Jul 31, 2014

Hey dear Family,

We've talked to all of you today and feel caught up on the happenings in your busy lives. You all seem in good spirits and are pressing forward trying to live good lives. We are so thankful for each one of you and look forward to talking with you and the grands on a regular basis.

So as far as the past week goes there aren't a lot of new and exciting things to write about so I will attempt to make this as interesting as possible.

We are still inspecting apartments so last Thursday we went to Pontevedre to inspect the elder's apartment. Of course while we were there we took them and the hermanas that live in Pontevedre to lunch. We had previously inspected the hermana's apartment so it wasn't necessary to do that again. We went to a Chinese buffet that was actually not so bad as far as buffets go and we had a good time getting to know these four young missionaries better. One elder is from Mesa, AZ so we feel a little more connected with him already, the other elder comes from MT, one hermana from CA and the other is from the south of Spain. Elder Saunders is tall with red hair and hermana Snelson is somewhat tall with red hair and they say sometimes when they meet the same people at different times in the city the people will tell them they have already talked with their brother or sister. Do all red heads look alike? After lunch we were able to meet with a young man JAS age that the hermanas were having their first lesson with, so they asked us to stay while they gave him the lesson. He is such a delightful young man who is so full of enthusiasm and already knows so much about the church. We were supposed to meet again Monday but he cancelled. This happens a lot with investigators and is always a bit of a disappointment but the missionaries just keep on trying and working with patience and faith. I hope the hermanas will continue to invite us to come to his lessons. Larry went with the Vigo Elders later that same evening to help teach an investigator that wasn't there so again patience and faith.

We spent Monday doing some more exploring around Vigo for the upcoming Senior conference in August. We went to a large park in the city and visited a mansion located there that is now an art museum with nice gardens behind it. Since it was Monday the museum was closed. I'm not sure how much the couples would enjoy this since they are coming from Madrid that has the National Palace and its much grander gardens. We did go to the local beach Monday night to walk along the promenade and enjoy the coolness and beautiful sunset over the ocean. We spent about two hours there just enjoying the stroll and people watching. We also ran into two families from the branch and had fun talking to them for a while. 

Our JAS activity last night went really well. Some of our kids are at the Spain Conference for JAS so we weren't sure we'd get too many attending but we had a fair number show up. We had two kids come that hadn't attended for a while so that was nice. From face book and instagram you know we played JENGA and it was a riot. Of course I would be the one who knocked the first tower down but in my defense I had never played before and I was so  nervous that my hands shook a little. (YIKES) We also had a brief practice directing music. Larry started teaching them that while I was gone. We had lots of fun and some good food. We served brownies, lemon bars, veggies and Ranch dip, crackers and a cheese ball. I try to make enough treats to stretch to district meeting the next morning and branch FHE the next evening. I spend a lot of time shopping and in the kitchen but I really love making food for everyone. At FHE tonight several people raved about the ranch dip and said it was so good, how did I make it, and they'd never tasted anything like it before.  The young American missionaries always love it when I bring out the ranch. Maybe we should say as "American as ranch dip" instead of apple pie.

Today after district meeting we took the Ourense Elders home so we could inspect their apt. It's a one hour drive to get there and after the apt. check we went to lunch and had a great chat with these two wonderful Elders, one from CA and the other from Camaroon. These lunches are one of our favorite things to do with the missionaries to help us to get to know them and develop a camaraderie with them. We also get opportunities to teach with them from time to time and really enjoy that aspect of our association with the young missionaries. They usually do the teaching and we share our feelings and testimony plus we're always good for an opening or closing prayer.

Like I said not much new to share with you all but we are still happy and busy serving here in Vigo. Love to you all.

Mom and Dad