Called to Madrid South

A very happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I hope you all enjoy plenty of stuffing, football and the opportunity to look back on the blessings that we have been given. Christmas time is also beginning here in Spain with lights being put up! Expect to see some photos soon! But I'm getting ahead of myself - let's talk about the week! We started off the week in Maribella, an area near ours, and did a "blitz." That means every missionary in the district goes to one area and spends most the day just finding new people. It was a blast and we found lots of amazing people. We even got some Columbian food to end off the day (the photo of the massive plate). I need to start getting some photos without food so I can have something to show after the mission. It has been an amazing week with lots of progress. We set dates for baptisms with 4 different friends! One, Neheul, is from Argentina. We received him from a reference and met with him this week on Saturday. On Sunday he came t...

Just a really, really rainy week. My rainjacket was getting put to use. I didn't really know how much I missed rain, but it was a refreshing change. The only problem was that the people here don't quite feel the same. Not a lot of people are outside when it's raining and a lady even told us she was worried for her daughter so she couldnt come to church. Precautions like that make sense when your children are made out of sugar. I won't complain though, walking in the rain is actually my favorite thing right now. This week we had the birthday of Benjamin! After eating what we thought was dinner, they brought out a full plate of more Peruvian food. There is no shortage of Arroz Chaufa and Inca Cola here in Málaga and it's amazing. Benjamin's parents have both been baptized and are doing amazing in the ward and their daughter-in-law and son should be getting baptized soon by their dad, Grober.  This Sunday we had a lesson with a friend, Fernando. He is preparing to ...

I would not have guessed I would still be wearing short sleeves all the way in November, but missionary life on the beach isn't so bad. This week we went to Madrid and the weather was cold and rainy, a little taste of home. Even got to put on the sweater which is awesome. On Thursday I did an exchange with our ZL Elder Cabrera from Brazil! We had prayed to find a women with a stroller that would be interested. Not long after that we found a mom from Paraguay with a stroller who was looking for a church here in Málaga. Also, when I was with Elder Cabrera I was able to teach a lesson in English which was awesome! Her name was Anna and she had been looking for a community where she felt at home. She had been searching for something for a long time, but had always felt anxious. We shared Elder Kearon's talk about new beginnings and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  On Saturday we had a lession with a wonderful family. The mom's name is Milagros and she has a son who is 14. Milagros ...

When I got here to Málaga we had maybe 3 progressing friends and 2 of them were passed to the other Elders in the ward. Yep, that means we get to do a fresh start and lots of finding. This week we had a finding Bingo card amongst our district and while we didn't get a bingo, we found lots of new friends. One of the spots was a grandma from Spain. I talked to probably 30 Spanish grandmas this week but no luck. This week when we weren't walking around, we had some other fun stuff.  One of the photos shows us with our friend and his mate. He's a member of the ward in Málaga from Paraguay named Silvio and we make our calls with him while he updates us on the latest AI news. He also was just randomly watching some college football so that was super sick - haha. This Thursday we went to a house of a family from Brazil and mostly just listened to their story. They were all super depressed. It was difficult to see a house with so little hope. We offered a blessing and a spiritual m...