Brownie Maker

Hey family,

On Monday the whole zone came down to Cadiz to spend the p day. We went to a castle and explored the city a bit. After we played futbol in the usual place, next to a different castle.

On Tuesday we had district meeting and after ate some pizza.

Wednesday we went to Juani's to eat. I wasn't looking forward to eating lentejas again, but this time we had really good paella and chicken. We also had the opportunity to listen to some of the apostles in the worldwide missionary broadcast. Unlike last year where it was a conference type thing. This year it was in a boardroom with Elder Oaks, Bednar, Anderson and a couple of the seventy. And they talked a lot about how we need to be patient with baptisms, and make sure we baptize converts and not just people. They also changed the missionary schedule a bit. Now instead of a set schedule, it is a lot more flexible which allows the missionaries to have more flexibility and use their agency more. I think of it as somewhat like the change from memorized lessons to not memorize.

Thursday morning I made brownies and we gave them to Sofia. After Elder Tabilo had some drivers license thing in Fuengirola, so he went and I got to with him this time. After a 5 hour train ride we arrived at around 9 o'clock. I got to see Elder Hammond again which was sweet and talk about the area and what's going on. We spent the night with the office elders. It was one of their birthdays so we sang happy birthday to him and ate some ice cream.

Friday morning I was in the office and helped out a bit there. After, we took another 5 hour train ride back to Cadiz. We went to one of our investigators, José Luis, and taught him. Originally we were going to teach him lesson 3, but when we got there we felt prompted to talk about the Book of Mormon and his thoughts. It turned out to be a really good lesson for us, and he prayed for us at the end which is uncharacteristic of him.

On Saturday we played futbol with the ward as usual and then after we went to Sofia's and painted her piso. We finished about half of it and we will finish it this week.

On Saturday after church we went to our 1st councilor’s house and ate with him and his family. Lentejas. My favorite. Then Elder Tabilo really likes to tell people I can make brownies, and his wife asked me to make brownies for a relief society meeting for her. So I made brownies in her kitchen.

Until next week
Elder Pearce

Week 3 in Cádiz

Hey family,

On Monday we went to San Fernando, and played ping-pong and futbol with the zone. We were also with our district leader Elder Morgan all day because there were some changes in the mission, and then at 9 we picked up his new companion Elder Bushman.

On Tuesday we ate with Juani again. More lentils. I don't know how long I can keep eating lentils. Then at night we ate dinner at a menos activo and her non-member family. We had hamburgers with them.

On Wednesday we had a tri zone conference in Sevilla. President Anderson talked about how the mission is like a pendulum. If it's too far one way, we focus too much on friendship, but on the other end we focus too much on numbers and have baptisms without conversion, His talk to us was cool.

On Thursday and Friday we were in Chiclana doing intercambios. I was with elder bushman who only had 2 days in the area so we were pretty lost. We knocked some doors. Got stopped by a super high guy. Got made fun of by some children. You know, the usual. Immediately after we went to a member named Juan, literally everybody is named either Jose, Juan, and sometimes Jesus. But anyway, we had seafood and chicken. It was really good. Afterwards he drove us to mutual in his Mazarratti. Then afterwards we went and talked with our investigator Zaira.

On Saturday we were thinking about what president said and we were looking at our investigators and we realized one of our investigators we were good friends with, so we ate dinner with them and then taught them the plan of salvation. It was a really good lesson.

On Sunday, another ward member died. That's now 4 in 2017. At this rate 73 people in our ward will be dead by 2018 since our ward has so many elderly people in it. No biggie. Anyway. We got invited over for hot chocolate from the same family we taught yesterday and we taught them lesson 1. But 2 lessons with the same people in 2 days. You know what that means.  Progression.

Anyway that was my week this week

Elder Pearce

Hey Family

Hey family,

Well, a lot of stuff happened this week, so I'll just get started.

On Monday we hung out as a district in Cádiz and ate what's called a ballena (whale). A sandwich with tortilla de patata, and meats. It was pretty good. After we played fútbol in a moat of a castle. That's where we play whenever we play.

On Tuesday we visited a menos activo and on the TV was the college football national championship game, so we got to watch a little of it. It made me miss America a little. But oh well.

On Wednesday, elder tabilo had to go to fuengirola to do some drivers license stuff. Lucky. So I went to chiclana with the other elders in the district for Wednesday night and Thursday morning. We visited some families and talked with them. One about obedience, she didn't like that. And the other about obedience as well.

On Friday we had a noche de hogar at Anna's house. Elder Tabilo had me make brownies. The batter turned out really nice, but Anna's oven was terrible and it didn't cook it well, so I ended up having to microwave them. Que triste. So they turned out really dry. But oh well.

On Saturday we started out the day playing futbol with the ward. And in the afternoon we had interviews with president, which was cool to talk with him and see his love for us. We also taught Hermana Anderson a lesson about repentance in English which was a little weird.

On Sunday me and elder Tabilo got trapped in an elevator for 15 minutes, so that was fun. The way the doors worked, there was about a 1 inch gap. So me, being a curious guy opened it a little to see what would happen and then it stopped. We called the hermanas to come save us, and they called a number for help. Then elder Tabilo slammed the doors shut in frustration and it started going again.

