June Already!

Hello Family!

Can you believe that it is June already? I sure can't. Especially with the weather we've been having. Thursday night, it poured! And we walked across town to get to an appointment. We were soaked. That morning had been nice and sunny, so we were wearing summer clothes and sandals, and didn't have our umbrellas. It has been pretty wet all week. Sunday night (or maybe it was Monday) we had a lighting storm, no rain. It was cool to look at. But it has been pretty stormy all week. It doesn't really feel like June yet.

We like to email at the end of the day, but sometimes it works better if we email a little bit earlier. It took us about an hour and a half to get to Leganes for our BBQ last week, so we emailed in the morning.

Yesterday was a holiday here in Guadalajara, but I totally forgot that this weekend is Memorial Day. The holidays are a little weird here. There was nobody in the street, all the shops were closed. Not like home at all, when all the stores are open longer with big sales and all.

I also can't believe that this weekend is the big weekend! Congratulations to both Brenna and Sophie. I am so excited for them. There is a chance that we will get to go to a baptismal service this weekend. We aren't that far from Madrid, and we are encouraged to go to the baptisms of other missionaries if we have investigators to take with us. I think we will try to go.

I think my MTC experience was a little bit different (than most). We never had a Spanish language class. We learned a little Spanish and then practiced teaching. And we almost always learned our Spanish with the goal of improving our teaching. But there were times when we had all of our study time back to back. And five straight hours of study was really difficult. Hard to stay focused for that long, even when we would switch what we were studying.

Our BBQ last week was way fun! It was a bit of a long ride, but totally worth it. We had a great time being with the other missionaries. There was food, soccer, music, and pictures. I have one to send you, but don't have my camera with me, maybe next week.

It's cool to hear about all the missionary stuff! When they redid the Spain missions, the missionaries went with the areas. We have quite a few missionaries who were serving in the Canary Islands, when they redid the missions. So these missionaries got called to Málaga, but will finish in Madrid. I guess there were quite a few changes when they redid the missions here.

The language is definitely getting better. I still have to think about everything more than I would like, but it is definitely coming. Our teaching is going great. Saturday, we helped the family we've been teaching paint their old apartment. (I got a ton of paint on my pants, but all of it came out in the wash today, the laundry pens are AMAZING!!!!) Because we helped them paint, the nephews could go to the YM activity, and they had a great time. We met their mom, and she wants to introduce us to her fiancee when he comes later this week. Afterward, we were invited to eat with them, and had some yummy Venezuelan food. And yesterday, after our lesson with them, we went with them to the house of one of the brothers, and his family. There were like a million people in that apartment, but we ate some yummy Colombian food. I think that I am going to get to experience all the great food of South America without actually having to go!

Our surprise birthday party was fun! We were late getting back from the BBQ, and the buses were running late, so we had to change our strategy, but we got her to the house, and she still had no idea.

President Watkins came to our district meeting yesterday, which was kinda fun, and unexpected. We didn't know that he was going to be there. Especially since the ayudantes (assistants) came to our meeting the week before. But fun nonetheless.

We have started having "fiestas" Sunday afternoons in the homes of some members. It started a couple of weeks ago, when a few of the members got together and invited us to come over for treats. We had a great time with them, and it is good way for investigators, and especially for the less actives, to get to know the members, and socialize away from church. So, we have more or less invited ourselves the past few weeks, but for the less actives it is a great thing!

This P-Day we went shopping here in Guadalajara - kinda relaxing after our crazy P-Day last week, and next week we are going to the temple with most of the missionaries in Madrid.

I can't think of anything else, but I hope that everybody has a blast this weekend!!!

Love, Amber