Christmas week was great!

Well Christmas week was great! Really it was one of my favorite Christmas's! I can't believe that the members here took time away from their own families to make out Christmas good! I'm very grateful for the members here. They love us! haha. I think because almost all of them are converts and have a special place in their hearts for missionaries. Talking to my family was definitely the best part :). I'm very blessed to have not gotten homesick yet. Hopefully I never do :). So the best story of this week was last Thursday haha. We walked passed this little shop and there was this silly looking guy behind the counter playing the electic guitar haha. It was hooked up to the amp and everything! He didn't sound like he knew what he was doing and we kinda just laughed and kept going to our investigator's house. Then on our way back he was still in there and I wanted to take a picture of him because it was so funny! So we go in and I start talking to him and ask if he plays guitar and he starts going nuts! He plays super good! He was totally shredding this guitar! I recognized that it was a Guns N Roses song so I started talking to him about Classic Rock and he pulls out this HUGE box of his Vinyl Record collection! He had Queen, CCR, Elvis, Fleetwood Mac, and tons more old record albums! It was so cool! I told him I played guitar too and he passes me his guitar and I was like "Do you know ACDC? or Def Leppard? haha" and I started playing their songs and we just passed the guitar back and forth jammin'! He must have recognized that we were missionaries because then he wrote down the name of a band for me and said "You can listen to them. They are CHristian Rock"" hahaha! So I wrote down a Christian Rock band for him too! We bought a bottle of Coke from him and left and my companion was like "We are gonna get him! You need to learn more songs so we can go in there a few times a week!" haha. So hopefully we can earn his trust and teach him :). Now I think I understand the whole "there are people who need your special talents" thing! haha. I really hope that something turns up of it! I'll let you know! That's really the only good story of the week besides Christmas. haha.

Love y'all! I'm doing great!

Elder Marchant

P.S.
Crap, Mom's gonna write me in CAPS lock if I don't send her pictures!!! haha

Also I forgot to say that we have been using the NERF pistol! :) It shoots dang hard! We load up 2 darts in it and play dumb schmuck. Whoever loses gets to spin the barrel and the winner gets 1 shot! hahaha!

Feliz Navidad!

Alrighty well... First off, I am super grateful to have a companion! So that when you have those times when you drop a load in the Domino's bathroom, find out AFTER that they have no toilet paper OR paper towels by the sink, you know that your companion is gonna come check on you in 15 or 20 minutes so you can have him bring you some napkins at least!!! :) hahaha! I really do love my companion! I taught him how to play Dumb Schmuck and he loves it! :) So we play that some nights when we have time or while food is cooking. As for food!...I had my first TERRIBLE meal! :). It was awful!! I imagine that one of the most frequently used lies on a mission is "Oh yeah! The food is great!" haha. And I know that it's not just me because the members left the room to go get more food and the other three missionaries I was with all said "Who wants mine?!" at the same time!!! hahaha :). BUT! as for good food...They have this stuff here that is sliced up oranges with olive oil and cinnamon over the top and IT IS SO HACKING GOOD!!! :). I have a picture of it! I could eat it forever! You have to try it! We had our ward Christmas party last week too and that was really fun! The people think its really cool that I can carry tables by myself haha. I say "My dad has been Elder's Quorum president a few times, my grandpa has been bishop...I have done my fair share of setting up for church events" haha. I have only seen 2 people that are taller than me the whole time I have been here! And they play for the Madrid Pro Basketball team :). Mom, just so you know, I have already done my singing at ward parties and member's houses and stuff. I think I'm gonna be asked to sing in Sacrament meeting now too! haha. I really enjoy singing in Spanish! Yesterday we went to the center of Sevilla and saw some AWESOME stuff! It was super beautiful! I have some pictures of that too!

Well, Merry Christmas all! :) Feliz Navidad! :) 

I love you!

Elder Marchant

Oranges with Olive oil and Cinnamon.  Looks like they really like it!!!

