An Early Christmas Present

In the Spain Malaga Mission we got an early Christmas present. The Elders in Elche seemed to know what was coming. Thanks Elders Valenzuela, Banbury, Hunt and Estrada. You seemed to know what happened last week. And what happened?

300 Baptisms exactly. Yep, we have already reached our first goal. Yea for everyone. But wait a minute, we did have something at the end of the goal. It is called a +. We set the goal of 300+ baptisms. So for the month of December, we are working to see how high we can go. And the Baptisms keep coming. It is incredible to see the dedication and faith of the missionaries. Oh and by the way, yes, that is Elder Thornley next to Elder Fagersten. He is the new office secretary and is learning his role quickly. Welcome to the office, we know you will do great.

We are all about Families getting baptized. This family in Alcazar had the last 2 daughters that were old enough get baptized Sunday. Elder Peterson and Elder White prepared them well and we all enjoyed the baptism. The only people left are mom and dad and we all know what is one of the biggest obstacles in today's world. Yes, it is called marriage. They have a goal to get all their papers and so we hope to see them baptized by March.

In Malaga mom and son were baptized. The husband baptized his wife while Elder Dangerfield baptized his very active and adorable son. He insisted on Elder Dangerfield to baptize him. Now the entire family are members of the church. We look forward to one year when they can be sealed in the temple. Elder Corradi and Elder Dangerfield had a great day.

This is officially our 300th baptism which took place last Sunday night in Murcia. Way to go Hermana Woodward and Hermana Ross.

Jaen is celebrating this wonderful baptism. Elder West and Elder Gomez have worked super hard to see success. They know what it takes to find someone ready to receive the gospel.

Cartagena is seeing the baptismal font more. Elder Hamilton and Elder Phillips have made great strides in the missionary work going on in Cartagena. Elder Anderson is there to support them.

Elder Pearce and Elder Barahona have worked and worked in San Lucar and are seeing another baptism. Faith and work go hand in hand in this work.

Elder Jones and Elder Staples have seen several baptisms in Crevillente. It is great to see such great success.

This is a great picture. Elder Rodriguez and Elder Kirkham never gave up hope of baptizing in Motril. They also have another one for January. It takes a lot of hard work but they are not afraid of it and know that the Lord is with them always.

Oh, we caught you Elder Kirkham. He is eating his birthday cake that he and Elder Rodriguez made. Happy Birthday to everyone who has a birthday in the mission.

The sun was just setting as we were getting ready to eat at the start of Consilio. We had a large, enthusiastic group to feed and then get to work.

Now there is a better look of this great group.

We focused on contacting. The Zone Leaders practiced and re-practiced so that they were ready to teach their Zones. Nice smile Elder Birnbaumer.

Elder Fagersten is standing by our missionary tree. Everyone has a picture on the tree and all the Zone Leaders put their Zone on the tree. And yes Elder Pederson and Elder Shaver, your pictures are now on the tree.

The Elders were contacting everywhere, even in the kitchen. Elder Long was contacted by Elder Pederson and Elder Pratt. I think they did a great job.

Elder Lignell and Elder Bailey are sure to use the Book of Mormon when they contact.

Out on the deck Elder Alejandre and Elder Waite are doing a great job in contacting Elder Shaver.

And yes, it is a V for Victory. We have our shield of faith with Presidente Clegg leading the charge. 300 baptisms was nothing, we are going for many more!

Hooray for Israel! We are one excited mission right now.

Elder Bailey is the one who brought the shield to the mission home. He looks unstoppable.

This shows you how it was put together and by who. Yep, Elder Bailey and Elder Hamilton did this on a p-day and now it hangs in the office for everyone to see.

But we weren't done yet. After working and practicing contacting, all the Zone Leaders were off to do a "Harvesting" in Fuengirola. It was great and they were ready to go.

We have the happiest and hardest working Elders and Hermanas in all the world right now. Faith can move mountains.

When they came back it was time to load up with boxes and supplies that were waiting for them in the office. There was so much they couldn't take it all even though they brought empty suitcases.

The office was loaded and ready to go for the rest of the mission.

At the mission home the only thing left to do was laundry!!!

The weekend was spent in a large training meeting in Madrid for all the Mission Presidents of Spain and all the Stake Presidents. The Area Presidency came to do the training. As we were waiting for the train to go to LaMancha, President Clegg and President Hinckley enjoyed some real root beer brought to them from Hermana Clegg's trip to a store called "Taste of America." President Clegg ordered some vanilla ice cream and had a real root beer float.

That evening we visited the English class of the Hermanas in Ciudad Real. Hermana Sturgess and Hermana Letendre had brought treats and they were all excited and surprised when we walked in. They are a cute group with a lot of energy.

As we were just about to board the AVE train to come home to the mission home, Presidente Clegg and Elder Clegg were going over a few things that were going on in the District of LaMancha. Hmm, they look very serious, hope all is fine.

Yes, two cousins always have a smile on their face. Those Clegg men are good looking don't you think? I am sure La Hermana Clegg in Ciudad Real agrees with this Hermana Clegg in Fuengirola that we are married to two great Elders in Israel. Such a wonderful blessing. And so many blessings to enjoy here in Spain. It is a great time to be a missionary in Spain.