Hasta Pronto!*

Well this is my short little note. I´ll tell you my stories of the week soon. We had a baptism yesterday! I´m in Torrejón and my bags are packed an in the mission home. I´ll see my new mission president, President Pack, for the first and last time. Thanks to everyone who wrote me! I love you all so much! I miss you all so much as well, but I´ll see you soon.

-Elder Morgan

 

*See you soon!

 

Well, This is Sad

Wow. Weird. My last full email. This email is done on a computer, unlike every other missionary here. I took a fine picture of a room full of missionaries just glued to their iPads and no one talking. I feel weirder and weirder as time goes on. Today didn´t help either. I have figured that transfers--especially this one--are easier when you do it like a bandaid. Don´t watch and just do it really fast and it will only hurt afterwards and not so much. Actually, writing this email kind of hurts so it might not be so long. And Firefox has failed on me 3 times already so it´s kind of hard.

We had a barbeque/water fight/farewell party in the chapel and a bunch of missionaries from everywhere came. We grilled some meat and hoses and buckets and balloons quickly turned it into World War Water so I sought refuge in the chapel and ate no more meat due to the watery manslaughter on the way to the grill. I´m still drying actually. Although they did drag the weaker and smaller missionaries outside to be executed by bucket or hose.

For the first time in my mission, upon leaving a lesson our investigator said, "May the force be with you." She´s a bit interesting but it made my morning.

Well this week I officially wrote to President Pack, the new mission president. Although his family and him don´t arrive until Wednesday. But the letters this week officially go to him. President and Sister Jackson wrote their farewell on the bulletin.

Well I ate probably my last Spanish paella on Sunday. It was with Spaniards, in Spain, done the original style (Valenciano), made by a man from Valencia. So it´s a good way to have a last one. Saying goodbye is awful. Ahhh! This email is making me think too much about going home. Well in summary, I have a normal week set up with some goodbyes and packing at the end. It´s weird planning for next p-day. I´ll probably write a little something just for fun next p-day. I feel sad so I´m going to stop writing. I love you all and miss you loads!

Os quiero,
Elder Morgan

Penultimate

Well on random news I found out that the last name Arguello comes from Navarra, northeastern Spain, and that the last name Montealegre comes from Jerez de la Frontera, the southwest of Spain. Now that we have Family search on our iPad, I´ve realized that most of our ancestors are from Jerez and Navarra. Both in the other Spain missions. But oh well. Maybe I still have relatives in Madrid.

Funny story: The bishop was telling the youth to not use their phones for scriptures and to bring real scriptures to church like the missionaries do but then a kid from the primary said, "But the missionaries use their iPads." He was shocked and now has no more excuses to make them bring paper scriptures.

Random note: We met a man named Melqui (Melki) and he told us how it was spelled which is exactly the same as the beginning of Melchizedek in Spanish (Melquisedec) and we commented on that and he said that that´s what his father based his name on. Although he had no idea who he was. He just knew that he was a guy from the bible. First guy named Melchizedek that I´ve met in my life. Sounds like a very Mormon thing to do. I also found out that the singer of The Killers named his son Ammon. Hooray for Mormons.

I don´t remember if I´ve mentioned it, but I still find it hilarious every Sunday to hear the high priests joke about how their name (los sumos) for latinos sounds like juice (zumo) if you´re latino and sounds like Sumo wrestlers. Their like, "Orange juices over here and the lemon juices over their," or "But I´m not Japanese or fat,"or whatever beloved old people jokes you wish to insert. It´s really cheesy and old but I love it every Sunday.

Well today was a fun day. I came back to Barrio 5 with Elder Cluff who was in the dream team district there. It´s so weird to be here again. We´re writing in the Apple store by Plaza del Sol currently.

We got to go to our ward mission leader´s house on Sunday for lunch. I love that place. It´s so huge and their kids are so much fun. They have 5 and one on the way and so it felt like a family reunion with all the young kids around. A note for mom: For the first time in my mission, I found a house with a pastry cutter (the thing for biscuits). They have one! But they have a big lawn and a huge garden plot and a pool and just about everything. They live in a pretty nice neighborhood. The ex-president of Spain and the mayor of Madrid live their as well. Also, we found out that Boadilla del Monte is pretty well off as well. Ike Casillas, the goalie for Real Madrid, lives there.

Like I said before, it still doesn't feel like the end is arriving. I´m saying it and everyone else is saying it but my mind just still hasn't accepted it. Madness. It´s weirding me out.  I don't really have many news for the week. I miss you all! Love you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

Yogurt Lamentations

The day has come. The yogurt I bought today lasts longer than I do here in Spain. It expires right after I leave. Although only one flavor. Once the strawberry greek yogurt lasts longer than I do, then that will be sad. Good, old, faithful strawberry yogurt.

Speaking of weird feelings, last week after writing, I felt really weird. Just a bunch of stuff doesn´t seem real. Ending the mission, the wedding, Natalie wrote me and now I know she exists, Anna going to Orem High, my friends getting married, Elder Anderson who is home and the leader of us nerds has left behind nerdiness, just about everyone who has written me wrote me, and just a bunch of weird stuff. I still don´t feel like the end is actually here. Everyone´s saying it and I understand it´s coming, but I don´t really feel like it is coming or that it´s real. I guess it´s just some divine intervention with some anesthesia to soften the blow. But ya, still doesn´t feel real. 

Well, the iPads came. Finally. And despite hopeful information I received recently, I did not get an iPad. But my companion did so we get to share. Well it comes in a case that with probably only be broken by the second coming and by that time we probably won´t need it anymore so I understand why the church bought the cases. Also probably because missionaries drop things a lot. It´s pretty dope. Although we don´t have the Areabook/Planner or Facebook so it hasn´t reached it´s full potential and glory. We do get to use Duolingo for language study and obviously the Gospel Library App. One weird thing is that we have no Wifi in our apartment so we have to be at the church to use it. And they are 32GB iPads and I have no idea why. We downloaded all the Liahonas that have existed (That´s exciting for missionaries) and all the audio for the hymns and all the manuals and everything and we still have a bunch of space. We also have Siri blocked. The church has put a restriction program that sets off an alarm basically if we do something we shouldn´t. We actually did set it off but only because when you first set up the iPad it has restricted apps. We are pretty restricted and it´s not too useful yet, but it should be better in the future.

On a random note, we met two American girls in the subway which was odd because our part of the subway has nothing. Turns out they were heading to the mall and one of them was from Indianapolis! So we talked about whatever I remembered from there. Fun little blast of America.

