March 22 and 29th letters

~ So we had zone conference, and it was awesome, we talked a lot about diligence, and we heard a lot of experiences of missionaries that stayed diligent in the search for people until the last minute of the day and found people who were baptized. One elder found a lady like that, and she was baptized in three weeks, and now has been to the temple and everything, it just shows that we gotta be faithful until the very end. The island we flew to is the main island of the Canarias, and the capital city Las Palmas is so big, the buildings are huge and there´s a ton of people compared to Fuerteventura where we are. So I think I´ll be in the Madrid mission for sure, but I´m excited either way, it´s going to be sad to see President Mellor and Sister Mellor leave, they are awesome. So everything is good, I can´t really think of anything I need for my birthday, everything is great, Elder Wardell is awesome, and we´re learning and growing a bunch.
The weeks are flying, president said that the days turn into weeks and the weeks into months on the mission and it´s so true, I just have to remember to learn and grow as much as I can everyday. On Saturday we´ll go to the chapel to watch general conference on the projector with the branch, I´m really excited, the last general conference that we watched I was in the MTC Madrid, and it was powerful. I want to try to prepare myself spiritually for this whole week. Our president didn´t say anything about how the misions would be changed this last zone conference, but just from what the letter said about the change I think I´ll be changed to Madrid. It would be awesome to go all the way up to Galicia, but I want to talk like the people here and in Jerez. I might just have a mix of all of them haha. Here it´s cool because there´s a lot of people from South America, so I know how they talk, and I´m learning the words they use. There´s also a bunch of people here from Africa, and a hole bunch of Arabics who are muslims. Every muslim we´ve talked to has been super nice, they are really faithful in their religion, and believe a lot of the same things. They believe that Jesus was the greatest prophet that there has been, but they don´t believe that He is the Son of God. It´s cool to talk to so many people from such different places. The people from Africa are always so humble, and have faith in God. Arabic is such a crazy language, I wish I knew it. Oh yeah, and there´s a bunch of Chinese people too. They own these stores that sell everything for way cheap. The Arabs and Chinese people learn spanish quickly even though their languages are way different from spanish, it´s funny cause we´re here from all around the world and we comunicate and work together all speaking spanish. I new spanish would be useful, but I didn´t even realize how many people speak it. I didn´t even realize that it was already Easter. The Semana Santa starts this week on Thursday I think. I know in the peninsula (spain mainland) the Semana Santa is always really big, but down here I don´t think it´s the same, but I know they still carry the statues through the streets, it´ll be cool to see I guess. Everything is going great, I hope that everythings good in the Meadows 8th ward, I miss everyone so much, it´s different when there´s not so many people. I am the designated director of music in Sacrament meeting, and I´m horrible at it, I told them that I kind-of had some idea of how to lead, and they have me do it every Sunday. There´s a mom who plays that piano and when she´s there it´s easier (even though I mess her up sometimes) but yesterday cause we changed our clocks she didn´t show up till the very end so I had to lead and everyone was singing acappella, it was hilarious. But I´m getting better I think or at least that´s what they say, haha. They´re are such good people. well everything is going awesome. elder ross

Chicken Adventure

~ Everything is going great, the branch here is awesome, every Sunday the president has us over to eat dinner, and yesterday one of the chickens got out of the chicken coop when we were about to leave, and we chased it all around, and then I cornered it ad grabbed it, and they couldn´t believe it. haha I told them that the chickens were my favorite on grandma and grandpa´s farm. It was funny cause they gave use eggs, and then later a member came and picked us up to teach with us, and he gave us a big bag of eggs too, so we´re good on eggs for the next couple of weeks. The people here are so laid back, they really remind me of everyone in Idaho, they fish a ton, and a lot of them live outside of the city with small farms. They´re helping us a lot with the work, we just need to keep finding people. In the weekly bulletin from the mission it´s interesting what they say about this mission, how we don´t find as many people, but we baptize more, so Elder Wardell and I are really going to focus in getting new references, to get new investigators. We´re learning a lot of spanish each day because he came out in the group just ahead of me so we´re both still learning, but our contacts in the street keep getting better and better. Everyone says I sound like I´m from Jerez, and it makes me laugh, the people in Jerez would be proud. We are doing our emails today but we won´t have p-day till Friday cause we have zone conference on Saturday, so we´re going to fly to the Island Grand Canaria Friday morning, and have p´day, and then Saturday we´ll have zone conference, and then we will come back Saturday night. It´s going to be awesome I´m sure. So fuerteventura is known for their goats, and they make the best cheeze, and it is really good. The water is so clear on the beaches, we might go fishing one p-day with one of the members, which would be fun. I´m learning so much everyday, it´s amazing, I need to open my mind allow the spirit to come in and teach. It´s awesome. Thanks for everything I love you all stay happy!

