An AWESOME Day!

Hello everyone!!!

It's Elder Maybury here emailing you from the CCM in Madrid Spain! So today for Prep Day was so ammmazing! I had some great experiences! The first one is we got to go to.....

The Real Madrid Stadium!!!! 

It was such an experience. The tickets were 15 euros for the tour. We got to go in the stadium and see everything. I bought a FC Barcelona scarf for when I go to Barcelona. I wouldn't dare wear it in the stadium. Soccer is pretty serious over here in Europe. Any way, we went in and there were so many trophies! They had practically everything, from trophies, to shoes and jerseys. And these were pretty old like when the team was founded in the 1900's. And they had these videos playing all on the walls showing everything from goals, to player signings, and champion wins and celebrations and so much more. An email like this will never describe how awesome that place was. And this is coming from a guy who is serving in Barcelona and is a fan of their team! 

They trophies were so amazing. They were vast and many, with every different design possible. I'll show some pictures of my favorite towards the end. We got to go all the way to the field level and sit in the players chairs on the sidelines. It was amazing. It made me a Madrid fan, lol. They also had a lot of some basketball trophies, as well. My two favorite parts was seeing all of the national trophies and they have like 13 I believe. They are quite fantastic. The other part was when another elder and I took our picture together and it went onto a giant mural that showed some Madrid players celebrating. It was awesome! 

I'm gonna change directions here and talk about the other great experience that I was able to participate in today. I was able to go into the Madrid temple today and do an endowment session for someone. I got to do it with my entire zone. It was quite beautiful and amazing. I felt humbled yet at the same time I couldn't wait to finish it because I wanted this deceased person to receive the blessings of the temple as fast and soon as possible. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Two elders from Brazil got to go [through] all the way for the first time. They were in another zone (meaning not part of the missionaries in my zone/district in the MTC), but I could tell they were so excited. 

This week has been a little hard actually. It is a lot of Spanish and I had to learn Preterite vs Imperfect which was really hard for me. Nevertheless, I had Faith to understand it and though I barley understand the concept, the Lord blessed me with a tutor who will help me and another Elder understand all we need to know. We started at the beginning and he said we can have a tutor session every day if we want. They Lord blessed us in different ways than we expect, but sure enough he does bless us. 

I hope everyone is doing awesome back home. You guys can send me pictures if you want to. Letters and packages (if you can afford them) are always welcome. But the letters are always wanted. I’ll talk to you guys sooner than you think. Love you all.

Blessings from Spain!!!

Elder Maybury

A few additional notes from Elder Maybury from other letters that he has sent home that I felt were great to share his spiritual development and love of his mission.  For example, he said:

"I have seen in others and in my life already that you really forget yourself and focus on others.  It may look like a conversation on the outside, but really it's [the] Spirit wanting to reach out and be heard."

He writes that Spain has been awesome and that there are a lot of awesome opportunities and experiences that he is having.  He doesn't have time to write them all down in his emails each week.  But he is making friends and loving the service.  He loves going to the temple.  He loves getting out and meeting people.  He is picking up the language, but as you can tell, there are parts that are more difficult to learn.  But, the more he speaks it, the more he will understand it.  For those who may not know it, when you learn another language, it comes in stages.  First comes understanding it.  Next comes the ability to read it.  Finally, the ability to speak it with confidence.  He is moving along at the right pace, from what I can tell.  

I must admit...I am missing him a lot this week.  Sure, staying busy helps, but I miss hearing his voice.  I miss the times he would play with his siblings.  He was such a good big brother.  He did so much for his siblings.  He did so much for me.  He and I cleaned the house daily and he did a very good job, too.  I miss that.  I miss the time that we would sing Eagles songs, or The Tenors.  I miss hearing him come barreling through the door after work and I was always the first person he would seek out to say "hi" to and to give a hug.  Sigh.  I wrote him a little journal notation each day this week.  It was just my way of staying connected to him.   

I do write to him weekly (a physical letter).  Here is Isabella dropping it in the mailbox for me.  

I truly pray that weeks #4 - #104 are much easier, because weeks #1-3 have been hard.  Onward and upward! 

Enjoy his pictures below! 

National trophies for Real Madrid (soccer team)

Cristiano Ronaldo’s locker (Joshua's favorite soccer player)

Me in the player seats at the stadium

Me and my companion (Elder Cheever) at the temple

Awesome trophy

The Real Madrid Stadium

Another awesome trophy

Picture of Madrid from stadium

My FC Barcelona Scarf

If you would like to write a letter to Elder Maybury (he loves getting mail, as only he and another Elder really get mail), you can write to him at this address:

Elder Alexander Maybury

Spain Barcelona Mission

Centro de Capacitacion Misional

Calle Del Templo 2, 4a Planta

28030 Madrid

Spain

International stamps = $1.15 (up to 1 once) / Cards may weigh differently

This is his mailing address UNTIL July 24th.  After that, he will be transferred to an area in Barcelona.  

Letters take 7-9 days to arrive.