November 30

~ This Thanksgiving was rejuvinating, I need to always be extremely thankful, I´m really trying to have an attitude of gratitude. So I´ve bought a lot of frozen corn and peas and brussle sprouts, they have skim milk too! (I was worried about that) they have this turkey that´s cheap and really good, great protein. They have these two different cereals I buy that are really fiberfull and good, I buy bannanas and organges and whatever other fruit and veggies look good, their beans and lentils are really cheap, I love beans! I mix them with every thing. The ham was awesome, it was a more expensive one, but now we´re gunna try the ones that are a lot cheaper to see the difference. The ladies have cooked us fillets of pork, really good potato salad, different garbanzo bean, and other bean soups, they´re really nice. We are all hooked on the bread! haha we pour out the olive oil and then mix in salt and pepper and garlic powder and oregano and then some really good jerezano balsamic vinegar... we all sit around and dip the bread it, it´s really good haha.
So I cut my own hair for the first time with clippers that my comp has, and surprisingly it´s not terrible, I cut the sides and back top short and the middle top longer and the front top longest, it´s the shortest it´s ever been, but I really like it, it´s easier to deal with. the I had my fist interview with the president, he´s so relaxed, I always thought the mission president would be uptight for some reason but he´s really nice. Driving here would be nuts, there´s so many one way streets, the streets are all really narrow, there´s no where to park, and there´s motos (miniature motorcycles everywhere). These motos are so dangerous, they wear helmets but almost never buckle the strap, and then there´s usually two people on one moto and the roads are so bumpy, I really don´t want to see someone crazy on one of those but I really think i´m going to at some point. The people when they parallel park have no problem bumping into the other cars, I´ve seen it happen over and over again.
The sides of the major streets have these orange trees that make oranges that you can´t eat, I´ve tried them haha and they are really sour. So here in Andalucia our schedule is a little different than other missions cause we don´t wake up till 7 but we are on the street until 10pm. In the morning when we walk through the city center there´s this spot where all these farmers bring there stuff to sell, and there´s big bags of olives and clams and snails and herbs and other random roots, and I´ve always wanted to try the snails... so we were helping this investigator at his house helping him clear out his back yard that was full of junk, and there were soooo many snails everywhere, and I asked the guy if they were edible and he said they were and so we took some home and this one lady we talked to said you had to let them fast for 24 hours to get all the crap out of them, but I didn´t want to wait so we rinsed them off a bunch, and then boiled them and I but salt and garlic on one and I bit the one part and pulled it out of it´s shell, and it was gross and all crunchy cause we didn´t let them fast, but now I think that when I have them actually done right it´ll be enjoyable instead of scary. haha!
So we think that our picture was put in the newspaper yesterday (sunday) so we´re going to try and find a copy, maybe you could see it online, the newspaper company is Diario de Jerez, maybe it´s on there, but we´re going to try and find a copy. The lady interviewed the bishop, and it went really well, i think people will be able to see that we really are normal ...
The link to the article is:diariodejerez.es/article/jerez/575562/soy/mormon.html

1st Thanksgiving in Spain

~ So Wednesday we searched everywhere to find a pavo entero (whole turkey) and we finally found one, we saved our p-day for today and went to Cadiz and met at the stake center there with our whole zone. None of us knew how to cook a turkey, but we did it, it´s amazing how good everything turned out. I happend to bring that meat thermometer you bought me, and we set the oven at 185 degrees celsius cause we guessed that that would be good, and then three and a half hours later checked it and the temp was perfect. We made the biggest batch of mashed potatoes I´ve ever seen and a bunch of corn and brownies, and it was awesome. There were 16 missionaries and we didn´t eat half the food we made. I got to play ping pong for a lot of the day, it was a great thanksgiving, once again I´m surrounded by great people. We didn´t have sweet potatoes, that´s all we were missing, The city is cool there´s an area that is really old in the middle with cobble stone everywhere. There´s big wine houses that smell so bad. There are statues everywhere, and huge cathedrals. It´s starting to get colder. We have investigators, but only 2 really solid ones, we are looking everyday and getting the word out. The Jerez newspaper interviewed our bishop at the chapel, and we were there with them and we took pictures in front of the chapel so if they put it in the paper I´ll clip it out and send it to you. Every Friday we go to this place that collects clothes for people in Africa and South America, and they make a mountain literally, a mountain of bags. I get up in the big truck and we pack it full and it´s crazy, by the end we´re drowning in bags of clothes, it´s awesome. The members are so nice, our ward is small, but the ladys make us food and it´s awesome. My feet have some knarly blisters but I couldn´t have chosen better shoes, really it´s not the shoes it´s just how much we walk, they´re starting to turn into calluses so it´s all good. it´s different learning the accent here, they say yo me llama different ( there y´s and the ll´s make them sound like they´re from argentina it´s like an sh sound) and mucha ( ch is more like a sh sound too over here) I´m learning more and more.

Zone Conference

~ Zone conference was great, all the missionaries seem like they want to be here, and President Mellor is awesome. It´s true that all people can say is yes or no, in the MTC someone said that we are participating in free agency every day on our missions, we give them the choice, and then they make their decision. Everyday is an adventure, we talk to such cool people everyday, it´s awesome. We just keep looking everyday for people who are ready, tons of people say "tengo prisa" (i´m in a hurry) but then there´s a lot that will stop and come really close and talk with us for a half hour. There´s such interesting people here, but at the same time such worldly people. There´s a bunch of borrachos(drunks) and bars on every corner. It´s still not that cold here, but they say it should get colder soon. It´s amazing how many people haven´t hear about the book of mormon, and so many people confuse us with the testigos de jehova(jehovas witnesses) we're definitely getting the word out. My companion and I have gone up to a number of groups of teenagers and talked to them, and its awesome to see their view of us change in one conversation. Enjoy the Thanksgiving turkey!

Jerez de la Frontera

~ c/ mérito N 2, blq 1 1-c
Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz
SPAIN
That´s my address, my companion is amazing!!! I have trouble understanding why me why am I so blessed. He´s from switzerland and he speaks german, but he speaks like a native in both english and spanish. He was the A.P. to the president for like 7 transfers(months, and then he came here to Jerez. We walk so much, and I absolutely love it. The south of Spain is beautiful,compared to Madrid it´s amazing. There´s so many colors, and the air is so fresh. We traveled by train to Jerez and there were miles and miles of olive trees. It is awesome. Our trainers are amazing, Elder Solari's companion is our district leader, and they are here to serve the lord. The ward is awesome everyone is so nice and I´m learning so much spanish it´s crazy, everyone keeps telling Elder Solari and I that we speak and understand a ton already, and I really feel like I am understanding a bunch of what they say. In the MTC we had hear that in the province of Cadiz, the people speak the fastest, and with the strongest accent, so when we were guessing where our first area was going to be I said that I wanted to go to Cadiz were they speak crazy, cause if I learn there first, everywhere else will be easy, and sure enough here I am. They leave off letters and really do speak so fast, but I´m catching on. Yesterday, Monday was our p-day but we couldn´t email cause our zone went to the Rock of Gibraltar for the day. It was way fun, It´s owned by Britain for some reazon, and yeah there´s this big mountain which is the Rock of Gibraltar, and there´s monkeys that live on it, and they´re crazy. So yeah this is amazing, our apartment is tiny tiny, but it´s awesome because the 4 elders in it are great. I feel so safe, and yeah, one thing that stinks is that everyone thinks we´re Jehovas Witnesses, but it´s amazing to see their view of us change once they hear more about us. We are buying a pata de jamon today!!! (a leg of ham) I´m honestly so excited to buy one, we found out the best kind to get, and my companero says it should last for like 2 months between all 4 of us. We´re getting an iberico pata. There´s serrano, patata negra, and iberico. They´re are three different kinds of pigs, and they feed them different stuff that makes the meat better haha! So we heard iberico is the best so we´re gunna try it. I seriously love it here! I´m so happy I have a walking mission, It´s such good exercise and low impact haha!

Last week in the Spain MTC

~ "It´s been such a good 6 weeks, it´s going to be sad leaving all these awesome people here. I am going to miss my companion so much, he´s been amazing. He´s basically fluent, and it´s going to be great to see the success he receives. I´ll email you from malaga!!!!!!" Brian travels to his mission field on Tuesday 27th of October.

Learning to feel the spirit

~ It´s awesome being here, it´s so much fun! The best times in my life are when I´m doing something all day everyday, I´m loving the schedule, up at 6:15 and learning till 10:30. Good habits are so powerful! Preach my gospel is so great, we really try to teach to the investigators needs, and I love it. It´s easier to help someone when you know exactly what they need. We work a lot on asking the right questions and getting the people thinking, it´s so much fun! We watched a talk by elder Bednar about knowing what the spirit feels like and it was great, because he simply said don´t worry about it. he shared three different times where he made a decisions that at the time he thought they were just his own thoughts, but afterwards looking back and seeing what had happened he realized it was what the spirit had wanted him to do. He said all that we need to do is try our best to be good boys and girls. It´s taken away all the doubts and second guesses I had with my choices, as long as I´m trying my best the spirit will be with me, it was so reasuring to hear an apostle say that some of his choices that did turn out to be the spirit, he at first was unsure if it was just him thinking it. The spirit works with us, and it´s awesome. My companion and I don´t really prepare for our teaching practices, we like to just begin them and ask questions and go with the spirit, and if we begin something that feels and seems important for the situation we will stay and go deeper with it. We taught our president here and he told us that we shouldn't feel like we need to get to every point in the lesson, instead we should find what is most important to them and stay with that. It´s great, this church is great the people only want to help and lift those around them.

Saturday at Sabados en Retiro Parque

This is a picture of Brian in the park in Madrid. They go there every Saturday. His letter said this: "I was paired with an elder Roos when we went to the park this last Saturday and we both didn´t know much Spanish but we were able to talk to a lot of people, they kept asking us if we were brothers and it was an easy way to explain to them that we´re all brothers and sisters of God, it was great. Spain is crazy but I love it. The food is very good, the cooks we have prepare the best food. We eat a lot of meat and it´s the best. They prepare a lot of seafood and I like it more and more, the same with the Serrano ham, the soup is amazing also. All the food has a different taste than in the U.S. but it´s good. I know it´s crazy for me to be in church clothes all day but it´s awesome! I get to learn all day every day about how to help the children of God it´s amazing."