OK guys, this was a big week. Lots of important/cool things
happened. I think the biggest things were getting our new smart phones and
facebook, general conference and risk, and it's looking like we have a good
chance for baptisms this month.
So the smartphone is a new Samsung Galaxy. There is one per companionship in the mission. Since we are one of the first 7 missions to get them, we are kind of learning as we go. They made a group on Facebook where we can all make suggestions and share what we learn. They told us that since it's so new we should just be smart and follow the spirit with them and we'll make up rules as we go, but as of right now we don't have any. We are all so used to having structure with everything that this is really stressful. We don't know what to do without a rulebook. On the other hand, Facebook has already been tested and we know what works. So they encourage us to be friends with people from home and share with them as well, but I still need to be focused on my area. So anyone that sends me a friend request I can accept, but I am not going to spend time sending people requests. Facebook and Skype have changed everything though. If it's for a missionary purpose I can talk to anyone of my friends. We can even teach people from home lessons of Skype or facebook. Elder Jagers companion before me just went home last transfer, but we are trying to schedule a time where he can join our lesson with on of our families through skype. That will be really cool.
We drove up to Leon twice this week, once for district conference, I think I told you about that already, and then Friday for zone conference. Zone conference was probably one of my favorite things we've done. We spent a lot of time talking about the phones and activating them, but we also had some awesome training and instruction from President pack. That guy I just awesome. The conference was about 8 hours long, so we had plenty of time to fit everything in, too. I had my first interview with President as well. I'm glad that this weekend was kind of a break though, cause we had to get up at 5 to drive up to Leon and we got back at 11. Long day. But yeah, I enjoyed it.
We saw most of General Conference. We actually drove down to salamanca at 5 on Saturday night to watch the Saturday morning session with the other elders in our district. We just went to a members house. Then we slept in Salamanca for the next 2 nights. We went to the chapel/school for the priesthood session on Sunday morning. That wasn't what I expected, it was just us and the branch president and his son. Then we went back to the same members house to watch the Sunday morning session and Saturday afternoon session. Elder Bateman, Jager, and me watched in english in a separate room the whole time, and then elder Rosales watched in spanish with the members. Conference is a different experience here. I went into it with so many thoughts/questions and expectations, so I think I got a lot out of it this time. Since we were still in Salamanca this morning we finally played risk. We were planning on it taking most of the day, but then I ruined it and smashed everybody. It was really ugly. Everybody was so excited and I won in 6 turns, the game was barely an hour long. And then I suggested starting a new game since we had time but they were mad and don't want to play anymore. I guess I learned my lesson from that one.
So the smartphone is a new Samsung Galaxy. There is one per companionship in the mission. Since we are one of the first 7 missions to get them, we are kind of learning as we go. They made a group on Facebook where we can all make suggestions and share what we learn. They told us that since it's so new we should just be smart and follow the spirit with them and we'll make up rules as we go, but as of right now we don't have any. We are all so used to having structure with everything that this is really stressful. We don't know what to do without a rulebook. On the other hand, Facebook has already been tested and we know what works. So they encourage us to be friends with people from home and share with them as well, but I still need to be focused on my area. So anyone that sends me a friend request I can accept, but I am not going to spend time sending people requests. Facebook and Skype have changed everything though. If it's for a missionary purpose I can talk to anyone of my friends. We can even teach people from home lessons of Skype or facebook. Elder Jagers companion before me just went home last transfer, but we are trying to schedule a time where he can join our lesson with on of our families through skype. That will be really cool.
We drove up to Leon twice this week, once for district conference, I think I told you about that already, and then Friday for zone conference. Zone conference was probably one of my favorite things we've done. We spent a lot of time talking about the phones and activating them, but we also had some awesome training and instruction from President pack. That guy I just awesome. The conference was about 8 hours long, so we had plenty of time to fit everything in, too. I had my first interview with President as well. I'm glad that this weekend was kind of a break though, cause we had to get up at 5 to drive up to Leon and we got back at 11. Long day. But yeah, I enjoyed it.
We saw most of General Conference. We actually drove down to salamanca at 5 on Saturday night to watch the Saturday morning session with the other elders in our district. We just went to a members house. Then we slept in Salamanca for the next 2 nights. We went to the chapel/school for the priesthood session on Sunday morning. That wasn't what I expected, it was just us and the branch president and his son. Then we went back to the same members house to watch the Sunday morning session and Saturday afternoon session. Elder Bateman, Jager, and me watched in english in a separate room the whole time, and then elder Rosales watched in spanish with the members. Conference is a different experience here. I went into it with so many thoughts/questions and expectations, so I think I got a lot out of it this time. Since we were still in Salamanca this morning we finally played risk. We were planning on it taking most of the day, but then I ruined it and smashed everybody. It was really ugly. Everybody was so excited and I won in 6 turns, the game was barely an hour long. And then I suggested starting a new game since we had time but they were mad and don't want to play anymore. I guess I learned my lesson from that one.
We have done a lot with them though. They took a bus to Zamora
again on Thursday. They had to come up anyway to go to zone conference, but we
took advantage and played soccer. We invited all of our members and
investigators plus some people from the street. But when we got there we only
had one member show up and 2 guys we found on the street. It was really fun but
not super effective for finding people like we thought. Well keep trying
though.
The birthday package was amazing. I opened it at the conference so
everyone was pretty jealous. When I pulled out the recipe for funeral potatoes
everyone got really excited and they actually took it from me to take pics of
it. The yakitori toto shirt is my new favorite. I can't believe you finally got
it. And the turkey gravy was an awesome idea. We're all alone for Thanksgiving
this year, so elder jager is excited. For his package, he suggested cream soda
(they don't have it here and he wants to try it), thanksgiving stuff (just like
stove top or something, I can make the rest), or cream of chicken soup so he
can try funeral potatoes (it's the one thing that I really can't find here). I
would suggest something about Germany or hamburg. Maybe a hamburg scarf or a
flag or something. Nothing expensive and it should be small but he would like
that.
We had some crazy lessons on tuesday, so I have to tell you one of
the stories. so this couple has been meeting with missionaries for almost 2
years. 2 week ago we taught the law of chastity and it was tough because they
have a daughter and aren't married. The girlfriend really wanted to be
baptised, but this was a big decision. So then they said OK whatever and we
went 2 weeks without hearing anything. we thought they decided they didn't want
to be married and we were done. But then Tuesday she calls and says they split
up and he moved to vallodolid but she wants to continue with us. Now she is
finally reading the BOM and making some serious progress. We're thinking it's
possible that she's baptised this month. but we still hadn't heard from him.
Within 2 hours of getting the phone we get a message on WhatsApp from him. He
just didn't have our number and didn't want to ask her. So that fast the phones
made a difference. He said he had started reading and decided he wanted it for
himself, not just for her. So now we have an appointment with him. So I think
it's crazy, but the answer to our prayers for them might have been to break up
and not get married. Well see how this week goes as we learn more.
Yeah, there is another novel. Sorry I can't chat this week, we
have a lot to do since we haven't been home in a few days. I'll attach a few
pics now and send the rest tonight. The pictures I included now are; Zone
conference, sheep, selfie while knocking doors in a pueblo, Spanish risk, the
high school in zamora, our photoshoot in a park in the middle of no where, and
a bull we saw on the way to benevente. pretty cool
Con
cariño,
Josh
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| Zone Conference |
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| Photoshoot in a park in the middle of no where (Edler Jager). |
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| Selfie while knocking doors in a pueblo. |
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| Risk in Spanish |
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| Sheep |
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| A bull we saw on the way to Benevente - pretty cool. |
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| The High School in Zamora. |
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