Week 6: Bienvenido a Lorca

First of all:  Photos from my last days at the Spain MTC:

A wild "Elder Carp" has appeared!

Habitación Selfie 

Hello world

This was probably the strangest week of my life. So last Tuesday I woke up at 5 and left all of my MTC friends behind. I took a 3 hour train ride to Malaga. The other Malaga missionaries and I were picked up by the president and some other missionaries. President Andersen is super nice and cool. Then we went to the mission home. It's a pretty nice house away from the city in a little Spanish neighborhood. It's pretty big and there's a pool and a deck that we eat at outside. If anyone ever says that Madrid is prettier than Malaga do not believe them. The view from the mission home was crazy. We had eggs and pancakes and bacon and I had a lot. 

A bunch of meetings and stuff and then I got my new companion! He's Elder Hernández from Colombia. He speaks Spanish and English and Catalan. He's been on the mission for 1.5 years and is a fantastic missionary. 

In the morning we started out journey to Lorca. It was an 8 hour bus ride. It was really foggy and we were driving through the hills and it looked like a scene out of a movie. We almost made it to Lorca in one day but not quite. We stopped in Murcia and stayed with the zone leaders. We took another bus in the morning and finally made it. And found our piso (apartment). It was nicer than I expected. It has 5 rooms and a washer and a kitchen. It was pretty dirty...the old missionaries were clearly not very clean. There were 20 empty shampoo bottles in my shower and I had to clean the toilet with half of a toilet brush...but I cleaned everything and it was better. I've never seen a shower head that sprays everywhere except your head so that's new.   

Later we met with some of our investigators. There's Luis, and Luis 2 and some others. Everyone here works in the lettuce farms all day. There is also Wilfredo who is a member but we always see him around. He brings us new friends to teach and buys us hot chocolate sometimes. There's also Miguel and Johann who got baptized a few weeks ago and are 16 and 10. I help them with their English homework. There's also Jonathan and Keyner. 

We wake up at 7 everyday and study and plan until 10:30. Then we teach and work until lunch at 2. Then more study until 5:30. Then work until dinner at 10. So we're always pretty busy. 

No one told me it would be freezing here so all I had was a tiny jacket. Every time I stepped outside this week I felt like I was dying. And we were outside a lot. Also I didn't know what food to buy so I've been living off of cereal and ham. But we went shopping today and I have everything I need. 

We had church yesterday and I was able to meet everyone in the branch. Lorca branch is great. They're all cool--there's a good mix of ages. There's a couple Africans who speak English so that's fun.  It was fast and testimony meeting and for some reason everyone goes up in pairs. I sat by my African friend Tuga and he taught me some African words. We had some lunch at a members house after, her name is Rosa, and her husband. Then we had some snacks at an older member's house later. The Spanish people don't eat. They just watch you eat. Idk why. But it didn't stop me. BTW, the past week at this point has only been in Spanish. 

And now it is pday. We bought things, ate hot dogs and played ping pong. So the past week has been strange. From normal MTC with my friends to small city where everyone speaks Spanish. But it's awesome. I try my best to speak Spanish and people look at me weird and I Iaugh. This next week should be a little more manageable. 

PS. You have to send packages through private companies like FedEx or UPS or it won't work. My address is Parroco Llamas N6 2-B | Lorca 30800. 

Elder Palazzo

Final MTC moment

Bus boys