Monkeys!

Wow what a week!
SUNDAY:
So I guess this week really started with Spain winning the Eurocup. It...was...INSANE! Oh my gosh, it was like the world was ending and everyone was going into the streets to party and get their last bit of sinning in! My camera battery was actually dead so I didn´t get any pictures. But my companions did so I will have to snag some pictures from them. There is a big round-a-bout with a giant fountain in the middle and the ENTIRE city of Fuengirola walked out to this rotunda and piled into the fountain. They were shooting off fireworks, screaming, taking their clothes off. Again, insane. We watched this all from our balcony, part of me really wanted to be down there in all the festivities, but it was just INSANE! I can´t even begin to explain how crazy it was! So it was better that we were safe in our apartment. 

MONDAY:
We had zone "concilio" (council) where all the zone leaders come to the mission home and we talk about the mission and the goals for the next month. It is always a nice experience and very spiritual.
President Deere is amazing. He is so cool and such a humble guy. At the zone concilio he opened up the discussion for questions and someone asked if he could see this (being a mission president) coming. He said "you don´t receive a premonition that you´re going to the moon if you´re not an astronaut." He talked about how it was such a huge shock being called as a mission president. I love that he is not your typical "Utah Mormon", his family converted to the gospel when he was 10 and his wife´s family was inactive in Ohio for most of her upbringing. Their testimonies are so strong and I love that they just seem so much more normal. Pres.Clegg was bishop, stake president and all the typical stuff leading up to mission president, but Pres. Deere went primary teacher, young mens / scouts, then bishop for 5 years, back to primary, then mission president. I love them both, but pres.Deere has a sense of "realate-able-ness".
He brought his 16 year old daughter and 12 year old son. But they are such a great family and it is just crazy because I am so used to president Clegg who was more grandpa age and I had to use Pres. Deere´s passport and he was born a year before dad. They are still a way young family. But he is incredible and I just love the guy.

TUESDAY:
We finished the concilio and then elder Nally and I had to go to the office for the rest of the afternoon to catch up on the office work.

WEDNESDAY:
FOURTH OF JULY!
We were still catching up with stuff in the office but in the afternoon we had a really good lesson with a reference from a member. It was nice to finally get out and do some regular missionary work. We walked into the house and it was the reference and her friend, and she told us to wait a second because her husband and the husband of her friend were on their way. The husbands got there and they brought another couple with them! It was such a miracle. We had a good lesson and they were all very interested. The only bummer is that there were a tons of couples, but none of them were married. So at least we know where our work is.
After the really good miracle lesson we went home and we had a BBQ. It was great! we have a little grill on our patio and so we made burgers. I was on the grill with the spatula in one hand and a tall glass of cold coke in the other hand while we blasted MOTAB singing the nation anthem. It felt so right.

THURSDAY:
We had zone conference and it was really nice. Elder Nally and I got there late because the Deere´s are having some small residency issues and so I had to go take care of those in the morning. All is well now. After the ZC I went on splits with Elder Triana (actually one of my old companions) in Málaga and it was really weird to be back there. It has been over a year! But we visited my converts the Martinez family and it was really good that we did. Elder Triana is serving in Málaga and didn´t even know where they lived. They are going through a rough patch on their spiritual progression so it was good that we could make a connection again.

FRIDAY:
Transfer plans!
Transfers are this next week so President Deere finalized the transfers and I have been working on the travel plans for all these missionaries since. This is the first time I have had to do so and it is a pain. The Spain Málaga Mission covers 40% of the land of Spain so when people travel, they take cross country trips. Last night we found out the at the CCM (the Spain MTC) forgot to tell us that another elder was entering the mission, so we didn´t have any plans for him. So we were up till 2330 trying to figure some things out. We left the office at 2330 and then went over to a bar (Bars are different in Spain, they are outdoor restaurants) and got dinner because none of us had eaten anything all day and then we went to bed at midnight-ish.

SATURDAY:
We woke up normal time at 0730 and then we had a special Pday planned with the Deere family. We drove down to Gibraltar and I finally got to see the monkeys! Yay! It was a HUGE hike but I really enjoyed it and I think it was nice for the Deere family to get away from a bunch of meetings. It was also really fun to talk to the Deere family about non-missionary things. It was a good time to get to know them.

Today was a really clear day so the 2nd picture I attached is of a landmass off in the distance. That is Africa.

We hiked all the way down the mtn. and drove home. I was zonked on the way back. We ate some food, showered, changed, and here I am writing you now.

It has been a full week. Really, every week since getting here to the office has been typically crazy, but I finally have a chance to fill you in a little bit on the craziness of mission-office life.

Well, I hope you all have a great week! I love hearing about all your fun activities!

Jason
(PS. I realized this morning when I looked at my agenda that today is 7 months left, or 6 months and 30 days, however you want to look at it. Man time is flying!)