I was cracking up at his letter too :) Hahaha. His comp sounds absolutely hysterical. Mamma wolf. I think they will get along swimmingly. So Spencer was whitewashed his first area. That is really hard. But obviously President Hall knows that Spencer can handle whatever the Lord needs him to.
My week was good. Just chuggin´along over here in Almería. We are still looking for people to teach that will actually progress. We just have tons of people that aren´t married right now. The most frustrating thing in the world because it takes so long for people to get married here. And no one has a dime to their name, so that is even less motivation to begin the process. But we go on. :)
This week was actually super long. The longest week of my mission. It was jam-packed with tons of different stuff. I wish I had time to be more descriptive about everything, but I really don´t have a ton. What´s new?
Last P-day we hung out as a district. I really really love our district. Chapple is great. He´s a really interesting person, but we get along really well and I like him a lot. The other two elders are Bastien and Bird. Both live in Utah right now. I love both of them. Bird was the star quarterback and point guard in high school, and is super athletic. He´s 6´6. He grew up inactive his whole life, but started coming to church about a year ago. His future wife helped him decide to go on a mission. He really is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. And Bastien is a lot like me. He is one of the few elders that I have met that I would actually want to become close friends with after the mission. (I have loved all of my companions, especially Lish and Erickson. But I just couldn´t see myself being super close with them after the mission). We just get along really well. We´re a lot alike. He is my DL and has been in the mission six weeks longer than I have. He lives in Saratoga Springs. Well, his family does. The Hermanas are Clark and Crockett. Clark is super super cool. She reminds me A TON of Aunt Amy, so I love having her in my district. She is 22 and kind of a free spirit. She´s funny. And then Crockett is a byu grad with a bachelor´s degree. She´s almost 24. She is nice. It´s a good district. On Monday we went to a large statue of the Savior that is here in Almeria next to the castle. It was cool. I have some cool pictures. Almería really is beautiful in some parts. I get the best sunrises every morning. Unfortunately they can´t quite be captured fully with the camera that I have. (Haven´t lost my camera...that is a record for me I think).
Tuesday...can´t remember what we did. It was a routine day I think.
Wednesday- we were invited to an evangelical church by some guy in the gypsyville on Tuesday, and we went. He said we could teach him if we did. So I went to an evangelical church with my companion. It was...odd. An old building in the middle of Los Alhemendros, which is a neighborhood filled with gitanos, or gypsies. We went in an it was very dark. There was a preacher up front with a mike that was chanting and singing, along with a rock band up front on the stage thing. There were loud speakers on the wall, and it was insanely loud in there. My head hurt. We walk in, wearing full missionary get-up of course, (no one was dressed up in this building), and every single head turned and just stared right at us. There were old benches set up in the middle of the room, and they were packed full of people. They looked at us like we were insects or something :) But we walked on in with our friend and sat down on a bench. The pastors rushed on over and greeted us. I didn´t feel an evil spirit or anything like that. I didn´t feel anything, actually. No peace, no light, just...nothing. Kind of numb. It was loud, hot, and people were chanting and wailing and singing along to the blasting music. At one point the pastor called up all those who desired to be clean of their sins to come forward, so a bunch of people got up and formed a line in front of the stage. And then the pastor and his sidekick went over and placed their hands over the ears of the forgiveness-seeking people, and started chanting and singing, swaying from side to side. Sometime they would whisper in the ears of these people. This was happening all while everyone was chanting and singing and the band was playing and it was all super dark. I only felt uncomfortable when they pastors put their hands on the people. That made me feel...wrong. The people would sit their and stare at the pastor chant and sing, and then they would put their hands in the air (while the pastor´s hands were on their head) and just start chanting and swaying around in a circle. Like a weird ritualistic dance or something. It was strange. That went on for about an hour. I was really bored. There was no word of God or anything. Just music saying the same things over and over again. And weird moaning and chanting. Very irreverent too. People (including teenagers and adults) would climb all over the benches and change seats and everything. It finally ended and we left and waited outside the building as everyone came out and shook our hands. They were super nice to us. It was kind of cool :) Usually people aren´t. A lot of them had a lot of questions for us. The pastors came out and asked us some stuff too. I think we intimidated them. But the whole crowd of people had gathered outside and were really interested in us. They kept looking at us and they were all whispering and stuff. We left, but came back to that neighborhood a few days later and everyone knew us. And they would listen to us and everything. We are going to keep going back. I think there is a lot of promise there. But I definitely know that our church is true. There was no Spirit testifying of truth in that church.
Thursday- in Granada with president deere for a training. Really awesome in Granada. It was cold there. Yes. I said cold. I was in Heaven. It was like Utah in September. I absolutely loved it. I missed it. Such a blessing. I won´t ever get to serve in Granada because usually one doesn´t serve in the same zone twice, but I do appreciate the chances I have to go there.
We also set a baptismal date for Juan that day. 24th. Fingers crossed.
Friday- really sweet day. No time to explain. Miracles all day.
Saturday- average.
Sunday- stake conference in Granada. loved it. I saw my first DL Elder Hooper. I missed him a lot. He goes home soon.
Anyway. I am out of time. But things are going well. I am doing good. Just pressing forward steadfastly. In 16 months from today, I will either be on a plane or I will be with my parents!! Isn´t that insane? I don´t feel like I have been gone for that long. But I am glad I still have a lot of time. I need it ;)
Could you send me some recipes? Stuffed mushrooms from Grammie and green bean casserole, try to keep in mind that I cannot get any american products here. The only green beans they have are fresh. I am making my own thanksgiving dinner. Cause I was homesick on Halloween and I know thanksgiving will be worse.
Love you all. Sorry I just ran out of time today.
elder sharp
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