NEW PISO IN LA LAGUNA

We hoped to stay in Los Cristianos our entire mission.  We have made friends there.  We know where to eat, where to shop.  We love the beach we walk on and the place we walk in the morning, part through a golf course with views of the ocean.  We are just getting to love our new sisters and hoped to spend more time with them. We will miss our dryer but not the 335 steps to the car.  We have had some wonderful experiences with the JAS and teaching English.  But missions are about change and our JAS moved on to better places and we have moved to work with a JAS in Santa Cruz that has more young adults and a bigger chance for growth.

The last couple of weeks we moved 4 car loads of "stuff" to our new piso, an hour from Los Cristianos.  Our car is very small but we came with 3 suitcases each.  We inherited some household things from some departing seniors and with what we bought it multiplied to a lot.  We look forward to many things here; making new friends, working with a bigger JAS, teaching English classes again and working with the Elders and new Sisters in two branches.  Here are some pictures of our new place.  It was the first place we saw.  The white couches make me nervous.  We would rather not do the stairs but we can do them as easy as 335 steps we did one way to our car before.  We are looking for a place for 2 new sisters who will be coming next week.  They will live with us in our spare bedroom until we find them a place.  Life is good and exciting!

Click on the slide show for larger pictures and the labels to the pictures.

DRAGON TREE P-DAY WITH HERMANAS

The sisters from the top.

This is the 1000 year old Dragon Tree.  Last time we were here we didn't get to see it from the top because they had this part closed off.

We wanted our beloved Hermanas to see the Dragon Tree so we spent our last P-Day together driving to the other side of the island to see the sights.  It was a delightful day.  The day before we moved we were on our way to the Sister's piso when the phone rang.  It was the Mission office in Madrid.  They asked if we could find a piso for the new sisters that will be sent to Santa Cruz the next transfer, which is Saturday.  This is Wednesday.  Hello, I don't think there is time to find a piso, so they will have to stay with us until we find them a place to live.  We are excited to have sisters again.  We have cried many tears about leaving sister Phillips and sister Nydegger. Here are some photos from our trip.  If you would like to see the entire album go here .

This is the Black Madona.  Two churches on the island have one.  People make pilgrimages to see her.  Legend has it that she washed up on shore when the indigenous Guanches  lived here.  And there is an entire holiday where everything is closed to honor her.  They put her on a boat and send her out to sea with processions and such.

The clouds would not cooperate for a view of Teide.

Coming off the mountain from Teide there are windy roads down to the village of Garachico.  The port city was destroyed by lava flow from Teide over 100 years ago.

Us in front of the  Garachico harbor

See the perspective of the size of the tree from Sister Phillips here

Someday I will paint this, minus the car.

WALKING DOGS FOR FUN AND SERVICE

Last week we had a fun JAS service project walking dogs at a volunteer dog and cat shelter.  The shelter is run by a group of British people who live here and love animals and want to spare their lives.  Everything is donated, food, management and daily care.  It is truly a service of love.  We talked to 2 of the older women who have helped out for over 10 of the 20 year existence of the shelter.  The place is a bit of a ramshackle in the desert but the volunteers work hard to keep everything clean.  There are about 30 or so dogs here of various sizes and shapes.  Some of the dogs get shipped to other countries for adoption.  12 of us spent 2 hours walking each dog for about 15 minutes up a path in the wilderness where it is located.  It was a hot day but We all enjoyed it a lot.  They let some of the girls bath the cute little shaggy dog that we all wanted to take home.  After we all went for pizza.  This will be our last activity in Los Cristianos.  We are sad to leave.

TEIDE BASE WITH THE HERMANAS

Nothing makes us sadder right now than the prospects of leaving our Hermanas.  We have enjoyed being able to help them shop, get to appointments and teach lessons. They are awesome young women and hard working missionaries.  We are trying to enjoy some P-Day experiences together before we leave.  This week we took them to the base of Teide.  It ended up being not the best day to go.  When we got up that morning is was unusually hot for a Canary morning but we thought once we got up the hill it would cool down with altitude.  Not so, as we were having a Calima (hot winds from the Sahara)  My favorite little village, Vilaflor, was an oven.  It was a bit better once we got to the base of Teide, not really cool, but tolerable.   We planned to take the Gondola up to the volcano but the line looked like it was many hours long so we had a little picnic and came home.

Sister Nydegger and Sister Phillips in front of the church at Vilaflor

"Jesus is your best friend today and always".  Inside the Vilaflor church.

An angel inside the Vilaflor church

The Hermanas in the lava rocks.

An open shot of Teide in the back.

DISTRICT CHANGES

There are a lot of changes going on in all of the missions with the influx of new missionaries.  Our district has changed twice this month.  This week we had our first District meeting in Los Cristianos with the six of us here.  We are a team working with one Branch, so it was a great meeting as we discussed how we can best accomplish our goals with the branch and the missionary work.  The sisters are a great asset and I want to put them in my pocket and take them to Santa Cruz with us when we move.  We have been able to teach with them a couple of times this week and it has been great.

Sister Nydegger, Sister Phillips, Mike, Elder McKeighan and Elder Malan

We needed someone to take our picture but this worked.

Sister Nydegger, Sister Phillips, Elder Pugh, Elder Eskelson, Elder Malan Elder willoughby, Elder Fausett, Elder Mckeighan, Elder Poasoda 
This was our District that lasted 2 weeks.  The good thing is that we don't have to drive to Santa Cruz anymore because our districts are split but soon we will be living in the North with most of these guys.  It is nice to be feeding a smaller group but I feel bad that the others are not getting fed.

PAINTING ROCKS WITH FRIENDS

Sister Maria Villalba (Wearing the pink shirt) found my blog on line before we arrived on Tenerife, so she knew I was a painter.  Her daughter was suppose to be one of our JAS kids but ended up getting married before we arrived.  It was actually Maria's husband, who is in the district presidency, who was responsible for getting us here in the first place, but that is a long story.   Anyway, Maria asked me to paint with her 12 year old daughter, Aurora, soon after we came and I told her I would during the summer.  Maria's friend Angeles (see story below) was baptized not long ago and she has a daughter Aurora's age and another daughter who loves art.  Maria wanted to invite more friends, another daughter of Angeles and the missionaries because the daughters are now investigators.  I thought the best thing to do was to have a rock painting party because the JAS kids really enjoyed it.

This is our group, painting away,  minus the Elders

 

Elder McKeighan and Elder Malan

These are the finished rocks.  I don't know what is with the young girls and the mustaches but they must be "in", because they all painted them.

 Erika would have received the prize for the best rock if prizes were given.

This is our group with their finished rocks.  It was a great day!

Sister Nydgger told a story about prayer rocks they painted when she was in Young Women so I am calling rocks we paint "prayer rocks' from now on.  The is how it goes:  You put your painted rock on your pillow so when you lay your head down at night it will remind you to say your prayers.  Then when you finish your night prayer you put your rock on the floor by your bed so that you will see it or step on it in the morning to remind you of your morning prayer.  After morning prayers it goes back on the pillow.  NEAT idea!