December 28, 2011

León Zone Activity

Elder Evans after one too many 7-ups at Burger King

A Spanish Civil Marriage

A Two Year Old in a Tuxedo

Followed by a Baptism (Note: Elder Hodges is on the far left)

Familia,

Well, it was nice to talk to you [We spoke with one another via Skype on Christmas]!!! I´m glad I got to see the family for a bit and talk to you all!!! Well, this past week you already know, but I´ll tell you again, just so that you remember since dad’s high priest self might forget. =)

Well, like you know, this last Wednesday we had the Zone activity in León and it was fun!!! We did a white elephant gift exchange sort of thing. I got a mini pool table that I forgot in León, but it´s okay. It was better than most of the things that everyone else got. Someone got a shower cap, and I bought a cool looking tie and some stick on mustaches, haha. It was pretty fun!! Then Friday we went to Ureña to the marriage of two of our investigators which was an awesome experience!!! They have a son and he was dressed in a small tux, suit and tie. He´s two so just imagine that (there´s also a picture, so you don´t have to imagine it if you don´t want to, just look at the picture.) We got them married at the place to get them married there and it was in the Plaza Mayor there in Ureña, but it´s a small pueblo so the Plaza Mayor was pretty menor, but whatever. I took pictures, and I mean a lot of pictures of the wedding so yeah!!! At the point where they needed to put on the rings, they realized that they left them in the car, so someone went out and got them for them, haha!!! Well, they got married, signed all of the papers and stuff and yeah!!! We threw rice too so yeah! It was fun!

Saturday they got baptized and that was cool!!! I baptized the husband and Elder Hodges baptized the wife. It was a super cool experience! The talks given before the ordinance were really good and they covered everything perfectly. I loved it!! Then Sunday they were confirmed and I confirmed the husband, and the wife chose Jhors (I´m sure that was spelled wrong) and it was wonderful to see and do!! Well, this week has been full of awesomeness and yeah!!! I loved this week! How are things over yonder at home?  I hope so, but I don´t know. Take care and I´ll talk to you next week!!! Love you! Hasta luego!!

Elder Bauer

December 21, 2011

Catedral Santa María Regla, León

Hotel Hostal San Marcos, León

Family,

This week has been cool in two different ways!! One, it got down to -3º C in Valladolid so I froze!!! And two, we have two baptisms this weekend! Two of our investigators are getting married on Friday and baptized Saturday the 24th so yeah!!! I´m excited!!! Well on to my week.

So last Wednesday, we cleaned the piso [apartment]...a lot!!!! It smells clean now so yeah!!! Then we went out and did some lessons. We had some great lessons and I´m sure that this next week we´ll get some new investigators because we´re going through some formers!!! I´m having fun!!! That´s pretty much all I remember. Well and right now I´m in León to have our Christmas P-Day!!! I´m sure it will be fun!!! So far it has been. We played a bit of soccer, but it was too cold so I and two other Elders came and are doing email. How´s everything at home? Anything fun? I´m sorry I can´t answer your questions too well since I haven´t really seen too many traditions, except for roasted chestnuts [I asked about any Spanish Christmas traditions]!!! OH and I learned to beatbox!! Elder Hodges taught me. You pretty much say "Boots and skirts" over and over again!!! Sorry, not much more, but yeah!! Lots of contacts and lessons!!! 

Take care and I hope you guys keep having fun!!! Oh, our meeting on Sunday is only sacrament meeting too which is at 12. Take care and love you all.

Elder Bauer

December 14, 2011

  

This is an old picture from Madrid, but we just got it and I like it!

Looking down at the street from the elders' apartment in Valladolid.

Outside the elders' apartment in Valladolid.

A missionary kitchen (in Valladolid).

Elders have obviously made themselves at home.  A parent would be appalled!

The church meetinghouse (meeting apartment?) in Valladolid.

Familia,

Well, this past week has been interesting and intense! Sooo, this past week has been the first time I´ve been managing an area as a prospective Senior Companion so it was...interesting...scary...both! So yeah.

Well, Thursday I tried to pass by a few people and I had a mini weekly planning by myself since Elder Verdu wasn´t going to stay with me for long. I also had to wait a bit for Elder Rivera to call me to know when transfers are. So Thursday was a festivo (holiday) so Valladolid looked like a ghost town. Not a soul out in the street. So I tried to do some contacting and door knocking, but when I knocked on a building the person answered the intercom thing yelling!!! I could have sworn that I felt their spit through the intercom. We decided to leave that for another day. Friday we had three lessons planned out super well, but then the investigators couldn´t see us at the times that I planned so I had to juggle lessons that day. It was horrible. I got two out of three lessons that I wanted, but it´s okay. I´m doing much better now! Saturday we did stuff, but I forgot. Oh, and I´m an official resident of Spain as of Friday!!! I got my Spanish residency card and it looks cool!!! I like it better than my driver’s license!!! I called the secretaries of the mission and they told me stuff that I needed to do for that, and also transfer information before Elder Rivera called us. They said that I´d be staying in Valladolid with Elder Hodges, former Assistant to the President!! He´s super awesome at everything pretty much!!

