Brock Jolley Spain Barcelona Mission 2022-2024

Buenos Días mi genteeee!! Cómo va todo mis amigos?? HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! It was another THRILLING week in Gandia! We had more garage band practice, lots more lessons, and even more friends! I feel like we're starting to get the ball rolling in Gandia a bit more and I'm hyped for that! It was also the last week of the transfer so we got transfer news yesterday!! The title of my email might have spoiled the news, but I'm staying in Gandia!! And not only that but I get to keep Elder Poppitti!! That's a double win! I couldn't be more happy with how things ended up, nothing to be scared of anymore!  Okay so the theme for this week needs a little explaining. When I first got here we had a friend named Frank, when I introduced myself with my 2 week old spanish he thought I said "My name is Edward Jolley" not Elder... so now with Frank I'm Edward! It's even better cause Elder Poppitti was a little tough for him so he just calls Elder Poppitti "Pipo"...

Okay so here is my pretty basic recipe that I've been using. It's in Spanish, I'm sorry I'm copy pasting from my notes. Avena! (No se cuanto, pero mucho) -Proteínas yogur (Hay diferente sabores)  -leche (sufficente) -plátano (si le quere)  -salvado trigo (porque no?) -Huevo (extra proteínas)  -meil!  -hornar a 200° C para 15-20 minutos?  I then top the baked oats if I feel like it and make them look fancy.  I have 5 flavors as of right now and I'm working on some more.  1. Chocolate lava cake  2. Chocolate chip cookie  3. Strawberry Banana  4. Snickerdoodle (fancy way for saying cinnamon) 5. Chocolate peanut butter. 

Bon Día! Fun fact: bon día es Valenciano and when you say it to old people in the street they think you know how to speak Valenciano and they just start going off like Emminem and you have to stand there like a silly goose cause you have no idea what they're saying!  Anyway, this week has been awesome...we're working hard and things are moving along! We have a baptism scheduled for the 30th so we're praying and working hard to make sure everything is ready and everything can happen. This was a big finding week and we have tons of new people that we've been able to contact and teach. Another fun fact: the parks here from 8-10pm are golden for street contacting! I went crazy with my baked oats and have 5 official flavors and maybe a few more on the way. See the delicious pics. I haven't counted the macros for them yet, but they're pretty good.  PSA: I'm only on tour here in Spain, sorry I can't perform in the USA for a while, I hope my fans can understand....

It was another great week serviendo en la obra de Dios! So much has happened. We had zone conference and it was awesome! The spanish rain soaked our suit coats, but the spirit kept us warm and made us almost forget about our cold wet socks. We all learned so much! President Villar's lessons are always on another level. We're working with more friends and meeting more people everyday! We're trying new ways to contact, reach new areas and receive references from people...some ways are more effective than others.  A while ago Elder Poppitti and I thought it would be good to start a clase de inglés for the people here in Gandia since some of our friends were hoping to learn English. We put together a schedule and advertised the best we could. We contacted just about everyone we know, made phone calls, texts, and handed out invitation cards to people in the parks and on street. We felt there were about 10 people with a decent chance of showing up, and at least 4...

Mi gente!! Que tal!? Cómo está yendo su semana?! My week has been fast and pretty sweet!! We have new friends we're teaching and they have tons of potential! We're also working with the inactives and getting them back to church and at activities. My Spanish is improving everyday, poco a poco como siempre, but it's getting better. Another thing that's getting better and the theme for this week... Cooking!!  First, I've been able to replicate my Dad's daily shake he drinks in the morning so my breakfasts have become super easy. I've also figured out how I can make baked oats here in Spain and I'm diggin it. Finally and most importantly, Elder Poppitti and I had the opportunity to learn how to make an authentic Valencian pallea!! A member in our ward named María Flores is 92 and has made over 5000 palleas in her life and she invited us to help her make one. It was maybe the coolest thing I've ever done! I tried to take notes of the process and how it al...

Qué pasa mis amigos!?! Cómo les van con todo?  This week was soooo awesome and flew by so I hope this email makes sense and I can fit everything in.  Elder Poppitti and I are working hard and it's so fun. We're street contacting and talking to more people, and I can tell my Spanish is getting a little better. But sometimes people start talking about random stuff and I just don't have the vocab so I pretend I understand what's going on and that seems to get me by for now, hahaha.  The Tower of Babel: People in this part of Spain like to speak Valenciano. It's super cool but also not super cool if you're trying to learn to understand spanish. We were at a ward lunch and I was talking with a group of ladies in the ward. I was following the conversation until they started talking with each other. Suddenly, I didn't understand a thing. It felt like my ability to communicate was confounded, and all my progress in speaking Spanish had vanished. Then I realized they...