Pues, este semana fue muy bien pero no hablo mucho español. Haha. Mi Compañero es de Cleveland, Ohio y él es muy grande también. Nosotros Ensenamos muchas lecciones este semana y hablado con muchas gente. Muchas de el tiempo yo no entiende mucho de las conversaciones pero yo puedo dar mi testimonio siempre. Mi compañero dijo que yo hablo muy bien pero... yo no sé. haha. Sin embargo, yo estoy muy agradecido por este oportunidad ensenar este idioma y muchas mas sobre este evangelio. No quiero hablar en español cualquier mas... así que yo hablaré en inglés ahora:)
Man... the first day I was in the mission field I probably looked like a deer in headlights. haha. After we dropped off my bags at our appartment we went and taught a couple lessions. Not much time to adjust I guess! My first area is in the South-West area in Madrid and the address is: C/ Julia Nebot 8, 1D 28025 Madrid Spain. You need to put a degrees symbol between the 1 and the D I just don´t know how to do that one the computer. It is in the area I am in is called Oporto and is kind of the ghetto of Madrid. haha. They probably sent the two biggest Elders here for that reason.
My Companion is from Cleveland, Ohio and has been out on his mission for a year and a half. He is super nice and has done an awesome job training me and helping me get used to the mission field. His spanish is great and I can lean on his as a cruch while I adjust to the language a bit more. He played high school football and went to BYU-I before his mission. He had no spanish experience before coming out and he is doing just fine so that is a little comforting to me. haha. Everyone tells me that somewhere around 6 months in the language just clicks and you start feeling comfortable speaking and understand mostly everything.
We had a very successful week we were able to receive two fechas de bautismal (baptismal dates) with two different investigators, receive 25 new numbers of people we talked to that were interested in learning more, and set 5 new appointments with new investigators. So we should be having two baptisms in June around the middle / end. We also have reveived at least one meal each day from an investigator as well! I have gotten to try some food from Ecuador, Perú, and Bolivia. They all pretty much consisted of flavorful meat beef or chicken and rice with some different types of sides to go along with them. It was pretty good! I have enjoyed I have eaten thus far more than the MTC food. To be honest the Spaniards are not really interested in talking to us but all of the south americans are super friendly and love talking to us.
My companion taught me the term "Snake" which is for a girl that sometimes doesn´t have good intentions in receiving lessons from missionaries. Apparently a couple of the families we were teaching he said that I need to watch out for because they were asking for my facebook and stuff. lol. But I really love all the people that we have been teaching, they are so nice and love having us over for lessons and feeding us. It was a little rough week because we didn't have much groceries for our new apartment, just some of the stuff my companion was able to pick up before he was partnered up with me on tuesday. We had just enough yogurts, bread, soup packets, and top ramen to last us till today. haha. Thank goodness our investigators were feeding us. I splurged today and stocked up my personal cabinet in our apartment.
It is just me and Elder Laubaugh in our entire apartment and it is a pretty nice pad. The studies are coming a lot better now that I have someone I can ask a lot of questions and quietly study outside of the mtc. It was sad saying goodbye to some of my mtc friends but I have moved on already. haha. I gave a quick testimony in spanish and introduced myself at our ward this sunday and that went pretty well. All the people I met seemed very friendly. My companion and I tower over everyone here and make quiet the scene walking up and down the streets. Everyone already watch the missionaries very closely and with us there is no hiding that we are there. haha.
I received one more letter from Rachel that was addressed to the mission office instead of the MTC but I got it month late because they only give us stuff from the mission office once a month. I am probably going to have to wait to receive my package that Mom and Dad sent because it hadn´t arrived to the office by the time I was at mission home. They said I will just get it next time around during a zone meeting.
We get a lot more time for email now that I am out in the mission field so that is a lot nicer. But I still enjoy tangible letters a lot more. :)
This week went well with the investigators we have and people we found to teach but there are still a lot of people that are rude. haha. On Friday we had one kid about our age call us not such a nice name in Spanish, a person drive past us and flip us off, and plenty of people patronize us as we walk past them on the streets. We don´t really pay too much attention to it though we just love the people even more and they are confused.
I have missed home a ton and it seems like its been ages since I left the MTC but I am doing well. I feel a little overwhelmed with the language sometimes but most of the time I am just focused on helping people out. I feel tired right after lunch everyday and technically we are allowed to take a nap if we have finished our studies and eating during Siesta or what they call in spain Medio Dia but I have yet to give in. We start an hour later each day and end an hour later each day in this mission as well which is nice. We do a TON of walking and riding the metro. Me and my companion have gone out running every other morning 2 miles and on the opposite day we do muscular workouts. I have had a cold that I have been fighting for like a month now and I think I am going to talk to the Sister Jackson about getting some antibiotics this week. I have had to take my allergy medication everyday as well because the pollen is a lot worse here than in Utah.
I am doing well though, I am happy and very focused. My companion told me he has never seen anyone study as much as me. Every time we sit down in the metro or waiting for a bus I pull out my dictionary and go through words or use the flashcards I have made. I really miss restaurant food though because everything has been homey type food or quick to fix type stuff in our Piso (apartment). Weird stuff they don´t have in spain: Deodorant, brown sugar, chocolate chips, cash-back, dryers, and modesty. Stuff spain has that ´merica needs: the metro, kebab, south american food, real fútbol, and the many different types of soda and drinks that they have here. Their Fanta here is about 10000x better here and they have some other awesome drinks. Also I never want to have to drive again. The south american food is great and kebab´s are this gyro type of food thing. Except Kebabs are strips of chicken or lamb and they are in a giant pida bread tortilla type thing with a bunch of tomato lettuce and this amazing kebab type spicy sauce. It is apparently a thing from Turkey that is all over the place in Spain.