So that was my week.

Until next week
Elder Pearce

Día De Reyes (King's Day)

Hey family,

Happy Three Kings Day. Here, it's just as significant as Christmas for them. Just as many parties, gifts, and drunk people.

On Monday we went to San Fernando to hang out with the zone. We ate at Burger King and played fútbol and ping-pong. I'm still just as good at ping-pong as I was before so that's really good.

Tuesday we went to a family of three. And talked with them and taught them about the restoration. Mainly it's been mostly going to different people and introducing myself and teaching some sort of video or scripture. There are a lot of really good Mormon messages that we share with people because we have the iPads to use. We also ate at Anna’s house. and there was a lot of food, but hey that's the life of a missionary.

On Wednesday for lunch we went to a member, Juani, who cooks for the missionaries every Wednesday. She always makes a ton of food, but it was all really good. We had lentils, some sort of meat and mashed potatoes, and chocolate flan that was really good. After we went to a birthday party for a girl that turned 12. And I played fútbol with all the super niños. It's good because they are the same skill level as me. Afterwards we went to a recent convert's house for another birthday party. We had one of the three Kings cakes that have a rock and a king inside. If you get the rock you lose and if the king you win. I didn't get either. And the cake is pretty disgusting. But oh well, its a fun tradition.

On Thursday it was the night before día de reyes so there were a lot of parties, a giant parade that went through the middle of our area which made it hard to do stuff and with the giant crowds as well. So we went to a less active guy’s house and hung out with him.

On Friday nobody was out because they were out all night partying. So we walked around a lot and tried to visit families that were probably still asleep. So yeah. In the night we felt prompted to visit the same less active guy we went to last night. We were a little hesitant because we had just visited him, but we went. It turns out his television was broken, and we ended up fixing it for him, so that was cool. 

Saturday we played fútbol with the ward again and after we went and helped take apart some furniture for a member family to help them move. Later we visited with one of our nonmember friends and played Spanish card games with her and her friends.

On Sunday we went to church as normal and at night we went to another birthday party for a girl that turned 18, and ate cake and stuff.

A little about my companion, Elder Tabilo.  He's from a town in Northern Chile called Arica. He came three weeks after me, so I'm technically the senior companion. His first name is Allan. 

Until next week

Elder Pearce 

Cádiz

Hey family,

Whelp, I'm in Cádiz, but we'll get to that later.

On Monday we went to the aquarium, because we got free tickets from Leonor, which was cool, but it was like every other aquarium there, but it did have cool otters, soooo...  Afterwards we played mini golf that was on top of the aquarium. We then went to Malaga and went and rode a Ferris wheel. Afterwards we went to Dunkin' Donuts and ate there.  It’s always good to have American food.

On Tuesday I did a lot of packing, and other stuff like buy a backpack and get ready for my transfer.

On Wednesday we had transfers. We went down to the train station in Malaga and met up with everybody else that was there. I got to see Elder Jarom Moore from the stake so that was cool. And then I was off all by myself. I took a 2 hour train up to Dos Hermanas which is a pueblo of Sevilla and then from there I took a 2 hour train down to Cádiz. Still alone. But everything went fine and dandy and, I slept for about an hour of the four. I arrived in the train station and nobody was there. I wait and wait and 30 minutes later the elders came to pick me up. And now I'm in Cadiz, with Elder Tabilo from Chile. He speaks very little English, but he tries. He speaks broken English to me and I speak Spanish to him. It's sucks because my thoughts have turned into a really bad Spanglish. It's bad.

On Thursday we went around where I was introduced to everybody. We met with a guy named Diego and committed him to baptism so we will see where that goes. I also met a member named Anna, she has gone through a lot of stuff, but she has a heart of gold, it’s amazing. She has so much hope.

Friday we went to a pueblo called Puerto Real. We went and walked 40 minutes and ended up not being able to find a house that we were looking for. But oh well. Then we met with the second counselor of the stake president and introduced myself.

On Saturday we met with some teenagers and played a weird Spanish card game and then showed them “Because of Him”. It was also New Year's Eve. We bought 12 grapes and then ate twelve grapes in 12 seconds for New Years because that is what you do here. 

(Added by Connor’s mom, from Wikipedia:  The Twelve Grapes is a Spanish tradition that dates back from at least 1895 but became established in 1909. The tradition consists of eating a grape with each bell strike at midnight of December 31. According to the tradition, that leads to a year of prosperity. In some areas, it is believed that the tradition wards away witches and general evil although this "magic" is treated like an old heritage, and in modern days it's viewed as a cultural tradition to welcome the New Year and bring good luck.)

We also went to a member’s house and ate with them and the hermanas and a RM and her dad when they were visiting. We had shrimp and flan and some sort of mayo salad thing. President gave us permission to stay up till 12 instead of the regular 11. So that was fun.

On Sunday I was asked to share my testimony in church. It went well. Then it was church as normal. There are a lot of really old people in my ward. Not a single young man was there and I think 1 young woman so we'll see. Then we went to Anna's and ate beef and French fries which are always good here in Spain.

Anyway until next week

Elder Pearce

Me with Elder Jarom Moore from our stake

Me with my new companion, Elder Tabilo, who is from Chile