Loved Ones in Utah:
Things have been going really great this week. I have been writing down a list of things to say so I guess I will get started. Haha. I feel like there is so much I could tell you. But I don´t have too much time. So I will try and keep it short. I am proud of Spencer for graduating seminary and school. Now he just needs to get his papers in. I want him gone ASAP. Not that my opinion means anything with this, but I am rooting for him to leave as soon as possible. With or without the money!! I want a video of him opening his call. PLEASE don´t forget to send me that. That is how I want to find out where he is going.
First off, I wanted to tell you a little about the beautiful city I live in. I really really love it. Some parts are a little gross, but I absoltely adore Jerez. It´s been really cold this week. It seriously came out of nowhere, but I have enjoyed it. It´s like God gave me a little break. And now the heat is about to rage down hard. But with my little fan in hand, I can brave the storm. Everyone has a moped here. And a dog. There are seriously so many scooters. The mailmen have scooters. The policeman have scooters. The pizza delivery guys have scooters. I just wish the missionaries had scooters. But we can´t. Obviously. It makes me miss Bianca a tad. But not that much. And there are SO many trees here. A lot of citrus trees. So there are oranges and lemons all over the ground. But apparently you can´t eat them. Which is a little unfortunate but that´s alright. I have taken lots of pictures of Jerez. I love it here. It is just like the European place I have always wanted to visit. Sometimes we´ll be walking home at night and I will look up at the castle and the old churches and the courtyards and huge trees and shops and statues and fountains and just kind of laugh to myself. It´s weird to be in such a cool place. I don´t feel like this is my home. But it is!!
And one bad thing about serving a mission in Europe is the clothing. I had made some considerable progress with giving up my incredible...appreciation of clothing. But that went out the window here in Spain. It´s hard to pass by the shop windows and not stare at the clothing. The clothes are cheap here, and so awesome. They have these huge sales called rebajas, and lots of elders have told me that they leave everything here when they go home and come home with a new wardrobe of clothes they have purchased throughout the two years on P days. I wish I had more money. If you guys could let me know how much I have in my account (minus the three thousand dollars that is for my mission) I would appreciate it.
Next thing is my twitch. I don´t know what is going on with me, but in the past few days my flipping left eye has developed a twitch. I don´t know why. I think wearing my glasses helps a little bit. But it stinks. Investigators won´t take me seriously if I am trying to bear heartfelt testimony and my eye keeps twitching like I´m on drugs or something. It´s distracting. It is the top part of my left eye. Like the eyelid or something. So weird. I can´t stand it. Hahaha. It sounds so ridiculous I know. But mom I would love it if you looked up something about eye twitches. Maybe I can cure it with essential oils ;)
We have some weird investigators right now. Only two are literally crazy though. One is Maria, and she thinks I am God´s gift to mankind. She´s an old lady and she constantly will interrupt the lesson and tell Elder Pardo how much better I am than he is. Cause I really "listen and understand". Mostly I just look at her and nod cause I have no idea what she is saying. She thinks my hair is red. Which is weird. She has almost hit elder pardo a few times. I feel bad for the guy. But I think she´s hilarious.
The other is Manuel. And he´s so sweet. But literally crazy. We will show up to our meetings twenty minutes early sometimes, and he will be there waiting for us outside his house on the street. He once told us that Moses learned karate in the temple like Hercules and other warriors. Hahaha. I tried SO hard not to laugh. He doesn´t really understand what we teach him, but he wants to change his life so we are taking it slow. One point of the lesson each visit. He always hits himself and claps his hands really loud. It´s a little scary. He does drugs, but he seems to be quitting. He tries to anyway.
We have some other investigators. Three in particular that are progressing. They came to church with us this week. I will try to explain more about them later on.
I teach some african american recent converts. They speak english, or the african version of english. It is harder for me to understand them then the Spanish people!! But I love them so much. Peter and Abu. They have such big hearts and are so humble and close to the Lord. I am starting to love my mission. I just get to meet so many of God´s children and feel their Spirit. Everyone has different beliefs, but I just love hearing people talk about what God means to them.
Something people like to do here is raise pigeons. Which is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. I laughed when a member told me about it, but I quickly realized he was serious and I felt stupid. There are pigeons everywhere, and everybody is trying to raise the perfect pigeon. What that means I don´t know. They all look the same to me. I guess I just don´t have the eye for truly superb pigeons. Some people have peacocks for pets. We will be walking by a house and see a peacock in the front yard, just strutting around. Kinda cool.
Missionaries here play a game. We try to kick pieces of garbage through each others legs to score a goal. I am getting pretty good at it. And at soccer. It used to be the worst time of the week for me, when I would go out and play soccer with a bunch of spaniards and look like the biggest fool ever. But I found my nitch, and I am a good defender. So it isn´t so bad anymore. Which is good.
To make things a bit more serious, one things that truly makes me sad is some people here. I am starting to truly love our investigators. And a lot of the people. It breaks my heart when people will walk by us and then do a double take, and keep walking on as they shake their heads in disgust. Everyone looks at us as we walk by. I am used to turning heads by now. But sometimes people will look at us with the biggest loathing. Like we are just trash and they hate what we do. And it makes me sad. I think about missionaries in Utah and they way they are treated. Like heroes. They never pay for a meal and everyone loves them. People shout and smile when they see them riding their bikes. It is so the opposite here. People mock us and spit at us. They yell at us to ¨go get a real job¨ and insult us. Lots of people will pretend like they´re going to hit us with their car and then swerve away at the last second, and kids do the same thing with their bikes. Apparently people swear at us a lot, but I just have to take Elder Pardo´s word for that. Cause I don´t know any spanish swear words. I think about the different experiences that missionaries can have. And I am grateful for mine. I get to feel a small small small piece of what the Savior may have felt as he was spit upon and mocked as he accomplished the greatest act in the history of mankind. It breaks my heart to see the looks of disgust on people´s face as they see us when in reality we are trying to save them. We love them, and we only want to help them. I have experienced a small part of the emotion that the Savior did when the people he loved rejected him and mocked him as he saved the entire world. That must have been so heartbreaking. There is no way that a mortal could endure that much emotional pain. Jesus literally died of a broken heart, I think. Someone said that once. And I agree.
I don´t have much time. There is so much more to tell you. I will have to wait though. I would love a small white tape measurer, like the one we have at home. It rolls up and stuff. I would also love taco seasoning. And a recipe for how to make refried beans like grammie does. And whatever else you feel inspired to send me. I am so so grateful. I love you so much. My real address is Plaza de la Serrana N 5, 1B Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz, Espana.
Mom, could you print off all of my emails and keep them in a binder or something?? I write in my journal every night but I would really love to keep my weekly emails home when I get home. Anyway.
I love you all so much
Elder Sharp
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