We had an investigator call us and told us about things happening like some weird incident with coffee and she was going to visit "our competition" (who we assume is some Catholic friend or priest since she is Catholic.) but there was tons of rain that day and she didn´t want to leave her house. She asked us, "Are you praying for me that I get baptized?" and we were basically just like "Yeah." That´s all she called for. To find that out. Fun little experience.

Oh yeah, the weather is really nice here for now. It rained a few times and has been in what would be the 60´s. I´ve slept like a baby with the window open to let in the glorious, rainy breeze. Supposedly it´ll heat up soon but I am thoroughly enjoying the cool break.

Anyways, I gotta go! I love you all and miss you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

With Much Haste!

Mom: Thanks for organizing everything and helping me not worry! I love you mom!

World:

On a random note, I was watching a DVD we have called Finding Happiness and they have clips from each country depending on the language and I found two families from Villalba on there!

Ya, I´ll explain geography when I´m home. I have a nice map I got here that I can use to explain everything. It´ll be so much easier to explain everything in person.

Ah! Anna Low is going to Orem High and is 5´10"?!?!? What on earth? Time has flown by. I remember her as a baby in sacrament meetings in Indiana. Weird. I´m excited to see the Low´s. What´s their address and what buildings are they by that I´d know?

Ya, I´ve adopted a lot of phrases and the word "fetch" and many quotes to use in normal conversation. Natalie wrote me this week and I was about to try quoting some stuff but I figured it would be weird to type and not in person. Although it might still be weird. Oh well. I´ve probably changed my way of speaking a lot and will have to remove a lot of Spanglish.

We went to a mosque today. We were being led around by this really sweet Muslim woman but then another one came by and kind of yelled at her and us and said we needed to make an appointment over email to get a tour. So we had to bail but we got to see a bit of it and got a bit of adrenaline rush. I was so afraid of going in dressed as a christian missionary but President Jackson said it was OK.

I am so excited for a new tie and a wedding I can actually fully attend!

I have no more time but I love you all and miss you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

The Mosque we went to.

Almost my complete name: Daniel S. Morgan

Ispaja

Well we had a awesome conversation with a Spanish investigator about Spanish history. She told us about the flag, what it all means, where the royalty comes from (the Bourbons) and stuff like that. I finally found out why Spain is called Spain! It comes from the Iberian word Ispaja (Ee-SPA-ha) which is rabbit and there are a ton of rabbits around here. The Romans turned that into "Hispania" which turned to "España" which we made into "Spain." We also learned about culture and jazz like that. And she said it makes sense that our Spanish ancestors left from Cádiz because that´s where most people left from.

Oh my it is so dang hot. I remember this now. There was about to be a riot in church because we all met together for the 5th-Sunday class and it was crowded and really hot and they went over time and people were flipping biscuits. I was on the point of bursting into flames in my suit. Thankfully I get to bail midway through summer. As much as I will miss the mission, I will not miss hot summer days in the streets all day. We had more lessons fail than usual. It sucks but oh well.

On the subject of little children saying stuff, a little kid told us that his family was in heaven. His grandma and his uncles and aunts and his brothers. I was so shocked and sad until his parents clarified that they had simply gone on a plane back to Bolivia but he didn´t really understand. Sky and heaven are the same word, "Cielo" (Thee-EH-lo. Yes, like that Danny).  

Also, this woman who loves making things passed me plans to make things like green houses and gardens on a fence and wind turbines from scratch. I´m sure you guys will love to see them. Although I´ll have to translate.

Yep, I´m excited for June but it´s also so weird to be in June. And we just found a Filipino man named June. Anyways, I love you all and miss you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

178

Ya, I figured the trunky comments would arrive. I was bracing myself for today. The last transfer is here. It feels so weird. I also feel so old. I talk about missionaries who have all gone home and events in the mission from before most of the people were here. All these new little kids are coming in and it just makes me feel like an old fart talking to them. And all the members and investigators are reminding me of how much time I have left. Also my agenda now doubles as a nice countdown of how much time is left. Not to sound trunky, but I´m excited for the next changes because I finally know what is going to happen to me and I can pack in advance! 

I´m staying in my area with my companion.

On a random note, we found 10€ ties on sale for 1€ so we all bought tons. I bought six and 2 of them came with matching cufflinks and only cost 50 cents more.

Well we teach a piano class here. I don´t know if I mentioned that. But while waiting for that I decided to try and strike up a conversation and asked my companion what his favorite piece of music is that he plays. He said it was Rachmaninoff´s 2nd Piano Concierto, 1st Movement and then he proceeded to play it. Oh goodness that is a difficult and epic piece of music. Look it up.

I had a random happy moment to myself. We contacted a woman in the street and she gave us her number and while she was saying it all the daughter who was like 5 finished the last numbers by saying "178" but the mom "corrected" her quickly and gave us "179" as the last three digits. Turns out that the number ending in 179 didn´t even exist but I had written down the little girls response so I called that. The woman´s sister answered and confirmed that it was her real number so now we´re trying to get in contact with her. It was a nice contrast of deceitful adults and pure, honest children. It makes me laugh a bit.

Well iPads are officially coming on June 10! Although it doesn´t matter to me because I probably won´t get one. Although it´s still pretty cool to be here when all this is changing and starting. I´ll at least get to share my companion´s iPad and bother him. Also, as a side note for mom: Whenever I see young kids in the ward on their phone I do what you always did to my iPod and just attack the screen with all my fingers to see if they die in their game. It does indeed work.

Well the Villalba trip was awesome. I thought it was going to be me, Elder Weeks, and Elder Anderson but it turns out that they invited all the Elders from the past year and a half that are still here. I´ll send pictures once I bring my cable. It was so weird to see all the Elders together (there were like 20 of us) and a bunch of the members there who I haven´t seen in almost a year. To make it all even weirder, it was all in a bright, beautiful field and we had lunch underneath a giant picturesque tree and there were purple flowers everywhere. It was like a dream. It was kind of how I imagine seeing people in the spirit world or celestial kingdom. Seeing all of your old friends and family in a bright, beautiful field and greeting them and everyone is smiling and playing games and laughing and whatnot. Pretty trippy. It was really nice to see everyone again. A few of those people are also going home tomorrow so that was nice too. It was also a pretty sad farewell for the Elders going home. It might also be my last time seeing them. Man, everything is so weird realizing it´s probably or for sure the last time of doing something. Ever since transfers, I´ve been hit with a burning fire to work and also a storm of trunkiness. It´s an interesting contrast and there are so many other contrasting emotions. It´ll be a fun transfer. I am excited!

