Updates from the Canaries!!!

THE CACTUS PROJECT....

Elder Winklekotter and Elder Hilton helping with the cactus.

Mike at the BBQ grill.

Alejandro, Rosario, Ana, Taly, Fatima, Elder Knight, Hermana Knight

We are enjoying our time here.  We have been very busy!  This month we have had a big service project of cleaning up a backyard of a lot of old building materials, tiles, wire, stones, old tools etc.  AND a cactus that is heavy and has many stickers on it.  We worked with the family and chopped it all down and carried it off.  Whew, it was hard work and hot but we got it done and we hear that the family has finished taking the roots out and has now planted some trees and vines and flowers!!  That was worth it because they would never have tackled it themselves.  It took a full day with the JAS helping and then another few hours of the elders and us working.   That was a great sucess. We can't wait to go back and see it finished.

Taly writing our roadsign for the carwash. 

We also had a carwash and bake sale on Saturday to raise money for the kids to go to Palencia, Spain in August for a big conference of the YSA.  We had some hardworkers there!  We washed some members cars and sold some of our favorite chocolate chip cookie bars and brownies.  The spanish people love those.  We also have a sale going on in the branches to take orders for some special cakes and also our......you guessed it...brownies and chocolate chip cookie bars.  We should be able to make them by heart because we have made so many.

The carwash was of course followed up by a BBQ.  It was a simple affair with hotdogs, chips, veggies and cookies.  However, Brother Villalobos checked out the food and took his daughter and went to the market and came back with two bags of sausages, potatoes and leeks.  They threw them on the grill. 

It was funny because back home we always have the buffet line down both sides of the table and everyone serves themselves and then finds a place to sit but not here.  Everyone pulls a chair up to the serving table and then just go at it.  It is crazzzzzy!!

We will have a few more carwashes and continue the bake sale for a few more times.  We are going to make sure that whoever wants to go to the conference has the opportunity.  The kids on the Canaries have an extra fee of flying over to the peninsula that the kids in Spain do not have to pay for so we have been trying extra hard to earn the money.  We are figuring out the system but not feeling confident with the language and the way we do things and the way other areas of the world in the church do things are sometimes very different.  So that makes it hard in many ways to get things accomplished.

This week we will enjoy our trip over to Gran Canaria on the ferry.  (barco).  It takes about 3 hours all together.  We take our car.  It is fun getting together with all the missionaries and associating with the other couples.  There is a lot of cooking and dishwashing that goes on in two days.  Pam and Marc Eynon are the couple on Gran Canaria.  They have a big responsibility when we all come over! 

One of the biggest fears here for us was getting used to the traffic, the roadsigns, and the roundabouts.  Mike is doing all the driving here. I promised him I would drive him around for two years when we get home!  He is wonderful parallel parker now and has gotten the roads down.  It still can take two people to navigate especially when we are in an unfamiliar area.  Our GPS is a lifesaver however we didn't get one till we had been here about 4 months.  (big mistake).  Even now though many times the addresses are not in our GPS or you have to try several different ways to put the address in. 
What I am getting at is that when we take our car to the other island it is like nightmares all over again on unfamiliar territory of the speeding traffic and road signs. 

The current church building.  On top is an apartment building.  We just own the bottom floor.

Today at church, they announced they will be applying for a new church building.  That is so exciting for the members here!  They have been in the same bottom floor of an apartment building for about 20 years and it is a big problem with parking, classroom space, and just the old building.  Now would be a great time to find something else because spain is in a terrible financial crisis and even though real estate is expensive it is probably cheaper now than it has been in years.  We hope to hear good news for the members here in a while.  

Our friend Ana. 

There sure are a lot of wonderful people here.  We love them a lot.  We get so many hugs and kisses everyday from them.  It is the culture to give kisses on both cheeks, men and women.  If you are not a warm fuzzy person when you get here you will be by the time you leave.  There have also been several messups on my part, if you get distracted you miss your cue and you could end up with the unintended kiss on the lips!  

We are looking forward to May 30th which is Day of the Canaries.  It is a holiday where people dress up in their native costumes of the islands and eat typical canarian food and dance the canarian dances.  It will be great fun.  Our branch is having the celebration so we will be able to participate.

Elder Lopez, Elder Bagley, Elder Winklekotter and Elder Hilton.  We had the elders over for pancakes one morning.  They are so sharp.  We hope they come visit in Alabama!

Elder Pluim and Elder Raiano join in this picture. 

The church is growing here.  Every week there are new people investigating , new people being baptised.  It is very exciting.  The missionaries are working very hard and are very sweet too.  We continue to associate with them weekly and watch after their health or help them with any problems.  

We make a commitment everyday to speak only spanish to each other.  The language is coming along.  It is a fun language but it is hard.  There are many conjugations to remember and idiomatic phrases.  We may be most effective here when it is time to go home. Since we are not immersed everyday with members or people on the street it has been a slow process but we have gotten by well because Mike speaks very well now.  

This is a picture of how we communicate with the other couples on the islands and in Spain.  This was our first senior missionary couple meeting.  Historic!!

Better go now, but we send our love to our family and friends.  We say our prayers for each of you everyday and wish you many good things.  We are proud of all of our family and thankful for all your  support.  
Our testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ grows all the time and we know that this is God's church on the earth today and it is a blessing for the entire world.   A little at a time people take time to hear the message and contemplate what it means and that is how the church grows.  Our mission has been to help the young people stay active through good times and hard times.  To keep their testimonies strong or rekindle them. We hope we are helping a little bit.   

