This week, sandwiched in between our regular office work and helping an Elder who had to go home, we got to do actual missionary work! Yea! And yes, it was another week filled to the brim.
Starting last weekend, we had an elder who just couldn't cope with the pressures of missionary work. He had gotten to the point of having physical symptoms, so after verifying that there wasn't a physical problem, his comp got him back into the mission home, and then they spent next 2 nights with us. This is always a bit stressful, but we also feel deeply needed. You know how good Rod is at comforting and counseling. He went home feeling that his service was acceptable to the Lord. What more could you want. An up side was getting to know his comp, Elder Hooper. What a stellar missionary he is. He handled an extremely difficult comp and situation with calmness, sensitivity, and grace. I Know I wouldn't have done as well. The down side is that we grow to love them very deeply and then have to send them home. This Elder is heading into an uncertain situation at home and Rod has been stewing and worrying about him all week. We did finally get an email today that he is okay and making the adjustment back to 'civilian' life and will be able to get some help and counseling. One of the challenges is that in order for a missionary to arrive in the states at a reasonable hour for people to pick him up, he has to leave at an unreasonable hour from here. Rod got up at 3 am to take him to the airport Wed. Since it was 1:30 am before packing was done and people got to bed, that made for some tired Castillos, and I even stayed home and slept while Rod took him to the airport.
What else you ask... wellllll, Monday afternoon we met the sisters at the chapel to teach a man they felt a bit uncomfortable with. I agreed with them. He is a bit odd. Still the discussion went well. Monday night we had 2 other missionaries stay with us as they had zone leader training Tue. We love having them, but that is another couple of loads of laundry to wash the sheets. Tue evening we drove out to the little town of Antiquera where one of our branch couples live. They have a 'static caravan' out there and they divide their time between here and home in the UK. We had a lovely dinner with them and a neighbor couple, and as had been planned in advance, invited their neighbors to come to church in a couple of weeks to hear Rod speak. They said yes! We had such fun just visiting. They are all such wonderful people.
Wed afternoon while Rod caught up on a little sleep, I made cookies for a treat after our 'home evening'. The sisters asked us to host a home evening on Wed for an inactive couple whose kids want to get baptized but the parents aren't very supportive. Well the parents had other things going and didn't come, but the kids did and so did Pres and Sister Deere. We had a nice little lesson, played spoons which they loved and had our treat. Another missionary experience.
At the office we have been getting ready for our next 'wavelet' of missionaries. We get 14 more this Tue. Logistically this time is easier because of the smaller numbers and because the government offices will be open to do our residency work. The hard part this time is trainers. Two of our sister trainers are from the group that arrived 6 weeks ago! Hey you returned missionaries...imagine getting a greenie after 6 weeks in the field. Don't forget they are just starting to speak Spanish. There are a lot of very nervous missionaries right now. See why we try to take as much of the load off of Pres. Deere's shoulders as we can. He is so great though. We just love both of them.
Thur. evening, Rod went back to the office after we came home and helped the office elders get the spread sheets for this next transfer set up. We had to get that done early because the credit card they use to buy train and bus tickets quit working and they had to have those bought by someone in Madrid
Fri evening we went to another baptism. The APs baptized the son of a sister who has started coming back to church. I have been impressed by the talks at both baptisms. They said just the things I thought should be said and so simply and beautifully. The members here are just as mature in the gospel as we are at home.
I have been having rather intense allergies the last couple of weeks, then the last couple of days I have felt just a little 'under the weather.' I'm not really sick, just a little short on energy and enthusiasm. I was glad to have a Saturday to get the house clean and buy groceries. Oh, we also washed the car. After our trip to Sevilla last week and then to Antiquera we took off a couple pounds of bugs. We had stake conference so Rod had to go to leadership meeting Sat afternoon, but I decided not to go to the evening meeting. It was nice to stay home.
Our Stake conference meeting was in Granada, which meant a 2 hr drive to get to meeting today. I don't get to whine though because some of our branch have 2 1/2 hour bus rides to get to church every Sunday. I honestly wouldn't have known that we weren't at home except for the language and some of building's features, oh.. and the choir had as many men as women. I am so impressed with the members here. The congregation really sings the hymns too, not the lukewarm singing we often have. The sisters rode with us, so on the way home, we taught them Encore as a travel game. They loved it. We had fun too.
Not only will we get 14 new missionaries Tue., we will lose 3 missionaries from our district to transfers. All the missionaries that were in our district when we got here will be gone. That means a farewell dinner of course. Elder Berrett requested BBQ chicken so Rod decided that we needed macaroni n' cheese and cornbread to go with it. He made a beautiful strawberry pie too. I meant to take a photo but forgot. We were rushing to get everything cooked on time. We will miss those who are leaving, but, it is almost like Geves said about having children. Your heart just expands with more love for the new ones. Everyone is just as dear as they can be. We are so very blessed to be here and to know and love these amazing missionaries. Have a great week and thank everyone for the photos and notes on facebook and your blogs. We surely do miss you all but especially our grandbabies. Give them hugs from us.
