Week 53 & 54: Sevilla Southeast, Cordoba District

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Monday- we played tennis in the morning with the district president and his family and it was way way fun! Also a little basketball. Later, we visited the Padraja family, and they gave me a cool present. In Uruguay (also chile, Argentina, and Paraguay) they drink this herbal drink called mate (mahtey)  and it requires this special cup made from dry pumpkin and leather. They gave me a cool mate cup all decorated with the flag of Uruguay. Later we said by to the district president and his family and it was way sad and I'll miss them a ton. Then we said goodbye to president Carlos and his wife. Then we went and  said goodbye and taught Jenny Yeranny and Valentin and Yeranny has decided to be baptized on Septmeber 10 so that's awesome!!! It was a sad day full of goodbyes and I'll miss ciudad real a ton.


Tuesday- we basically packed and cleaned all morning. Then we met with Jose from English class to say goodbye and he did a little magic show for us and it was sweet. Then we went and picked up the new missionaries who will be in ciudad real, we went and ate with Kriss, and her friends Ana and Jose, and it was also sad to say goodbye to them. It was the last goodbye though which is good because saying goodbye is hard to people you've been with so long and you've come to love like a family. That's what the branch of ciudad real has become for me.

Wednesday- we left in the morning and showed the new elders in ciudad real around the city a bit. Then our district president drove us to the train station and me and elder Esparza went to Sevilla. We arrived and Esparza got in his next train for his new area and I got to see my new companion, Elder Reseigh from Boise Idaho! I'm so lucky to have him as a companion, he's a hard worker, he's a great missionary, he's really humble and relaxed, and I'm super happy to be with him. We basically just helped other missionaries arriving to the zone get off the their respective areas. Then we went and did some contacting that night. I love my area so much! A good part of Our area is the absolute ghetto of Sevilla, it's so cool. It includes one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in all of Spain called "Tres Míl Viviendas" (three thousand shelters). I'm being serious when I say I love it, we actually go to that neighborhood a lot, but the people there don't bother the missionaries, they know them at this point and know we aren't here for any purpose other than be missionaries. But it's interesting, not even the police go to that area because because they just don't, so apparently they're quite surprised that 2 "Gringos" in white shirts and ties enter there frequently. Anyway, it's fun to be in the ghetto of Sevilla.

Thursday- weekly planning in the morning. It took really long because it's a big area and a big city and quite overwhelming for me and my custom to the small quiet city of ciudad real. That night we went out with a member named Antonio to visit some people and we were able to meet with a recent convert, Gabriela from Bolivia. Also talked with some great people in the street and man is this Sevilla accent crazy! Let me explain this Spanish accent thing. Cadiz, it was like they weren't even speaking Spanish, just slurring lots of sounds together, ciudad real they speak well, and Sevilla is just unique because any word with "st" in it they say "ts" so my name is elder "Irts."

Friday- we had our first district meeting and it was good. My district is big, it includes us and the 4 hermanas in the Sevilla 2nd Ward and the elders and hermanas and a couple missionary in Córdoba. We then ate at an authentic Bolivian food restaurant and it was great! That evening we went to Tres Míl and i was pretty blown away by how humble those circumstances are. We visited a recent convert there named Morrison and his two friends that have now moved in and they are all from Nigeria. Morrison is doing great, his only difficulty is thelanguage barrier, he doesn't speak Spanish. We want to try and help him learn. Also, they speak Pigeon English in Nigeria which is basically like a broken English so it was hard for me to understand him. Later we had a Ward family home evening and it was awesome because I got to meet many members of the Ward. They are all very nice people. Me and my companion taught the lesson and we played games and ate and it was fun

Saturday- we had our meeting with our Ward mission leader and it went well. Then we ate with our Bishop and his family who is from Peru. We ate some great Peruvian food. Also, the 10 year old daughter plays clarinet so when they found out I play it as well and have one with me in the mission they flipped out and want us to play in church and stuff so that's way awesome! Also, the Bishop works in construction and my companion worked in construction before his mission so we have lots of great things in common with this family! That evening we went and worked in a pretty part of our area called "cerro de águila" and it was fun, we talked with some great people and taught a lesson to a family from Ecuador on a bench outside their house.


Sunday- we had church in the morning. Not too many members came and we didn't have any investigators, but we had the recent convert Morrison. Me and elder Reseigh translated all the reunions because Morrison doesn't speak Spanish and it went well. Also another recent convert of just 2 weeks came, named Graci. She's from Venezuela. Anyway, church was good I got to meet a lot of great members. We have a good amount of YSA return missionaries in the Ward so that's cool. Then we ate lunch with the bishop's mother in law and sister and law and it was very good. Lots of Peruvians here in Sevilla, it's awesome. Then we basically did numbers the rest of the night.

Well it's awesome to be here in Sevilla with my companion elder Reseigh. I'm excited to work hard and learn tons of new things from him and from the people here. I'm already learning a ton with all that I'm doing here. I know that God knows us perfectly and that we need to trust in his plan always. One of my good friends in the mission sent me this quote that I like from David A. Bednar- Ordinary people who faithfully, diligently, and consistently do simple things that are right before God will bring forth extraordinary results." I know that's true. The gospel is simple and we just need to follow the basic principles and we will be able to achieve his plans that he has for us. Being a missionary is the best and I say it absolutely 100% truthfully!