Fuerteventura

~ This place is so cool. It´s more relaxed than Jerez I think, there´s not that many people on this island of Fuerteventura. They say that the beaches here are some of the best there are, but on the island it´s all desert. My companion is Elder Wardell from Cedar Hills. Jerez is down to two elders now, Elder Solari and Elder Gleason, they are good together. it was sad to leave Elder Solari, but it´s all good. I talked to them two days ago and they said that it rained so hard that there was a mini flood in all the zone of cadiz. So if I´m going to stay in the Malaga mission I´ll have to come back up in three transfers, because then it will be changed. It´s possible, but who knows. Either way it´s going to be awesome, I could say that I was one of the last missionaries from the Malaga mission to be sent to the islands, or I could say that I went from Andalucia down to the Canarias, and then all the way up to Galicia at the very top of Spain. I flew from Sevilla to the main island Gran Canaria with two other elders and then in a different plane by myself I flew to Fuerteventura. For district meetings we use a camera, and have a video conference with the island above ours Lanzarote. And for zone conferences we fly to Gran Canaria. It´s such a big change going from an area with 4 elders and a whole zone that is always together, to a desert island where we´re the only ones here, but I love it. The branch here is cool, the branch president has been the branch president for almost 20 years now, he is really cool, every Sunday we go to his house which is out of the city I´m in(Puerte del Rosario) and go to this town in the mountains where he lives. It's really relaxed here, It´s awesome, such a good environment to progress. Our apartment is directly above the chapel, which is awesome, and the chapel has a ping pong table which is amazing! Here there´s a bunch of people from Africa and there´s a bunch of Arabics, we played futbol with a whole bunch of them this Saturday and they were all really good, but we still represented. Fuerteventura means strong adventure.

TRANSFERRED !!!!!!

~ I can´t believe that about Chile. The other ten elders that were in elder Solari and my district in the provo mtc all went either to Conception or Santiago, that´s good they´re all acounted for. I can´t imagine how crazy it is over there right now, we were talking about it today on the way to play futbol with the zone and three of the elders on the train with us each had a district full of elders going to chile, so I was thinking that the Lord filled Chile with missionaries so that when this earthquake hit they would be able to help everyone, and stand out, and everyone will remember the missionaries that helped them phisically, and the people will be more receptive to help spiritually you know? It´s been raining here like crazy, for the whole winter. I know there was a land slide in Italy and I think something happened in Portugal too. I was reading in the Book of Mormon and Moroni says that when the Book of Mormon will go forth to all the world there will be rumors of wars and earthquakes in all types of diverse places. It´s all true. I hope it will soften some of the people here too. I´m just trying to learn and progress everyday. Everyone at church says my accent is way good now, but it´s still hard to put sentences together, but I can understand a lot. We went to an appointment yesterday and the guy we were teaching had the strongest andaluz accent, and he spoke so fast, but I was keeping up with him alright, and my companion couldn´t believe I could understand him. I love the way they talk here. This transfer my new companions name is Elder Wardell, but the thing is that he is in the a place called fuerteventura which is in the Canary Islands, so I'm going down there in about one day, and I'm extremely excited, it was such a surprise I really didn't think that would happen but yeah it is happening, everyone says it's awesome, so if I'm still there in July my mission will be changed to the Madrid Mission which is fine with me, although I absolutely love Andalucia, so well see, I'll tell you how it is when I get there. I love you all be good.