Train Ride to Málaga

We are leaving tomorrow morning at 6 am to take a bullet train down to Málaga and it should take us about 4 and a half hours.  President Earl (CCM president) has been in close contact with President Clegg (my mission president) and he has discussed to him about each of us going down to Málaga.  My group, 8 of us, is the largest group they´ve had in a long time so Pres Clegg is excited to get us and he´s already picked out first areas and trainers for us.  I can´t wait to find out where my first area will be! I want to go to Ciudad Real (Royal city) because that is where all the windmills are.  And frankly, that´s the only thing I really want to see while in Spain! But I´ll take what I get! I am just soooo excited!

This past week was Semana Santa because of Easter and I have learned a ton about the Catholic Church. It´s kinda like general Conference because the "Area Authorities" the local Cardinals speak and then the Pope speaks from the Vatican and his message this year was about how Western Christians have forgotten how to be Christian. We didn´t watch it or anything, but some of the CCM workers did and they told us about it.  But I´m very excited to be here to teach people exactly what it means!  I learn lots of interesting things everyday!

Easter Sunday was excellent. It was very spiritual and President Earl did a devotional on Temples and wow, I learned a ton! I can´t wait to get back and share the cool things I´ve learned about it!  We also watched the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie but the church made an "investigator" version of it and so we watched that and we think we´ll be able to use it out in the field. It is such a great movie

This past Saturday at the park was very slow because it was one) Saturday morning and Real Madrid had just beaten Barcelona for the King´s Cup Friday night and everyone was up till about 4am partying and two) it was rainy and muddy.  We talked to a Jewish couple from Israel, why they were vacationing in Spain during Holy week I´m not sure, but we talked to them anyway. They said Easter really wasn't´t their thing and they took off.  But the park was slow and after we finished our time there, we were allowed to take some pictures before we left. So those are of the "Parque Retiro." At the end we always sing 4 or 5 hymns and then talk to the people who´s attention we get. But that picture of me is when it was my turn to conduct the hymns.

I don´t know really what else to say.  I cut off those two pounds and now I´m at a flat 160, which I don´t think is enough to keep me alive through a Málagan Summer.  In Seville, they say it gets up to 100´s plus Humidity, so I´ll probably sweat all the nutella weight off! but bring it on! I can take it!

We had exiting interviews with President Earl and He is such an amazing man. I´ve learned so much from him and I´m sad that he isn´t my mission president.  But I am so glad to have had the chance to learn from him. He is the greatest, he was a judge and a lawyer, and is super influential in the BYU community.  He also told me that if I ever wanted a good reference for a job or grad school he would be more than happy to do one for me.

One of my favorite things about being in Spain is playing soccer with the kids in the community.  It is a blast! I love soccer and I love those kids! It is so much fun, and I really feel like a missionary when were out making friends with kids in the community and playing soccer with them! It´s a blast, I´ll send a picture later of the ENTIRE CCM after we played soccer. ALL of us.

I love and miss you!
Jason