Farewells

Oh ya, I forgot to mention that Madrileño means someone from Madrid. Although the suffixes change a lot. A Spaniard is "Español", someone from La Mancha (Like Don Quijote) is Manchego, from Villalba is Villalbino (Although I´ve others as well), from Madrid is Madrileño, and many more. There are some repeats but there´s quite the variety.

I met a family from the other ward in our chapel who are Americans who are here because the dad works for Eli Lily (I think that´s how you spell it.) And I thought that was cool. Apparently there´s 3 offices: Indiana (Yeah!), England, and Spain.

Tell Uncle Paul I fell bad for him that he had to learn Finnish. It´s awful from what I´ve learned. You have to conjugate nouns. And it´s just not related to any other language except something like Estonian.

I have not touched a bus or train this in this area. We only use metro and shoes. But there´s tons of metro here so we can get around pretty well. I´ve always been tempted to rent a bike from these little bike stations but then I choose not to. Also, I´ve been on the same train line my whole mission. There´s a train line that starts in a place called Guadalajara that passes through Torrejón and all the cities in that area, then it goes through Vallecas/Barrio 8, then it goes into Barrio 5 (Where I am right now), and then heads up to Villalba and all its surrounding towns.

Once again one of my favorite converts got baptized 2 weeks after I leave the area. His name is Ismael and we call him Isma, just like Yzma from the Emperor´s New Groove. I´m sad to miss his baptism and his sister should be baptized soon as well.

I got to go to the temple! It was really nice to go again. It was weird to watch it with much more knowledge of Spanish. Although we had to be there at 7:30 AM. It was worth it. And on our way out we met a sister missionary who was finishing--from the Malaga mission--and was going around Spain with her parents. Her name was Sister Anderson if anyone knows her.

After the temple I got my letters which were a couple wedding announcements (Cool!) and letters from my Sunday school class! Tell them that, yes, I know Ryan Fonseca. And that I miss the muffins. And I suppose I miss them too. Just kidding. Yes I do really miss my classmates.

Ya, I spoke in Sacrament meeting when I came but they don´t usually have missionaries do that here much.

I´ve changed from baker to healer/anointer/blessing person. The sister missionaries had a lot of blessings for us to give last week and no one else answered their calls so we always did it. But we got to do service which was nice.

And lastly there´s a senior couple with the last name Sullivan who are leaving soon. Both sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir so they gave a musical devotional farewell last night. It was pretty epic but also very sad. I recorded some of it but I can't send them over email. They did a lot of songs about going home and farewells. One was "Going Home" from The New World Symphony which was straight up saying goodbye. And they ended with a bunch of hymns. I don´t know how anyone can replace them. Especially Elder Sullivan who would always direct our musical devotionals and basically try to get us to sing like the MoTab. He´d tell us to sing more "vertical" in our mouth and sing "over our heads" and give us very nice examples which we could never attain. He even gave examples for the sister missionaries which was interesting to listen to. And Hermana Sullivan always played with the piano and sassed her husband and made treats. It was good times.

I hope that´s long enough. I love you all and miss you all! Hasta luego!*

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan the Younger

*See you later!

Madrileño otra vez*

Well I´m sad to say that this week is also a wee bit rushed. No photos today. :( I really am hoping for a chill p-day sometime soon because I need a break!

Speaking of chill, the weather has been very nice around here. It´s usually cloudy and breezy. It rained a bit and the temperature is lowering. I also remembered that I was entering the field in this time, although back then I was much more confused and gringo. It´s weird repeating dates that happened last year.

Ya, I have Plaza del Sol in my area. The boundary on the west is Casa del Campo, this big field, forest. The north boundary should be a street called Reina Cristina. Also it is the intersection/metro stop called Cuatro Caminos. The eastern boundary is Paseo de la Castellana. And the southern boundary is Plaza de Legazpi and west and east of that. That´s more or less our area.

I bought two things from the transport system machines with bills and they only return money in change so I´ve been paying for things for the past week in all coins which has been literally very fun. Very medieval. ´Specially since I also use the coin pouch from Wesley´s Renaissance fair a while back.

We had a big activity in the church called "El Dia de Naciones" or "The Day of Nations" and we basically had a cultural potluck. We have quite a diverse ward from Phillippinos to Argentinians to Americans to Fins (My companion.) There are three young families from America who are all really nice. Being around them made me weirdly nostalgic. The kids were screaming and running around like mad while the moms set up a cute little table of tons of food (chili and Fritos--haven´t had those in over a year--cornbread and other stuff.)

We also have quite a few Paraguayans (of course I meet them all after Wesley leaves. By the way, What were all his areas? I can only ever remember Asunción and Ca´acupé. And other Guaraní phrases? All I can say is mbaeshapa and they respond with something like "Por alla"). Our one Cuban member brought nothing and just said "All that we have in Cuba is hunger so that´s what I brought," which is a pretty dark joke but he´s a nice man. The chapel is pretty big even though it´s the first floor of a big building. It´s kind of also the second floor since it´s big. The ward is nice and I´m excited to meet people. I met a few on pass-bys and eating appointments. And the girlfriend of my ward mission leader in Torrejón is in this ward and I see my ward mission leader quite a bit too. Now I know where he was when we couldn´t find him. And our church meetings are in the opposite order as normal for the first time I can remember.

So as a part of being back in Madrid is having the evil temptation of posters of movies I want to see. Currently all around the city there are posters for "El Corredor del Laberinto" or, much shorter in English, "Maze Runner." Curse you Madrid advertising. Also being in Madrid again I did some research about the weird bear eating off of a tree. It´s translated as "strawberry tree" but I found the Spanish word which is "Madroño." You can look it up if you want. 

