Goodbye Aranjuez!

Note from mom:

So, this is going to be just kind of a transition page...

I don't have Gabe's email update for the next week yet, but I wanted to just post a couple pictures here of him attending the temple with Smith (which he was soooo excited to do RIGHT before he got on the train to leave) and also a picture of him with Elder Olson. A couple hours after these pictures were taken, he was on a four-hour long train ride heading from Madrid to Cartagena.

As I am typing this, Gabe has been in his new area of Cartagena for about 24 hours, and we are counting the days until Sunday when we can talk to him again and hear all about it! We know that he has a companion named Elder Bradshaw and that the area they will be living in has been kind of "closed" for the past month of so because Elder Bradshaw had been there, but his companion (a missionary from Spain) had his visa come through, and was then shipped off to someplace else. So they took Elder Bradshaw and put him into a threesome in a different place until this transfer was over! Gabe uploaded a picture of him and Elder Bradshaw cleaning out the fridge in their apartment, and it was kind of obvious it hadn't been lived in for the past month! Gabe is noooot going to live like that, lol, so they are cleaning today! That's all I know for now! 

Transfer News!! Ward Valentines Party and Saying Goodbye to Aranjuez!

Note from mom: Well, the day Gabe has been wondering about and waiting for has arrived! He is finally getting transferred to a new area! It is definitely bitter sweet because he has now been in Aranjuez for almost six months, and he has grown to love the people in the ward (and also the people they have baptized) so much. But I remember talking to Gabe back around Thanksgiving, and he was like, "Well, I'm a little surprised I didn't get transferred one this one, but I for sure will on the next one I bet." (Little did he know... it would be a LOT longer than that!) At first, I think he was bummed when he found out he would be spending another six weeks (after his first six weeks) with Elder Olson, but then he and Elder Olson started clicking and then they met Smith and Damaris, and then they went on to have some of the most amazing moments of his mission so far! So I think it was really a testimony building experience for him that even though he had wanted to move areas a long time ago, the mission president prayed about it and kept him there for an inspired purpose. I think he would agree that meeting and baptizing Smith has really been the highlight of his mission so far!

When Gabe messaged us and told us where he would be transferred to, I immediately started Googling it, of course! The city is called Cartegena, and it is on the southeast coast of Spain. There are some beautiful beaches there that we will definitely have to visit after his mission! The only downside is, its far from Madrid, so he will not be able to go there on his P-Days anymore and meet up with lots of other missionaries. He is also a tad worried about this new companion being a little "trunky", but I think he is excited to just explore someplace new and have some new experiences.

Here are Gabe's notes!

Wednesday, February 12: We met with Damaris and Smith today and talked to both of them about Patriarchal Blessings. We also had English class tonight and Damaris, Christian (a ward member), and a Columbian family came. We're going start teaching them hopefully. Also, we found out that the only day Smith could go to the temple before transfers is on Tuesday. But Tuesday is transfers. So the only way I can go with him is if I don’t get transferred or my tickets are for later in the day on Tuesday. Which is pretty unlikely because the travels are usually in the morning. So I really hope I get to go with him to the temple. 

Thursday, February 13: We had a lesson online with a man named Andres that was mad at us last week because we didn’t understand his sarcasm over text. But the lesson went well. We spent like 3 hours with him.

Friday, February 14: We had the last District counsel in Aranjuez today, which was super fun and we got Empanadas after. We also had some really good lessons in the street with a couple people. We went to Valdemoro and met with an inactive member and talked about the importance of coming to church. Then we met with Boyan and practiced English and reviewed the Restoration lesson. 

Saturday, February 15: We got transfer calls today!!! I'm going to Cartagena and will be companions with Elder Bradshaw. He used to be Elder Bright's companion when they were both pretty new missionaries and he used to be in my zone back in like, September and October. Then he got transferred out of my zone at the same time Elder Bright did around Thanksgiving. He has been out on his mission for about 18 months and is from Utah. 

(**Note from mom - Gabe told us that he talked with Elder Bright about Elder Bradshaw and he said, "Sometimes... he can get a little lazy. Like he would be content to not go out and street contact or do much if you didn't make him. Gabe sent us a secret message while we were on our phone call yesterday so Elder Olson wouldn't hear, and it said, "Obando is putting me with Bradshaw because he has zero energia, probably because I revived Elder Olson.") 

We had a really fun member meal with Ivonne today and she such an awesome lady who loves feeding missionaries. She wants us to call her our "Aranjuez abuelita" because she loves taking care of/feeding the missionaries. We also had a ward Valentine's party tonight and also celebrated Smith's birthday at the ward party. It was so nice to see how happy and supported by the members he was. It was an awesome last party with all the members. 

Sunday, February 16: Today was pretty awesome. We had church and I said goodbye to a lot of the members. I've been here for 25% of my mission and I definitely need to come back and visit because some of the people here are awesome. We had lunch with Ioan and Virinia (married couple in the ward; no kids). And they invited Smith and Damaris (both got baptised on the 1st of Feb). That was so fun and seeing Smith and Damaris getting along so well with the members is awesome. Some people were even joking that they should start dating. That would be crazy if they two people we baptized on the same day ended up getting married. Then we had dinner with Daguimar's family and Mitchell's family, which is always cool. I said goodbye to Juan who will be getting baptised on the 22th. He's an awesome guy and I'm sad to miss his baptism date, but I'm glad I got to teach him as much as I did. Then we just came home and packed. I have way too much stuff. 

