June 30, 2010

Hello my dear family,

12 hours away from you sure seems a lot less when I read your emails. Thank you very much for the updates on how everyone is doing.

This week has been exciting as usual. Elder Moreno and I are just getting along so nicely. He is an excellent companion and an amazing missionary. Even though the outward results don´t show it, we are having success and we are happy!

The highlights of this last week have been:

Last Wednesday after writing you I went to Sol and said goodbye to 3 missionaries who are, as of tomorrow, going to become part of the Malaga mission. One of my first companions, Elder Adams, in Provo, when we were a three-some, is going to that mission. So that was kind of crazy, thinking that I will not see him for the second year of our missions. But we are excited for the changes of the mission. The truth is that not much is going to change, especially since my mission presidente will still be Presidente Watkins. Nonetheless, it will be exciting to see if I get to go up North, or even to the Canary Islands. :) That would be crazy and amazing.

Yesterday, I think that I was able to live one of the dreams that I had before the mission. I was able to serve in Segovia. Elder Moreno and I went on Exchanges with the Segovia Elders and I went to Segovia with Elder Kapp and Elder Carter came to Madrid with Elder Moreno. It was so fun and exhilarating being there, even though it was for only one day. I hope that you have checked out the pictures in the internet of Segovia, because I was there, yesterday. Contacting people in the street and walking under the 2000 year old aqueduct. We also taught a lesson in an apartment 20 seconds away from the huge, famous cathedral there. It was so beautiful, and I know that I had already been there to visit, but this time I was there as a missionary. That is what I had wished before the mission and it was so cool being there. We slept with the windows open, as it is getting a little hot, and I woke up about 10 minutes early to the birds singing sweetly and a little breeze through the window. When the alarm went off I got out of bed and looked out the window to find one of the most gorgeous views in the mission. From the third floor of our piso, that is situated on a sort of incline, you could see tons of little, old Spanish apartment buildings, with tons of big beautiful trees with the sun just about to rise. It was so beautiful and relaxing. I don´t think I have heard birds sing like that for a long time; and being in Madrid, when I look out of our window in the morning, I just see the other apartment across the way. We don´t even have a window open to the street. I am not complaining, just comparing to what I was used to, to the beauty of Segovia. We woke up 1 hour early because we had to leave on a train to go to their district meeting and be there at 9.

Down below you can hear more about the current strike in the metro. All of the metro lines have shut down and will be shut down for a total of three days, finishing on Friday. Let me just say that it is chaos. There are so many people in the street and the buses are jam packed with people. It makes traveling more difficult. A trip to the southern part of our area, like Legazpi, that normally takes about 30 minutes in metro, is a little more than an hour in these overly packed buses.

Things go well in the World cup, I guess. Even though the states are out, I am cheering on Spain. I really hope that they win. Last night at about ten o clock, we knew that Spain had won because people were screaming in the street and cars were honking their horns. Fútbol, soccer, is very important to them, and to think that my companion is Spaniard and happened to play for his city team, he is just freakin´ out, not being able to watch. He is dying not being able to watch the games like he used too, but he will survive. haha.

We will see what will happen against Paraguay. There are a lot of member from Paraguay in the ward, and we have a weekly noche de hogar with them. They are not going to let us come by, with Elder Moreno, if Spain beats them. haha Just teasing.

Well thank you so much for your letters and your prayers. Elder Carter, from payson utah, who is serving in Segovia and came to stay with Elder Moreno in our piso, said that he loved the BYU blanket because it was so soft. That comes a lot from him because he happens to be one of those poor souls who roots for the U. He said that as the night grew on, he couldn´t resist it because it was too comfortable. I agree. Thank you Mom and Cari! Thank you Dad for sending me that update on Taylor. I love hearing from my friends and how they are doing. It is scary to think that I am already half-way done with my missionary service. It is a sad/sweet feeling, as I absolutely love the mission and in some ways do not want it to end, but it is crazy how time flies.

I love you all and pray for you. Thank you for your comforting and strengthening prayers. I leave you with my testimony that this is the Church of Jesus Christ and that he is at the head. He lives and loves us. He calls to us, and all that he asks us to do, is obey.

I love you and hope that we can obey His loving commandments always.

Have a fantastic week,

Love,

Rob, Élder Driggs