"I´m pretty much the alpha-male around here..."

Last Thursday was P-Day and we went to this plaza in Madrid that´s the exact center of Spain. There´s a big statue of Don Quixote that we took some pictures with. I don´t have time to upload any pictures here but I will when I get out of the MTC. We went to an Egyptian Temple too and we were all really excited but it was actually the lamest thing I´ve ever seen in my life. It´s really not even worth expounding on. But it was cool to see the buildings and architecture of downtown Madrid. We went to a McDonalds and it is way nicer than any U.S. McDonalds. I didn´t order anything but the food looked way better and they sold fresh muffins and pastries too.  

We went to another big plaza too and there were a bunch of street performers. I took a picture with Mickey Mouse but then he asked for money after which was pretty weird.

Saturday we went to the Parque Retiro which is a big park in Madrid that used to be the Spanish Royals gettaway. It´s enormous and has a lake in it and statues and stuff. It´s just a big park that people stroll aroun in. We went to preach and me and my temporary companion didn´t have much success. We talked to this old man on a bench, and he was homeless and just got kicked out of his house by his wife because he lost his job. He kind of was ranting at us in rapid spanish but we somehow could understand him. He said we were only 18 years old and didn´t understand life to be able to help him. We tried to talk with him calmly but eventually we just had to walk away. 

It was a weird experience. I thought for a while about what I could learn from it but couldn´t think of anything. And then on Easter I was thinking about Christ (obvi) and I realized that it must be so much harder to endure struggles like that old man if you don´t believe that Christ is there to endure your pains. I think we all don´t appreciate how blessed we are with that knowledge. We are never hopeless. It was a good experience to realize how much the gospel can really help people and change lives.

So we were on our way home from the Park and it all seemed like a bust. But then I was on the metro with a kid in my district going home, and we went up to this man alone on the metro. He enthusiastically started talking with us and we told him about the Book of Mormon. He was from Peru and was really interested. My companion started going off about the history of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith in perfect Spanish, and normally he´s terrible at Spanish. It was pretty miraculous. We ended up giving him a Book and getting all his contact info. He was really interested I´m excited to here what happens.

Since I´m the oldest missionary and I have the longest hair

 I´m pretty much the alpha-male around here...but I think I HAVE to get my haircut today so that´s a bummer. I´ll lose all my power. We play a lot of basketball on P-day which is fun. My companion is really good at basketball.

I´ve seen Hermana Flake. She´s in the other zone so its rare but we say hello when we see each other. I think her district is coming to the Museo Prado with us today.

I just want to say how much I love my district. We get along so well we really are a family. I wrote a letter to everyone in my district telling them how much they mean to me and what I admire in them, and I found a scripture that I thought fit each of them. It´s amazing how close we´ve become. And they all mostly live in utah so we can hang out when we get home!

Adios!