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| Mike Knight hard at work! This is the neighborhood around the church. |
We hope all is great at home and send our love your way!
It is spring here and the weather is getting warmer. Where we live on the 3rd floor of our apartment building there is always a nice breeze that comes in from the ocean. We can see the ocean from our balcony but it looks closer than it is. We will miss the view a lot when we leave here. The farmers in Madrid, which is over 1000 miles from here, say that the drought in Spain is the worst in 40 years. We have barely gotten a sprinkle in the almost 6 months we have been here. There was no snow on the volcano this year either.
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| Nadia's baby shower. These guys did a lot of the work! |
We are continuing with our work with the JAS kids. They are wonderful and fun. They keep us laughing even though many times we don't get it because of the language!
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| Here is a sweet little girl named Sangie. Her mom and dad just had a new baby. |
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| Makan and his son. These guys are great! |
We are planning a big hike this weekend but the kids said...."Oh, Elder and Hermana Knight it is very hard and you will not be able to do it." We listened and decided that we will drive them, prepare some snacks and drinks and meet them at the end! It will be a beautiful hike in a rocky and very steep part of the island. The views will be fantastic and they take a boat at the end too. They will have a great time and we will find something else to look at while we wait for them to return.
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| Natalia and her mom Rosario! Rosario translates for me many times. |
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| One of our favorite friends said this birds name was "Hermana Knight!" |
We are also in the process of moving the JAS room from one to another. The new room will be a little bigger and the layout is better. They have a couch, loveseat, tv, wii and computers in their room. It is a great place for them to come for Family home evening and institute. They really enjoy having the room just for them and it is then envy of all the younger kids. Hopefully it will be a goal for them to enjoy it when they become 18.
A part of our mission is finding the young people that were active once but now somehow are lost to us. We get out and walk the streets in some neighborhoods looking up addresses and seeing if they still live there. Rarely we come across someone that wants to be found and the address is correct. Kids between 18-30 are a very transient group. Going off to school, working, moving with other family members etc.
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| Transfer in day! |
Last week we were able to get 2 new missionaries to our area. Elder Bagley and Elder Winklecotter. They will be a wonderful asset to the area, plus the speak english!!
We hope to get more missionaries here. There is a big influx of missionaries coming to the Madrid Spain mission because visas come through all at once. We need senior missionary couples and young missionaries to do this work. The elders have found some great new investigators and it is fantastic to see when they hear the Gospel message their eyes light up and know that is the message they have been looking for!
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| For the Relief Society birthday some dancers represented Venezuela! |
Our food prep continues!.....one day we made 2 pans of homemade brownies, a double batch of chocolate chip cookie bars (we just cut up chocolate bars) and a whole stack of sandwiches for the FHE and to take to members we visit. Sometimes we think we are caterers because we fix it at home then pack it all up and take it to the church. We work very well in the kitchen as a team and that is great because it is too much for one person including clean up in a small kitchen. Mike thinks he might like to take cooking lessons when he comes home!
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| Here are some cute little crocheted hat pins and earrrings for one euro each! |
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| One of the giant Guanche statues in Candelaria. |
We have found the members are wonderful cooks here. We visited a sister the other day and she made homemade vegetable, potato soup whipped up with the hand blender, potato tortilla (that takes practice), chicken fillets, green salad, white queso cheese on little bread slices and rice with onions, tomatoes. It was wonderful and we provided the brownies which everyone here loves brownies no matter who makes them!
The new elder said he went to a members house and sea worms! It looked like pasta but had a mojo sauce on it. Yikes that wouldn't have gone over well with us though.
We have been given some fresh eggs right out of the nest to take home with us. They said don't put these in a cake just use these for eggs and toast. They are good.
One preparation day we set out to look at a town south of us and we discovered a beautiful area by the ocean with some famous giant statues there. These were statues representing the early people that lived here on the islands before conquered by Spain. They were called Guanches. They were supposedly a very big people. Also by the statues was a basillica that was fun to look in and see the old artwork.
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| A giant Guanche foot! |
We are thankful to be here to work with these wonderful people and get to learn their language and culture. We are thankful to be helping the church by supporting the youth here and helping the elders whenever we can. Our faith has grown in the Savior and what he did for us and is doing for us each day. Our love for the restored Gospel has been strengthened. We hope we are making a small difference.
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| They grow the biggest carrots here! |
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| Amalie, comes to English lessons and then started taking lessons from the elders! |
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| Texas sheet cake with a little too much icing! It was all gone though! |
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Some grey sand! It is volcanic sand. I have a sample to bring home with me. They won't miss it.
Love to everyone back home and thanks for all you are doing for us! Mike and Jeanne
(ps....I don't know how to arrange the pictures right and it takes a long time so sometimes the picture doesn't match the wording. Ooops)
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