Brett and Kyle have both reached their 1 year point. Sometimes it seems like they just left and other times it seems like they have been gone forever. Here are the latest words from Spain and the Philippines.
Spain:
So this week has been super long and exhausting. I almost fell asleep sitting next to our investigator yesterday in church while my companion taught the Gospel Principles lesson. That was intense. Then we had a visit with a cool guy who plays guitar on the street for money and I almost fell asleep at the beginning. But don´t worry, when I start teaching I wake up....a bit... Yeah but I have been so tired just cause we have been having action packed weeks. I didn´t know that having success made you so tired. It was pretty tight though cause this transfer we have been exploding with success. Also the whole Zone is doing it too, just insane jumps in the numbers. Stuff is moving around. I really hope I can stay here another transfer with Elder Garcia after this one, but I kind of expect to leave. We´ll see in a few weeks. Elder Garcia asked if I would be bored being in such a small city(there are only 2 elders and few members, that´s why I call it the isolation chamber, cause we have almost no contact with the outside world) and I told him I would not mind at all cause this Pontevedra is different than the one I started in. I love it now, and we have some really good progressing investigators. Like we have the boyfriend of a member of the church who we have been teaching and he just got an answer that the book of mormon is true, so that is so amazing. Actually in the follow-up visit last night I was just giddy. We are supposed to really let it show that we are happy that they did it and I think I got the point across.lol. But yeah, it is tight. We also had cool visits with some good friends of some members and they are doing awesome. Also she invited her friend to be there and listen and before the visit she got locked in the bathroom and nobody could get her out so Elder Garcia kicked open the door and the lock went flying. It was awesome. Also, we had Brazilian day. Cause we hear how good it is being a missionary in Brazil and one night during planning we decided that the next day would be a good brazilian day and so in the morning we got ready and studied and went to a members house for breakfast(they invited us, don´t worry) and then did contacts on the street for a few hours(we had to work a bit, we are still in Spain), then we went to a pueblo(village) of a member and she stuffed us full of pork and fries and cake and then we worked in the baking hot sun carting sheep poop up a hill for fertilizer for a few hours. Then she took us home and we got showered and ready and ran to a great visit with those friends of the members then, taught the boyfriend of that member and went home. And successfully completed Brazilian day. I actually don´t think I could handle it every day. Good thing I am here. Also we met President and Hermana Clegg and they are awesome. They are so cool. It wasn´t an interview, but more like a get to know you thing with them both. And I loved it. Super nice people and they are so excited. They asked me to pray at the end and I had to stop multiple times cause I was so excited that they are here. I mentioned that they are here for the next half of my mission and are here to make a huge difference in my life. It rocks. So that is about it, a ton more happened, we have been doing great, and I am enjoying it. So yeah, don´t worry about me. Also mom, I don´t know when I am coming home, I will probably ask for an extension. I´m just kidding, they don´t really do that anymore. But It should be around July 7 or 8. Also, tell Trevor he should just go on and do the fall-winter semester with us when we come back and then leave at christmas. I´m jsut kidding, probably wouldn´t be the best thing, but it would be cool.lol. So yeah. I am still exhausted, but that´s nothing new. I have been exhausted for the past year and a week. I hope you are all enjoying up there in colorado and that you don´t die from having too much fun.
