So Long Presidente y Hermana Heckmann

 

This week was bitter-sweet. We had to say good-bye to the Heckmanns. At the same time we got to welcome President and Sister Newitt. The work of the Lord continues, and they will be wonderful for the mission. It all happened on Thursday. The Heckmanns drove their car to the airport, and the assistants drove the MAV (lots of luggage for 3 years you know!). They brought them into the mission home and we all got to meet them. They were jet-lagged beyond all description, but they were very excited and will be wonderful mission leaders. The Heckmanns had lunch with them, and then spent some time discussing things. Finally, President Heckmann and President Newitt worked on the next transfer together to at least give President Newitt a good starting place. He has already committed to interviewing every missionary in the mission before the next transfer which will be a tall order, but I believe he will get it done. The Heckmanns then went to a hotel room and caught a plane the next day down to Cadiz. An interesting side-note is that they were strongly encouraged to not visit the mission again until their last missionary has gone home. I can see why this direction is given/needed, however, it still seems kind of harsh. At any rate, all I can do now is look forward to October when there will be a mission reunion. 

The Newitts have already impressed me a lot. Sister Newitt is desperately trying to learn some Spanish and even though she is struggling, she blessed my sweet Brenda by letting her know that the impact that she has had on the mission isn't measured in an ability to learn the language. It was super sweet. It was fun to see her get excited about her first grocery shopping experience in Spain. Both Sister Johnson and Sister Musser took her to the grocery store, and I believe that it was a tender mercy for Sister Newitt and built her confidence in her ability to navigate the waters of being plopped into a brand new country, with huge responsibilities, and having to take care of day to day stuff. Sister Johnson cooked lunch on Friday and the Newitts joined us as we were packed around the small table in the mission office kitchen. It was fun, and I am sure that the next 11 days will be great as we get to know them a little.

That's right, 12 days from right now, we will almost be home! I am having a hard time processing that, but I had better get after it because there is a lot to do! We only have one Sunday left, and so there will only be 2 more editions of this blog after today. (You will have to find some other sort of sleep aid)

This weekend, the Johnsons invited us to go with them up to Andorra. It is in our mission, but it is actually another country. It is up in the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France. They are working with the young single adults and there are two small units that meet in that area. One is called the Andorra Branch and it meets in La Seu which is just on the Spain side of the border. The other is called the Andorra Group, and meets in Andorra itself. We went up on Saturday morning, and had a blast. Andorra is like Park City on steroids. Every shop imaginable is there, and there are historic buildings alongside of ultra modern ones. Sister Johnson told us that she counted 12 construction cranes out her hotel window. We did a lot of walking and exploring. We ate dinner at this really cool restaurant called Excalibur. It was themed to be a medieval king Arthur type deal. Pretty fun. 

As fun as that was though, today was really cool. We went to the meetings for both units. The branch in La Seu has a small rented "chapel". Brenda was able to play the piano for Sacrament meeting, and I conducted the music. There were about 24 people there including us. It was wonderful to see the Spirit working in this tiny congregation. It was also fun to feel needed. When we went to the group in Andorra they met in a hotel conference room. There were about 10 people there, and I was again asked to lead the music. This time there was no piano so Brenda couldn't play. I had to play the music on my phone while I was conducting, and reading the Spanish words. Kind of tricky, but again, I felt good to be able to participate and serve. The Elders basically run the show in the group. It is good for them to be responsible. They forgot the sacrament trays and so they had to buy some paper serving trays and little paper cups at the store. No cloths for the sacrament so white napkins had to do. It all worked out, and it was really sweet. The work of the Lord is pressing forward even in tiny congregations. "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I will be in the midst of them". I witnessed this to be true today. What a blessing to have before we come home. 

Well, ready or not, this next week is going to have to be a full on sprint! Here we go!

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