I didn’t forget the subject this time

Well hello everyone. This week has been pretty great, getting to know the area and people more here and it's pretty awesome. 

I actually got to meet the members here this sunday which was great. And we're going to meet with quite  few of them this week. 

We had two times this week where we were given a reference for someone to go teach. We put the address into maps and followed it, but we would get there and there wasn't an apartment number that matched. And to make it even better, it was raining both times so we walked way out in the rain together and just had a blast. Part of the problem is madrid is massive. And there are, to my knowledge, no smaller divisions for addresses. You just have the street and apartment. So it's a little bit of a mess. But it's been fun. 

We have weekly district meetings where a couple missionaries get together and have a meeting. This week we had to travel a little to get there and it was a little interesting. We started on the metro and barely made our train and were on the bus for a while and by the time we got there we were half an hour late. But we're figuring it out little by little. On that trip there was a variety of landscape. Like just open land for the first time in a while which was super different and little towns and the contrast is really cool. 

We had Chocolate and Churros for the first time today as a district and it's so good! We also ate some other Spanish food and I love it. I'm excited for the members who have invited us over for dinner. They come from so many countries so we'll have a mix of cultural foods.

Madrid is really a mixing pot too which is cool. You can just start talking to someone (which is sort of what we do as missionaries) and there are so many cool stories and backgrounds that people have. I love it and I get to practice Spanish everywhere and it helps a bunch. 

That's pretty much all the time I have but it has been really good so far. Starting to feel settled in and just learnin about life up in here.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love,

Elder Larchar

Video chat 11/18

With the time change it was difficult to coordinate when to visit. On this day, I was the only one who got to chat with Elder Larchar. Madrid is 6 hours ahead of us. Caleb caught me after my morning at the nursery school, and I went to stand outside of the Earlville Library (which was closed) to use WiFi. The library director was working and invited me in from the cold. (Thank you, Shari)

Caleb is enjoying Spain and his independence in a new country. He carried lots of groceries through many metro stops and a few blocks of walking (his arm strength workout for the day). He says it’s amazing how there are always things happening outside their apartment, and that it’s the smallest flat ever! Madrid reminds him a lot of Paris. 

He was complimented by trainers for his Spanish, and that was a boost for him. He finds it easier to understand Madrid citizens than church members. At church there is a variety of “Spanish” backgrounds, and in the city the language seems slower and more relaxed. His comprehension is greater than his vocalization, though, and he looks forward to being able to formulate sentences beyond the one sentence structure he has learned.

He’s cold, and needs to get shopping for a parka, hat and gloves. He’s confident as ever and loving what lies before him. Way to go, Elder! Keep up the good work!

Jenni

First days photos

Elder Larchar and Elder Hess

View from the apartment in Madrid

The Madrid Temple

View of Madrid

Finally in Spain

Alrighty, well we be in Spain finally and it's pretty great. Everything is in Spanish believe it or not which is different, but it's a bunch of fun. 

So I was supposed to leave on Tuesday morning right? Which would have left me with the full night to pack. Well, about that... My companions decided to ship me out Monday night. So I had a full 45 minutes to pack. But I made it and with most of my stuff. Actually all but my shampoo and soap which is pretty good for the given circumstances. 

I still flew out Tuesday morning, but I stayed the night closer to the airport. I flew all day and through the night event though that happened because of the time difference. But we got there at 8 in the morning and apparently we were early (didn't know flights worked like that🙄) so there was no one there to pick us up for an hour. But it was all good. I got to meet a bunch of other missionaries that came in with me. We spent the day in the old missionary training center right next to the temple. We had orientations and paperwork and got to go to a huge park together which was beautiful. We then had dinner and stayed at the mission home.

The next day was back to the grind and we had a bunch of instruction. But then we finally got to meet our new companions. They would come up and describe the area they would be taking their trainee to and then President announced who was going there. It was a fun way to do it and thankfully I was one of the first ones so I wasn't totally on the edge of my seat the whole time. But it was fun. 

I am with Elder Hess and we live in downtown Madrid like right in the center (just north of Sol) and it's a pretty exciting. Since we're so much in the city, we live in the smallest flat ever. But it's nice and cozy. We ride the metro at least 6 times a day and we've gotten lost a few times, but it just all good plus we get to see more that way. 

I'm still learning where everything is and it is so crazy how much is always happening right outside out apartment. But it keeps things interesting. We have met people from all over including some college students on exchange here from Syracuse University. 

But I'm still meeting the people in our church and they're awesome. Food is amazing and yeah. It's been great. We actually got to do some service this week too. We helped shut down a restaurant. They were closing and we pretty much just helped move stuff and fridges out.

That's pretty much it, but I can't wait to tell about this coming week. 

