Madrileño, Chaval!

We got transfer news and I'm heading to Alcorcon, a branch in semi-central southwest Madrid. I haven't served in Madrid yet during my time on the mission so I'm about to live it up in the big city. That was Elder Johnson's last area and the work is non-stop over there. I leave Friday so I've got a few more days up here in the north


This was a long week, lots going on! 


Spent last P-day on a bus to Vigo for exchanges with the elders over there. Worth the trip, working with Elder Anderson was great. No one wanted to meet with us but we visited some members and knocked some doors. We got thrown out of an apartment building by a crazy Spaniard Karen who basically admitted that she only did it because we weren't Catholic. You walk it off. Acts 5:41 boiiiiiii


Back in Avilés we met with a few of our friends. We taught Manuel about the Word of Wisdom and tithing, and set plans to help him start living both. We can see how making friends at church and drawing closer to God is helping him out. Commandments can be tough to learn and apply, so something we focused on was the reason why God gives commandments. It's not to glorify Himself by subjecting us to His rules, but rather his perfect counsel on how to live happily. God gives us commandments because He wants to bless us for our obedience.


Introduced a guy named Gabriel to the Book of Mormon and made a plan to call him and read every morning. So now our morning consists of getting up an hour and a half early, reading with him before he goes to work, and going back to bed for an hour. It's kind of a vibe.


On Saturday the ward had a summer fiesta with water balloons and a watermelon eating contest, and the people we invited had a great time. We also shared a message about how Christlike service can be a great avenue for sharing the gospel. Also, for some reason being a missionary makes little kids target you with water balloons a lot, so you target them right back. I love all the kids in this ward.


Going to miss Avilés and Gijon, the three months I spent here was the shortest time I've ever spent in an area but I learned and grew a lot. I'll miss this place.


Let's see what Madrid has in store...
Elder Curtis 


Vigo
Squad
Tried to make Baleadas. Went pretty well.
Manuel gave us tapas. This was all for 4 people.
Arroz chaufa with Abraham and William, the Vigo missionaries' friends.
Ominous hallway. 
The guy who owned this doormat didn't know what it said either. And he wasn't interested. 
Water balloon activity, I'll drop vids soon.
We've got a ward member who lives making us WhatsApp stickers.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's Called A Guagua

Image
Buenos días a todos, cerca o lejos, en tierra o mar Another week in Fuerteventura, although strictly speaking we weren't in Fuerteventura all that much, because we had an exchange in Vecindario on the island of Gran Canaria. More details to follow but immediately after that exchange I had to fly to Madrid for a residency appointment and was there for a night. A lot of travel but we got a lot of good stuff done. While we were here we've started meeting with a good chunk of the people we met street contacting, and those who want to meet with us are really fun to get to know and to talk to.  Our first appointment with this guy named Jorge was really cool, he mentioned he was in a park near the center of town and invited us to come join him, and he had his two kids with him as well. It's just awesome to sit down and teach people who want to learn. Running out of time for pday so the rest will be bullet points  Busses are called guaguas here, it's pronounced wawa but luckily...
Read more

I Feel Like This Shouldn't Be Such A Hard Question...

Image
"Que te hace feliz?"  "What makes you happy?" It's a street approach that my comp came up with. The idea is that since God's plan is a plan of happiness, and He doesn't do anything without the ultimate goal being our happiness, the best way to connect conversations to God's plan is to talk about what makes people happy. We tried walking around with a whiteboard the other day, and in general we found that it helps get people talking if nothing else! Some conversations from this week: -Que te hace feliz? -Nothing -... -Que te hace feliz? -Money and a different woman every day -Que te hace feliz? -I'm deaf -*points to whiteboard* -Okay, I'm not deaf. Nothing. -Que te hace feliz? -*points to boyfriend* He's a Muslim... -Great! Que te hace feliz? These are obviously the more extreme examples, but it's pretty sad that so many people wouldn't (or worse, couldn't) answer this question. Something I've learned on my mission is the i...
Read more

Nefi Got Me Trippin

Image
^^ Mildly edited actual text message from someone who just sat down and started reading the Book of Mormon. We love it when people actually do that because surprisingly few people are really willing but everyone who does learns a lot. This week was NUTS. Like I talked about last week, we learned a really cool trick to involve members in missionary work: don't run away to another island like two days after they notice you're at church. We stayed this whole week in Lanzarote and saw miracles. Where do I even start? Amparo, who tried several months ago to get baptized but backed off, is BACK. We had a few great lessons, talked to her son in Miami, and watched her connect with her friends in the ward again. She's taking her time but has baptism as her goal. José passed his baptismal interview! He's all set to get baptized in March. His wife Lely also just got back from the temple for the first time so they're ridiculously happy. We also had time to organize a Family Hom...
Read more