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.

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.