Musser Mission Blog

  This week was pretty busy for us. On Easter Sunday we had 10 missionaries and a recent convert to our house for dinner. We needed to borrow a folding table and a bunch of chairs from the office, and it was really crowded, but it was neat to have all of those missionaries in our home on Easter Sunday. We hope that your Easter was wonderful.  Another big event that happened this last week was on Wednesday. There is an interesting holiday in Catalonia called Sant Jordi. As the legend goes, there was a kingdom that was under tyranny from a dragon. Each year a maiden needed to be sacrificed to the dragon to keep the peace. One year the lot fell on the princess to be sacrificed. A brave knight named Sant Jordi rescued the princess, and killed the dragon. Where the blood of the dragon fell to the ground a rose bush bloomed. Somehow that legend has turned into a festival where you give a single red rose or a book to a friend. President and Sister Heckmann have had their eyes on this...

What a week! Zone conferences are always exciting, but this time the President decided that instead of typical zone conferences he was going to set up hikes for the missionaries. Each zone conference hike was geared toward the area where the missionaries were serving. Before each zone conference hike, the missionaries met together to put sandwiches together to take with them for their lunches. Brenda and I went on the first hike which was for the Barcelona area zones. It went up to a place called Tibidabu which overlooks the city. The hike was pretty challenging but we made it. It really was a beautiful experience. Once we got to the top, we held a testimony meeting. It was wonderful to hear the touching testimonies of these sweet missionaries. We have really grown to love them. I was also very touched to see my sweetheart get up and bravely bear her testimony in Spanish. I am very proud of her. The hike was tough enough that we decided to stay in the office the second day! I have to t...

After the previous week, we had hoped that this last week would have been a little more quiet so we could get caught up. However, that was not to be. We didn't get any new young missionaries, but we did get a new couple. They arrived on Tuesday morning and since President and Sister Heckmann had to be present in the mission Zoom call, they asked us to pick them up at the Airport. Their name is Janes (pronounced Ha'-nays). They are from Houston Texas, but are originally from Mexico. His parents are from Catalonia and so his last name is Catalan. I related all too well with them because when they got here they were jet-lagged beyond belief. But, instead of just giving them a place to crash we brought them back to the office where they arrived just in time to be introduced to the mission. Then they had to go through all of the checking in process so that we can get residency started. They also had to learn about the driving rules in Spain since they will be driving here. We ended ...

President and Sister Heckman Anxiously Awaiting the Arrival of 18 New Missionaries!  What a week! It all started on Monday. There is a sweet 89 year old man named Archie who is a legend in the Spain Barcelona Mission. Ask about anyone who has served here in at least the last decade, they will tell you about Archie. He loves the missionaries and the mission, and normally drops by the office about once every two weeks or so just to hang out. He often will go around without being asked and empty the garbage or clean a little. Monday was his birthday, and he came in and cooked a big meal for the office staff. He loves to take pictures with the missionaries. He is from the Philippines and is just a treasure for our mission. On Tuesday the "salientes" (missionaries leaving the mission) arrived to have their final interviews with President Heckmann. That is always kind of crazy as they are going through all of the emotions that missionaries go through when they are going home. They...