The Week Before Christmas

Note from mom: We talked to Gabe this week on Christmas Eve day and then the next day on Christmas as well (but the cut off for this update is December 24h, so I'll try not to talk about his Christmas day!) He and Elder Olson seem to be doing well. They enjoyed getting the 12 Days of Christmas gifts and opening a little present each day leading up to Christmas. The highlight of this week seemed to be on the 24th when they got to go to Madrid and have some Christmas festivities with some other missionaries. They made gingerbread houses and watched a Christmas movie and got some good food. As a mom, it's sad having Gabe not be here for Christmas, but hopefully he wasn't missing us too much! In a strange turn of events, we ran into Sophia's family ice skating on Christmas Eve day, and I chatted briefly with her mom. She told me that Sophia's brother, who recently returned home from his mission, told her that his two favorite Christmases he's ever had were on his mission. I told that to Gabe and he was like, "Nah... he's crazy..." so I don't think Gabe will ever yearn for Christmas on his mission someday! 

Here are Gabe's notes!

Spiritual Experience: During our meal with Daguimars, we showed them a video about patience and the blessings we can receive when we have trust in God. The Mom started crying and talking about some of her trials she's been having, but how she's still just trying to be faithful and patient. I know patience is one of the hardest things we can be asked to practice. But when we trust the Lord's plan and timing, patience will come naturally as we embrace whatever God has planned for our lives. 

Tuesday, December 17: We spent all day getting my residency card in Northern Madrid. It was pretty fun and it was cool to see all the green trees and grass. Once we got back, the Ciudad Real Elders drove up and we switched companions for exchanges. Elder Price stayed here with me, and his companion and Olson went to Ciudad Real. This is Price's 3rd week here and he's being trained. We chatted for a bit and he seems pretty cool. He speaks no Spanish, so we will see how tomorrow goes.

Wednesday, December 18: Today was a pretty normal day, but it was so fun. I showed Price some of the cool areas of Aranjuez during street contacting. Then we did our studies and ate Dominos. We did more street contacting, and then we had a lesson with Vanessa and it went pretty good actually. We were talking the entire time constantly and Price is literally me when I first got here. It was actually hilarious. Everything he said I was just thinking "I said/did the exact same thing a couple months ago." I feel like I should thank Elder Bright, because his trainer is not close to being as good as Elder Bright so I hope things get better for him. But it was a really fun day.

Thursday, December 19: Today was pretty normal. We did a lot of street contacting and that was funny. This old lady told me and Olson we were "guapísimos" then when we tried to give her a card she basically ran away. We had a lesson planned with Fran and his wife but they canceled and said something happened with the Police😬. We had English practice with Roberto and that's always funny. 

Friday, December 20: We had District Counsel this morning which was really fun. Then we had two lessons over video call. One was with Ademir, the recent convert I baptized with Elder Bright, and one was with a man named Henry. He just wanted to read out of the Bible then when we started to talk about the Book of Mormon he said we could call him on the 26th to talk about that. So hopefully that goes well. We did street contacting the rest of the night which was pretty fun. Then we had online Family home evening with the whole mission.

Saturday, December 21: This morning one of our investigators, who is in a pretty bad financial situation, messaged us and said he needed help now getting furniture at a donation center before they gave it to the next people. He needed a car though to transport it. We messaged everyone in the ward and not one person could help. Bishop didn't even respond until late in the evening and he just said "Message Elder's quorum president". So Fran, the investigator, just told us not to worry about it because it's too far on foot. Then we had a Blitz here in Aranjuez and a white elephant gift exchange. Basically every missionary from the zone came here and street contacted for like 2 hours and now we have 50 new people to text, which is awesome. The whole evening, we just messaged people. It was a really fun day with the zone.

Sunday, December 22: We had church this morning and it was crazy how few people where there. The least amount of people I've ever seen in the Aranjuez ward. After  church, we had lunch with the Daguimars, which was super fun like always. We had a lesson right after and missed the bus, so we sprinted to the next bus stop because the bus does a big loop. We barely made it and had a super good lesson with a guy who only spoke English. 