I love you all and miss you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

Dreamlike Field

Villalba Party

Summertime

I´ve seen some other religions. The Jehovah´s Witnesses have these cute little stands on doilies to hold all their books and pamphlets but we never really run into them because they just stay still in plazas. Some evangelist churches with go out once in a while with blue vests to proselyte. I haven´t really seen Adventist proselyting but there is a nice adventist baker man who gives us bread. Supposedly the Catholics still have missionaries because people think we are them sometimes, but I´ve never met one.

I will gladly do the mowing. I don´t know why, but I enjoy it. Whenever I see one of the few lawns of grass around here (there´s not that many) and it smells like mowers I get a little nostalgic. Most places just let various weeds grow with some patchy grass to fill in the dirt with some green.

It´s ok, I figured you´d be pretty trunky on the call. There´s a group leaving in a week and I can´t imagine how trunky their parents were. One elder I knew who left last year couldn´t skype his family because they were on the plane to pick him up. Awkward timing.

Well Elder Helske--now Paul Helske--came to visit for a week. I didn´t get to see him much because he kind of mainly came back for a girl in another city. But we did get to see him and hangout with him a bit. He brought me a keychain and tar licorice (the brand is Leijona) because I like that stuff. It tastes kind of smokey and minty. It was weird to see him kiss people on the cheek. And his poor little white legs haven´t seen sun for 3 years so he got a pretty bad sunburn. It was so bad that he couldn´t wear long pants and go to the wedding he wanted to see.

Well we are hard core in summer time and it is hot. It also kind of scares me because I knew what this summer means for my mission.

Not much else happened besides a Zone Conference. We have some pretty solid investigators that I have hope for. I am in kind of a hurry because we´re also going up to Villalba to visit. That should be fun. Thanks for all the letters I get! I love you all and miss you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan 

Mother's Day Call and Photos!

We had a great Skype call with Elder Morgan yesterday. He looked good and happy. He was at a member's house and he was helping them make biscuit cinnamon rolls. (They didn't take them out of the oven when he told them to while we were talking. He had to go rescue the rolls and they were a little dark. Still yummy, I'm sure.)

We talked for over an hour about many things, but I can't think of anything to post here. I knew he wouldn't have anything to write on p-day, so I pleaded for photos. Thankfully, he obliged.  Enjoy!

District in Barrio 9

 L to R: Elder Sarango from Ecuador, but lives in Murcia, Elder Galvan from Huntington Beach, Me, Elder Helske from Finland, Elder McAllister from American Fork, Elder Cotton from Kansas City; Front: Hermana Valencia from Chicago, Hermana Ter Host from Cincinnati.

Madrid Mission, April 2015

 Daniel didn't know where he's standing, but the group includes the Canary Islands who rarely join them.

President and Hermana Jackson

Madrid Open, May 2015

Serving is John Isner from the USA-- he's 6'10"

John Isner at the Madrid Open

Puerta del Oeste (West Gate)

View of the Royal Palace

Temple of Debod -- playing frisbee here on P-day

Park at Temple of Debod

With Elder Helske and a member visiting Toledo

I'm Feeling Very...Open

Well this p-day we´re going to the Madrid Open (tennis tournament)! I´m not a huge fan of tennis but it´s fairly cheap, our district wants to go, and in reality I had no better plans. I have no thoughts on it now since I haven´t seen much. It should be pretty fun. We also found out that President Jackson is going as well! We´ll see how it goes.

Butterfly in Finnish is "perhonen (PER-ho-nen)" and the thunder god´s name is "perkele (PER-ke-le)". The thunder god´s name is also the name of the devil and can be used in normal conversation, just not as a shout. 

I cannot imagine what joy you guys had while looking for a dress for Kara. I have seen you guys ooh and aww over little girls clothing for the last few years and I feel like a little baby wedding dress would just be ecstasy.

On random news of the week, we were talking to an evangelist family in the street and the dad said he wanted to give us a hug and right before he hugged me he said, "I do this in the name of Jesus Christ," and then hugged me. That was definitely my first time being hugged in the name of Jesus Christ. Interesting experience.

Our ward had a Mother´s Day party (Mother´s Day here was this last Sunday. Ya. Weird.) on Saturday and it reminded me how different American and Spanish/Latino ward parties are. Like normal, there were long tables and food and talking and everything but after everyone was done eating they quickly removed the tables and had a very up beat dance. And all ages dance since it´s not just party or pop music here. It seems like old people get more excited than the youth at times. We left soon after that started and the dance lasted for hours afterward.

So ya, the skype call will be, if we can do it, at 11 AM your time which is 7 my time. It´s basically the only time that works since my companion´s family have church that starts at 11. He´ll skype an hour earlier.  

Anyways, that all for now. Gotta go! See you guys on Sunday! Love you all!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

P.S. And May the Fourth be with you. :D

Psych

Well, about the mother´s day call. I´m not sure how skype will work. In my past calls, it´s been on an iPad and that hasn´t really worked. I can try to get a computer, but I still have to organize with some members to skype somewhere. It´ll probably be on an iPad, though. We´ll see. I have no official time planned yet either. You might have to ditch church a bit early. We´re thinking of me doing my call at 11, your time. I´m not even sure how to do a google chat call. I tried at Christmas so I think we´ll stick to skype. I´ll try to get more info this week.

Trunky moment of the week: In the metro they have little videos of news around the country and sports scores and whatnot. While we were chilling on the metro, I saw x-wings on the screen and immediately knew it was news on Star Wars 7. They didn´t show much but it was a pretty low blow of trunky-ness.

Random moment: We realized this week that Elder Weeks and Elder Cotton are almost exactly like Shaun and Gus from Psych. In both scenarios, one is a brown haired white guy who´s kind of a goof ball but still vaguely serious and the other is a black guy who´s more sophisticated and reasonable but his black slang and sass is still ever present.

We´re finding more success in that pueblo called Boadilla del Monte. When we first got there we just contacting all afternoon but now we have set lessons and everything. We also now know how the area much more. The one member family that lives there told us if there´s a baptism in Boadilla, they´ll throw whoever it is a huge party. I love going there and I love seeing the growth from next to nothing.

We met a Finnish woman in the street! I tried to remember all the Finnish culture and language that I knew but the only thing was the language. And that´s not even that great. My companion taught me to say, hello, thanks, a swear word (the Finnish thunder god´s name), butterfly (what he always said instead of that swearword), and that random tongue twister about a dog eating some monk´s bean soup. Ya, it didn´t help. Sadly, I also forgot the city that he lives by and I didn´t remember to mention saunas, of all things. But it was a fun little experience.

