Curtis, Alex

Miracles y'all  The Talavera Branch continues to be an absolute powerhouse. So many new people to teach have showed up, and they were all found during our efforts to just serve the people we already know. This branch is the most missionary-minded group of members I've ever met. Elder Sharp keeps telling me not to get used to it. People! Our new friend Jenny came to church! She's pretty shy but loved the sacrament meeting and the people of the branch! Silvia, the branch president's wife, introduced us to her niece and her two kids who just moved here to Spain two weeks ago! They're obviously very connected already to the branch, but meeting everyone else has been great for them!  Thiago has been really busy the last few weeks but we finally got to visit him again! The uncle he lives with talks a lot but definitely listens when we teach. We taught them the first half of the Plan of Salvation and invited Thiago to church next week! Paulino was one of the first people I...

What's good yall? I've learned that the only constant in missionary life is change. Which is cool, I'm down for every six-week shake-up.  New transfer, old area Our English class is in full swing, several members and a few friends have all committed to weekly lessons! It's a great way to connect with people. New president, same missionaries  Went to zone conference and met President Eastland, which was cool. He's made a great start on learning Spanish and I'm excited to serve under him for the next two years! New comp, same friends and members Jenny is relatively new in Spain, and found us through our friend Adelina! She's very interested in hearing from us and is excited to meet the branch! Our friend Jesús is from Cuba and loves baseball, but hasn't been able to play in years since he came to Spain. Elder Sharp got his hands on some gloves, so we were able to play catch with Jesús and a few of his friends. I can tell it meant a lot to Jesús, and it...

Writing this on a train that was 25 minutes late. And this is not the only train problem we've had all week. Anyway it's the start of a new transfer! I spent last P-day in Toldeo (see pictures) before heading to central Madrid to meet Elder Sharp on our train to Talavera. About an hour beforehand I called him to confirm when we were meeting. He thought we were transferring the next day, so it was a rush to get to the train on time. It's a miracle and a half that we made it at all. Our first moring in Talavera we were recalled to Madrid for some office stuff, and on our way back we missed our train stop and ended up 30 minutes from Talavera with no bus or train out for hours. Luckily some members were able to pick us up, but while we waited we met a family who lived two streets from our chapel! We invited the son to play football with the members on Saturday and he came! The mother, Beatriz, is going through some tough times right now but has already gotten to know a few mem...

Hey yall how's it going? The end of this transfer has been nuts. Elder Rasolo is finishing his mission so that makes everything feel like the end when really not much is changing for me. Speaking of which- Transfer news! Turns out I'll stay here in Talavera, and my new comp Elder Sharp will come here and complete my training. I'll have to teach him about Talavera for a week or two, so I've been prepping to "lead" the area. Elder Rasolo, of course, is getting transferred back to Belgium and his next comp might take a while to get to him, but his next companion will be what we like to call an eternal companion. :) As for the work this week- We had another exchange in Fuenlabrada, and got to go to district council in person which was cool. I love our district, and we're lucky the transfer won't change it much. We're of course losing Elder Rasolo, and Elder Stewart is getting taken out of Mostoles. Beyond that the district will be the same so I'm p...

Haha totally kidding. Everything's good! I made you open this email though, didn't I? Now that you're here and no longer worried about me, let's talk about this week! This is Elder Rasolo's last transfer, and by now it is his last week. This makes it feel like something a whole lot bigger than a transfer is coming to an end. I'm not even sure if I'll be in Talavera next week so stay tuned for transfer news! With our time running out, we've been working really hard! Here are some people highlights: -Thiago has accepted a Book of Mormon in Portuguese and is reading from it and asking questions. He's still new in Talavera so his schedule is pretty open and we had a few chances to see him this week! We taught him about the Restoration and encouraged him to pray to know if O Livro de Mórmon (Portuguese is strange) is true. -Wilson is also new here but a lot more busy. He's come to church twice already and attended a branch activity on Saturday morning...