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)

CHECK OUT THIS JAS FACEBOOK SITE FOR MORE PICTURES

TALENT NIGHT SKIT

This was a funny skit preformed by two of our young adults Jatniel and Luis with Elders Anderson and Cloward manning the back and Dayde and Valerie manning the front.

A GREAT WEEK!

This was a great week for us.  The Branch put on a talent show.  Our young adults were involved in several of the numbers.  We spent some of our week helping and practicing with them.  It was well attended and a lot of fun.  The people here are more uninhibited than American members.

 This is most of the entertainers.  The people here love to take group pictures of everything.

Jatneil and Luis did a funny spoof with Elder Anderson and Cloward.  I made a movie and will try to post it.

 This is some of our young adults plus the Branch President doing the "Peanut Butter and Jelly"  Dance.

On Saturday one of our great JAS members, Jatneil, was baptized.  It was such a blessing to be here for this.  He is such a great young man.

Elder Cloward and Elder Anderson taught Jatniel and Luis and Jatniel became great friends as the Elders involved him in the teaching.

It was awesome to have a great Branch turnout at the baptism and we had a nice reception after.

I made some chocolate cake, which got squashed in the transfer from home.  They weren't sure if they wanted to eat it but it was gone in the end.  It was delicious, even squashed.

The occasion was even more special because that night Elder Anderson received a transfer back to the Madrid area.  We will miss him greatly, as will the entire Branch.  He has been here for 8 months and is such a wonderful hard working missionary. 

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ZONE CONFERENCE 4-13

  

Our Zone consists of 3 sets of young elders, the Altmans ( who didn't go this time) and us on our island of Tenerife and  2 sets of Elders and one set of sisters on Gran Canaria plus the Senior couple the Buhlers, who live in the old Mission Home in Las Palmas.  The house is a charming 4000 sq. ft. home in need of constant repair.  The church wants to sell it, but until that happens the Buhlers have been willing to host the entire zone for 2 days.  Sister Buhler cooked for all of us and the food was really good.  Monday morning very early we 8 missionaries boarded the ferry for a 3 hour ride to Gran Canaria.  The Buhlers rented a van and picked us all up.  It was P-Day and the boys spent the day playing basketball, ping pong and soccer.  They had a great time together and most of them were sunburned by the end of the day. Mike and I stayed behind, during the soccer game, to clean the kitchen and finish the lunch preparations.

   

 That evening, after a great dinner of pulled pork tacos,  we had a wonderful testimony meeting.  The spirit was beautiful there.  These young men and women are the best!

Here is sister Buheler in her kitchen with the dinner ready to be inhaled. 

 The next day we spent most of the day being taught by the AP's , President Jackson and Brother Denise a member of the district presidency (on the end)  This is all of us.

After the meeting a sweet lady from the Las Palmas branch had prepared a great lunch for all of us. 

This is 5 of the elders from Tenerife.

I borrowed these pictures from sister Buhlers blog (that is linked to mine on the side bar) if you want to see more.  The quality of the pictures in transition wasn't great but I am happy to have them.

 The view across the valley from the back deck of the Old Mission Home where the Buhlers are living

Reed and Laura Buhler the awesome missionary couple manning the JAS on Gran Canaria

CLOSE STUFF

We have been surprised at how few old churches there are in our area.  This is one up the mountain from us.

 Children were practicing for and Easter program in the church.

We ate at this restaurant high up the mountain overlooking the valley.

This is the view from the restaurant window.  We can see our apartment from here.

We hiked along the rocky beach one morning toward a lighthouse, trying it out for a possible hike with our young adult group.  This is the view up the valley.  You can always see lots of old volcanic calderas, like this one, on the left.

This ended up being a longer walk than we wanted that morning, but we were determined to get to the lighthouse.

It is a working lighthouse.  See how small Mike is.  

There is a cave close to us, where once lived a man now called Hermano Pedro.  He is a canonized Saint.  He was born here in in the Tenerife and lived in this preserved cave, but left at age 24 and eventually ended up in Guatemala.  He wanted to become a Priest but couldn't master the material.  He eventually organized a Franciscan order to help the poor. 

The area around the cave has been nicely preserved and fixed up to honor him.  The red flower is a Poinsetta.  There are lots of them cultivated around the island.

TRIP AROUND THE ISLAND

We have been planning to drive around the island and last P-Day we ventured out.  It took us 3 hours driving time.  Parts of the road was climbing a mountain through some steep switchbacks.  The view of the volcano Teide behind us was spectacular.

The ocean waves seemed to be bigger over here and we spent a little time in Puerto de la Cruz

There were maybe 10 swimming pools next to the ocean.  There is no sand on these beaches, just lots of volcanic rock.

The town has an old European feel to it with narrow, cobblestone streets.

There is a beautiful park with a famous 1000 year old tree, which I guess is technically a bush.

The trunk of the tree.

Puerto de la Cruz is a beautiful city and so much greener than our side of the island.

The tree park was full of colorful roaming chickens.  If you know me well you know I love mother hens and baby chicks.

The park had some caves from the indigenous people that lived here and this mummy remains.

 The tree is really huge but it doesn't look like it from this angle.

The valley at the top of the mountain was lush and green.

Wild flowers bloomed everywhere across the valley.

OK, this is it.  The only cleavage you will ever see on me.

A better perspective at how large the tree is.

A closer view of Teide, the peak on the left.