Not much else to tell. The weather cooled down a bit. It´s nice because we´re in the streets a lot. I miss you all and love you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

Hot and Not Too Hot

Well this will be a short letter as well, regrettably. Not really much happened this week and I´m not feeling too hot. Quite the contrary, it is also getting really hot outside.

My new companion is Elder Johnsen from Holiday, Utah. He has one less transfer than me. I realized that basically everyone has less time than me. He´s a good worker. He´s very untouched by the world and innocent too. That´s all I´ll say for now.

Well more people seem to be disappearing so we´re back to the beloved streets again. Amongst the grumpy, hurried masses we´ve found some nice people. Including a man from Paraguay who was really chill. Although we already have some nice people to teach as well.

And on random news, my old companion Elder Weeks (from my second transfer in Villalba) just got transferred here to Carabanchel.

Well I have no more news for the week. Please pray for me a lot. I miss you all a lot and love you loads!

Os quiero mucho,

Elder Morgan

Beloved Transfers

When we went to the temple this week I saw a group of tourists being lead by a tour guide standing across the street from the temple. They were all looking at the temple and the tour guide had a paper with a picture of the temple and info so I assume that our temple is part of some tours of Madrid. Weird. We went to the temple last week and Elder Helske asked to hear it in Finnish so that we could see the old video. I love that one so much!

Ya... Transfers came again. I strongly dislike them sometimes. I get really attached to people and places and transfers just ruin that. Elder Helske will be home tomorrow and now my companion is Elder Johnsen from Holiday, Utah. I haven´t got to know him much, though. Well, I still have this awful drained, crappy feeling of transfers lingering within me, so this won´t be too long of an email.

We made cinnamon rolls! We went to a members house and I made biscuit cinnamon rolls while my companion made Finnish cinnamon rolls. They´re more like actual rolls to eat with dinner but sweeter and they have cardamom in them. They were pretty good.

That´s all. Not really too exciting of a week. I miss you all and love you loads!

-Elder Morgan

Nakkikeito‏

Well, we have had an interesting week of bathing. Our water heater doesn´t work anymore and our dueño (Owner? No idea what it is in English) has been on vacation for Holy Week. Oddly enough, our gas stove still works so every morning we´ve boiled a big pot of water and mixed with our arctic water in tubs and used a small pot to pour it on ourselves. My companion tried to use the shower normally but he started entering hypothermia so we decided it was not the best course of action. Also, I shower while listening to a group called The Lower Lights that sings the hymns a bit more upbeat and folk-ish. My companion also has a recording of Mumford and Sons singing Come Thou Fount. The music plus the style of bathing makes me feel really old school. Hopefully our dueño will be back today and we will enjoy warm showers and actually clean dishes.

My companion made Nakkikeito at a member´s house. We call it "Sopa Matarusos" or "Russian Killer Soup." Because it was used in the Winter War during WWII to basically lead starving, freezing Russian soldiers into a trap. Sad story. Good soup.

Conference was great. It seemed to go really fast, though. No idea why. It just flew by so fast. Also it was quite interesting to realize that it´s the last conference for me in the mission. When I heard that they were making a temple in Thailand I knew that Tony, Riley, Tessa, the Linthaleths, and the Mormon population of Thailand would be flipping a biscuit. I bet it will look so cool! They always try to style it after local architecture so it should be cool.  Between sessions the cowboy elders were showing people how to lasso with a rope they brought and the victim was a poor stool from the hallway. It was pretty entertaining. 

We went out to that little city, Boadilla, again and among the people we found, we found the member family that the others had found last week that just didn´t know where the chapel was! Also, the guy from the family who we found was contacted by the member we brought with us which was a good experience for her. We got to go in their house and meet them and bless their home since they just moved there. Fun experience.

Also, us missionaries are enjoying the Warheads and I have some nice videos of poor members who did not realize the extent that sourness could reach.

Well I actually am sick and actually lost my voice which makes mission work interesting. Especially contacting. I woke up sounding like Christian Bale as Batman a few days ago. So of course I quoted every line I could remember. On the plus side, I have been able to sing lower and sing bass notes louder in my time of illness.

I didn´t hear the "No!" during the sustainings in Conference but I went back and heard it. That was quite interesting. Haters gonna hate.

I love you all! See you later!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

Grodiness to Cleanliness

Well Brad Wilcox came and did a fireside in the chapel by the temple. Oddly enough, he did the whole thing in Spanish. Turns out that he went to Chile on his mission, was a president of a Chile mission, and oversees the study abroad program in Spain. Coincidentally, we were just listening to one of his recorded talks last week also. He´s a really good speaker. And he just dived into so many deep and controversial subjects like the Millennium and women and the priesthood and polygamy and gathering the twelve tribes and other stuff. It was quite the interesting experience. I´ll tell more about that when I get home.

So we discovered a magical powder this week. We bought (for color and whites) a powder called Oxy Vanish or something like that. That is a missionary´s best friend. Our shirts and garments are brilliantly white. Also, my sheets--despite multiple washings over the mission--were pretty dang grody. I used the color stuff and now they are the normal light green again!

I had an interesting experience. If anyone is squeamish to blood or potty jazz, skip this paragraph. So, my companion is color blind, but pretty hard core. It´s hilarious to see him try to sort skittles by color. Anyways, one of the color pairs he mixes up is brown and red. So for the past week I have had to go into the bathroom every morning and check for him the toilet paper, the toilet (and its contents), for blood because it´s been coming out recently. Thankfully we have confidence and trust so he feels fine to ask me to check every morning and I feel somewhat fine with it. Also, he´s been making me more direct and blunt which is a good thing and a bad thing. He´s quite blunt.

I actually asked about iPads yesterday since it´s been 3 months since news was supposed to come. Sister Jackson (President Jackson´s wife) told us that there´s not much hope for our group getting them. Which is pretty frustrating since I´ve been told we´re getting them "soon" for the last year and 8 months.

We also had a fun little adventure on Thursday. Even though most of the ward lives in Madrid, the boundaries of our ward and area cover a huge area including this giant park called Casa del Campo which used to be the royal hunting grounds. We decided to visit a surprisingly big city that is kind of close yet far called Boadilla del Monte. We went as a district and together we found some people that were interested and a whole less active family from South America that just couldn´t find the chapel. Our ward mission leader lives in Monteprincipe which is right next door so we also just had correlation at his house.

