Baptism of Boyan!

Note from mom: This week Gabe had his first baptism of a person that he actually found and taught and then baptized! His name was Boyan, and he's a single Spaniard guy in his 20s. He got baptized on Saturday, and they also have two more people planning to get baptized next Saturday! Gabe is especially excited about the guy named Smith Gift, who is getting baptized next Saturday. He seems to have a really strong testimony, and is really excited to get baptized. I am trying to get a suitcase prepared this week to send with Alex and Johnny when they go to Spain next week. We are sending Gabe a new suit, some medication for his acne, and a bunch of treats! I wish I could crawl into this suitcase that is no making its SECOND trip to Spain, but oh well... :( 

Here are Gabe's notes for the week of January 21 - January 27!

Spiritual Experience: During this week at the Baptism of Boyan, Smith, Ezequiel (a ward member) and us had a really nice conversation about how loved and accepted Smith has felt in the church with us and some of the members. He's such an awesome guy and it's such a blessing we got to meet him. I am excited about Boyan getting baptized today, and I'm really excited about Smith and Damaris (another lady we have been teaching) getting baptized next weekend.

Tuesday, January 21: Today we had Elder Maile and Elder Price come to Aranjuez for exchanges. I was with Mailie, and we street contacted until lunch, and then us 4 met up and went to Dominos. Afterward, me and Maile did a really good lesson with Roberto (an old guy who likes rugby and learning English from us). He accepted a baptismal date for February! (Hopefully he gets some Word of Wisdom issues figured out by then.) Then we had a lesson with Patrick. Then, Smith came and me and Maile gave him a blessing for health and had a really good lesson. After that we all went back to Piso and had dinner.

Wednesday, January 22: We had a pretty boring morning. But we had member meal with Ivonne. She's can't come to church a lot because she has to work on Sundays, but she's actually hilarious. She calls us "Eldersitos" and says she will feed us whenever we want, and says she can be our "Abuelita" (grandma). We gave her a blessing of health too. After that we had another lesson with Damaris where we just walked around and talked. Afterward, me and Olson just did street contacting. The family we put on date has been ghosting us for like 3 weeks. Whenever we pass by they never answer or say they're busy. So hopefully they change soon. We also have been planning the baptism for Boyan this week, and so far only 1 family in the ward has said they can come on Saturday. So we will see how that goes.

Thursday, January 23: After some studies this morning, we did some street contacting which is always funny in the morning because everyone outside is old Spaniards. Then we had weekly planing and a lesson with Smith in the evening. It went really well, and he's still awesome. While street contacting in the evening, we found 3 different people that we each taught the Restoration too. We also were told none of the counselors in the bishopric could come to the Baptism of Boyan on Saturday, so we will just be doing it with our RCM (ward mission leader). 

Friday, January 24: We had a District counsel today with the sisters in Toledo, which was super fun. Then we had some street contacting and a really good Plan of Salvation lesson with Goovanni. We met him yesterday during street contacting and we taught him the Restoration.

Saturday, January 25: We had the Baptism of Boyan today! It all went pretty smooth. Only about a 7 people turnout but it was good. Smith came and said he was so excited for his baptism. Boyan will be confirmed tomorrow in church, which will be awesome. It was super funny too. Boyan tried flirting with Daguimar (the lady who always has us over for dinner with her teenage kids and their family friends) and then also tried to flirt with her daughters😨 (they are teens). Then Boyan and Smith stayed and helped us clean up, so they're both pretty awesome.

Sunday, January 26: Boyan didn't show up to be confirmed today, which was not fun. Our bishop also got the ward to change the start time to 9 from 10. Which makes zero sense because half the congregation lives out of Aranjuez and will have to wake up crazy early. We also got a new Ward mission leader. (This is kind of a bummer because we really liked the previous guy that was helping us as the mission leader, even though he wasn't officially called.) We had lunch with Damaris (lady we are scheduled to baptize on Saturday) and Ioan and Virinia (a young couple in the ward) because Virinia and Damaris got along really well in Relief Society. So we drove with them to Ioan and Virinia's apartment and had lunch. I also got to call my family and talk for a couple hours, which was super fun.

Monday, Jan 27: Today we had pday up in Madrid, which was pretty fun. We were going to do an escape room but it was out of the mission😔. Then we all got new york style pizza in Sol and all went to the chapel to play card games and call family. It was pretty cool. Then after pday we came back to Aranjuez and had an awesome lesson with Smith about priesthood and specifically the keys and levels of organization of the church. He also threw away all his coffee. Then we came back to the Apartment and messaged people for the baptism.

