Island Life

Hey guys,

Things have changed a lot. This new area actually feels like a new mission. Everything is so different here. Warm weather, members, other missionaries, investigators, palm trees... It's all changed. I like the questions you sent me. It helps to get me thinking about what to write about. I always feel like I'm writing the same things.

#1 Tell us about your new area and companion

I don't even know where to start. I had heard that Puerto had the nicest piso in the misión, so I was pretty excited about that. It's so nice though. I think it's a members vacation house that they let themissionaries use. It's huge and it has a lot of extra things that make it nice, like washer AND DRYER. Also our study view is amazing. The wall on the south side of the piso is just glass and we put our table up against it, so you can see the entire city and the volcano while you study. Then we have a balcony on the other side and you can see the ocean. Pretty cool. 

Pdays will be a little different here. We are planning a lot of hikes and next week we are going to Loro Parque. It's like a fake SeaWorld combined with a zoo. I'm pretty excited for that. Today we are in Santa Cruz, another area, to play soccer. I'll make sure to take a ton of pictures this transfer. I have been slacking on that this week, kind of just taking it all in. 

Elder Tiebing is pretty cool. He is a lot like Elder Jäger. I think he's from Freiburg, Germany. He works really hard. Maybe a little too hard. Our district leader reminded me Saturday night that we need to take time for lunches. We have been running like crazy this week so we just plan in 15 minutes to eat. But we're going to take the full time this week, it's healthier. He's very smart, and with that I think he's a little stubborn sometimes. But I think we're going to have a ton of success this transfer. It's pretty cool being the older companion. I feel like it's pushing me a lot more than anything I've done yet. A lot of times if I don't understand something, or if I don't have an answer in a lesson, there isn't the older companion to look to. It forces me to know things and take the lead. I really like it. Also, I'm like the 2nd or 3rd oldest in our district. We are super young here in Tenerife. 

#2 Tell us how the work is different

So we have a ward here in la Laguna. There are somewhere between 60 to 80 active members. I really have no idea yet. But that changes the work so much. We have a bunch of ward activities planned and last night we had a family home evening with the bishops family, 2 member families, and the family of our soon to be recent convert. It was a ton of fun until we finished eating and the bishop turns to us and says "I don't really have much prepared, do you 2 want to teach tonight." still fun, but a little more stressful since we weren't prepared. I always thought missionaries could just teach anything any time, which to some degree is true, but I've realized how much study and preparation that takes. We might teach a lot, but we always take 2+ hours per day to prepare so it's fun when you're not prepared. Another thing that's different is our choir. We have choir practices every Friday and Sunday. You could imagine how much I like that. We were able to watch the funeral of President Monson on Friday after practice. That was amazing, but really really sad. 

This Saturday we will have a baptism for Jonathan. He is amazing and will be a solid member. You will hear more about him. We taught him 3 times this week. I'll send pictures of that next week. 

#3 Tell us about exchanges before you left zamora

The intercambios last week were amazing. It's funny though, what I liked so much was that I was the older companion. But now it doesn't really matter. I'm living that 24/7. I had fun with those guys back in Zamora though. We ordered dominos at 10 as a going away party. But yeah. I finally wrote a novel again. Talk to you next week. 

Elder Johnson