Noticias en España

Buenas tardes!
I love Mondays, being able to open up my email and see news from home! Kinda like you said, it's just a little boost/confirmation that what I'm doing is right and boosts my spirits a little. It's not that it's boring or terrible here, quite the opposite actually! I guess just being away from home you start to wonder what is happening, how everyone is doing, etc. And hearing from home is always great =)

 It's interesting here, the missionaries search out their own pisos (apartments) instead of the church doing it like in Ogden. I guess the contracts are a little shorter term here, so missionaries basically search out their own, give a list of 3 or 4 suggestions, and the office will select one.

 I think for me one of the hardest things is just adjusting to the change of everything. We got all settled into what missionary work is like in Ogden, then we get here and the country and culture are different, the streets and buildings are all layed out differently and super easy to get lost (but then you can ask for directions and contact at the same time!), and the work as result of such is done a little differently. So all the other missionaries that have been here for 6 months are like the older experienced missionaries and we feel like greenies again (and the members all think it too because we always look lost and confused or something haha). I think it will be a quick adjustment and change after a few weeks since we do have some foundation.

This week was a thing called Carnival in Spain, basically a 2 or 3 day celebration just for the fun of it. It's like Halloween but without candy, except of course booths and stuff that sell random stuff. All the kids go around in costumes. Night time is when all the drunks and weirdos are out on the prowl, but missionaries have learned pretty well how to avoid it so it's all great for us. I was told it's basically like the Carnival in Rio in Brasil, but a little less intense. Yesterday was also a FC Barcelona match, the metro was PACKED on our way to church! Everyone had their jerseys, scarfs, and backs and such. I wish we could go to one, except they are mostly on Sundays. The only time we'd be able to go see a thursday or wednesday game is if by some miracle an investigator had extra tickets and president approves us to go, which is pretty unlikely haha. We just stick to stealing peeks on the bar tv's =)

So my learning from my studies this week. I read a story that a missionary in Ogden gave me, titled "Uneaten Donuts". It's too long to share, but basically the moral/what I took out of it is that the Savior suffered for everybody's sins, pains, and weaknesses, whether we accept and use that gift in our lives or not, or whether people even know about it or not. In the story, the teacher brings a big box of fancy extravagent donuts to class, and he offers a donut to each student. To give a donut to someone, a student that he had preselected had to do 10 pushups. If they didn't want a donut, the student still did 10 pushups and they had to just leave it uneaten on the desk. After 35 students or so, and the last one had the offer, the student just collapses on the floor in exhaustion. A neat story, I'll have to see if I can send it or not sometime. The Savior suffered for each of us whether we choose to accept it or not, no one could intervene or do their own, and in the end He finished His work and ascended to the Father. There are a lot of people out there in the world with uneaten donuts and la mayoría don't even know they have a donut available to them! THat's why there are missoinaries =) Also, Alma 37:39-47 impressed me a lot. Our guidance from the Lord will depend a lot on our faith, kinda like the quotes mom sent me last week. The guidance and miracles we receive will be by small and simple means, easy to overlook if we get lazy or fail giving diligent heed. It is just as easy for us to look to Christ as it was for them to look at a compass, both require our faith and will guide us to a promised land. We have a far better land of promise, we have the small and simple means (daily scripture study, sincere prayers, church attendance, prophets, etc..) and we have to only look and take the steps. God can guide our footsteps, but He won't if we aren't willing to move our feet!
Well, my time is up. Love you guys! Have a fantabulous week!