The wave is almost here!

We have finished up the week before the wave starts here.  The wave is the 'wave of new missionaries' mostly younger and arriving in large groups.  There has been intense planning a preparation all week.  We will be losing the office 'Secretary' who is our computer guru and excel man. He is going home. :(   We are hoping the planning they have done can be tweaked for the next few groups.  Sis Deere mentioned that they had talked with the Madrid mission president's wife who was wondering how they would handle their group of new missionaries, and Sis Deere said she had to work not to be smug, cause she had Elder Castillo and Elder Mockler.  We emailed them copies of our rough drafts of schedules as a point of departure.  There is a pun there....   Anyway, we are almost to the toboggan ride part where you just have to push off, go with the flow and adjust as you can.  Not only will we receive 32 new missionaries, send home 13, and open 10 new areas, almost 3/4 of the missionaries are being transferred.  Nearly everyone qualified, will become a trainer.  Crazy!  The whole week has been focused on arranging this, with a zone conference thrown in on Wed.  We also did the school 'drop off' and 'pick up' for the Deeres' kids while Pres and Sis Deere were in another part of the mission for another Zone conference. Rod put up "the Thing" a week ago.  It is a huge bulletin board with a heavy oak frame that was in our Malaga apt.  I wanted to toss it.  It was a headache (and back ache) to move, impossible to get on the elevator, and hard to store and hang, but now it is up in the office right over Rod's desk. and will be very helpful.  It has a big calendar on it with sticky notes of what happens when and where.  They need to be movable because so much changes.  Saturday we went like mad from 8 AM to late in the night to do as much of the prep as we could.  Sorry I didn't call Mom!
Today we had Mijas Branch 'munch and mingle' at our apartment for the first time, at least since it was 'ours'.  We came to one here when the Stevens were here but that doesn't count.  The exciting part of that was that we more than doubled our usual attendance at church today with visitors.  We had a wonderful time with them though and invited them all to come even though there was some concern about enough food as it is pot luck.  I made a huge salad  and a pot of spaghetti in addition to the other dishes (chicken tortilla casserole and blondies) I had prepared.   Oh I also made mystery bars with marias ( crisp, not very sweet cookies they give their kids for breakfast and snacks). They turned out okay.  We had plenty of food, lots of fun and got to make new friends with some wonderful people.  Two of the couples visiting, were from Murry Ut, didn't know each other but figured that their kids did.  They live just a few minutes away from each other. So funny how things work. This is part of why they keep this branch going.  Most of the members understand enough Spanish to attend that ward, but this way there are services in English for travelers who need it. I also gave the RS lesson today.  I was very glad I prepared it early in the week.  I usually do the 'writing' the day before but I wouldn't have had time yesterday.  I was planning to post some Cadiz photos but I don't have the energy tonight.  We will see if they show up later in the week.  Don't hold your breath though.  We thank you for your prayers.  I gouged my heel on a door jamb and was worried that I would be lame, but so far it has been healing well and not causing problems, and I am sure that your prayers have had a lot to do with that blessing.  We enjoy a strong feeling of purpose and are finding joy in this work! We love our missionaries, President and family, and the dear Mijas members. We are so very thankful for all of you.  You are in our prayers too.  Love ya