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!