Symtoms

Hey guys it´s you're favorite missionary coming at you again from Spain! It´s been a really strange week honestly. We had the mission tour with Elder Soares as I said in last weeks update and it was great. On the way back to Valladolid, however, I started to get sick and then was bed-ridden for the day after. I thought the song Symptoms by Atlas Genius makes sense for this week. As a result, I feel like we didn't do much this week. Today marks two months since I left Corntown and flew to Madrid. Can´t stress enough how fast the time has gone by.

We had a few good lessons and had a lot of people show up to play basketball and futbol on Saturday which was great. We have some new investigators as a result. Can´t say too much more happened this week up until then.

That changed on Sunday though. Our investigator, Mikchael, has been having trouble accepting a baptismal date since he has some doubts about how strong he´ll be after he is baptized. Two of the other Elders´ investigators passed their baptismal interviews this last week and so their baptismal services were announced in sacrament meeting yesterday. This must´ve made Mikchael realize something. He nudged me and asked if I had something to write on. I opened my memos on my tablet, gave it to him and watched him type out "I want to bautizarme (to be baptized). is very coollll." He´s been trying to learn English, so that was pretty good for him. My companion and I tried to contain our elation since it was in the middle of church, but we were thrilled. We later discovered that he wants to be baptized THIS WEEKEND. Apparently its important to him to be baptized on the same day as the other Elders´ investigators. So we´ve got to get the zone leaders to come and interview him and teach him the rest of the stuff he needs to know by Saturday. It'll be a little crazy, but I think we can make it happen. We´ve got a lot going on this next week, and I´m ready to get to work and make things happen. 

I feel like my Spanish is becoming a little bit more natural, and I´m understanding a little better. The elders in my district keep telling me that my Spanish is the best they´ve heard for someone who's been out as long as I have. I´m reminded of a quote from The Office, when Michael Scott says, "Sometimes I start a sentence and I´m not really sure where it´s going, and I just hope it finds its way as I go along." Glad that I feel I´m finally improving :)

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SPAIN AND SPANISH PEOPLE

Ok so I´ve realized a few things about Spain. People really like Burger King here. I´m not entirely sure what it is, but everyone is obsessed with it. Literally everyone and their dog has a dog too. And people always walk with their dogs through the city. I´m not complaining at all though. I love dogs and it makes for a great conversation starter when we contact. Everyone smokes here, which seems to be the case with all of Europe. Everywhere I go, I smell cigarette smoke and I´m really getting sick of it. Only 22 more months of it hahahaha. If I come back with lung cancer, you now know why. I´m starting to think that carpet doesn't exist in Spain. Everywhere you go has wood or tile floors of some sort. The last thing is I really can´t seem to find bagels anywhere. Its something I grew to love in the states and just figured that they'd have here. I never thought I´d miss them so much.

Anyways I really miss you all (more than I miss bagels) and hope you all have a brilliant week :)

Pictures, although I don´t have any new ones from this week (hopefully they actually send when I attach them this time):

1. Elders take the Santiago Bernabéu

2. Elder Penner with the 11 (!) European Championship trophies