June 27, 2012

Elder Alvarez celebrates his 21st birthday

Elder Soriano takes siesta

Farewell to President and Sister Watkins

Hey there family,

Well, this week has been pretty crazy as far as the weather is concerned! It´s been pretty hot lately and so sleeping in a hot piso [apartment] without air conditioning is not the best thing in the world. But it´s okay, I don´t mind the heat too much, considering it´s dry heat. So here goes my week!

Thursday we went to Aranjuez and we taught Cristina again and she´s just gold pretty much! We also met a member that day that just got out of work so she walked with us and talked about Cristina and work and life. Nothing too crazy, except that she works in a bar next to the Palace which is super cool!! These past few weeks have been hard with getting lessons in as well as contacts because of soccer. Lots of people like to play soccer and it´s just crazy how the streets stay empty! Seriously I think that soccer is like a religion here or something since everyone has to watch it, but whatever. Pretty much reminds me of the U.S. when a football game is going. But just picture this, so a bar, with tables outside and people eating and talking, but this time with a huge TV placed so that they could watch the game. Hahahahaaa!! Like a movie theater almost but pretty much for free.

So Monday we didn´t have much time in Parla. At around 1:00 we had to go eat with the Gordon family and after that we had to go to a bus stop to get to Pinto so as to go to Aranjuez. Cristina is still doing well, except that her situation is much harder than I thought it was. They are always happy people, but they have a pretty hard situation. That just hit me as we were talking, and she´s still good for being baptized. We just had to move the date a week so that we could get the interview and stuff so that she could get everything down for the day. The way back was super slow. We got to the train station at about 7:00 or 7:15 and got on the train thinking that it would leave soon. 15 to 20 minutes of waiting and the train shutting down for 5 minutes, we finally were on our way. We got to Pinto and had to wait for a bus to get there and it got there at around 8:05. So we got back home at 8:30 and so we decided to go through the Area Book to see what we could do and find as far as former investigators. I started doing a list of people and it´s time consuming, but whatever.

Tuesday was pretty cool. We met with Ana, an investigator, and she asked two good questions last week. One was about repentance and we talked about the steps of repentance, and the second one was about marriage and why it´s important.  In particular, she wanted to know if it´s a sin if you don´t get married and just live with the person. The second question we covered on Tuesday and we used The Family: A Proclamation to the World to answer the question and she was amazed by it. She felt the Spirit for sure in that lesson! She was crying and said to us that it was the answer that she´s been looking for all her life. Super cool experience. We shared, laughed, shared again, and it was just cool!!!

Today we had to wake up at 6:00 AM to get to the temple for the session at 9:00. I couldn´t sleep too well last night because of the horrid heat that was in our room so I was and still am tired. The session was cool and just being able to see my friends again was great!!! Elder Forrest is amazing!!! I just enjoy being with him and just talking about life. I miss being his companion since we´ve had some good times together, but at least we get to catch up on P-Days to see what we´ve been up to. I also got to see Elder Hilton, my first companion ever!! He was my companion in the MTC in Provo for 5 days until I was transferred from Beginner Spanish, to Intermediate. We spent time catching up on the mission life and stuff! Super cool P-Day. Also the sad part is that President and Hermana [Sister] Watkins are leaving this Saturday, to have their places taken by President and Hermana Jackson. So President and Hermana Watkins came to the temple to do a session, and after we had a little farewell. We took pictures and said goodbye and it was pretty fun, but hard considering I´ve worked with them in the office. Elder Forrest told me that he´d keep me up to date on the new President and tell me about him, haha. So I´ve got my connections. =)

Not much else has happened. How is everything? Anything new? Take care and I´ll talk to you soon! Love you all!!!

Elder Bauer