tuesday and made an appointment with an inactive member. So hopefully that goes well😂.

Monday, September 30 - Today was really fun. Me and Elder Bright had haircuts in Valdemoro early. I couldn't explain what I wanted very well and ended up shaved bald on the sides of my head. We went to Madrid after and went shopping with some other Elders. Then I called my family and we started exchanges. I'm with one of the zone leaders, Elder Tomsen. He's a pretty cool guy and we got 2 really good references when he got here. One's a family of 4! And we ran into a less active member on the train who we talked to and wants us to come over sometime this week. Then we had a lesson over phone call with one of his friends and it was really fun. Exchanges so far have been really fun and we've had a lot work tonight which has been great.

Tuesday, October 1- Today I was with Elder Tomsen for exchanges and it was awesome. During daily planning I randomly remembered Vicente (a Jehovah's witness guy that knocked on the church door and then never messaged us back) I said we should call him. He said he wanted to meet at noon and we had an amazing lesson with him. He loved everything we said about the Restoration and we gave him a Book of Mormon. That made my entire day. Then we ate lunch and did our studies and went back up to Madrid. Elder Bright was given the stats of our area during exchanges so we had a really good meeting tonight about what we need to work on and switched some things so we can hopefully start getting more lessons with friends and members. Overall, this was a really good day.

Wednesday, October 2 - We did some online contacting this morning and went on a crazy run that I almost died on. I was so tired because it was all uphill. We spent most of the evening with this really nice couple. They gave us lunch and dinner which was awesome. We had a really good time with them and we taught them a really good lesson. We had them do a video call with us and a person we're teaching. I also taught the wife how to pray in English which was fun. Even though my Spanish isn't that good I had some good conversations which was really cool. Getting to know the members has been an amazing experience.

Thursday, October 3 - We did a bunch of online contacting this morning which was kinda fun😂. We then had a lesson over phone call that was more of just a check-in to see how they were doing. We also had a lesson with Ademir, a guy whose wife is a member already and we have been trying to get him baptized. We rescheduled the baptism to October 19 because we were going to do it this week but it's general conference. And next week we're going to announce it to the ward so people will come. So hopefully I don't get transferred to a different area before his baptism. We get our transfer calls on next Friday I think. While in training, you usually don't get transferred to another area with a new trainer but it's not unheard of.

Friday, October 4 - We had District Council over call this morning which is always funny. We did a bit of contacting online before going to Elder Bright's dentist appointment. He's got a lot of teeth problems, so we'll probably have other appointments. Afterward, we did our studies and then ended our day with a lesson with a reference we got at the beginning of the week. She seems super nice and we also had a member named Evelyn come. Evelyn, her fiance, and her dad help all the time with lessons and Evelyn tries to help me with my Spanish at church. She had to learn English for her mission so I think she feels bad for me when she sees me not able to speak Spanish well😂.

Saturday, October 5 - We had 2 lessons scheduled for today, but they both canceled. We did our studies and then we met with Evelyn and she gave me some more study materials. We also did passbys and nobody answered the door. We had the first session of general conference at 6:00pm and we road up to Madrid because Ademir said he would come, but he unfortunately left after like 3 minutes😂. But later he messaged us and said he was watching from home and enjoying. So after the session, we traveled back to Aranjuez and stayed up and watched the second session till 12 (midnight). So far conference has been really good. I've definitely never focused more on conference than today😂.

Sunday, October 6 - We had a pretty full day today which is uncommon but it was awesome. We met with the reference we got on Tuesday (the family of 4) and the lady's cousin. Jhon, Dolli, and Jefferson(cousin) really liked the Restoration and they are excited for church next week because we have members who are from Peru like them. We had lunch with Bishop Rodrigues and his wife and we had a lot of fun conversations. They're both in their 20's and then Sister Rodrigues made really good ribs for dinner. After that we had a lesson with Vicente (the Jehovah's witness guy that we met with and taught a lesson to previously this week). It didn't go that well😂. He kept saying he didn't need anything more than the bible and he wouldn't even read the Book of Mormon. After that, we watched both sessions of conference. Conference was so good and I can't wait to read them on the app. We have to get up early tomorrow for Zone Pday in Ciudad Real, but it's going to be really fun.

Monday, October 7: Today we had a zone pday in Ciudad Real and it was really fun. We took a bullet train from Madrid which was super cool. When we got there, we went to the chapel and met with the zone. Then we went and contacted for like 2 hours and then had a really good lunch, made by one of the senior missionaries. It was like a buffet of build-your-own burritos. Afterward, we went and played lazer tag which was super funny. Some of the missionaries were playing like their lives depended on it😂. After that, we all rode a bullet train to Madrid and just talked. I called my mom and my dad during the end of this day because we had been too busy to call on Sunday because of general conference. We had good phone chats as I rode the train back home. Overall, it was a super fun Pday and I always love seeing new towns.