Fuengirola Bioparc

My companion Hermana Chantrill and I have been talking about going to the Bioparc in our little ciudad for a long time now, and we finally made it a week before she leaves for home! There is more on that below, but first I wanted to share a bit more about my home-away-from-home, Fuengirola.

There are a few different sand artists who grace our beach regularly with their art. This one puts up a brand new masterpiece every month or two and spends a great deal of time and effort perfecting it, and maintaining (or sometimes hiring someone to guard it) before time or rain or kids get to it and it is reduced to heaps of sand, ready to be changed into a whole new piece. I always "tip" him a bit to take a picture, and go by regularly to enjoy his art. As far as I can tell he only uses sand and water, keeping it moist so it doesn't disintegrate, which can be a real challenge.

This "artist"  on the other hand, is much more limited in his efforts. He always does a town on a hill with a little train track with lots of little toy figures, and uses spray to "decorate" and preserve his work.  He will create most of it in a few days, then "work" dilligently on it for weeks with hardly any change in it at all, all the while asking for donations. Once in a while he'll let it disintegrate and rebuild almost the same exact thing over again. It makes me ask myself if what I am "building" is genuine and meaningful in a true way, or just a sham for show and profit. I hope it's the former.

A lot of the trees around town are decorative orange trees and the bright orange fruit makes a beautiful contrast that lasts a long time. The reason these beauties aren't stripped bare is because the fruit is VERY bitter. You could maybe make a lemonade type drink with LOTS of sugar, but it still wouldn't be that good. The kids like to throw them at each other however :) Probably a lesson in there somewhere too, maybe of a similar kind. What kind of fruit am I producing?  I hope the insides are sweet, even if the outsides aren't really the most beautiful! Or maybe we should be careful that the fruits of our lives are sweet instead of just appearing great from an outside observer.  What can you see in this "parable"?

Okay,  we finally make it back to the zoo.  This is actually like 4 blocks from my apartment in the middle of the city!  It is surrounded by stores and apartment buildings, and you can't even tell it's there. It's actually pretty good sized, and has evolved from small cages to fairly decent sized, natural looking habitats with nary a cage to be seen. We visited during mediodia, the middle of the day, so everyone was pretty laid back.

Except this poor guy. He must have fallen into the bug pit or something to have all his friends "helping" him out!

There were lots of trees and ponds. It was very pretty and the animals really beautiful.

Except this guy (a Komodo Dragon). Still pretty cool though.  The path of the bioparc wandered around and around, letting you see each habitat from several different perspectives.

This peacock didn't seem to care for his habitat-mate very much. There were also crocodiles in the same exibit, which I found a bit weird.

I LOVE the coloring on this guy. He was in a greenhouse where you can walk right in amongst the birds. It was pretty cool.

This guy loved this spot of ground for some reason and when one of the other birds found an interesting stick in his area, he chased it out (but the little one managed to fly with that huge-for-him stick to a friendlier area).  My companion, Hermana Chantrill, really liked his coloring, so I took her picture with him.

This "Baobab tree" was actually molded out of I think cement as part of the "Madagascar exhibit". They had some smaller cages with insects and snakes that were actually inside the "tree".  There were no buildings inside the bioparc itself (outside of this one). All in all it was a very pleasant afternoon, not too cold, not too hot, and fun to boot!

Since my companion is leaving, I wanted to do a little mini-tribute to those who have moved on. This is Elder Mercado who actually doesn't go home home for a couple of months, but he was the Secretary in the office for like six month, so I got a bit attached by the time he left to go back in the field. Below and to the left are Elders Buckway and Dansie who were in the office at the very beginning of my mission (as was Elder Flint, who has his back to us, and who left earlier). They left for home this last transfer, which is sad, and yet happy. Now they get to get on with the rest of what I'm sure will be awesome lives!  Hermana Castillo in the light blue shirt (Jeanene - I can call her that now because she and Rod went home about 3 months ago). She is a great friend whom I miss greatly. And Hermana Chantrill of course is in the pink. We have been together now for almost a year and she is family to me. She will be missed so much!  But I feel so blessed at having met and gotten to know all of these talented, spiritual, just all around great people, as well as the others who are still here. There is nothing like a mission!  I love it!

La Mezquita - Catedral de Córdoba - Prt 2

My friends! The Senior Missionaries of the Spain Málaga Mission (plus a few photo bombers and minus my comp). From the left, a PBer, then Élder and Hermana Wiscomb, me (don´t know the guy right behind me), Élder y Hermana Redd, Élder y Hermana Coombs, Élder y Hermana Wilson, Élder (hiding) and Hermana Guffey, and finally Élder y Hermana Frost. The Coombs and I are in the office, Hermana Frost is the Mission PA, Élder Frost (a veterinarian like me!) is helping with medical stuff, and they are also doing JAS (YSA), the Guffies are military liaison to the Rota military base, and the Wiscombs, Redds, and Wilsons are leadership support and do whatever they can find to help out. All are wonderful with our missionaries and their branches, and we are very lucky to have them! We will miss the Wilsons when the leave us next week. Great people all.

