First Week in Aranjuez

Sounds like Elder Harris has had a great first week in Aranjuez! Love that he sounds so full of enthusiasm and excitement for all the new things he's experiencing (he's even patient with the 'uber big' blisters on his feet!). I believe all these photos are at the MTC, singing in the park, at the mission home, and saying farewell as everyone heads off to their new areas.

 

Singing in the park at the MTC - week of May 24

 

From this week's letter:

"So this week has kinda been a whirlwind but its also been very exciting. My companion [Elder NORR-ell] is great. His name is pronounced just how it is spelt. (Or the first ejemplo you sent me) He is from Longview, TX. We get along super bien. It´s funny he actually speaks like way better Spanish than he does English anymore. It will be weird when i get to that point. We both LOVE futbol so that and basically everything else we get along in. We are pretty similar and we really do get along so i´m really excited for this time with him. He´s been out for 20 months so..he´s dying. It´s just a mission term. He works super hard all the time. I´m also his only begotten. (a.k.a. his only person he is going to train) I´m very excited for the next 12 weeks. 

 

 

Lunch at the Mission Home

Saying so-long at the Mission Home

 

He and Elder Acevedo (in sweater) have been the Zone Leaders at the MTC -
Just before leaving the Mission Home

So our piso [apartment] is actually pretty nice. Our area Aranjuez is a area that contains three cities. Aranjuez is where we are most of the time but starting this week we will take trips to the other 2 cities Valdemoro and Ciempozuelos. We have a bajo (or bottom floor apartment). Our Chapel is also a bajo. We have a branch of about 60 members that come from those 3 cities. When i got here we only had 1 progressing investigator. Now we have 4. So in my first few days we have already gotten 3 more. It´s amazing! The people here are lovely. I truly love them so much. We have a recent convert that reminds me so much of Sam it´s weird.

With meals its really quite different what we do everyday. Some days we eat everything with members, others we eat at the piso. We´ve cooked a few of our own meals. So with the recipe book, it´s great but...we don´t have an oven... :(. Also you can´t buy sour cream in Spain they dont have it. Can you send me any recipes you can find to make alfredo. They can´t involve sour cream or an oven. Also i can´t send pictures yet so i´m still taking a lot. 

We don´t have Ipads yet. We don´t get those until June 10. So next week. It´s going to make things so much easier once we get those. 

 

Aranjuez is pretty! It´s a town of about 45,000 people. I still don´t know the area very well. But i´m picking it up. Because we don´t have very many investigators we do a lot of walking. It´s been a tough first week but i love it. I´ve got some uber big blisters but it´s okay they are recovering now."

 

Studying in the park

 

It takes 2-3 WEEKS to get mail from the United States! So...his birthday is July 8th. I'm sure he would love to get cards and letters from home, so I'm posting his address here again now, just in case you would like to send a card. Postage is a $1.50 international stamp. (The address is worded/spaced a little differently from what we gave out originally. This one comes from the mission president's wife):

 

Elder Grayson Harris

Calle Fuerteventura, 4

2nda Planta, Oficina 8B

San Sebastian de los Reyes, 28703

Madrid

Spain

 

We are so excited to get some more photos of his first area. I guess with their Wi-Fi and computer issues, it takes a long time to upload photos, so they have a sister who works at the MTC(?) or mission home(?) send photos -- and they're a little behind. When they get their iPads, I think (hope) they will have more control and send more photos themselves as they go along.

 

Thanks to all our friends and family for your support!