Monday, February 17: I did some more packing this morning and then everyone in my zone went to Madrid and got lunch. Then we went back to the chapel and hung out. It was really fun and we all signed each others transfer journals. It's crazy I'm not going to be in this zone anymore. It's such a fun zone but I'm really excited to see Cartagena. After we left, we went to Ivonne's and had pancakes with her. She made me promise to visit with my family after the mission. Then we came back to the apartment and finished packing.

Special Delivery from Alex, Temple with Damaris, and Boyan Gets Confirmed

Note from mom: This week we were starting to stress on Sunday afternoon because Gabe had said the day before that he would call at his normal time, which was about 12:00pm. So we were waiting intently by the phone, and it got to be noon, and then 12:30, and then 1:00, and pretty soon it was about 1:20 and he finally called us! He said he had fallen asleep! (See his note below about being sick...) But he told us he was really happy to get the suitcase from Alex and had fun meeting up with her and Johnny for lunch! Overall, a good week, and now he is just anxiously waiting to see if he will be transferred on the next one in about a week. On one hand, Gabe would love to see some other parts of Spain. But on the other hand, he's been doing great things in Aranjuez and would be sad to leave Smith and Damaris, and he has really liked being close enough to Madrid to go to the temple on his P-day and hang out with other people in his zone. So, we will see!

Here are Gabe's notes!

Spiritual Experience: We got to go to the temple with Damaris and she loved it and was so happy to be there. We also had an amazing meeting with Smith the other day where he testified of the the importance of the gospel and how amazing it is people can receive temple ordinances after they die. They are both so awesome and seeing the joy they get from the gospel is amazing. I'm definitely going to be really sad to leave Smith when I get transferred.

Tuesday, February 4: Nothing too crazy happened today. We had some funny street contacts though. We also had a lesson with Boyan. Boyan was baptized a couple of weeks ago and we were going to confirm him the next day in church, but then he didn't show up. (Also... we think he may have been drunk over the weekend...) Hopefully he'll be able to get confirmed on Sunday. One lady came up to us with wide eyes and was like, "Someone from your church stole from my friend," then she ran away from us. 

Wednesday, February 5: We met with Damaris today in the King's Garden and I almost lost my mind. First, she made us try and find her on one of her epic video "find where I am right now" calls. (We found her.) Then, it took 2 hours to set up her church account because she types at 2 words a minute and was getting very distracted😂. After that, we had English class with 2 members and a guy we've been texting with named Roberto. We basically just practiced talking and went over pronouns. 

Thursday, February 6: We did weekly planning in the morning then went to the temple with Damaris and 2 members name Ioan and Virinia (they are married). Damaris has become friends with Ioan and Virinia over the past week weeks, and so we all went to the temple and did baptisms which was really awesome. She loved it. Afterward, we all went and got Dominos with each other. 

Friday, February 7: We had a Blitz in Valdepeñas today, so me and Olson went to Madrid and then drove down with everyone to Valdepeñas. The Blitz and car ride were so fun. Our Zone is really great. Afterward, we went to the old bishop's house (Yubero). Every time we go over, it's super fun because the 11-year-old son (Thomas) speaks English and I can speak and understand the conversations. (He learned to speak English through YouTube! haha) They also have a really nice dog. 

Saturday, February 8: Today was a very full day. We woke up early and helped a family move this morning for like 3 hours and their new apartment was on the third floor. Then, we got to have lunch with my cousin, Alex, and her husband Johnny. They were visiting Spain because Johnny's family had a foreign exchange student from Spain a few years ago and now they were coming for the first time to see this guy and sightsee around with him. Just Johnny and Alex took an Uber from Madrid to come have lunch with me in Aranjuez though. We weren't together for long, but they brought the famous black suitcase from my mom that was now on it's second trip to Spain (the first one was when the Loves brought it to me in October, but the Loves had me empty it out on my bed, then they took it back and filled it with their own souvenirs and then took it back to my mom!) It was really fun seeing them. Then we had an amazing lesson with Smith. He always testifies at the end of our lessons and its awesome.

Sunday, February 9: We had church this morning, and it was pretty good. We had an awesome lesson with Juan and rescheduled his baptism for the 22th. Boyan finally got confirmed! And Smith received the Aaronic Priesthood. My new suit that my mom sent in the suitcase was also very comfortable and nice. Afterward, we did some street contacting and picked up the key for the chapel. All day yesterday and today I was sick, but we had stuff to do so I didn't get to rest. So this evening I crashed and slept through my alarm and almost missed my call with my parents. But everything today went really well. 

Monday, February 10: We woke up this morning and had an awesome lesson with Damaris in the King's Garden, which was really nice. Then we went to Valdemoro to meet with Boyan and met an inactive member in the street who we are going to go visit soon. Boyan is doing great and today he was asking his usually deep doctrine questions that stemmed from Netflix movies he had recently watched. Afterward, we went back to Aranjuez and had an awesome lesson with Juan and confirmed his baptismal date and went over some of the last principles before he gets interviewed on Thursday.

