March 8th

So this week has flown by, as usual. The Spain MTC is a lot more fun than the one in Provo though. We got a new group of missionaries this week from the U.S., Chile, Mexico, France and one from England and Italy. It´s pretty cool how there are a bunch of languages here. We have filled up the MTC though, they had to put an extra bed in all the rooms. Luckily the Italians and Russians left this week so it´s not as crowded as it could be though. So I am not sure about my mailing address, but I heard that they will mail dear elders to me if you send it through there. Also, I will be staying in the mtc here until next Thursday or Friday, we have to establish our residence here before we can go into the field. We get to go proselyte in the park every Saturday, and because we are visa waiters we have chosen to go on Tuesdays and Fridays also. It´s pretty cool at the park because there are actually people that want to or are mildly interested in hearing what we have to say. However, about half the people that we talk to are tourists and so we usually have to speak with them through the few English words that they know. It seems like everyone knows at least a few words in English.

 

So the accent here is pretty cool. They have the theta, the jota, and a little bit of the ja too. So when I come back, those who speak American or Mexican Spanish probably won´t be able to understand what I am saying at all. So I don´t feel like my Spanish is all that great, but I can basically understand what people are trying to say to me, for the most part. When I come back I´ll be using those, so good luck to you too.

 

So I have a new companion here at this MTC. I actually met him on the first day at the Provo MTC. He is from Ohio and plays football. He also likes to talk with everybody. though that could just be because he made a promise that he would do so. He is a pretty good guy though, and he tries with the language and tries to help people.

 

The food here is a lot different. The ingredients are much better, because all the food is real.  The most occurring food is carrot soup and french fries with varying meat.

 

So yesterday we watched a talk of Elder Holland when he was speaking at the Provo MTC in August. What was pretty cool was the fact the there was quite a bit of the same material in this talk as there was in the talk that he gave right before he left. However, regardless of the repetition I still enjoyed it and felt the spirit.

 

So I have gone to the temple and they have the session in English and all the Spanish speakers have to wear headphones so they can understand.

 

I have not yet gone to Madrid. I could today, but I don´t quite feel like it, and the district leaders feel the same way, so I probably won´t be going until next week, or maybe in two weeks.

 

I didn´t get a letter from Papa this week, so could you just forward him this one? I don´t know if there are other questions that he might want answered.

 

P.S. You can write long letters if you want and I can print them out here, so that way I won't use up all my time reading them. Just if it interests you.

 

Well, I'm pretty much out of time, so until next week,

 

Elder Johnson