Letter dated 27Jun2012

[Dear friends and family, We heard from Weston today -- here is his letter. Enjoy! Weston's birthday is on July 6. Send your birthday wishes as a reply to this message - and I will pass them along to him! I hope you are all having an enjoyable summer! Stay safe and stay cool. Love, Weston's editor - BWS] Dear Family, Whoa, so it´s definitely true right now that summer is here! In Spain the weather is at a solid 32º [this is Celsius!] and it is so hot right now! It sounds like Michigan is getting a pretty similar heat wave so I´m sure it´s easy for you all to relate to this problem. If I were all of you I would go to the beach as soon as possible so as to cool off a bit, whether or not you are all so busy! Stay cool and stay fresh for me, please. But this week we seemed to have the funniest things happen to us and every story was just super hiliarious. One night when we were sleeping I woke up Elder Carlson because I was sleep talking. I have absolutely no memory of it but he told me that I said ´´...en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen. En el nombre de Jesucristo, AMEN!´´ He was afraid at first because he had not idea what was going on but then I just continued saying weird things, but it was all coherent and he was just cracking up the whole time. According to him I said the following: ´´Judging by the top of her head ... dang.´´ What was going on in that dream, I have no clue, and as to what the top of the head is, I have no idea, but it was soooo funny! Also this past Saturday we went to a member's house and taught some English to the children and a few of their friends but then at the end of the visit I answered the phone and was talking to an investigator and was setting a time for us to visit her. Elder Carlson, in Spanish, said to tell her at 6:00. Then I, just repeating what he said, basically said ´´Dígale a las 6´´ [for those who know Spanish, this may make sense. I am guessing the the "six" was in English.] which made the family just crack up because it was so funny! Another thing that happened this week was the Day of John the Baptist [must be a Spanish holiday] and everyone was setting off fireworks and firecrackers the whole day. We were sitting at a bench in a park planning out where we needed to go; then a guy and his girlfriend walked up to us, then the guy threw a firework into the middle of the park and then it exploded. At first I was thinking to myself, ´´Are you seroius?´´ but then as they got closer I thought it was super funny and I asked them if they had another one. The girl asked if I was serious and I said of course! So now I have a big firework and I´m going to save it for next week for the 4th of July or for my birthday. Whenever I do set it off, I´ll take a video of it and be sure you all see it in a year and a half. But the reason I´m writting a bit later this week is because we had a visit with a family who lives in a city thats really far away but is still in our area. The city was really beautiful because it is right on the coast and there are mountains sitting on the entire coast. But then yesterday we couldn´t take a preparation day because we had our district meeting. We were planning on not having it because we just had a conference in Barcelona on Friday and now we actually have another one this Saturday. The reason we have multiple conferences is because this is the last week that President Hinkley will be here and we will be receiving President Pace at the end of this week. [Weston's mission president, President Hinckley will be finishing his 3-year mission on June 30; President Pace will begin his 3-year mission on July 1!] We´re in the process of preparing 3 people to be baptized within the next few weeks. One of whom is Jean who I´ve mentioned before and recently we´ve gone out running with him and then teaching him after we´re done running. It killed me the first time, since he´s training to do either Marathons or possibly the Olympics (no lie) and so keeping up the energy was crazy hard. If I stay here in Gerona for the rest of July then I´m going to finally get into really good shape if we keep this running up. We went running again yesterday and now I just need to work on my cardio so that I can keep up the internal fight. Another friend of ours that we are helping progress is Vlady. The interesting thing with him is that he does not have a background with religion but he wants to feel the spirit in his life because of his best friends, who are members. The one thing that we are going to make sure of is that he´s not just getting baptized to make his friend happy, which happens to be an amiga. [I am guessing this is a lady friend!] If that's what it turns out to be, then it wouldn't even be for the right reason so we are trying to see if his desires are sincere. The other one that looks promising is Melky who is from Honduras and she has been interested in the church for the past year or so. She´s waited so long because she has been wanting to make sure that what she´s been learning is the truth and now she has her answer, but we´re just waiting to see when she can have time off from work for us to set up her baptism. From what it looks like for next week, we´ll be having a little missionary party this Monday for the best holiday of the world, MY BIRTHDAY (or the Fourth of July, one or the other). But this should be a great week for me and I can´t wait to let you know how it goes. It´s possible that it will be my last week here in Gerona, and I will be very sad if it is. This transfer went by way too fast and I´m praying that I can stay for at least one more! But from what it sounds like from what dad said, I might have a package coming my way! If that´s true, then just don´t break the bank with it, but you know that I don´t ´´need´´ anything. But I´m glad to hear that you remembered my birthday and I´m just going to go crazy because I don´t feel like I´m almost 20 years old... I´m going to miss the good old days when I was just a crazy teenager! Brothers, mother, and father, with all the love I can muster within my heart, take care and always remember that I love you, Élder Xander Weston Schindler P.S. Daniel, that´s sick [sick -- in a good way!] that you shook hands with Brother Romney! [Daniel met and shook hands with Mitt Romney this past week!] I´m sure it was just like going to a rock concert! I´m also excited to hear that both you and Joseph will be working at the Paul Bunyan Scout Reservation this summer. [Daniel will be a cook; Joseph will be a rock climbing/zip line instructor.] I´ve never been, but I´m sure you´d have a blast this month kicking it with all those childrens! Andrew has C3-P0, so just ask the brother politely and he´ll give it to you. Mother, I´m praying the best I can for your outcome with work coming up and I know as well that the Lord has the best plan in store for you. Just don´t stress too much, it´s summer! Same goes to you dad, I can´t imagine being 4 gallons lighter can help with your declining health right now, but my prayers will be coinciding with grandma´s wishes to keep you going! [I received my 4-gallon blood donation pin this week; Grandma Schindler thinks that it will"do me in!"] YES, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! [Julie and I celebrated our 23rd Anniversary on June 24.] That´s strange to think that you hit the 23rd mark... dang. Nick and Chris, it looked like that the rock climbing was fantastic! You should also refrain from watching Adventure Time, since that show is of the devil (I kid, but seriously)! Andrew, my heart will go on, but you need to write me something. I can´t expect to try to send you my camera if I don´t know how / what you´re doing! Just keep being you though, bro! P.P.S. This is more of a want list than anything else, just keep this on record of what I want. Pictures (Thanks mom for getting those ready!) Ties (Harry Potter ties would be the best) Cheezits Recipes (including Egg Nog, ASAP) Family History Stories Family Mission Stories Black Socks My Visa Card Laser Pointer (Just because) My Lord of the Rings Music Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (They have oreos here in Spain, so I´m good with those (^_^) MISSION FOR ANDREW: The LOTR ring from that game that is super legit. I would love that, so so much! Cancel my Netflix Any little action figures from home that you know I´d love (i.e. Dinosaurs, Star Wars, Batman) ¡AMOR!