The Spanish Knights: Our Mission to Santa Cruz, Tenerife!

We are finally up and running here on the island of Tenerife. We just got our internet in our apartment (piso) on Monday and we were very happy to communicate again. It has all been a big adventure and taken some adjustment because everyone speaks little english here, so spanish is a must. Also the traffic has been a steep learning curve. We thought maybe it would be a sleepier island but it is very populated with some heavy traffic and small streets. The interstate (autopista) is wonderful but has some fast drivers.
We are learning our way around little by little. There were several things we had to do to be able to stay here on the island for our mission. We had to get a bank account, get registered with city hall and register at the foreign office. These were all important but hard to get to and figure out the instructions! However, Mike has enough spanish that it helped us get out of some jams. He has also excelled in his driving skills, maneuvering the traffic and parallel parking in tiny spaces.
The church is strong here in our branch. The people are wonderful and the youth we work with are very fine young people. They have all helped us and welcomed us. They have expressed their love for us from the first day! We hope that we can make a difference by supporting the young people and visiting many that are not coming. It is a testimony to us of those that do come out to church because it is not physically easy to get there. Many ride the train or the bus and then walk a way to come.
The missionaries are great here! What wonderful young men. They have strong testimonies and are an inspiration to us.
Here are some pictures of the area where we live and some of the people we have met!