It has come. It´s hot again. Dangit. That´s all.

Love you all and I miss you all!

-Elder Morgan

Note from his Mom: Somebody in Spain posted these pictures on Facebook and since Daniel was tagged in them I was pleasantly surprised to see them. Now we know what his companion looks like.

Elder Morgan and Elder Helske from Finland

Elder Morgan and Elder Helske on the right

Apupapin Papukeiton*

Well this week was less than eventful but it was a good one. We had more energy and excitement this week. Also we did a deep cleaning of the piso and now it is beautiful. 

We dropped our phone in water. Thankfully, it´s Nokia so we just let it dry out in some rice and it´s fine. The Elders in another city "accidentally" dropped their phone from a 4th floor window and just happened to see the fall and it survived the fall without a scratch. These phones are ridiculous. There´s a reason I once found a picture of Thor with the head of mjölnir (his hammer) replaced with a Nokia phone. 

We got a lot of rain and clouds which makes me happy but it´s confusing because we were getting heat and sun which was nice for contacting. Also a Real Madrid vs. Barcelona game just wiped the streets clean of people last night so not much luck there.

We just went to Toledo which was pretty fun. It was pouring rain, though. My beloved breathable running shoes also breathe in water and my have been drowning all day. 

My companion is teaching me Finnish now, a bit. One of the things he taught me was a tongue twister that´s stuck in my head. I obviously can´t send my voice but I can write it. It goes, "Appilan pappilan paksuposki piski pisti poskeensa apupapin papukeiton." It´s really fun to say and means some weird madness about a big cheeked dog eating the assistant priest´s bean soup in a monastery in a place called Appila. Although the other vowels in Finnish like "ä" and "ö" are just maddening. And when there are double letters you pronounce them twice as long and for some reason it is so hard. Also because you can´t pronounce things too long either. Uncle Paul was a brave man.

Not much else to say. Also I have to go change out my socks and un-raisin my feet before proselyting. I really miss you all and love you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

*Finnish for "Altar Boy Bean Soup"

Fire from Heaven

Ya, last week my companion wanted to visit members from his old areas and we had a lesson to get to right afterwards and we had very little time so it was pretty stressful.

Well this week wasn´t the greatest of all but through it I actually learned a lot and grew a lot this week. It reminds me of a really powerful, kind of sad, Mormon message called The Refiner´s Fire. The mission can be really hard but good things come out of it. But it was quite impressively bad sometimes. One of our investigators got in a car accident and so she didn´t show up to the lesson and when we called we found out everything and she didn´t sound too hot. She has so much potential and there is a ridiculous amount of opposition in her life keeping her away from us and this just adds to the list. One bad thing that was a hidden blessing was that the bakery underneath a family of investigators caught on fire and so they were woken up early in the morning on Sunday so they finally came to church for the first time. I personally think--jokingly and seriously--it was fire from heaven. 

Random fact of the day: I learned from my companion a few interesting things about Finland. Not so much now, but they give birth in saunas. Firstly because they love saunas but what they do is turn it up to 100 Cº (212 Fº or rather, boiling) and it kills all germs and somehow doesn´t kill all people. Then they turn it down to like 80 Cº for the whole process. Also, in Finland they hold the International Wife Carrying Contest. You go through an obstacle course wife carrying your wife (piggy back, in your arms, however you want) and the winner of the race gets his wife´s weight in beer. I am very curious to how that started. Also he taught me how to make grillattu (Finnish hamburger things) and it´s easy and delicious. I´ll make it at home.

When I got to this piso it was bare and empty besides the bare necessities but finally with help from the mission office and a few personal items, it´s decorated and we have furniture and now feels more like a home and less like living quarters. Although it´s very confusing of how to keep it the right temperature. The weather keeps on changing between hot and cold and I never know what to wear nowadays.

Anyways, despite more time, I still have many things to do. I love you all and miss you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

Rapidisimo

Well I have to go pronto so this will be brief.

Not much happened this week. It´s always a new experience leading a new area. Also, usually the next person is trained about the area to take it over but my companion leaves this transfer so it´s not really that important. It´s a very odd thing to do but more and more we´re understanding why. We get along really well. Maybe too well.

My district is:

Elder Morgan and Elder Helske (Finland)

Elder McAllister (Pleasant Grove, Utah) and Elder Cotton (Kansas)

Elder Galvan (California) and Elder Sarango (Ecuador/Murcia, Spain)

Hermana Ter Horst (Ohio) and Hermana Valencia (Chicago)

We´re quite diverse now but there´s still the good old Utah elders here. 

Not much else going on that I can think of. Mainly because I am stressed about being rushed and I am short on time.

Love you all!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

The one who Finnished and the one who will Finnish

Transfers came! I can´t remember if I mentioned it but last transfer was Elder Eskelson´s last one of the mission so we knew he was going. The last week he was kind of freaking out. He didn´t eat or sleep as much. At the end of our weekly planning for this week he just looked sad and was thinking hard and just said, "It´s all over." Those words were so sad. Also it makes me remember how little is left for me, even though it´s a lot. I took him and another elder, Elder (Austin) Anderson, to the temple square to get their last interviews which was sad too. The weather was perfect for the moment. It was a foggy, cold morning.

We went to visit Elder Alhovuori. We miss that guy so much and he missed us. We had a Barrio 5 reunion in Sol and remembered good times. Although Elder Cluff couldn´t make it and Hermana Shill had finished 3 months ago. We were all just so happy to be together again. Elder Alhovuori reminded me of something. Before he left, he bought a box of 500 Q-tips (The only size) and he didn´t need them all so he took something like 74 so he had one for every day left in the mission. We always joked about how he would just be bawling while cleaning his ears with the last one. Now the time has come. He told me he´s down to one for tomorrow before the plane ride. Tragic. Although he´s excited to get home. And he has his fiancée waiting for him. Ya, I don´t think I mentioned that he was engaged. I hope to get a wedding announcement soon.

Well, speaking of Finnish people, my new companion is Elder Helske from Finland. Although a different part. Elder Alhovuori was from near Helsinki but Elder Helske is from Lapland, or rather the north. I don´t know if this is a sign to learn Finnish or move to Finland or what. Strangely enough, he finishes this transfer. No idea why they took him out of his area. We´ll see why soon I assume. I heard lots about him from Elder Alhovuori and other elders and met him a few times so I know he´s nice. Also, the puns (Finnish and Finish) are going to be flying this transfer.