Until next time, 

Elder Larchar

We’re not in Kansas anymore

I made it. I met Elder Linerude in Atlanta and we flew out together. There were also a ton of other missionaries who hopped on to so now we're all waiting for someone to pick us up.

Elder Larchar


Back home, we received a text from others traveling to Spain with this photo from Atlanta. 

Last letter from the States

So this Tuesday we had interviews with president as a zone. My interview was super short. He just asked how things were going and we were done. Then he got my companions in there and they talked for probably an hour. So I was just sitting outside talking with Sister Auna. She's so nice and I'm glad I got that chance to talk to her before I left. I got a call from President Auna last night which scared me at first, but it turned out everything is set for me to leave tomorrow morning and he also said he used to know my new mission President. We shall see. I'm excited to meet them on probably wednesday morning. 

So we checked our mailbox and I had gotten a letter a bit ago that said I was invited to attend the temple on Saturday. The only problem was that I read the letter on Sunday night so I missed it. But we did get to go earlier this week with some of our recent converts to do baptisms. We didn't have a session set up, but it turned out that the other people who were scheduled to come needed people to do the baptizing for their group so we were able to help them out.

We got to help out at the Alpaca Farm again. This time we helped move the rest of the stuff out of the house and then we ripped up all the carpets and threw them out. It was in pretty rough shape after the previous owner, but it's looking a lot better now. There was also a coffin in the living room thankfully with no one in it so we had to move that as well. Kinda weird and we just left it in the barn. Pallbearer was not in the job description. 

One of my companions went on exchange this week just for a day, but no one came over to our area from the other companionship. So it was just me and Elder Rhead. It was pretty different to just have one companion again. And I'll have to get used to it. But it does make me talk more which I guess is a good thing. 

So we did some service for someone who was a friend of someone we have been teaching. We pretty much just help them swap two bedrooms and it was pretty easy. Then I was thinking alright let's go. What's next. But my companions took a minute to share a quick message. Then I just thought well, that is one of the reasons I'm here and I should try to incorporate it into everything. “Ultimate happiness, true peace, and anything even remotely close to scriptural joy are found first, foremost, and forever in living the gospel of Jesus Christ.” -Elder Holland. Why not take every opportunity to share about Chirst. Especially with Christmas approaching. If Christ is who we claim him to be, he should be the most important part of everyone's life. It's kind of like President Nelson's gathering israel devotional. I'd invite you to listen to that and ponder on it this week.

Love,

Elder Larchar

There is a way to swim in the mission after all

Good morning, afternoon, whatever it is where you are. God day to ya.

This week was super fast and I think it's because of all the stuff we did. But all of it just speeds past so idk. But our days were pretty much planned out for us already so daily planning was super easy. We found some new friends (people we can teach), did a bunch of service, and with exchanges and meetings, there was a lot going on. But it was fun.

So on top of our regular food bank service twice a week, we got to help someone gut their closet and build new shelves. It was a fun little project cuz we didn't really know what we were doing. There also may or may not be a hole in the wall now... but we put a shelf there so it's all good. We also went to an alpaca farm. They are some special animals. But the babies are super cute. We helped the family move from one house on the property to another and they had this giant machine that wove alpaca fur into other fabrics. Never heard of that before, but yeah they wanted us to move it. Right before we were gonna lift it up he said by the way, this thing is $38,000 and if you just donk it a little bit it won't work anymore. And I was thinking "huh?! All for alpaca fur? Well, then you can have fun with that budy". But we did it and thankfully we didn't break it and they asked us to come back this week so we shall see what they have in store for us next.

We went on exchanges with the assistants this week which was pretty fun. We got the one at kinda speaks some spanish and he was actually companions with elder martinez before so it was a little reunion. And then we saw them again at the baptism saterday which is where the real story begins.

So while we were at the alpaca farm, we apparently got a phone call from the sister missionaries in the Spanish Branch, but we missed it. So we saw we had a voice mail and I wish I could have sent it because it is quite funny. The sisters were freaking out because they had a baptism in an hour and they were just at the church and they saw water seeping under the door. The baptismal font was overflowing into the hall. Not the ideal situation as you can imagine. So they were going back to their apartment because one of the sisters needed to change into dry clothes. Why you ask? Because she had to go swimming to pull the plug. The font didn't have a chain attached to it so they had to go down and pull it. The font really isn't all that deep or anything, but the sister is just a little short. 

So this was the situation we had and we needed to make the room ready for the baptism at 5:00. So we had a fan blowing, a bunch of towels on the floor that we were jumping around on and then wringing out just to try to get it dryish and it kinda worked. By the end you could still tell that the carpet was wet, but it didn't squish or get your feet wet anymore if you walked on it. And the baptism went pretty well. I got to give a lesson with my companion on the restoration and while my talking is still pretty slow, it was a solid lesson.

That's not nearly everything, but some of the highlights. Hope y'all have a good one.

Much love,

Elder Larchar