Musser Mission Blog

Wow, I can't believe that we have already passed our second Christmas in Spain! Where did 2025 go?!? More importantly, having now spent our last Christmas here in Spain, where has our mission gone?!? This week has been a blur for us. Between getting caught up after zone conferences, and preparing to be out for Christmas, and Brenda being asked to play for a baptism, Monday and Tuesday were really full, fast, and furious. We knew that we were going to have a ton of people over for Christmas Eve, and so we had to get a ton done on the home front as well. Through it all the calls of "our heat/hot water doesn't work" together with "we don't have any money" don't seem to slow down. We even had one apartment where the gas was turned off because they ignored a notice to get their gas line inspected. (great timing..."ah Spain") We were grateful that we still have a hotline to call for such things. On Christmas Eve, we had 17 people over for soups a...

 To say that this past week was busy would be an understatement. On Tuesday, we needed to shop for Zone Conference supplies. On Wednesday, we received a new missionary. She had been delayed so that she could get some dental work done, and President Heckmann assigned her to a "trio" for this transfer. However, if there is one, or many we still need to do all of the things that have to be done for new missionaries (paperwork, residency, etc.). We bought some pastries and brought cereal, fruit, and yogurt from home for a little breakfast, and got the sisters on their way to their area. Brenda then cooked us a nice pasta lunch, which was good because Archie decided to show up, and it was nice to be able to invite him to join in. The rest of the day was getting all the supplies together to go to Zone Conferences on Thursday and Friday. Wednesday night, they had the annual "party" in the lobby of our apartment building. It was better this year because I was more comfortab...

  Today was a special day for me. Joel, the guy who randomly asked me to baptize him back in July, asked me to ordain him as an Elder. It was an honor to do so, and reminded me that this work isn't about being in an exotic place, or having adventures. It is about seeing souls come unto Christ, and watching them grow in the Gospel. Yes, we have adventures along the way, but seeing Heavenly Father's children progress on the covenant path is the real reason why we are here. Joel is doing great, and it has been a blessing to be a part of it. This past week was transfer week. Always hectic. This time we lost 14 amazing missionaries, and only gained 5. The challenge this time was getting all of the "salientes" to their respective flights on time. It was tricky to say the least. Of course, the MAV was floor to ceiling, front to back, luggage. Once we got all of the missionaries to the airport with their luggage, we were pressed for time to get the first two to their flights ...

 When we first got to Spain, I had heard about a wonderful dish called paella. I asked the elders in the office where I could get a paella. The answer was one word "Valencia". I said "Valencia is 4 hours away. Where can I get a good paella here?" Again, they said "Valencia". We have been hearing about Valencia ever since, and were excited when we were presented with the opportunity to take a bunch of equipment down to Valencia for the Christmas concert that the missionaries put on there. We took Elder Reid (the senior missionary who knows a lot about sound systems) and President Heckmann with us. The plan originally was for us to borrow the sound equipment from the Barcelona stake. However, they decided not to loan out their equipment for fear that it would get damaged somehow. Elder Reid flew in from the Islands (he came to run the sound for the concerts). We tried to find somewhere in Barcelona where we could pick up what we needed, but there just wasn...