April 25, 2012

Elder Torres, a new convert, and Elder Wride

Madrid from the freeway

Parque Europa

New camera

Hello my family,

We´ve spent a lot of time in the office recently just because people have to come back to Madrid to get their residency cards, and Elder Forrest has had a long list of things to do so yeah. Crazy stuff so here it goes.

So Wednesday of last week, we ended the day teaching Beatriz, some Spainiard lady, since she said that she was interested in learning more about the church. We´ve met with her before because she goes to every English Class that we have every Thursday. So we decided to pick back up with meeting with her, and I must say that she overdoes it on looking up information on the internet about the church. She always runs into anti-Mormon stuff and she invites us to listen and discuss afterwards about it. This time, I´ve had enough with that, so I simply told her, after Elder Forrest and her talked a bit, that if she really wanted to learn and know if the church is true, to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. I also read from 2 Nephi 33:10 to clarify on if she believed in the words of Christ, she would believe in those words. Then I also read to her 2 Nephi 33:2. So basically I told her to soften her heart, and believe in the Book of Mormon. It was pretty good I think. Thursday has been uneventful, but also fun! We had Javier at 7:00, which was a pretty good lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it was all good!! At 8:00 we had English classes, and Beatriz wasn´t there so I was hoping that I didn´t offend her so yeah. I got to teach a bit of it and it was fun to do that. We then had a lesson with the Portas family.

Friday was pretty fun! We had Efrain at 7:00 and Family Home Evening at 8:00, and may I say that it was the most interesting Family Home Evening I´ve ever had here. Beatriz came and Alberto, the recent convert, came and at the end of the message, while we were all eating refreshments, Beatriz got up and started singing a song in English. Now, that´s not quite the wierd part, Alberto then get´s up and starts dancing all crazy too!! We were all dying laughing just because that´s not usually what happens. Anyway, Saturday we had Nany in the morning, then Alberto. We got Alberto a triple combination and he loved it! He was excited to have it and is reading it right now. We then went to a baptism that Elder Wride and Elder Torres had and it was great! Alberto went and Beatriz went as well. Natalia, a Dominican 19 year old girl, was the one getting baptized and it was a good experience. We then pulled Beatriz off to the side and talked to her about baptism, and she said that she didn´t want to meet with us to get baptized, but she wanted to meet with us to be with my companion. Somehow I knew it, but we´ve dropped her, and I don´t plan on teaching her again.

Sunday Natalia was confirmed by Elder Torres and that was about the most exciting thing that happened. Monday we had a lesson with a new investigator which was awesome!!! We then went and helped Nany move to a new piso [apartment]. We stuffed the small Opel Corsa with suitcases and bags, and the Ovards and us drove to her new piso. She´s working at the house of a different person so that´s why she moved there. Super nice piso too!! We then had a less active family, the Matos family. They always feed us, and they gave us Dominoes BBQ Pizza. Yummy!!! Tuesday, or yesterday, was death for us in the office. We had a lot to do and it was just CRAZY!!! We did have Alberto and he made us lunch. We taught him about the Priesthood, and it was a good lesson/lunch. We then went back into the office until 8:00 and had Ward Council at 9:00. Today I got a new camera since my old one is kind of broken. Not broken in the sense that it can´t take pictures, but that the battery compartment doesn´t close and stay closed. I like my new camera though! We also went to a grocery store called Carrefour, and WOW!!!! It´s just like a Walmart!!! Super crazy awesome!!! It was HUGE!!! Different sections and everything. I was just excited when I was in there and so yeah. We also did a mini road trip since we got lost 2 or 3 times. We tried to get to Torrejon, but we ended up in Fuenlabrada. Let´s just say that, Torrejon is on our side of Madrid, and we crossed Madrid, from North, to South. It took so long to finally get there. We went to Parque Europa which was cool and it had stuff from Europe in there, like famous monuments, but miniature. How has everything been?

