Spring has Sprung!

 It is kind of hard to believe that we are already into the month of MAY! We literally have just over 2 months left. There is a new sense of urgency about what is left to be done before we start the next big adventure in our lives. We just aren't sure of what that adventure will be. Before we get there though, we have a lot to get done here in Spain. We finally have a clear path forward. The Johnsons are going to come to Barcelona to be trained in the office. That will start in the next few weeks. The new couple is supposed to get here on 8 July. If they do, we will have about 2 days to show them where they will live and give them what words on encouragement we can before we come home. The Johnsons will then need to train the new couple. This is the only way that we could guarantee that someone gets trained. If we had just extended a couple of weeks, and they do not get their visa on time, the mission would be in a rough place.

This week we had zone conferences. It was fun to see the missionaries, but stressful as we had to move from the stake center to our little chapel. It all worked out fine, but we had to kind of figure out some logistics on the fly. That has kind of been how we have navigating things from the start. It is fun watching the missionaries and interacting with them. Hermana Jackson, one of the mission doctors, had a fun little presentation. It was all about staying hydrated. She used a cute little video (click here). Before she played it she had the missionaries all stand up and sway back and forth while she played it. They sang along on the  "ocho vasos al dia" (8 glasses a day). I would dare say that they won't forget that they should drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. I know I won't!

Spring is here in Spain. We packed away all of our winter gear to get it out of the way since we won't be using it again while we are here. We have been consistently around 70 degrees for a couple of weeks now. We can't wait to start seeing the flowering trees on our walk to work like we did last year. That will be a lot of fun. Spring is a wonderful time of year.

This weekend President Heckmann put together what he called the "Missionary Brigade". He had been planning it for some time. They brought in hundreds of young people from throughout the mission, even flying some from the islands at mission expense, to attend. All the bishops and stake presidents were there. President Heckmann did mission physicals, and they brought in a dentist to do an examination. I was expecting about 30 or 40 potential missionaries. However, one of the sister missionaries who was there said they had about 300. It is humbling to think about the wonderful youth of today. The missionary numbers are going crazy because we have youth who are catching the vision and wanting to serve the Lord. What a wonderful time. It is easy to see the Lord hastening His work. The unfortunate thing is that the adversary is pulling out all the stops as well. It's good to already know which team is going to win. 

We hope that you have a wonderful week! We love you billions!