Week 3, Aug 28

Squid: How did the mouth-burning procedure go?

Emma: Thanks for the emails. Did Maren give you a proper tour of the Junior High school yet? And what do you think of all your teachers?

Maren: Tell me all about how you love Mr. Felt´s class.  Also, tell me all about high school.

Charles: Don’t get hurt on the zipline. But that sounds so awesome! Remember to help your dad on the deck now that I´m halfway across the world. And how is school going?

Mom: Yes, I love being called Elder, and it Is now a very endearing title. Although Spainards keep asking if my companion and I are brothers. What´s it like with NOBODY in the house?

Dad: I wish I packed stain spray and more soap. I´ll be fine though. All of the missionaries on my flight ended up at the Spain CCM, but some stayed only for two weeks – fluent French speakers. None of the missionaries here speak fluent Spanish, and to be honest but not to brag, me and my DL Elder Barlow speak the best Spanish of all the missionaries. Sometimes the teachers ask us to translate because now our Spanish is better than their English! My group of about 50 is all Americans learning Spanish. The first two weeks we had native Portugugeues, Native French, and Americans finishing learning Russian. These last two weeks we´ve had us, Fluent Russian speakers (From the U.S., Ukraine, Russia, and Germany) and another set of Americans learning Russian. Next week, the Fluent Russians will leave and we´ll get native Italians. There are 64 people here right now, with only 17 or so sisters… But according to the MTC Pres (Who is AWESOME) That will change come December, when there will be one 2 week period with 7 elders and 37 sisters. And yes, none of my devices require converters.

Thanks for writing! Getting a letter is awesome, let alone 4 in a 2 day span! It makes life a lot easier to have you guys write snail mail, so thanks.

Couple things I want to touch on:

My teachers here are aweome. They just like to talk to me in Spanish, now that I´m getting closer to my goal of functionality. They´re all way fun and come play soccer with us during PE.

The food here is… bearable, but very repetitive. And EVERYTHING is deep fried. I guess that´s their perception of America.

I´m still quite healthy.

I had a cool experience in the Park with a Russian kid. He didn´t speak any English or Spanish, and we were companions. He said a powerful prayer to start us off, which I didn´t understand. But HOLY COW. He called down the powers of heaven. We led the zone with 8 LdMs given away and 4 referalls – all in an hour and a half! He was great, and kept asking for help translating from his broken English to even more broken Spanish. We had a great day, and I´m sure it was his humble prayer that gave me the courage to talk to everyone I met and gave him the spirit to guide us to our destination – no joke, he just walked in random directions and seemed to run right into people who wanted to hear the gospel. It was such a beautiful experience.

Ok, gotta go.

Elder Weight, Stewart, Elder Bates

Week 2, Aug 14

Helloooooo from the Madrid Spain CCM. I am doing fantastic and I can feel all of your prayers enccouraging me on. I think the best way to explain the CCM is through a schedule. Here goes - I have very little time.

 

6:30: We get up. It´s not hard, because the schedule provides for lots more sleep than D.C. Howefver, some guys have trouble. I always start with a prayer and then shower and get dressed and stuff. (Note to Mom; I am cleaning my face and it is just fine. I use all the goos and washcloths. Note to Dad: My feet are also fine. No wierd smells or growths) My room consists of six elders:

 

Elder Stew: An awesome guy that everyone should know.

 

Elder Ganowsky: Originally from St. George UT, my companion. Headed to Barcelona. A great guy with a powerful testimony and a great laugh. He played football and sang choir in high school, and is everything that is good about a companion - friendly but not overberaring, kind, stays with me per the rules, and asks that I stay with him. Other companionships have had a lot of trouble staying together para siempre, but not us! We work well together. He has some struggles with Spanish but works hard all day. Great guy.

 

Elder Stockwell: Originally from 30m outside of Boise (Small nowhere town in Idaho), not a farmer. Pretty darn cynical, but fun to talk to and loves to read the scriptures in spanish with me. Note: He is not a farmer. He is a history/politics nerd. Headed to Malaga.

 

Elder Shields: From Washington State, headed to Malaga. Works hard. Super tall and flaco, Elder Stockwell´s companion, and fun to be around.