Elder Bauer

April 18, 2012

Elders Evans, (Alex) Bauer, and Hodges

Elder McGrath with Alex

Elders returning home (Hodges, Thurston, Slack and White), with Sister and President Watkins on each side

Alex by the Madrid Temple

Family,

So transfers weren´t that bad since there were only a few people that were leaving Madrid to go north, vice versa, and to the [Canary] Islands and back. We also have a little more than 10 new missionaries here and it´s been fun!! So of course, I mentioned that this transfer wasn´t that big at all right, and that it would be easy!! Well...then we found out that Hermana [Sister] Watkins, who helped us out a lot last transfer, wasn´t going to be in the office at all this past week. So Elder Forrest and I had to try doing it all without her help, which by the way, was almost a nightmare at first, but I got the hang of it after a while. Friday rolled around and it came time to go over transfers with President Watkins before we sent it out and all was well. We then had to send it out at 9:30, but the problem was that we weren´t going to be in the office at that time so I set the Microsoft Outlook to send it to all of the zone leaders at 9:30 automatically which was cool!!

Saturday we had to come to the office to check on some flights for people coming in from the Canaries so that they could get their tickets. One of them is Elder McGrath, my first companion here in Spain!!! We coordinated who would do what that day and Elder Forrest and I decided that we would do everything as far as driving people here, there, and everywhere is concerned except for one flight on Sunday, which was during a baptism of our piso [apartment] companions, so we handed that one off to the assistants to the president. Sunday we got The “Beast” (aka the Furgoneta) and drove to the baptism in it so that we could go from the baptism to the airport if necessary. We ended up dropping the other two companionships off and going to the airport to pick up Elder Sepulveda, who was in the islands for two transfers. He was being sent off to...VALLADOLID!!!!!! So I got to tell him how cool it is up there and stuff like that!! Eventually we loaded the Furgoneta with his stuff and drove to the Madrid Chamartin train station to pick up two of my favorite Elders from the León Zone, Elder Evans and....ELDER HODGES!!!!!!!!! It was amazing to see them both again!!! Unfortunately, the reason that Elder Hodges came to Madrid is because he was going home Tuesday, but I´ll be seeing Elder Evans around since he´s serving in Madrid!! Yay!!!! We then dropped them all off at the Barrio 6 & 8 piso [the apartment for the 6th and 8th ward elders] and went home.

Monday we went to the stake center at 10:00 am and I saw Elder McGrath for the first time since October general conference!! It was good to see him again!! We then had the meeting of the group going home, and among that group were two great Elders that I will really miss, Elder Thurston and Elder Hodges. After the meeting we went to the security place there on Temple Square to get more keys for the stake center and the CCM [missionary training center]. We spent about half an hour there and went to get more diesel in the Furgoneta before we went to get the other missionaries going up north to the train station. We dropped them off with plenty of time to spare and then went to the office for a bit. At 8:30 we went to get Elder Rose from the train station and then went to the mission home for the farewell dinner of the four missionaries. The four going home were Elders Thurston, Hodges, White, and Slack. After a while there we took Elder Rose to our piso in our little Corsa. When we got to San Sebastian, we had to get gas, and this guy came up to me while I was getting gas. He was poor, and with nothing, except his car, and his car, was out of gas. So before filling up my car, I filled up his little container that he brought, with gas for his car. Afterwards, we spent a good amount of time talking to him about what I´m doing as a missionary and all sorts of stuff like that. I gave him a card and off he went to his car, with the container of gas. When we drove away, he gave us a friendly wave of appreciation and it felt good!!

Tuesday we left at 9:15 to get to the CCM at 10:00 for the meeting of the new missionaries. I spoke of the usual – residency and whatnot – and Elder Forrest spoke about the JP Morgan-Chase card and how to use it. Before the meeting though, President Watkins had a surprise, about three missionaries were coming into the mission, but didn´t show up on the transfer charts when we made them. So he quickly assigned them somewhere and it confused everyone a bit, but it´s okay, all is well. We dropped three people off at the airport in two different terminals in the Furgoneta and it was a fun, but stressful day! We then went to the mission home to drop off some bags of the ones that went to the Islands and went to the office pretty much right after. We had a lesson with Alberto, an appointment with a dentist for Elder Forrest because he had something in his mouth that worried him, but it´s all good! We then went into the office for a while and did a few things, and had a lesson with Javier and that was all for that day.

