The Street Life

I don´t have much time so this is going to be kinda short.

Yes, my companion´s mom is on the Missionary Mom thingamajig. I knew the the pictures from my British mum would make you happy, Mom. I´m still trying to find a camera cable. The problem is that even I wanted to take it straight off the card, I can´t because it´s a "Sony Memory Stick" which is thinner and weird and not an SD card.

(From Daniel's Mom): More photos from his "British Mum," Sister Lobaco. They seem to have the Missionaries--more than one set--over for dinner and games every Sunday evening, and she is sweet enough to send me pictures every week. She did want to say that they aren't allowed to have the missionaries over unless they have an investigator with them.

Investigators! Well, Ismael and his sister are pretty boss but their parents won´t let them be baptized because they´re afraid they´ll leave the church later in their lives. It´s frustrating. The parents know the church is good for their kids but they still have that idea. Thre´s another nice lady and her 2 kids but they just want to be 100% sure which is good, but also will take a long time and that´s hard to reach as an investigator sometimes. 

I´m excited to hear about mission calls! Have you checked my Facebook recently for those? I haven´t heard many for a while. Yes, we are proudly supporting the USA from a third person view. I hope we go far this year!

A quick funny story! We were knocking doors and heard a guy look through the peephole, walk away, and flick a switch. Right after that we heard a low quality recording of a dog barking and then a flick to turn it off. Then he turned it on a couple more times for good measure. We started leaving (whilst laughing quietly) but I rang the doorbell again just so he´d play it more.

I have a few more little things to write but there´s not much time. Mostly I´m just in the streets most of the day. Love you all!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan the Younger

We have iPads now!

No, we do not have iPads. I just wrote the iPad thing at the bottom (of his last email) for kicks and giggles and to hear reactions. I wish it was true. I guess I shouldn´t deceive people as a missionary. I´ll be dodging lightning bolts after writing this.

Yes, we already heard about Portugal and the States. We hear it from people right after each game and from missionaries the next morning. We can´t watch it so whatever info we get spreads fast. So we get to enjoy the world cup vicariously through the rest of the world. We´re still cheering for you America!

Well transfers came and I´m still here just as expected, but President took out every senior companion in our district (5 in total) and so all of us left have like a transfer in our area except one Elder who just finished his training here. So we´re in quite the fun situation. We´ll see how this goes.

New Companion Elder Weeks

But, my new companion seems nice. He´s from my same MTC group and I met him briefly. His name is Elder Weeks. He´s from Utah like most of us. More specifically South Jordan And right now in this transfer we´re on that part of the rollercoaster where you start going over the first big hill and you see what kind of rollercoaster it is. Let´s hope there´s no upside down loopdi-loop jazz going on in the future. Although I suppose there are some masochistic people who like those in the not figurative sense. But that is not me so it fits my metaphor. After being on so many rollercoasters I could use a few laps on the merry-go-round. But I only have a year left in this amusement park so I´ll enjoy it while I can.

Not much to report. Just sort of cruising along up here on top of this rollercoaster waiting to see what happens next. Please pray for me to have no big loops!

Os quiero,

-Elder Morgan

Hold On!

I have to admit that I have failed at writing for the last two weeks in my journal but now I have! Now  I remember more random jazz.

First off, turns out my companion is a convert of about 2 years now. He never told me until a few days ago. He got baptized a couple years ago and left when he had a year in the church for his mission. But he essentially was raised as a dry member (not wet by the waters of baptism) all his teenage years. I don´t know if that´s a term at home. There´s lots of that here. Like an "eternigator" is an eternal investigator as in those people who have investigated for a LONG time and probably won´t ever finish investigating. Although I know for a fact that is only a mission term. 

Random news! I just noticed the grocery store paid me back with a penny from England. It´s not that exciting, but at the same time it is. Although it´s weird that I´ve gotten so used to the Euro. I like having coins for 50 cents and a euro and 2 euros. We need more of that in America. Although the bills are weird. I still have a $20 in my wallet for my first American meal in Atlanta on my way back and it looks so long compared to the Euros. 

Spain is pretty bummed about their loss in the World Cup. It was a very quiet morning after their loss. And whenever we´re at somebody´s house the TV is on the news which is still about Spain´s loss. Did the paper have a guy in bright green kneeling down? That picture is everywhere now for news about the loss. All the bars have TVs or projectors outside so whenever we´re outside we get to glance at the score and the countries. And everyone tells us the final scores. It seems to be the only thing to talk about here. I´m excited to hear about how America does but I´ve heard that we´ll probably have to face Germany soon which will be scary.