Monday, December 23: We met a cool guy during online contacting and we have lesson with him and his family on Christmas! We also met a cool ice cream shop owner that gave us free Ice cream and said we could stop by whenever and do another lesson. Then we had another lesson with a member who just moved here from Peru and he's awesome. He's been inviting people to church. So today was pretty exciting.

Tuesday, December 24: We went up to Madrid this morning after having a lesson with a really cool Amigo named Fran (not the Fran from before). When we got to Madrid, we hung out with all the other missionaries in the area, and President Obando bought us all really good Empanadas. We had a gingerbread house making contest and I made the tallest one (see pics). We also watched the movie “Christmas Carol” so that was awesome. Then we all sat in different parts of the church and called our families throughout the afternoon. After that, Elder Olson and I rode the train back home to Aranjuez and I made a frozen pizza for my Christmas Eve dinner.

Temple Trip, Ward Party, Daguimar's Dinner

Note from mom: It seems like things are going pretty well with Gabe and Elder Olson. I know at first Gabe was worried that this guy would hardly talk, and I think he was secretly hoping he would only be with him for one transfer. But now that they've been together for about three weeks, it seems like Elder Olson has at least started talking to Gabe more. He still doesn't love to start conversations with new people in public, so Gabe has to do most of that, but I'm thinking President Obando probably put Gabe and him together for that reason. Gabe is really good at making people laugh and bringing people out of their shell, so hopefully Elder Olson will keep getting more brave about talking to people at church and during street contacting. It's starting to get colder in Aranjuez, and Gabe even asked for me to Amazon ship him a beanie! I was kind of laughing because I remember when we were packing his suitcase in July (mostly me) he fought me about even taking a sweater and a pair of sweatpants because he was convinced he would be hot the whole time on his mission! Luckily, I did also sneak in a light puffer coat! I told him he may need to buy one there though!

Also, Gabe and Elder Olson have been opening up the little "12 Days of Christmas" packages that I had sent in the suitcase with Denae. It's been things like popcorn, some sour patch watermelons, gloves, gum, pens, etc. I also shipped him a few gifts via Amazon Spain that he got the day of the Christmas conference (a zip-up sweater, a little Lego set, some slippers, some gummy bears, a couple new ties). I also mailed him our Christmas card, but he said he hasn't gotten it yet! I think cards must take about two weeks! Amazon Spain is the safest way to send things it seems!

Here are Gabe's notes!

Spiritual Experience: I've really been praying for more people to teach lately and on Wednesday I had prayed to know what to do to find people. I couldn't think of anything so I was like, "We can just pass by members houses while doing street contacting." Then at one member's house, Fran was walking down the street and that's how we met him. Then we had a really good lesson with him and his wife on Sunday and we got him help with the bishop, which they really needed because of their house situation. (Note from mom - Apparently these people somehow got "tricked" into renting a place that was actually owned by someone else. I guess Gabe was saying this happens a lot in Spain. So now the people are living there in this place that they've paid for, but they don't have any electricity because they can't legally put it in their name.) But looking back, it was so crazy we found him because even if we would've rung the buzzer, he wouldn't of heard it because they have no power. I know God made everything timed perfectly so that we would get there right as he was walking away from his house. Because we met him, his family is getting them help for their immediate needs and they're also coming to church and taking lessons from us.

Tuesday, December 10: Today after we woke up, we had breakfast in the chapel, then a temple trip and we did endowments which was super nice. Then we had lunch and all just talked for a while. It was super funny meeting everyone in the mission (every single missionary in the Spain Madrid South mission was there) and it was so fun to talk to everyone. After that, we came back to Aranjuez and had a member lesson/board game time with a less active member. It was super fun playing a card game with him. Then we finished our day with language study.

