BAPTISM OF MARLEN AND GUILLERMO

Saturday ended up being a very busy day with the cooking class with the JAS, but the best part of the day was the baptism of a very wonderful couple Marlen and Guillermo.  They have been a "golden" contact from the beginning.  We have enjoyed being with the Elders a few times in their teaching process and they have accepted the gospel readily.  We love them and hope we will be able to go to the temple with them in a year.

JAS COOKING CLASS

On Saturday we had a fun cooking activity with the JAS kids.  We made home made noodles and tossed them with some stir fried vegetables.  We made the Focaccia Crusty Bread , which I make a couple of times a week, these days and they loved it.  Then we made the Best Chocolate Cake  And of course they loved it.  We even left out the 1/2 C. milk and it still turned out great.  The kids had a lot of fun rolling out the noodles but we made too many and it took a long time.  I bought them all measuring cups at the "Chino" store but couldn't find measuring spoons.  I bought some different sized plastic spoons and was able to manage. 

The Food

MASCA

Masca is a little town about an hour and a half from us around the West side of the island, up  along a steep, winding road with lots of switchbacks.  The views are spectacular across the giant volcanic formations to the ocean.  We made the trip last P-Day.  When you start climbing the road is an adventure.  It is a good road but there are places where two cars can't pass and someone has to pull out or back up.  Tour buses frequent this road and must back up to get around some of the switchbacks.  The town is charming with less than 100 residents but with several restaurants.  Until the 1960's the town was only accessible by paths. It is considered to be Tenerife's prettiest village.  It is charming and all the more spectacular in its setting.

Wild flowers growing in the volcanic rock.

The Valleys along the way.

The vegetation on the hillsides

The switchback roads lowering into the canyon

The town of Masca along the ridge.  There is a 3 hour hike through the gorge to the ocean and you can take a boat trip from there to Los Gigantes.  We would like to do it but after reading about the hiking terrain we changed our mind.  We are too old.

An old man selling local produce on the path.

Beautiful flowers growing on the walls.

The sloping paths of volcanic rock are not easy to maneuver but they are lovely.

There is an old church that was recently restored.

We had lunch here on the patio.

Views of other parts of the village with the terraced gardens.

The village of Santiago Del Teide with the Volcano in the distance.

I risked my life crossing a busy road to get this picture.  And the photo didn't do justice to the tangled mess of this bunch of pipes.  Nothing is buried on the island, probably because of the volcanic rock everywhere.  Pipes are running in every direction on top of the ground, through all kinds of landscapes.  It never ceases to surprise me.

I think the valves are color coded for figuring out what is what and it makes them all the more can I say "artsy"

DISTRICT CONFERENCE AND THE POST OFFICE

When you get a package here, you have to pick it up at the Post Office, even if it fits in your mail box.  We made a trip this week.  It is in a beautiful area, up the hill from us, next to the community church.

I love this purple tree that is blooming everywhere right now.  We have one in our back yard but it isn't this large. This one is next to the Post Office.

 The Bougainvillaea was in bloom in February, when we arrived , but with Spring it has exploded everywhere in spectacular color.  This is across from the Post Office.

The church is in front of the PO.  All the charming sights make the PO trip a joy.

We rode the bus with 50 members of our Branch, to Santa Cruz, an hour away to District Conference.  This is the first time I have felt that I might be able to understand Spanish at church.  The Mission President and his wife talked,  the area authority talked.  They all spoke Spanish but Spanish is their second language, so I was able to understand most of it.  The native speakers are another story.    I got my first haircut on the island this week.  We live close to an English area and I found a great girl from England to cut my hair and she gives perms also.  I am happy!

These are 3 of our great JAS kids and Elder Malan and Elder Cloward behind and Marlene and Gillermo, who are going to be baptized this Saturday behind them.  They are a wonderful golden couple from Columbia.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

One of our great JAS girls, Valerie Mendoza,  turned 18 on Saturday.  Her parents hosted a fun party for our Young Adult group.

Brother Mendoza is in the Branch Presidency, Joseph and the Birthday girl Valerie and Rosa, who is the Relief Society President.  They are from Peru.  Bro. M. has been here for 7 years and the family 3.  I know no better people in the church.  Rosa also plays the piano with such gusto you want to sing.  She also knows a lot of English so she is a great help to us.

This is the Young Adult group that attended.  The Mendozas were able to get out some that don't usually attend.