I think I mentioned that there are a lot of Muslims here. Because of that, we talk to a lot of Muslims and have a lot of them as friends, although we usually can´t teach. Anyways, we were talking to our friend named Achmed (who was dressed in his boss Muslim dress to go pray in the mosque) and a Spanish man walked by and stopped and said "Wow. I never thought I´d see two Mormons and a Muslim together." and continued to tell us how amazed he was. And when we stopped talking to Achmed another man thought we were trying to argue with Achmed and we couldn´t convince him so he said to us "The Moor was very difficult?" which is kind of not nice to say and weird but that´s Spaniards for you a lot of the time. They are kind of racist. But it´s fun to be in a city with so many Muslims and see their culture. Hopefully I can get a Qu´ran soon. I´ve always wanted to get one just for fun and the problem is that you can´t buy one. They can only be given and so I´m waiting for one in English from one of our friends. 

The work continues at it´s own pace but it seems like it´ll get a lot better soon. Not much news there.

It´s weird reading about Wesley going home. That´ll be me in almost a year. I remember talking in the MTC about the World Cup being our half way mark and a year away but it´s already here! Weird! This last transfer has been pretty fast too. It´s like riding a sled and you can´t really do much about it speeding up except hold on. I love you guys a lot and I´ll write more next week!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan

Fallen

Well, this has been kind of an uneventful week. What´s there to tell? They set up a medieval market for the weekend and we passed by to see it. It was pretty cool. They had lots of women´s clothing, leather work, food (mostly sausages and meats and breads), jewelry, and random sections of things like herbal remedies for EVERYTHING and they sold bricks of stuff like frankincense and myrrh. And there was cliche medieval Spanish music which I forgot includes bagpipes since the Celts were here.

Elder Fisher visited for a few minutes and he was just like I remembered him. I got to see his family which was cool. His mom took pictures (see above) and will send them so you´ll be happy, Mom. I also got to see Jhony from Torrejón! It´s weird to think that Wesley´s home too. Not much is different for me about that until I get home, though. That´ll be an interesting day. This all makes me think of that more. 

More and more I notice the giant cross from The Valley of the Fallen. It´s a huge cross that they put over this fancy cemetary and they bury important people there like Franco, the guy who was dictator here. It´s not close but if you look at the mountains there´s a giant cross just sticking out of them. 

My companion accidentally led us on a bus ride all the way to Madrid instead of a nearby pueblo so we had a nice hour and a half of riding there and back. And everyone´s mad at him because all the investigators and recent converts of the other missionaries invite him over to do things and like him more sometimes and always want him to baptize them. It´s funny but at the same time they´re getting tired of it. 

Besides that the work is slow here and so we just carry on and try to do our best. It seems like there is a points system and each area is given a number of points to spread around. And the categories are like companions and how the area looks and the ward and the contacting and the apartment and the investigators and so forth. So if the area is very beautiful, the other areas have to have fewer points. If the work is great, the other areas have to have fewer points. So you can have a great looking area with a nice ward but then the work is much harder or a nice looking area with a good amount of work but a terrible ward and companion. For example, Segovia is gorgeous and they have nice missionaries there, but the work is terrible and there is only a branch of 20 people. So my area is more gorgeous here, but the points have to come from the work so it´s not too grand here. 

So it wasn´t too grand of a week again, but hopefully this is the bottom because once you´ve hit rock bottom the only way to go is up, so this next week should be nice. Keep me in your prayers! Love you all!

Onward Christian Soldiers

I found a Nicaraguan lady! Her name is Juana and hopefully we´ll teach her this week. She didn´t believe my Nicaraguan ancestry but it was cool to meet her. She´s not from Managua, but she´s from a little pueblo. Although usually I just say that Grandma is Spanish but lived in Central America all her life.

Ya, I wish I could´ve been in Torrejon. Part of our Peruvian family got baptized! Leslie is the mom and Jennifer is the daughter. They´re the people who cancelled their baptismal date a couple months ago. Even though I wasn´t there, they still call me and Elder Fisher their missionaries. Especially me since I taught them for 4 months and only missed 3 weeks before the baptism. I´m happy they made it finally. I´m definitely going to visit for some p-day. The only two left in the family are the 4 year old daughter and the dad who is waiting to see how they go. I really wish I could´ve gone. They´re just a little trip on the same train line as I am but President said no. Apparently he doesn´t let anyone go to other baptisms even if it´s the next area over.  And another friend of my first recent convert, Henry from Nigeria, who I half taught just got baptized too. I´m happy for him too but the other baptism means so much more to me.

