Oasis

Note: this happened maybe a month ago?  I wrote it up for my writer's group :)                           

It had been a while since my last adventure so I was feeling the need to wander. The problem is, I had already hit about everywhere within walking distance of my piso. Time for a change in tactics. Since the Cercanias (train) is only about a block away, I decided to jump on and let the rails do the walking for a bit. I got of on the second stop, Torreblanca, and headed for the beach.

 To tell the truth it wasn't much different than the stretch I walk along most nights now, but it did have a little rockway extending out into the Mediterranean. I found a rock to sit on a ways out on it, and watched the sardines swimming around  in the beautiful clear water for a while. It was quite peaceful, even though there were a lot of people there also enjoying the day.                                                                                  

A view of the Mosque we had explored previously.

View of the dryness and Med.

At that point the hills come almost all the way down to the water, but of coarse where there's water there HAS to be hotel , so they had cut away some of the hillside to make room for them. And right behind them was the railway (but higher up). So when I decided to head inland it took a while to find a road that headed that way. Finally there was one that tunneled under the railroad, then headed up a steep road towards yet another development.  At the top were some fantastic views... and a closed road that of coarse begged to be explored. That led to another road that led down to yet another hotel, but there was a hill on the other side that I hoped would lead to somewhere interesting. I scrambled up the hillside, but when I got to the top, there wasn't much of any place to go except along the top.

Yup, ended going down - AND up this again!

I did spy some greenery a little ways away, though. It hasn't rained much here in recent years - I think only twice in the 3 1/2 months I've been here - so almost everything is pretty brown where it isn't stone and cement. That greenery enticed me onward and I ended up scrambling down the hill fairly near the hotel I was trying to avoid, and then taking a dirt road that soon became a path. There the sounds of civilization were very muted and the song of insects and water and the scent of flowers and greenery permeated the air. I found a tree to sit under and was in heaven!  Peace and nature - rich food for the soul for me. 

Bamboo, flowering bushes - a real mix

 Finally it was time to go though, so I continued to make my way along the gully my oasis was in, hoping to find a way to the beach. No such luck. It ended up beside the hotel, cut off by the train tracks. There was a trail leading upward, but it petered out in behind the hotel, with fences blocking the path. Fortunately (I thought) one was low enough to climb, and it looked like it led to the hotel's common area which I hoped would lead to the road by the tracks, but it turned out to be the common "back yard" of several room suites, and I got chastized by the neighbor who was enjoying a swim. Not only that but it was totally enclosed by a fence and all the gates were locked - inside and out!  So it was back to fence hopping.  That was okay though - I got to re-enjoy my little paradise, although I did have to climb the hill (this time via the road) to make my way back to the beach. Boy was it worth it though - I had a GREAT time, and feel very very grateful for being able to enjoy the beauty I found - safely no less :)  Didn't even get arrested! ;)  I took the train back home from the stop that turned out to be right next to the underpass I had used (Carvajal) because I was too tired by that time to walk all the way back to Torreblanco. A definite blessing finding that!  All together I feel very blessed at being able to be here in beautiful Southern Spain - able to enjoy both the "touristy" stuff, and also the more out-of-the-way treasures. Missions are awesome!

View from the top of the hill, Med in the distance.
The green spot in the middle is my "oasis" :)

State of the Mission

View from Mijas

 Every week at the beginning of our office staff meeting we have a "State of the Mission" report, going over how many baptisms, baptismal dates, "rescues", new investigators, etc. we've had for the week, month, and year so far. Well, this is kind of my "State of My Mission" report.  I say kind of, because my mission isn't really measureable by numbers (except perhaps by the number of referrals that have been coming in and going out, which fluctuates).  It's more of a "Sense of the State of my Mission" and this will probably amount to random thoughts.