Sunday was Branch Conference so the Second Counselor of the Mission was there and it was a pretty interesting meeting since I was asked to play some Christmas hymns that I don´t really know too well on the piano.  So I messed up a lot, but it´s okay.  Monday we had a lesson with Jorge for the first time in about a month and I thought it was pretty good!!!   Then at about 4 Elder Verdu and I picked up our companions and Elder Hodges is the new Zone Leader here as well as someone else that I don´t know. Then Elder Tirzuman, a Romanian, is the District Leader!! So since I´m staying here for at least another transfer you can send stuff to my piso (apartment) again!  I´ve been letter deprived for about two weeks so yeah.  So we´ve had some fun here in Valladolid! Elder Hodges knows what talking to everyone in contacting means!! Holy trash he´s awesome!! He really does stop EVERYONE!!!!! I want to be like that when I go to my new area!! I´m learning as much as I can from him and it´s been good!! We´ve seen every investigator so far this week, and I´ve planned on seeing each and every single one at least 3 times a week, and we´ve got 6 that progress! 4 of them might get married too and be baptized so YEAH!!!! I´m excited!! How has everyone been this week?

¡Elder Bauer of Valladolid!

December 7, 2011

Madrid Temple at Sunset

Elder Fowler

Missionaries with the JAS (Jovenes Adultos Solteros - Young Single Adult) Group in Madrid

Baptism in Madrid

Familia,

I enjoyed reading your email today!! Thanks for telling me everything that has happened.  I´m glad to hear that everything is well over there in good old Bloomington, Illinois!!

So, Wednesday I met Elder Thurstin, Elder Hoskins, and Elder Fowler after emailing at the CCM [Missionary Training Center in Madrid]. That night I went with Elder Thurstin and it was a fun night!!! We talked about Valladolid and random stuff that made me laugh. We then went to the piso [apartment] and I met everyone in the piso. There are 5 missionaries in that piso and it´s pretty fun!!! Elders Thurstin and Hoskins are the Zone Leaders of that Zone. Then Elder Hanson is a District Leader with his companion Elder Winklecotter (don´t know if it´s spelled right) and Elder Fowler is there with Elders Thurstin and Hoskins. It was a pretty full and fun piso. They were sick with a cold though so I hoped that I wouldn´t get it. Thusday evening we visited a great part-member family and we taught them about the priesthood because the lady wanted a blessing from us. Elder Thurstin is a great Elder!!! I´m going to have to apply some things that I learned from him now, and I believe I have already, but I´ll get there soon. So Friday I went with Elder Hoskins and he´s great as well!!! Elder Hoskins is Elder Thurstin´s companion and Elder Fowler was just there. But Elder Fowler went with Elder Thurstin that day and Elder Hoskins and I did contacts and got to know each other better!! I love all of those Elders down in Madrid!! We didn´t really teach since Elder Thurstin had all of the appointments, so just contacting for us. Later on that day, we went to two investigators' house and talked to them/helped them clean the piso. It was a great little lesson. We then went out to eat to celebrate their baptism on Saturday. Also earlier on Friday Elder Hoskins, Winklecotter, and Hermana Delgado and I practiced a hymn that we were going to sing for the baptism. At first I wasn´t going to sing until Elder Hoskins apologized for his voice and I said that I could try singing as well. So I did, and did a cool second voice in the song and so I was accepted quickly. It was fun!!

Saturday was the baptism and so it was a lot of fun!!! We did our song and it turned out great!! Elder Thurstin afterwards said that it sounded really good!! I was happy to hear that!!! Sunday was the confirmation and the first time in a Barrio [ward] for me the whole time I've been on my mission!!! It was cool!!! So the church meetings are held at the stake center there on Temple Square so I was there and saw all of the lights they had there for the trees. It was beautiful, but not as good as Temple Square in Salt Lake. Later that evening there was a fireside on how they built the Temple in Madrid, by the architect herself!!! It was cool!! I also met some interesting people while down in Madrid that I just hope to see again!! Super awesome ward!! Sunday night right after the fireside Elder Verdu and Elder Perez from Salamanca came in and greeted me!! I also met in person for the first time Elders Jeppson and Woodberry, the secretaries of the mission. Elder Perez got his visa for the U.S. so he left on Monday and Elder Verdu and I became companions. Also I started feeling a sore throat coming and my voice was deeper than usual so I got the cold, dang it!!! Haha, get over one sickness and get another one, haha!!!! Anyway, Monday Elder Verdu and I took the metro to the train station in Madrid to go back to Salamanca. We got there, took Medio-dia and then went out and did some contacts and taught a lesson. Yesterday we taught two wonderful lessons!! One of the investigators didn´t know if he recieved his answer and he just kept feeling a peace, so I bust out D&C 6:22-23 and testified that the spirit works like that!! It was awesome!! With the deep voice it sounded cool too, haha!!! Then the last lesson was at 8:30 to a new investigator that seems like he´s gold!!! We taught him lesson 1 and nearly 3/4 of the way through the lesson, I practically lost my voice. We answered his questions and it was another great lesson!!!

Today was P-Day, but didn´t feel like it was one. We woke up at 7 (duh) and got ready as fast as possible and caught a bus to go to the charter bus station. We had District Meeting in Benavente so we traveled all day today. We got back here in Valladolid at 6 or 6:30 so yeah. We´ll buy food and I´ll clean the piso and maybe contact if there´s time, but probably not.