Wednesday, December 11: Today wasn't too exciting. We did some street contacting and talked to a lady that basically was just begging for cigarettes for like 5 minutes because she thought I was a Jehovah's Witness because I was wearing a blue shirt. And apparently the Jehovah's Witnesses give her money sometimes. We also had an English class with just Roberto. It was basically just us talking in English and then talking about Baptism. He said "I'll have my answer by 2 weeks" so we'll see how that goes. 

Thursday, December 12: Today was pretty boring. We did our studies and weekly planning then we did street contacting for awhile because our lesson canceled. We talked to a lot of people but no one was interested unfortunately. We had some funny conversations though which was fun. 

Friday, December 13: We had district council today, and then went to Dominos for lunch. It was the first in-person district counsel with everyone new (some new missionaries had arrived on the last transfer around Thanksgiving) and it was kinda weird, but it was still pretty fun. Both lessons we had today canceled so we did street contacting most of the evening. Because Elder Olson won't start and conversations, the system we have is, I start all the conversations and stop people on the street. Then I talk for as long as possible, and then he steps in. It worked pretty well today and we talked to a lot of people. Two of the guys seemed pretty cool and interested in having lessons. One like thirty-year-old lady thought we were flirting with her, and I don't know what she was smoking because we had asked her what her first language was and she said "nothing". Then we baked cookies for the ward dinner tomorrow.

Saturday, December 14: Today was pretty crazy. We had the ward party and we had 1 family and 2 of our amigos come. Then we had like 5 families we had to talk to. The lessons were with Mateo and Roldofo. Mateos was really good and he's coming to church tomorrow. Roldofo was drunk and we have a meeting with him on Saturday. The whole party I was running back and forth around the room chatting with everyone setting up lessons and meetings while Olson chilled with 2 of the Amigos and listened to them chat. He is talking more though, kinda. I was doing pretty good with Spanish and I'm understanding way more now when people speak. Andrew(Nigerian guy) said, "Every time I look at you, you're somewhere else talking to someone new, it's like your teleporting, where is your companion?😂😭." The food was good, but it was cold by the time I finally got to eat. It went really good though and I really enjoyed it. 

Sunday, December 15: We had Mateo and the Fran family come to church today and it was super cool. We had a lesson with Mateo first and it went really well. Then we had a lesson with Fran and his wife. We actually meet them the other day when we were passing be a members house who had moved. They are super cool and said they're going to come to church every Sunday. Then we had a meal with the Daguimar's and Fran and his wife came. The Daguimar's are so fun and she made really good lasagna, so it was an awesome meal. (note: Their dog is the little white dog that's always dressed up in some fancy clothes!) Then we came back to the apartment and did some online contacting and I got to call my family.

Monday, December 16: Today we got groceries and went up to Madrid. We played pickleball at the chapel then all went and got lunch which was super fun. Then Me, Olson, Bohn and Page walked around different stores and just chatted. (Note: The picture of the big shopping mall is a store called Primark - which Gabe says we have to visit when we go there!) It was really fun. Then afterward, we got back on the train towards Aranjuez. This random guy (an inactive member) then came up to me a said I was being a "Mal representante" of the church because he thought I was making fun of a homeless lady begging for money on the train (Elder Olson was quizzing me on what she was saying in Spanish, and I was quietly translating into English). He didn’t speak English very well. We talked to him for like an hour and a half and tried to explain that we weren't making fun of her. He said he's inactive because he felt like he was being misjudged at church (which is ironic, because he had misjudged me). Then we went home.

Street Contacting, Getting to Know Elder Olson, and a Christmas Conference in Madrid

Note from mom: Today (December 9th) was the day that President Obando had emailed all the parents about over a month ago and told us to have any Christmas packages delivered to the mission office by today because every single missionary in the mission would be there for a Christmas conference. It sounds like this is a big conference they do once a year where they bring in EVERY missionary and they even have to put some of them in hotels for the night because there isn't enough room for them all to stay at the mission apartments by the temple. So, even though I had sent those 12 Days of Christmas gifts with Denae back in October (and some other things) of COURSE I had to send a few more things to the mission office so he wouldn't feel left out when everyone else was getting packages! So I sent him a pair of slippers, a sweater, a little Lego set, some shoe insoles, and some gummy bears. 