"Burro Taxi"

Right now (written a couple days ago) I'm pretty tired. Which in a way is a good thing! It means I'm keeping quite busy, which I love. I just wish there were a few more hours in the day! It often becomes quite late without my even noticing, which isn't unusual for me when I'm immersed in a good book, but I don't even have any fiction here. But there's always facebook ...

Hermana Castillo and me

I'm always trying to think of ways to increase the number of referrals coming into the mission, and also ways to encourage my Spanish speaking missionaries to keep plugging away learning English.  I'm regularly filled to overflowing for gratitude. So MANY blessings!   The only thing that would make it even better would be if I had a "best friend" to come with me on my mission. You couples have it made - so get on out here! It's great going on adventures, but it's a hundred times better when I have someone to share them with, which I did today on P-day. Thanks Hermana Castillo! Check out my "addendum" at the end for details, and the pictures are almost all from today. :)

Mijas shop

Okay, back to the "State of the Mission". In case you were curious, right now the number of referrals our missionaries usually give me hovers around the mid 30's for the week (a good part of which are for other, usually South American missions). This week we had a great week, though, and got in about 50! The number that comes into our mission (from within the mission to other zones, and from other missions and lds.org) is usually in the mid 20's. This is quite a bit better than when we started, but we're always looking to improve. If you have any ideas I'd love to hear them!

I try to make the missionaries that call me with a referral feel glad that they called. And I try really hard to not make them feel guilty if they haven't called the person when I call (after 2 days) to check and see how it went, but to just gently remind them. Most of them are REALLY good at calling though. One fun thing about the call backs is when I get a Spanish speaker. One of the hardest times to understand a foreign language is on the phone. Usually between their limited English and my limited Spanish we figure things out, but there have been a few times I was left being not quite sure if I really got what they were trying to tell me. It makes life interesting! And it's so funny..  even the Americans will often speak Spanish to me without even realizing they are doing it, until I ask them to repeat. And it's really funny when they speak half Spanish and half English. I can usually figure it out though. But there are some letter pairs (or even triples) in Spanish that sound exactly the same, which can be pretty tricky over the phone when I'm trying to get the names of cities and streets. Thank heavens for google maps! And the Spanish i is our long "e" sound, and etc., which makes when they spell things out REALLY interesting when I'm not sure if it's the Spanish or English they're trying to say/spell!

Not today, but loved it!

Sometimes I just plain get tired! Physically, mentally, and emotionally. I went to the beach the other night and found a fairly quiet spot off the walkway (there are LOTS of people on the walkway) to calm my spirit a bit, which helped. Life can be kind of hard sometimes!   A mission can be hard!  The Lord tends to stretch you in ways that can be uncomfortable sometimes - but love and faith gets me through. This is not a job where you clock in, check off your list of responsibilities, and then clock out to go on about your life. The Lord tends to stretch one in sometimes totally unexpected ways, and sometimes it hurts, but the Lord is always there. As well as some pretty awesome people who become His hands and feet to help me out when I need it!

Hna Castillo told me to
look at her (while drinking),
so I got a face full of water!

I feel God's love so often and strongly here! I still miss the temple, but mission perks are pretty darn nice, too. And the knowledge that I'm doing what the Lord wants me to do is very sweet.
Material things become less important (and you realize that if you have done without it for a year or two, you probably don't need it!) .... A mission tends to focus one on the truly important things in life - The Lord, family, friends, and helping those family and friends we don't even know yet find the joy that the gospel brings.
I love the scriptures. I read them pretty much totally in Spanish now and I love it!
I am happy, fairly healthy, and  constantly amazed at God's grace and the power of His atonement. There's no better life!
Addendum:   Thanks for sharing the day with me today, Hermana Castillo! Today for P-day we went up to a little pueblo called Mijas that has burro taxies, beautiful views, and very fun little shops. It was a GREAT day! We bought each other cute necklaces, and then I found an awesome hand-made silver necklace from a little shop that I couldn't resist, so I got TWO necklaces today!  Pretty much unheard of. We shared some hand-made icecream and candied almonds, and wandered through lots of little shops.