Elder Bauer

November 30, 2011

Well, let me just say that this week has been...interesting. So, first, thanks for the package that I got a week ago but forgot to say thank you for it. By the way, transfers are coming up so please, if anyone is going to send me anything, namely Megan, Barry, Wil and Trey, and you guys, send it to the mission office. That would be easier for me. Also thanks for the letters from:

Megan

Wil and Trey

Barry
And special thanks to mom for the package!!

Well, let me get on to my week. So Thursday nothing really new, except that by the end of the day I started not feeling too well. My stomach every now and then would hurt pretty bad and I couldn´t concentrate too much on the lessons. Friday I stayed home pretty much all day because I was sick. I rested as much as I can. Saturday we did stuff, we ended up at Ana Vigo´s house and I ate some goodies, but my stomach didn´t like me afterwards. Sunday we went to church and taught some lessons to people and one of them told me what I should eat to help me feel better so I took her advice and bought stuff on Monday. Monday and Tuesday we stayed home because of sick reasons. Plus I had diarrhea and I´m not sure if it has stopped or not, but yeah. Today was a super weird and scary day for me. Let me just say that my companion is on his way home unexpectedly with a year left of his mission. I can´t say anything else about that, so don´t even ask until after my mission. I´m writing from the CCM. Presidente Baruque, the branch president in Valladolid, helped us out in cleaning the piso before leaving and President Watkins came and picked us up to bring us here to Madrid. For now I´ll be with Elder Thurstin, one of my first companions here!!! He´s so awesome!!! I got to say hi to the CCM President, President Earl and I´ve been keeping in touch with him so yeah. I´ll be going with Elder Thurstin as soon as they come and pick me up. That´s pretty much it.

November 23, 2011

The entire zone!

The León Cathedral [Santa Maria de León] at Night

The Zone Leaders

Familia,

Wow, my inbox is pretty empty this week, what happened family??? I know I didn´t write last week on Wednesday, but yeah. Oh well, I´m sure that there´s a reason since Giselle is super busy with her Nutcracker so yeah. Well, all I have to say is that this week...well...past few days, have been great and crazy!!! So, Friday we arrived in León at around 7:10 and had District Meeting then went to the piso [apartment] in León. Let´s just say that was pretty interesting. Fourteen missionaries in a 4 room 2 bath apartment. It was crazy there, but I got to know the zone a lot better!! Elder Rivera, the other Zone Leader, is awesome!! I love that Elder!!! Finding a place to sleep was an adventure for most of the missionaries there too. Elder Evans helped me out to get a mattress up the stairs to sleep so yeah. I was paired up with another Elder since we were short on beds so yeah. His name was Elder Paredes and he was waiting for his visa in the Utah Salt Lake City Mission too!!!!  And guess what, he was companions with Elder Thomas over there too!!!!!!! ♫♪This is a small world after all♪♫!!! So yeah, he got to know the district that I was in and yeah!!! Super cool!! He told me all about his experiences there and yeah.

Saturday was Zone Conference. It went from 10 - 2 so it was pretty long, but we had a break in between so it wasn´t bad. I learned a lot from that. Before that though I had my interview with the President. After Zone Conference there in the church building in León, we had lunch which was Dominos Pizza!! I had 3 slices and that filled me up quite a bit so yeah. Then Hermana Watkins brought out pumpkin pie and I ate a slice of that, even though I wanted more of it!!! I´m getting hungry just talking about it!!! Anyway, then at around 6 we got an assignment to visit some people in a certain area in León, but we didn´t know the streets too well. It´s okay though, I had fun. We went to bed after that, well, at 12. Sunday we had district conference, instead of stake conference just because they are a lot of ramas [branches] and not barrios [wards].  So yeah, we got back here at around 3:30 and I was dead tired so we went to the piso [apartment] to rest a bit before working.  OH and by the way, we have 5 people scheduled to be baptized!!  Four of them are two couples that need to get married first, so it may take a while before they get baptized, but it´s okay.  I hope everything works out!

Nothing much else to say except for...HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVE!!!!!!  I don´t think I´ll be celebrating that here since there´s no such thing.  So while you´re eating turkey, I´ll be in bed haha so yeah. Someone has to eat a turkey leg for me, don´t think that it can just sit there while I´m gone.  EAT IT!!!! Haha. Well, how´s everything over there?  How was Thanksgiving (since I´ll read your emails after Thanksgiving)? Anything fun happen?  Any fun stories?  Well take care and I´ll talk to you soon!!!  Love you all!!!

Elder Bauer

November 18, 2011

Christopher Columbus's House in Valladolid

Familia,

Well, sorry for not writting to you Wednesday, but it was because we had zone conference in León and P-Day was changed from Wednesday to today so yeah. Plus we had exchanges with the Elders of León and they lasted longer than we thought they would. So I´ll tell you about that after showing you some pictures. The first four pictures [three of which are found above] are of the Museo de Colón so yeah. I think that´s the house you wanted me to see. I only got to take pictures of the outside so yeah. This was after I wrote to you last that I took these pictures. I saw it this time, haha, so there!!! Anyway, on to my week.

