Letter dated 15Mar2012

[Dear family and friends, I hope you enjoy Weston's latest letter that I just received! I hope that Spring is finding all of you today. Yesterday, we were almost (not quite) HOT here in Michigan! We're loving it! Reply to this note -- and I'll send it to Weston! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, First things first, I´m only one and a half days away from finally being in my mission field! I love both of the MTC´s [The mission training center in Provo and the one in Madrid] I´ve been to, but after two and a half months I just want to get out there and meet the people! And I know my Spanish isn´t great (for example, I got my hair cut today and I had hardly a clue as to what the hairdresser was saying half the time) but to remember how much Spanish I knew when I left home and now is astounding! I can´t wait for the moment when I ask someone ¿como? because I accidently didn´t hear what they were saying and not because I can´t understand what they´re saying. Good times are coming up soon and fast and I´m ready to take them on! Now here´s the deal. Tomorrow I will be traveling to somewhere outside of Madrid to finish up all my residency things and doing fingerprints and other things. Then after that I´m going to be dropped off at the train station and be heading on out to Barcelona.. all by myself! For some reason I´m going a few hours later than everyone else but there is a reason for everything so I´ll do my best to remember to tell you how Barcelona is. And as far as I´ve heard, my PDays [Preparation days] will now be on Wednesday, but that could change so just be ready whenever for which day is really my Preperation Day. Oh, but what else... we have new missionaries here and a lot of them are from all over the world. There are some Elders from Chile, Mexico, France and there is a Sister from Italy and they are all excellent people to be around. One of the French elders has been a member for a little bit less then 2 years, doesn´t speak English, but has a strong testimony and it´s awesome to hear him talk. Another thing I´m not sure if I´ve ever mentioned before is the food here in Spain. Now, all the food I´ve had has been from the Cafeteria here in the MTC, but it´s definitely a lot different from that of the USA. But after being here for two weeks, I´m in love with the food here. I have yet to find out what food will be like in the field, but that´ll be a great adventure that I´ll do my best to share with you all! And actually, I think I might have gained more weight here in Madrid than I did in Provo (not that I gained weight in Provo, but it´s to add to the story) because here in Spain they love to put oil in all of our food. Sure, it´s olive oil, but they seem to just love lathering our meats and other food in the stuff. I´m not complaining, it´s delicious, but I already feel like I won´t be able to handle much oil or grease back in America just because of the way my stomach will adjust. And also, they have a big bowl of Nutella for us to eat and they refill it all the time and I´m pretty sure i´ve gained 40 pounds from it (just kidding, but seriously) so I´m cutting out Nutella and sticking with good old peanut butter. Mmmmhmmm. Also, they have tuna here and lots and lots of other fishes. The shrimp we had a week ago forgot to look normal so we had the little shimp faces just looking up at us looking all innocent and everything. They were delicious. I should be sending letters in the very near future, so be sure to check the mailbox late Marchish-early Aprilish. I should also send letters to friends and other family as well around that time and I´ll be excited to hear back from all the wonderful people in my life! For this week, my scripture I can across that I wanted to share is found in Ether 12: 2-4 ´´...he could not be restrained because of the Spirit of the Lord which was in him. For he did cry from the morning, even until the going down of the sun, exhorting the people to believe in God... saying unto them that by faith all things are fulfilled- wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.´´ The rest of the chapter is pretty good too, come to think of it. Oh, and this one is to you mommy and daddy. I won´t quote it because my Bible is in the other room, but read Matthew 26:30 and share it with all my brothers. I´m sure they´ll love it too! With love, prayers, some more love, and a whole lot more prayers, Elder Alexander Weston Schindler P.S. If someone could be so kind, could they email me the lyrics to any Enya song? I´m craving some of that delicous goodness! Also, if possible, there is an Owl City song that starts off pretty quiet, but then it gets loud when it says ´´... WAKE UP!!!´´ It might be called Wake Up, but I´m not sure.. Ahh, yeah. Oh, and I woke up this morning with a strange feeling that one of my brothers was hidding some Pokemon thing. I don´t want to name anyone in specific (Christopher) but we are told to not keep our light under a bushel, so make sure you don´t wear any hats, if you catch my drift. Also, you should give Daniel and Joseph the game back or I´m gonna have to come over to Michigan to help them find it. Don´t make me do that.