2 letters in one day!

Alrighty, so I´m emailing again!

So every saturday we go to the parque (park) in Madrid. We go proselyting!! We get put with a new companion and have to go talk to people and try to get referrals and investigators. My companion was Elder Santos. He is from Portugal and he's going to the Lisbon Portugal mission. He doesn't speak very much English but he speaks Spanish and Portugese. He is a very tiny guy! haha probably weighs 120 lbs. The night before I said "Hey Elder Santos! We are companions tomorrow!!! Sorry I don't speak Spanish though..." and he said "That okay. I speak. You protect me!" hahaha! So I did! Well I did find some American people in the park so I was able to talk to several people. But mostly all the Spanish was Elder Santos. So the last lady we talked to was from Mexico and we had been pretty frustrated because we didn't have any success but this lady was so happy and smiling and we were smiling too! We walked away after giving her a phamphlet about the Restoration and after we walked for a while we stopped and looked back and she was reading it so intently. I said "I feel so good right now! I think we should go back and give her a Book of Mormon." So we wrote our testimonies in one and were walking back to find her but she was gone! We ran all over the park and finally found her! Elder Santos told her we felt like we needed to come back and give that to her and she looked so happy! She said she was going back to Mexico tomorrow and she gave us her information so that we could send it to the Mexico mission in her town! Me and Elder Santos just felt so goood!!! It is truly amazing! So that's my story. As for Spain...we are in the more modern part of Madrid. So it kinda still looks like we are in the states. The sun comes up around 8:30 and the sunrises here are SOOOOOOO beautiful! I wish so bad I could take pictures! I don't understand how the sunrises just get prettier and prettier every day! We go play soccer everyday at this cool soccer court a few blocks from the MTC though. It is pretty fun! Sometimes the native kids come play and they kick our butts! The food is good. We just eat the Cafeteria food but I have never complained. We eat often and I don't really like fish but it is SO good here!! The fruit juice is so yummy too! But the milk is nasty. Me and Elder Webber just got back from the "Mall". We went into a big market and saw the fresh cooked bakeries and butchery. We got some chocolate and lemon Fanta too and it is way good! Every night we have Sprite and Fanta so I'm digging that! I do miss home but I am so distracted during the day that I don't even think about it until night and then I'm too tired to think about it too much. I have had the opportunity to give Elder Webber a blessing this last weekend. That was pretty neat. I was struggling to find more things to say but I didn't feel like I could be done yet. Then I said one thing that I didn't think about and all of a sudden felt like it was over! I guess that last thing is what he needed to hear! I know it's nothing huge but it built my testimony of the priesthood. I am such good friends with the Elder's in my room. We get along so well and every night we just open up about home, girls, our struggles, and good times here. We are a very tightnit group and I love them a lot. We are definitely the group that knows why we are here. There are only about 35 missionaries total here. That includes Sister missionaries, Portugues missionaries, French, Russian, and Italian. So its not that big. But I like it that way. It's strange to see how much I've changed and how much I've learned just in this last week and a half. I'm glad to hear all of you are doing good and it was good to hear from you. I would like real letters every once in a while :) It feels good to have something I can read more than just once. and letters are nice :). I think that is all the stuff I have to share right now! Yo amo vosotros! (I love you all)

Love,

Elder Derick Marchant

Good Morning/Afternoon/whatever

Dear All,

the shift key sucks on these keyboards so nothing is capitalized and the compose button wasn't working so you all are getting this reply. for some reason I don't have grandma ever's email address so will someone please forward to her? I have more time to email tonight so anything I don't say will be sent tonight haha. It was so great to hear from you all! The first day here was rough. The flight was great because I was sitting right next to Elder Daley and we talked the whole time. he is a stud. So we had a lot to talk about and it made us both feel way more at ease. When I landed in spain i went to exchange my money and gave him my card and he said "how much" and I said 200 because that's what everyone else had. Well I meant 200 US dollars but he did Euros so it took way more than I was meaning to take and right then I was freaking out and the rest of the day revolved around that level of stress. But right now I really am great! I love my teachers and companions. Our morning teacher is Hermana Martinez and she is the coolest lady ever! She is like my mom in the MTC haha. Our Afternoon teacher is Hermano Lopez and I fall asleep everytime he walks in the room because he is so monotone and boring! haha. But he is gone all week so Hma Martinez teaches us all morning and afternoon@!!!!!!! YES!!! Our night teacher is Hermano Bendito. He is cool. He is about the slobbiest looking guy in the world and is always itching his belly haha. He is young. probably 24. But he is about the most spiritual, hard working guy you will ever meet! I like him a lot! The president is a great guy as well. His name is Presedente Sitterud. The Directer of the MTC is Hmo Ahora and I love his firesides! He is the most spiritual speaker in the world!! My companion is Elder Webber. He is from Payson. There is no one else in the whole MTC I'd rather be companions with! He is a whole lot like me! He is our district leader. He is a good leader, he works hard, but he has a lot of fun. We we teach our 'investigators' we have a very good spirit about us! All our teachers tell us that. The kids in my room are awesome! Elder Schwenke, Elder Rawlinson, Elder Richins, and Elder Mullins. The language is coming really fast for me!!! Which is great because I felt awful the first day here because everyone in this entire MTC took Spanish in high school. Everyone, including the teachers, say that my accent and pronunciation is PERFECT though! So that's good! I can read out of the scriptures and it sounds good even though I don't know what I am saying hahaha. But everything is great! I am out of time but I have more time to email tonight!!! I need to tell you guys about the Parque and everything!!! I love all you so much and I miss you but I am doing great! I will email tonight with more details and stories!

Love,

Elder Derick Marchant

PS, MOM, We can't take pictures in the MTC and we haven't had a P day until today so you will get pictures next week hopefully! :) Tell you more later! Feel free to reply though :)

Madrid MTC

I am here!

Mom and Dad,

I am here! I will email you some more information when I have more time to do so tomorrow but all is well! I'm a bit overwhelmed and I messed up with getting my euros so I really need you guys to check my Zions account because I'm positive that it overdrew and then please put some in Mountain America! I'll email you again tomorrow!

Love,

Elder Marchant

Well we have waited for this day for over 18 years and are so proud of the decision Derick has made to serve a mission.  There were plenty of hugs, laughs, smile and of course tears saying good bye to Derick for the next two years.  (We are liking the sound of, 24 Fast Sundays, though)  

Good luck Derick!  We love you and will pray for you always.

Goodbye!  or better yet.  "See you later!"

Derick's Farewell

We are so grateful for all of our family an friends that shared this day with us.