Well, this week wasn´t too exciting except for the exchanges to León so yeah. Tuesday at around 12 pm we went to the bus station and took a bus to León. At León we met the Elders there, Elder Bermudez and...ELDER EVANS!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!  So Elder Gallego and Elder Bermudez went back to Valladolid and I stayed with Elder Evans there in León. The plan was for me to be there until Wednesday and then return to Valladolid with Elder Evans at around 12. So Elder Evans and I went to the piso, which is an awesome looking piso!!! We took medio-dia and planned the rest of the day. We had a lesson at 8 and an FHE at 9 at the church building. We contacted before going to the church building, by ringing doorbells outside apartment buildings. We got about 20 contacts just at one building and at about 6:30 Elder Evans told me that we didn´t have any food in the piso so we went to buy things for a really good dip and hamburgers for the next day. So at about 7:30 we went to the church, taught an awesome lesson about service to a recent convert, had the family home evening and went back home at around 9:30. We got back and made the dip with the stuff we bought for it (a red pepper, onions, beans, and tomatoes) and stuff there at the piso (hot sauce, tomato sauce, cheese and spices). We forgot to buy milk so it reminded me of the video the Tombs made of NO MILK....AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!! We ate the dip with the Doritos that we bought too as well as mango juice which made that night super awesome!!!! Unfortunately we went to bed late.

The next day (Wednesday) we got up and studied what we were going to teach that day and planned out the day! Then we went out and called an appointment we had and cancelled our appointment with him, because we realized that we didn´t have time that morning. We met up with Elder and Sister Swanson at about 11:45 at the El Corté Ingles near the church building and we did contacts there while waiting. Elder Swanson is from Salt Lake, but has been living in Germany for a while. He´s in charge of all the medical stuff for all of the missions in Europe and he´s awesome!!! He took us out to eat so we ate breakfast for lunch in El Corte Ingles on the top floor so we had a great view of León!! Then we got a ride from Elder Swanson to the bus station to get the bus to Valladolid. We tried to buy tickets, then found out that our cards didn´t work so it was no bueno! We called Elder Gallego and told him that our cards didn´t work so we couldn´t travel that day. So, we went back to the piso and took medio-dia and yeah. So I didn´t bring anything to shower with me or pj´s to León so my hair was greasy and I was getting scruffy looking. So, later that night we did more contacts and all of the lessons we had dropped us, but Elder Swanson gave us German...well, Dutch Chocolate so that made us feel better. At around 9:30 we got back to the piso and started to cook the hamburgers on a grill they have there!! They were thick and huge!!! We each had two so I got super full again!! We played a game called Magic while the burgers were cooking so the time passed. I helped mix the burger meat with egg and spices so it was good!!! We went to bed late again...I know, sorry, but the burgers took a while to cook.

Thursday we got up, and Elder Gallego pretty much ordered us to come back down to Valladolid to finalize the exchanges. Weird because I came back down, to go back up the next day, but it was still understandable so yeah. We went down, our cards worked, and I slept on the bus as much as I could! We got here and yeah. Now I´m here. Intense right?! Yeah!! How was your week? Not as cool and weird and crazy and fun and funny as mine I´ll bet, but I haven´t read the weekly email yet so I don´t know. I´ll bet not. Have a fun week!!! Love you and I´ll email next week at the regular time, Wednesday so yeah. Hasta Luego!!!

Elder Bauer

Making Dip in León with Elder Evans

November 9, 2011

Familia,

It has been getting colder, but not too bad. In León it´s even colder than Valladolid! This week has been crazy for me so here it goes!!!

So the most exciting day was Monday for me so I´ll start with Monday. So, Elder Gallego is a Zone Leader so he had to go to a Leadership Training Meeting in León so we had to get up at 5:30 am to get to the bus station and catch the bus that left at 6:45. So we took the bus and it´s a two hour bus ride up so I tried to sleep, but I didn´t get to but oh well. We got up there and the thermometers say that it´s like 3 or 6º C [37º or 43º F] so it was super cold!! We got out and walked toward the church building, but it was too early so we ate breakfast at a bar (I know, weird, but it´s okay). So at 10 is when the meeting started and all of the leaders of León were there, and I left with another elder, Elder Evans! He´s super funny and awesome!! We did a bit of morning study and we went out and contacted.

We contact from 11 until about 12:15 and we go back to the church building because we had a lesson at 12:30 with a guy that I don´t remember his name. He´s a recent convert that´s all I know and we taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a pretty good lesson! After the lesson, the meeting ended so we went to a restaurant called Kebab and it was really good. We took the food to the Piso of Elder Evans (well, the Piso of the León missionaries) and ate it there. After that, Elder Evans taught me how to play a game called Magic, and it´s an interesting game. Well, at 4:30 Elder Gallego decides it´s time to go and try to catch the bus leaving León going to Valladolid, but it left at 4:40 so we weren´t going to catch it. We went down anyway and got ice cream (I know, but whatever - it was good anyway) and caught the train going to Madrid Chamartín, which stops in Valladolid, so we took the train down. It was a really nice train!! It got up to a speed of 153 kph [95 mph]so it was faster than the bus. So we got to Valladolid at 6:30 - 6:45 and got to the piso to eat a bit. Then we went to give a lesson and that was Monday. Super exciting right!!!

