Oh man I'm not sure where to start.
Santiago is so beautiful! Everything is green here! Literally EVERYTHING. The mountains, the sidewalks, the trees, the streets, even the roofs of pisos have grass growing on them. I've never seen anything like this. This place is so much different than Madrid. It's still difficult to process the fact that this is still Spain. It's soooo weird. It rains every single here. We don't walk 5 minutes without getting completely drenched. And it gets really cold. The weather app on my iPad says it gets in the 40s, but I swear that's the falsest thing since sin. It feels like -6137468. It's been raining nonstop since I got here 7 days ago. And it pours. Like buckets of water are always falling. Fun stuff.
Me and Elder Wither get along well. He's from Peru, but he actually moved to the states a few years ago. He knows perfect English, but we still talk in Spanish pretty much all the time. He's kinda quiet. But he's cool. This will be a fun transfer with him!
The work here is really different. Definitely slower than Madrid. Coming from a ward with over 140 members is kinda different considering that the branch here has just over 20. They're super nice people though. I've met most of them already. We had dinner with the branch president this week. His name is President Goyez, and his wife is Marite, and she makes the tastiest tortilla de patata you'll ever find. They're super nice people. They live about an hour and half away from the church in Santiago. They own a huge dairy farm. They have like 300 cows and they sell milk and cheese all over Spain. It's super good! I guess we get cheese from them every week.
Church here is pretty different. I'm so used to big wards. There is a meeting house here in Santiago, but it's inside a piso complex. It's actually really cool having such a small branch cause everyone is so close to each other. I've already met quite a few of the members and they all seem really nice!
There's a Mormon Message called "A Work in Progress". If you haven't seen it, you should watch it. It's about a BYU basketball player named Tyler Haws. It's a super popular video. I can't remember if I said this last week, but Tyler is in our branch here in Santiago. He plays basketball up here. And he's actually our branch mission leader. He and his wife have us over for dinner every week. He's super cool! Elder Wither and I shared a spiritual thought with them this week and we talked about the importance of working hard and being dedicated. And then we showed them his own Mormon message. Haha it was hilarious! Tyler is such an awesome dude.
The Spanish here is pretty different. This region of Spain is called Galicia, and a lot of people actually speak a language called Gallego.It's a weird mix of Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Most people still speak Spanish though. I might have to learn a little Gallego. But yeah all the people here are real spaniards. No Latin Americans. Everyone is white. It's so weird.
Anyway,here are some stories.
1. This week I am especially grateful for the passion for music that I have been blessed with. We had a conference on Friday and we had the opportunity to here from Elder Moreira from the 70. I was asked to
provide a musical number the day before, so I didn't have a lot of time to prepare. Well we got to the meeting, and when it was my turn to go up, I went and sat down at the piano and said a little prayer in my head, and just started playing. I played Señor te necesito, and was completely lead by the spirit. I had no idea what I was playing. I just put my hands on the keys and just played. And it sounded so beautiful! I'm so grateful for music and how I can express myself and invite the spirit through the piano. I love music so much! I always feel the spirit so strongly when I have the opportunity to play.
2. I was cleaning out our piso this week and we found tons of old teaching records. We're gonna make some phone calls this week and hopefully find some people to teach! 3. When I first got here, we didn't have running water for 4 days. And that's really all I have to say.
4. I started studying the Old Testament this week. If any of you think the Old Testament is boring of hard to understand, I invite you to do two things. 1, repent! And 2, buy the institute manual and study with it. That thing seriously makes the Old Testament sooooo much more interesting and easier to understand. I've always sucked at studying the bible, but that manual will change you I promise!
Well, I love Santiago and I'm happy to be here :) Thanks for all your support!
Have an awesome week! Don't step in dog poop. Especially when it's pouring rain. Rain doesn't make it much easier to handle.
HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY ABBIE!!!!!
Elder Hendrix
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| Elder Hendrix and the missionaries at the Bates' piso. |
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