It sounds like Gabe was having a fun time when we were talking on the phone and he was out on the town in the evening with a bunch of other missionaries, including Elder Bright, seeing the Christmas lights in a city called Sol. We asked him if Elder Olson was talking more, and he said he was starting to warm up a little more and talk to him more, but that he (Gabe) still has to do most of the talking to other people at church and during street contacting. Gabe also found out that because of the transfer changes, it sounds like everyone will be staying where they are at until February 14th! We asked him if he was okay with staying in Aranjuez for that long (and with Elder Olson) and he said he was, so hopefully that feeling continues! 

Here are Gabe's notes!

Spiritual Experience: During my personal study I've been seeing progress with reading the Book of Mormon, and it's been really cool to see how verses in the Spanish are easier to understand than the English version. Just because the words feel less complex. Some versus have vocabulary I've never seen before. But most the time when I know the words it's easier to understand the meanings of the scriptures. The gift of tongues is definitely carrying my reading skills.

Tuesday, December 3: We had the 12-week zoom call this morning which was crazy because I'm not in training anymore. I definitely feel like my Spanish is still in the training section of my mission though. We did a lot of contacting over Whatsapp today and also had 2 nice lessons over video call. I really wanna meet with one of the ladies in person because she gets distracted so easily by stuff in her house. We also made cookies because one of our lessons canceled and then we gave one of the plates to the Sanz family. Olson has been more talkative today. This morning I was annoyed with him, but he's been talking more and we've had a pretty good day. I've still had to do most the talking though.

Wednesday, December 4: Today we had a lesson with Ademir about temples and the plan of salvation which was awesome. Me and Olson did like 4 hours of street contacting too, which was cool because tonight there was a big party in the plaza so there were a lot of people outside. Olson doesn't start many conversations so It was mostly me talking to people. It went pretty well and we got a few numbers. We also spent like 5 minutes listening to a guy who was trying to get us to switch to Islam, so that was interesting😂. We then ended our night with a good meeting over video call with our ward mission leader.

Thursday, December 5: We did some online contacting this morning next the the plaza which was fun. We reached out to all of our recent converts, but they all live in small towns that would take like a days journey to get to. We went to Ciempozuelos for street contacting, which went pretty well. We met a really nice deaf guy that we talked to using the notes app on our phone. He might come on Sunday. When we got back to Aranjuez we had weekly planning.

Friday, December 6: Today we had District Counsel for the first time in person and it was super fun. We also got "transfer calls". Even though the last transfer was 2 weeks ago the next group goes home this week so they can be home for Christmas. So some people had to get moved around. Also because it's Christmas we aren't getting new missionaries till February. So they aren’t going to move anyone until February🤯. So I'll be in Aranjuez for close to 6 months, which is kinda insane. But I still like Aranjuez so I'm fine with that. Because it's Friday night, everyone was partying except the old Spanish men. So no potential baptisms today😔. The best quote from one of them was, "I believe in God, but you're too young for me to listen to"💀. I still have to start every conversation during street contacting and plan most things because I'll ask him anything and there's always, no joke, a 5 minute ponder. And then he usually says, "I don't know". He's talking more though, so it's fine.

Saturday, December 7: We did a lot of online contacting in the old king's garden (an area of Aranjuez that's like a big park with ponds and lots of trees) and then we had some studies and street contacting. We had like a 2 hour long lesson with Roberto, the man I met on like the 25th of September (one of my first weeks here). I think he's a little more ready to have lessons now. Then we had a ward family home evening and only like 3 families came, but it was fun. Then we contacted a guy and we talked for literally an hour and a half. He was super drunk so I had no clue what was happening except when he would start calling me a gringo😂.

