Note from Mom: So, this weekend things took kind of a crazy turn of events! Gabe had basically found out from Pres. Obando that he was getting transferred to Granada during his interview on January 10, and he was super excited about it. (I was also excited!) But, he had to first wait a week until everyone got their transfer info and then act surprised when he "found out." So on Saturday, January 17, when everyone officially got their transfer news, he happily started saying his goodbyes and packing his stuff, etc. He went to church on Sunday morning and took pictures with all the ward members and said his goodbyes to everyone in the Aranhjuez ward (for the SECOND time on his mission lol) and gave a little farewell talk and everything. He had dinner with Daguimar and her family (his second family) and said goodbye to this guy named Javier that is an investigator they've been working with. Javier is planning to get baptized soon, but I guess when Gabe told him that he was leaving the area, he responded with, "Well, then I will just wait to get baptized until you come back with your family in September!" (haha...whoa... they had to have a talk about that and get that straightened out...lol)
Anyways, but then a crazy, terrible thing happened on Sunday night. At about 7:30pm Spain time, one of the main high-speed trains that travels north and south CRASHED and killed about 40 people! It was the biggest train crash they've had since 2013! I didn't even know about it until the moms in my Espana Sisters group chat started asking about if our boys were all okay. Luckily, we had just talked to Gabe that afternoon (night time for him), and I knew he was fine. He hadn't even mentioned the train crash in our phone call, but he must've known about it and didn't want to scare me. Later, I found out he told Josh about it on Monday morning when they were messaging (for P-day) and apparently he told Josh, "Don't tell mom that there was a train crash and that it was actually going to be my exact train that I was supposed to take to get to Granada in the morning." Yikes! I had not been freaking out about it until he told Josh that (and then Josh DID tell me!)
Then of course, I had to Google pictures of the train crash and I realized just how bad it was and I was soooooo grateful that the train didn't crash two days later when Gabe was traveling on it! I guess there was some old railway plate that had worn out and with time, and it ended up failing. It totally could have failed two days later when missionaries were traveling for P-day, but thankfully it didn't. Super sad for all the people that were on it though. I'm just so grateful none of the missionaries were hurt or worse!
So, in conclusion, Gabe got a text from the APs on Monday night that basically said, "No one is going to transfer to their new areas tomorrow like we had planned. We need to take a few days or maybe even a week to get new travel arrangements made, so just sit tight in your areas and keep working hard." So... Gabe was probably bummed when he got that text. He probably had to unpack his suitcases and get stuff out to wear and use again! It would be cool if they could somehow get Javier baptized before Gabe leaves. I guess he was waiting because he's been kind of sick and he can't get into the cold water in the baptismal font, and it's cold because the water heater in the church is broken right now! SO, either they get the water heater fixed or they figure something else out for Javier!
Here are Gabe's notes for the week!
Tuesday, 13 of January: Yesterday we had a couple lessons fall through but we were able to do some street contacting which went well. Afterward, Dora (a member lady) gave us some super good food. We had to take our laundry to Amon's house so we could wash it. (Our washing machine is still broken.) So we had to do our language study while we waited. After that, we had a good lesson with Fernanda and Alexander. We found them a couple nights ago under a bridge and they started filming us when we started talking to them because they thought they were getting mugged💀. But we met today and they were super nice. Then we met with Javier and he is super great. We went over the baptismal interview questions and answered some questions about Utah because he saw a crazy youtube video.😂
Wednesday, 14 of January: We had a blood test journey this morning (because I have been taking Accutane and need to get my blood checked monthly) to Móstoles but after that we came back did pstudy and just street contacting till dinner with Amon and his family. They're the super nice Brazilian family. They made mini pizza🙏. After, we had a lesson with Gabriel that went pretty well and we are pretty sure he'll be ready to get baptised this next weekend.
Thursday, 15 of January: We had a nice 2 and a half hours of street contacting this morning, which went pretty good. Then toward the evening, we met with a super lit Nigerian guy named Mantis that we met a couple days ago in the street. He speaks English and said he never talks to people in the street or gives put his number but he felt the spirit tell him he needed to meet with us. We had a great Restoration lesson and he is going to talk to his wife to see if we can come over. Afterward, we met with Javier and he's still doing awesome he gave us some hot chocolate and 2 white shirts. He's super great and loved the President Oaks talk we had sent him. After that, we meet with Ademir and talked about coming to church because it has been a minute since he's come.
Friday, 16 of January: We had ZLC this morning and after it, we went for a nice little street contacting session. After, we traveled to Ciempozuelos where we had a lesson with Bautista, Javier, Cecilia and Jimmy and his wife. It was pretty funny and went well. Afterward, we traveled back to Valdemoro and did studies and street contacting. We also had another lesson with our English speaking friend Ruth. She's super nice. We talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.
Saturday, 17 of January: We got transfer news today, which was cool! I'm going to Granada! Which will be awesome. We did a bunch of street contacting and had to have an emergency videocall with Javier because when I told him I was leaving he said he would just get baptised when I came back to visit with my family😭. So we chatted about that and then had a lesson with Johan, which went great and he should come to church tomorrow. After more street contacting, we had a lesson with Gabriel and Ademir came to help us. It went great and Ademir is super funny. He got us churros after and was flaming Elder Hulterstrom saying he didn't look mexican💀.
Sunday, 18 of January: We had a super good day at church. I got to give my talk which went well and Javier, Gabriel, and Abiola and her kids came to church. It was super good. Dora picked up Abiola at the train station which was super clutch. After that, we had the last supper with the Daguimar family which was super fun. After dinner, we got back to our piso and planned and then had a lesson with Boyan to end the night. He'll meet with us but won't come to church😭.
Monday, 19 of January: We had the landromat adventures this morning which went ok😂. Then we came back, and I packed all of my stuff. Then we traveled to Aranjuez and had lunch with the Elders of Aranjuez and the Hermanas of Móstoles at a good Asian restaurant. Then we showed Elder Hulterstrom the gardens in Aranjuez and then we went back to Valdemoro. We had a lesson with Javier tonight and it went pretty good and we are going to try and baptise him this weekend with Gabriel, so I can maybe be there. We found out that the whole mission will just wait to do transfers because of the big train crash. So I'll probably be here for the next week.
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