Sant Jordi 2026

Once again, Catalonia celebrated a holiday that I have not been able to figure out. Apparently Saint George killed a dragon, the dragon's blood caused roses to grow, and books are involved. It's kind of like a valentines thing, where you are supposed to buy your sweetheart a rose and gift a book. On the that day we walked to work and passed probably a dozen, if not more, stands along the way selling roses and books. The mission has taken full advantage of this weird holiday and the missionaries and members gift copies of the Book of Mormon. The mission ordered pallets full of books to hand out, and the missionaries spent that whole day with members going around and gifting books to people. This morning in Elders Quorum we had a friend show up that was the recipient of one of those books, so it certainly wasn't a waste. 

Things were a little quiet around the office because President and Sister Heckmann were in Holland for a mission president's seminar. It's times like these where we try to catch up on things, only this week seemed to present us with a few major headaches dealing with apartment owners and maintenance issues. It makes me crazy because if I were to get a call from a tenant in an apartment I owned telling me that the water heater is out, or there is a plumbing problem, or something, I would never in a million years respond with "well it was working when you rented it, so you have to fix it!" I would get sued into oblivion, and rightly so. Here, however, that is just how they roll. GRRR!

I also decided to take care of something that I have needed to for some time. There is a storage unit that we rent under the chapel that has a ton of old mission records. I learned that we are only supposed to keep stuff that is no more than 6 years old. I went down there, and found TONS of paper records that need to be shredded. When I say "storage unit" you probably think about the typical storage units we have in the states. This one is not that. If not for a serious tender mercy of the Lord, I wouldn't even know where this thing is! I had heard from the couple who used to have our jobs that there was a storage unit that we pay for and that it is "under the chapel, but we have never been able to find it". I knew that there were records there, and that there is some furniture from our piso there that we are saving to be able to return it to the owner when and if we move out. I tried a few times to locate it, but could never find it. I just happened to mention it to a missionary who had been working in the office as an AP the day he was heading home. He said "I know where that is!" to which I said "we are going on a field trip right now!" He showed me a secret sliding door, that led down to what could be best described as a dungeon. Two flights of stairs through 2 locked doors. The music from Indiana Jones kept coming to mind as I was wondering when we were going to light torches and look for boobie traps. Anyway, I decided to go down and start bringing those boxes up to shred. I had a 2-wheeled card that I took and made 3 trips down there. There is an old elevator that does not work, so I had to drag a loaded cart up 2 flights of stairs each time. A pretty good work-out. We started shredding, and between me and the secretaries got about 1/3 of that first load done, but there are at least 4 more loads like that one that need to come. I hope our poor little shredder doesn't explode!

Along with those issues, we have been scrambling a little because tomorrow is zone conference, and we have been working to get everything arranged. We are having to have it in our church building instead of the stake center, so there are going to be a few logistical things to deal with. Getting the food all arranged was a bit of a challenge, but I think we're going to be all right. Anyway between zone conferences and the "Pit of Despair", we had quite the week.

The Church is true, and it's good to be busy, but sometimes I wonder if I am going to survive the remaining 10 weeks! We continue to see miracles as these wonderful missionaries gather God's elect. If there is one thing that I am going to miss the most, it will be having the honor of being around these young disciples of Christ. They are amazing! The future of the Church is in very good hands. Anyway, we love you billions! Have a great week.