The Most Success Aranjuez Has Seen in Years!

Note from mom: This is going to cover about two weeks because his P-Days got moved around, and then I was in Wisconsin for about 6 days when he had emailed, so I am a little behind on posting! :{

The good news is...It seems like right after Gabe found out he was NOT getting transferred away from Aranjuez, he was sad for a day, then got up, dusted himself off, and proceeded to have the MOST SUCCESSFUL week he's had thus far on his mission! We talked to him on Sunday, January 12th on the phone, and he was like, "This week has seriously been so crazy!" (in a good way!) So many positive experiences teaching people and committing people to baptism! He said they have to call the mission office and report when they put someone on date for a baptism, and he had just called one day to report a baptism, then he called back the next day to report one, and they were like, "We already got that one... wait... this is a NEW one?!" They couldn't believe they had 3 people commit to baptism in one week! So, I actually made some notes in my phone as Gabe was talking to us, just so I could keep all of their "amigos" (people they are teaching) straight. 

Here are my notes:

Boyan - cool Spaniard guy, in his 20s, single, a student. He has lots of doctrine questions, helped take down the font just to help the other day when a little boy in the ward got baptized. Two missionaries from Madrid had met him on the bus and gave Gabe and Elder Olson his contact info. Met him two weeks ago. He is getting baptized on Jan. 25. They’ve met with him 4-5 times.

Damaris- A lady who went to church for the first time last week (early January) in Madrid. The Hermanas (Maserati and Condi) did a lesson and invited her to be baptized on that first lesson. She lives in Aranjuez, but she got lost on her way to church the first time. Gabe and Elder Olson have now met with her a few times and she is planning to be baptized Jan. 25.

Smith Gift - Single guy, Nigerian (super dark black), about 50, but looks like he’s 34. Some Hermanas from Madrid sent his contact info about two months ago, but he could never meet because he was too busy. Gabe had messaged him in November for the first time, but he always said he was too busy. Today was the first day they met him at church (he came) and they already got him a baptism date because he said, “I know Joseph Smith is a prophet and I want to be baptized.” So he is scheduled to be baptized on Feb. 1.

Juan- in his 20s, super cool, black, it was his first lesson too when they gave him the baptismal date. He saw a YouTube video online and he clicked for more info. The computer system emailed Gabe. So they called him and he agreed to meet with him. He’s from Africa. He is getting baptized in Feb. 1. (Same day as Smith Gift) (UPDATE: Last time Gabe and I talked on Jan. 19, Juan seems to have ghosted them... Darn. We will see if that changes in the future, but I still thought I would include his name here.)

Here are Gabe's notes for the week of January 7 - January 15!

Spiritual Experience: My spiritual thought for this week is just every lesson we've had with Smith Gift. He is genuinely so excited and grateful during and after every lesson. During the Plan of Salvation lesson, Elder Nielson(ZL) said, "I heard you are going to be baptised," and Smith smiled and said, "Yes I am, and HE'S going to do it!" then pointed at me. He's so excited to learn about the gospel and has us send him church talks during the day. Seeing his joy for the gospel and his gratitude for us teaching him has actually been one of the best feelings I've ever had.

Tuesday, January 7: We had a super fun member meal today with Michael and his wife, and then had a really good lesson with Thomas. The lesson with Thomas was about the Plan of Salvation and he loved it. After we had a lesson with a less active member named Jubal and then we went and had a lesson with the man who owns the ice cream shop who said we could stop by whenever we wanted free ice cream. We have still not learned his name😬.

Wednesday, January 8: We had an awesome lesson with Luis (ice cream guy- we learned his name!) today. Then we traveled to Valdemoro and had a lesson with Boyan, a man we have on baptismal date. He always has a lot of deep questions. It started raining, so we had our lesson crowded under me and Elder Olson's umbrellas on a park bench. Then we met with a really nice member from Peru who recently moved here for work. 

Thursday, January 9: We started the day with another lesson with Luis (ice cream shop guy). He is progressing well, but he has a lot of interesting beliefs about priesthood authority. After lunch, we met with a woman from the ward who was really nice. She would've kept us there all day, but we had to leave for a lesson that then ended up canceling after we waited for 15 minutes. We had weekly planning and then ended out day with a Zoom call with the ward mission leader.

