Helaman 5:12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the arock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your bfoundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty cstorm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

8-2-10

Well, actually, we don´t come back for lunch at all. At least not last week. Every day we eat with members. And that´s usually the only meal we eat.
 
That´s because everyone feeds us way too much. Apparantly the Spain way is eat yourself to death around 2-3, then don´t eat for the rest of the day.
 
For example: (P.S. I hate these spanish keyboards. They´re all wacked up to type on ;), Thursday, we went to a member´s house, where a woman named Pepa lives. There was some released Elder there who´d set up the appointment in the past, so we went there.
 
We start out with cheese slices, chips, and meat rolls. That´s okay. Then, out comes the paella. That was put on plates, but too much. So after that, I´m full.
 
But it didn´t end there. Then the fruit comes out. So I made the mistake of eating an apple, which really didn´t help. And, thinking we´re done, Pepa brings out this bread pie/cake thing, and cuts us all a huge slice.
 
So, now I´m practically groaning. Then out comes the little ice cream cone...
 
Thankfully, that was the real end.
 
So, that was the first meal. Friday, we go to meet with Jose Antonio, who is the ward mission leader. Huge paella dish. With shrimp. Not americanized peeled shrimp, but unpeeled cooked shrimp. And it´s a communal style.
 
Before we´re even done with our portion I´m in pain again. Then there´s the salad. And then the bananas. The pudding cups. And finally, he sends us home with a small loaf of bread.
 
So that´s why we don´t eat breakfast or dinner-the members feed us too much!
 
Saturday, we go to Benjamin and Gladys´s home. Thankfully, there, they actually made some pizzas, and we had those with Coke and a small chocolate mousse afterwards. A normal meal. And they invited us back for Sunday lunch.
 
Sunday lunch rolls around. We get there. A small salad. I´m thinking ¨Okay, I can eat this.¨
 
Except for the green olives...oh my, they were potent. Followed by fish, rice, and a small cheesecake.
 
So yeah, we eat well. I haven´t cooked a meal in the flat yet. And now I´ve eaten green olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, and shrimp. Some were better than others.
 
Yesterday was church. But this is a weird area. There´s a family from England here, who don´t speak any Spanish. Then we´ve got some Nigerians who speak English better than Spanish. The Bishop speaks English as well as Spanish. So it´s not all Spanish.
 
Bishop had me get up during announcements and introduce myself. Thankfully I knew enough not to sound like a complete dunce, bore a quick testimony, and sat down.
 
Maybe they´re being nice, but everyone kept saying I speak with a native accent.
 
So then we go to sunday school. What a change from Brother Richardson, and definately a change from Anderson. She was pretty firey.
 
Sister Summerfield (that´s the English family) needed us to translate for her in Young Womens, so I went to that class.
 
Next week, though, Brother Summerfield is teaching the Young Men, and Sister Summerfield is teaching the Young Women, so I better brush up a little more on Spanish, since we´ll have to interpret for them.
 
They´re a good family, though. And John might be the only person in Spain with a real handshake. The Spanish don´t seem to do the firm American grip as much.
 
Right now we don´t have anyone with a baptismal date, though there are some that are close. We´ve got two Romanians who we just started teaching yesterday that are pretty interested. One of the Nigerians, who´s name is I.K., has a sister, Joy, who we taught the first lesson (in English!) to yesterday, and she´s thinking about baptism. Thankfully her brother is a strong convert and a good influence.
 
Then we have Sonia, who I haven´t taught yet, but who´s husband is in the bishopric, and she´s looking at baptism. And then there´s Anna, who can´t be baptised yet because her husband doesn´t want to get married, but she has two kids, Erardo and Hillary, who are able to be baptised. But Erardo, who´s 12, told us ¨no¨ the other night. A twelve year old! That was a little depressing.
 
We usually keep busy with lessons and appointments throughout the day. We do drop in on the recent converts when we don´t have any investigators, as well as the members. Some days we just go around, working down the list of street contacts made years ago. Most of them aren´t any good, but we´ve got to keep going through them.
 
Thankfully the chapel is air conditioned. Most of the apartments here (including ours) aren´t. Being inside AC for nine weeks kinda messed me up for heat, but I think I´ve readjusted now, since I´m sweating less again. But we don´t have to wear our suits except to church, so we survive.
 
Today will be a little crazy, as I have to go with my trainer into Valencia to drop him off there, and bring back a different companion for most of this week, as there are new procedures coming in from Salt Lake and all the zone leaders, district leaders, and trainers have to go. I´ll go back to Valencia to pick him up Friday morning, so for a few days I´ll be with a different companion already. He´s only got two weeks left, so hopefully he´s not too ¨trunky¨.
 
The walking isn´t too bad, as the city isn´t super large. For the farther away parts we take buses or go on nights we have with members.
 
I think that´s all I have for you this week. I´ll talk to you again next week.
 
Bradley.

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