D&C 20:10-12

10 And thy brother Oliver shall continue in bearing my name before the world, and also to the church. And he shall not suppose that he can say enough in my cause; and lo, I am with him to the end.

11 In me he shall have glory, and not of himself, whether in weakness or in strength, whether in bonds or free;

12 And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men.

Monday, September 9, 2013

In the Field!

Hey Mom! I finally got the opportunity to email you. So much has happened since last monday. So much good has happened.

So, on Tuesday morning we left the MTC. Many were crying, but I was smiling. I couldn't wait to get to Málaga. We took a bullet train and averaged about 280kph all the way there. That was pretty cool. Then we arrived, and the 38 of us got off the train and walked into the the weirdest building I think I have been in. It was a train station-airport-bus station-supermarket-mall. That was pretty weird. The first thing I noticed when I got off the train, was how freakin humid it was there. It was seriously like walking into a pool. We met President and Sister Deere, and all the office Elders. They were all pretty cool.

We then journeyed on to the Chapel, where we began several boring hours of training, which culiminated in an evacuation due to a massive ozone leak. That was interesting. We all went our separate ways from there. The Hermanas went to the mission home, many of the Elders got to go to the AP's apartment, and the rest of us got to go to a really seedy hotel, where all the rooms were themed after important historical figures. I stayed in the Van Gogh room.

The next day, Wednesday, we worked on residency and all sorts of other paperwork. We got some more training throughout the day, and ate some food and played some ping pong. Then the fun began. All the trainers arrived, and we finally got to the moment we had all been waiting for.

We went into the Chapel in Fuengirola (because the Chapel in Málaga was still a little sketchy), and all sat down. Then, we got our assignments. Élder Rodríguez is my trainer. He is from Ecuador, and this will be his 4th transfer. He and I are serving in Torrevieja. It is a vacation city on the Eastern coast of Spain. It is very humid here as well.

Élder Rodríguez is a very hard worker. He understands English very well, and has been teaching me a ton about the Gospel and about Spanish. He is a fantastic cook, and plays the piano like nobody's business. I'm excited for the weeks to come!

Torrevieja is a nice-ish place. It is right on the beach, and offers a beautiful view out of the window of our apartment. However, the streets are pretty dirty. There is a lot of trash on the ground, and people let their dogs poop wherever the heck they want. Which is a little weird to me. The weather is great though. It rained yesterday, and that was super refreshing.  There are so many tourists here. I have spoken English almost as often as I have spoken Spanish. And surprisingly, I speak German frequently here too. It's pretty neat.

However, people here don't really wear clothing. A bra and bootyshorts is pretty modest apparel for the women here, and most of the men (especially old men) wear their shirts unbuttoned down to their bellybuttons. There are also an astounding number of bars, nightclubs, and hookers.

Everyday we study for what feels like forever. We get up at 7:30, workout, eat breakfast, shower. 9-9:30 we do personal study. We then do companion study till 11:30.  Then, Vamos a la calle!  We work for a few hours, then return to the piso (apartment) at 2. During Medio Día we do more personal study, language study, eat lunch, take a nap (if there is time) and look at the area book. Then we leave the piso at 5, and don't come back until 10:15.  It's pretty exhausting.


Anyways...

This is my address

   Calle Ramón Gallud #136
   Piso 5.1 Torrevieja
   03182 Alicante.
   Spain

Send me stuff. That would be coolio. And send emails, and have the kiddies write to me.

Love you all!
Élder Oliver

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