#7 My first Mission Area - A Coruna, Spain

The MTC was a great experience for me.  I learned a ton, made great friends and had a lot of fun! I was excited to get to my first area in Northern Spain called “A Coruña”.  

President & Sister Jackson

Life in A Coruña is great.  My trainer, Elder Bird, is an awesome missionary and I am learning a lot from him.  He is very patient and hard working.  He is an answer to my prayers! I am glad that my companion speaks English so that he can explain to me what happened after the lessons that we teach.  I am glad that Sister Jackson sent you pictures. Everyone here pronounces his name like Elder Beard. It’s pretty funny.

I am pretty much used to all the studying that we do in the morning and I am actually enjoying it a lot. We taught 9 lessons last week and they all went well.  We have 3 fechas for the next month. (Baptismal dates)

The members and the people are super nice and generous. We always have galletos and Fanta Narajan at their houses.  We’ve already had two meals with members. Neither of the meals were Spanish because all of our members and investigator’s are from South America. haha.  The Northern Spaniards are not quite as nice.  Especially on the streets they do not want to hear what we have to say at all.  They all have a lot of prisa. Tengo prisa, tengo prisa lo siento... I get tired of hearing that but I know it is worth the try just in case we find somebody that wants to hear the glad message of the restored Gospel.

We live on Ronda de Outiero, which is the main street here in A Coruña. It is very conveniently placed.  We live close to our grocery store, to the church and to the place where we write email. We are also very lucky to have an elevator in our piso.  Although, someone in our building forgot to pay the elevator bill! So, since yesterday the power to the elevator has been cut off which kind of sucks since we live on the 8th floor.

Thank you so much for the information on A Coruña, I love that kind of info.  I read up on it in my Spain book but there wasn´t much about it.  I can see the light from the Hercules lighthouse at night. It is really cool and I am definitely going to go there during one of my P-days. I am not going to today because it is overcast but when it is better weather I will go.

I am going to go grocery shopping after we are done writing emails. I am excited! I am going to get some good breakfast food; fruits, yogurts,cereal, bread, milk that you can leave on a shelf.  Mom, I thought that you would be excited to hear about all that good stuff :) Something really cool about my lunches and dinners, I don´t cook them! We are paying a

woman from the Dominican Republic to cook us meals for 75 Euro a month. It is Dominican Republic food and it is pretty good.  Lots of pastas,rice and mystery meats.  It is nice to not have to cook a meal at night or during medio dia.

In this area we walk A LOT. I am pretty sure that we walk around 10 miles a day. My shoes are doing great though. My feet get tired but they are not sore. I love being outside and I enjoy the ocean air.

I am glad to hear that all is well at home.  I am great, I am safe and having a good time! Oh by the way, the first two day´s that I was here

I was able to play the guitar on two of our visits. I played the

little Spanish tunes that I learned before I came out and they loved it! Taking advantage of my talents out here as well.

Dad:  It sounds like you had a great week of work and play as usual.  I am glad to hear that the Subi is running better than ever! All the cars here in Spain are stick shifts and they look like fun little cars to zip around it. The drivers here in A Coruña are very well trained at letting pedestrians cross the crosswalks as soon as your foot touches the road. It kind threw me off guard because I am used to waiting for a while before a friendly Utah driver lets me cross…

Tell Jonny that I am excited for him about his new fishing rod and for his 50 mile hike! That hike with you Dad was my favorite of all my years of scouting!

Mom:  I am so glad to hear that you had a good week this past week.  Elder Berry told me that his mom organized a little Mission Mom luncheon. haha. I´m glad that you went! I am still laughing just imagining all the missionary moms! LOL. I know everyone of those Elders that you mentioned! Most of them were in the other Zone so I don´t know them as well as the ones that were in my Zone but they are all great guys.  Fun Fact, Elder Easton has been writing Lauren Bretzing! He went to Woods Cross and they were dating. Funny connection – small world.

I liked your joke about me and Elder Bird being related in some “Fowl” way! That was a good one and then I could practically hear you saying Ha Cha cha Cha! I will be sure to tell him that. 

Well I am excited to hear about your next week! I love your weekly emails!

Love you all so much!! 

Love, Elder Jayden

Hasta proxima semana, Te amo mucho!