¡Hola familia!
Well, believe it or not, we probably spoke more English than Spanish this week. We have found a lot of investigators that speak English and we also have a family from Canada that just got back from vacation. Talking to the Canadians is especially fun because they speak real English! We can get together and talk about all the American comforts we miss here, haha. We had a dinner cita with them this week and had tacos. It was awesome. It is hard to teach them, though...I'm already forgetting some words in English that we use a lot when we teach. It is weird!!!
As for our other English speaking investigators, they are from Africa, so their English is pretty distinct. Pretty hard to understand sometimes. We have to change the way we speak, too, so they understand. Basically you just can't use past tense because that always throws them off. Same with African Spanish...and conjugating for different subjects is always optional. Believe it or not, we have started teaching Spanish classes to a few who don't speak Spanish yet. I would say we're pretty uncanny candidates for that, but it has been a lot of fun and has helped them out a lot.
One of the Africans is from Ghana and got here about 2 months ago and is only 17 years old. He told us his story the other day and it is pretty wild. He paid about 1,000€ to get here. First he travelled from Ghana to Morocco, where he had to wait for 5 months for everything to be just right. During those 5 months, him and about 50 other people lived in the forest, having to find their own food and everything. Finally, the leader of their little group said everything was just right and they all packed into a little boat and set off from Morocco in the middle of the night. I think he said they had to pay off the police, as well, to get over here. And if the Spanish navy had found them on the way, they all would have been sent back. It is crazy! But he is here now and working on getting legal. Hopefully he can do that soon. I can't imagine having to go through all of that.
Well, that is about it. The mission is still working hard to meet our goal and things are going really great. I think that our mission fast last week really helped because all over the mission things have really taken off. I'm so glad to be here in Spain! I have thought a lot about the temple this week and how peaceful of a place it is. The Spirit of the Lord really does dwell there. Every time we teach a lesson about the temple I can feel the Spirit testify of how special of a place it is. The temple is the crowning jewel of the Restored Gospel and I know it is a place inspired of God. I just want to share with all of you that I know this church is the true church of God on the earth! As we study the scriptures and work to gain and maintain our testimony, we can receive unbelievable blessings that God has prepared specifically for every one of us.
I love you all so much! Have an awesome week!
Elder Mockler
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