Ok how do I even start to explain the last couple of days. Right now it is Thursday and my p-day is almost over and you guys are just waking up. I still haven´t gotten use to the time change, but hopefully soon. My first night here Presiden Hill let us go to bed really early and I slept through the whole night because I didn´t sleep on the plane at all. But last night I woke up at 3:30 in the morning and I was totally ready to start the day. I laid in bed for who knows how long with a bunch of Spanish tumbling through my head. I think I fell back asleep later but I am definately very tired today.
Yesterday was just a normal day in the Madrid MTC. I am in a district with one other Elder and its actually the Elder that was in my district in Provo. He has been in class all by himself until I got here. We have two teachers and both teach for two hours each day. A day here learning Spanish equals three weeks in Provo. I have already learned so much. Oh ya in between classes we went to the police station to finish taking care of our visa paper work. There were hundreds of people lined up but the Hermano that took us to the station knows someone that works there so we went right in. We already stick out quite a bit and then we cut in front of hundreds of people. Lets just say we didn´t get the best looks from the people. The people that were in the line were from all over, Spain is very diverse.
Today we went to the temple which by the way, is gorgeous. The session was in English but there were people there from all over. Before the session started everything was announed in English, Spanish and French. A lot of people come from far away to get to this temple. After the temple we went to the Prada and spent about an hour and a half looking around. Then we went to a sword shop and everyone bought a bunch of trinkets(in other words crap). Dad you might want to erase that before you post this message. But I thought you would enjoy that little side note. Eveyrone was trying to firgure out why I wasn´t buying anything and I really just wanted to say because I don´t like to spend my money on little pieces of crap but I refrained. The store was just full of cheap touristy stuff that all of the dumb American tourists buy. Okay I just had to get that out there, you can erase that if you want.
After the store we came back for a huge lunch. We never eat vegtables! Today for lunch we had a huge bowl of rice with peas, shrimp and ham in it, that was just a side. We also had chicken and french fries with chocolate bread for dessert. The cooks make the plates up for you and everything on my tray at lunch today probably could have fed all of the children in Africa. The cooks are really nice and actually everyone here is so nice. I love President and Sister Hill, they are such good people. Everything is so relaxed and everyone is late to everything. I thought that was just part of the culture in Mexico but I am always the first one to everything even if I come 5 minutes late.
Now most importantly I want to tell you about my amazing companion. She is from Bolivia which I think I said in the last e-mail. Right before I ate dinner yesterday I prayed that I would be able to communicate with my comp. and get to know her better. I think she feels a little loney here because the other two sisters that have been here with her don´t speak Spanish very well. So after dinner I was just looking out the windown waiting for her to come out of the cafeteria and she came and stood next to me. We just started talking and before I knew it we were having a converstaion about everything. There were a few words that I didn´t understand but I knew exactly what she was talking about. It was amazing and she is amazing! Anyways she kind of has a crazy story. Her parents are divorced and her Dad ran off with a girlfriend. She only has one sister and she is kind of active in the church but she got married to a non-member. Her mom is active in the church though. She decided that she wanted to go on a mission when she was 12 and then she got her Patriarchal Blessing when she was 16 and from that she knew that she needed to go. So for a little less than a year before her mission she moved to Madrid and lived by herself while working two jobs to earn money for her mission. She is paying for it all. I told her that she is an example to me. We have had a good time together. I can´t always understand exactly what she is saying but for the most part I can figure it all out and even talk back.
The other sisters asked me why I came to the MTC because they think I already speak Spanish. Heavenly Father is helping me a lot, its really neat. I still have a lot to learn and I can´t wait until I´m fluent. All three sisters leave on Monday for the field and all the Elders except the Elder in my district. So far President Hill has only told me about 5 missionaries that are coming. Four of them are sisters and all five speak Portugese. Thats going to be interesting. I thought I was the minority in the Provo MTC, I can´t wait till next week.
I´m still praying for Hermana Nickolaisen´s visa, she would love it here. Where we live the view is gorgeous and the tempature is perfect. I think today it was sunny and about 60 degrees. I still can´t believe that I´m a sister missionary in Spain and who knows when I will be able to start believing it. I only got whistled at a couple times today and only two men told me in English that I was a gorgeous lady. It was actually pretty funny! I definatley feel differnet from the first time I was here. As a sister missionary I have this confidence from the Holy Ghost. Strangely enough I don´t feel scared and its actually really nice to be here. Its ten times more beautiful here than in Provo.
Okay well I can´t think of anything else to say hopefully I remembered everything! If you can think of any questions let me know. If you want to I would love for you to e-mail me while I´m in the MTC. We get double time on the internet here. Everyone in the family can write me by e-mail because I can just print your letters off and then write you back. I love you all so much and I miss you muchisimo! Let me know everything thats going on. Oh ya I found out that it takes about 7-10 days for mail. Also, I think I´m here for four weeks. Love, EM-Hermana Gogarty
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