Monday, May 20, 2013

May 20, 2013



Good morning family and friends!

Another week gone by. The longer I am in the mission the faster time seems to go! I can´t believe I´ve already gotten to talk with you guys twice. It only happens 4 times. That´s nuts. It was awesome, though, I´m glad we have the chance. Sorry I didn´t write anything last Monday. We didn´t have much time, and I figured we did get to see each other and talk for awhile. We did go to Toledo last week, which was a good time, but I came back empty handed. I just can´t quite bring myself to spend that much money. At least not yet. I will have to buy something there before I go home, even if it´s just a little dagger. 

Thanks for the pictures you sent. I´m glad you picked the one from Graduation where I look like a total dork. Haha, I´m kidding. If you check on my Facebook page there may be some photos of me from school with my beard. Also I wanted to ask for some pictures from my farewell, just of me and my friends and you guys. Thanks for always fulfilling my various little requests. 

Well, let´s talk about this week. Monday night after getting back from Toledo our trio pulled off what may be the first ever recorded instance of 3 way missionary splits. And now we know why it´s never been done. It was insane! But we pulled it off and had 3 lessons that night. 

We all got sick this week, so that was fun. I got over it pretty quickly, just a fever one night and then I was fine. The other two had a harder time of it. Elder Winkelkotter is still sniffling. Our weather has been absolutely nuts. Like worse than Utah: I got sunburned on Monday and then yesterday there was slush and sleet on our car. It gets really, really cold in our piso, too. I´m just praying for it to be summer already. 

I went driving for my first time in Madrid itself on Wednesday. In President´s car. That was exciting. Actually it was pretty easy because his car is a manual. We´ll see how I do with our car. I need some more practice I think. We were driving a new senior couple around, and they were talking about how they are not excited to drive here. I decided not to tell them it was my first time until we dropped them off at their hotel. 

Our English classes have really grown since the APs moved into our area. We now have 2 classes and we teach the advanced. Thursday was the second day and they all brought pictures of their families and presented them to the class. It was a really fun activity. One woman´s family is from Galicia and she told us that her sister plays the bagpipes in festivals there, because the bagpipes are a traditional instrument of Galicia. Basically I´m dying to go there now. 

We taught the ward "Noche de Hogar" this week and everyone who showed up was a non-member. We gave a really good lesson about the Good Samaritan and I found a great little talk by a Seventy that I shared part of. He talks about how the Savior not only did huge things like miracles and the Atonement, but that he also did the little things. He always had a kind word to share and a helping hand to give. He related that to the scripture that talks about how through small and simple things are great things brought to pass and that we should not tire of doing good things. I really liked it. Here´s the link if you´d like to read it:
I shared the last 2 paragraphs in our lesson.

On Saturday we got to play soccer with some of the young men. It was great to get out and move around again. I´ve missed playing fútbol.

Yesterday we finally met with Belén again, our investigator who showed up to church all on her own. We taught her about the Book of Mormon, how important it is and what it is about. She understood everything well and said she was going to read it. Then at the end we were just chatting and talking about how Elder Winkelkotter is going home soon and she surprised us all by asking if we were going to be able to baptize her before he goes home. We were all just like, yeah, if you want to, we will make it happen. So we set up to meet with her a lot more often and we´ll see how things go. It was really cool because we haven´t talked about baptism at all yet. The only thing was she asked us what happens after the discussions and we said, baptism. And she said ok, and then later this happened. So I guess she really is in this to get baptized, which is awesome. 

Unfortunately she probably won´t get to have Elder Winkelkotter at her baptism. We found out last night he is going to Cuenca Tuesday morning. I´m thoroughly surprised. I was sure he was going to stay here, I mean it´s only 3 weeks. But President decided to send him out into the field. He´s a little bit excited. And it will a good opportunity for Elder Stephens and I. Elder Stephens wants to be out in the street and teaching people as much as I do, so I think we´ll be able to find a good balance between office work and missionary work. It should be good.

That´s the news here and it sounds like you all have some news as well. Be sure to tell Bishop  Elsey and Jess and Ryan congratulations from me. I´m sure he´s super excited! What´s the baby´s name? 

I don´t think I´ve ever seen a mosquito here so I wouldn´t worry too much. 

Erin! What happened? How did she face-plant? Is she getting better? I hope she doesn´t have to use any of that scar medicine that I do. I still use it everyday, but it doesn´t seem to be making a difference anymore. Oh well.

Sarah, I hope you enjoy your dinner and congrats on getting into the Productions group. Will you find out there what play you will do next year? 

Tell Bekah I said hi and good luck with finding place to live. I know a little what that´s like now. If you have any questions, tell me and I´ll ask my companion. 

Hang in there for the last week of school, everyone and then make the most of summertime! Take lots of pictures. I love you guys! Take care. Thank you for everything you do for me! Talk to you next week.

Love,

Elder Cousins


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