There were original ceramics, photographs, and paintings in addition to jewelry, and of coarse lots of touristy stuff. We also went to the "Museo de Minaturas" (Miniatures museum), which was totally not what I was expecting, but still very fun. They had very tiny (some the size of maybe a dime, some on the head or even point of a pin or along a toothpick or hair) paintings and carvings. Very fascinating!  They had to have multiple magnifying glasses or a microscope to be able to see them.
Then on the way home I got to drive for the first time in Spain (no problem), so watch out, world! I'm on the loose!  ;)

Bull?

A while ago I decided that for my P-day I would do a bit of exploring. I'd already walked both ways along the beach pretty much as far as my hips would allow me, and a few other ways too, so I started off down the street next to ours that runs parallel with the beach, thinking that I would take off and explore up a side street if anything caught my fancy.  There wasn't much to stimulate my curiosity, but I was enjoying exploring some of the stands of post cards (my companion wanted some that represented the horse show we had seen and I'm always on the troll for some good cards), window watching, and in general taking in the Spanish ambiance. It was a beautiful, warm day, with lots of shade thrown by the corraled trees, and fountains and

other art to be enjoyed in the roundabouts that came regularly to regulate the traffic. I also think it's fascinating that the style of brick, block, or tile work changes regularly on the sidewalk,
and that many buildings are decorated by beautiful tile work. Still, I was looking for a bit of adventure, and it just wasn't happening. Then above the high rise apartments, into my view came THE BULL!  I'd seen him before and hadn't thought much of him, but there he was, big and bold on the crown of a hill that just might possible afford a lovely (and, I hoped peaceful) view of the Mediterranean.

I checked out my little tourist map (very sketchy) and discovered what looked like a little road that circed back behind the hill and came near my destination. Perfect!  It was a bit farther than was probably wise to go, but heck, I had all day! And what's Aleve for, anyway, if not to allow a bit of overdoing? So off I went, keeping my goal in site as much as possible. And yes, there WAS a road that seemed to circle behind and which went uphill. Finally near the top was a little parking place and a gate with a couple of trails leading in the general direction I wanted to go. I took the right hand one, but it soon pettered out, so I headed uphill through the bush a while, and found the other trail, which was soon going strong. And it DID lead to the wooden bovine I had been searching for! And for quite a while I was left alone to take in the beautiful views and fill my soul with the peace that God's beautiful creations bring. It was a very worth-while journey. By the time I was ready to go, a couple and two runners appeared, so I greeted them and headed back down the hill, ready to get back into the crowded city.
But of coarse I COULDN'T go back the same way I had come, so I headed down the other side of the hill. There I found the cutest little pueblo with white washed walls, little passageways with an abundance of flowers, and of coarse the ever present red tiled roofs.

 And there were other cool little streets to explore too, with there own houses filled with their own individual personalities. But by that time my hips were starting to complain, so I walked down to the beach and headed back that way. I had to rest a couple of times on my way, but eventually made it home, feeling very filled and satisfied. A wonderful day!

View from "The Bull" (as is the first picture).

Extraordinary Happenings

Most of my days here in Fuengirola are pretty routine. I wake up, read scriptures, write in my journal, do exercises, eat breakfast and shower. After that there's the block and a half walk to the office, checking for referrals, entering data, calling missionaries, writing letters... you know, the regular stuff.  And then there are those extraordinary days. This last little while I've had two such days.

Arlene between her aunt and the cousin that baptized her.

The first occurred on a recent Saturday. First to set the stage...  A month or two ago a beautiful young woman sat down beside me in Relief Society and we introduced ourselves to each other. From that beginning I grew to love Arlene, she of the vivacious smile and enthusiasm for life. She had decided that she wanted to change her life for the better and follow the path of her aunt, who is a member in Málaga. Every Sunday she greeted me with a great smile, double "besos" (the Spanish custom of greeting friends with a kiss on each cheek) and an enthusiastic "American" hug (awesome!).  I got to help teach her for one of the missionary lessons (she speaks both Spanish and English, so it was a mix of both), and soon she was ready for baptism.