Today is P-Day and we went and played soccer in Pavones, but I sat out most of the time because it was too cold for me to play without feeling like trash, haha. We then ate at Dominoes Pizza and that was it. What is the weather like? Take care and I´ll talk to you soon!!! Love you all!

Elder Bauer

April 11, 2012

Elder Forrest, Alberto, and Alex

The missionaries serving in the Alcobendas Ward, at the bishop's house

Churros con chocolate

Missionaries at VIPs (on P-day)

Hey there me family!  (Yes, that me is on purpose.)

I´m glad that all is going well over yonder in Bloomington, Illinois. Well this week has been super cool!! I´m starting with Saturday!

So first thing that I have to say is that...WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!! Yeah, that´s right! So this guy is called Alberto and he´s read the Book of Mormon like 10 times, and I may have mentioned that, but I said it again! The time of the baptism changed to 12 noon just for convenience on his part, but all went well! We had a lot of coordination to do with the elders of Barrio 6 [the Madrid 6th Ward] so that the font would be filled and that everything would be ready for us on time. We (Elders Forrest, Wride, Torres, and I) got there at about 11:00 AM , and the Barrio 6 elders were there watching over the font. Those B6 elders are just awesome!! Elder Thurston, he´s super awesome, and SUPER tall!!! He´s 6 feet 5 inches tall!!! Taller than dad and Jonathan! Then Elder Thurston´s temporary companion for that day was Elder Paredes and he´s cool too!!! Both great guys!! Then I found out that my electronic key works for the whole stake center, as well as the CCM [Missionary Training Center]!!! Super cool since I got to open the doors to everything there and we actually needed it so that we could open the door to the font! Anyways, so the services started a bit late, but it´s okay. Elder Forrest and Alberto dressed in white and the program started in the chapel. Bishop Vierbuchen conducted the meeting and the spirit was there super powerful!!! I can honestly say that I haven´t felt it that strong at any baptism or any other meeting of the church than at that time. Probably because I was paying more attention than usual to my feelings, but it was great!!! The talks were super good and super well organized, and the ordinance itself was good!! Alberto then bore his testimony about why he joined as well as how grateful he was for the chance that he had to do what he did and have taken that step of baptism. His testimony was just amazing and I loved it! Afterwards the ward had brought a lot of refreshments and so we ate afterwards and all was well!! Later that day we had a lesson with Jennifer from the Dominican Republic and a friend that she brought. Not too much happened after the baptism, but that´s fine.

Sunday was a great day too!! Alberto got confirmed a member of the church, and I had the privilege of doing that. Super cool experience for me to do that too!! My words were definitely guided and it was pretty cool!! After the confirmation, we had a nice Easter sacrament meeting. Lots of talks about Easter and the resurrection as well as hymns played and sung! I liked it a lot!! After church we went to the bishop´s house to eat lunch with him and his family as well as others which include the Ovards. He and his family made a great Easter dinner for us and it was amazingly good!!! We then talked a bit about the traditions that we had for Easter as well as the history of our family in the church and it was a great little conversation!! Everyone around the table, except for the Bishop´s kids, spoke on the history of their family members joining the church. I´d like to know more about my ancestors since that experience so if you could send me stuff on that, that would be amazing!!! Then the desserts came out. Homemade carrot cake, super yummy, chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, super good, and cheesecake with raspberries on top, SUPER YUMMY!!!! Yeah, all was yummy, and we left super full!!! They also gave us as a present a hollow chocolate bunny for Easter and that made everyone´s day as far as missionaries are concerned, so yeah!!! Fun day!

