¡Estoy en España!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow! I can´t believe that I´m really here. There is so much to tell, so I´ll do my best :) President and Sister Jackson are THEEEE Best! I love them. When they picked us up at the airport, we were kind of delayed because one of Elder McAllister´s bags got sent to Minneapolis instead of Spain. All of my bags came through, so I was grateful. They met us just right outside and then we drove to the MTC/Temple Grounds. Sister Jackson cracks me up. She is so cute and hilarious. Both of them were joking about how hard it is to get out of the airport area because it is so confusing. We ended up driving around the airport 3 times in a circle to get on the right ramp to get to the freeway. They were so fun to talk to and to get to know. When we were in the car, President Jackson told me about my trainer/first companion. Her name is Emily Nydegger and she´s from Holladay, Utah. He said that she was on that youtube video that went viral of all of the missionaries that were called after the mission age change for girls. I´m sure there were lots of youtube videos made of people going, but this one was of a group of people who went to Olympus High School. Anyway - she is the second person opening her call on that video. Dad - do you remember watching that video with me and jokingly telling me, "haha - that girl could be your companion!" You guess right! I love her, she is fantastic! She is exactly obedient and has such a desire to teach people. Her Spanish is really good to, and I am grateful. Since being here, it has been hard to understand people, let alone speak! I know I´m not completely useless, but sometimes I feel like I have nothing to contribute accept for my smile. But, I know that Heavenly Father wants me to learn so much here and to keep staying positive. There is a lot to adjust to as a missionary. Your mission is really what you make of it to. You work to fill your time to find people to teach, and then you also teach, and then you serve and help the members in your area with whatever they need. There are many things to learn, but it is so good.
So in Spain, the apartments people live in are called, "Pisos." Our area is Torrejón, between Madrid and Guadalajara. We are opening the area that we are in...there are 2 sisters and 2 elders that are also here in the city, but our area is new, so we´re starting from scratch. I was grateful the sun was out on the first day we got here. But, it is has been overcast everyday since. They have a big plaza and shopping area a few streets down from our piso, so that is good for contacting. There are so many people from Africa here, and also Ecuador and Peru. I even met an Irish man on my first day here. He helped me carry my luggage with my companion. There are just a lot of people here from different places. There are no dryers here, so people hang their clothes outside of their windows.
My first eating appointment was so cool! I didn´t understand a word of what they said, but the family was so sweet! And the food was GREAT! I love the food here! I haven´t had anything too crazy yet, but they definitely know how to make some good food. We eat alot of meals with chicken, different meats, rice, and potatoes. The little kids here are ADORABLE! I just look at them when they´re speaking Spanish so fast and think, "Holy cow! They can speak so fast and they get this, so there´s hope for me haha!" There is a really big ward here. Everyone is so friendly and so sweet. I just wish I understood them better. I always have to ask them to repeat things, but that´s ok. They are patient and kind about it and I´m grateful :)
Yesterday was our first sacrament meeting. They asked me and Hermana Nydegger to introduce ourselves to the ward and to share our testimonies. Even though my Spanish is super slow, I know that Heavenly Father blessed me. It was also really cool, because during the third hour of church, they asked me and my companion to come and help the kids in primary learn a new song. I was grateful for all of those times that Mal and I played the piano for the Liahona ward primary. We wrote the words to the song on the board and I pointed while we sang. It was kind of funny because I didn´t really know the song, but it was a really sweet experience helping them learn. They are adorable. There were about 20 little kids there.
Ok - I have to tell you the funniest story. At our 2nd eating appointment...we usually eat with families during medio dia - not at night.... (we don´t really eat dinner here, we just eat a really big lunch later in the afternoon). But, anyway - at this eating appointment we were meeting with Cati and Roberto. We were going with the other Elders and Sisters and they told us that the family is kind of crazy, so we didn´t really know what to expect. Roberto had a mental disability of some kind and was always hunched over sitting on the couch, pointing at things, repeating himself over and over again. I gave him a stick that I had in my bag, and then from that point on he called me his "novia" (girlfriend). It was hilarious and I just kept laughing because I couldn´t understand really anything he was saying except for "novia." He had been watching the pink panther and kept laughing at it. After eating with them, we went in the other room and Elder Fisher gave a spiritual thought about David and Goliath from the Bible. Roberto knew the story and went to go get a toy sword from the other room to pretend to be like Goliath. Roberto came charging into the room headed straight for Elder Fisher with his sword. Elder Fisher was standing in front of a huge glass cabinet. Roberto slammed Elder Fisher into the glass with his fake sword and the glass completely shattered. Roberto´s Mom started cracking up, Elder Fisher started laughing (he didn´t get hurt or anything, but it definitely shocked him). AND THEN, Roberto starts cracking up, and stands up normal and starts talking normal. Me and Hermana Nydegger were like, "WHAT!?" Roberto was totally pretending to be a crazy person the whole time and we totally fell for it. He definitely wasn´t planning on shattering a bunch of glass everywhere, but he was hilarious!!! Everyone was crying laughing. I thought it was so funny. They were just playing a joke on us new missionaries. I don´t know how the other missionaries were able to keep a straight face for that long. It had been about an hour or so until this happened, so they stumped us good. Anyway - the ward members here are great! They are so fun and they love life! There are many people that I´ve also met in the streets though that don´t believe in God, they don´t believe that any kind of God exists. I hope that I can continue to live worthy of the Spirit so that the Spirit can touch the hearts of those who are prepared to hear.
Another cool experience we had the other night was when we got to go to a Spanish music concert for one of the ward members. It was free and we got to hear real Spanish music! It was great! They had 2 little boys come up at the end and sing. They were SO good! They had this cute little Spanish stance and sang with their feet apart (one in front of the other) and they held their arms out like we did when we played Sarandonga in the Folk Band. It was adorable. That night when I heard them, I was touched to realize that the Lord wanted me to be here, with these people, learning from them, and to teach them and share what I know with them. I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I am grateful to be apart of the Lord´s work here in Spain!!!
Oh yeah....I forgot to tell you. Since our flight was rebooked to Paris, France - they booked us to be in first class to Paris. I had the best seat on the plane! The seats could be adjusted so that we could sleep and it had a massage button. They gave me a big pillow and a blanket and we had a HUGE gourmet meal on the way over, with like 4 courses. It was A-mazing. I´m glad our flight was delayed...just so we could be in first class on the way to Paris.
I´ll send pictures next week! I forgot my camera cord today...sorry! Love you all!!!
Ashlee
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