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Monday- we had our p day and first had lots of little chores to do. Then we went to the central of Sevilla to hang out with some missionaries in all of Sevilla and see the famous Plaza de España (where Star Wars 2 was filmed) and we had a picnic with a bunch of missionaries and with a member and a recent convert. Also, a missionary who goes home from his mission next week lost his super nice camera so that was a bummer.  Then that evening we taught the recent convert, named Graci, who we had had a picnic with earlier that day. She's still doing way awesome. And we did some contacting and other stuff and we had a good evening. It was absolutely blazing hot
that day.

Tuesday- we a have a cool YSA activity coming up the 10th, and in preparation the YSA leader gave us the names of all the less active YSA in the ward so we could go by their houses and invite them so we spent the morning finding those people. We ended up finding one person so that's cool. We also talked with a lot of great people in the streets. That evening we also spent a lot of time doing that. Also did some of our home teaching lessons (we have lots of people home teach in the ward). Then we headed to the neighborhood Tres Míl and accidentally entered the area of Tres Míl where missionaries (or just outsiders in general) aren't supposed to go called "Las Vegas" and well A guy almost started a fight with us. He called us over, we went over (mistake), he started talking about the bible, we couldn't understand him because he was speaking very incoherently, and he just all the sudden got up and decided he wanted to pick a fight with both of us (put his fists up and everything). And he was a big gypsy dude and he had friends all around so it wasn't looking to bright for us. Luckily he let us go peacefully, but man was that a fun experience! We've decided that the inactive YSA members that live in "Las Vegas" will most likely be contacted over phone. Later we left tres míl because well, when it's night there, we basically might as well beg to be robbed or beat up for fun, and we came in contact with a less active YSA member and he let us go in and speak with him. He's 23 and Served a mission in Madrid for 4.5 months but had to go home because of medical issues. He quickly went inactive after but now has desires to come back. The only problem is his work schedule. But it was funny as we were leaving he asked where we had been earlier that day. We said "Las Vegas" and he looked at us with mouth wide open and told us "elders, if you don't want to die in your mission, don't ever go back there. Not even the Sevilla police enter there." So i think we've received enough warning and probably divine protection at this point so we're not going back to Las Vegas

Wednesday- we taught a person on the bench in the morning about the plan of salvation, and later a man in the street who was very interested in the Book of Mormon. That evening, we went to find more
people on the inactive YSA list and couldn't find anyone. We then entered another one of the more dangerous neighborhoods in Sevilla, Padre Pío, (the truth is, a very great portion of our areas are considered dangerous) and we did find an investigator there and we set up an appointment for another time. But then as we were knocking some doors, some people kindly warned us that we needed to get out of the neighborhood before the sun went down or we would surely be robbed and were surprised we were even there in the first place (I feel we're getting lots of divine protection this week). We decided to leave and went and taught a recent convert named Gabriela and she's doing well and she's awesome.

Thursday- weekly planning that morning. Then later we had a great lesson with a new investigator we had found in Tres míl. We had the same member who had been out with us like 4 times in the past week go with us, and His name is Antonio, he's the true MVP. We taught a lady from Paraguay and her son and had a great lesson about the restoration and they seem very Interested. Later, we had a family home evening with some members and the recent convert who was baptized before I got here, Graci, and we talked about the importance of the priesthood and church leaders. It also went fantastic.

Friday- that morning we had zone meeting and it went well. We went to Costco earlier to buy the pizza for the zone after. I bought a Spanish Costco card. Sevilla is the only place in Spain with a Costco, so going In was like arriving in the promised land. Peanutbutter, pancake mix, syrup, poptarts, all the things I never truly appreciated In the good old US of A. The problem is it is very expensive here. But totally worth it. That evening we worked in the absolute suffocating heat, but later we had stake choir practice. Stake conference is this week, and the Sevilla stake is gigantic and includes 3 provinces of Spain. The choir practice went well, I sang bass, and my companion sang tenor. Then we had a family home evening with a family in the ward and were sad because our investigator couldn't come, but it was good.

Saturday- we went to the wedding ceremony of two recent converts in the Sevilla stake who actually met each other in the church. The girl, we were the home teachers for, and it was a nice to see the wedding. We went to a cool pueblo for it called Alcalá which is very pretty. That evening we had stake priesthood meeting then the adult meeting for stake conference and that was the whole night. The Madrid Temple president came and spoke and gave an amazing talk.

Sunday- we had stake conference. We were expecting some investigators but nobody came. We called them later and they all were out too late last night so they were too tired to come. That evening we ate with a less active Ecuadorian family and it went well. The parents are doing very well in the church right now.

Also, forgot to mention a funny story from last Sunday. So we were on a bus on the way to the church and me and my companion always go sit by different people to contact them. My comp started talking to this awesome lady who was way receptive, and I sat next to this big dude. I asked him how he was in Spanish, and he ignored me, so I asked it in English. He looked at me and said "don't talk to me" and I said "I'm sorry I just like to talk to people who I sit next to" so he turns to me and says "shut up or I will punch you." So I decided to shut up because I didn't want to be punched. Man the mission is so fun, I seriously love every moment of it. You just never know what'll come next!

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