Another Transfer Day!

 What you are looking at are two Paellas. One is seafood, the other is chicken. Both of them are yummy. Carolina, the lady who is contracted to clean for the Heckmanns, is also an amazing cook. She made these for the new missionaries. On Wednesday, we received 9 new missionaries, and sent only one home. It's always fun to see the numbers increase. It is also very interesting to see who President Heckmann calls to be trainers. In my opinion, the most important role that a young missionary can have during their mission is training a new missionary. If a brand new missionary has a great trainer, they are set up for success and are likely to have their trainees become great trainers as well. 

Speaking of which, we would love to be able to train our replacements, but there aren't any in the queue to train yet. It's kind of getting a little scary because of how long it takes to get visas, we are running out of runway as we move toward February. We will just have to keep praying and hoping that the Lord will get someone here quickly. I can't imagine what it would have been like if we just dropped into the office cold, and had to figure it all out without anyone looking over our shoulders. Not only that, but the new office couple will also be with a brand new mission president. That learning curve will be almost vertical!

The office Elders that we have now have been phenomenal. We are very fortunate that none of them were replaced this transfer. That will help over the next 6 weeks. Elder Bocanegra figured out how to get through the biggest hurdle that we have had to getting people residency appointments. The huge backlog that we had, should be cleared out by the end of this transfer because of his efforts. It's great to see the Lord bring in just the right people to further His work. It's almost like He knows! (which He absolutely does!)

Now let's talk about miracles. We have a couple in our mission, the Johnsons, who work with the Young Single Adults in Valencia. They were invited by the Area to attend something called the Cummorah Academy in Prague in the Czech Republic. They have been trying to figure out how they were going to get there as they are a couple that have been in the residency appointment backlog. So, their first residency cards have expired. That normally wouldn't be an issue for a missionary who is leaving the European Union directly. In that case the worst that will happen is that they will stamp your passport with a red stamp which would prohibit your return for a couple of years, you go home and you're done. However, if you are flying within the E.U. each country is protective of their residency laws of all the other countries, and so, if you don't have a valid residency card, they won't even let you fly without express permission from the Spanish government allowing your return. So, the Johnsons were trying to figure out how to get to Prague and back by driving or by train. Either option was really sketchy and would take a couple of days travel each way. At the last minute Elder Bocanegra was able to get them residency appointments in a police station that we had not used before. This was a longshot because there was not nearly enough time to get their residency card, but they were hoping to be able to get the letter of readmittance that would allow them to fly. We were all praying for them as they went to their appointments. They were initially told that they weren't able to get the letters. Then a kind government official went out of his way to show them exactly what they lacked, and told them to come back the next day WITHOUT AN APPOINTMENT! Long story short (I know, too late) was they flew to Prague without any problem. We were all amazed at the amazing path that opened up before them to get through the bureaucratic maze.

We are a little sad this week as we found out that the fun little grocery store that is directly below our piso closed down. It has been really nice to use it almost like a pantry. "What's that? You need some eggs? I'll be right back!" It's not too bad though because there is still a store right across the street though.

Goodbye old friend!

The weather has turned pretty cold here. The wind kind of cuts right through you. We are so grateful to have a nice warm piso. There are a few missionaries who are having boiler problems so they are without hot water and heat. We have been trying to get the landlords to step up and help us, but it seems to take too long. In the meantime the missionaries have to visit other missionary pisos to take showers. I guess this is the closest that they will come to pulling handcarts up "Rocky Ridge" on their missions.

All in all though, the Lord is watching over all of us. The work is progressing, and baptisms are happening. We had 4 "friends" attend priesthood meeting today, one of which is from India and does not speak much Spanish, but he keeps coming. It is really wonderful watching the Lord work His miracles through the Spirit with these people. You can see the change happening when you look into their faces, and see the light growing there. The Gospel is true!

I found a talk that Elder Matt Holland gave at BYU. It is amazing, and I would recommend it to anyone. Click Here To Watch. We love you all, and hope you have a great week.