The Transfer of the Keys

Didn't we do this already? Here we are in Malaga, and it is beautiful. We love the Mellors and enjoyed our afternoon with them. Here we have the "passing of the keys." It is a humbling feeling to take over for someone who has been terrific. We love the Mellors and wish them well as they return to Utah.

We went to the office where we met the office staff. Elder and Sister Hunt are the wonderful office couple and next to them are Elder Bader, an assistant, Elder Goodman and Elder Stanley the office secretaries, and Elder Halverson, the other assistant. And of course, the front row is Pres. and Hna Clegg on the left and Pres. and Hna Mellor on the right. We wish the Mellors would stay for a while, that could be fun! We are ready to go to work so the next morning it was off to greet and meet all the new missionaries.

Driving to all new places with all new faces can be an adventure. We are able to meet about half of the missionaires in the first 3 days, with more to come next week. Here we are at the Malaga 3 chapel with Elders Beck, Fredrickson and Padilla. Great missionaries with such great light. We are already feeling at home.

We are in front of the Antequera chapel with the Elders who are working here and also the Elders from Cordoba. From L. to R. Elders Bader, Halverson, Watts, Pres. Clegg, Elders Andersson, Himmer and Leon. Again we meet wonderful Elders, this is going to be great!

Another stop was in the city of Alcala where we found Elder Birnbaumer and Elder Smith. It was getting hot this day, we we didn't care, meeting the missionaries is so much fun. They have a lot of excitement and we could feel it everywhere we went.

We enjoyed our visit in Dos Hermanas with Elder Larsen and Elder Barton. They are having great success in Dos Hermanas where the members are really helping them with the work.

In Sevilla we found an incredible group of very hard working missionaries. Elder Nielson, myself, and Hna's Cluff and Nelson. Two very hard working Hermanas. Next to them are Elders Wells, Thatcher, Iglesias and Pres. Clegg. Elder Wells and Hna Cluff are new to the mission but seem to be doing great and learning how to be great missionaries. They must have wonderful trainers! It is hot in Sevilla!!!

We visited the beautiful city of Cadiz to find Elder Travis and Elder Basurto along with Hna Ruiz de Mendoza and Hna Ackerman. It is fun to see Hna Ruiz de Mendoza again. We first met her in the Provo MTC when we were learning Spanish and she was a BYU student. We sure didn't think we would be meeting like this, but we love it.

In the city of Jerez we find our ayudantes with the great Elders here. Elder Avellar along with his companion Elder Ward serve in this city. Elder Ellis with Elder Wilson are in Sanlucar. So many new cities to learn and how to pronounce them, we will get there soon.

The Zone Leaders in San Fernando are Elder Goings and Elder LeBaron. We found them doing their planning when we arrived in this quaint town. Every town was a little different and this one was no exception. The roads are narrow making it hard to drive and find parking, so we let the ayudantes park the car.

It was fun to meet Elder Fetzer and Elder Salls in the wonderful town of Chiclana. The temperature right now was around 110. Not bad in the shade! Another fun adventure is that some of our missionaries in Bilbao are from the south. Chiclana is the home of Elder Cepeda who will be coming home in September.

Elder Lucero and Bullen were a delight to meet in Algerciras. Elder Lucero is from Bountiful and he is going home soon. He will have to say hi to all of our friends back home.

The group in Granda was alive and well. We enjoyed seeing snow on the mountain tops. Such a contrast in the weather. Pictured from left to right are Elders Hafen, Millerberg, Bader, Solari, Halverson and Heywood. Presidente and I are next to Hna's Ramirez and Millan. Hna Ramirez is directly from El Salvador.

Wait a minute, missionaries aren't suppose to be in levi's with their arms around a beautiful Spanish girl. Oh yes, that is Josue Sanchez and his lovely wife Amaya. They had to pick up some residency cards from us in Granada. Always fun to see Josue.

We had a great visit in Almeria with Elders Brossa, Hurley and Elders Harville and Vaninetti. They are loving serving in Almeria where the members are terrific.

We enjoyed a sweet visit with Elders Adams and Wardell in Motril. They are working hard and seeing some real fruits of their work. Elder Adams is going home and sure wishes he could stay longer. So do we, but we are sure his family is getting excited for his return.

On Sunday we attended church in the Malaga 1 ward. Here I am with Hna Hidalgo, from Gijon and Hna Stolk. Presidente set Hna Hidalgo apart as a missionary to come to this mission when we were serving in Bilbao. It was so great to see her again. Next week we will be meeting more missionaries and enjoying all their wonderful stories and testimonies. Visiting missionaries is even better than it looks.