Letter 4-29-08

Hola mama!

Well, I'm at the train station in Madrid. It's kind of weird. It's not a whole lot different than an airport actually. Just less people and not as big. This morning we said goodbye to 12 of our friends at about 6 am as they got on a bus to go to the airport. 9 of them were on their way to Bilbao and 1 to Paris, 1 to Switzerland and 1 to Belgium. I don't like this saying goodbye thing. It's just kind of sad to think I will probably never see any of them again. Actually, I am pretty sure I will see my Belgium companion again. She wants to come to America to teach French. I told her to come visit and she said she would. Usually I wouldn't take people too seriously who say they'll come visit, but later on she was showing me and another missionary some pictures of her trip to Greece. We asked her why she went. She said because her friend asked her to. Apparently she does that a lot. So you may be meeting one of my companions. You'll love her. she is very sweet. She does pretty well in English. She's really good at communicating the words she doesn't know too. I definitely want to keep in touch with Hermana Henderson and Hermana Higgenbotthom. I really enjoyed talking with them. They were always so sweet. Hermana Higgenbotthom is the one who knows Sarah and her sister lives in sandy. We are totally going to hang out after our missions too. Those two Hermanas and Hermana Farnsworth and I are really serious about having a Brian Regan party when we get home. It's just so funny how well we all get along.

So I'm sitting on the train now. It's just Hermana Lindlley, Elder Mcluckie and I. Hopefully we're in our right seats now. We finally got all our luggage in and sat down and suddenly realized we were in the wrong seats. We totally just left our luggage because it would have been way too stressful to get it otherwise. Well, we just left the station I hear hear there is some pretty scenery to see. I'll let you know how it goes. It feels good to be on our way. I'm excited to really start my mission and find out for myself what it's really like. I'm excited to meet the Mellors. I am curious to know what they are like. I really, really hope she can cut hair cause mine is pretty bad.

On our last p=day in Madrid we went to a more heavily populated part of the city. There are a lot of shops and things. It was really...I don't know if fun is the word, but I'm glad we did it. We got to see the Royal Palace (only the outside). I thought that was pretty cool. I loved looking around at all the old buildings and wondering what kind of history they held. When I get home I want to take a class on Spanish history. I think I would love it. I am glad the palace was so close to the MTC. It took us about 35 minutes or so on the Metro. The first time we took it I immediately thought of Virginia. The smell was so familiar. I don't think we took the metro a lot in Virginia, but somehow I have some memory of it.

So have you tried to find Retiro Park online yet? The sign at the entrance says "Jardines Del Buen Retiro" It is beautiful and huge. I never did get to see the whole thing. There are a lot of cats there. I mean, there not everywhere, but you can always see a cat hanging around, I think it's funny. Apparently there's a cat lady too. I never did see her. I've decided Madi and Hayley need to go on a shopping spree out here. They would LOVE the clothes and the bags. I thought of them anytime I walked past a clothing store. I know they would love it.

Right now there is pretty countryside out my window. It's green and hilly. It's nice to see something other than tall buildings for a change.

05/08/08
Well, I'm here in Malaga. 1 week down. It's very nice here. I like it a lot. I also like the other missionaries. They are great. Last night we had 4 extra Hermanas at our apartment for the zone conference. It was fun because Hermana Lindley was one of them. It has been so great to talk to her again. It was kind of hard to leave my district. I was homesick for them the first couple of days. I have decided I'm not very good at saying goodbye to people. I guess I'd better get used to it though, there is a lot of saying goodbye on a mission. Elder McLuckie is in my zone so I get to see him. Hermana Lindley's zone combined with ours for zone conference. The three of us had a nice little reunion. It was so good to laugh with them again. Hopefully we'll all see each other again soon.

We met the nicest lady the other day. She is a member and she is so animated and funny. I really can't explain it, but I love her! She knows I'm learning Spanish, so instead of just talking to my companion the whole time she looked at me and said, "Tell me something." So I told her about you guys. I tell everyone about you guys. I love it! So do they. Anyway, it was nice to visit her. I also met the nicest couple yesterday. they were sitting on a bench and looked like they should be members. At first, the husband was like, "We, are Catholic."...etc. Then we just started talking to them and eventually brought the church back up again. We talked about families and I showed them our picture. She loved Kade. I think she told me he reminded me of her grandson. ..if I understood her right. I didn't want to let these guys go. I loved them. I did all I could to try to help them feel the spirit and let us teach them. I said, "Before we go can I share a scripture with you?" I told them a little bit about the Book of Mormon and then read them 2 Nephi 25:26 I could tell they liked it. I told them this scripture was important. That our family had been strengthened because of our faith in Christ. They liked the scripture. I know they did. But they still resisted. we left them with a pamphlet on the restoration and our number. I hope they read it and call us, They were so kind and so sweet and definitely had the light of Christ in their eyes. One day they will find the church. They were too good not to accept it. I guess they're just not ready yet.

I guess I better end now. I need to get ready for the day. I love you. Have a good week.

Love,
Morgan