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 "guapĆsimos" 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 Policeš¬. 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.
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