Not much else happened. We had a lot of eating appointments this week. Which reminds me of another story with Elder Alhovuori. We had 3 eating appointments in a row and in the last one we drank like a liter or more (each of us) of that delicious morir soñando drink. After that we felt awful so we literally sat on the bench outside their building for like 20 minutes before we felt like we could move and not throw up. It was wonderfully awful. But ya, we ate a lot this week too. And even though people tried to use their stupid excuses not to meet with us this week we just said, "Oh. Well Elder Eskelson is leaving this Monday and wanted to say goodbye," which got us the visits in the end. We had some really good ones too. Although two golden girls we found looked up jazz on the internet despite our warnings and now don´t want to meet with us because we are Illuminati who baptize dead bodies and weird jazz like that. 

It´s getting warmer. I can´t wear my jacket anymore even though it´s only 20 Cº (68 Fº) during the day it feels warm to me. But ya, it was pretty epic fog this morning too. Although I am so confused by the weather. Who knows, it might snow this week or something.

But that´s all. I miss you all lots!

Os quiero!

Elder Morgan

Chiquitito*

Well, this week also was pretty uneventful besides the mission tour. Elder Dyches of the Seventy came and spoke and so did his wife and of course so did President and Hermana Jackson. It was all really good but nothing impacting and life changing as the other one. I guess that´s because this one was meant more for the rising generation. But it was really good. Also, on a random note, they taught us how to make missionary shirts with origami but I already knew how thanks to my trusty Mormon origami book I got last year.

Well I am just frustrated because on Saturday we had one of the best lessons of the mission and our investigator still dropped her baptismal date. The Spirit was strong, her family was there and bore testimony, we taught well, we had a boss recently returned missionary that we brought with us, we answered all her concerns perfectly with great scriptures, and nothing changed for her. I feel like those prophets who are basically like, "Well I´ve done my part so if you are condemned for all eternity, it´s not my fault. Peace out." Some people´s minds confuse me. I have done so many mental face palms while listening to people here.

Umm... So it truly was uneventful. Just stuff that I don´t write about despite promptings from your side of the ocean. Plus I´m a bit under the weather so I shall end here today. I love you all! Miss you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

 

*Means "little" and I'm guessing it refers to the size of his letter this week.

My Valentine Streets

Well this week was pretty uneventful.

We got to go to the temple! It was nice. The temple film was one I had already seen. I gotta see lots of missionaries that I hadn´t seen in a while. Also we had stake conference and this stake includes Villalba so I got to see almost the whole ward again. It was really cool but we had to leave fast to get out to a pueblo on time so I didn´t get to talk much afterward. I miss that ward so much. I honestly just want to be in all my wards at once. Like mix them all together.

Abomination of the week: My eyes are plagued with the "Fifty Shades of Grey" posters that are literally everywhere. It´s not anything bad in the photo, just the fact that they made the dang movie. And they´ve been here for quite some time. I hope for change soon.

Well my Valentine last week was the beloved streets of Carabanchel. I suppose there was not enough love left over for people to love us so we only had one lesson at the end of the day. I seem to have a certain street in almost all my areas that I´ve walked on SO much. In Barrio 8/Vallecas it was Avenida de la Albufera. In Torrejón it was Avenida de la Constitución. In Villalba it was Calle Real. In Barrio 5 there wasn´t just one. And here we have our good old faithful Calle de la Oca. On the plus side my legs are very in shape. I want to see how close all the places I walked to at home are with my missionary pace as well. They´ll probably be like a third of the original time. Non-missionaries walk so slow!

The last story of the week is that we got to eat with an American family, The Siddoways. It was so good! Taco bean soup and tortilla chips. The salad had sweet beloved Ranch dressing--which cannot be obtained in Spain easily. They were really nice and their two twin 3 year old daughters proceeded to show us every single toy they owned while we waited for lunch. It was very cute.

And Carnaval has started. Not much happens here except kids in cute outfits and adults in less virtuous outfits.

I miss you all and love you all!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Well this week got dang cold. I believe that Polar Vortex of Death or whatever people were mentioning hit us finally. I finally whipped out those thermal pants Mom sent last year because we had a long day in the streets when it was below freezing. It snowed lightly here and we had almost a normal amount of snowing for a couple minutes. In the north and even in Villalba it was snowed quite a bit more. Elder Sargent, from Villalba, said it was a blizzard in Leon. I am hoping for enough snow to stick on the ground here! I miss it so much.

Well not much stuff happened this week. A man with a teardrop tattoo contacted us in the street. For all of you who don´t know what that means, it means he killed somebody. Scary. He also told us how and why. His friend tried to kill his dad and him so he got a machete and got him after. And he had quite some apostate thoughts. He told us that you could steal if you were starving and he said that money was more powerful than God. In fact, he even said the phrase that "you can do anything in this world if you have money" which sounds eerily familiar. I was waiting for lightning or a pillar of fire to come down.

We stopped a moving car! Some genius parked his car outside the chapel which is on a hill and forgot to put all the brakes on. It started rolling right when we all walked by and we wondered who was the genius driving it until we realized there was no genius in it so we had to pull some feats of strength and stop it. On the subject of people and cars, double parking is somewhat legal in Spain but here they just do it everywhere! Almost every day during studies there´s somebody honking their horn because somebody trapped them with a double parking. And I´ve seen quite a few traffic jams where the source is just one double parked car in the wrong spot. And I think when the Bizarre Foods show went to Spain they got trapped by double parking too. Glad I´m not driving here.

Well my birthday was pretty uneventful. I got a text from a convert and a call from another missionary and a call from President Jackson. In case I haven´t told you in the past, President and Hermana Jackson call every missionary on their birthday and wish them a happy birthday and sing their special happy birthday duet which sounds pretty boss. But not much else happened. I had a very nice breakfast and lunch I made too. That´s all I really expected from an area I´d been in for almost 3 weeks.

The computer is no longer a monster so I can send pics. We write in a pretty normal locutorio, but they have a cool system here. Instead of just paying for what you used up that day, you buy a chunk of hours and they give you a little username and password and you use it up as you go. But ya, I´ll send that.

Not much else to report. We have a lot of cool people that we teach and have found. Everything is going pretty well here. Nothing sticks out--thus my random stories--but it´s just chill. I´m fine with that for now. Love you all! Thanks for all the birthday emails!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

Cool Buildings in Madrid

Interesting Graffiti Art in Moncloa Metro Station

Elder Morgan was happy to find his favorite author in a bookstore

And here's his favorite book series in Spanish

The End of the Second Decade

Hey, do I have a family member that went to Ecuador on their mission? There´s a family here who were baptized in Ecuador (not sure how long ago) by an Elder Morgan. The dad is Wellington and the family name is Castillo and they were in Recreo, Guayaquil and Esmeraldas. Just wondering.

