We drove up to Santiago with the hermanas last Wed. for our last zone mtg. with elders Ponsoda and Ortiz as the leaders. They have returned home as of this morning. Sad to realize some of these young elders we've gotten to know and love we may never see again. But such is life (especially in the missionary world)and we just have to move on. We had a great meeting with the zone (24-4 sisters, Larry and I, and the rest are young elders.) We were encouraged to improve our weekly planning, and set a goal of getting the investigators to understand the importance of attending Sacrament meeting. Apparently that can be a problem when teaching prospective members. We watched a 2008 conference talk given by Elder Oaks "Sacrament Meeting and the Sacrament" a good reminder of how very sacred this meeting is. Larry gave a short presentation asking the young missionaries to be of help encouraging the JAS and seeking them out when they may be in a part of town where someone might live. He also gave them a copy of Elder Ballard's devotional talk he gave to all the JAS in Europe in 2012 when he told them they were the future of the church in Europe. That is going to be our focus as we work with these young folks here in the district. They need to understand how important it is for them to stay faithful and help strengthen the church here in this area of the world.We celebrated the last meeting with our zone leaders afterward with cake and zucchini bread. It's nice to have sisters that are willing to help bring treats. We went to lunch afterwards with our local hermanas at a pizza place before driving home.
Larry was in too much pain that night to go and teach english and attend FHE so we spent a quiet evening at home.
Thursday we had a JAS movie night at our house. One of the young men in our group who is waiting for his mission call has been making pizzas to earn money for his mission so we had him make 4 pizzas for our activity. I added cut up fruit, chips, soda, cookies, and one other young lady brought popcorn. We watched "Man of Steel" and had a fun evening.
Friday night was the Relief Society Birthday dinner. The attendance was great and these ladies know how to party. Hermana Rojas the Pres. gave a talk about Visiting teaching then some of the ladies did small vignettes portraying good VT and not so good VT. They were hilarious. Then 4 ladies did dances from their native countries. That was really fun to watch. By then it was after 9 and they were ready to serve dinner. I'm not sure what they ate because I slipped out just before. I know I am a dud but I have a hard time wanting to eat a big meal at 9 at night.
Saturday we went to Vila Garcia with one of our young men to judge the cake contest at their ward party. They meet in the basement of a hotel and have an interesting arrangement. You probably saw pix on facebook. It is such a small little branch but the Branch President told me there are many less active members that have been leaders in their home countries but after coming to Spain have just stopped attending church. They are needed so desperately.
Sunday we drove out to the branch of Ourense to meet any JAS that are there and just get to know more of the members in
the district. It was a little over an hour to get there but we really enjoyed meeting the members there. Another struggling little branch with lots of less actives that just don't come. We had a district skype meeting Sunday night with the counselor in the district Pres. and JAS leaders in the branches to finalize plans for the campout the middle of April. Our branch is in charge of most of the food. I can do food so I am not too worried about that. We also spent time, just us, with hermano Rodriguez (counselor) talking about JAS and updating the lists in the branches.
Monday was hectic because of transfers. One of the hermanas from Vigo got transferred back to Madrid so she had to be at the train station at 6:45 am. Larry and I were up early to pick her up and get her there. Then her companion needed to stay with us us until her new companion came at 1:30 pm. We came home and had a nap, after that I made breakfast then hermana Giler and I made chicken soup and took it to a sick lady in the ward. We went to get Hermana Seastrand at the train station but the train was late. We ate a quick lunch and went back. We got the hermanas to their Apt. then went home. They came over later to use the internet, then the Elders came for the same reason. Fun busy day. I am so glad we didn't have any other transfers out of Vigo because I just love these missionaries but it will come eventually.
We haven't done too much today except go grocery shopping, but I am getting ready to make muffins for our district meeting in the morning. I'm making bacon cheddar, and Amish cinnamon muffins. YUMMY.
We are so happy about all our new grand babies to be born within the next year. Maybe we'll get some girls. You can do it Stacey and Devry!! We love you all and we are so glad we can facetime with you so often.
Love, Mom and Dad
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