First off, I got some letters in the mail this week, and I am sincerely grateful for them. I love getting mail, and it always brings a smile to my face!
This week has been mostly uneventful. We have eaten a lot of food, most of it wasn´t actually very good. We didn't have any gazpacho this week, so that is good and bad. Good, because it is revolting. Bad, because I was starting to like it. It still takes some choking to get it down though.
Elder Parkinson has been having some stomach problems this week. On Tuesday he and I went to the equivalent of an urgent care, and he was advised to take more ibuprofen... Which is what he had been doing already. Then he went to the hospital, where they advised him to take more ibuprofen. The medical facilities are pretty dirty here. I hope I don´t get sick for the next two years... Anyways, during the visit at the urgent care, he and I talked to a woman that figured out we were Mormons (I wonder what gave it away?). She then commenced to tell us about how she visited the USA and met Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. It sufficeth me to say that I didn´t really believe her.
Our district had great success at the park this Saturday. Altogether we placed 19 BoM's, and got nearly as many referrals. However, I have yet to place a Book of Mormon. The missionaries in this area don´t have to do any of the work finding investigators. They just feed off of the harvest at the park and singing at the temple steps.
My Spanish is coming along great. I feel more and more ready to go out into the field... Until I listen to Spaniards that aren´t working at the MTC. It is a little bit intimidating. They talk so fast.
Elder Smiley has the best stories. He'll say, "ONE TIME..." and commence to relate a story to us, lightly based on the happenings of that day or such, but do so as if he were a pirate. They are pretty hilarious. I am really going to miss my new family here when we all go out to the field.
WHICH I will be going out to NEXT WEEK. This Tuesday I am getting on a train to Málaga, and then we are going to go to the mission home and get assigned our trainers and our first areas.
Last night I realized while I was laying there trying to fall asleep, "When, at the end of two years, I fly back to that place I come from (home), I am going to be a returned missionary. However, I WILL NOT be an ex-missionary." I realized that if I am really becoming a missionary, then I will be a missionary the rest of my life, nametag or not.
I´m so excited for the next couple of days. These are defining moments in my mission, which moments and desicions will affect me for the rest of my life.
I love the people of Spain, and I am excited to get to go to Málaga next week. I look forward to hearing from everybody!
Love,
Élder Oliver
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