So I went on intercambios with Elder Gorge, who is also from Indianapolis. So we talked a lot and found out a few things. The Pereiras moved to his ward and he knew them. We might have met his grandma. He said he thinks Brother Roach is in the stake young men´s presidency, and I couldn´t remember much more. But it was really cool to meet someone from there. I didn´t recognize a lot of the places and names he said because I obviously was young. And he is of course a Colts fan. He makes fun of how much corn they produce and I do remember that. One of the other elders call him "Child of the Corn" from some book or movie called "Children of the Corn." Little nostalgia moment.

I found out that friends of one of our investigators are from Torrejón. They got re-activated or just taught right after I left so I didn´t get to know them, but they know the ward and the city. That was another nice nostalgia moment.

It got dang cold. And not the nice cold, but the windy cold. So we had some nice contacting moments. Not really many in the street. Also it got pretty rainy which warmed it up a bit. Also, my umbrella already kind of broke. One of the arms broke but the rest still works. 

Ya, we saw the "La Marcha Para Cambio" posters everywhere and they had stencils they painted the "31-1-15 12:00" everywhere. Naw, they didn´t bother us. It was back in my old area where all the marches happen. Not sure what the group is called but maybe it´s "Podemos" or it might be "Sí Podemos" which actually means "Yes We Can" which sounds vaguely familiar. But that´s cool that you guys heard about that. I´m pretty sure nothing bad will come from it. They went down Calle Alcalá. It´s not that big of a march. Just two metro stops if that means anything to anyone.

Ya, not sure how my birthday will be. It feels weird that it´s coming. I don´t know how exciting it´ll be because I just got here and our district isn´t really that close. I got some nice food and a member actually gave me a can of root beer last week. At least once I´m 20 people will be less surprised about my age. A member family in B5 thought I looked like Jason Statham. I took it as a compliment.

And on a random note I bought a nice European white shirt which is a bit more fitting and has the Italian collar which looks cool. 

Also I am excited about the two pieces of news that I can´t mention specifically due to their temporarily secret nature. Both were kind of expected but I wasn´t sure when they would be. I have to look nice when I get home then. No more procrastinating on losing weight and no temporary beard growing. But ya, I await the approval to talk about them.

Also, I was going to send pictures today but my computer right now is a monster so I´ll try another day. I love you all!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

The World is Ghetto Here

Well I have left a growing, random legacy in the mission. I eat strawberry greek yogurt with halves of digestive crackers (these plain cookie things. They don´t change your digestion at all.) as the spoon and everyone I show it to loves it and it is now spreading even after I leave. It tastes dang good. Also, I learned how to make couscous this week and it tastes amazing and it is so easy. New menu item! I´m getting pretty good at cooking. My favorite is frying up peppers and meat and throwing in whatever else you want like other vegetables and meats and it just tastes good and it´s actually healthy. I also have my moving pantry that comes with me to every area in a bag which consists of all my extracts and powders and most importantly my American brown sugar I got in my last area. 

Turns out that this new area has many people with very interesting ideas and less logic. For example, there was a man the other day in the street that assured us that you could be baptized by reading the bible because "the word gives us power," and so baptism by water is not necessary. Or some people in the street who recognized and told us that they needed the church and knew that they were lost metaphorically but decided that their way was better. And my companion is near the end of his mission (Finishes in 5 weeks but I didn´t say that.) so he´s getting more blunt with people in the street. It´s good sometimes but sometimes it´s a bit much although that kind of stuff stays out of their hearing. I can´t remember all the exact things he says right now but it´s pretty interesting. Although he does have some great contacting techniques that I´m now applying. And sometimes people need bluntness so I´m trying that too.

Well we just have a boss of a ward mission leader, like my companion said. He is by far the best I´ve had. I´ve had wonderful ones in the past but this man magnifies his calling like mad. He makes these charts and info sheets for every investigator that they´ve had here. And he even tells us details about recent converts and old investigators from a year ago that need help that we should go pass by. You can tell he really cares about his calling. And I happened to get here on the week when he invited all the missionaries to his house for dinner. He´s something like the financial manager for Spain and Portugal so he had a pretty nice house as well. 

I found out that one of my teachers from the MTC, Hermana Perera, is in this ward! I don´t know if I ever mentioned my teachers from the MTC because there was like no time to write when we were there. So there was Hermana Perera, who I believe is from here; Hermano Pickup, from Texas; and Hermana Camarero, from Barcelona if I´m not mistaken. I saw Hermana Camarero when I was Vallecas because she was about to go into the temple for her marriage. She´s interesting because she only taught one transfer and in that transfer only taught one class. Us. We´re her favorite class. I saw Hermano Pickup many times because he was part of the bishopric in Alcalá de Henares which was the other part of our district in Torrejón de Ardoz. He went on his mission to Ukraine and married a Spanish woman. Long story. And he tried to name his son Dodge--awful joke--and his wife was ok with it until her mother-in-law told her the joke. And now Hermana Perera is here. So ya, fun stuff.

Not much else in news. I just found out that an investigator from my old area, Barrio 5, is being baptized in a week. Like always. It sucks to miss the baptisms of these people I´ve worked with and loved by a couple weeks, but I learn things from it. Mainly it reminds me that the work isn´t about me, its about them and so it doesn´t matter if I´m there are the end, I´m just glad I played a big part in their conversion. But don´t get me wrong, I would still love to be there and baptize them myself. Sadly, President won´t let us go to baptisms in old areas because some geniuses abused that power by going two hours away to baptisms of people they taught once on intercambios.

Speaking of areas, I have just hopped over the river to get here. The borders of this area touch my old area. I can see the royal palace from some of this area too. I´ll miss that area so much. It is my favorite overall. I´ve loved parts of other areas much more but overall that was the best one. I also wished I could´ve stayed for things like baptisms and my birthday and whatnot. But I better stop talking or else I´ll get more trunky for my old area. Love that place to death.

Ya, the piso isn´t too great but I finally got unpacked and stole, with permission, furniture from the other Elders´ piso so ours is more habitable. Slowly I´ll get used to this area more and more. I´m still kind of lost. But it always gets better and better as we go on in each area. I´m not sure about my desires to stay in this area or what will happen with transfers before I go. We´ll see what happens.