How´s everyone doing over there? Did Jonathan like his trip to New York? I hope all is well and that you have a good week!!! Take care and I´ll talk to you soon!!!

Elder Bauer

P.S. The pictures are of Elder Evans, and the wall there in León so yeah.

November 2, 2011

Hola Mamá,

Well, I wasn´t transferred so the old address is still valid so yeah! I knew I felt like someone was watching me when I walked out of my home, haha!! [Mom told him she was “creeping on his neighborhood” via Google Earth.]  Our apartments are called pisos here. I´ll see if I can send you pictures of my piso so that you can see what it looks like. As for my Spanish, Elder Gallego thinks that it sounds pretty good!! He´s a little jealous that I can speak both Spanish and English well. I´m sort of trying to teach him English, but he´s got a way to go, haha!!! He´s got a thick accent when he speaks English so yeah, it´s funny to me! As for the Plaza with the park, I´ve already seen it a lot. We walk by there pretty much every day. In fact, I´ve got some pictures so I´ll attach them here so you can see them!! The first picture is of a building near there that I thought looked cool [called Casa Mantilla]. The second is of a fountain there [fuente de cristal in the Plaza de Zorrilla], the third is of another cool building [Academia de Caballería], the fourth is of the park entrance [the park is called Campo Grande], and the fifth is of a picture thing I found there right outside the park. The park isn´t as crazy and full as the one in New York, but it’s got some ducks, swans, and peacocks!! Weird I know, but yeah it´s fun!! Funny that you mention New York too because there are ads everywhere of going on a trip to New York for € 857 and spending 5 days there.

Well, as far as everything else here is concerned, not much new happened. We got 20 lessons this week though so that was an accomplishment!! We´ve been walking around a lot too so my legs are super tired!! We walked to Ana´s house (an investigator) and made brownies on Sunday and that was fun!! They were pretty chocolatey, but that makes them better!! Then yesterday we walked over to her house, but she didn´t let us in because it was too late for her parents. By the way, her house is super far from our house. I was super tired when I got home last night. My hip joints still hurt from that, but it´s okay. My shoes are super bad too. Back by the heel they are pretty worn out and my left shoe is worse because back in Salt Lake on our bikes, while pedaling fast, my shoe near the toes hit the ground, and the sole broke [see pictures below for before and after on my shoes - the before pictures are a pair of shoes purchased at the same time, but not yet used]. At least I can say that I´m a missionary with hol[e]y shoes, hahahahahahaha....or should I say....jajajajajajajaja, que chistoso!! Well, that´s about it. Oh another thing about this week is that this weekend and Monday and Tuesday was a holiday so the streets were pretty much dead during the day. Not a soul was out except for some few people. Contacts didn´t go well so far. But anyway, how are things at home? Anything else that´s fun going on? Take care and I´ll talk to you soon!! Love you all!!!

Elder Bauer

Dad,

Well, lots of questions to answer. I´ll answer them:

1. Question:  So have you noticed the difference in the Spanish between Mexican Spanish and Castellano?  Both in pronunciation and vocabulary there is a difference.  Have you noticed that difference?
    Answer:  I´ve noticed a difference in the way they say their J´s. It´s got a bit of a "phlegm" sound to it, kind of like German, except German is all over the place. Sometimes they drop the "S" sound at the end of the words like Elder Gallego does.

2. Question:  Have you begun to change your Spanish to Castellano?
    Answer:  I´m trying not to, but sometimes I catch myself saying the J´s how they do. Pretty embarrassing, haha.

3. Question:  Is there a strange idiom you have heard in Spain, you have never heard before from your mom or her family?
    Answer:  Yes, but at the moment I don´t really remember.

4. Question:  Where do you email? Do you go to a library, or do you e-mail us at a member's house?
    Answer:  We go to a place called a Locultorio, but you have to pay to use the computers. We can´t use a member´s computer because we aren´t allowed to.

5.  Question:  And then what else do you do on your P-day?  Do you have to do your laundry?  Do you go grocery shopping?  Do you act like a tourist?
    Answer:  Yes I sometimes do laundry, yes we shop, and we act like tourists. It´s fun!!

6.  Question:  Have you seen Columbus's house (I mean from the outside)?
    Answer:  I´m not sure. I need to know where it is to be able to say yes or no. Tell me the street or where it´s close to so that I can go see it!

7. Question:  Are there customs or norms that you have observed in Spain that you wish were norms or customs in the US?
    Answer:  Medio-dia. I like that a lot!! Everything closes for that and everyone takes a nap!! I wish that was in the US!

8. Question:  What is the thing you never thought that much about when at home, but miss now that you are in Spain?
    Answer:  Walmart, the milk, the cars, the roads and signs of the roads and that´s all that I can think of right now.

9. Question:  Sister Abeling told us a few weeks ago that her seminary class was planning to write to you as part of what they do on Friday.  Have they ever done so?
    Answer:  Yes they have, and I´ve been meaning to send them a reply, but I haven´t done so because of the lack of money and lack of stamps. If you could apologize for me to her, that would be great!