Friday, January 10: This morning we had district counsel over video call, and then we went to Valdemoro and street contacted most the day. It was actually one of the most enjoyable days I've ever had doing street contacting. We talked to the one lady on a park bench for an hour about the Restoration because every time we would say something she would go on a really weird rant. Then when we finally finished, we tried to give her a Book of Mormon and she said, "I have my bible and I don't need that," and ran away. But we got her number though and she's willing to meet again. Then we met a women on the street that walked right by us when I said hi and said, "I'm busy, sorry," but then I walked after her and told her we could walk with her while talking. She laughed and said, "What do you want?" after, and we told her we share messages about Jesus Christ. She she stopped walking and said, "Tell me more"🤯(that's never happened before). We had a quick lesson about the Book of Mormon and she said she was actually going to read it🤯. Her name was Ana and she used to be studying to be a monk. Then we missed our train and met another awesome guy named Juan. Then, we ran into a member and got a member meal set up for tomorrow. Then we had an awesome lesson with Roberto where we talked about the importance of the message we share (he's only been meeting to practice English). He's the kind of guy who is really funny and sends us kind of weird text. messages about how he went out drinking the night before, so he may have some Word of Wisdom issues... but we will work on that! So today was really great.

Saturday, January 11: Today was also awesome. We had a crazy good Restoration lesson with a man who came up to us on the train. Then we had another great lesson with Boyan. He's going to be baptised on the 25th of January. Then we had amazing Restoration lesson with a man named Juan, who we met through an online lesson. He wanted to know how we could be forgiven for our sins, so we also talked about the Atonement. We invited him to be baptised and he said yes for the 1st of February! Then some hermanas from Madrid sent us the number of another woman who wanted to be baptized that just moved to Aranjuez. This week has been crazy. 

Sunday, January 12: We had church this morning and it was insane. A man who we were trying to reach out to a month ago named Smith Gift came today for the first time. He got the lessons 20 years ago, but ran away when they tried to baptise him. Then today during our first lesson about the Restoration he testifies he knows Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and that he knows that through prayer. We invited him to be baptized on the 1st of February and he said yes. Then we had another great lesson with Juan about the Plan of Salvation. Then we had a member meal with Ibon and she gave us awesome Peruvian food. Then we went to Smith Gifts address to give him a Book of Mormon, and it was the wrong address. It turned out he actually lived literally like, 2 minutes away from our piso and we had gone really far out of our way for nothing. Oops. We had to walk for an hour back to Aranjuez, but when we had the lesson, he loved it. (Talked with family on phone as he was walking this hour-long walk to find Smith's house.)

Monday, January 13: Today was pretty boring. We did a lot of street contacting in Valdemoro. In the morning, we stopped by the Ice Cream shop and Luis wasn't there, so we had a lesson with his wife about the Restoration. I'm pretty sure she thinks we're crazy. Then in the evening we stopped by and just Luis was there and we did the plan of Salvation lesson which was cool. Besides that, today was normal.

Tuesday, January 14: We started exchanges today and I'm with Elder Nielson in Aranjuez. We had a really good day. We met with Smith again and he asked if I could baptise him. We have to get approval from President because typically they like a member of the ward to do a baptism so they have a connection with someone, but that would be awesome if I could do it. Then we had 2 cool lessons. One with a man named Patrick and another with Roberto. Elder Nielson is really fun and a really good Elder so we had an awesome day.

Wednesday, January 15: Today was basically just a day full of travel. I traveled to Madrid to pick up Elder Olson from doing exchanged. Then we traveled to a member who lived in the middle of nowhere. Then we took a wrong bus and got lost in the middle of nowhere. Then we barely made it back for a lesson in Valdemoro that was actually a member visit of a man from Venezuela. He thought we wouldn't visit if we didn't think he was investigator. He was nice though. 

Here are Gabe's notes for the week of January 16 - January 21!

Spiritual Thought: This week we had a lot of lessons and it's just so awesome to see the change Aranjuez has had since I first got here. I've loved teaching as often as we have and seeing the joy people can have from the gospel is amazing. 

Thursday, January 16: We went up to Madrid early for P-day, which was fun. We met with the temple zone and we played kickball. It was Castile De La Mancha zone vs. Templo Zone. It was super fun. Then we went to Popeyes then went to the church and called family and played card games. I had already had my weekly phone call on Sunday, so I just sent some messages back and forth with my dad, Caleb, mom, grandma (mom was visiting Wisconsin for the week), and some friends. Me and Olson had our interviews with President and Hermana Obando. I really enjoyed my interview, and it was a lot more enjoyable talking with Hermana Obando because she speaks a similar amount of English as I speak Spanish. And before our interview was pretty limited by the language barrier😂. But it was awesome this time.