The Best 2 Years ;)

Well..... I usually read through the past week in my journal before I email while I'm on the bus. But....I forgot it today!! Dangit! So I will do my best to recount the past week :). It's been really good! I love my district so much! We have 2 other Elders who are also the Zone leaders and we have 2 Sisters. They are so fun! We do lots together! We went to a Chinese buffet last week and it was pretty nasty haha. But they had free refills! So that was wonderful! :). All they drink in Spain is Coke, Pepsi, Orange Fanta, and Lemon Fanta. Sometimes there is Sprite!!!! :) so that is awesome! But mostly we drink Orange Fanta and Coke at like every dinner we go to. Spanish has been coming a lot faster this last week! We talk in Spanish outside of the apartment and in English inside so that I can learn Spanish and Elder Antezana can learn English. I am finally able to talk to him in JUST Spanish outside. It's broken up a lot and not always perfectly correct but I can get my point across. Elder Antezana's English is getting much better as well! I love being able to give blessings. Elder Antezana and I have had the privelege of giving multiple priesthood blessings and I love having the priesthood and being able to do that! I love feeling of the love God has for the people that we are blessing as I put my hands on their head. We have a goal as a mission this week to get 800 new investigators! It's a ton!! Each companionship needs to get about 8. We have only gotten like 3 in the past 3 weeks! So that is a hard goal but we prayed and picked 8 of our potential investigators and wrote their names on a paper on the wall so that we can pray for them so the Lord can prepare them for us this week. So hopefully we can get them! :) I have been studying the Book of Mormon like crazy! I LOVE IT!!! I can't believe that I have read it 3 times already before this because I read it now and think "How the heck did I NEVER see this!?" I have to take my scripture marking pens everywhere with me because I can't make it through a whole page without marking something and making notes! I have learned so much in just a short 2 months! I started the Book of Mormon over when I got to Sevilla and I am in Mosiah already. I just love reading it! I can't believe I ever thought that it was boring! The main thing you need to do it pray before you start so that you can invite the Spirit to teach you and also so you can pay attention :). I love being a missionary. It is hard as heck! But I can already see the blessings in my life and in the lives of the people we talk to :).

Love you all,

Elder Derick Marchant

Week 2 in Sevilla

Well this week wasn't super eventful. Last P-day we went to the Tower of Gold that is along the river in Sevilla. AND MY CAMERA WASN"T WORKING!!! So my companion has pictures and will get some to me :). It was a pretty cool place. We climbed to the top and saw Sevilla from up high and it is so pretty! I can't wait to see more. Today for P day we are having Zone vs. Zone soccer! We rented a big field and we are gonna play soccer for a while :). Last week we had a split with our Zone Leaders because they are in our District too. So I spent a whole day and night with one of our Zone Leaders. His name is Elder Adams. He is from England and he is a stud! He was a professional soccer player in England and gave it up to go on a mission! It was also great to spend a day with someone who speaks English :). But we get to see other missionaries all the time and I get to talk in English to them. Elder Antezana is the District Leader here so we are one of the only companionships around here that has keys to the church. So whenever there is a baptism we have to go open the Chapel and fill up the font and wait around there until it is done. And there were 2 baptisms last week so we missed 2 afternoons of work. Last friday we had a Zone Conference as well. I understood a lot of the Spanish too! That was good. That whole day I felt like crap though. When I got back to the apartment I was getting ready to go out but as we were leaving it got really bad! I had a bad fever and sore throat and exploding headache. So my companion made me go to bed. I slept from 6 that night to 9 the next morning. I felt a lot better! I enjoy going to Church here and talking with the members but I can only take about 2 hours of straight Spanish before my brain wants to give up haha. So by the time Priesthood meeting comes around I'm just daydreaming ;). But it's coming! The hardest people for me to understand are our investigators! They have all been smoking their whole life so their voices are terrible scratchy and I never know what the heck is going on! But I know that it will come. Sometimes I get really frustrated with Spanish. But the other American missionaries all tell me that my Spanish is better than their's was when they first got out and that I will learn it a lot faster than they did. That's a relief but sometimes I don't believe them haha. Well..hopefully this next week is more busy and we teach a lot more so I have better stories next week! I am so happy to be here! I love this! I see the Lord's hand in my life every day! I also am growing to love the Book of Mormon more and more every time I read it! It is awesome!!!