10. Question:  I was just looking at the weather report for Valladolid.  It looks both cool (to cold if you are out late enough - or early enough), and wet!  People have been whining about the weather here, but tomorrow's forecast looks better here than there!  It is expected to hit 61 degrees F there (with showers) and 67 here and mostly sunny.  I will take our weather to yours!  So have you been cold?  Have you gotten wet?
   Answer:  Yes and yes to your questions, but my handy dandy umbrella ella ella has been handy!! Today it looks like it´s going to rain!! It has already, but during the night! Crazy the weather here. One day it was down to 3º C [37º F] and in the evening it got up to 21º C [70º F]. Super weird...haa!

Oh, one last thing, mom, could you send me more peanut butter as well as the rest of the stuff I asked for? Gracias!!! Take care and I love you all!!!

Elder Bauer

October 26, 2011

Familia,

Well, let me just say this week has been another interesting week, but first I´ll start off by answering your questions. The members give me really good food!!! I like it and though it´s different, it´s really good!!! As for the dinner invitations, we don´t get more than two dinners with members per week. That´s okay since my companion knows how to cook! Our branch mission leader is Johel (twin brother of Johrs) and he´s great!! He recently had knee surgery so he´s not really able to do too much [see first picture above]. As for exchanges, we don´t do too many. I´ve only done one with the district leader, but we do go on splits with members of the branch about once a week.

Now, my week has been pretty good! Not too many new things except that a couple that have been investigating the church for a while have now gotten things together to get married and will hopefully get baptized in the next few weeks! That would be really good! I´m pretty happy about that! Oh and another thing! Transfers are this weekend. I´m not sure what will happen, I may stay and I may go so for the meantime, I hope that whoever is sending letters to the apartment where I live, doesn´t do so for about a week and sends it to the mission office instead. I don´t want to be transferred and not get my letters and not be able to reply to them because they are sent to the other apartment.  Aside from that, nothing really too new happened. I hope things at home continue to go well!! Hey, another thing, I´d like the mailing address of Blake (my choir buddy) if you could send it to me!! Take care my familia and be safe!!  Keep going...Energizer!!

Elder Bauer

P.S. The other pictures are of a lunch we had with a friend of Elder Gallego [Elder Gallego is in the second picture above] that moved here. The soup had clams in it and the meat in the plate that Elder Gallego was holding is lamb. There was also a Bulgarian dish there and it was really good that I ate it all!!!! YUMMY!!!!!

October 19, 2011

Daddio,

Well, I´ll start off by answering your questions. Elder Gallego (no s at the end) is from Southern Spain. I forget the city but he is a native. He speaks a little English, but not much. My wish came true I guess. I have to either speak Spanish to communicate or just not talk at all. I do a bit of both so yeah. He´s the Zone Leader, which is weird, usually the Zone Leaders are together, but right now they´re spread out trying to "fix" the mission. I´m not sure what that means, but it´s okay. As far as the District is concerned, there are only 4 elders in our district, including me. Super small in comparison to Salt Lake, but I don´t mind. The distances are huge too!!! The District Leader lives in Salamanca and we either have to travel there or they travel here. It´s a 1.5 hour bus ride there and back, so a total of 3 hours on a bus. Here in Valladolid we have a branch of about 75 to 80 active members and Elder Gallego and I are the only ones that serve there. The food here is interesting, and the first two pictures [see above] are of something that Elder Gallego bought and had me try. I can´t say that it tastes good or bad. It just tastes weird. I don´t know how else to describe it to you, but yeah. Then there´s a cereal that I really like that is called Rellenos con Chocolate and it´s super GOOD!!! They´re like squares filled with chocolate in the middle!! Yummy yum yum! I´ll see if I could send some home for you guys to try! I also like a pudding here that they have in the stores! It´s called something like Natillas Chocolate and ever since the CCM I´ve eaten some everyday!! The milk, well, let me just say, with Nesquik it tastes good!!!

Nothing too new to report this week, except that I got letters galore!!! I got letters from:
Chelsea Bakaitis
The Christiensons
Barry, Cristina, and Edison
Megan Eden
This week we also did splits with the District Leader. Elder Gallego went over to Salamanca and Elder Verdu (District Leader´s comp.) came here. That day we saw a guy figure skating, which was weird, but it´s okay. Then, Monday we did splits from 5 - 9. Elder Gallego went with a member and I went with another member. This member´s name is Jonathan, no joke. So Jonathan and I went out and we had to do at least 15 contacts and have 2 lessons. Well, we got two lessons out of 4 that we had planned, but at least we got two lessons. Contacts are harder to get because people either don´t have time or just don´t want to listen. We got 17 contacts though so it was all good! Jonathan is one of those members that I really like! He´s great!!! Not much else has changed, walking a lot and contacting more than having lessons, and Medio Dia is great!!! Two hours in the middle of the day to sit and either study or rest. I´ve been doing a lot of resting, but I´ll probably start a bit of studying so yeah. I´m glad all is well.   Pues, eso es todo lo que paso esta semana. ¿Cómo está la familia? ¿Estan bien? ¡¡Cuidanse y tengan una buena semana!! ¡Hasta luego!