Starting last weekend, we had an elder who just couldn't cope with the pressures of missionary work. He had gotten to the point of having physical symptoms, so after verifying that there wasn't a physical problem, his comp got him back into the mission home, and then they spent next 2 nights with us. This is always a bit stressful, but we also feel deeply needed. You know how good Rod is at comforting and counseling. He went home feeling that his service was acceptable to the Lord. What more could you want. An up side was getting to know his comp, Elder Hooper. What a stellar missionary he is. He handled an extremely difficult comp and situation with calmness, sensitivity, and grace. I Know I wouldn't have done as well. The down side is that we grow to love them very deeply and then have to send them home. This Elder is heading into an uncertain situation at home and Rod has been stewing and worrying about him all week. We did finally get an email today that he is okay and making the adjustment back to 'civilian' life and will be able to get some help and counseling. One of the challenges is that in order for a missionary to arrive in the states at a reasonable hour for people to pick him up, he has to leave at an unreasonable hour from here. Rod got up at 3 am to take him to the airport Wed. Since it was 1:30 am before packing was done and people got to bed, that made for some tired Castillos, and I even stayed home and slept while Rod took him to the airport.
What else you ask... wellllll, Monday afternoon we met the sisters at the chapel to teach a man they felt a bit uncomfortable with. I agreed with them. He is a bit odd. Still the discussion went well. Monday night we had 2 other missionaries stay with us as they had zone leader training Tue. We love having them, but that is another couple of loads of laundry to wash the sheets. Tue evening we drove out to the little town of Antiquera where one of our branch couples live. They have a 'static caravan' out there and they divide their time between here and home in the UK. We had a lovely dinner with them and a neighbor couple, and as had been planned in advance, invited their neighbors to come to church in a couple of weeks to hear Rod speak. They said yes! We had such fun just visiting. They are all such wonderful people.
Wed afternoon while Rod caught up on a little sleep, I made cookies for a treat after our 'home evening'. The sisters asked us to host a home evening on Wed for an inactive couple whose kids want to get baptized but the parents aren't very supportive. Well the parents had other things going and didn't come, but the kids did and so did Pres and Sister Deere. We had a nice little lesson, played spoons which they loved and had our treat. Another missionary experience.
At the office we have been getting ready for our next 'wavelet' of missionaries. We get 14 more this Tue. Logistically this time is easier because of the smaller numbers and because the government offices will be open to do our residency work. The hard part this time is trainers. Two of our sister trainers are from the group that arrived 6 weeks ago! Hey you returned missionaries...imagine getting a greenie after 6 weeks in the field. Don't forget they are just starting to speak Spanish. There are a lot of very nervous missionaries right now. See why we try to take as much of the load off of Pres. Deere's shoulders as we can. He is so great though. We just love both of them.
Thur. evening, Rod went back to the office after we came home and helped the office elders get the spread sheets for this next transfer set up. We had to get that done early because the credit card they use to buy train and bus tickets quit working and they had to have those bought by someone in Madrid
Fri evening we went to another baptism. The APs baptized the son of a sister who has started coming back to church. I have been impressed by the talks at both baptisms. They said just the things I thought should be said and so simply and beautifully. The members here are just as mature in the gospel as we are at home.
I have been having rather intense allergies the last couple of weeks, then the last couple of days I have felt just a little 'under the weather.' I'm not really sick, just a little short on energy and enthusiasm. I was glad to have a Saturday to get the house clean and buy groceries. Oh, we also washed the car. After our trip to Sevilla last week and then to Antiquera we took off a couple pounds of bugs. We had stake conference so Rod had to go to leadership meeting Sat afternoon, but I decided not to go to the evening meeting. It was nice to stay home.
Our Stake conference meeting was in Granada, which meant a 2 hr drive to get to meeting today. I don't get to whine though because some of our branch have 2 1/2 hour bus rides to get to church every Sunday. I honestly wouldn't have known that we weren't at home except for the language and some of building's features, oh.. and the choir had as many men as women. I am so impressed with the members here. The congregation really sings the hymns too, not the lukewarm singing we often have. The sisters rode with us, so on the way home, we taught them Encore as a travel game. They loved it. We had fun too.
Not only will we get 14 new missionaries Tue., we will lose 3 missionaries from our district to transfers. All the missionaries that were in our district when we got here will be gone. That means a farewell dinner of course. Elder Berrett requested BBQ chicken so Rod decided that we needed macaroni n' cheese and cornbread to go with it. He made a beautiful strawberry pie too. I meant to take a photo but forgot. We were rushing to get everything cooked on time. We will miss those who are leaving, but, it is almost like Geves said about having children. Your heart just expands with more love for the new ones. Everyone is just as dear as they can be. We are so very blessed to be here and to know and love these amazing missionaries. Have a great week and thank everyone for the photos and notes on facebook and your blogs. We surely do miss you all but especially our grandbabies. Give them hugs from us.
1 comment:
Have you tried local honey for the allergies? I'm pretty sure that's why I haven't had any up here since Aaron is kind big on good honey. And it's the most delicious allergy remedy :)
You guys must be such a big blessing in those missionaries' lives. I can only imagine how grateful they are for fun and hard working adults in their lives.
I love you both so much!
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