Note from mom: Our phone call with Gabe was a little bit different this week because we had Grandma Sue and Brayden here visiting us, so they got to chat with him as well! Gabe wanted to call on Monday instead of Sunday because he felt like he would be able to talk to us more, so we waited the extra day and it was worth it! He was busy traveling from Aranjuez (by bus) to Madrid, then he flew from Madrid to Valencia! This little trip was because Elder Bright had to return to his home province in order to renew some sort of residency paperwork. So the mission office coordinated all their flights and travel plans and got them a hotel for the night in Valencia. I was a little worried about them going there because Valencia just had major flooding, but Gabe said they weren't in the areas of southern Valencia that had the flooding. So we talked to him while he was sitting in the airport and then when he arrived in Valencia. We had a lot of time to chat throughout the day and it was fun to Facetime with him with grandma along! He seems to be doing well, but he did mention that sometimes Elder Bright seems to get into little funks and he gets really quiet. That seemed to be the case as they were making their travels. So Gabe was kind of bummed about that. He said he thinks it may be because Elder Bright was going to his hometown and seeing his mom and some friends, but he was feeling homesick and kind of wished he could just stay home. It would be hard to be in your hometown like that and then get back into mission mode. Anyways, here is his update in his own words!
Spiritual Experience for Mom:
On Saturday, when we had that lesson in English that was really nice. I've felt pretty useless since getting here because of my limited Spanish and just getting a nice break where I can teach in English was such a blessing. I was so excited. I already know that nothing will compare to the feeling of finally being able to get to the point were I can teach people comfortably in Spanish.
Thursday, October 31: We had a lesson today at 11 in Valdemoro so after getting ready we traveled to Valdemoro. This lesson was from an online inquiry form that the girl had filled out, asking for more information about the church. The lesson went really well and she seemed pretty sure she was coming to church on Sunday. Then we traveled to a member meal (with a guy named Loan - pronounced "Low-On") and had a really fun lunch and lesson with him and his co-worker who isn't a member. Loan offered to drive us back to our apartment, but he was kinda a bad driver and we got lost a couple times and then got stuck in traffic. So the 30 minute drive took 3 hours. So that was bad. He also kinda kidnapped us and took us to Costco, which is technically outside the mission boundaries, so we couldn't speak of that to anybody, but we made it back to the apartment eventually
. This was also Halloween day, but no one really celebrates it here and the members kind of consider it a satanic holiday... but at least I had some Halloween candy from my mom in that suitcase that Denae brought! ;)
Friday, November 1: After we did our studies, we had district counsel over video call. That was kind of boring. Then we spent a while getting everything figured out for our trip to Valencia. Elder Bright has to go and get his residency renewed, so on Monday we're flying to Valencia for his appointment. Then we spent the evening traveling to Madrid and back because the mission office had my passport and I need that for our flight. The senior mission couple, Hermano and Hermana Reese helped us with paperwork and booking a hotel in Valencia for Monday, and then Hermano Reese gave us a thing of Skippy peanut butter, which is a rarity in Spain!
Saturday, November 2: This morning we did some street contacting and then did our studies. We walked through this huge popup market thing and Elder Bright said everything was probably stolen. So there was some cool stuff. Then we had a lesson with a guy who only spoke English and it was awesome. If I was an English speaking missionary my life would be a lot easier right now. Then we made cookies and went to a member's house. (He was named Roberto and was the member who baptized Adamir on Tuesday. Elder Bright and Roberto were talking about car engines and my vocab is not ready for that, so I chatted with his wife about super random stuff (in Spanish). But the conversation, even though rough at times, was there. So today was pretty good. And they gave us this weird fruit called Grenada. Some of the fruit here I've never seen in my life. (*Note - Mom looked this up later online and Grenada is in fact the Spanish word for Pomegranate... which we do have in America, but I guess Gabe didn't realize we had... lol)
Sunday, November 3: Today we had church and we chatted with a lot of people after which was really fun. After we did some studies and went and had dinner with the Daguimar's. That's always really fun to hang out with them. After dinner, we went and helped take bags of clothes (that the Daguimars wanted to donate) to a University where they collected donations for Valencia. (Valencia had record rains a few days ago and there were flash floods in some parts of the city.) Then we stayed for like 2 hours with the Daguimar's helping sort and pack up clothes at the University. It was very chaotic, but fun. Elders Eldridge and Balser had some travel problems as they were trying to get home tonight and they missed the train they needed, so they stayed the night with us, which was hilarious.
Monday, November 4: Today was a weird day. We spent all morning getting haircuts in Valdemoro. Mine turned out pretty good this time. My mom sent me some pictures from Google yesterday and I just showed the barber the pictures instead of trying to communicate with him what I wanted in Spanish. Then went back to Aranjuez and got ready for our trip to Valencia. We traveled to Madrid by bus and then got Taco Bell and went to the Airport. We basically stood in line for like 2 hours waiting to board, then took the 45-minute flight to Valencia. We are going there to get Elder Bright’s visa renewal. When we got to Valencia we walked to the hotel and ordered Kebab for dinner. I was able to talk to my mom, dad, Caleb, grandma, and Brayden today, which was really fun. Then, we went to bed so we could wake up and get to Elder Bright's appointment in the morning.
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