Note from mom: I was really glad that when I talked to Gabe today, he said Elder Bright had snapped out of his little quiet funk and was acting like his normal cheerful self again a couple days after they got back home from Valencia. Gabe had said it was pretty tough for those few days when Elder Bright was basically being a mute. Gabe said he had asked him about it, and he just said, "I had a lot on my mind, bro." I am guessing it was just hard for him to be around his mom and his friends and then get back into missionary mode. Anyways, Gabe seems like he's doing well and is overall really enjoying each day on his mission. He likes being social and he got to go to some fun member meals this week. He especially likes this one family where they have a son who is about 10 that speaks English fluently because he "learned it from YouTube." Gabe even uploaded a little video of them hanging out and the boy seemed really funny. Gabe also loved playing "futbol" (soccer) with some member guys and their friends. It seems like the chances are good that Elder Bright may get transferred away from Gabe in about two weeks, which will be sad, but at the same time, maybe it will be a good change. So we are starting to look towards that with a little bit of nervous anticipation (at least, I am), but hopefully it will be ok. Gabe says he still doesn't feel confident in Spanish, but it's getting better all the time (See his "spiritual experience.") Also, we found out that a boy from Rexburg named Rigdon Porter, who plays basketball with Carter, just opened his mission call and it's to Madrid Spain South! Gabe had been telling me how cool he thought it would be if someone from Rexburg got called there, so he was pretty excited to hear that! Maybe someday, they will get to be companions!
Spiritual Experience: This whole week I wasn't excited for the online multi-stake conference because it was going to be in Spanish, so I wasn't even going to get to understand the Ulysses Soares. So I was praying so hard that I would be able to understand. Then when we watched it, I understood practically everything he and the other speakers were saying. I didn't understand every word, but I understood every topic and almost every sentence. His talk was about aligning our will with God's and the impact it can have on our lives. Some days it feels like I'm not progressing and some days I feel great about how fast I'm learning but no matter what, at the end of every day, I know that as I continue to try my hardest my Spanish will be exactly where God needs it to be.
Tuesday, November 5: (Sidenote - In America, Donald Trump was elected to be the 47th president today! Mom was messaging updates all night long as the votes were coming on on the TV.) When we woke up this morning in the hotel I took the best shower of my life. The shower was actually big enough to move in and it was hot. Our shower in our apartment is so tiny and the water heater has been having issues, so this was a nice change! Then we went to the police station and met with Elder Bright's mom. After his appointment, us 3 went to a Mercadona to eat and then 2 of Bright's best friends came and we all chatted until we had to leave to the airport. It was really fun, his friends and mom were really funny. Then we flew back to Madrid and got stuff ready for my appointment tomorrow for residency. The apartment we are in tonight is pretty nice and right across the street from the temple. The church owns it, so missionaries can stay in it whenever they need to.
Wednesday, November 6: When we woke up this morning, we made our way to the police station I had my residency appointment at. The police station was out of the mission in Northern Madrid. It's actually insane how green everything is only 10 minutes out of the mission. The appointment was pretty boring, I handing an officer my stuff (passport, etc.) and after like 5 minutes and quickly taking my finger prints, he said I could come back in like a month to pick up my residency card. After the appointment, we traveled back to Aranjuez and dropped off all our stuff. Then we traveled to Valdemoro and had a lesson with an inactive member named Jhon, who was baptised when he lived in Chile. We had a fun lesson about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon. Then we ended our day with street contacting.
Thursday, November 7: We had another early lesson with Juliana in Valdemoro this morning, the lady from last Wednesday. We taught the Restoration and I think it went pretty well. Then we had my second to last mentoring session over zoom, which is crazy. That means I have only like 2 weeks left of training. After we did street contacting, then had a really good weekly planning session. We are going to try and start doing English classes again, which I'm excited for.
Friday, November 8: This morning we had some studies and then District Counsel. It's always really fun and we had a really good discussion about Elder Christofferson's talk "The Testimony of Jesus Christ". After that we had a member meal with the Sanz family. The dad is the one who baptised Ademir. They're a super fun family to visit. Then we contacted a lot of people online to clean the area book as well as set up the fútbol activity for tomorrow. We also tried to set up English classes, but the bishop didn't answer any calls or texts. Then the day ended with family home evening online with the Obandos.
Saturday, November 9: Today was so fun! After studies, we did street contacting. We stopped at a Muslim store and this lady gave me a discount on a cool robe looking thing. Elder Bright has one too😂. Then we had Fútbol with some guys in the ward and that was so fun. It was us, the old bishop, the Sanz guy and his son, Ademir, and a couple others. They're all so funny and it was such a fun activity. Then we came home and got ready for bed.
Sunday, November 10: We had Multi-stake conference online this morning and Ulysses Soares spoke and it was really cool. Then we did studies and had a super fun member meal with the old bishop. His 10-year-old son speaks English and he says the funniest stuff. Then we came back to our apartment, I called my family from about 6:00pm-8:00pm, and while I was on the phone we got ready to go to Madrid because we have Pday tomorrow and then zone conference the next day. We went to the bus stop and rode the bus to the train station. Then we rode the train to Madrid and got to the apartment by the temple that missionaries can stay at. We stayed the night with a bunch of other Elders, which was super funny.
Monday, November 11: We woke up in the residency Piso with the other Elders and then all went to a Soccer field. We all played soccer for like an hour, and then did football then did sand volleyball. It was so fun. The guys in our zone are so fun. Then we came back to the mission office and hung out and messaged family and chatted. We also got Burger king. I've eaten more Burger King in the past 3 months than in my entire life😂, even though there is a Burger King like two minutes from my house in Rexburg. Then I had my interview with President Obando. It was so good and he gave me such good advice about missionary work. I love the Obandos. Then we all went back to the residency piso and talked and hung out until bed time. It was really fun hanging out with the other elders. Tomorrow, we have our zone conference, so that should be fun too.
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