Family! If this makes no sense I´m sorry because I´m going to write super
super fast to try and get everything in! Ignore all typos and stuff!
First of all, I got official instructions from president on how you can
find the choir singing on Sunday nights! Google: missionary couple Madrid Spain
temple. It is a blog from a senior couple serving here, I think. Check it out!
I´m in it! I´m in Madrid with the MTC choir!
So both here and in Provo I've learned a LOT about people. You NEVER know
what people are going through. Everyone´s story surprises me. Both here and in
Provo I´ve met an elder that has 3 older brothers but he is the first to serve a
mission which would be hard, an hermana whose older brother died of brain cancer
a few years ago, an elder whose older brother came home early from his mission
for worthiness issues that caused tons of family problems so he has tons of
pressure to stay out here no matter what, a couple elders who were inactive but
brought back to the church by friends, and this one elder who has an incredible
story about being from Venezuela and selling everything to be sealed in the
temple and wanted better opportunities in America so the dad went ahead to work
and send money and they were supposed to follow a few months later but it ended
up being 7 years of not seeing their father. And I´m sure there a are a lot more
that don´t get shared. Treat EVERYone kindly, because everyone has gone through
something. These missionaries inspire me.
I´ve learned lots of really cool things about faith these past couple
weeks! I really, really wish I could share everything but I wouldn´t even know
where to start. All I know is that even though faith is the first principle of
the gospel and everyone knows stuff about it, it´s one of the deepest, most
profound principles. I could study it FOREVER and not feel like I completely
understand it. It´s amazing. But what´s also super cool is that I came up with
a deep faith question and decided to ponder it a little but then just a couple
days later my "investigator" asked me that question in a lesson and I was
startled because I didn´t really know how to answer! So I studied it for a
couple days and it´s amazing how when you study for investigators you also learn
for yourself. Teachers learn SO much more than the people they teach! Everyone
should go on a mission just because you yourself learn so much! I have never
before loved reading the scriptures so much! I really don´t know how I survived
without reading them for over an hour everyday before the mission! How did I
ever let anything else stand in the way of it? Everyone, take time to read your
scriptures! No matter how busy you are! They are AMAZING and have SO much power
in them that you need in your life!
So one thing I neglected to mention last week was the Parque!! Going to the
park every Saturday morning is super cool because we get to test our Spanish
with real people in the real world (which is a very humbling experience hahaha)
and it is super scary but it´s also super awesome! So the pics you got from
President should have been from the Park, and we get temporary companions there
to mix up Spanish levels so none of those girls are my comp, but they are still
awesome! Anyway, the first week we talked forever to this guy who spoke limited
English and no Spanish. He was from Bagdad and very interesting and so nice! We
got his info so hopefully that works out. But this week we got on the metro and
the very first lady we sat down next to accepted a Book of Mormon! I felt really strongly
that she needed the comfort the gospel brings because she told us she was going
to the hospital to visit a sick friend. The seriousness of the illness is unknown
to me but still, I pray for her a lot. She seemed interested in reading and was
still looking at the book when we left the metro, so we got her info too. We
placed 3 Books of Mormon last Saturday and it was super fun! We talked to
everybody! It gets less scary the longer you do it. Missionary work is the best!
You have to be bold, but you CAN do it.
We also went to the Prado last Pday! That was SUPER cool for me to see a
bunch of paintings that I´d only ever studied about, like Las Meninas and a lot
by Goya and Rapheal (his paintings are HUGE!! idk how he did them because none
of them ever would fit in anyone´s house!) and Durer. but Kelly and Aaron, our
annoying TA was right, art IS a LOT better when you see it in person! Ahhhh I
love living in Madrid!
Also, we have the coolest teacher ever! We have 3 different teachers but my
favorite is Hermano Tindale. He´s been off of his mission a year now and he is
British and served and has lived in Spain, so if you ever want to hear Spanish
with a British accent, talk to him. He´s hilarious and reminds me the most of my
Provo teachers which maybe is why I like him so much. But he´s so helpful and
seriously knows the scriptures! Elder Ridd and I are convinced that he´s going
to be an apostle someday haha. He is not so sure :p
Funny stuff: so my comp and I were teaching a lesson to an "investigator"
at night and we planned on teaching the Restoration but after talking to him for
a couple minutess, she starts in on the Plan of Salvation lesson. I was really
surprised because that´s really unlike her, but I was excited that she was going
off the Spirit so I totally went with it. Halfway through the lesson, however,
she realized that she had started teaching the wrong one and I realized that she
hadn´t done it on purpose! It was hilarious and I just finished up strong with
the Atonement so it totally worked out, but she felt so embarrassed afterward and
I just kept laughing at the look on her face! It was great...also, the Spanish
natives came this week! They are only here for 2 weeks because they already
speak Spanish, so they will go into the field with us. However, the elder from
Venezuela in my district was supposed to be with them since he already speaks
Spanish perfectly but by mistake he came here with us, so he just stayed in our
class and is a huge help! But what was funny was that he really wanted to trick
all the natives into thinking he didn´t know any Spanish and then slowly
throughout 2 weeks "improve" until he was fluent and blame it all the Gift of
Tongues. It was going to be really funny but he didn´t end up doing it (I really
didn´t think he would haha).
Wow! I said everything I planned on saying! Anyway, I love you all! I LOVE
mail! I have gotten physical letters from Mom, Dad, Grandma Miles, and Sister
Clark! I LOVE it! Kelly looks great in the wedding dress! I love the way it
turned out! I loved the family reunion pics! I loved the list of the "types" of
personalities! I can´t believe Karina´s already started school!!!! Crazy! I feel
like time should pause for you all while I´m here but alas, time goes on for
everyone. Anyway, please continue to send mail and email! I promise I´ll have
more email time in the field in 2 weeks! Letters take roughly 5 to 7 days to get
here from the States so you can start sending them to Malaga in a few days. I
read every letter I get at least like 20 times because letters here have a value
equal to gold. Seriously.
Thank you SO much for prayers! I feel them everyday!
Hermana Andrew
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