Philippines:
So, for that lovely mother of mine who insists on making me think about that painful, bittersweet day in the future where I will once again grace the abode of my earthly parents, and shower the rafters (from the inside.....upside down rain) with my incredible spirit, my handbook says that I have to stop sharing the gospel with people on June 02. 2010. I still haven't calculated the exact date I will get home what with 24 hours of travel, time zones, datelines, and a lost thursday, but yeah. Thanks for making me think about it for the first time since I've been here. I don't even know if I can go out and work this afternoon because my mind is opening up to all the possibilities (D'bos, taco bell, a new Hilary Duff album...). I guess those three families will just wait around for us until we can drop by another day and tell them we got “busy”. Ok, so that's a joke. It actually has crossed my mind once or twice. Today. And we will work tonight. I gotta set a good example for my son. It's so weird. I'm second guessing myself so much “Is this really the best way to do it? Is this really effective?” I guess that's a good thing though. My trainee is great though. He's really good at the language(like, making sentences and everything off the top of his head), and really just want to work, for the right reason. I'm getting more excited about the work just being with him, and re-thinking all these habits and techniques that I had gotten to think were procedure. I remember dad telling me about that once with flying. There are the rules, and then on top of that there are the commonly used techniques, which doesn't mean that you HAVE to do them. So I think we'll start experimenting a little. I want to change the way I look at fellowshippers and lessons with a member present. Also, at zone conference President Villanueva talked a lot about OYMs. Open Your Mouth. I have kindof gotten into a routine with tracting and opening lines, and he hit it on the head exactly. One thing he really focused on was finding the elect. They're prepared for the message right now, and they are the ones who will progress. And we find them by what we call Questions of the Soul. Deep questions that make you think, whose answers can be found in the restored gospel, specifically the Book of Mormon. Like “What do we really need to accomplish in this life?” and “What does our family really need?” So we're focusing on using those to find who's really interested, because a lot of people will let us in, but they're just being nice. He also mentioned that the elect will pick up on anything that will link back to the restored gospel. By that they will feel the spirit, and recognize us as God's messengers, with the answers they need. So sometimes we just ask people if they've ever heard the story about Alma (prophet in the Book of Mormon, not mentioned in the Bible). Then we tell them the story and talk about how it can help them. So it's kindof fun, and people probably think I'm weird.Also, a cool quote from General Conference about discouragement: “It comes from a lack of confidence in one's self or abilities. It is inconsistent with our identity as children of God.”Also, I did get to listen to brett's songs. I really like them. And sing them alot. I also wrote them down and taped it into my hymn book.
Ever wonder what happens when you leave your garden for a month? Mine usually dries up and dies or gets eaten by the bugs. This year something different happened! Hagrid came and took care of it! I have giant sized cucumbers! Yes, that is a cucumber.
Trent practiced his self portrait techniques with the rest of the cucumbers and my very own cantaloupe. Thanks to all my great friends who watered when they came to swim!
The living room. At least the room where I want to live. Notice the great fence that my guys helped Grandpa build. And the cute little bridge that really goes over a river; at least when it rains.
Our dinner guests--we finally got a picture of them. I had no idea hummingbirds were so territorial. My parents had to put out a second feeder so they could all eat.
The dining room. We really did eat every single meal outside. And there wasn't a single fly or mosquito. We didn't even sweat.
I can wear my sweatshirt in July.
Hummingbirds are the nightly dinner entertainment. (I tried to get a picture of them; they just wouldn't hold still:)
The mountain view is always only a turn of the head away. Did I mention clouds and rainbows?
My kids think that I am obsessed with clouds. In Colorado I am. The variety and beauty of them amazes me. We have seen no less than 10 rainbows in the month we have been here. At least two of them were complete and over half were double. On most of them you could clearly see every single color. I admit that I didn't take the pictures above. My camera just couldn't do them justice. But everyone of these pictures was taken by my parent's house and I have seen clouds just like them this month.
Where else can you attend church in the middle of a forest? You can't really tell from the picture but the chapel sits in 5 acres of pine trees. The landscaping is beautiful, thanks to many Eagle projects and 25 years of hard work by the "tree people." There is a natural runoff that is filled with rocks to create a river bed. When they added the first addition to the chapel they made a glass walkway between the two parts of the building, which is behind the bushes in my picture. There is an ampitheater in the back and enough cover for an awsome game of capture the flag.
This chicken is another thing that calls me back to Colorado year after year. It is amazing!
My dad learned to cook this chicken years ago from a man who made his living traveling the fairs of the Midwest each summer. He made enough selling chicken that he didn't have to work in the winters. The ward here has had an annual chicken bbq for the past 28 years. My dad has done the chicken for 27 of those years. No one talks about the one year someone else decided to cook it. It is a labor intensive, many hour process. This year my dad and his crew cooked over 160 chicken halves. There wasn't one left.