Sunday, December 8: We had church today which went pretty good. We had another lesson with Roberto and we are going to talk about what day he can be baptised on Wednesday. President Obando showed up at our ward too and we have no idea why. So that was crazy. Then we did street contacting in Valdemoro which was fun. Not a lot of people but Olson was talking more and we were having a good time. 

Monday, December 9: This morning we traveled up to Madrid for the Christmas conference and it was so fun. They gave us breakfast at the mission office/church. Then we had the conference and heard different talks from the missionaries leaving tomorrow and from President. (A good number of missionaries are leaving a few weeks early so they can get home before Christmas.) I understood most of it which was nice. I'm to the point where I can understand, but I just have to really focus. So once I can understand without trying that'll be awesome. Then we went to Sol and looked at all the Christmas lights. They also had a huge Christmas tree. Then went to stay at a hotel in Madrid with lots of other elders because tomorrow we have breakfast again at the mission office/church and then we have a temple trip in the morning. Elder Olson and I will head back to Aranjuez in the afternoon after the temple.

Thanksgiving! Goodbye to Elder Bright and Hello Elder Olson

Note from mom: This week was Thanksgiving, so it was Gabe's first big holiday away from home (not counting Halloween, which they don't really celebrate much in Spain.) I was so grateful to hear that the senior missionaries hosted all of Gabe's zone for Thanksgiving dinner at the church/mission office. It looked like a great traditional meal with turkey, potatoes, rolls, cranberries, etc and I was glad he was with lots of other elders because his new companion, Elder Olson, is so quiet. I was happy he wasn't just sitting in his apartment with a mute companion, eating cereal on Thanksgiving. That would've made me feel really sad. So, Gabe had to say goodbye to Elder Bright at the beginning of this week, two days before Thanksgiving, which was sad. But he gave the Christmas stocking (that I had prepared and sent over with Denae) to Elder Bright and he was happy to take it along with him. Gabe said he didn't have room in his suitcase, so he was just carrying it around at the train station. lol He met Elder Olson later that day, and he said the first few days were rough. We were able to talk to him on Thanksgiving, only about two days after he got with Elder Olson, and he was saying it was really hard because he's basically a mute. He is from Virginia, so he speaks English, and he has been out for over a year, so he also knows Spanish. He just seems very shy. We told Gabe to just keep being friendly and he will probably talk more. If anything, maybe this will be a reason for Gabe to learn Spanish faster because he will have to do most of the talking on the streets to people! I think it will all be ok, but it will just take time. We are still kind of thinking Gabe may only be in Aranjuez about five more weeks (this one transfer) but who knows! For sure he will be in Aranjuez with Elder Olson until January though! Hopefully, they get adjusted to each other quickly. 

Here are Gabe's notes!

Spiritual Experience: For the spiritual experience I thought I should talk a little more about the member meal with the Sanz family we had on Sunday. I've been praying so much lately I could start to see and progress faster in Spanish because of how quiet Elder Olson is meaning I have to talk alot more. Then today, at this meal with the Sanz family I was understanding the entire conversation and was able to talk about what I wanted to and also start conversations. Even though I'm still very bad at spanish, the progress I felt today was amazing and I know God is going to continue to help me as I continue to try my hardest to help the people here.

Tuesday, November 26: We dropped Elder Bright off at the train station in Madrid and said our final goodbyes! :( Then I just had random companions the whole day until Elder Broadbend got to the office. Then we just street contacted for fun for like 2 hours. Then my new companion got forgot at the train station. So I got driven there at about 8:30pm and we traveled back to our apartment. His name is Elder Olson. He seems very quiet. So we didn't talk much before bed.

Wednesday, November 27: This morning we did some studies and some video calls for the goals for the month. Then we did some studies and helped the Sanz daughter set up for her wedding in the chapel. We had English class tonight which I was excited for, but no one came. Francisco (a member of the ward) stopped by to help with English class and pretended to be homeless and scared Olson which was funny. Then we came back to the apartment and cleaned our area book. He was slightly more talkative tonight, but I still feel like we don't speak at all. I came into the living room this morning and he was just staring at the wall. 