No closing to his letter, but I did find his new companion's blog and so I'm attaching his photo (just in case Elder Morgan doesn't send pictures before his companion goes home--which is highly possible).

Elder Eskelson from Smithfield, UT

Winter Shorts

Well, beloved transfers arrived. I´m getting kind of tired of them. I got moved. I am now in the 9th ward in an area called Carabanchel! Back in another ghetto. Not the prettiest area and our piso is the bare necessities so we´ll see how it goes. Although they say the members are awesome and my companion seems nice. His name is Elder Eskelson. He finishes in a transfer, though so I know he´ll only be here for a transfer. And this may be my last area so we´ll see how I feel about that. I´m just tired of transfers.

Last week was nice. It snowed! On the weekend it snowed but didn´t stick. It looked so beautiful. People said that in Villalba it stuck everywhere so that´s cool. It´s getting pretty cold but that doesn´t bother me. I also found a little surprise in a nerd shop. I was looking through the books and saw "Nacidos de la Bruma" and the familiar name of Brandon Sanderson! I found all his books including "Nacidos de la Bruma" which is Mistborn. Although that´s just the title of the series. They changed the first book to "El Imperio Final" which is "The Final Empire."

Quite frankly, leaving sucked. I hate farewells and I had really grown to love that area and got used to it and made it a nice area. It was also so gorgeous and I was doing fine with my companion and it was just wonderful. I forgot to bring my old planner through all the chaos and jazz going on in this wonderful change so I don´t have much to write. Plus I´m just pooped and feel crappy. No potty puns intended. Love you all!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

A bonus:  Two photos from his companion Elder Nickerl's blog:

With convert Ana

Paddleball with Elder Giforos

Pastor de las Ovejas Perdidas‏*

Yes, it has indeed come. The so called "trunky papers". The release date is July 7. President and Hermana Jackson really wanted us to go home with them two weeks earlier but it would´ve been a whole month off our mission in total and it would´ve been very complicated to send us all home in the middle of a transfer. And this also means I will spend my second to last day working in the mission field in Spain celebrating the United States of America. That will be a hard day to not get trunky. They did send us some info so here it is, since it now applies to me. I´ll copy and paste what they wrote in the bulletin. 

"We would like to announce our replacement for July 2015- July, 2018. Their names are President Kevin and Sister Cindy Pack from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. They both served missions when they were younger. President Pack served in Chile, Osorno and Hermana Pack in Massachusette, Boston. Hermana Jackson and I have been in contact with them and know that you will be in very good hands. They have 4 children. Their 2 older daughters are married, the oldest has a baby girl. They have a 15 year old daughter and a 13 year old son who will be living in Spain with them. They already love you and are praying for you. We ask that you pray for them as well, as they prepare to preside over this great mission starting July 1st. Until then, you are stuck with us, so please continue to pray for us as well!"

So that´s them. They will be in the mission one whole week with me. But it should be fun. 

Well I just died over the video of Kara making sounds. Can you just send her in my package as well? She is too cute. I cannot wait to see Chris either. He seems so grown up now.

Alright, well to be vague, but specific here are some experiences. We are still teaching Ana, the wonderful little old Paraguayan woman who continues to just be angelic. I felt like The Da Vinci Code and National Treasure because I worked for almost my whole time in this area trying to find a less active American/Swedish couple and we finally found them! It was such a relief to finally find them. Recently I feel like a shepherd for the less active and excommunicated. We´ve just been finding so many recently and some even have found us. We´re like magnets. And so we are gathering the lost sheep of the tribe of Madrid bit by bit.

The work's been a bit difficult lately due to the gigantor holdiay season that goes from Christmas Eve to King´s Day. People go on vacation to far off lands or just don´t want to talk to us or who knows what. But it´s finally over so the work will be back in motion soon.

If you don´t know, in Greek mythology there´s a guy named Tantalus on the Fields of Torment in the Underworld who can never drink because the water moves away from him when he wants to drink and the fruit on the tree above him moves away to when he tries to eat it. I know that feeling, bro. iPads seem like they´ll never come. Supposedly we were going to get news in December and they were supposed to come in 2014 but oh well. We´ll see what happens.

Not much else comes to mind and I gotta go. I love you all!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

*Shepherd of Lost Sheep

Elder Morgan's District in Madrid Barrio 5

Monolithic

Random paragraph of immense size!!! I bought strawberry milk finally but it exploded everywhere because the lid broke off and it all fell. Our extremely distracted investigator got so distracted that he shined our shoes for us in the middle of the lesson and wouldn´t let us wait until after. We have a missionary here who is a recent convert of a year and a half and he has a boss story. Every time his mom caught him with a Book of Mormon she stole it and burned it but he just kept on getting more. He said she burned 8 in total and he still had like 12 more hidden in his house in case. Our beloved convert, Ana, fed us hot chocolate and I made brownies (star shaped!) because it was her birthday. And it was wonderful timing because it suddenly just plummeted in temperature here. I already talked to my family about it but we had a David Archuleta concert and he also came to our missionary Book of Mormon devotional. He sings very well of course. He got a song stuck in our head for the rest of the week, "Pastores de Belén." He spoke Spanish well but you could still tell he wasn´t native. And he said "La Reina Unida" instead of "El Reino Unido." One means "The United Queen" and the other is "The United Kingdom."  The other elders just baptized a Nicaraguan man and so I got to talk to him about all that jazz a bit. Turns out that people really, really, really, do not like our ancestor dictator man. Although I am starting to learn Nicaraguan slang. I gave my companion a heart attack because some members offered us some "coffee" which is really this coffee flavored stuff called Eco made from wheat or something. He asked me what it was and I told him coffee, like they said, and I told him not to worry because it was decaf and he flipped out but then I told him the truth. New Years was pretty chill. No guns here. Guns are basically entirely outlawed. Getting a license here is a nightmare. And when we talk about shooting guns, people look at us like we´re monsters and ask us how we could use something so dangerous. It is a very left sided country here. Franco literally killed off all the republicans during the civil war so there´s not many here. But anyways, New Years. I obviously didn´t go, but they set up fences around all the monuments and everything and basically it´s the biggest party in the world. They shut down the metro of the center because it gets so nuts. The debris was all over Madrid for the next two days still. It feels weird to be in 2015. Firstly, a lot of those near-future movies start in this time period. But it´s mainly weird because it´s my going home year. It´s a pretty interesting experience to hit that. I am finally realizing how dang old I am in the mission. It´s better to just not think about it. But it´ll be good. Well I have reached the end of my though process and I gotta go! I miss you all a lot and love you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan