Week 2 in Gijon

January 20th,  2014

My first week was great!! Almost done with my second week! I love it here. I’m still getting used to everything, but each day is great. Things have been a little slow. It is a hard time of year because people go on vacations a lot. It has gotten pretty cold here. It has rained a lot this week, good thing I came prepared for that! This is my schedule: Each morning we wake up at 7 and exercise for a half hour. Then we get ready and eat breakfast. At 8.30 to 9.30 is personal study. At 9:30 to 10:30 is companionship study and the 12 week program. Then at 11 we go out and work. At 2 we come back and have Medio Dia (noon or mid-day break) until four, and then we go out and work again. We come back to our piso (flat or apartment) at 9:30 and go to bed at 11. We have a couple of appointments each day and usually contact in apartment buildings. I got a door slammed in my face:) that was fun.:) We meet some pretty interesting people. Now that I'm out of the MTC I have a lot more time to think about home, I miss you a lot and love you guys, but don’t worry I'm not home sick. ;)

The Branch is awesome. It is so small. This Sunday was better, we had about 60 people there and the family we are teaching came! We had lunch with one of the families. They are so great. Most everyone is a convert. They got baptized it their twenties and then got married. They adopted a cute little boy from Ethiopia. He is so funny. They asked him who his favorite missionary was, and he said Elder Fish! They asked him why and he said because he is "smart and attractive" ha-ha it was so funny. He reminds me of Joseph. He loves cars and Legos and showed us his room.

Frank is living is an apartment now! We are so excited for him. He is doing so much better. He has been coming to church, he bought a suit, and is almost done with his priesthood classes. He could be getting the priesthood really soon. It is so amazing to see his transformation from when I first met him. He is so happy.

Joseph is amazing, he is really dedicated, I've learned a lot from him. That is so exciting that he is taking a temple prep class! When can he turn in his papers?! Sister Zitting's brother is in Honduras right now serving a mission. She talks about him all the time. I can’t wait for Joseph. He is going to love a mission. Tell him to start studying Preach My Gospel so much and to start cleaning and cooking!

That Temple class sounds great. The temple has been such a blessing for me on my mission. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to go a lot before and during my time at the MTC. It definitely gives you a lot of strength.

I got empatronized and am working on getting my residency taken care of. The craziest thing happened. We were filling out paper work when this man comes up to us and asks us if we are American and wants to know where we meet for church on Sundays. His name is Nelson. He is from El Salvador and lived in Nevada. He is so prepared to for the gospel. His family is still in Nevada, and he talked about how much he misses them and how he really felt like it was time for him to get to know God. He has tried every church you can think of and he said, "I realized I hadn’t tried the Mormons." His friend in the US tried to get him to go to church and he felt like it was probably time. He had so many questions and has so much potential. I know Heavenly Father put us in his path. It was definitely a tender mercy from Heavenly Father to put him in my life. He wants to make sure he doesn’t forget his English because his wife is American so he wants us to teach him in English!! So good!!

I am having a great time. We teach English classes, I teach the piano, we have family home evening. I love it here and have been having a great experience. We went to Villaviciosa the other day. Which is the place that Kenny was talking about that specializes in apple cider. It is way beautiful there and it is in my area. I could definitely smell the apple cider though. It is a really cool fishing village. It is ancient. I saw a church that was established in 1663 and an tree stump that was 6,360 years old! It’s way cool there. We went to a less active women’s house there named Marivi. It is hard because it is one hour away from Gijón where the church is so it is hard to get to church, but she came to relief society. She is great and so smart! She is also the most amazing painter.

My companion is great! Sister Zitting is the best and each day I love her more and more, she really is exactly like me, it's kind of like living with myself. She goes home in April, I’m really excited for her.

That is so great about Jr and Micah. I’m so glad everything is working out for them. It would be so great if the Clarkes could adopt them. Will you let them know how much I love them and am thinking and praying for them?

We go to a shop on the street to e-mail. It is run by Muslims who love us! They are so funny. We go in there sometimes to talk with them. It is a great way to contact people.

I miss Mom’s food, I love the food here in Spain, but sometimes I just want a hot meal from my mom. :). We've only had a couple meals with members so most of the time Sister Zitting and I cook. I really need to learn how to cook, I don’t know what I’m going to do when I get transferred.

Well, I have to go. But I love you guys and miss you so much. Give my love to everyone! Feliz Cumpleanos (Happy Birthday) Bennett. Tell him his Tia (aunt) from Spain loves him!

Les Amo! Hermana Brumble