2/24/13

I love Sundays; they’re always so great, no matter where you are in the world. We were able to go to church today, which was good. In Relief Society we talked about how our faith is tested, and also the experiences that bring us joy. The lady who taught the lesson was actually my Spanish teacher from BYU’s Mom! So that was fun. But she showed the Mormon Messages video about the lady that got in an accident with her husband and it damaged all of her skin, especially on her face. She talked about how it has been a challenge for her, but she knows that Heavenly Father has a plan for her and that she is so blessed. It opened my eyes to how much I have been blessed with and how lucky I am. I have the best family, I love my friends, I go to a great University, and I am living in SPAIN with amazing people right now! I don’t think it can get much better than that honestly. I love my life:] In Sacrament meeting the Primary children sang a song, all 13 of them. They were so cute. I love the Spirit that music brings, and children as well. I am so grateful for children. I love them so much. Their innocence and their spirits and love are such examples to me. 

2/23/13

Today was awesome. We woke up and went for a run in the park, or in my case a jog that was probably slower than the pace of someone walking. But something’s better than nothing yaa? Then we headed into Madrid for English classes. So fun. We were going around talking about what we like to do and then all of a sudden an older man in our group, his name is John Anthony, he’s sweet, and he turns and looks at me and was like Faith! Do you like bullfighting? Haha so random…and I continued to tell him how I haven’t seen one and all this stuff. It was funny though, it kinda took me off guard considering he remembered my name from me telling him a couple weeks ago. Turns out everyone in the class don’t like bullfights. They think it’s kinda gory and cruel to the animal as well. That was kind of interesting; I thought all Spaniards had this love for it but apparently not. After class we ate our lunches we brought, Blanca made us a bocadillo. Then we were able to walk next door to the Temple to do baptisms! It was so pretty inside I loved it. Today was Landon’s first time so that was exciting too! For confirmations, they were guys from our ward in Alcalá and they said those prayers so fast. I even tried reading off the card as he said it but he spoke insanely fast. But it definitely was a cool experience having that. Then for baptisms Stan baptized me so that was nice. I am so grateful we have such awesome directors; they definitely make this trip so awesome. After the Temple we went back to the National Geographic store because it seriously is so cool. Then we checked out the Nike Madrid store as well. Everything was still expensive, but it definitely so fun to go and see and look at everything. I love being able to live so close to Madrid it is so nice. On the train back there were tons of people, we later found out there was a big demonstration going on in Madrid, so that was good we avoided all of that craziness today, because I loved everything about today and had so much fun.

2/22/13

I had another great week. Just like every single week here. It truly has been so amazing here! I can’t believe I’m already about halfway done:[ We had some of our midterms this week so that was just great. Sociology took 3 hours! But I was able to write my essays on my computer so that was definitely way nice. At the beginning of the week we went and played at the park with a zip line so that was a lot of fun! Playgrounds are so fun; I don’t think they will ever get old for me. Taylor and I had our fill of the Bachelor this week as well. A few nights we watched with Jil and Cassie Knapp at their house, which was way fun. One night when we were running over there to watch, we ran into one of our Spanish teachers so we talked to her, and she was wondering what we were doing haha and then we ran into Blanca! So just on the way over to the Knapp’s house we had two different Spanish conversations! You would think we wouldn’t be as proud as we were considering we are living in Spain, but we were proud of ourselves nonetheless haha. I also was able to talk to Jared for just a little bit so that was nice! I miss being so close to all of them. The time difference and not having wifi has definitely made it difficult communicating with family and stuff. I hope my family knows I love them so much and am so grateful for them and their love and support, even if I can’t talk to them that much:]

Today we went to El Escorial, which is the palace-monastery of San Lorenzo, founded by Felipe II to provide a suitable resting place for his father, Emperor Carlos V, and future Spanish monarchs. It was huge. There were a lot of interesting rooms; I thought it was cool that the floors were the originals from the 16^th century! The cathedral portion was so beautiful, like they always are. The interesting part though was where they kept the tombs of the Spanish monarchs in the Panteón Real. It reminded me of the crypt we saw in Italy I think it was, but everything down there was made out of marble and the tombs were very beautiful and it looked really cool in their honestly.  After that we went to the Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen). This was a memorial and also a basilica, in honor of those that fell during the Civil War. Franco was also buried there. It was really pretty up in the mountains there, and the cross was huge, you could see it from miles away. I thought it was interesting how the basilica was built into the mountains.

After all of our adventures today we returned back to the Knapp’s house and Jil made us this way yummy pasta dish. And she made different olive oil dips for the fresh bread we got too. It was delicious. Eating all of her delicious food she makes us, and all the yummy Spanish food Blanca makes us, it has made me really want to get better at cooking. I think I want to have Mom help me this summer because she is an amazing cook, and reflecting back on my cooking this past semester, I could definitely use some help:] 

Barcelona!

 Inside the Sagrada Familia

 Cutest boys choir that literally sounded like angels

 Pucker up Mr. Eel 

Fotos!

 Castle the Disney castle is based off of

 Cathedral of Sevilla

 Cathedral of Sevilla

 Castle

 Plaza de Espana

 Flamenco!

 Sea of olive trees

2/17/13

Church was great today. I love the spirit that music brings. At the end of our Relief Society lesson we sang a closing song but didn’t have hymnbooks so we sang “Love One Another” in Spanish or English, whichever one you knew. We just sang one verse, but it filled the room with the Spirit. I felt God’s love that He has for each of His children around the world, no matter who they are or where they are from. I love the people of Spain and their spirits. Then in Sunday school for part of the lesson we divided up and were put into groups. My group consisted of 3 girls from our program, and Elder Faustino’s son Julio. He is in a wheelchair and I sometimes have a difficult time understanding what he is saying. However, when our group was reading about the Holy Ghost and how He whispers with the still, small voice, and how it comes as a feeling and not necessarily words. It was so awesome hearing him talk about it and listening to him talk about the Holy Ghost. You could tell he had such a testimony of it, it was great. He always has such a spirit about him I love it. In Sacrament meeting Julio gave a talk. His brother Guiermo and another guy in the ward helped carry his wheelchair up on the stand. Then Guiermo sat there next to him and held the microphone for him during his whole talk. He didn’t even stutter or anything the entire time he was talking, and he spoke with such a spirit about him. I could feel the spirit so strongly. Throughout my life I have experienced that those that have “disabilities” always have the strongest and sweetest spirits. Also, his brother’s love was such an example to me of Christ’s love. Guiermo is always there to help his brother and shows so much love towards him. Watching him made me miss Jake and Jared a lot. I am so grateful I have them in my life and for their support and examples they are to me. I am so grateful for everyone in my family and all they do for me. I have been so blessed and am so grateful for them all.