read this 16 June 2010

Wow, there are a lot of things going on over there. Sometimes i forget that while i am here you are all still living your lives. I have a feeling i will hit a greater culture shock getting home then when i got here.

Justin, congratulations on ending your life. Farewell my friend. You will be missed.

Bozzy too, huh? Hmm. Well, maybe Jason and I can share friends for a while until i find new ones cuz the currents are dropping like flies.

Elder Jackson is gone. This was my first experience with a dying missionary. Wierd. I have always had really young companions, and i just got another one so i think i got my first and last taste of that. Well, that is, until the first hand experience, Dah!

Subject change.

Nothing is coming to mind.

Dang. I will just keep going with this i guess. His last pday was fun. We went and catered for the Hermana party. Not sure how we got pulled into that, but I just followed my comp and there we were. All the hermanas in the mission and us serving them cake. It was wierd. I realized somthing while i stood afar off and stared. They are all really old. Like, all of them are older than me. Even the new ones. And of course, as this thought came fluttering through my mind it immediately slipped straight down and out of my mouth. That didnt help the case. I got reprimanded by some, others took it better. I think the ones who took it better were probably staring right back thinking how young i was, but thanks to their filter had no problemas. After that we went on over to the main event which was a big combined meal with a ton of missionaries, members, and investigators from the area that Elder Jackson spent a year in. An appropriate desire. Plus, they served us Ceviche. Amazing. I love mooching off of other missionaries connections.

As for the other areas that i have gotten to serve in, i will give you a simple run down.

Azuqueca. A little town that has one of the strongest wards in spain. Apparently a ton of spanish members a long time ago got up and moved to the same street in the same town because they were all super BFF's. I felt like i was in utah. People kept honking at us, giving us rides, feeding us. Wow. I forgot my camera there.

Torrejon. A significantly bigger town which was actually the beginnings of the church in spain becasue of the air base. Highlights: Serving with Elder Gomez from Guatemala- it was cool since Missy and Brad both lived there so we had an awesome connection (honestly, i am not even sure they went there or what happened, but faked my way through that pretty well. It has been so long i cant ever remember. I think that is actually the greatest skill i have gained on the mission, the ability to talk about any subject for at least 5 minutes and sound like a know what i am talking about.) Plus, we taught an 70 year old cuban man with a baptismal date. That was a treat. He invited me to the party he will be holding in the autumn to celebrate the 3 year anniversary of the death of castro. I accepted. I forgot my hymn book there.

Barrio 2 (ventas). Assistants area. Golden. Huge streets, full of people. Humble as can be. Every missionaries dream.

So far the running surprise i have received in the feedback of the exchange has been the energy. Kind of a hyper missionary movement going on. We will see what kind of impact it will have. Im not too good at the other stuff, so i dont worry about it, i just try to always share two of my favorite things, energy and uniqueness. Sometimes it is received well... The assistant i went on exchanges with wrote down on the exchange paper thingy, "you definitely have your own style of doing things..." Not sure how to take that. Dont really care.

Hmm I just reread the paragraph and it could me taken in many different ways. Hah, interperet as you may.

My new companions name is Elder Middleton. Sandy utah. Year in the mission. Pure blooded pueblo punk. There is excitement in the air.

Sorry, gotta run.

Elder Carr-emelito

184, im nothing!