~Elder Bauer~

October 12th 2011

October 12th, 2011

Daddio,

This past week sounds like it´s been wonderful!!! I´m glad that Giselle got to go to the Temple and do baptisms for the dead!!! I hope all continues to do well over there!! Here things have been pretty much the same. Lots of walking and stuff. Elder Gallego does things differently, but I´m learning a lot from him!! I´m sure we will do well here in Valladolid!! We´ve been working more with the members and trying to get their trust so that we could get more referrals from them. I´m hoping for the best! We´ve taught quite a few lessons to some investigators and recent converts! It´s been pretty cool!! I´m also getting to know the city really well!!! I know how to get from point A to point B and it´s all going good!!! We´ve been experiencing technical difficulties with the phones so our work with calling people has slowed down a lot, but it´s okay I´m sure. The Lord is testing us and it will work out in the end. For sure we will have a lot of exercise so yeah!! All is well though. Wow, this week’s email home is super short this time. I´ll see if I can´t find more to say next week. Haha. Take care and I love you all!!!

Elder Bauer


P.S. The pictures are of the Plaza Mayor here in Valladolid [see picture above], and of Elder Gallego! Enjoy!!!



Mother,

Well, this week has been interesting running back and forth and everything. I sent an email to dad already, so yeah, you´ll have to ask him about all of that. As for the weekly bulletin, I was going to send it this week, but the bulletin this week said something about not sending it to anyone since it´s for missionary eyes only. I´m not sure what else to tell you except that I´m obedient to the rules and won’t send it unless you get approval from the Sister Watkins on Facebook. =( Sorry about that.

Everything else seems to be doing good!!! I was happy to receive your package last week and yeah! Thank you for it and for the letters that were inside!! As for the address of my piso, I´ve been thinking a lot about it and, probably best not to put it on my blog after all. Make it public to everyone at church, but yeah, not on the blog. I´ll also send letters to those that are my friends so they´ll have the address. ¡¡Gracias por todo!! ¡¡Te amo mucho!!

Elder Bauer

My Friend who showed up and will follow me around!

Historical facts about Valladolid

There are some interesting historical facts about Valladolid. The most interesting is that it was briefly the capital of the kingdom of Castile. And in fact was the capital, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella married (and they married there). They reigned from Valladolid as well, making it the first capital of Spain. When Christopher Columbus returned from his voyages to the new world, it was in Valladolid that he bought a house and lived until his death. His home is now a museum.

In 1561, most of the city was destroyed by fire, which is why some architectural wonders you might want to see are not there. Since the old capital was destroyed by fire, Philip II decided to move the capital to Madrid. But some aspects of what you might see in Madrid are patterned after Valladolid (for example the Plaza Mayor).

The capital moved back to Valladolid in 1601, under King Philip III. It didn't last long. There was a flood of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers in 1606. The flood again destroyed a large portion of the town, and convinced the king to move back to Madrid.

Another interesting person to have lived in Valladolid is the famous Spanish author, Cervantes. His most well known work is Don Quixote. The only house he ever owned that still survives today is found in Valladolid, and is of course a museum.

Yes, I'm here!

Cathedral of Valladolid

 

The Cathedral of Valladolid (its official name is Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Valladolid) was built in the 16th century and is a good example of renaissance architecture.  Note the horizontal rectangular design, typical of the architecture of the renaissance.  This cathedral was designed by Juan de Herrera, and is a good example of taking a renaissance theme and making it Spanish - instead of Italian.

The church of Santa Maria la Antigua in Valladolid

La Iglesia de Santa Maria la Antigua is very old.  Although they have found Roman ruins beneath the church, parts of the church you can see were erected in the 12th century.  Other components of the church are comparatively new.  As it turns out, the church is built on a not-so-stable foundation (one source says it is built too close to a river - but it is built right next to the cathedral, which doesn't have similar problems).  Like most churches of that era, they had pieces added and renovations made to it.  But this is one of the oldest church (even on average for the pieces) in Valladolid.

Alex, Elder Thurstin, Elder McGrath, and Elder Arjona

October 3rd 2011

Dad,

Thanks for that letter! I´ll try my hardest to know when meetings are and all of that stuff so that I can be a more effective and more well planned missionary. I agree with the "object lesson" thing. I don´t do any object lessons. For one thing, my brain isn´t able to think fast enough for one, and PMG says that they should be converted by the spirit, not an object lesson.

As for conference, we watched the first session of Saturday Morning General Conference at our church building. It´s not too far from our Piso. 10 minute walk so yeah. We watched it live at 6 pm. So much for Saturday Morning, that´s Saturday Evening. Sunday we watched the Priesthood session in the morning from 10 - 12, then the Saturday Afternoon session from 2 - 4, then Sunday Morning live from 6 - 8. We couldn´t watch the Sunday Afternoon session because it would have gone from 10 - 12 at night. We had to be in the piso by 10 and to bed at 11:30. Now we changed the schedule from a later schedule to this one. Later schedule must be for the summers and this is the Winter schedule. Wake up at 7 am, be back to the piso at 9:30 and in bed by 11. Different from Salt Lake, but oh well.

Well, I hope all is well over there in the lovely Bloomington, Illinois...well...green Bloomington, Illinois. Take care, get well, stay neardy and have a lovely week!!! Love you!!

Elder Bauer

[P.S. Could you combine this letter with the one I sent to mom on my blog? ¡Gracias!]