Full moon from our balcony.  The lower half of the blue is all ocean.  We love the view. 
On the left there is a white building and at night on the sidewalk right in front is a hangout for kids.  Wow, we get quite a lot of very loud disco music right when we are trying to go to sleep.  It can go on till 2am or later.  Even some volleyball or kickball has been known to be played at 3am!  Sometimes you just want to call someone!

Hasta luego!     

What has happened?

Google has done something with the blogging site.  I can't find anything!  When I went to preview the last entry I saw a few mistakes but now I can't find how to fix them.  Also two of the same giant pictures at the end.  Oh well. 

NOW IT IS SPRING!!!

Hi everyone!
Well, I might get this right one day....but all the pictures ended up at the bottom so you have to wait to see them at the end.


It is getting very beautiful here now.  The weather is much warmer in the daytime and the skies are so blue.  It really is spring now.  Some of the lovely trees with the purple and pink flowers are blooming now.  We are trying to get out and walk more often.  The streets are steep and it really gets our hearts beating hard. 


We will really miss seeing the ocean everyday when it is time for us to leave here.  We are up high enough that we see over the buildings down below us and have a 180*degree view of the ocean.  The rambla in front of our house is active with people walking, talking, kids, dogs, and bikes.  The street is dangerous though because of the racing that goes on with cars and motorcycles.
It is really amazing to think about this little speck of an island on the map has so many, many people living here.   


As always we report we love the people here.  The church members are friendly and great to us.  They treat us very well and are feeding us toooooo good.  Something will have to change!!

Our JAS kids continue to be fun and rewarding.  Their lives are always changing at this age because of getting married, going on missions, going to school, getting a new job etc.  So they are always coming and going.  The crisis has hit everyone pretty hard and they worry about their jobs or when will they get a job.
We are trying to get all the kids that want to go and can to get over to a conference for Young Adults in August on the peninsula  (2 hours north of Madrid)  Money is an issue so we will be doing some fundraising, carwashes and bakesales.

We had a wonderful project at a member's home this past Saturday.  We spent much of the day cleaning out a backyard of a lot of old tile, building materials, old wood etc.  It was quite a project and then to add chopping down catus plants that grow like trees here.  They spread and have thorns too.  We have to go back for several more days to finish it up  After the work, the food started coming out....chops on the bbq, spanish tortilla's, cheese, potatoes, mojo sauces, beans, chocolate chip cookie bars, juices and homemade lemonade.  Wow, it was good.  As we were saying about something has to change!!!

We continue to enjoy the companionship of the missionaries here.  They are wonderful and fun.  We now have only 2 spanish elders and 4 american elders. We are always impressed with their work ethic and their faith.  They say the most profound things that will come to our minds for years to come.  They are truly an example to us in many ways.  We hope to be helpful to them. 

Our friend Natalia is coming over once a week to help me with my spanish.  It is coming along!  Who knew there were so many verb conjugations?  It is so cute to hear the little kids speak spanish here.  Grandmother is "abuela" and dad's are "papie". 

Mike is working with the local leaders and the missionaries to update the membership rolls here.  There are many addresses that are not correct or are nonexistant.  That is very frustrating when you would like to go out and visit people just to find their address is not correct or there is no such address. So hopefully this work will help future missionaries to be more effective.

We will be going over to the other island in a few weeks for zone conference.  That is always something to look forward to.  Being with the other senior couples is a great opportunity to ask questions, talk about worries, solve problems etc.  They are a lot of fun too.  And guess what....the food is always great the Eynon's prepare.!!

We got to participate in a first ever satalite meeting with the other senior couples all over spain.  It was wonderful to meet everyone.  Some had just gotten then 2 days before so they were a bit tired and stressed.  This meeting will be helpful to get out information about even the littlest things that makes life tough when you are trying to figure everything out in a foreign country.  Even food shopping is a challenge at first.

Thanks to everyone back home for all their love and support.  We love the skypes and the cards, letters, drawings, and pictures from home.  The other seniors say they are so thankful for skype!  We know how it is.  Technology helps everyone so much.  The young missionaries get to email home once a week.  That is progress.!  Thanks for thinking of us.  We pray for each and eveyone of you often and love you lots.  We wish you much health and safety first and foremost.  Also to be happy is right up there too.  Life brings many challenges to all of us but if we just put one foot in front of the other everyday we seem to somehow get through the tough times.  Again, much love coming your way from the Canaries!   
 

OUR NEW ELDER PLUIM!  HE IS A GREAT GUY ALONG WITH OUR OTHER ELDERS.  WHERE IS ELDER BAGLEY?  I WILL PUT HIM IN NEXT TIME.

Our sweet friends Juan and Mayi with their new baby Barbara.

On a Pday we went to a few museums.  This one was in a very old house and this mat was all made out of flowers!

Natalia!  She is a bundle of energy.  She is my spanish tutor. 

Here are some typical Canarian clothes from the past.  There is a holiday coming up where the people here all dress up in these traditional clothes.  There is a lot of dancing and eating of the special foods like papas arugadas with mojo sauce.  We hope we can make it for you all one day.

 

Big adventure hike to Masca.  It was very beautiful.  The winding road are treacherous. 

Some of the kids that went on the hike.

Anna is one of our favorite people.  She can get Mike laughing in one second.  When he laughs his face turns red and she calls him a big red tomato.....all in spanish!  Hilarious!

What is Mike doing with his face here?  We took our own picture.  This is on a pday when we walked on the beach with the sand from the Sahara.  All the other beaches have black or grey sand. 

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Thank you Evie for this great piece of artwork for our wall!