Spain letter 3/30/11

Whew, what a week! I love it here in Spain and I know that this is the mission for me!  To update you on the American vs Italy soccer match, we won. 5-4 I scored two goals.  I love the Itailianos here and it is so fun to learn not only Spanish, but I'm starting to pick up on Italian! Man, Europe has it right with the languages! Everyone here speaks a least 2 languages, and the people that only speak 2 are embarrassed about that because most people speak 3-4!  But back to soccer! We play every day and it is just so much fun! The Italians are really good so its lots of fun to play with them.  Yesterday while we played an Anziano(Elder in Italian) and I kicked each others feet and I could feel my toe nail peeling back.  Needless to say my entire toenail on my big toe is completely black and purple.  It's funny though, because it reminds me of dad.  As a kid, I always remember dad having nasty purple-ish big toe toenails. ;p hehe

This past Saturday we went out to a huge park and started preaching the Gospel! It was so cool to actually be doing missionary work!  But I can sum up my experience in the worlds of D & C 84:70 "And the dumb shall speak"  Now when it says dumb, in my case it means the same meaning as a 10 year old would use.  Boy did I feel dumb.  I could easily introduce us, but then, they would ask a question or say something and I'm sure I looked like a dear in headlights!  That actually only happened 3 times because only 3 people talked to us.  the rest of them said "no tengo tiempo" (I don't have the time) or something similar. One guy told us he was sick of talking to Mormónes, and he seemed pretty ticked off so we left him alone.  But still, 3 people talked to us! it was the coolest thing ever! We spent an hour at the park preaching and talking and we had 26 contacts.  They say that for every door knocked on in Europe, there is a baptism in South America.  That might be true, so that means that I'm gonna be knocking on doors till me knuckles bleed so missionaries in S.American can get those baptisms! I gotta help somehow!

Very few people listen to us.  It's pretty sad, but Spain is a pretty depressed country.  There is a 24% unemployment rate and everything is so expensive! The motto of the CCM here in Madrid is "Tenga Fe" Have faith.  And I think that speaks for itself on how successful we have been here. But the work is going on! Because of me at least 3 people already have sort of  heard about the Gospel (In broken Spanish obviously). It is such a cool feeling!  I love the opportunity to serve and I have learned so much!

The CCM president is the coolest ever.  He knows pretty much everything and before he was here he was a judge and was making some serious bank.  He didn't tell us, but we can tell.  It was kinda funny, on my first interview with him, he asked me, "So, Elder hunt, do you have a girlfriend back home?" I said no kinda proudly, because at the MTC in Provo they said the missionaries with girlfriends back home have a harder time focusing. Then he looked shocked and said "Well why not?!" I really didn't know how to answer him.  I think I said something along the lines of, "uh..." He is a great president though.  He stresses marriage all the time in all of his lessons.  But he is great and I have learned so much from him.  He is a die-hard BYU fan and he said he hasn't missed a football game since 1978. My hero.  Oh, he also asked me what I was involved in at BYU and I told him that I tried out folk dance and he said he has a niece in it as well. He asked if I wanted to get back into it when I get back and I said, I did.  He then said, oh good, you'll find your wife there. whoa....I'm scared to get back now.

I would like to testify that God knows us on such a personal level.  He knows our wants and needs and does his best to make life good.  On Sunday, while we ate lunch, President Earl walked up to our table and said, we don't have anything until 3 o clock (it was 12) and so you can go and take a nap if you want. My eyes widened and I think I dropped my fork. God knows me and sent me to Spain so I could take naps on Sunday! Oh the church is so true!  This place is the best! We even get snack time!  The food has been a challenge because it is a lot of fish.  I seriously pray that i will have the capacity to eat the food in front of me.  Also, the lunch ladies glare at you if you don't eat their food. Oh! the Fanta here is sooooo good! its just like the kind they had in Germany! the America junk is garbage, but here, oh it is amazing!

Today for Pday I think I'm gonna check out the sites Madrid has to offer. And there is a store that sells cheap indoor soccer shoes, so I might have to invest in a pair of those bad boys.

The CCM here is located on the temple grounds and it is cool to see everyday! Everywhere in Madrid is covered in graffiti.  Everywhere except the temple grounds.  The Lord truly does take care of his house and it is a shining beacon in a dark city.  The CCM is right next to the temple and so I really do live next door to God.  It is such a blessing.  This morning, we got to do a session and it was incredible!

Well I loved hearing from you all and maybe later today I will be able to send some pictures, I don't have many, but I have one of me in front of the Madrid Temple. Oh, and hopefully I'll be able to find a stinkin transformer or whatever so I can plug my razor in!

Oh yes, and I will only be here for 3 more weeks.  They usually just have us spend 8 weeks instead of 9.

Next week the Italians leave and we get some French, yea, not too excited about the French coming.  But I'm praying for charity.

I love you soooooo much and think about you often! I appreciate your prayers and support! I love you!

Jason

P.S. I had my first WAY out there food...we had horse burgers...
only...we didn´t find out till the next day...and not gonna lie...they weren´t too bad

**Jason also sent us a few pictures!! (Though he did not include captions, so I can’t really tell you where he is in each one…) Enjoy!**