A New Greenie and 2 New Roommates!

Note from mom: This has been a big week for Elder Rhodes! He said goodbye to Elder Bradshaw (his companion for the past six weeks in Cartagena, who he really liked), he traveled to Madrid and picked up his "baby", Elder Jara, and he has gotten to welcome the other elder companionship that will be living with them now! We actually didn't get to chat with Gabe on Facetime until Monday because he was busy at our usual Sunday night time because of General Conference. In Spain, because of the time difference, the first session of conference goes from 6:00pm-8:00pm and then they have the two-hour break, and then the second session goes from 10:00pm-midnight. Because Gabe is now a District Leader, he said he had to make some phone calls during that two hour break, so he asked if he could call on Monday instead. I was actually happy to have an opportunity to chat with him one-on-one for a change. We talked today when I got home from school from about 2:00pm until about 3:20pm. One thing that really impressed me was that he kind had to have a side conversation with another elder while we were on the phone, and I got to hear his Spanish abilities for the first time in kind of a natural setting. I was pretty amazed to hear him speaking Spanish fluently. It doesn't seem like that long ago that he was really stressed out about speaking Spanish. Now he's like a pro!

Another funny thing he was telling me about was that people on the street will stop and tell him that he looks like "the bad guy from Rocky" and one guy even pulled up a picture of this actor on his phone and held it up next to Gabe's face and took a picture (see the picture of that)! 

Another funny story was that there was this guy in a wheelchair (not that that's funny) but Gabe said the wheelchair guy was really mad at him for some reason and he was trying to get close enough to take a swing at Gabe, but then Gabe just took a step backward and the guy couldn't reach him. Okay, I'm not telling it very well and there was more to it. lol But then I got to hear Gabe tell that whole story again to his companion in Spanish and I wished I would've recorded it because it was impressive to me how well he spoke Spanish. Two words he always says in English when talking to his companion are "bro" and "fetch" (apparently he won't give those up even if he is saying everything else in Spanish.)

As for the speaking Spanish all the time, it seems like it IS going to end up really helping Gabe improve his skills. Because Elder Jara and Elder Salmaron don't speak English, they will be speaking Spanish all the time at home ad everywhere. But the first few days of doing all Spanish all the time with these three new roommates, Gabe said, "My head hurt. I went from speaking to Elder Bradshaw in English all the time at home and having these really chill bedtime conversations every night, and now I have these three CRAZY Latino room mates that are always trying to pants me!" He said it's funny now, but I think at first, he was like, "What the heck?" Plus, I think now that he's the DL, he feels the need to kind of keep everyone in line. I think that stresses him out a little bit. But he's doing well overall and really likes all the new guys in his apartment, so that's good. His companion, Elder Jara, who only speaks Spanish, saw that Gabe was talking to me on Facetime tonight, and he jumped into the shot and said, "Your son - He is good missionary!!" and he seemed really proud that he said it in English! lol He seems like a nice kid. I think they will get along well, and Gabe says that he even cooks them good, Peruvian food! So thats fun! They just go to the store, he picks out all the groceries, and then they split the cost. Then Elder Jara does the cooking for all of them. Gabe said his job is doing the dishes. It seems like a good deal to me!

Here are Gabe's notes!

Tuesday, April 1: We woke up early and dropped off Elder Bradshaw in Murcia. Sad day😔. He was a good companion and I was sad to only have six weeks with him, but he got made a Zone Leader in Sevilla, so it was time for him to move on! After he left, I basically did phone work and made calls and said bye to a lot of traveling missionaries. Elder Hogge went home today, which was crazy. I did like 5 hours of street contacting with Elder Page and Sircable which was fun. But I'll stay here over night in Murcia until tomorrow. Then I will head up to Madrid. 

Wednesday, April 2: I basically spent all day traveling to Madrid. There was a strike at the train station in Murcia, so I had to take a bus halfway there. But everything went well and I stayed to night with some missionaries in Madrid. Tomorrow, I will meet my new companion!

Thursday, April 3: We picked up the Greenies today! We meet the other trainers in the office and had a meeting about how to train. Then we got assigned our companions and had lunch. It was super fun seeing everyone and the trainer reveal was super fun. It was only 8 months ago that I was in that room as a nervous greenie being introduced to Elder Bright! My companion is Elder Jara. He is from Perú, but has lived in Barcelona with his family for the past 2 years. He only speaks Spanish, but he can say a few simple phrases in English. Then us and the other two elders who will be living in our apartment with us started to make our journey back home. The other two elders are Elder Salmaron (from Barcelona, been on his mission for only 3 months, only speaks Spanish) and Elder Leal (from Texas, speaks fluent English and Spanish because his parents are Mexican, has been serving in Salt Lake for 8 months waiting for his Spanish visa and just got here). We started traveling to Murica to stay over night. Then the next day, we would finish our journey back home to Cartagena. The new room mates all seem great. They only speak Spanish though except for Elder Leal. But we all just speak Spanish all the time.

Friday, April 4: Today was crazy busy. We had to plan and divide the area by ourselves because the church system was having problems. Us four had a lesson with a woman named Victoria and her whole family and that went really well. Then we had an institute class and called and messaged all of the members. I also got to give a blessing of health to a women in the ward and that was an awesome experience. She wanted it in English too which was amazing to do. But everything went pretty good for our first day. 

Saturday April 5: We had a lot of contacting this morning again and then we did all of our studies and did some street contacting. So far, the other Elders have been really good. They all work pretty hard. They're kinda crazy though😂. Elder Jara cooks for all of us his delicious Peruvian food, and then I do the dishes. We met the bishop in the capilla (church) and watched general conference, which was great. Dicus came and I talked to him about baptism and he said he wants too!! We just need to teach him a little more and set a date. I also ran our first district counsel today which went pretty well. 

Sunday April 6: I had a call with the Tech Elders to talk about some of the area splits and we also did a lot of contacting and all our studies. We did a bunch of street contacting then watched general conference and did more street contacting. A lot of our amigos aren't talking to us anymore and the people in the street haven't been receptive. So hopefully the work here picks up soon. 

Monday, April 7: We went to Murcia for pday today, which was awesome. We played soccer and it was soooo hot. It was only like 80 degrees, but it's going to get like in the hundreds soon. After soccer, we called family and went to Lorca for exchanges. Lorca is an area to the west of Cartagena and there are more Latinos there. It was really fun doing street contacting with the elders in the land of Latinos. There is never a better place for street contacting. (Native Spaniards don't usually want to talk to us.)