 

Elder Barlow: Amulek District´s Leader.  (We are Amulek District). He´s the guy I knew at STerling Scholar, headed to Madrid. Knows his scriptures and his spanish well, which makes him great to study with.

 

Elder Lelegren: From Alta, UT, headed to Malaga. Has a special testimony. Very spiritual.

 

7:30: Breakfast - Not bad. They have random Spanish or American breakfasts with juice and frosted flakes. Always LOTS of fresh fruit and yogurt, but they feed us a lot of food.

 

8:00: School: "Estudiamos para Manuel" - A saying that I made up and kinda stuck. It means we study for the needs of the investigator and not for ourselves. The Mission President taught that if we forget ourselves, the Lord will remember us - great promise I want to have. So we study Spanish and the scriptures and PMG so that we can teach lessons - not just for the sake of learning. AND IT IS SO MUCH FUN! I learn a lot every day, and then I teach my investigators (Teachers acting). Juana is my apathetic investigator who is only there to please her friend. She smokes during our lessons and makes life difficult. But, last lesson, we broke through by befriending her, showing her pictures of our families, and by inviting her to service. This investigator is modeled after our teacher´s friend in real life, and the spirit was so strong that the teacher stopped acting to tell us how well we did (against the rules) and to call her friend RIGHT THEN. Great experience. David, my other investigator, has trouble with his wife and thinks the gospel will help. He eats up everything we tell him, he loves the B.O.M. and is committed to be baptised. WHOOHOO!

 

1:00 Lunch

 

1:30 More Classes.

 

5:00 Physical activity. I always choose soccer with the spanish teachers who are really good, and I get my body moving and blood pumping. Super fun, we just play in a hard court 2 minutes away by run. It looks like a colusseum... I´ll send a picture next week.

 

6:30 Dinner

 

7:00 More Classes

 

10:30 Lights out.

 

Alright, they´re getting mad at me for taking too long..... Suffice it to say we are in a school of the gospel in Spanish, where althougth it is  hard EVERYONE wants to be there. Think of the opposite of Seminary :) I love you all, Adios!!!

 

Elder Stewart Glen Maxfield

Week 1, Aug 5

 I´ve only got a sec, I´ll fill you in on the rest of my journey when I´ve got time to write.

Charles De Gaulle is a mess. I hate that airport.

French people are were LOTS more friendly to me than to my travelling buddies. They grinned when I came up and stumbled through "Je ne parle pas français" "Alright, English will do."  

I sent you guys (and Jamo) a postcard. I mailed it with French stamps from the airport, but I havve no idea when it will get to Salt Lake. 

I made several new friends. I did what Mom said and tried to find people who were having trouble adjusting. Elder Tree, from Missoula MT - we hung out a lot waiting for our flight in Salt Lake. I grabbed a Cafe Rio burrito as a last meal. It´s the only real thing I´ve eaten in the past 17 hours. I also met Elder Bart(holomew). What a stud. We kinda became impromptu companions, keeping track of each other and making sure everyone got to where they´re supposed to go. He´s  not in my room (six elders per) so I doubt we´ll be MTC (CCM) companions.  

My 4 years of Spanish paid off. I am quite proud to say that I pretty much led our group of 25 elders and 3 sisters through the Madrid airport to where the CCM guys were waiting for us. I then was able to converse with them, cause neither guy sent to pick us up spoke English. What an adventure! 

The feeling that I felt when we started desceding into Madrid was . . . indescribable. I felt so excited, and I knew exactly what to do and where to go. I burst into Spanish, and started talking to everyone I could. I think the other elders might think I´m showing off, because, for some reason, I keep talking in Spanish, like I can´t even stop myself. ¿Adonde Vamos? ¿Porque estamos aqui? Los hermanas esta alla. ¡Elderes! ¡Estamos en Madrid! That feeling has continued now that I´m sitting in the CCM. I know for a FACT that this is where I am supposed to be and what I am supposed to be doing. 

My P-day is on Thursday, but tomorrow will not be a P-day. I will be waiting to write until NEXT Thursday.
I love you.
Elder Maxfield.

P.S. Dad, I loved your letter and the candy bars.