Monday we didn´t really do too much except for finding out transfers and having a lesson with the Portas family and it was good!!! Super fun, super interactive, and not just "Let´s read this scripture right here, and what does it mean to you" kind of stuff. We did read scriptures, but we had an activity with them also. They fed us right before, like always, and it was just awesome. They are just the best part-member family ever!!! We went back home after that lesson. Tuesday was a pretty crazy day for us! We had district meeting in the morning, and then went to the office from 1:30 until 3:00 PM. At three we left and drove to Pavones to pick up Elder Thurston for a baptismal interview for the Elders in Alcobendas (Elders Wride and Torres). So we dropped Elder Thurston off at the piso [apartment] and after about half an hour we left for the office again. Transfers are going well since everything is pretty much done. I just have to buy tickets now and send them to the appropriate people as well as make the sheet telling people what to do. We then found a Churreria [a place that makes and sells churros – see picture above] and had churros con chocolate [churros are a fried pastries flavored with sugar and cinnamon, eaten in Spain with thick hot chocolate – or coffee], and it was the best churros con chocolate that I´ve ever had in my life!!! Super yummy! Then we had a lesson with Javier, taught him a bit more on the restoration and then dropped Elder Thurston off at Pavones, and picked up Elder Perez so that he could go home to get residency done and then he comes back Thursday. Today we dropped off Elder Perez super early at the airport, then at 1:00 PM got together with all of the missionaries at a restaurant called VIPS and I had ribs with a chocolate shake. Yummy!! Now I´m writting!! I hope that everything goes well with you guys!! Take care and I´ll talk to you soon!!!

Love you all!!
Elder Bauer

April 4, 2012

The Elders in the apartment: Alex, Elders Gonzalez, Veintimillas, Forrest, Wride and Elder Torres (on the floor)

Celebrating Elder Veintimilla's birthday...

with a cake sent by his cousin.

Hello family,

Well, this past week has been crazy and awesome!! Our piso [apartment] has a total of 6 baptismal dates, 5 of which are happening within a month from tomorrow. We have Alberto who has a date for the 7th, and that´s one from Elder Forrest and me. Then on the 14th Elder Wride and Elder Torres have Natalia, an 18 year old Dominican girl. Then the others are scheduled for the 15th, 28th (which finishes off the month of April), and one on the 5th of May. Then the 23rd of June we have Efrain so we´ll see how that one works. Well, enough about that, on to my week.

Saturday was super cool!!! Elder Wride (the district leader) and I did exchanges and it was a super cool day!!! We went first to see a guy called Carlos and he´s a super cool guy!! He said in that lesson when we invited him to read the Book of Mormon, "I´ll try to...NO, I will read, I WILL read for curiosity." Super cool guy! After him we went to see Natalia and taught her about the 10 commandments as well as prophets. First though we helped her finish cleaning the kitchen so that it would go faster. We took the metro to her house, which was fun. After her, we took the metro back and had lunch with some recent converts. The guy´s name I don´t remember, but the lady´s name is Milagro, and heck, what a milagro [Spanish for miracle] she is!!! She´s the best member a missionary could ever dream of!!! She´s sharing the gospel as well as giving out copies of the Book of Mormon and trying to see if her friends would meet with the missionaries!! After that we tried to get another lesson, but nothing worked out. We then took the metro to the church and watched conference as well as talked to Alberto a bit. After conference Alberto had his baptismal interview and Elder Torres and I taught a pretty new investigator from the Dominican Republic. For the first three lessons that we had, we weren´t able to get her to take the Book of Mormon, but this time we left her with one and she said that she will read it. Super awesome day Saturday was.