Well that´s all for now...I think I covered everything from this first week. I love and miss you all!!
Elder Saltzman
Man... the first day I was in the mission field I probably looked like a deer in headlights. haha. After we dropped off my bags at our appartment we went and taught a couple lessions. Not much time to adjust I guess! My first area is in the South-West area in Madrid and the address is: C/ Julia Nebot 8, 1D 28025 Madrid Spain. You need to put a degrees symbol between the 1 and the D I just don´t know how to do that one the computer. It is in the area I am in is called Oporto and is kind of the ghetto of Madrid. haha. They probably sent the two biggest Elders here for that reason.
My Companion is from Cleveland, Ohio and has been out on his mission for a year and a half. He is super nice and has done an awesome job training me and helping me get used to the mission field. His spanish is great and I can lean on his as a cruch while I adjust to the language a bit more. He played high school football and went to BYU-I before his mission. He had no spanish experience before coming out and he is doing just fine so that is a little comforting to me. haha. Everyone tells me that somewhere around 6 months in the language just clicks and you start feeling comfortable speaking and understand mostly everything.
We had a very successful week we were able to receive two fechas de bautismal (baptismal dates) with two different investigators, receive 25 new numbers of people we talked to that were interested in learning more, and set 5 new appointments with new investigators. So we should be having two baptisms in June around the middle / end. We also have reveived at least one meal each day from an investigator as well! I have gotten to try some food from Ecuador, Perú, and Bolivia. They all pretty much consisted of flavorful meat beef or chicken and rice with some different types of sides to go along with them. It was pretty good! I have enjoyed I have eaten thus far more than the MTC food. To be honest the Spaniards are not really interested in talking to us but all of the south americans are super friendly and love talking to us.
My companion taught me the term "Snake" which is for a girl that sometimes doesn´t have good intentions in receiving lessons from missionaries. Apparently a couple of the families we were teaching he said that I need to watch out for because they were asking for my facebook and stuff. lol. But I really love all the people that we have been teaching, they are so nice and love having us over for lessons and feeding us. It was a little rough week because we didn't have much groceries for our new apartment, just some of the stuff my companion was able to pick up before he was partnered up with me on tuesday. We had just enough yogurts, bread, soup packets, and top ramen to last us till today. haha. Thank goodness our investigators were feeding us. I splurged today and stocked up my personal cabinet in our apartment.
It is just me and Elder Laubaugh in our entire apartment and it is a pretty nice pad. The studies are coming a lot better now that I have someone I can ask a lot of questions and quietly study outside of the mtc. It was sad saying goodbye to some of my mtc friends but I have moved on already. haha. I gave a quick testimony in spanish and introduced myself at our ward this sunday and that went pretty well. All the people I met seemed very friendly. My companion and I tower over everyone here and make quiet the scene walking up and down the streets. Everyone already watch the missionaries very closely and with us there is no hiding that we are there. haha.
I received one more letter from Rachel that was addressed to the mission office instead of the MTC but I got it month late because they only give us stuff from the mission office once a month. I am probably going to have to wait to receive my package that Mom and Dad sent because it hadn´t arrived to the office by the time I was at mission home. They said I will just get it next time around during a zone meeting.
We get a lot more time for email now that I am out in the mission field so that is a lot nicer. But I still enjoy tangible letters a lot more. :)
This week went well with the investigators we have and people we found to teach but there are still a lot of people that are rude. haha. On Friday we had one kid about our age call us not such a nice name in Spanish, a person drive past us and flip us off, and plenty of people patronize us as we walk past them on the streets. We don´t really pay too much attention to it though we just love the people even more and they are confused.
I have missed home a ton and it seems like its been ages since I left the MTC but I am doing well. I feel a little overwhelmed with the language sometimes but most of the time I am just focused on helping people out. I feel tired right after lunch everyday and technically we are allowed to take a nap if we have finished our studies and eating during Siesta or what they call in spain Medio Dia but I have yet to give in. We start an hour later each day and end an hour later each day in this mission as well which is nice. We do a TON of walking and riding the metro. Me and my companion have gone out running every other morning 2 miles and on the opposite day we do muscular workouts. I have had a cold that I have been fighting for like a month now and I think I am going to talk to the Sister Jackson about getting some antibiotics this week. I have had to take my allergy medication everyday as well because the pollen is a lot worse here than in Utah.
I am doing well though, I am happy and very focused. My companion told me he has never seen anyone study as much as me. Every time we sit down in the metro or waiting for a bus I pull out my dictionary and go through words or use the flashcards I have made. I really miss restaurant food though because everything has been homey type food or quick to fix type stuff in our Piso (apartment). Weird stuff they don´t have in spain: Deodorant, brown sugar, chocolate chips, cash-back, dryers, and modesty. Stuff spain has that ´merica needs: the metro, kebab, south american food, real fútbol, and the many different types of soda and drinks that they have here. Their Fanta here is about 10000x better here and they have some other awesome drinks. Also I never want to have to drive again. The south american food is great and kebab´s are this gyro type of food thing. Except Kebabs are strips of chicken or lamb and they are in a giant pida bread tortilla type thing with a bunch of tomato lettuce and this amazing kebab type spicy sauce. It is apparently a thing from Turkey that is all over the place in Spain.
Well that´s all for now...I think I covered everything from this first week. I love and miss you all!!
Elder Saltzman
