First post from Spain!

Hello Everyone! 
I have Internet at home, at least for tonight.  Here is the update I promised.  We have been in Spain for ONE week.  We 'moved into' our apartment, though we may move again after the current office couple (Stevens) go home. Ours is on the 3rd floor of a high rise, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, living room, kitchen, and tiny balcony. The Stevens' apartment is a short walk from the office instead of a 20 minute drive.  Yes I said drive.  We have been driving our 'own' car for 3 days, a faith promoting experience.  Parking it is a nightmare.  More on that later. We have had our first 'house guests', 2 elders stayed with us last night so they could be here for Zone Conference.  We got turned around last night on the way to pick them up and were nervous for about 8 minutes but got back on track and made it home safe and sound.  (Thank you Sir!) We helped buy groceries for said conference, and then today, we attended our first Zone Conference.  It was Fabulous!  We had Elder Texeira and his wife speak to us.  He is our area president.  They speak Portuguese, Spanish, French, English and German.  Rod and I both have been gaining a completely new idea about what repentance entails, and it is just amazing.  They both shared their conversion stories and offered wonderful ideas on how we can increase our investigators geometrically.  I enjoyed it way more than I expected to.  I am already working with some 'sick' missionaries.  We have plenty to do.  That is a good thing. I made snickerdoodles for the missionaries and they were pleased with a taste from home.  They taste good to me too. 
I understand the missionarys' Spanish, and some of the native speakers too, others not so much.  I can usually say what I want but I have a long way to go.  People seem to want to help us in stores and such.  They are good about slowing down and using gestures to help us.  On the bus the other day, when someone overheard that we wanted the train station, she got the bus driver to stop and let us off  even though we weren't at a stop. 


These photos are from our first couple of days


Our arrival at the Malaga airport with President and sister Deere

Dinner at the Deere's home.  The couple across from Rod are the Stevens.

 

The view from the balcony where we ate.

 

The almond trees are in bloom right now.  They have a sweet scent and the trees are everywhere, even wild. They sell almonds from little tiny stands everywhere.

We got to visit a couple of the 'sights' here a couple of days ago.  I will do a post of those photos later.  There is so much to say but I need to study, so goodnight.

Thank you, every one of you for your prayers! We feel their power and your faith on our behalf.  Our Savior really is in charge of this work and He helps us with every effort we make to keep His commandments and share His message.  We love you all so very much.