Semana 18

Regan asked Hayden a couple of questions in her email, and these were his answers:

¡Voy a comprarlo!  We normally eat rice and beans, and a lot of pasta.It is mainly good, but a few weeks ago we ate mosilla. It was awful. It is blood mixed with rice and beans. No bueno.

Fancy parties? The same as in the states, but I haven't been to any fancy parties, so I really don't know what I am saying. Kids on the street just recently started wearing clothes, because it got cold here! Normal, imagine what hipsters wear, and that is mainstream here. No, I haven't seen the pictures of the Philippines, but I heard that it was bad. I hope all my friends are all okay.

Thanks for the email Regan, you are the best sister ever!
Love,
Elder Oliver


Holy flippin' moly Batman.

I am already 12 weeks into the field. Which means I am 18 weeks into the mission. This is going by WAY too fast.

Life in Torrevieja is going well. Last week it was hot, and we were wearing short sleeves and dying of heat, and this week is freakin cold, and we are wearing our winter coats and gloves and scarves and sweaters. I kind of like wearing all those. I think I want to live somewhere where it actually gets cold in the winter. 

Anyway. First, I have to tell you a couple of things that I keep forgetting.

1. I bought a violin, like, almost a month ago. 100€ Not a bad price, and it plays really well. The bow is kind of a piece of junk, but that is alright. We are going to do a musical number this Sunday, so hopefully we'll be able to get some time in this week to practice. 
2. This week I didn't speak English. Elder Rodríguez challenged me to fast from English for the week, so I did it. It was really difficult at first, but then about on Thursday, we were talking just about the whole day. I can express what I want about 80% of the time, and I am learning more and more words every day. I still struggle with non-church vocabulary, but doing a week long fast from English really helped me. Sometimes when I couldn't figure out what to say in Spanish I would say it in German, because it isn't English:)
3. Transfers are this week. On Saturday we will know who is leaving, staying, and arriving. Almost certain that Elder Rodríguez is going to leave, but it is all up to the Lord.
4. Did you ever send that other package?

This week, we have been trying to invite more of our investigators to make and keep commitments, and to do so prayerfully, but so far, they haven't been keeping them very well. It is really sad and rather annoying to listen to people complain that they feel so far from God when they are doing nothing to come closer to him. 

I have had many of my own prayers answered and doubts settled in trying to help them understand the gospel better. It is amazing. I know the Lord knows me personally. I have had many prayers this week answered so specifically, that I almost couldn't believe it when I first noticed.

There was a cold snap here this Sunday (not much, but this is a city where there is almost constant sunshine), and I am pretty sure that it scared away our investigators. We only had one come to sacrament meeting this Sunday, compared to the seven that we had the previous Sunday, and it was really irritating because we had run out of money on our cell phone, so we couldn't call them.

Elder Rodriguez is doing great as well. Because he challenged to me fast from English,  I feel comfortable teaching, talking, and doing all sorts of missionary tasks by myself. He also has made me take the lead, as if he were a new missionary and didn't know what was going on. I have been doing most of the planning, lessons, contacting and companionship study stuff as the ''senior companion''. It has been surprisingly difficult, but I have learned a lot, and for that I am grateful. I think I may have learned as much this week as I had learned the previous 3 weeks. I am so grateful for him. He has taught me more than I could possibly have asked for.

L, our investigator de oro is doing really well. She has been reading and praying every night, knows our message is true, and the only thing keeping her out of the baptismal font is that she and F are still waiting on paperwork to get married. She has been keeping her commitments perfectly (F still sleeps on an air mattress downstairs), and has never let us down, and is doing her best not to let the Lord down.

We have a few other families that we are teaching. A few families from Ecuador, Colombia, Dominican Republic, and 2 Spanish dudes.

We have really been struggling this week with finding people. We are going to be more diligent with it this coming week, and find those people who have been prepared to hear the message of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There is some difficulty here in the ward because of language barriers. The English speaking members only try to communicate with the Spanish speaking members when necessary, and don't even try to speak Spanish further than, ''¡hola! ¿Cómo estas?"    The majority of the English speakers have lived here for 5 or more years. Honestly, if you have lived in a country for 5 years or more, why have you done absolutely nothing to learn the language that they speak in said country. (Except the Air Force family, they are all fluent in Spanish and are the only link between the two groups...  'MURICA!!!)    I hope nothing develops further with the divisions.

But, despite the language barriers, they all love the missionaries. We have meal appointments almost everyday, and they work pretty well with us. There is a family from Ecuador that is awesome. They are always helping with our investigators, despite the difficulties in their own lives.  And their oldest daughter is leaving in 3 weeks to the Provo MTC to get ready to serve in the Salt Lake City, Temple Square mission! How exciting!

I hope I haven't forgotten anythings today.

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver