April 26

~ The week was good, the investigators we have are progressing slowly, but they are such good people, but I know there´s people here who are prepared already. We played the young mens quorum again in fútbol, and it was a heated match, and they beat us, but my comp and I both score over 4 or 5 goals we played the first to 15, it was sweet, my comp sent you some of the pictures.
We´re going to zone conference to the Island of Tenerife the 7th of May, so I guess that´s where we´ll talk on the phone too, I´m going to take a bunch of pictures, and then I´ll send home another SD card. So I bought a kilo of young bull liver this week, and it tastes pretty strange, but with enough salt it´s not that bad, to get my iron I´m just going to eat a piece of that every week cause I know it´s loaded with it. I´m trying to learn how to make bread like they make it here in the bread shops, I made two rolls this morning that are rising in the apartment right now, I had no idea that the bread here is basically just water flour salt and yeast, it just tastes so good! I want to learn to make it. So everything is going great my companion and I are trying to make our contacts in the street more personable. We´re tying to be friendly, but with excitement, we want to get their attention, it´s been working pretty good, but still we need to practice more. It is crazy that Rachel is learning to drive, you are brave for getting into a car with her. Don´t you think it would be better if she just practiced for a couple years with the car games for the playstation? and plus she already has a motorcycle she can drive. haha everyone is just growing up so fast, well everything is great. One thing I thought was interesting was that Moses held up the snake on the stick and told the people to look and be saved, and there were people who died just because of the simpleness of the way. The things we do everyday as members of the church and followers of Christ are so simple, but they are what keep us in the straight and narrow path that leads to salvation.

April 19

~ wow... i heard about the volcano and the earthquake in China yesterday, but I thought the volcano was in Ireland cause the names sound so much a like in spanish. I swear more and more people are going to start realizing that things are changing, and that there really is nothing sure in this world except for God. I swear more people are going to realize too that the world/society is getting worse and worse morally, and more and more people will hear about the Church of Jesus Christ and the good that comes from it and it´s members, and I think people are going to want to be apart of the good. I know I´m a kid, but kids these days, they don´t want to learn they don´t want to work they just want without effort. and the distractions are so strong, and there´s so many of them. I wish they would think haha they don´t even realize how much they can become. I know I´m preaching to the choir, but it´s the truth. It´s a miracle that I´m out here on the mision, like in the Book of Mormon I can honestly say that the Lord has snatched my soul from bitter despair and utter destruction. I´m excited cause we´re going to the Island of Tenerife for zone conference like the first week in may, and that´s supposed to be one of the prettiest islands so yea everything is good. So we eat at these two families houses every single week, one on Wednesday and the other Sunday. At the one on wednesday we made sandwiches with this really good meat, it was so soft and tender and tasted so good, and then when we were done they told us it was cow tongue, haha they didn´t think we would´ve eaten it if we would have known, but it´s amazing, really I´m going to buy some cause it´s super cheap too. Also we had this sausage called morsilla, it´s a blood sausage that I had had earlier in Madrid and in Jerez, but the canary morsilla is different, it´s weird cause it´s sweet. It tasted like brownies, but there´s no chocolate in it. You could seriously put frosting on them and call them brownies and the whole world would love them. It´s really good. those two families live out in the country, and have chickens and everything, and they remind me so much of grandma and grandpa and the layed back Idaho lifestyle. they have a bunch of baby chicks, and an incubater and everything. I gave a talk yesterday in Sacrament, it´s gotten way easy to give talks. So yeah thanks for everything, thanks for helping me so much and letting me learn on my own too.
elder ross

April 5 and April 12

~ April 5th The youth here are such good kids, but still they´re teenagers, but I really think that we could get them excited and interested in the scriptures. When their parents are around they won´t listen, but when it´s just them and us when we´re playing futbol or ping pong I´m going to start talking to them about stories in the scriptures and life and I´m going to ask them about what they think, they could help a ton of people.
General conference was awesome, we didn´t get to watch the second sessions of either day but we saw priesthood yesterday morning, I really liked what Uchtdorf said about patience, and that´s a quality that I want, and I´m really going to try to learn patience. The mission is great, President and Sister Mellor told us about that experience with the mission president´s wife in chile, and I was amazed. That´s so cool.
We are all prepared for at least two weeks if we had to stay inside here, I´ve had a 100 euro bill ever since the Madrid MTC, but I need to take it and change it for smaller bills like you said that´s way smart. Thanks for everything, the church is true, and the life is good
~ April 12 Everything is going great, we are both staying here in fuerteventura, and I´m really happy. Elder Anderson is coming down here to the islands and Elder Solari is going to granada, so Elder Anderson and I will be in madrid together most likely but I think elder solari will stay in malaga, but we´ll be in spain together.
Everything is going great, we are both staying here in fuerteventura, and i´m really happy, elder solari and elder anderson that are in my group are both going zone leaders now. elder anderson is coming down here to the islands and elder solari is going to granada, so elder anderson and i will be in madrid together most likely but i think elder solari will stay in malaga, but we´ll be in spain together.
So yea, everything is going good, we ate cow tonge last week and it was amazing! haha we are going to eat blood sausage this week, and I´ve already had blood sausage in spain (it´s called Morsilla) but the people here say that the Morsilla from the canary islands is way way better, so I´m excited, all the members are awesome, we make them laugh a lot haha. So the teenagers here are all good at futbol, and they challenged the elder´s quorum to a match this last saturday and we crushed them, so they want a rematch, and it´s funny. The people here play with a lot of finés, but I just run like crazy, and shot a lot, and they say that americans always run more than them, it´s funny, but I´m going to learn their tricks and then they´ll have nothing on me haha. I do that rainbow kick while we play and they are impressed, but I could get better at my dribbling haha, I feel like my spanish accent is getting better and better, it´s kinda tough here cause there are a lot of people from other countries that are learning spanish too, but it´s all good, everything is good.

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.