Friday, January 17: We had Zone conference today and it was so fun. It was the first zone conference I just was able to listen and understand everything (because it was in Spanish). It was an awesome experience, and we learned a lot about different aspects of missionary work. They also brought burritos for us, which was very good. President and I were joking around during my interview about how much I have gotten better at Spanish, and then he had me stand up during Zone conference and was like, "Look at Elder Rhodes. He has progressed so much, just like you all can." I think he was referring to my Spanish and how bad it was at the beginning😂😭. We had an awesome lesson after with a cool Argentinian old guy who loves Rugby and says he's coming to church to show us the pictures of his team he coaches as well to continue learning more. Then we had a lesson with Smith Gift!!! It was so awesome and his testimony is so strong. We also taught him how to use the gospel library app because he was asking constantly for us to send him church talks. (He's too spiritual to be real🙏)

Saturday, January 18: We had a fun moment this morning when we were sitting in our apartment planning our day and we called Damaris (The lady who had a baptismal date set by some Hermanas, but we hadn't met her yet because she just moved here from Madrid). She said we could meet with her this morning, and when I asked if she could send her address she said yes but just turned on FaceTime and said, "Come meet me here." I knew where she was, and we ran over there as fast as possible and had a pretty good lesson. We also had another lesson with Boyan. Then he had his baptismal interview and passed, so we get to baptize him on Saturday! I got permission from Pres. Obando and I get to be the one to baptize him, so that's exciting! Then we did weekly planning to end the day.

Sunday, January 19: Today was pretty good. The bishop announced the baptism of Boyan and we had another lesson with Damaris and another one later in the day about temples. We also had a lesson with the cool old guy from Argentina. We also had a member meal with the Daguimar's which was fun as always. I never feel like I understand what's going on because they exclusively talk in slang and about the most random stuff. They also switch conversation topics every 2 seconds. But it's always a fun time. They asked me about my socks because they had angel Moroni's on them, so I told them I would get them the link where my mom ordered them online. (Bomsocks.com)

Monday, January 20: We cleaned our Apartment this morning and then went to Mercadona right by our piso to get some groceries. After that, we went up to Madrid, we got our haircuts there, and then met up with the other people in our zone (Elder Bohn is one of my favorites!) We went to 2 different museums, which was really fun. I thought I saw the original Mona Lisa painting in the museum, but my mom told me later that the real one was at the Louvre and this one was a copy done by one of Da Vinci's students. :( After we got back to Aranjuez, Elder Maile and Elder Price (zone leaders) came over for the start of exchanges, which was fun. We played Uno until going to bed😂.

A Short Week! No transfer yet!

Note from mom: So, Gabe did NOT get transferred! We only had four days since his last P-Day phone call because his last P-Day was Thursday and then we talked Sunday. But on Saturday, he got the news that he was not being transferred and he would stay in Aranjuez with Elder Olson. I kind of had a weird feeling that he wouldn't move. So when he started complaining about Aranjuez in our last conversation, I was trying to remind him all the good things about it. It's a nice apartment, it's close to Mercadona, it's close to the church, he can go to Madrid on P-Days, he can go to the temple often, he has a good zone, etc. He gets kind of bored with Elder Olson, but at least he's not mean or super messy or anything. Could it be better? Yes. But could it be worse? Definitely. So, he's got six more weeks in Aranjuez. If he's not transferred on the next one, that will be absolutely CRAZY because he will have been in the same place for about six months! I was kind of hoping he would go to Sevilla or someplace in southern Spain while the weather in colder, but just watch, he will end up in the hottest part during the most sweltering months of summer! :{ On the plus side, I like that he's staying close to Madrid and that it makes it easier to send things!

Also, I included a picture of Caleb trying to teach Gabe how to solve a Rubik's cube. haha We sent one to Gabe for Christmas and he was saying how he was always frustrated that he didn't know how to solve those. So Caleb took it upon himself to look it up on YouTube, teach himself how to solve it, and then try to teach Gabe. Maybe Gabe will come home from his mission knowing Spanish AND how to solve a Rubik's cube! 

Here are Gabe's notes!

