Elder Adamson's Letter 12/15/2014

Hello everyone!  I've arrived safely to Granada and I´m loving it.  It´s a beautiful city and it seriously feels like    I´m in Utah here when we drive down the highways because we have the Sierra Nevada here close by. it´s even cold and there´s snow in the mountains. Our plan today for Pday was to go up to play in the snow but the weather was bad so we weren't able to.  Here´s the week.

Last P day in San Fernando we got together with our district and the Chiclana district and played some basketball and had tons of fun.

In the afternoon we had a cita with Lucas and María and their family and it was really good. My last couple days in San Fernando I just tried to get in as many goodbyes as I could there with all of the amazing members.  It was pretty sad to leave San Fernando behind after being there for about 1/4 of my mission, but I am very happy here in Granada.  The area here is totally different and it´s going to take some getting used to, but it looks great so far.

I got to Granada on Wednesday at about 3:00 and Elder Metcalf came to pick me up in the car.  Elder Metcalf is a big guy and he´s from Texas.  We were in the MTC together but in different zones so we didn't really get to know each other very well, but I can already tell that he is a great missionary and I´m super excited to be here with him. I´ll attach a picture of us.  He´s a very hard worker and he´s been here in Granada for 3 months.

This week has been a little bit of a blur so I´ll just give you a few of the highlights since I got here.  So, here in our area we have a car because most of our area is little towns that are on the outskirts of Granada, and we also have a portion of the city as well.  The area here is a lot different from what I´m used to, but I like it.  Right now we´ve got a lot to work with and we´re setting high goals so we can do a lot of good here.

This week I got to meet the Bishop and his family and they´re awesome people.  I also got to meet a few of our investigators named Maricarmen, Kevin, Aliou, and a few others.  So far, I´ve LOVED teaching with Elder Metcalf because our lessons are so focused and guided by the Spirit.  I´m learning so much already from him.

Maricarmen is a Spanish woman who lived in Germany for 20 years who also speaks English very well.  We´re having a hard time with her because she looks like she has the desires to know if God exists but she´s just not really willing to try anything.  She has problems with the word of wisdom and we tried to do a fast with her, but she backed out.  We´re doing what we can with her.  

Kevin is a 20 year old Ecuadorian.  Things are going really well with him and we´re hoping that he´ll be able to get baptized here soon.  We´re going to shoot for this week.

Aliou is from Senegal and he´s Muslim. The most recent news about him is that at the end of our lesson with him, he prayed in the name of Jesus Christ which is a huge step forward.

The ward here is about 90 active members so it´s just a little bigger than San Fernando 2, but here in Granada we meet in a big stake center which is pretty awesome.

This week we had a Christmas Concert in the capilla and the Granada city band came to perform and it was really awesome.  There were about 600 nonmembers in the capilla that night and It´s a yearly tradition.  We had a stand out with proselyting material but the city didn't let us pass stuff out so we had to just put it all on a table.  It was a really great concert though and it left us all feeling the Christmas spirit.

Sorry this wasn't the most detailed letter I´ve ever sent, but this week I´ll have more details for you.  I´m doing well and loving the mission more than ever.

1. Package?

I´ll probably be getting it next Monday.

2. What are some Christmas traditions that you have observed in Spain?

They have lots of traditional Christmas treats like Polvorones and things like that.  Here Santa isn´t really a big tradition, but it´s getting a lot bigger.  The biggest day of the holiday for them is the 6th of Jan, which is when the Three Magician kings come and bring the kids gifts instead of Santa.

3. How have you shared The Gift?

We used it at the Christmas concert and we´re using  it with pretty much everyone we talk to.

4. Any info on your Christmas call?

Not quite yet.  We´re not sure how it´s going to work yet, but next week we´ll have everything planned out.

So next week we´ll have a zone conference on Monday so I probably won´t be able to write you on that day just so you know that I´m not dead if you don´t get an email from me that day.  

love you!

Saying Goodbyes