Malta - Week 3

On Monday morning, we successfully drove President and Sister Morris to the airport for their flight back to Rome. They didn't seem too scared during their ride with us, although we were quite nervous about driving them. Steve's driving skills have improved significantly, yet it remains a stressful experience.  The thing that is amazing is that Cindy is 6 feet tall, and Pres. Morris is several inches taller than her and somehow, they fit their long legs in our little Malta size car!

On Tuesday, we hosted our weekly game night, which is popular among our English students. It's an enjoyable evening where they can have fun playing games while practicing their English.  Our church teaches English Classes and provides opportunities like this as a service to the community.  After they pass the English Courses, BYU-Pathway Worldwide provides access to complete college courses online for an affordable price. The opportunity is available to anyone in any country, including the US.  We are grateful to help provide steppingstones for our students to be able to eventually get a college degree or simply improve their English-speaking skills. 

During our game of Blindfolded Pictionary, the power went out.

We switched to a different game that was enjoyable for everyone, and shortly afterwards, the power was restored.  Yay!  They say this never happens here, but it happened twice in the last week!  It's beginning to feel like we're back in Houston!

Wednesday night is our English Connect Class, where we teach the advanced level. The class size is small, as most students are enrolled in the beginner or intermediate levels. We thoroughly enjoy teaching this class; it reminds us of our time teaching in China. Back then, our classes ranged from 30 to 60 students, so we appreciate the smaller, more intimate class size now.

Intermediate class.

Sadly, transfers were set for Friday, which meant we would have to say good-bye to Elder Capozzoli, Elder Borjas, and Sister Suarez. This is our last final group photo together.

On Friday, it was our job to get the missionaries to the airport for transfers.  They always have to stay with their companions, so four missionaries had to go.  We had to figure out how to get 6 large suitcases, 3 carry-ons, 3 backpacks, a guitar and 4 missionaries to the airport in our Toyota Corolla.  We thought we might have to take several trips back and forth, but fortunately, we devised a better plan. Somehow, we were able to fit all of the luggage and the guitar in our small vehicle.  The car's rear was completely crammed!  Then we had all of the missionaries ride the bus with their backpacks and meet us there. It was amazing how well it worked!

    

We will really miss these two elders!  We'll miss Sis Suarez too, but she took off without a picture!

We spent over two hours at the airport awaiting the new sister's arrival, passing the time by eating and snapping some funky photos!

For our P-day adventures, we chose to visit Dingli Cliffs. Unaware that it involved a hike to reach the prime viewing spots, we started out with no sunscreen or water. Despite the intense heat, it proved to be manageable, and ultimately, we were rewarded with breathtaking views.

It was nice that there were very few people out there.  But we were glad a few other hikers came along so we could get them to take our picture.

We were almost ready to head back to the car and then decided to hike up one more hill.  We were extremely grateful we did, as we stumbled on to this small cave opening with a breathtaking view of the cliffs through the opening.

I spotted this view of these cliffs from the road and urged Steve to drive closer so we could snap a photo. We didn't realize it involved driving on a one-way path barely wider than a sidewalk. Fortunately, we didn't encounter any oncoming traffic. Reversing along that tight route would have been a nightmare. (Below)

This is a tiny chapel dedicated to St. Mary Madgalene perched on the edge, marking the highest point on the Maltese Islands. The cliffs extend well beyond Dingli village; they stretch all the way from Bahrija while to the Munqar area above Blue Grotto. 

Behind the chapel, supposedly the highest point in Malta

It's common for the phone booths here to be used as lending libraries.

We found another church along the way.  There are so many churches in Malta.

The Chinese family who are in our English class have a family band.  They were performing at the Dragon Boat Festival at The Point Mall and invited us to come watch.  The sisters joined us.

We got there early, so they took us up to meet with an acupuncturist who had a display in the mall (pictured).  He put seeds in our ears and really squeezed them!  I don't know which was worse, the pain in my leg, or the pain in my ear!  It was interesting.  I was supposed to keep it in for 7 days and squeeze it several times a day, but I had to remove it after one day.  Sister Paulo removed hers too!

The family band was incredible! They performed exceptionally well. Zoey, the girl with braids, played an instrument known as the Melodica. It resembles a large harmonica with a keyboard that she blows into. The sound it produced was absolutely beautiful. We were amazed to find out they write all of their music.  It was a real treat going to their program!

Chloe & Oakley

We also had the opportunity to speak in church on Sunday.  I thought we might have a little time off since we spoke the week before.  But we are here to serve and it was a great opportunity for the branch to get to know us better!

Cindy sent me a picture of her fridge in the Mission Villa.

We finally made it on the fridge (Lower right side) alongside the other senior couples.  We're official!