February 1, 2012

Elders Jeppson and Gonzalez

View from the apartment in Madrid

Some of the missionaries serving in Madrid

(Alex is in the back row lined up perfectly with the tree)

Family,

Well, let me start off by answering your questions. With Alcobendas, yes, I mean the Alcobendas ward. It´s pretty fun and we have 4 missionaries serving here. Well, right now 5 since Elder Jeppson, the former Secretary is training me in being a secretary is still here, but yeah. Elder Forrest, Jeppson and I cover San Sebastian de los Reyes, and the other two cover Alcobendas. Our piso [apartment] is in San Sebastian de los Reyes [a suburb northeast of Madrid] not too far from the mission office. Now as far as the car that we drive, we drive an Opel Porsa. It´s a pretty small blue car with a "logo" of a lightning bolt in a circle. It´s also a stick shift kind of car, so I´m going to be learning how to drive all over again. Yay...not. I´m sure it will be fun! As for the ward, we do attend the Alcobendas ward as well as our companions in the same piso, as well as a senior couple that works in the office. So six missionaries attend that ward. The Watkins [the mission president and his wife] attend every now and then according to my companions. Now, the jamon [Spanish ham], personally it´s an eh sort of flavor. I don´t really like it, but I don´t hate it. I haven´t really eaten too much of it either so yeah. I couldn´t really tell you. [Each region of Spain prepares their jamon differently.  I asked if he had tasted it, and if he had a favorite.]

As for the size of the ward, it´s about the same size as the branch in Valladolid. About 75 members, but more priesthood. So far we haven´t been invited to lunch once. Oh, and the bishop is super cool. He is German and speaks English and Spanish. Just like you dad, except that he speaks English and Spanish with a German accent and you´re American. With baptisms, I get informed of all of the baptisms that take place in the mission. Like, so far we have 22 baptisms as of the beginning of the year and about 45 fechas [people committed to baptism]. As far as email, we can either go into a locultorio [internet café], or go into the office. For example, today I´m in the office typing this email. And no, I can´t be in my email everyday. I still check it every week on Wednesday. Wow, that was a lot of questions. I´ll go on to my week now.

Well, this week has been clumped all into one in my brain so I´ll just tell you in general what happened. So as the mission secretary I´m getting better. I´m not asking Elder Jeppson too much anymore, I´m excited now. I kind of like it, but not too much. I just want to teach more than be in front of a computer for a long time, but I´ll do the best I can. I´ve answered the office phone so many times it´s pretty ridiculous. I also talked to the Spain Malaga Mission about a reference. It was pretty fun. I get a little head thing that I can answer the phone with and it´s cool!! It´s almost like a Bluetooth and when I push the button on the side the phone lifts itself off the hook and I can talk through the Bluetooth thing. I also get phone calls a lot from missionaries asking questions and sometimes I don´t even know the answer to them. So, I pass it to Elder Jeppson. I´m getting better though.

As for lessons, I still don´t know anyone here, but I´m sure that I´ll be able to get to know them soon. We don´t have as many lessons as we did in Valladolid, but it´s okay. I´m sure we´ll get up there. Mostly we´re in the office so my time is mostly in there. I´m getting overwhelmed with all of the stuff that I´m learning too. It´s not too bad so I´ll be getting back to normal soon, Well, I don´t know what else, but oh well. How are you guys? Have a good week and I´ll talk to you next week. Love you all!!

       ~Elder Bauer~

       Called to Serve:
   Spain Madrid Mission
    and assigned as the
Secretary of the Spain Madrid
           Mission