the rain in Spain...

Well, it rained here in Spain just like it rained back in Mesa, but I missed it. This past week, I was basically in Málaga for a Zone Leader/District Leader Meeting, even though I technically wasn´t either. But I am/will be District Leader for the Lorca District whenever this transfer technically starts. I am excited for the responsibilitly, but a little scared as well. There will be 6 Elders in our district with the new Elders who are coming to Lorca, and they will be here on Thursday. It´ll be super fun, I just hope I´m ready.

Well, like I said, I wasn´t in Lorca preaching this past week, so I´ll tell you a little bit about the crazinees that happened in Lorca, and some experiences that I had in Málaga.

First Lorca:

According to our companions, as soon as we, Elder Patterson (our old DL) and me, left on the bus, it started to rain. Hard. It rained so much that the sewers started overflowing into the streets and apparently it was pretty crazy. I was a little disappointed that I missed it. Then they went to Huercal-Overa, where Elder Miller (Elder Patterson´s comp) is serving and they worked over there for a day, and it rained all day there too. But as they left to work that morning, they locked the keys into their apartment so they couldn´t get back in, and the keys to our apartment were also locked in their piso. Luckily they had the keys to the new apartment in Lorca (where the new elders will be staying) so they had a place to sleep, but that was about all they had. They ate dinner every night with the Branch President, and so they were fed that way, but everything kinda went crazy while we were gone.

Meanwhile....

I was on a bus for 8 hours as we went down to Málaga. Elder Patterson had gotten a ride in the Zone Leader´s car, so I was with the Super Hermana Entrenadores (or, SHE´s, or sister training leaders), some Elders from my zone who also were neither District Leaders nor Zone Leaders, and the leadership from a zone called Alicante. I basically talked for those 8 hours with the SHE´s, Heramanas Cano and Stark (Hermana Stark served for 3 months in Mesa waiting for her Visa before she came over here), and one of the Alicante Zone Leaders named Elder Powell for the whole time. It was such a great experience for me to have an opportunity to talk to missionaries who had been out for at least twice as long as I have and to recieve their advise and hear about their experiences, to practice my Spanish, and to learn about their lives before the mission. It was so much fun. And to top it all off, there was a crazy-awesome hail storm in the middle of our bus ride. There were huge chunks of ice just slamming against the top and sides of the bus, and you couldn´t see a thing out the window. It was really awesome.

Once we got to Málaga, we just went to the mission home and ate dinner and hung out there that night. The next day we went to the chapel in Málaga and had a huge meeting with all the Zone Leaders, SHE´s, District Leaders, and then some future Zone Leaders, SHE´s and District Leaders as well. There were about 50 missionaries there, and it was awesome. I felt a little inadequate at first, but that soon left and I felt just fine being there.

I also ran into Elder Hooper and Skousen for the first time. They are both from Mountain View, and it was great to see more people from High School.

We learned a lot about how to help missionaries overcome trials and dificulties in the field. It helped me realize ways to overcome my own struggles, and helped me to more fully realize the importance of being patient and loving, so that´s what I´ll be working on for this transfer, being more loving and kind. Wish me luck!

Well Gotta go. Love ya!

Elder Garrett B Turley

Here are some pictures he sent from his last baptism from a couple weeks ago.

 He baptized Fernando, the 9 year old kid, and Kevin, the 20 year old kid, baptized his parents Danilo and Pila