But this was to be no ordinary baptism. Arlene's aunt lives out in the countryside on the other side of Malaga surrounded by beautiful hills. She has a pool with palm and olive trees and that is where Arlene was baptised. She was nervous, but it was a beautiful service and the Spirit was SO strong in that beautiful place. The beauty of God's creations out in nature usually brings the Spirit to me in greater measure than anything man made. She was baptized by her young cousin, which made it even more special, and almost all of the local missionaries (whom I've grown to love) were there, to complete a perfect day.

Elders Gonzalez, Thompson, Dansie,
(me), Adams, and Buckway from Fuen.

 They had a huge spread of food with lots of traditional Spanish dishes that I had never tried before, so of coarse I had to try a bit of each of them. I was very stuffed afterwards!  And they were delicious!  I'll have to write a future post on Spanish food.  I thought Elder Dansie was trying to hide in the rt side picture, so I was pulling him over to make sure he was in it too. He and Elder Buckway are the office Elders. Awesome young men!

Hermana Castillo and me (in our office clothes - it was the matinee at 6 :)
 Pictures courtesy of the Castillos since I forgot my camera :s.

The second dia extraordinario came once again courtesy of my great friends, the Castillos. They invited me to a  live Spanish production of Le Miserables (Los Miserables in español) in a beautiful old theatre called el Teatro Cervantes in Malaga. There were box seats, murals on the ceiling, and a small but well-done stage.

 Fortunately I had seen a movie version a long time ago (not the musical though), and had read the book, so I read the Wiki summary and listened to a lot of the music in English and went, hoping for the best. It was totally awesome. The voices were powerful, sets and lighting mesmerizing, and the overall production excellent (in my not all that experienced opinion). I was even able to follow it well enough to feel the power of the redemptive story such that I was shedding a few tears by the end. I count it a great blessing to have been able to go, especially with the wonderful Elder and Hermana Castillo. Thank you, my friends!

Afterwards we went "native" and ate dinner at the fashionably late hour of around 9pm. That's when Spaniards are just getting started. Often restaurants don't even open until 7 or 8 and you'll see families with young children wandering around in the streets at 11 or 12 at night. We ate in the shadow of a beautiful old church, and wandered around exploring the surrounding shop windows, which included a wedding gown display and a very old movie projector with celluloid film in it. Dinner was delicious, as was the company :)
So that wraps up my tale of two venues, one spiritual, and one cultural. One filled with the beauty of God's creations and His spirit, and one celebrating the Spanish  (and French) cultures and Redemption. As I've said many times before, I feel SO BLESSED to be here, and thank God daily and often for the chance to be here in Spain serving Him. I am truly blessed!

Another beautiful evening in Fuengirola. I love the Mediterranean!

Butterflies and Virgins

Okay, so the answer to what the "teaser" picture at the end of the last blog was is "butterflys" - or actually, moths in that case. My companion and I went to the Butterfly Farm in a pueblo between Fuengirola and Malaga ( Benaldamina) a while ago, and had a great time!  First of all we had to get there. I really haven't had a need to drive yet, and the mission only has about 8 vehicles, so we set off not exactly sure how things were going to go down. We knew we had to take the Cercania (the train that runs between Fuen and Malaga) and then a bus, but we weren't sure where exactly they met, nor anything about the bus or how far it was, other than a number. The train was no problem, but when we got off, there were a couple of different bus stops, neither of which had the number that was on the Butterfly Farm's web site. Fortunately there was someone waiting at one, so I prepared to give it my best Spanish and said, "Do you speak English?"