Sunday we went to the church to watch the priesthood session at 11am, but the internet wasn´t working so Elder Forrest, Gonzalez, Veintimilla, and I went to the stake center next to the temple and watched the last half there in English. We then had a snack in between the priesthood session and the Saturday evening session which began at 2 pm – one hour break. After that session, we went back to San Sebastian to teach a less active family and for Alberto to have his interview with President Watkins. We then had the Sunday morning session of conference, live at 6 pm and that was the end of that day. Alberto is good to be baptized too so we´re making all of the preparations. Monday we saw Alberto to explain to him about baptism and how it will go. We´ve also called the Elders of Pavones (the place where the Stake Center is) to have them fill up the font that day, but we will remind them every now and again. Tuesday was Elder Veintimilla´s birthday so at the end of the day we celebrated his birthday with a cake that his cousin got him. I hope that everything at home is doing well!! Take care and I´ll talk to you again in a week. Love you all!

Elder Bauer

March 28, 2012

San Sebastian de los Reyes

Elder Forrest with striking city workers in the background

Nothing improves study like mint chocolate chip ice cream from Tino's

 Family,

Well, this week has been pretty fun for me...a bit. I´m not really sure what happened this week – except not too much. Well, here´s my week in a super small nutshell.

Well, as you probably already know, Elder Torres has joined us in the piso [apartment]and it´s pretty crazy hard having 6 missionaries in a 3 room 2 bath piso, but it´s fine. It´s really fun too! Elder Torres is pretty cool too! I like the Chilean accent that he has when he speaks Spanish so it´s been fun! Soo, pretty much the only super exciting thing that has happened is that Elder Forrest and I have a potential baptism on the 7th of April. Alberto is a Spanish guy that has lived in Madrid for the majority of his life and has read the Book of Mormon 10+ times since he´s had it. And it shows. You just have to see the book and you´d be able to tell that it´s been read...a lot. We also got a new investigator called Daniela. She´s from Colombia and is super cool!! We asked her when would be a good time to return to talk to her more, and Thursdays work for her. She also sort of hesitated since she´s pretty much on call and may not be able to meet on Thursday. She expressed a desire to meet with us though so it should all be good! The other missionaries in Alcobendas have a baptism the following week on the 14 of April. Her name is Natalia and she´s progressing super well!! I´m glad to see so much success here in San Sebastian and Alcobendas.

The office is going pretty good! I get questions about everything, even finance stuff that I don´t know anything about, and I answer their questions with "Well, my answer to that question would be...to talk to Elder Forrest, he knows everything about that stuff." Sorry dad, I don´t know too much about finances...and I´m your son. Hahahahahahahahaaaaaaa. Anyway, also yesterday the cities of Alcobendas and San Sebastian went on "strike" and it was pretty cool to see! There´s actually a day set aside for everyone to do that so it wasn´t really too exciting so yeah. Not much else. How´s everything? I hope everything is going wonderful!! Take care and I´ll talk to you soon!! Love you all!!!

Elder Bauer

March 21, 2012

The "Beast"

Madrid's Temple Square, with the CCM (Missionary Training Center) on the left, and the Madrid Stake Center on the right.

Elder Forrest trying to do his hair like Alex

The Opel Corsa gets a car wash

 Family,

Well, this past week has been crazy!! Friday was transfers and we got 12 new missionaries!!! 10 Elders and 2 Hermanas (Sisters). So guess what I did all day Friday? I drove all over Madrid!! It was pretty fun! Then today we got 5 more missionaries from Chile and Mexico. By the way, thanks for the letters from:

Martina Harris
Megan Eden

Anyway, most of this email will consist of Friday just because there was a lot that had to be done that day, but starting with Thursday.

Thursday I don´t really remember too much of what we did except for pick up the Furgoneta at the Mission Home. Elder Forrest drove the little Opel Corsa that we have over to the Mission Home, and I drove "The Beast" back to San Sebastian. We filled it up with Diesel (which should tell you that it really is a BEAST) and parked it near our piso (apartment). There was a parking spot, just big enough for it, unfortunately it was a parallel parking spot. So Elder Forrest got out and it took about 5 or 10 minutes to park that thing, not even joking. A smaller car would have been easier, but the Furgoneta, oh boy. We then did English classes and went to bed.

