March 28, 2015

It's Saturday afternoon and we, along with the sisters, just got back from visiting our dear friend Mavick. Our main activity while there is singing hymns and after an hour of singing my voice is a little hoarse but it was a great hour well spent. 

 For english class this morning your dad had the idea to make and eat pancakes with our group. We taught cooking terms and they learned the names of kitchen tools with the added bonus of eating. Larry found the McDonald's pancake recipe online so he wanted to use that for the class. The recipes uses Sprite or 7up 
as the liquid instead of milk which I imagine is cheaper but not very nutritious. The pancakes were actually pretty good and surprisingly similar to those from McDonald's. We used the last of the maple flavoring with the batch of syrup we had for the class so I hope we have no more need for maple syrup. You can buy it here at the import store but it is so very expensive. 

Yesterday we drove to Porto, Portugal to make a trial run to the airport so that we know what we're doing when we pick up my family in 3 weeks. We left the car at the airport and took the light rail into the city. After we got there we discovered they have hop on hop off tourist buses so we bought tickets and spent the day seeing the city via bus. The city was very picturesque with the Douro river running through it into the ocean. The city is built up on both sides of the river and along the ocean. It is a city of 2 million people so it also reaches inland quite a bit. We had lunch at a restaurant right on the river and really enjoyed the view and watching all the happenings on the water. 

 Last Thursday we spent the day a couple of hours north of here part of the time in the city of A Coruna and the other part at Cathedral beach. The tide was in while at the beach so we couldn't walk on the sand in between the rock formations but there are several lookouts along the top with stairs leading down to the beach so at one point we did go down as far as we could. The rock formations look like they have randomly risen out of the ground at different angles which makes a very impressive sight. We also visited the world's oldest functioning lighthouse and saw the chapel that is being constructed in A Coruña which is the first chapel in this district. 

 This past Wednesday I made a huge batch of chicken noodle soup and your dad chauffeured the sisters and me around the city as we delivered it to sick families. There are two young families in our branch with all kids and the mothers sick so we thought a meal of soup and bread might be a bit of help. We also took soup to a couple of other families that we though could use some extra love. 



This past Tuesday we watched the movie "Secretariat" with our JAS. The movie teaches some valuable lessons and is such an inspiring true story. At first the kids seemed not super interested but they finally got into the movie and by the end they were all cheering and clapping. It was a fun night. The week before we used the ping pong table for the first time, played Forty two, Jenga, and Uno. One of our young men text that he was coming and bringing his girlfriend (non member) but she was at a practice of some sort and couldn't get away. They showed up just as we were all leaving the church so I took them and the rest of the JAS that were still there to a nearby restaurant for some ice cream and we had a great time getting to know the girlfriend and just chatting in a relaxed atmosphere. At the time Larry was taking the elders and sisters home but he was able to join us a little later. She came again to watch the movie this week and the elders are teaching her the lessons so we hope she will listen and come to know. Another one of our JAS brings his girlfriend every week to the activities and the elders have just recently started teaching her also. We have high hopes for these two darling girls.

 Sunday Larry had to speak in our branch as the district high councilor and then go to another branch and speak there also so that left me to teach Sunday School for the JAS. All went well but thankfully two of our JAS speak fluent english and helped me when I was stuck for words during the lesson. Your dad also gave two very good talks even though I only heard one of them. 

 Another two weeks gone in a flash but busy and filled with good experiences, great people and wonderful opportunities for growth. We love the time we get to spend here doing the Lord's work. We pray that you all will be blessed and happy. We love you. 

 Mom and Dad