Letter dated 20Mar2012

[Dear friends and family, hello! I am hoping that everyone is enjoying this first day of Spring. We were surprised, yesterday, to get a letter from Weston. His preparation day will be Monday -- so that is when we will hear from him. He sent some pictures which I will be including in his blog -- which I am currently creating. I will try to send a picture via email -- but I know that some of you are unable to receive picture attachments via email. If you have a message for Weston, send it to me by Sunday -- and I will make sure he gets it on Monday. He loves to hear from all of you! Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Surprise! Today´s my day of preparation! I suppose that Wednesday´s are only the Madrid missionaries' day for preparation so unless I tell you all otherwise, Monday is the day that I´ll be sending my weekly e-mail. I´m having a hard time thinking of where I should begin. I took a train from Madrid to Barcelona on Friday and was greeted by President Hinkley and his wife [This is Clark Hinkley, the son of Gordon B. Hinkley] as well as my first companion, Elder Call. It was then that I recieved the news that I will serve (but now I am serving) in Gerona España. The name is also spelled Girona, which is the way you spell it in Catalan which is very prevalent here where I am. Gerona is north of Barcelona and is fairly close to the French border. I received two nice surprises once I arrived in Barcelona. I had two letters waiting for me that had been sent to the mission home. One was from Sarah and the other was from Sister Stassforth and I´m glad that I now know that I´ll be able to recieve mail here in España! I slept one night in Barcelona and then took an early train to Gerona on Saturday. Once we arrived I was introduced to the apartment and I dropped off my things and then we left to go down to the chapel (capilla) which is about a 10 minute walk away from where we are staying. We had a baptism that day, and it was the very first day of me being in the mission field! Her name is Danielle and recently turned 9 years old and I was able to meet several members of the branch [the name of a small congregation] here in Gerona. Then after the baptism service it was off to do missionary work. We walked a lot and by the end of my first day I was exhausted. Elder Call told me that you know that you´ve had a good day if you are exhausted by the end of it. Also, I was able to become reaquainted with my Lion King bed sheets when I was preparing for the night. We have a different schedule than most other missions. Since the culture here in Spain is a bit different, we get up at 7:30 in the morning and go to bed at 11:30 at night. I´ve found myself waking up at 6:30 still, since that was the time that I would wake up in the MTCs. [Mission Training Centers] I feel like I´ll adjust just fine though. I was actually thinking the other day how I used to get up at 4:30 some mornings to get ready for work. Then, that got me to thinking how it´s different for me now as to what I´m doing compared to what I used to do. I´m constantly working now but it´s different and I don´t get paid but at least I´m not standing around in one place for 8 hours at a time. Also I get to meet new people and learn about all sorts of different cultures. For example, here in Gerona there are many people who are from Honduras and many of the people I have met and had lessons with have mostly been from Honduras. One investigator that came to church yesterday is actually from Ghana and we´ll be visiting him tomorrow. Oh, what else!? I did some shopping today. Fun, fun fun! There is a store chain here in España called Lidl which is from Germany and it is very similar to Aldi back in America. Could they be the same, by chance? Now here are a few things that happened. I ran into luck as I found that they have tuna here in Spain! However, when I was told they don´t have peanut butter in most stores it made my heart sink. All of this Nutela will make me fat, so I won´t buy too much of it! After that we traveled to the wall that is around the city and all I can say is ´´WOW!´´ The wall, cathederals, bridges, and all the ancient architecture was amazing to see! You should look up some facts about the city and then message me back about it because I´d be very interested to know some interesting things about the place I´m living in for the next several weeks! And one thing that I thought was awesome was when we say the main cathederal here I thought of the Hunchback of Notre Dame and the crazy awesome drains that were in the building. I love the part in that movie when What´s-His-Name (the bad guy) grabbed onto the gargoyle and said ´´I can´t carry it for you, but I can carry you!´´ and then they fell. Good times. [Inside joke! This is a line from Lord of the Rings -- which we just happen to find in every other movie we watch!] Also today we cleaned the apartment like crazy! When I first arrived it was rather dirty but now it´s rather nice! (my bathroom was the worst!) But I want you all to know that I´m safe and doing great! Everything is new but I´m becoming used to it all. The city is beautiful and I hope that Rick Steves comes here so that you can see one of his goofy videos about it! If not, try to watch out for any other Spain cities, such as Madrid or Barcelona. But actually, from what I've seen of Gerona and what I´ve seen of Madrid, I sort of like Gerona more. The buildings, the feel, and the people I´ve meet have just been better. Madrid is the big city of España so there are lots and lots of tourists, but it´s just something about it, I don´t know. I know for sure that Gerona will be on my list of places to come back to in a couple of years. Ah yeah, and for a scripture to read. I love Mosiah 27 a lot and I´ve probably told you this but it´s amazing and that´s all that needs to be said about that. I hope you are all well and from what it sounds like you all are! I´m glad that Western High School took first at Science Olympiad! That´s amazing! I also loved that little story of Nicholas and Brother Haskell. [My old roommate and good friend Arnold came to visit this weekend. He came late Friday night and so Nicholas didn't see him come. On Saturday morning, Arnold walked into the TV room and Nicholas said, "Good morning. Can I ask you who you are?"] It made me laugh! I hope to hear lots in the future as I will have lots to share as well. This Friday is zone conference so I´ll become acquainted with more Elders here in the area. Os amo, (I love thee, (more or less)) Elder Alexander Weston Schindler P.S. I titled this ´´My Gerona´´ because I always think of the song ´´My Sharona´´. Another song that it reminds me of is ´´Ramona´´ and in the song that´s the only word that is sung. Also, Daniel, it´s ´´campo´´ not ´´field-o´´. And no, I didn´t look that up just now. Love you!