Friday morning we woke up bright and early at 6:30 am. We had to be at the Madrid-Chamartin train station by 8:00 AM and it takes about half an hour to get there from our piso if there isn´t any traffic. Well, there was traffic so we left at 7:15ish and got there at about 7:50. And yes, I drove there. We got there and picked  up the luggage of the people that came from the Santiago Zone which is the part of Spain right above Portugal. They took a hotel train and were on the train all night long, from about 10:00 PM until the time that we picked up their luggage at 8:15 AM. So we loaded the Furgoneta up with all of the luggage and they were going to take the metro to the stake center which is about an hour away on the metro, but like 20 - 30 minutes away in a car. So we headed to the stake center and the traffic was crazy so we got there at 9:00 AM and were supposed to be there at around 8:30 AM for the new missionary meeting. And yes, I drove there. We got there and as the office elders we had a part in that meeting. Elder Forrest, as the finance guy, (like you dad, haha) talked about the JP Morgan Chase card that all of us get, then I, as the secretary in charge of residency, talked about residency and what they are supposed to do. After all was said and done, we all went to the stake center and unloaded the Furgoneta, just to re-load it with baggage for the people taking a bus to go to the Santiago Zone. They had to be at the bus station at 10:15 AM to catch their bus which left at 10:30 AM. And yes, I drove them there. We then drove back to the stake center to see if we were going to pick up more bags for people that were going to the Canary Islands, but we ended up not having to; so we drove to the office. And yes, I drove to both of those places.

At 1:30 PM we drove back to the CCM (Missionary Training Center in Madrid) to pick up 3 missionaries to get their fingerprints taken so that they could get their residency card soon. So we got there at 2:00 PM and got the 3 and drove them to the Oficina de Extranjeria (Foreigners Office) to get that done. There was a senior couple that were going up to Santiago Zone to get the JAS (Jovenes Adultos Solteros – Young Single Adults) started up there as well as an Elder that was going to Barcelona. We dropped them off and then looked for parking. And guess what, yes, I drove again!! We got in the Oficina de Extranjeria to find that my little group of missionaries was pretty much done with everything. The police officers let us through the metal detectors without really taking anything out of our pockets or anything, even when it rang, they said, "Just go, you´re fine" so it was awesome!!! After helping them out and after talking to a lady about the gospel and giving her a card, we drove them back to the CCM and guess who drove them. If you guessed me...you´re right!! After all of that, we drove "The Beast" to the office again and got a few other things done and did a few contacts before we had to be at the stake center all over again. And if you guessed that I drove back to the office, you guessed right!! Then we realized that we didn´t eat lunch so we got a little something to eat at a Dia (a food store, not my favorite, but hey, it was the closest one). We didn´t really stay for very long and went back to the Furgoneta to get to the stake center at 6:00 PM.

At around 6:10 PM we got everyone in "The Beast" and drove them to the airport to get them to the Canary Islands! They´re a great group of fine young missionaries!! Elder Fowler was among the group of 3 and he´s a really fun little guy!! He´s going to be great down there. OH, and guess who drove to the stake center AND to the airport! If you guessed me...you´re RIGHT!!!! Wow, you guys are good!! After dropping them off we drove back to the Mission Home to leave behind the baggage of the missionaries going to the Canaries. AND guess what...I drove them there too!!!! After leaving the baggage there, and dropping off the key to "The Beast" we drove back to the piso in our little blue Corsa. And guess who drove back to the piso!! If you guessed me...you´re wrong. Hahahaaaa!!! Gottcha there didn´t I!! Yes, Elder Forrest drove back to the piso because I was super tired after a long day of driving everywhere!!! We then had the family home evening at the church like we do every Friday and then I was dead. I fell asleep on the couch for half an hour and then woke up and realized that I needed to shower so yeah. That´s how dead I was!