Tuesday, February 11: We went up to Madrid this morning and the whole zone got to go through the temple which was awesome. Afterward, we all went to a really good restaurant in Sol and then came back to the chapel. We did a bunch of mini games against the Temple Zone. It was pretty fun and after we just called families (I messaged mine on Facebook and answered emails) and hung out. 

We got back to Aranjuez and set up some lessons for the week and went street contacting. I am going to find out probably by Friday if I will be transferred, so I'm anxiously waiting to hear about that. I would be excited to go to a different place, but I would be sad to leave the awesome elders and sisters in my zone, and the people we have been working to teach like Smith and Damaris. So I guess we will see what happens and what President Obando decides for me!

Baptisms of Smith and Damaris and Reading the WHOLE Book of Mormon in TWO Days!

Note from mom: This week Gabe got to personally baptize Smith, and his companion, Elder Olsen, got to baptize Damaris! It is pretty exciting for an area in Spain to have three baptisms in the past two weeks! However, it sounds like Boyan (the guy they baptized last week) has a few Word of Wisdom issues he needs to work on... :{ I asked Gabe what his goals are in Aranjuez for the next two weeks (in case he gets transferred on Feb. 17) and he said he really wants to go through the temple with Damaris and Smith. He said Smith is such an awesome guy and is having some big trials right now (needs to find a new place to live), but he has such a strong testimony. In other news, Gabe's cousin, Alex, is currently in Spain! I sent a suitcase packed full of valentines goodies, some birthday presents for March, a new suit, and some other things! Hopefully they get to meet up and have lunch or something later this week!

Here are Gabe's notes!

Spiritual Experience: My spiritual experience for this week was definitely the Baptisms of Smith and Damaris. Smith was so happy and still is and after all his trials, he is still just happy he got to be baptised. When he bore his testimony, it was so amazing. He truly understands the blessing that the gospel is in our lives and that's what made him such a fun person to teach.

Tuesday/Wednesday January 28/29: As a mission we all read the Book of Mormon all the way through during these 2 days. I decided to do it in Spanish, which was hard but I'm very grateful I had the opportunity to do it and the gift of tongues was very prominent while I read. The Book of Mormon is truly one of the greatest gifts that we have from our loving Heavenly Father, and it's been given to each and every one of us so that we can come to know him. It doesn't matter who you are or what you feel you need, The Book of Mormon accompanied by the Holy Ghost will ease every burden. I'm so grateful I'm here and can share this gift with the people of Spain.

Thursday, Jan 30: Not a lot happened today, but we had lessons with Damaris, Smith, and Juan. Damaris is still ready to be baptized on Saturday, and Smith is having literally every problem that can happen, but he said the other day, "I know Satan is trying to stop me from being baptized, but I won't let him stop me"🤯. He's actually such an awesome guy.

Friday, January 31: We had District Counsel today, which was fun. We had a lesson scheduled in Ciempozuelos (a town about 20 minutes north of Aranjuez) with a reference that we got yesterday named Karina, but then she canceled last minute. And street contacting there was not that fun. Less people than Aranjuez. Then we had another amazing lesson with Smith. I've never seen such an amazing testimony from someone we've been teaching. He is so happy to be baptised and is so excited. Even with all of his trials, he's still so faithful.

Saturday, February 1: Damaris and Smith were baptised today and will be confirmed tomorrow, which is amazing. We street contacted this morning and actually taught a really good Restoration lesson to a random guy in the street named David. Then we spent the rest of the evening up until the baptism setting up the font and filling it. It all went really well and I got to baptise Smith and Olson baptized Damaris. It was such an amazing experience. Smith was just talking about how happy he felt and how excited he is to continue coming closer to God. 

Sunday, February 2: We had a pretty amazing day. Smith and Damaris got confirmed during church, and we planned a temple trip with Damaris this Saturday. We will hopefully go to the temple with Smith the week after, when he'll have the Priesthood. Then, we accidentally locked ourselves out of the apartment and some old Spaniard locksmith came and opened the door for us in like 10 seconds with special plastic paper. We spent the evening before the locksmith got there with Ioan and Virinia (a married couple from the ward). Damaris came too because she's friends with Virinia. They are all really fun together, and we had really good Empanadas. Then in the evening, we set up some lessons for next week and called our families in the evening.

Monday, February 3: We had P-day in Toledo today with the whole zone and it was so fun! Toledo has an insane amount of sword shops and we walked around those for a while and visited one owned by a member. He had made a sword called "Moroni's sword" and another called "Laman's sword". We also went to a couple of cool cathedrals and walked around the city and ate shwarma and ice cream. Then after P-day ended, we went to visit Smith where he is temporarily living in a hostel in a pueblo nearby Aranjuez. (We are praying he finds a new apartment to live in soon!) We almost missed the bus to come back, but we made it barely. We are praying that Smith finds a nice apartment to live in and he can be in a good ward wherever he ends up!