Yep, I´m almost on the countdown, but not yet. It´s weird to think Wesley is finishing so soon! Elder Fisher just finished on Saturday. He´s going to visit Villalba some day soon so that´ll be fun. There´s not much news here. It seems the farther north you go the less work there is. Elder Shamsabadi´s old companion is really north and he has absolutely no investigators. Oh! I think I mentioned that we´re teaching a man that is exactly like the man from Up. He´s a short, stout little Spaniard with parted white hair and a cane and huge square glasses. He drives a little tiny European car and he´s living in a house he built with his own hands. He´s just too adorable. I´ll send pictures when I get a cord.

There´s not much to say. It´s been a slow, less joyful week and I really need to be remembered in prayers if you all could. I love you all!

Os quiero,

Happy

My camera cord remains incognito. My companion´s cord is too modern and we´ll see if the other elders´ cords fit. If not then I´ll hunt down an electronics store that has one. Speaking of which, we passed through what was essentially a Walmart and saw the electronics section which had TV´s and smart phones and computers and had a few moments of joy remembering what decade we actually live in. Also the song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams was playing and my companion said that that song should be playing every time a missionary enters an electronics store. And we love that song and we can imagine that it´s been extremely over played and hated now in America.

Elder Shamsabadi! Well he´s actually half Persian. He´s from California so there´s no new culture. I was excited too for a middle eastern companion but that´s not today. He´s pretty happy and energetic. He reminds me a lot of Danny and I think they should meet after the mission. He ends in a year from yesterday. So far so good.

Sickness-wise, I´m getting better. Just some problems getting to sleep. And a foot fungus! Gnarly. Although that can be easily fixed with creams and powders which I now have. But when I get home I really want a doctor, a chiropractor, and a dentist. And like 2 weeks of sleeping. And to hold and use some technology that is modern and American. And many other things.

Before I forget! In our apartment we have a geneolgy of all who have lived there. It goes back a good 10 years or so and almost every name has a picture. So I got to see Elder Shumway, my trainer, and some other Elders I knew. As I was looking down the list I saw a familiar face and name which was Jordan Snowden who´s Heather´s friend! Weird. I could´ve sworn it was a different friend of Heather´s who went on this mission but either way it was pretty funny to see. 

Yes we teach English. It´s just kind of uneventful here. Just normal people who want to learn English, not any crazy people. 

I have 10 months in the mission! I reached that on Saturday. It´s weird. Before I know it I´ll be like my companion who started counting down his time. Weird.

So I actually forgot to bring my journal so I don´t remember much. OH! I went to Segovia on exchanges! It´s an hour and a half on train away through beautiful countryside. By that I mean hills and trees and lakes and everything Madrid lacks. The city was beautiful as always. The only problem is that the rumors are true that the work is rough there. All we could do all day was help an old lady carry her groceries up the stairs and give out a few cards. And we taught English. We received a blessing and a curse of tons of rain because I love that weather but no one else does and so the streets emptied fast. But it was a good day and I learned stuff. 

And thus ends my memory and energy. I love talking to you guys! Thanks for all your letters and I love you all!

Os quiero,

-Elder Morgan the Younger

Summer Shorts again even though it's a bit chilly here‏

World:

I´m sick so this will be a short-ish email.

Well, Torrejón is gone for now. I hope to return for some p-day or baptism or something. I´ll really miss that area. But everyone says that Villalba is awesome so I´m excited. Our apartment could almost fit in our living room in Torrejón, so that´s a bit of an adjustment. The ward seems nice. There´s lots more Spaniards in it. And a few Scottish people! Mercifully it´s a bit colder here and in all of Spain recently. The streets are kind of scary to put together and remember. Although we don´t work as far out as we did in Torrejón. My companion´s pretty nice. And all the other missionaries.

We teach a sweet little old Spanish man who looks so much like the man from Up. Some lady at an English school offered us jobs as teachers. You can get free Qurans here and it´s pretty interesting to read. They even have some nice anti Christian guides in the back, although it mostly against Catholic doctrine like the Trinity and the JST fixed a lot of the flaws they pointed out and they end each "victory" with words like "Allah is above such blasphemy. Praise be to Allah!" and cute things like that. And there´s more jazz to explain later. And that Muslim man who fought with us in Torrejón? He lives here. The elders were almost about to meet with him but then I came. There are a lot of Muslims here. Speaking of other religions, we got invited to the First Communion of our investigator´s daughter. That´s also a story for another time.

I had a suprisingly delicious soup made with cow innards. The Scottish family made me try Marmite which is pretty strong stuff. It tastes like when I chewed the vitamin pills. Grody. We just came back from a gorgeous city called El Escorial! I´ll write more next week too. I´m just so tired and gross feeling. I love you all! Miss you loads!

Os quiero,

Elder Morgan the Younger