  I count it a definite blessing that the answer was a resounding "Yes!" and she proceeded to tell me in lovely British English how she was down for a visit, and had just a little while ago visited there, and that she "happened" to be going on the same bus, and would show us the ropes, including where we should get off.  Thank you Heavenly Father! It was pretty crowded, so we couldn't sit together, but I kept an eye out on her, and we had no problem. It was quite a ways, so I was very glad that we didn't follow our original plan to walk!

Wally the Wallaby

The butterfly farm itself is a large greenhouse with lots of plants, butterflys, moths, cocoons with emerging new supplies of inmates, and even a wallaby named Wally!  The butterflys and moths were beautiful and interesting (they had feeding stations with magnifying glasses that you could watch them eat at), and although quite warm, it wasn't nearly as bad as we'd been warned. It seems that Europeans (esp. from places like England which are quite cool) have quite a low heat tolerance.
 I've been quite comfortable in Fuengirola (even when it gets hot there's a cool breeze off the Mediterranean to cool things down), even when others are saying how hot it is! Anyway, after the park we went across the street to take in the Mosque and beautiful views of the Mediterranean (always a favorite activity). Then we headed back to the bus stop and got there about 10 minutes early (as our friend had suggested), only to see the bus arrive and leave right before we got there.

Leaf disquise and beauty between. Cool!

 Fortunately there was a place to sit where the top half would be in shade, so we sat down on the beautiful black marble bench to wait ....  for about a microsecond. That baby was HOT!  We gingerly sat on the edge, and after a while it wasn't too bad. Soon some young ladies in VERY short dresses came up, and before we could think of the proper Spanish to warn them, they sat....  full on bare

The  Arroyo de la Miel Mosque

 legs!  It turns out that they were French, so even a Spanish warning wouldn't have helped, so I didn't feel too bad. And I was glad for my Pday capris :)

The Cercania

The bus finally came, and we made it back to the train and home, grateful for a fun, beautiful Pday in Spain!                                                                  

So I'll bet you were wondering where the "Virgins" part of the post came from... Well, having 5 kids, I can assure you it's not from me :)   This last Wednesday was (yet another) national holiday here in Spain - the  Fiesta del Día de Virgen del Carmen. This festival is several hundred years old, and celebrates the Virgin Mary as a protector of mariners and fisherman.
 They take a (very heavy) statue of Mary and Christ from the local cathedral on a platform attached to poles which is carried in a rhythmic march on the shoulders of maybe 40 sailors (in this case - I guess they do this regularly for various festivals). They proceed through the streets and down to the shore, where prayers are ceremoniously said blessing the fleet and fishing boats for the coming year. It was very impressive, and there were a bunch of boats congregated to receive the blessing. I went with a friend (Debbie) from the ward and enjoyed it immensely.


Afterwards there were probably 45 minutes of fireworks lit off the warf (which we had had enough of after 15 - 20 minutes), and then back they went to the cathedral. I'm very glad I went, but I'm also very glad that I have the true gospel of Jesus Christ in my life, and love that I am able to help bring that gospel here to the great people of Spain. I am so blessed!

View of Fuengirola (in the distance) from the Mosque

Who Knew! Pretty Cool!

Okay, so I'm addicted to pictures of the beauty of Fuengirola. Who could blame me?  But there are also a lot of things around here that are maybe not so beautiful, but that are still pretty cool.  For example, when you go grocery shopping you can either "free rent" a regular grocery cart (you put in any coin I think larger than .50 euros, and that frees the cart from the line of carts. Then when you're done you put it back and your coin comes lose again. Saves the employees from having to round them up.

