Puertollano

Puertollano! Wow what a city. This past week has been just an emotional roller coaster. I was lucky enough to have a train take me directly from Algeciras to Puertollano. The four hour train left at 3 so I had a long time before I left. 

At around 11 we dropped my "dad" (trainer) off at the bus stop and he headed home. It was sad to see him go. Then It was just me and the two other missionaries, White and Masterson, for the next few hours. We decided to get some stuff to eat and travel to to Plaza Alta. It was a good final few moments. I then sadly packed up all of my stuff and headed on to the train. I got on fairly early so I had a lot of time to sit in the seat and reflect over the past 5 weeks. As I did so, I got emotional, and it brought me back to when I was sitting on the airplane in Medford, waiting to depart from the gate. I just thought of all the people that I have met and everlasting friendships I had just made. It was really hard to leave... and that was just after 5 weeks!!! Because of all that I pretty much slept like a baby on the train.... woke up every five minutes and cried. haha just kidding, but I fell asleep and was knocked out. I think I woke up twice in 4 hours. 

When I got to Puertollano I was delighted to see mountains and trees and a lot of green!!! I can't see Africa anymore but it is a lot more like home. I was also happy to see no hills. Well not too many. Algeciras I swear was built so from no matter where you were you were always walking up hill. I then, met my companion, Elder Corradi from France, and we went to President Montes' home. The area was just reopened in February so there is a lot of work to be done. Most of our day is filled with contacting people in their homes or on the street, which I like, since I get to interact with a lot of people. I was also blessed to be in a super nice apartment. It actually has a dishwasher!!! What a miracle!! It is extremely comfortable. 

This last Saturday we had this thing where missionaries from all over came into our area and we divided up the city. Then we did nothing but try to find future investigators. At the end of the couple hours, as a group we came away with 30 new futures to contact this week. So it will be a busy week. Sunday was awesome. It was an extremely small branch though. We had the branch president and his family, two other families and the mission president and that was it!!! And I thought Algeciras was small! Well, now I have to try my hardest to make sure that this branch eventually becomes a ward. I know it can get done! It will get done! Which means I need to start now! So I will talk to you all later! Wish me luck!!

Love, 

Elder Steven Card