¡Buenos Dias Señores! Hola from the great country of spain. My first
week as a missionary of the Lord Jesus Christ has been incredible and
I´m excited to tell you all about it as you follow me on this journey.
The MTC is like time vortex! The best way I have heard it said – the
weeks feel like days and the days feel like weeks. So much has already
happened here that I feel like I could come home right now and have
had a successful and spiritually edifying mission, but that’s not why
I am here. I am here to truly convert myself to become a disciple of
the Lord Jesus Christ and to help others do the same. Entonces, I
guess I will start from day one.
Travel day was such a surreal day to me. One second I was bowling with
my family and the next I was hugging my mommy for the last time in two
years. The time goes by so quickly and to have been walking through
the airport on the way to a foreign country felt like a dream. I can
remember just wanting to try and have a conversation about the church
with everyone I saw, but I was a little too tentative. I decided that
whoever had the lucky opportunity to be crammed next to me on the long
flight across the pond would get the chance to hear what I had to say
about the church. 2 issues. One, the flight had about 10 people in all
in the economy section of the plane which was great for us because I
got a nice, comfy, three seat long bed to sleep on. And 2, the “lucky
individual” who was supposed to get my gospel message only spoke
French and my study of The Pink Panther had not given me the skills I
needed to tell him about the gospel in French. The other amazing
experience I had while traveling was in the London airport, where I
saw a large group of guys wearing suits and assumed that they were
missionaries heading to the same destination as me. Funny enough, they
were missionaries, but on their way home from this amazing experience.
It was eye opening to see what lies ahead of me in 2 years. Before no
time, I will be in the airport looking back on this experience and
wondering where the time has gone.
MTC life is a LOT different than the life I am used to. This place is
incredible and the best part by far is getting to look out my
classroom window and see the temple within 50 feet of me. I am
constantly reminded daily of how incredible being a part of this
church is. I got put into the “Amulek class” which is supposedly the
advanced Spanish program. On day 1 the teachers spoke a little
English, except our night and weekend teacher who speaks none at all.
Day 2 the teachers started speaking even less English. By day 3 all of
our teachers were speaking almost no English at all and we were
expected to teach a lesson to two mock investigators in all Spanish.
On Day 4, they sent me out to this park in the middle of Madrid with
another missionary who was here studying French to proselyte to anyone
who would listen to our message. Needless to say, the pace here is set
fast and there is no option to be left behind. You just have to hold
on and work hard! I will say that I thought I would hate learning
Spanish because I really didn´t have a great experience with it in
high school, and was actually quite disappointed when I found out I
would be speaking it for the next two years; however, I found that
when the purpose behind learning Spanish is to serve the Lord, I have
a new motivation to learn and I have loved every second of. It´s
probably the most difficult thing I have done thus far in my life, but
with hard work comes great reward.
Alright, I know everyone who knows me is wondering…HOW IS THE FOOD?
Well, the cooks here are great and cook us genuine Spanish cuisine
each and every day. So far I have tried everything that they have
cooked. Some things have gone down better than others, but overcoming
my importunate pickiness is a working progress. I did have my first
Paella, and I wasn´t really a fan (mostly because of the GIANT
MUSHROOMS) but I am ready to try my second and hopefully third. The
breakfasts are kind of strange. They are pretty much desserts like one
morning we will have crescents stuffed with chocolate and others we
will have little mini churros with a hot chocolate sauce. Also, the
person who said “man can not live by bread alone” has never tried the
bread from Spain because it is easily the most amazing creation I have
ever beheld.
Overall, being a missionary is already a life changing experience and
I´m only on the second week. It is really hard, lots of studying and
doing uncomfortable things like talking to your other two companions
about why you hate each other and how you can improve, but I know that
it is all going to be worth the effort. I do miss my family, more than
anything, but I know that the Lord can take care of them a lot better
than I can. He knows exactly what they all need and I can only hope
that through my dedicated service He will rain bounteous blessing upon
them. Everything I have done so far has only scratched the surface of
what my experience will be over this two years, but I know that any
trial or challenge I face is worth wearing the name of the Savior on
my chest. I love and miss you all and hope you have had as great of a
past week as I have! I got a lot to write and only a short time to
write it, but I can´t wait to let you all know more next week! Adios
¡La Iglesía de JesuCristo es verdadero!