Monday and Tuesday were regular days except that I had to buy a ticket for a missionary coming down to Madrid from Santiago Zone, and for a missionary going up there. We also took the car to get a car wash at a pretty intense car wash. It´s pretty clean now, and it rained today too so we could´ve gotten a car wash free, dang it. Today we got 5 new missionaries like I mentioned at the beginning and they´re all pretty cool!!! Elder Wride, my district leader, is training one of them named Elder Torres, which is pretty cool!! Elder Torres is from Chile, is 26 years old, almost 27. His name is the same as my trainer in the Utah Salt Lake City Mission, Elder Torres, but they are probably not related. Today we went to the meeting of new missionaries and trainers at the CCM and I drove the little Corsa over. We gave our little speech about the credit card and the residency and whatnot. It was pretty good. We then drove the new companionship back to the piso and he got settled, we bought some food, and now we´re here, emailing in the office. After this, we´re going to have to take a phone to Barrio 1 (first ward) and to our other companions in the piso. There are 6 missionaries in the piso so yeah. Crazy!!!

Anyway, this is probably the longest little email that I´ve sent out since I´ve been in the MTC in Provo, heck maybe even THE longest one ever!! I hope you enjoy reading about my epic week.

Elder Bauer

March 14, 2012

Transfer table used to make plans regarding transfers

The Opel Cosa used by the office elders

Missionaries in the old part of Toledo on P-day

Alex and his companion, Elder Forrest, in front of the cathedral in Toledo

The "Captain Moroni" sword Alex had made in Toledo

Family,

Well, this week has been crazy for me. I´m glad to hear that everything is going well with you guys at home! Well this week has been both stressful and fun for me, so I´ll start with stressful first.

So I found out transfers last Thursday or Friday and from there I´m supposed to print out a little thing called a transfer table (shown in picture 1.) Everyone´s faces where they are going to be and all. I then mark it up and compare it with the old one of where people went and where they are going and all. That takes quite a while just because you can´t really miss anyone. Then on a separate sheet of paper, I write down two zones, for example Madrid going to León as a title, and then put all of the missionaries underneath of people going from Madrid to León. After figuring it out I start looking up trains/planes to the north or to Madrid/Islands and compare prices. After searching and finding, and writing and planning, I go to my wonderful companion Elder Forrest and talk to him about what I found out and what I´m planning for people. After he sees what I´ve done and what I´m thinking and he sees that it´s good, it´s time to pass the test with Hermana Watkins [Sister Watkins is the wife of the mission president].

Monday I showed Hermana Watkins the travel plans for all of the missionaries that are coming into the mission and traveling from one area to another. When she sees that it´s good and after writing some more I can begin buying tickets for the missionaries going to the appropriate places. The hard thing about all of this is that no missionary can be alone so it´s pretty hard. You have to buy tickets from certain places where all of the missionaries can come together to wait for their companions and get people traveling together if possible. So that´s pretty much what Hermana Watkins and I talk about and all of that good stuff. Tuesday I made the Transfer Tabla [Table - I know its obvious] which is an Excel spreadsheet that I convert into a PDF File so as to send it to the zone leaders and they can open it and print it and all of that fun stuff. The Tabla is the spreadsheet of instructions for all of the missionaries that are being affected with the transfers. Even if they aren´t moving, they get instructions if they are picking someone up or something. So I make that with a lot of thinking on how specific I can be with only one or two lines of details. When that is done, I convert it, and send it to the Assistants and the Zone Leaders in the mission. I was in the office yesterday from 11am until 8:30 pm working on that. My brain was fried!!!

Today was P-Day and we decided to spend the day in Toledo!! Super cool little city! I drove down and Elder Forrest drove back and that was fun as well. In Toledo we saw the cathedral and a museum of history which were both super cool!! We also went to some souvenir shops and I got a handmade sword that says Captain Moroni on it, and a handmade dagger!! Super awesome!! Now I´m here typing this long email. I hope everything is going well with all of you and that you have a good week!!! Love you all!

Elder Bauer