Spiritual Experience: During our lesson with Ezequiel and Boyan on Sunday it was so cool. Ezequiel has such a cool testimony and is so passionate and excited to teach with us. He is a great example if how I want to be when I get home. His excitement for sharing the gospel is what we should all have. The gift of the gospel is the best thing we have in the world and every one of us should constantly be looking for opportunities to share this amazing gift we sometimes take for granted.

Friday, January 3: We went to Toledo for District Counsel today which was super fun. After, we all went out and got Dominos. We also had a good lesson with our Amigo Mateo. He's been coming to church and during out lesson he said he know the Book of Mormon is true, but also said he needs to pray about baptism because he doesn't feel like he knows enough about the church yet.

Saturday, January 4: We had 2 member meals back to back. The first one was at Dominos and we both ate a full pizza. Then we went to the members house that Roberto lives with and had a huge amount of food. We barely finished all of it. So that was cool. Then we had a lesson with a man named Jose and his 9 year old nephew. It went really well and after we had a lesson with Hector and his family. We also got transfer news this morning! I'm staying in Aranjuez for another transfer!!! 6 months in Aranjuez is a little crazy but if we can get this family baptised it'll be awesome.

Sunday, January 5: We picked up our friend Thomas and walked with him to church today. He doesn't speak spanish so we do our lessons in english and he's a really nice guy. We also had another lesson with our friend with a baptismal date named Boyan. We had Ezequiel come a teach with us and it went so well. Ezequiel is from Argentina and is a convert. He served a mission and is super active and has an amazing testimony. He also speaks perfect english and spanish. We also visited Rene which was fun. Then we came back to our apartment and I got to call my family at the end of the day. There was also a huge parade for Reyes, or "Three Kings Day". It's basically Christmas, but about the wise men and it's bigger than Christmas. 

Monday, January 6: P-Day! After cleaning our Piso this morning we went up to Madrid. We just hung out in the chapel for a while playing card games with some other companionships. Then we all went to 5 Guys and then all went and walked around Sol and went to the King's palace. It was pretty fun and the last day with Elder Page because he's getting transferred to another zone😔. He is the only one in our zone getting transferred. Then we just ended our day with street contacting.

Christmas Day, Exchanges with Elder Tanner, and More

Note from mom: Well, we survived our first Christmas without Gabe! It seemed like a long time since we had talked to Gabe this week because they moved P-Day from Monday to Thursday, but it really wasn't because we actually had talked to him on Christmas Day (Wednesday). Christmas was definitely different without Gabe, and I think he was a little lonely too, though he didn't really complain. The day after we talked to him, we went to St. George and Las Vegas for four days, so it was probably fine that we didn't chat on Sunday since we were out on the Vegas strip! Gabe seems like he's about ready to leave Aranjuez. This last time we chatted, it was probably the first time I've heard him admit a lot of things about Aranjuez that he doesn't like. The Bishop is rude and doesn't help them, the ward members are lazy, and he'd rather be in an area where there's more support with member meals and other help with lessons and things. The Daguimar family is one of the only positive things about Aranjuez it seems. They have him over to eat regularly, but still, no one did on Christmas. He also seems to be ready for a new companion. I think he gets along ok with Elder Olson, but he just doesn't talk much and I think Gabe realizes he would have more fun with someone like Elder Tanner, a zone leader that he got to go on exchanges with this week. He seems to think he will get transferred soon, so I guess we will see what happens! I tried to tell him to keep a positive attitude about Aranjuez, just in case it doesn't happen soon.

Here are Gabe's notes!

Spiritual Experience: When I had my exchanges with Elder Tanner it was actually the best experience I've had in the mission. The spirit we felt on that mountain with Vanessa and then in the home of the Hectors family was amazing. One thing me and Elder Tanner talked about was how it wasn’t us that made it so that family wanted to get baptised or Vanessa started crying tears of joy. But that it was the spirit. Hector's sister didn't come into the room until the very end and Tanner said 3 simple sentences and asked if she wanted to be baptised. Then she looked at us without hesitation and said "Sí, lo haré. con mi familia." That day I felt the spirit so strongly multiple times and I'm so excited to continue having experiences like that. 

Wednesday, December 25: Elder Olson and I woke up and opened the presents our parents had sent us, which was super fun. I got a Lego car, some pajama pants, a book by President Nelson, and some new ear buds. I also got a stocking full of candy and treats. We had a really good video call lesson about the plan of Salvation, which was really fun. Then we baked cookies for Ice Cream guy (the shop owner who had said we could stop by for free ice cream any time) and brought the cookies and a Book of Mormon to him. Then we did weekly planning and called our parents. It was really nice to talk to them. We didn’t have any member meals, but it was still super fun getting to call home and open gifts.