But if you don't want to go the cart route, there are these nifty little baskets (Spaniards rarely buy enough to fill up a cart as they have to haul all the stuff home by hand usually) that you can use. They have a long handle and wheels so you can set them on the ground and pull them around.  They are usually just perfect for what I want to get. Most of the stuff comes in fairly small compact packages (again, easy to haul around), including the boxes of milk (1L) that last for months or years, and the bagettes of bread that don't last more than a day or two (and is bought pretty much every day by most people. VERY yummy bread!).  Other interesting "grocery" facts:  the raisins are HUGE (I cut them in thirds or forths usually) and usually have seeds (crunchy! So I make sure I get the ones without). The sugar is quite granular, and there are little shops like "fruiterias" that have YUMMY fruits and that are fun to shop at. So that's how stuff comes in to the piso (apartment). You might ask - so what do you do with all the garbage then?   Well...  stuff comes IN in little packages, and it goes OUT in little packages too. They're very big on recycling here and have underground garbage bins -

you put stuff in the chutes, separated into "organico" - stuff that can be composted - plastics, glass, cardboard, etc.  Then every once in a while a cute little garbage truck comes by, they raise the bins up, then dump them into the truck (of coarse different trucks for each type). It's pretty cool, and they have groups of these bins (some of the dry stuff is above ground sometimes) about every couple of blocks - they're pretty convienient. And they have small garbage cans (nice looking black ones) every half a block or so for whatever is left, and which they empty every day. Pretty cool.

Some pretty cool stuff around the house - we don't have a dishwasher (to go with the clothes dryer we don't have), but they have these nifty drainers that are contained in the cupboards, so you just wash your dishes then put them directly into the cupboard. Ours has a plastic tray at the bottom to catch drips, but my friend's is totally open underneath and drains directly into the sink and onto the drain board. It makes for a neater kitchen, and easier dishwashing too!  Oh, one other kind of crazy kitchen thing - if you ever come to live in Europe and you like to bake, make sure you bring a set of your own measuring spoons and dry measuring cups!  They are pretty much impossible to find around here (they use scales to measure stuff by weight), so we use a small tuna can for 1/4 to 1/2 cup, poke a finger in flour and fill for half a tsp of baking soda, etc. And they rarely bake (who would with all the yummy bakeries etc. around!), so some apartments don't even come with ovens, and the ones that do are very small.

This is a picture of our "utility room". Notice the small washer that likes to "walk" around when in use, and the tanks of Butane that are used for the on-demand water heater (which starts with what seems like a small explosion when the butane is getting low) and for the stove. The week before last our water heater tank ran out, so we switched over to the spare (everyone keeps one spare), no problem. But it was near the weekend, so we didn't order a new one... well, that Monday we were cooking batches of macaroni fix macaroni salad to feed the missionaries (Zone Leaders and SHE's come for concilio -leadership council) and just as the first batch was finishing, the STOVE butane tank ran out. So we quick took our showers (it was fairly early in the morning), then switched the tank from the hot water heater to the stove to finish up. It all worked out though.

We got clean, the salad got made, and our awesome office elder brought some fresh tanks up that night so we didn't have to keep switching them off. I just count it a blessing that it quit after the batch was done and not in the middle of a batch!
This is my bedroom. Notice the nifty window blinds. They lower from the top, and you can set them to leave little slots between them so it lets some light and air in (so it doesn't get too stuffy in the heat), but keeps out a lot of the light and noise. I love them!  Also notice the blue oblong items at the foot of the bed. They are my handy-dandy 13 lb cockroach killers. Very handy when the little critters come to visit in the middle of the night!  (Even cockroaches can't resist them. Fortunately I've only had to use them once so far). And notice the made bed, Kay :)

And that small light up there is the only built in light in the room, so I have a small lamp, which is good because otherwise the print is WAY to small in my books at night!
And last but not least, the bathroom...   I won't say anything about the facility on the far left (it has remained unused), but notice the sink (I haven't seen one with a cupboard below), and the toilet. It is a very effective low-water user, and see that button on top?  That's the flush lever. Some you pull up, some you push down, some have an option for lower-water need flushes or higher need flushes, but they're all on top. And the bathrooms all seem to have their light switches on the OUTSIDE of the bathroom (dangerous around some people). And the light switches usually turn on by pushing down, instead of up. And I won't even go in to door handles right now....
Anyway, these are some of the things that I have found to be a bit different than at home. And as a teaser for next time....