Now back to La Mezquita!  This is the Mihrab, or Muslim prayer niche, which traditionally faces in the direction of Mecca, aiding worshipers in their quest to pray in that direction, but the Córdoba mihrab is unusual in that it points towards the south, instead of east-southeast, which is the direction of Mecca. It is richly gilded and decorated, and quite striking.

This is the Mirab Dome over the Maksoureh (next to the Mihrab), which was an anteroom for the caliph and his court. Another amazing Spanish ceiling!

Another look at the mosque´s architecture, including the double arches supported by Roman columns, and its beautiful colored glass windows (I´m not sure if they are original however). The main expanse was used for Muslim prayers (personal and the 5 daily plus special Friday prayers), teaching, and Sharia Law cases.

The Mezquita had a number of very beautiful colored glass windows like this one.

This is a look at the "treasure room"  - there were a lot of gilded platters, statues, candle sticks, and etc. And a lot of history - this time we rented the talking tour, which was very interesting and definitely worth while.

Beautiful columns near the Royal Chapel (Capilla Real)

This is one of the chapels (Capilla Sagrario or Chapel of Sagrario) built around the outer wall of the mosque. Again, notice the beautiful ceiling and art work.

The Capilla Mayor (the main cathedral built in the center of the mosque). It was very beautiful, but seemed out of place - just kind of stuck in the middle there.

A detail in the wall of the Capilla Mayor from the "outside".

Across from the Capilla Mayor, also in the center of the mosque was the Coro (or choir). Unfortunately my pictures of the main Coro didn't turn out that good, but there were individual choir stalls built about 1475 that all had unique carvings on them that were really beautiful.

The organ - it was huge!

Afterwards we went out for lunch. Delicious!
This is Elder Redd on the left, and Hermana and Elder Wilson on the right.

Starting on the left and going around the table:  Hermana (with camera) and Elder Coombs, Hermana (hidden) and Elder Wiscomb, Elder Frost, (Hermana Frost and Elder Guffey hidden) and finally Hermana Guffey.

The food was beautiful and delicious - I think it was a Hungarian place, but I can't remember for sure.








And I finish off with the Patio De Los Naranjos or Orange Tree Courtyard which was in front of la Mezquita and inside of the surrounding walls. As you can see they were loaded with (sour) oranges. Beautiful grounds!  So we said goodbye to the Mezquita (which you can see in the background) and to our adventures until next time!

La Mezquita - Catedral de Córdoba prt 1

In the middle of December we had another Senior Missionary ¨Conference¨, this time in Córdoba. The plan was to meet at the Mezquita, so the Coombs and I set off with the Frosts behind us, trusting in Tim, our faithful TomTom to get us to the Mezquita (Mosque)/Cathedral in that beautiful city.

Sure enough he got us there, but we could NOT find the public parking that was supposed to be there. Finally Hermana Coombs got out and hired a taxi to take her to the proper entrance, our two cars trailing behind. We had to go back over the bridge, then around to another bridge to get to the right side. And it only cost a few euros.
This time everyone (except of course my companion, Hermana Chantrill, who is just not into travel) made it, and it was GREAT to see all the other ¨seniors¨!  (I keep putting it in quotations, because we are NOT old!)

Well, we met up with a couple of other couples at the parking garage and headed for the Mezquita. Above is a picture of part of the wall which surrounded the whole complex. It took a bit of wandering, but we finally found the entrance into the grounds (I'll show you a picture of the beautiful grounds that featured orange trees later), and entered the Mezquita itself. Just inside the entrance is some plexiglass on the ground that lets you see into what I'm pretty sure was the mosque built on the site before the magnificent building that is there now. It has quite a religious history. First there was a Roman temple dedicated to Janus built there. Then a Visigothic cathedral. When the area was converted to Islam the building was divided between the Muslims and Christians (around 710). Then in 784 the emir of Córdobo bought the Christian half and constructed a magnificent mosque (mezquita) which took over 250 years to finish and was remodeled many times later. At one point it held an arm bone of the prophet Mohammad and an original copy of the Koran and Muslims would come on pilgrimage.  Then in 1236 King Ferdinand switched the area back to Christianity, and the mezquita was consecrated, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and used as it was. Then in 1523 the Córdoba church leaders asked King Charles V if they could build their own church inside. So a huge Renaissance cathedral was built right in the middle of the huge mosque!

When Charles came to see it, legend has it that he said, ¨You have built what you or others might have built anywhere, but you have destroyed something that was unique in the world¨.  A bit melodramatic, although they did take out over 400 of the beautiful columns (856 are still there though). The ¨Forest of Columns¨ was really beautiful and many were ¨repurposed¨ from the Roman temple that had been there before, and from other Roman ruins. They are made of jasper, onyx, marble, and granite and are topped with piers and 2 tiers of the red and white striped arches.

 This was a new architectural design that let the ceiling be much higher than previous buildings of that type. It was quite magnificent and HUGE! Once again I spent much of my time looking up. Each area had it´s own ceiling design, and they were all very beautiful. This ceiling over the cathedral area.

