Sunday, December 4, 2011

Wow What a Week!

Alicante had a very special baptism of two young adults. Elders McGarry, Masterson, Mervai and Blanch all had a part in this special night. We felt so honored to be able to be in attendance. The sweet spirit that attended the baptism was sweet and tender. Both of these young adults are deaf but it doesn't lessen their strong testimonies. Hey who is that guy next to Presidente? Stay tuned for the answer a little later in the blog.
Alicante had another baptism the week earlier. Never a week without a baptism in Alicante. Elder Blanch and Elder Mervai are working non-stop.
This was such a cute picture of enthusiasm. This little girl was so excited to be baptized. Good for her!
Elders Hunt and Estrada are all smiles in Elche. The work is picking up and nothing says happy missionaries more than great baptisms.
Elder Gibson and Elder Taylor were excited in Lorca. This wonderful young women was found in an "hora de oro." Yes, it does help to find the golden contacts.
Elder Thomas and Elder Stoner felt elated about their two baptisms in Sevilla.
And just had to add another baptism in Alicante. The wards there are incredible. Members really do make a huge difference.
Does anyone want a Book of Mormon? We are here to invite all to come unto Christ. Nothing helps anyone to gain a testimony like reading the Book of Mormon. The entire mission is reading it with the goal of being finished just before Christmas. Elder Blanch is doing his part to share the truth.
O.k., what is this a picture of?
Yes, it is the Sunday after the 8 baptisms and it takes 4 Elders to get the Baptismal records all filled out to send to the office to record. Remember, it isn't a baptism without submitting the paper work.
Elder Stowell, Elder Nally, Elder Walton and Elder Long know what it is like. And they did a neat job. Thanks Elders.
Just a little piso fun in El Puerto. Elder Brown and Elder Hafen are filling up the hallway. This is one high hallway because we know that Elder Brown is one tall Elder.
Elder Wells and Elder Wright have something they are excited to eat. Could this be a Thanksgiving celebration in the mission?
Yes it is. The San Fernando Zone had a Thanksgiving feast together.
This week we went to the east side of the mission starting with a visit to the District Meeting in Almeria. Elders Cooper and Rencher and Hermanas Perera and Moreno are a little surprised to see Presidente doing the dishes? Hey, he is a man of many talents.
We had a great district meeting and enjoyed lunch together afterwards.
Almeria is really coming alive with several baptismal dates set. It always helps to make for some happy missionaries.
The next day we were in Elche. We stared our morning spending an hour of study time with the super Elders in Elche. Elders Hunt, Valenzuela, Estrada and Elder Banbury are 4 great Elders. Their piso was so clean and neat and we shared a sweet hour of studying the scriptures together. We wanted to stay for two hours but we had to adapt our plans because we were needed in Torrevieja.
Presidente, this just doesn't seem to fit you. And you don't have a knee injury do you?
No it belongs to Hermana Rojas. We are taking her and Hna Vasquez to Elche for 10 days where Hermana Rojas can rest with the help of a lot of members there. They are going to stay with the Hermanas in Elche.
We have arrived and are waiting for the Elche Hermanas to come home. They are so busy teaching so many lessons that it is hard to find a time to meet with them.
But here the two super sisters come. Hermana Vega and Hermana Bascope are two incredible missionaries who work, and work and work. They have a few baptismal dates and working as hard as they can in Elche. We love our Hermanas.
Wow, what a nice picture. I actually took a picture of a picture of the District in Cartagena. Wouldn't everyone like to claim these 6 as their family? We think they look super.
And they are super. We attended their District Meeting on Thursday. They were great to change their schedule so we could be with them. Elders Phillips, Bradley, Hamilton, Hermanas Sypherd and Woffinden and Elder Anderson make up the Cartagena District. They are seeing more and more baptisms in Cartagena. Another example of great missionaries finding and teaching and baptizing.
Presidente Marmol came and cooked us all a fabulous lunch of Paella and Tortillas de Patatas and salad. Wow, he is a great cook. We love Pte. Marmol. Presidente Clegg and he had a meeting afterwards to talk about the work in his Stake. What a great missionary Presidente Marmol is, as well as a super cook. Gracias!!
We all sat down to eat together and enjoy the beautiful day in Cartagena.
Wait a minute, where are you Hermana Clegg? And what, a red hat that says Cougars? We took a p-day to be with someone very special. Now we weren't playing, we were watching the second stage of the European Q-School qualifying tournament because....
Our son, Garrett, who is Head Golf Coach at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington was in the Province of Murcia, caddying for one of his former all American players where he used to coach at the University of Washington in Seattle. Can you believe it? it was held in Murcia inside the boundries of our mission. Now don't make too much fun of his farmer hat. It was a little bit of an inside joke with the player he came to the tournament with. But hey, aren't these two great looking men!!!
Just a little view of the Golf Course called El Vallee outside of Murcia on the way to Cartagena. It was beautiful and we enjoyed being with our son for a little bit of time.
Here is Garrett again with us at the Baptism in Alicante. Elders Bailey and Elder Lignell were there as well.
Sunday we were greeted with some great smiling faces of Elder Shaver and Elder Forrest in Murcia. We attended both wards and each was filled with the Spirit with many wonderful testimonies. These Elders are happy too because their baptismal candidate came to church and is on track to be baptized in a few weeks.
We needed to get all the Murcia Elders in one picture. Elder Bennett and Melgarejo are also working and finding in Murcia. We don't want him to get his visa, he can stay in our mission forever, he is a super missionary.
Elder Basurto, your mom says hi! She also told me he is coming home in January, right? I assured her that he was.
And to top of the day, Hermanas Woodward and Ross are so excited. Pedro, their investigator is getting baptized tonight. He is a great young man and will add a lot to the ward. We were sorry we couldn't stay, but we know all was wonderful. We will see his picture in white next week. A great week with lots of things happening in the mission.

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