I Met the Next Area President of Nigeria

Hola!

What a week it's been! It's still been hot, and with not a break in
sight but God hasn't left our side.

We've been blessed to be teaching a cute old Spanish women. Her name
is Ana, she's over 80 years old. She is so innocent she has never gone
to school, and while we were with her once she made me laugh so hard
that I was in tears. She turned to my comp and i, and said "oh you
both speak Spanish so well." I said "thank you, I hope my comp can
speak Spanish!" My comp said "I was raised speaking Spanish." Ana
looked confused "so your Spanish?" My comp responded "no I'm from
Ecuador." Ana completely serious "well look at that I didn't know they
spoke Spanish." I was holding back tears. I love that women.

On Wednesday we normally have this meeting with these other
missionaries from Guadalajara but this week it got canceled for
president interviews, and since we had Wednesday morning free we
decided to use this time for our advantage so we went to the local
flee market!! What a scene that was! There's was piles of cloths for
only 1 euro. What up! It was such a blast!

Richard our Nigerian investigator is amazing! We are just waiting for
him to get married then he can get baptized but in his heart he has a
stronger testimony then some members. We had a lesson with him on
Friday and I think I got emotional 4 times in that lesson. He bore a
strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and said "if people would just
read this book the world would be a better place." Then he talked
about how he dreams of his son going on a mission someday sharing the
gospel to someone like him in the future. He is just so amazing, he
just GETS the gospel. I've never met anyone with so much faith, and
when he prays! It's like he is communicating with God right then and
there. It's so beautiful. I feel so honored to learn from HIM.

On Sunday we had 2 farewells for 2 girls in our ward. One was going to
serve in the Salt Lake City visitors center, the other in Argentina.
It was so weird seeing something that I had already passed through. I
could see the parents nervous, sad, and excited. I could see on their
face the nerves. It was weird, it made me think a lot about my
farewell and how it feels like that was yesterday. But I'm grateful
I'm on this side of the door instead of the other one.

Today we went and hung out with my friend Toni from Alcobendas. We
went and explored downtown Madrid together. We ate the famous fried
octopus sandwiches! We went into the cathedral, looked at the castle,
etc. all the while getting a full on (free) tour guide! I realized how
little I know about Spain which makes me really sad! I love this place
and want to know as much as I can about this wonderful place!

I'm really grateful to be here in Spain and to get to know all these
amazing people and have all these wonderful life changing experiences.
God has been so good to me and to those I love. I hope you guys have a
great week. Love and miss you!

Con amor,
Hermana Shurtz