Called to Madrid South

Wow what a week! Lots of travels, lots of new people, and lots to do! I said goodbye to Cáceres and here I am in Málaga. It feels like time goes by so fast and I'm already restarting and getting to know the friends and members here. My new comp is named Elder Anderson. He's from Idaho and is a super crac. He's super dedicated and hilarious. I'm so excited to learn from him this transfer and do some great work here.  On Tuesday we traveled to Málaga and got right into it. We had an activity with the ward here and they are amazing. Lots of of people from Paraguay and plenty of mate. Here we have a full ward and we share it with another set of missionaries. One is from Peru and the other is from Oregon actually haha.  Wednesday we did some service and spent about 3 hours weeding up in the mountains. It was really fun to do something different, even if there was lots of spiders. That day we also ate some Paella with a member. She asked us if we knew what meat was in the pae...

That's right, transfer news is in and I'm out! I've been transfered to the beautiful coastal city of Málaga! I am writing this email on the bus headed towards Sevilla. It's been quite a week so let's get started! This past Monday we had an activity with all the youth and played Scattergories, but in Spanish! Even though it's a smaller group, it was such a blast. They are absolutely hilarious and helped me learn lots of words. Tuesday I had my last mentoring session! Woah, I'm not a greenie anymore - whattt? We also had a couple lessons with members.  Wednesday we had exchanges with ZL's. I was with Elder Caffrey (reminds me a lot of Cason haha). Sorry no photos, but he is a great dude and I learned a lot. We also had a silly lesson where a sweet, but wacky friend (in a nice way) talked at us for an hour. But as we concluded, our new friend walked past and we taught him the whole gospel of Christ! Always opportunities to teach even, and mostly, when you...

As we walk around Cáceres we are constantly told we are "guapos" or "guapitones". It is not surprising that these compliments come from the older women that no longer can see well but, hey, we'll take the compliment.  A bit of a slower week with more lessons falling through than being had, but we looked for other ways to serve! We sent videos to members to hype them up and called others that lived far out in the country. That said, even 6 lessons, or whatever it was, is still 6 opportunities to share the gospel. I am told that sometimes we do not see the fruits of our labors, I can only hope that that is true. If nothing else, I can be happy knowing I did all I could. Last Monday we traveled to a workshop in Sevilla and then traveled back. That meant a total of 9 hours of travel and 3 hours there in Sevilla. Anyways, it was still fun to meet with other missionaries and learn how to improve our missionary efforts. This past Friday we had exchanges with the Elders...

The week started off  with a bang in Sevilla for Zone Conference! We visited the Plaza de España, which is where some scenes of Star Wars were filmed. In the conference we talked about a lot, including adoration in our prayers and being one with our companions, but what stood out to me was the portion where missionaries going home share their final testimonies. One missionary in particular, Elder Pavon, shared the importance of his mission on his life and how deeply the gospel had changed him and his family. I was touched by his message but, to a greater degree, by his maturity, dignity, and confidence. Perhaps that was his testimony more than the words. Before I left on the mission a few of my peers mentioned how missionaries come back different. While they were likely  referring to returned missionary's quirks rather than their positive traits, I hope to not only learn and grow here, but to become someone different. More on that at the end.  A bit of a slower week with ...