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.