There were a whole bunch (37) of ¨capillas¨ (little chapels) around the outside walls. There were all kinds of beautiful pieces like this in the capillas.
 One good thing the cathedral conversion may have done was to preserve the whole building when the Spanish Inquisition came along and all the Jews and Muslims had to convert, leave, or die.

There were some rooms where they kept the treasures, and this huge piece was in the middle of one of those rooms.

Art work, sculpture, and more treasures.

This was in the treasure room. I wish I could remember what exactly it was. I think it was someone's crypt?  Not sure. It looks like it may have been commemorating the plague, but that's just my fancy.

A display of the tile work that has been found here.

This is the Capella Real (Royal Chapel) which was a room just stuck in the middle of the mosque (along with some others and the main cathedral). It had really cool stuco work, and was the burial chapel of Ferdinand IV and Alfonso XI.
I love the scalloping!

Muslims didn't believe in making any artwork that depicted living creatures that might be worshiped, including people and animals. Here you can see the intricate geometric and floral patterns and Arabic script (usually verses of the Koran) that they used in their decorations. Beautiful!

There was a lot of statuary of various sizes.

And other works of art.

This is a misc. monument in Córdoba we walked by on our way out that I thought was kind of cool, and I had room for it here :). I'll write more about our visit next time. Another great trip in Spain!

Of Bread and Disney

It's been a while since I've written - long enough that it took a bit to remember how to get to my blog...  so it made me think, why a blog? It's definitely not for the "fame" - I know relatively few people read this, or really care much if I do it or not. And that's not what I care about anyway. A better reason might be as a record of my mission - but I have my journal for that. One good thing about a blog is that hopefully it strengthens the connection between me and my family and friends. And just perhaps, it might encourage someone to take a look at serving a senior mission themselves.  Besides, I find writing and taking pictures rather fun! It can just be a challenge finding the time to do it sometimes! Enough of my "excuses" :)
Today I'm going to focus on some of the "perks" of serving a mission. First and foremost, it seems like the Spirit is just there, without me having to do anything special, and often without me even realizing anything is "special" or "different". For example, the other day it was my companion's week to cook our main meal of the day, "mediodia" (which we usually eat around 3 or so).

I didn't really need anything, but I was getting a bit low on bread (I usually buy a 5 pack of thin loaves, then cut it up into smallish pieces and freeze), and thought I needed a few other things, but when I got to the store I couldn't think of anything I really needed, and they didn't have any of the whole-ish wheat bread I like (as close as they come here to whole wheat). Most people here are really spoiled and picky about their bread and like it hot out of the oven, so they don't make a whole lot at a time so they can bring small hot lots out probably a couple times a day. Anyway, they DID have some very hot, fresh, "old fashioned" round loaf so I couldn't resist grabbing some, thinking if the lines were too long I'd just run it back. Well, I found a nice short line and so ended up getting it. I also stopped by the fruit and vegetable store to get some stuff, and threw in a couple potatoes. When I got home, I found out that Hna Chantrill had gone shopping for mediodia, but was distracted because of her lost debit card, and while she had gotten sandwich fixings, she had forgotten the bread AND the potatoes she needed for her soup.  It's cool how the Lord helps out, even in the small things! There have been quite a few other times I've found the urge to do misc. things, like ask a missionary about a certain person (a referral) who it turns out had been forgotten somehow and really wanted and needed to be contacted, or look  a certain place where I find something that had been left that really was needed right then, or make a needed comment to someone. And it really doesn't feel like anything particularly significant, just something that would be a good idea to do. It's been pretty neat :)

Zone conference (3 zones, in Málaga)

Another "perk" is being able to associate with such wonderful people - both young and not-so-young. Today was transfers and we got 21 brand new missionaries in. That makes for a very long, but very wonderful day! And I knew many of the trainers from either being here when they came in, or from concillio (Mission leadership council I think in the states), or whatever. It's hard to believe I've been here almost 9 months already!  It has gone by SO fast!
And of course there is the beach and other delights associated with serving here in Spain. Speaking of which, I guess I'll write a bit about the holidays here.

A couple weeks before Christmas we started hearing very loud firecrackers, which continued well into the new year. Sometimes in the middle of the night!  Christmas is cool - they don't give more than 1 or 2 presents for Christmas, so it is easier to focus on the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. And they don't have school from before Christmas until after Jan 6, which is "Kings Day".

 That is the day they give gifts to each other, celebrating the coming of the 3 wise men / Kings to give gifts to the Christ child. And the night before they have a big parade, which went down the street right next to our little street. The parade consisted of mostly Disney-themed floats plus one for each of three kings (Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior).

Balthasar - a crowd favorite

There were bunches of kids on each who were made up and costumed to go along with the float and were supplied huge amounts of candy to throw at the watchers. EVERYONE (young and old) was scrambling to get their share, and there was so much, all the kids got tons, so nobody felt bad. I spent most of my time taking pictures and several times got pelted with bunches of candy, so I got a couple pockets full to (mostly) bring into the office. It was a lot of fun!

So now Christmas and King´s Day are over and it´s time to settle back down to the routine of the office. Which is rarely routine. Mission life is awesome!