NEW DATE

Changes are getting old and a little embarrassing.  A call came from the Mission Department last week informing us that the Visa's are not going to be here by September 3 and our new MTC date is  October 1.  We are still OK with that but please don't let us be here as winter begins.  If we get to the MTC in October it will be exactly a year since we started the mission call process.  So start early if you are planning a mission.    I keep buying more clothes.  If we don't go soon I will have to leave some here because they won't fit in the suitcase.

My Spanish is improving slowly but surely.  I have written 2 small talks that Mike has translated into Spanish that I could give if I needed to.  I have memorized a testimony in Spanish that I can give with ease.  Mike has read most of the Book of Mormon in Spanish.  I am overwhelmed by Spanish scriptures so he has started reading the Book of Mormon with me, 5 verses a day.  Whew!  It is difficult.  The ipad has been a great boon to my Spanish study. 

The painting I committed to finish is almost done.  I will post a picture soon.   Mike developed a bad knee that needed care.  He is having a special brace made and some lubricant injected.  And he had an infection that needed to be lanced, so maybe it is good that we are still here to get everything taken care of. 

70 people came to my family reunion in July.  Cousins came that I hadn't seen for over 30 years and some of their children that I had never met. All of my children were here but one and he is coming soon.  It was a great day. The  only good thing about waiting is that I have enjoyed  my Secret Garden and I am glad I planted flowers.

DELAY AND STUDYING SPANISH

We have a new leave date...September 3.  Mike is dealing with some nerve problems in his right arm and the Dr. wants a little longer to monitor it.  We are glad for a few reasons.  This will get us home at the beginning of March instead of February.  No Quiero regresar en el invierno.  (I don't want to  return in the winter)  We study Spanish every day for several hours.  We are trying to speak some Spanish to each other every day.  We speak for a solid hour every morning when we walk.  I am not good at it but Mike is so I have an awesome tutor.  He is working longer and harder than I am.  It makes me depressed, sometimes, because I feel so hopeless.  But it will come together eventually, I have faith.

I am looking forward to another month of summer here. (I can spend hours here in my Secret Garden with my notebook and ipad, studying, with an occasional glance at this)  All my kids except Leif will be here this week for a family reunion I am having.  In August I will be able to have a birthday party for Michael.  Then we will be content to fly off to Spain.  Hopefully the visa will be ready by then, which is the last good reason to wait another month.

What are we doing now?

The Visa has been submitted.  The mission President told us that the Visas are coming in a lot earlier since the new "conservative" government was voted in...some as early as 2 months so we are hoping that our August 6 date will truly happen.

Right now we are studying Spanish many hours a day.  We found this great site with progressive lessons that we are working through. http://www.spanishdict.com/  We are trying to speak a little Spanish to each other, hopefully it will be even more as the summer progresses.

I am learning to use my new I pad and Mike has a new lap top he is taking.  He is considering an I pad also.  We are communicating with missionaries on the Canaries and have a good idea what the situation is there...more Spanish is needed than was advertised. Oh me!  Mike will be fine as he is far far ahead of me.  For once he will be talking and I will be silent.  He just needs to get to a point where he can translate for me.  

I am sewing for myself for the first time in years.  I am making comfortable, simple longish skirts and dresses.  Someone told us that CES stands for "cooking every second"  so I want to be in some easy clothes if that is true. 

I am going to Women's Conference at BYU next week and plan to teach a shortened family writing class in May.  I have a painting I want to finish before we go.  Life is good!

THE SECOND CALL - Canary Islands

Six weeks before reporting to the MTC we received a call from the Mission President in Scotland telling us that our call was issued by mistake in that the couple we were to replace were not leaving as their release date was wrong.  We were getting very excited about this call so it was a traumatic week, not to mention the closet full of warm clothes we had collected.  We were given a couple of options for our recall:  Indonesia teaching 3 days a week in the University there since we both have degrees and then doing member support and PR the rest of the week or Canary Islands Center for Young Adults.  Since we already had thoughts about Spanish speaking there was no big decision.  Within a week the call came to the Madrid Spain mission working on the Canary Islands.  Thankfully a bunch of those warm clothes still had tags and were taken back to Kohls.  We were grateful for their generous return policy.

The Canary islands are reported to have some of the nicest weather in the world, 65-85 degrees all year.  And we won't be leaving until August if the visa comes through then.  The visa process is slow in Spain but is said to be picking up.  So, we are head first into our Spanish review and looking forward to a nice summer at home.

THE CALL

We received our love letter call the day after Valentines day 2012.  We had some hints that it was coming on that day.  I know the mail comes before 12:00 so I went to the box at 11:30 prepared to stay but it was there.  I wanted Mike to open it and read it to me because I was shaking.  Scotland, Ireland Center for Young Adults.  I couldn't have been happier but Mike was a teeny bit disappointed that we didn't get a foreign language.  He was prepared to jump in and push his language skills night and day.  I have seen him do it before, like the 6 weeks before we went to Italy.  Mike loves languages and has a gift for learning them and understanding grammar.  I was prepared to support this desire.  But this one is for me because when we looked at the list of openings in the Young Adult Centers this would have been my first choice.  I am not saying that Mike is not excited because he is.  On May 14 we will be in the Mission Home.  We definitely need to get a warmer wardrobe for winter but as luck will have it we will be there for spring and summer to start the mission.

The church is opening Young Adult Centers all over Europe and there are a few in the US.  They feel it is important to keep things happening to keep the young adults together, and hopefully get some of them married.  We will be a party planner, a Family Home Evening coordinator;  We might teach some institute classes and we will have many opportunities to support individual young adults as they have needs.  We hear it is a busy assignment.  We like the idea that the basics are well defined.