First Week On Our Own

 


This has been a pretty wild week. We didn't have the Romney's as a safety net, and we both wish we would have. It started off pretty well with a comfortable Sunday. Brenda fed some sister missionaries. It was neat to feel their spirit and to see their enthusiasm for the work. When we opened the door the next morning to go to work, we found that they had "heart attacked" our door. Very sweet. Monday went south from there. Everything that comes to me seems to be something new, and I have to sit and figure out how to approach it. With Elder Romney there, he'd just say "this is how you attack this problem", and I'd just do what I needed to do. Without him, I waste a lot of time figuring things out, and consequently, there seems to be more to do at the end of the day than there was at the start. Pretty much all week we were the first ones to arrive and the last ones to leave. Brenda seems to be doing better than I am, or at least she's not whining as much as I am. We've had to figure a few things out, and had to deal with a couple of unpleasant things that we wish we could have avoided. However, someone needs to deal with them.

We have an elder in the office who is from England who "temped" in Sherene and Dave's mission (before they got there) while he was visa-waiting. On Tuesday, he cooked us a very British meal of fish and chips. I told him after the meal that when he gets home he should open his own "Chippy". Two days later he tested positive for COVID. So far, he's the only one so we're keeping our fingers crossed. 

Fridays are usually a little slower, but not this week! Early that morning I got a couple of phone calls from some very honest and sweet missionaries who informed me that they got double pay on their MSF cards! It was then that I found out that I'm not supposed to initiate those payments (which I had), because they come automatically. It was awful. I had to tell President Heckmann what happened, I had to put myself on "blast" to every missionary in the mission announcing the issue, and telling them that this is NOT "free day at the candy store". I then had to start doing what needed to be done to make it right. I ended up having to go all the way to Church HQ (consequently I'm sure that my former co-workers are having a great laugh at my expense). After going through all that pain, it was blunted by the fact that by coincidence (I read that Tender Mercy), there was a "glitch" in the system where many missions not only were paid twice, but several were paid up to 5 times! My mistake was just pulled into the bigger issue, and they're working it for me. I'm very grateful for small favors. Later in the afternoon I was really stressed about all of the insanity, and decided to take a break to read my scriptures which I hadn't had the chance of doing until then. Another huge tender mercy was that when I opened them up, I happened to be on 3 Nephi 11 which is the chapter that relates when the Savior appeared to the Nephites. The Spirit told me that no matter what happens, we're here to help Heavenly Father's children find out about our Savior and what He has done for us. It helped me get my feet back under me, and reminded me that no matter what happens, I can always count on Him. 

On Friday night we went to help with the YSA activity. They have institute every Friday night, and feed them. There were about 150 kids there. One of the classes is taught in English by one of the senior missionaries. I sat in on that class since I'm going to be substituting for him in a couple of weeks when he'll be out of town. Once we started the "feeding frenzy" it was pretty wild. The YSA missionary couples are usually there until after midnight, so Brenda and I helped for a while, and they shooed us out the door. I can't even begin to describe the energy in that place. The YSA programs in Europe are really booming. 

Yesterday and Today they had Stake Conference here. They focussed on the Temple and Temple Preparation, and the YSAs gave most of the talks. President Heckmann told me that there are a ton of these kids that are preparing to serve missions, and I believe it. It was hard for us to get through the meetings though because the sound system wasn't the greatest, and my ability to understand Spanish, even when I can hear it clearly, isn't the best. I hope that I will improve. 

The weather here is starting to cool off a little, and that's nice. We like walking to work, which we do most of the time. Barcelona is designed to be pedestrian friendly, and they have what they call "Ramblas" which are huge road like, tree-lined areas that are made for pedestrians. It's funny to see a Rambla because the actual roads are just narrow one-way roads on either side of the Rambla. I've attached a picture of one we walk on almost every day. The only thing bad about the walk to work is that it's uphill all the way, and I usually get there pretty sweaty and out of breath. The walk home is much easier, and it's a nice way to decompress at the end of the day.

This coming week we're going to be attending a Senior Missionary Conference for 3 days in a town called Terragona which is about an hour away from Barcelona. It should prove to be interesting and fun, but I don't even want to think about what my "inbox" is going to look like when I get back! Well, onward and upward. 


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