Week 27: Bull fights and fairs

Hi everyone!

The city of Huelva is booming right now with tourists and cultural
experiences! It turns out that Huelva is the city from which Columbus
sailed to begin his voyage to the Americas in 1492! Actually, there is
a museum here where you can actually see two of the three original
ships that he used in his travels! Of course, to celebrate, there is a
huge fair with attractions and concerts and dancing and bull fights,
the whole nine yards (or meters here in Europe) of Spanish fun. For
that reason, it's been a tough for the missionaries to find people who
aren't either sleeping, or on their way to the fair, but we still had
a great week.

We did get permission to go take a gander at the fair one of the days
when it was a little less crowded, and before all the people got
there. That's one thing about Spanish culture, everyone stays out WAY
later. People like don't even start getting ready to leave their house
for the night until like midnight. We were talking to this member and
he was like I should probably come home Saturday night at a more
appropriate hour....like 2 am....the discos and parties wouldn't have
even started before 2, so when went there weren't a ton of people.
Luckily, my years in high school of wearing a fanny pack every day
prepared me for the weird stares I was going to get as a missionary at
the fair so that wasn't a problem either.

Later on in the week, we were walking home from our last appointment
and we started hearing all these cheering and loud noises. We went to
see what was up and it turns out that from the top of the hill we were
on you could see right into the stadium of the bull fights! I was
almost surprised that they actually existed. I kinda thought it was
always just a little joke that Americans made up about the Spanish but
there they were, five guys in flashy tight suits all fighting this
giant bull! It was pretty crazy to watch the whole process and how
much time goes in to killing it. We didn't stay too long to watch
cause I wasn't a huge fan of the whole idea but i wanted to be able to
say that I had been to one.

One more culture experience for the week. We ate with a member from
Ghana and he made us fufu. Basically, you take flour and water, mix
it, and then it makes like a bread looking dough. Then you make a soup
or whatever to eat with the fufu. Well I walked in and everything was
looking normal, until our friend brought out a dish of water. I asked
what it was for and he said to clean your hand after.....then I
watched as he grabbed the fufu, submerged his hand and the fufu in the
soup, and then plunged his hand into his mouth. I had never used my
hand as a spoon before, but it was definitely an experience I will
remember.

Among all these experiences, the work is going well. I feel like I am
finally in the typical missionary work that everyone thinks of;
walking around all day, super hot, knocking doors, getting rejected.
It's definitely been a lot more difficult than the comfortable car in
Cartagena, but nonetheless, it is service to the Lord and that's what
I am here to do! I know there are some great things prepared for me
here in Huelva, but it's just going to take a little more work to find
them.

Like always, I thank you all for the continued support and prayers. I
hope all is well and I send the best wishes from the beautiful country
of España! Have a great week!

Elder Jenkins

Lessons learned
1. You can count the seeds in an apple, but you can't count the apples in a seed
2. How to eat fufu
3. It's really hard to do missionary things in English!
4. The art of bull fighting
5. Check to see if you have butane before you start your shower....