Elder Brandon Sharkey's Mission Blog: It's VISA time!!

LAST WEEK IN THE JOINT (MTC)

Feb. 2, 2013

AHHHHH. Yes. That would about sum up this week. I guess I should jump up to the best part. Wednesday, January 30th, I got to host again! It was super fun and I met a ton of great missionaries. Hosting really is fun tho, but it can be sad watching families cry. After I finished hosting, I returned to class. Every class has an intercom that can be paged at any time requesting a missionary for something. For weeks I have been dreaming of it calling for me to come to the travel office. Well, I walked in with my big coat on (it was snowing outside) and the intercom beeped. They said my named and asked me to come to the travel office right away. What happened next was moments I don't think I will ever forget it was so great! I threw off my jacket, and put my stuff down. I went to go pick it up, but Elder Mason told me he'd take care it and just told me to go haha. Me and Elder Tanner ran to office, where they told me I had to meet with Spanish consulate Friday because my visa had arrived. I almost started crying I was so happy! It was the best gift I could've asked for. Every time I prayed, I prayed for my visa if it be God's will. Faithful prayer works. My visa coming the DAY I was supposed to get my reassignment was a miracle. Only me and one other missionary here at the MTC got our visas. The rest were for missionaries who have been reassigned for quite some time.

Unfortunately, my companion did not receive his visa. He was reassigned to serve in the Salt Lake City mission, and will be there for at least 6 weeks. This isn't a bad thing, just bummed because he really wants to get to Spain. He has a better attitude than me tho and is looking forward to his experiences in Salt Lake City.

I will be leaving the MTC Monday morning at 5am. My flight leaves Salt Lake at 8:30am and I land in New York at 3:00pm. I then have a 3 hour lay over in which Im going to search with all my might for a taco bell. It will be my last chance for it for 2 years :O. I then will leave JFK at 7:25pm and arrive in Barcelona at 9:25am. It is quite a lot of traveling, but I could not be more excited. I met the two sisters I'm traveling with to Barcelona with, and they are hilarious/awesome. It will such a fun trip.

Friday all of the Spain missionaries with visas got to go to the Spain Consulate. He teaches at UVU so we went there. All of the missionaries are hilarious and such a fun group. I felt bad for some, especially one elder who has been in the field for 6 months and just now getting a visa. There's a reason for everything tho, and I know he is better off for it. We went to UVU and met the consulate. He was a very funny guy and he told us all about Spain. We then had to sign forms in front of him. After that, we got our passports with our visas! We then all went to the foodcourt and ate Pizza hut/Costa Vida haha.

This week has been hectic, but definitely the best one yet. I am so ready for Barcelona Tuesday! Oh and it is super expensive to sent packages to Spain, so if you arent my immediate family don't send stuff! It's too expensive, and I will be able to get most stuff in Spain. If I need anything I'll let my parents know. Love everyone very much! Next letter will be from Spain!

Elder Sharkey