Mom,

Well, I´ll see what I can do about sending letters to William and Hayden! Now, for my mission address, it´s okay to put the address of my home if you haven´t already put it there. The Don Sancho whatnot, I don´t know it off the top of my head, but yeah. It´s okay to put that on my blog so that people know where to send letters so that I don´t get letters from people months after they sent them. That´s what I heard from the missionaries here. If you send it to the mission office, you´ll most likely not get them for a month or two so yeah. I hope that all is still going well over at home!!

Well, nothing really exciting is going on except that this has been the weirdest transfer of my life!! All of my companions are leaving at some point this week and a new companion is coming in. Picture #1 [seen in the post above this letter] are all the missionaries that live in the same piso (apartment) that I do. They are, from left to right, me, Elder Thurstin, Elder McGrath, and Elder Arjona. Elder McGrath, my real companion, left yesterday for the Canary Islands, Elder Thurstin is leaving today for Madrid, and my new companion is coming from Madrid, and Elder Arjona is going to the US for his mission. He was waiting for his visa here so yeah. Weird transfer this has been.

The next few pictures are some sights here in Valladolid so yeah. Figure out which ones are which, because I don´t know. Crazy day, and by the way, before I forget, I did get the package you sent me!! It was a fun package to get!! Thank you!!! I probably won’t need as much stuff next time, but it´s okay! =) Now, the last picture is of a friend that I saw here, and I didn´t think I´d see him again for two years!! For some reason, he just showed up and it was crazy!! We talked a bit and I told him it would be okay to follow me around on my mission for the rest of the two years, well, 18 months give or take a few days so yeah! We took a picture and yeah! Now don´t freak out or anything, because the Energizer Bunny is the friend I´m talking about so yeah! Thanks mom!!! Well, that´s about it. I hope to hear from you guys another time soon!!! How´s everything back home? Anything exciting happening this week? Take care and I´ll talk to you soon!!! Love you all!!!

P.S. Wish Giselle a Happy Birthday and a Happy New Year for me!! Thanks!! =D

End of September

Mamá,

¿Cómo estás? That´s all I´ll write in Spanish so yeah. Pretty much this week has been pretty cool!!! The food here is better than at the MTC in Provo, and the teachers are awesome!!! I´m glad you liked the pictures that I sent back. That´s about all that has really happened here. Saturday we did contacts in the park!! I tried to talk to some people, but most of them didn´t want to talk. I talked to a total of 4 people at the park who listened, but rejected, but it´s okay. My goal for the park was 8 so I got half of what my goal was so yeah!!! Better than nothing so yeah. I was paired with a French Elder that didn´t really understand English or Spanish so it was hard to communicate with him, but he´s pretty cool!! Sunday and Monday (today), President Earl gave us lessons on some really deep doctrine stuff!!! Seriously, I was SHOCKED about most of the stuff he said. He talked about the Plan of Salvation, super deep so I won’t get into it, and the creation today, super deep so I won’t get into it, and it was super cool!!!! That´s pretty much it for today.

How´s everything at home going? Everything still fine and dandy? Take care and I´ll talk to you later!!! Love you all my family!!!

Con amor

~Elder Bauer~


Mom,

I was told that if you send the stuff to the mission home, it would take at least a month for me to get it. My companions say that you can send it straight to my apartment so that I get it in 6 - 7 days so yeah.

September, 28 2011

Questions about my address, I can´t answer it right now, haha. So yeah, I´ll bet you guessed where I´m serving in my first area, Valladolid!! So yesterday was a pretty good day! I woke up, everyone in my District left (by the way, the week at the CCM, I was District Leader so yeah) and so I was alone for a while. I went to class with the French missionaries, and didn´t understand a word of what they were saying. It was fun though. At 10 am I left class and waited outside of President Earl´s office for Presidente Watkins to arrive. I sat out there for about an hour and at around 11, he came! He was super excited to see me and have me here, haha!!! It was pretty awesome! He said something like, "finally you are here, we keep seeing your picture and now you´re here!!!" It was fun!!! We had a little meeting and he told me about Spain, the place I´m serving and all that stuff. Then he took me over to the Autobus station to wait for my bus to come and take me to Valladolid. It was a pretty cool trip, but pretty long too. It was a 2.5 hour ride and I was tired when I got out. Three missionaries were waiting for me out on the station, but not my companion. He has been here in Salamanca for exchanges so yeah. We decided to come here and visit for the day since it´s P-Day today so yeah. Wednesdays are P-Days so yeah. That´s about all that really happened. How´s everything at home? Any fun stuff going on? Take care and I hope everything is good over there!! Love you all!!

Dad,

I´m glad to hear that you are doing well!! I´m also glad that everyone is doing well in school, like Jonathan! His grades look like mine when I was a Senior 2nd semester so yeah!! Looking great!!! Going to the Temple sounds like a lot of fun too!!! I´ve gone to the Madrid Temple 3 times and it´s a great place to go!!! It´s the most beautiful as well so yeah!!! If mom still plans to come here to get me after my mission, you´ll see it!! As for my address, my companions say that you can send mail straight to my apartment so that I get it in 6 - 7 days so yeah. If you send it to the mission home, it would take nearly a month for me to get mail so yeah.
Love ya' all!!!

The Metro

Frente al Palacio Royal

The Organ