So as I was walking through the African, Indian, Arab, (Everything?), ghetto on my way home last night we passed by a large 20´s dance happening in a random plaza with very jazzy music and dancing from the style of those days. It was very odd but it also made me very happy. Random note.

I felt like a quite nerdy person before this area. Now I don´t. First off, we, the Elders in this building, are all white, blonde, nerds with black glasses. But I am very normal now. I´ll explain later.

OH! I saw ads for a TEDx conference (It´s a series of talks on science and design and architecture and music and just everything. I love them.) going on here in Madrid and I was excited to go. But then we saw the price and it was 54€ so we didn´t go. But I can watch it at home online.

I hope that this is sufficiently long. I don´t have much time but it´s been a while since a long email. Hopefully my wish of a chill p-day will be granted. I love you all!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan the Younger

*Resident of Madrid once again

Finnish Him!

Well I´m sorry but this was a busy p-day as well. But for a different reason. Transfers! After 4 and a half months in Villalba I am now at Barrio 5 (Madrid 5th Ward). It´s the center of Madrid including Sol. It´s a prettier area than my other ones in architecture. My companion is Elder Alhovuori from Finland, but he speaks English fluently. I already reached the end of my Finnish knowledge in conversation but he´s been telling me more stuff. He seems pretty nice and we´ll see how this transfer goes.

Well the last p-day we went to the farewell party of one of the AP´s in Madrid and I had to go since everyone else did. I am absolutely ok with having a chill p-day but apparently that´s not ´til next week at least. We usually write and shop every p-day but we can clean and wash every other day too. Yes, we do clean. No, I haven´t used Norwex cloths because most things just need big rough cloths or steel wool and I don´t want to ruin the cloths here. It´s not worth it.

Ya, I got more letters this week. I usually write family, a couple missionaries, and usually like 2 of the 3 friends from home who write me. Grandma sends me loads which is nice and I usually star her emails to keep when they´re good. The frequency of letters is dying off a bit like people said but it´s not too bad.

Ya, I know Elder Fonseca. He´s in my MTC group and so he has the same time in the mission as me. He was also in my room in the MTC. Wow, General Conference is only 3 weeks away? That´s so soon!

I enjoyed reading Tim´s email. I went through a lot of those emotions at the beginning. He has quite the Spanglish going on.  According to the Argentines here, Córdoba doesn´t speak with the Sh sound, although he did write with a Sh so maybe some people moved there? And yes, I would like to receive his emails. And maybe I´ll write him.

I had more stuff written in my journal but that´s nicely packed away. I cannot wait to get unpacked. I hate being packed. I don´t feel settled yet. Especially since it´s all I own here. Next week I should be more comfortable.

Hopefully next week I can write more! We´ll see what happens. I love you all!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan the Younger

Running!

Well today we´re in a bit of a rush so this will be a wee bit short.

Well vacations are extending a bit longer and all the kids are finishing exams. So we have to wait a bit longer for more work. 

Food! Yes, I´ve tried making butterscotch brownies and they loved it. They don´t have many desserts here so anything really sweet is good automatically. Yes, you will love Morir Soñando. It´s basically delicious lemonade. A member made a ceviche with pig skin. Not fried or grilled or anything. Just thick, boiled skin in a soup. Ya, it´s grody.

I put up my picture and name in the "geneology" that we have in the other apartment since I had left it. I´m the 92nd person marked there. It´s a pretty impressive board. It goes back to 2002.

I got to do exchanges with and Elder named Elder Weixler from Salt Lake who also served in Torrejón so we had a fun time talking all about experiences and people in Torrejón. And we need to send a picture to the members there. And I will send one home. Sorry, no time for those today.

And we bought gypsy pants. Basically Aladdin pants. I´m excited to try them on in our apartment and if they´re good I´ll bring some home. And we´ll take awesome pictures!

I´m really proud of you, Mom, for doing missionary work at home. I´m excited to do that when I get home too. It´s really nice to have members´ help.

Love you all! Miss you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan the Younger

Average-ness

Hey, the Church just came out with a boss Mormon Message recently. It´s the conversion story of a guy with nice filmography. Go watch it on the Mormon Channel!

Well, there is brownie mix here but the closest store to get it at is about a half hour away in Madrid and ridiculously expensive. So I just make my own jazz. Although I´m tempted to make brownie mix for the future from that recipe you gave me. Nah, I´m fine with the budget, I just have people buy the cocoa for me now since that´s the only expensive stuff. And on the subject of making brownies, we made had a surprise birthday party for a less active member who has no family or close friends here. And I of course made brownies.

On the subject of food, ask Kamalei if she´s tried a Dominican drink called morir soñando. And by spelling it I just realized it means "To Die Dreaming". In our glorious mix of latino culture here we get that drink from Dominicans. If she hasn´t had it, tell her to ask for it. And Mom, you could actually probably make it. It´s just milk, sugar, and lemon or orange juice on tons of ice and whatever madness the Dominicans add. You can probably find a recipe.

Well this week was pretty uneventful. We had a nice Zone Conference on Thursday. We had just about every lesson cancel us. August is basically the national vacation month where everyone goes on vacation. Including large portions of the government. So it´s been a fun month of trying to catch people at home. I got to enjoy this month in the MTC last year and there the lessons never fail. Although your Spanish skills do. Frequently. 

Hey, is Riley talking to the Linthaleths? He should visit them and maybe Tony can help him learn to teach a basic lesson in Thai to them sometime.

Oh, and the last bit of language stuff: Tim shouldn´t come back with the weird Argentinian accent. Córdoba is a city in Argentina that doesn´t use the "sh" sound for y´s and double L´s.

And I also may have not written in my Journal all this week so that could also be the culprit of my tiny email. I love you all! I miss you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan the Younger