We made it!

We got through this past week and it went very smoothly.  Few of the missionaries even knew it was so much work.  You know what I mean?  It's like when you watch the Olympics, the athletes make everything look so easy, you think you could do it too, right?  Well, everyone did their part, and it looked fairly easy.  Then you say that President interviewed every new missionary (29 actually got here, the others are awaiting visas), every departing missionary (13, and those interviews take 45 min each), They all got here (tickets were bought and arrangements were made to transport them and their luggage), they all got fed and had a place to sleep, the trainers for the new missionaries likewise got transported, trained, and fed and housed, the traditional farewell dinner and testimony meeting was held with the departing missionaries at the mission home, and there were regular transfers going on at the same time ( more tickets bought and luggage moved).  One trainer missed her train and so didn't make it here to pick up her new comp (grrr).  Pres. still wanted to do the little ceremony they do, so we got her on skype and did it that way.    The office staff weren't able to keep mission rules regarding getting to bed on time (you have to wait to get the tickets till you know where people are going), and we were all pretty worn out by the end, but it went off, almost without a hitch. Thank you to Rod, Elder Mockler, and of course Heavenly Father! I really meant to get photos but that didn't happen.  Maybe next time.
As a reward/unwind activity, Rod surprised the office elders and APs with an outing on Sat.  They went to  a track and drove miniature race cars, and then played goofy golf. They got to be boys for a little while instead of just responsible adults.  They LOVED it.  That is my husband. He always knows what it needed.  Today we had the Hermanas over for dinner with us, which was good cause they hadn't gotten time to shop for food yet.  I finished laundry  ( lots of sheets had to be washed), ironed and cleaned the apt.  I love having everything back in order.  We love having them all here and love having them all gone too.

On a different note, you remember that we love this apt, it is close enough to walk to  the office, is spacious, has lots of light and is very quiet.  Of course there are always problems.  Here it is bugs.  I don't remember which night it was, maybe Fri,  I woke up to the fire alarm beeping.  I went in the kitchen and couldn't see or smell anything and the beeping had stopped, so I went back to bed.   A few minutes later it started again.  I picked  up the alarm, and behold, a roach was walking around in it.  Ugg!  We spoke to the landlord about it and he brought some stuff over that  he said would kill them, not right away, but works well.  Last night, I didn't hear a thing, but Rod heard it beeping again, got up and found a dozen roaches in the alarm where I had put the stuff.  Those are dead, but I hope the rest die soon.  We are very careful to keep all food in containers, and wash counters before we use them.  I have lids on all the pots and containers in the cupboard too.  This  is an older building so I expect there is no way around it. Hey, it is still better than Africa or somewhere, right?
In other quirks, when you take a trash bag off of a roll, the opening is usually on one side, not top or bottom.  Weird? I guess just different that I am used to.
 Oh I wanted to write about a funny thing we saw.  As we were walking back from the post office, we saw this young man walking in jeans made to sag.  The funny part was that it was actually 2 jeans.  One pair fit snug around his waist, the other came up outside the first , hung down  loosely, and had a loop that hooked in the back belt loop of the inner pair so they wouldn't fall down.  Soo odd. Is this a new style I have never heard of or his own invention?  no idea. They get tourists from everywhere here so it could be all the rage in Finland or somewhere.
We had another bumper crop of visitors at church today. You don't understand how amazing that was today.  We had trouble getting to church because of work that they are doing on the road.  Everything is blocked or one way so that we finally just parked and walked part way.  Them coming is so fun for us on fast Sundays because we get to hear from new people.  Rod always prays that we will get a pianist.  Today he played and did very well except, as is usual for him, he kept going so fast on the closing song that we couldn't keep up.  I think he is anxious for it to be done.  We are hoping we will get another pianist in the branch, maybe a missionary.  That would be wonderful.

I promised photos of Cadiz a couple of weeks ago, so here are a few. 

The Atlantic ocean and domes of churches and buildings in old Cadiz.

 

Someone was being clever.

Sister Todd gave me a sweater for which I was glad.

We ran into another wedding!

These were the musicians for the wedding. Aren't their costumes fun?

looking up at the church

inside the dome

We loved this Christ statue.

First we thought these were simply books, beautiful books.

But they are music. See the staff,  the notes are square.

We are at a Tapas Bar!

We dropped them off at the ferry and headed home.  We stopped on the way and visited some
Roman Ruins.  So strange to think that so long ago, the sea looked just the same to them as it does to us, though the coastline is probably very different.

The aqua duct

Guess what this is?

So Beautiful!

I love these colors



They are wind surfing and kite surfing off in the distance.  So beautiful. 
Well time for bed. 

Congratulations to Daughter # 2 on her beautiful new little boy.  Cant wait to meet him in person!