Thursday, November 28 (Thanksgiving) : We did weekly planning and some studies this morning and then got to call our families for Thanksgiving which was awesome. It was about 2:00pm our time, so it was 6:00am Idaho time. Then we had Thanksgiving dinner in Madrid. The senior missionaries made it all. It was like a real Thanksgiving with turkey, rolls, and everything. It was so nice. We had a really good devotional after too about communicating with God during our prayers.

Friday, November 29: This morning I messaged so many people on WhatsApp. Olson doesn't know everyone yet so he basically just watches me for 45 minutes when we do contacting online. We had District Counsel over videocall and that was pretty fun. We had a lesson with the old (somewhat crazy) member, Rene, then we had another lesson with Osmany. He's loving everything we teach him and I'm so excited for his baptism. Then after we had our lesson with Osmany on the other side of the chapel, we said hi to the everyone who there for the wedding. The guy marrying the Sanz daughter is from the UK so I was talking to a bunch of english speakers which was nice. Then we street contacted and had family home evening with the Obando's.

Saturday, November 30: We had a temple trip today planned with the recent convert named Lara. She didn't know how to use metro so we had to meet her at the bus station and go with her to the temple. We barely made it because I was leading both me and Olson because he kinda just stands there in silence. But we made it and the temple was awesome. Lara lost her glasses in the temple but they got found after like 20 minutes. During street contacting Olson just follows where ever I go and when we walked by Mercadona and I started to go in he looked at me like "Nah, where we going?" and I said, "Well there's people in Mercadona" (We had started our fast and I wanted to look at food💀). Then while we were in there I saw this guy and was like "¿Te gustaría una tarjeta de Jesucristo?" and he said, "What?" So I chatted with him in English for like 20 minutes and invited him to church. It was awesome and I think he might come to church tomorrow! We then went and helped the Mom and Dad of the Sanz family clean the wedding mess in the chapel. Today felt so long but it was exciting.

Sunday, December 1: We had church this morning, and it was quite the experience. We had 2 or our friends show up so I was scrambling trying to find members who could come in and help us while also trying to set up meals for the week. The whole time Elder Olson just followed me and would correct my spanish while I was talking to people. I don't mind the correction, I just wish he would try talking to people. I tried to get him to talk to people in the hall but he said, "They all look busy." We ended up having another awesome lesson with Andrew in English and I showed him the Gospel Library app so he could listen to it at his warehouse job. Then we had a lesson with Roberto, the man I met like my 3rd week here we haven't been able to really teach since because he wasn't too interested. But it went well and him and a member really got along so he wants to come to church again. We then had a meal with the Sanz family which was super fun. My Spanish has never been better than during that meal. I was having to do almost all the talking and then the spiritual thought and It wasn't close to perfect but it was the first time I was understanding almost everything which was said. And that family is pretty difficult to understand because the Dad is a native Spaniard and the Mom is from Peru so the spanish is all a little different. But then we had some calls in the evening and I got to call my family for our normal weekly call.

Monday, December 2: We started our Pday with a Mercadona run. Then we went to Madrid and picked up Elder Brights photos that finally got finished. We had dominos for lunch with the Elders in our zone and then went to the chapel for calling families. Me and Elder Olson also got haircuts because we gotta look nice for the Christmas conference. Then we went to Valdemoro for some street contacting and found no one. Then like 5 minutes before leaving I said to a Spaniard lady "¡Buenas noches! ¿Te gustaría una imagen de Jesús?" Then she very quickly said "No" and walked like 5 feet and then called after us "wait do you speak english!" She then jokingly said "You must be from like Wisconsin or something" (super random) and I told her I actually have family there, and we chatting about how she would be intrested in learning more about the church and talking to all the people members in Aranjuez  who are all from different parts of the world. She was named Paloma and we are going to try and set up some lessons with her which could be cool. So it was a pretty good day.