Castilleja de la Cuesta.

Farewell to Cartagena!!!  Adios a Cartagena!!!

Now follow other photos of the people he had grown to love in Cartagena and also of his leaving:

Siguen ahora otras fotos de sus amigos  en Cartagena y de su despedido:

The District on P-Day  El Distrito en P Day

Elders Read and Hampel visiting members.  Elderes Read y Hampel visitando miembros

Adiós a su compañero Elder Hampel

Farewell to his companion Elder Hampel

El viaje con Elder Avilés  -  The journey with Elder Avilés

Que triste! Parting is such sweet sorrow!

Although Elder Read misses Cartagena a lot he's really excited to have arrived in Castilleja de la Cuesta, not Aljaráfe as he said last week, but it is in the suburbs of Sevilla - or Seville in English. The truth is, he says, that his new companion is buenísimo, which I'd translate as fantastic.  

A digression for a moment:  his Spanish has now changed totally from Latin-American to Spanish Spanish, As those of you who speak the language will already have noted: he says "Como estáis" instead of "Como estan" and "os conté" instead of "le conté."  You may also remember that he said months ago that he had adopted the Spanish lisp, but we needn't worry as he wont do it in English!

To return to this week's epistle, Elder Read says that he is responsible for finishing the training of his new companion, Elder Metcalf - above -who, he says, is also teaching him a lot.  He is from Texas so, says Elder Read, he has a cowboy for a companion!  I wonder when we'll see a photo of Elder Metcalf in Stetson and spurs.  His 'father' or first trainer was Elder Vergara, who was in Elder Read's group at the MTC.  And they - Elders Read and Metcalf - are working really hard, which makes them very tired.  On Sunday they had to run from the chapel in order to catch the bus; how far he doesn't say!  But they were looking forward to having a siesta on Monday - P-Day.

Between last Wednesday when he arrived and Monday, when he wrote, they had managed to get fifteen future investigators, so they're really looking forward to working with them.  They have seen many miracles in the last few days and I'm sure we'll here about them as the investigators progress towards baptism.

Sunday was the farewell of a young elder who is going to serve his mission in Argentina, who is very excited to be leaving on Thursday. 

They are working with an excellent family from India, but because of their concerns about the traditions of their country, they don't want to be baptised yet.  However, the elders have spoken to them and they say that if the Lord answers their prayers they'll be baptised.  They were at church on Sunday.

But the pianist wasn't, so Elder Read played for both Priesthood and Sacrament, which he thoroughly enjoyed, playing all the hymns that he knows.  It's a very small ward and he was pleased to get to know all the members.  The ward mission leader is so effective that he's like a machine, truly a great man!

Many of the photos on this blog are of Elder Read leaving Cartagena.

Elder Avilés and Elder Sandelin get on very well.   Elder Avilés finishes his mission very soon.

Elder Read was absolutely delighted to have seen NEFTALY, his convert from Cartagena on Sunday, who went to the chapel to visit the elders.  You can see that Neftaly pinched Elder Read's name tag for this photo!  He'd like to serve a mission but it's difficult because of his work and his studies.  You'll probably recall that he's in the Spanish Marines, but he told Elder Read that once he's married he'd like to serve a mission with his wife.

Elder Read says he's absolutely exhausted and could sleep anywhere.  But the truth is that he's happy to feel like that as it means they're working hard.  

 La verdad es que extraño cartagena mucho pero estoy muy animado de estar aquí en Castilleja de la Cuesta. ¡¡SEVILLA!! jaja :P  La verdad es que mi nuevo compañero - Elder Metcalf - es buenísimo. Os conté que estoy terminando su entrenamiento ¿no? la verdad es que él me está enseñando muchísimo. Es de Texas, entonces tengo un vaquero como compañero jaja :P Su `padre´ es Élder Vergara, que estaba en mi grupo del CCM. Y estamos trabajando muchísimo. Y estamos MUY cansados jaja :P Domingo tuvimos que correr de la capilla para coger el bus a tiempo. Estamos animados echar una siesta hoy jaja . Desde el miércoles hemos conseguido mas de 15 futuro investigadores, estamos muy animado para trabajar con ellos. Hemos visto muchísimos milagros estos últimos días. Domingo fue la despidida de un joven que se va a misión a Argentina este jueves. Está muy animado jaja :P 

Estamos trabajando con una familia de la india,quienes son muy buenos. Están preocupados por causa de las tradiciones de su país. No se quieren bautizar aún. Pero hemos hablado con ellos y dicen si el señor conteste sus oraciones se bautizarán, fueron a la capilla ayer también :) 

La pianista no estaba en la capilla ayer entonces tuve que tocar para sacerdocio y la reunión sacramental, fue divertido :) Toce todos los himnos que sé jaja :P Es un barrio muy pequeño pero estoy muy animado para conocer a todos los miembros. El líder misional es como una máquina, muy eficaz, un hombre buenísimo la verdad.   Les estoy mandando fotos de mi despedida de Cartagena.   

Élder Avilés y Élder Sandelin van muy bien.  Élder Avilés va a casa muy pronto. 

 la vista del piso lunes

the view from the flat on Monday

¡¡¡VI A NEFTALY AYER!!!! Mi converso de Cartagena, vino a visitarnos ayer en la capilla :D Robo mi chapa para tomar esta foto jaja :P Está fuerte y quiere servir una misión, pero es difícil por causa de trabajo y los estudios, como os conté él es infantería marina. Pero sí me dijo que cuando está casado quiero hacer una misión con su esposa :) 

Bueno, no sé que más os puedo contar. Solo que estoy reventado :P hoy voy a dormir sí o sí jaja :P La verdad es que me encanta sentirme así, significa que estamos trabajando duro :)