Thursday, December 26: Today was awesome! We woke up and went Valdemoro and had a lesson with Fran again and it went really good. Then we had another lesson with Roberto and to practice English I was explaining to him the story of Nephi 1-4 and he loved it. Then we had a ward mission leader call and that was pretty boring. But then we had a really good lesson with a guy named Hector and his family of 7!!!! We are meeting with them again on Monday and they said they wanted to feed us too. They're awesome and loved the Restoration Lesson. They also tried to give us Coffee. The look of fear on Olson's face was crazy😨.

Friday, December 27: We had District Counsel today which was really fun. The Hermanas came and we made Breakfast for lunch. Then me and Olson went and visited the really nice old guy named Rene. Then we had a crazy long call with a reference and spent the rest of the day contacting. We got a lot of numbers and it was pretty funny. Lots of weird people out that night.

Saturday, December 28: Today was really normal but then we found a lady that was kinda bashing us. At one point she was like "Do you have girlfriends?" And we were like "no" then she burst out laughing and said "Yeah I know! You Mormons aren't allowed to get married" then we were like "Do you go to a church here?"😑 And she looked at her watch and was like "yes, come with me". We followed her to this weird door in the middle of a bunch of shops and when we went in there was only like 8 people all kneeling on chairs. After like 10 minutes of silence a pastor(her dad) walked in and turned on some Shakira sounding Jesus songs and everyone starts singing/screaming for like 30 minutes. Then the pastor read from the bible and finished with a pray. We got his number after and now we've been texting him. So it was a cool experience. 

Sunday, December 29: It was kinda chilly this morning so at 10:00 when church is supposed to start there was only 8 people. At around 10:25 the usual 50 showed up. It's pretty common for church here to start at least 15 minutes late. I gave a 10 minute talk today which was pretty fun. We also had a good plan of salvation lesson with our friend Andrew who hasn't come in 2 weeks because he's been sick. The rest of the day we called every single interested person we had, and got a bunch of lessons lined up for the week. 

Monday, December 30: Today was pretty fun. We set up a lot of lesson with people today and then about halfway through the day we went to Madrid and switched companions for tomorrow's exchanges. I came back to Aranjuez with Elder Tanner. It's been really fun so far and it's been nice having someone more talkative around. He also served in Aranjuez before he was Zone leader. (He didn't love this area...) So we've just been talking a lot about the work here and he's helped me find some people who might be ready to be taught now. 

Tuesday, December 31: This was probably one of the best days I've had so far in the mission. This morning, Tanner and I went to Vanessa's house (a recent convert Tanner taught) and walked with her to this top of a mountain because she likes to hike. We had an amazing lesson and had the opportunity to give her a blessing. Then we had a lesson with Hector and his family. We ended up putting 4 of them on date for baptism! which was amazing. After we went to Valdemoro and had another lesson with a man we already had a baptismal date for named Boyan. All the lessons we had were so spiritual and I learned so much from the exchange. After we switched companions in Madrid, me and Elder Olson had a member meal with a really cool family I ate once with about 3 months ago. When we walked in, I was doing all the talking and the guy asked me if I was training Elder Olson because he was so quiet. So that was funny, the food was amazing too! Nobody was outside for New Year's Eve because they were all partying in Madrid.

Wednesday, January 1: We had a member meal with Andrew and his family for lunch and it was so fun. He speaks English and we joke around a lot. He gave us sooo much food and I felt dead for like 5 hours. We also visited Rene(old guy). Then we had a member meal with the old bishop(Yubero). It was really fun and an awesome experience. Last time I ate there I couldn't understand anything. Today though, I was talking and understand 90% of everything and their family is really cool. I just couldn't really understand before. That's one fun thing now that I'm understanding more. In a way, I get to get to know everyone again.

Thursday, January 2: We finally had pday today and it was really fun. I'm pretty sure one of the members from yesterday (Andrew) tried to poison me because I had to worst stomach pain all day. I was running to find a bathroom all the time. Luckily, they had bathrooms at the church. We went to the temple though which was awesome. Then we went to a bunch of stores at Sol. One of them was like the official store of Real Madrid and they had their actual trophy in there. After we got back to Aranjuez, we had a lesson with a man named Renzo from Peru. I don't think I've ever taught the Restoration as easily as I did today, which was awesome.