This is Sonia with Valerie and the Missionaries Elder Cloward and Elder Malan.  Sonia is the most spunky energetic woman I have ever known.  She is from Brazil and is one of the backbones of the Branch.  Her testimony is beautiful.  I hope to someday get a copy of a talk she gave in church with Spanish gospel alliteration that  was amazing.

Rosa made a special chicken dish from Peru.  It is made with finely shredded boiled chicken breasts (that she said took her 3 hours to shred)  I was able to help her finish the dish.  You make a cream sauce, in which you add some seeded hot red peppers (which are blended and strained) with some sauteed minced onions and garlic.  You serve it over rice or boiled potatoes.  It was delicious, with just a little bite.  I made the birthday cake, which is a double recipe of a great Chocolate Cake recipe I found while here.  I frosted it with my mother's famous Birthday Cake Frosting  It was a great hit.  No one here see many home baked goods.

NEW MISSION LEADER

This is Luis.  He is our acting JAS President.  This week he was called to be our new Branch Mission Leader. He is 18 years old and we believe, the youngest Mission Leader in Spain (maybe the church). He speaks a fair amount of English and recently on the way to an activity, we were talking about one of the missionaries turning 20 and no longer being a "teenager". Charmaine was explaining about what it means to be a "teenager", what a difficult time it can be, and that the "world" has a way of pulling us in. He said without hesitation and with no guile, "the world can't pull me in, because I know I am a child of God." Today on the way home, he expressed that there are so many others with more experience than him to do this calling. I said, "the most important thing is desire". His response was, "my desire is to save everybody". A great young man. (Written by Mike Anderson)

He reminds me of Alma 29:1  1 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

SPRINGTIME IN THE CANARIES

We were told that there are lots of flowers this time of year in the hills going up to the volcano so last week Mike and I drove up to see them.  It is a different world up high here. 

Purple trees are bloomed all over the island.  This is a small one in our back yard.

This is a little town on the way to Teide called Vilaflor.  It is well named as a city of flowers.  There is an old mill you can see the arches to on the bottom left.  This is the most charming place we have seen on the island.

California Poppies are bloomed everywhere on the hillsides.

More Poppies

When you get high enough there are long needle pine trees.  Some of them are gigantic.

At the base of Teide there are some moon scapes from lava flow.  

This yellow flower is very prettily scattered among the lava.

A beautiful picture of Teide up close from our side of the island.

 A cute house in Vilaflor.

And interesting flower in the city center, Vilaflor.

Part of the plaza in Vilaflor

Mike at the church door Vilaflor

Moor poppies and a purple flower that grows everywhere.

Aquaduct for the old mill in Vilaflor.

Mike  on the path to the mill.  We don't see many roses on the island but this bush was big and smelled wonderful.

Part of the old mill hundreds of years old.

Purple flowers on the hillside.

Me on the Plaza

 There is a bright pink morning glory that grows everywhere on the hills.  I didn't get a good photo of it.

I call this Floppy Ears Cactus, which is very prolific on the island.  It is blooming everywhere in yellow and this orange.  After the blooms get a bright red fruit, which I hear you can eat. 

Cactus bloom 

This is a tram you can take up to the top of  the base of Teide and hike to the top of the volcano.  Someday we are going to do this hike.

NEW DISTRICT

 Goodby Elder Anderson.  We will miss your funny faces!

I see a problem with missions that I didn't anticipate.  The Young Elders surely experience this with every transfer.  At least we senior missionaries keep the same companion.  We were just getting to know Elder Anderson and to appreciate his sense of humor and great spirit and now he is gone never to be seen again by us, since he is back in the Madrid area, after being here for 8 months.   The branch will miss him greatly and we will also.   I told him we would meet in another life and I hope we do.  Today we had the first district meeting with our new district. We look forward to many district meetings with these great missionaries because they inspire us with their dedication. 

From left to right Elder Malan, who just arrived from 6 weeks in the Madrid MTC will be serving here in Los Cristianos area with Elder Cloward who has been with us from the beginning.  In the back is our new District Leader elder Willoughby, who has been in the Madrid area for one year and on the right Elder Louie who is staying on in the Santa Cruz area as a companion to Elder Willoby. 

Our new district from L-R standing -  Elder Bassett, Elder Malan, Elder Cloward, Elder Willoughby, Elder Louie and Elder Argyle.  Seated - Elder Cook and Elder Eskelson (fresh from the Madrid MTC)

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