Just a quick postlude from my episode in Paris of the flying senior missionary.  The only visible marks are bruises on my left shoulder and a small cut on my left hand.  Just a reminder to not be such a klutz. Now on to better things…………

Arrival in Spain

We arrived in Málaga on Tuesday evening Feb. 9^th at about 6:00. We were met at the airport by our Mission President Andersen and Sister Andersen.  They were very warm and gracious and gave us a great big welcome to the mission.  They took us to their home and unloaded our luggage and showed us around their home.  It was very nice and it actually has a swimming pool in the back yard.  It’s funny because when they have a leadership meeting with the missionaries they take a picture of them with the pool in the foreground.  I asked President Andersen if any missionary has “accidently” fallen into the pool.  He said not yet.

President and Sister Andersen are from Blackfoot Idaho so Linda has some Idaho connection here.

From here on out I will refer to the sisters as “Hermana” or “Hna” since that is the term we use in Spanish.  Pres. and Hna. Andersen took us on a drive up on a pretty high hill that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.  It was very beautiful and reminds us a lot of California.  We were quite surprised at how hilly the southern coast of Spain is.  We were expecting more of a flatland.  We then went to dinner at a nice little restaurant.  The food here in Spain is different so I have to learn what everything is called in Spanish.  Interestingly enough they had “ensalada rusa” (Russian salad) which is a type of potato salad that has potatoes, peas, mayo and a few other things.  I had this in Uruguay so we ordered this along with Kabobs.

After dinner we went back to the mission home and stayed in one of the bedrooms that is used by visiting authorities.  It was a nice room but frankly by this time we could have slept on a dirt floor we were so tired.

President and Hna. Andersen’s home is actually located in a town called Fuengirola which means spinning fountains.  Fuente is the word for fountain and girar is the verb to spin or to turn.  Fuengirola is close to Málaga.

The next morning (Wed) we had breakfast with the Andersen’s and got to know each other better.  They are very low-key type people and very easy to like.

Afte breakfast, we met with the Andersen’s and President Andersen spend some time with us talking about the mission and what role we would play in helping the members, missionaries, investigators and others.  He told us about the branch we would be serving is located in the town of Cáceres, which is in the province of Extremadura.  The branch is about a five and a half hour drive from the mission office.  I will blog about the branch in the next addition of “Adventures in Spain”.

During our meeting Pres. Andersen used the scriptures to talk about how the Lord will bless us as we find our way and pray to know our role in the mission.  I have written down several scripture passages that apply amazingly well with our calling.  Perhaps at a later time I can share them.

After meeting with the Pres. and Hna. Andersen we packed up our luggage and we went to the mission home with them.  We met the AP’s and mission secretary who is also a young missionary.  The secretary is from Switzerland and the two AP’s are from the US.  There is also a senior couple, Elder and Hna. Hopkins who work in the office.  They have only been here for about 7 weeks,  Hna. Hopkins is in charge of ordering supplies, entering baptismal info into the computer and other assorted office duties.  Elder Hopkins is in charge of the finances for the mission and the apartments (pisos).  They have a big job and have been totally swamped.  Elder Hopkins is taking over from a young Elder who had been the financial secretary but had not been trained very well and although he did his best, the financials were in a bit of a mess.

While at the mission home the Pres. gathered all in the office personnel and they sang the mission song to us.  It is called “O Vos Los Llamados”.  It has a beautiful tune and very touching to here our very first full day in Spain.

We were shown around the mission office and asked some questions.  Each companionship has a mission phone and a 4 digit inter-mission phone number that is very handy for calling others in the mission.  All phones also have a 9 digit number that can be used by the members or others to call the missionaries.  Since we brought our iPhones, we will use our personal phones with the mission sim cards.  At first Linda didn’t think she needed a phone but has since changed her mind.  The first phone is free and the second phone is only 20 dollars or maybe 20 Euros per month, not quite sure.  We can text missionaries as well with our phones, which is very helpful.  The members use WhatsApp to text each other because regular texting is expensive for them.  WhatsApp also allows you to call internationally free of charge over wi-fi.  You can also send photos. Check it out if you haven’t heard of it.  Just search WhatsApp in your applications. 

The next couple of nights we spent with the Hopkins who live within walking distance of the mission office.  They are from Idaho but lived in the Santa Barbara area for many years.  He is a retired banker and has worked in several foreign countries when he worked in international banking.  He is a perfect fit for the financial job in the mission office.  Hna. Hopkins was an interior decorator as well as a personal chef.

The Hopkins live about 4 blocks from the Med. Sea. The first evening with them, just as it was getting dark they walked with us down to the Med. and it really was beautiful.

Just a quick story.  It seems that there will be many lessons to learn as we become accustomed to Spain.  Elder Hopkins and I went to the market to pick up some hamburger and avocados.  He headed for the meat and asked me to grab a couple of avocados.  That seemed simple enough, right?  Well I found the green meanies and met Elder Hopkins at the checkout stand.  When we got to the cashier he rang up the hamburger then picked up the bag of avocados and asked me how much they weighed.  I said I didn’t know then he asked if we wanted them.  I said yes then Elder Hopkins realized he hadn’t mentioned that I needed to weigh the avocados before checking out.  So we went back and he showed me how to weight and get a label printed.  We went back to the checkout and the clerk waved us forward.  We just had two items and it was no big deal but a lady at the front of the line got extremely upset and was waving her hands like it was a travesty that she had to wait a little longer to check out.  I told the clerk that she could go first and he said it was no problem.  He them told the lady basically to cool it.  I thought…..Welcome to Spain.

One thought on the “hamburger”.  Hamburger or beef is called vacuno.  However you have to look at the package because even though it says vacuno it also can have 50% cerdo or pork.  Since I like my hamburger 100% beef I’ll look closely at the packaging.

The next morning Linda and I went for a short walk and went into a few places just to look around.  We went into a fruit stand and were amazed at how large the fruit was.  The apples, oranges and grapes were extremely large.  We are told the fruit here is excellent.

On Thursday there was an activity with all of the senior missionaries and Pres. and Hna. Andersen.  Since we were newly arrived it was a great opportunity to meet the other couples.  Along with ourselves, the Hopkins and the Andersens, the other couples are as follows: There is a US Air Force base in Roda which is close to Cádiz.  There is a branch associated with the base and Elder and Hna, Jeppson are assigned to the branch.  Elder Jeppson is a retired marine.  Another couple we met (the Croshaws) are serving in a branch in the northeast of the mission.  The branch they serve in is part of a district.  They arrived in January so are also new.  The Frost’s work with the single adult group in Granda.  Sister Frost is the mission nurse, actually she is a PA.  The Frost’s weren’t able to meet with us since Elder Frost had his driving text the same day.  The other couple was Elder and Sister Redd.  They are the couple we are replacing in Cáceres.  They are now serving in the office until May when they will complete their mission.  I will tell you more about the Redd’s in the next blog.

We spent the day on a trip to Las Cuevas de Nerja which is the caves of Nerja.  Nerja is a beautiful city on the coast about an hour east of Málaga.  The caves apparently are a very popular destination in all of Spain.  They actually were quite magnificient.  We all went together for lunch and then went back to the Hopkins’ piso.

The mission just received three brand new cars and we were assigned the largest of the three.  That seemed very generous to us but after I saw the driving situation here I maybe would rather have a smaller car.  However, I am not sure our luggage would fit in the smaller car.  The cars are all Opels.  I’ll write about the car later.

The next blog will entail our first zone conference in Sevilla (Seville) and our arrival in Cáceres.  Stay tuned…..

Next blog coming soon...........

Hasta Luego