My Spanish is Coming Along...

Hello again!

Yesterday was pretty crazy, and we are lucky that we had any time to email at all. We had a Family Home Evening last night with Bryan and his family, and one of the families in the branch. The members live in a town about 10 minutes outside of Guadalajara, so we had to plan for travel time and all that stuff. But it was fun, and everyone had a good time. Tomorrow is the baptismal interview, and Saturday morning is the baptism!

This week is the last week of the transfer, and nobody has any idea about what is going to happen, except we are all expecting a lot of changes, at least for the hermanas. Because half of the hermanas are going home in the next few transfer, and we are getting about ten new ones, we think that there will be a lot of changes to get ready for when all the new hermanas come in. So this weekend, I could be going somewhere else, or I could be staying in Guadalajara, I'll let you know next week!

Our P-Day yesterday was great. The mission home is in a sort of gated community on the outskirts of Madrid. There are tennis courts, soccer courts, Uno, Go fish, and food! It was super fun, and I think everyone had a great time.

Sounds like Mom is super busy, it sounds like you all are. But busy can be good, and it sounds like everyone is having good time.

I'm glad that Ryan had such a good time at Scout Camp, it definitely sounds like more of a vacation than scout camp. It kinda reminds me of my last year at Girl's camp. I'd been so used to Camp Shalom, that the whole camping at the lake thing was so different, and more like a vacation. (One night, we ate dinner at the golf course club house)

It has been super hot here. The humidity isn't too bad, actually I don't think that there is much of any humidity. It's just really hot. I think it was Tuesday that we got up to 42 degrees. Our piso gets nice and toasty because we don't have an air conditioner. We have some fans though, and I think that they will work just fine.

The sun sets really late here. When we return to our piso at 10:00 p.m. it is still sunny out. You would never think that it is 10:00, more like 7:00. And it doesn't really cool down at night. Every once in a while we get a cool mountainy breeze, but not too often. But we are adapting to the heat, and attempting to plan our day better so that we have fixed lessons during the hottest parts of the day.

It also sounds like Gramma, Grampa and Sophie are pretty busy, with trips to the lake and all the packing that needs to get done. I hope that everyone has a good time up there! It also sounds like there are some good vacations and family gatherings planned! I hope that everyone enjoys them.

My Spanish is coming along. Last week we had intercambios, and I had the same companion, but this time she came to me. And she told me that my Spanish has really improved. I can definitely understand more now than I could when I first got here, but I still feel a little lost, especially when people direct the conversation at me more or ask me a question. Understanding is definitely easier than speaking. I don't have to think about how to conjugate the verbs, or how to structure my sentence when I'm listening. But my speaking is definitely easier. I don't have to think about how to conjugate some verbs, especially the ones we use often.

I think the package will get to the mission office in 1 or 2 weeks. When the mission office can get it to me is another story. But I have always been a fan of late birthday gifts. It always feels like I get to stretch out my birthday!

I love the pictures! Please send more! (One day soon I will send some more to you...sometimes we email in other cities, and sometimes I forget my cord, or run out of time. But I will send you some!)

Love, Amber