Love you all.

Elder Derick Marchant

 Derick's MTC companion Elder Webber  from Payson, Utah

 MTC Roomies

 This is from his balcony in Sevilla.

Thanksgiving in Sevilla, Chicken & Orange Crush!

SEVILLA!

Well, I am in Sevilla! I haven´t seen much of the ´beautiful´ parts yet hahaha. But we are gonna go do that today! So first of all... the night before I left the MTC, I asked my companion for a blessing. I was feeling okay but a blessing is just normally something I would get from dad before a big change like that. It was amazing! It was one of the most powerful blessings I have ever received. It was exactly what I needed to hear to resolve some things I was struggling with in the MTC. It was really neat to have my new best friends all in the circle with their hands on my head too. I miss them a lot. Only 2 of the 8 came to Málaga with me. The train ride to Málaga was awesome! FIELDS AND FIELDS FULL OF OLIVE TREES!! As far as you could see!! It was beautiful! Málaga is the most beautiful place I´ve been by far! The ocean is way pretty and the city is so clean and full of palm trees and hills and cool buildings! President Deere is a stud! I like him a lot! When I found out that my companion didn´t speak ENglish I was really frustrated. For about a day I was just really angry because I couldn´t communicate with him. His name is Elder Antezana. He is from Valencia, Spain. So he is a native. But he is awesome! I love him! He says ¨Fetch¨ all the time hahaha! I laugh every time! He is way funny and he is trying really hard to speak ENglish with me in the Piso, (apartment). Thursday all the missionaries in Sevilla met at the Church and had Thanksgiving dinner. It was chicken and mashed potatoes and orange Fanta haha. But it was good! And great to meet other missionaries. OH! ELder ANtezana told me that we only had cold water and told me I could shower first the first morning here. So I had the most awful cold shower of my life!! I walk out of the bathroom SHIVERING and tell him it´s his turn! He walks in with 2 pots of boiling water and fills up this bucket with it and some cold water so that HE can have a hot shower!!! He just laughed at me! hahaha. The next day we went and got butane to have hot showers though haha. It was a pretty funny first day prank. We hang out with the 2 other companionships in our district a lot. Because we see them a lot. 2 Hermanas and 2 Elders. Elder ANtezana is the DL and the 2 other elders in the district are the ZL´s. The Hermanas are just cool haha. We´ve been teaching 5 or 6 investigators and quite a few LEss active members. We have eaten at members houses twice. Last nightwe ate at a members house and had Penne Pasta with Alfredo sauce and hot dogs. They were teaching me what all the food things were in spanish and they pointed at the pasta and said ¨Macaroni¨ I said ¨No. That´s penne!¨ They all busted up laughing! I didn´t know what the heck happened! WHen they pulled themselves together, I found out that ¨Penne¨in spanish is ¨Penis¨.....Well, I got the embarassing first week of saying some stupid story over with hahahaha! It was pretty funny I guess. Yesterday at church, I bore my testimony. It was really good I think! haha. And in the ward conference meeting, someone said something about Papa Noel. Which is Santa Claus. And also something about the ward CHristmas Party and then Elder Antezana pointed at me and said ¨Elder Marchant will¨ I thought he was volunteering me to be Santa Claus at the ward party!!! Later I found out that they were looking for someone to sing AFTER Papa Noel got done hahaha. He laughed at me for a long time. I´m really enjoying it so far. Hope i´m not speaking too soon! The Spanish is hard. The people here have a crazy accent and they take all the S´s out of the words when they talk. For example: Mas o Menos here is pronounced Mah o Menoh. SO its hard to understand but the last few days I have been understanding a lot more and being able to help teach. I am learning really fast because I have to talk in Spanish to communicate with Elder Antezana! It´s a huge blessing! The mission will fly by as soon as I get the language down. I haven´t gotten TOO frustrated or overwhelmed yet haha. But everything is good. I don´t have time to put pictures on because I had a lot to say and not a lot of time but next week I will! haha. Love you all


Elder Derick Marchant