Malta-Week 31
Happy New Year!
This was a great week! All our classes were canceled for the holidays, providing us with much-needed time to catch up on lessons, cleaning, and the blog.
We walked down by the waterfront in the area where the cruise ships dock. We hadn't ever been to this part of Valletta. We were grateful there were no cruise ships that day and we took a few pictures of the harbor from a different viewpoint than we had before.
We had a craving for American Food and found a Hard Rock Cafe, so we ate there. It was pretty great to eat at an American restaurant, but we wish there were more options in Malta.
We had to get a picture with this remarkably tall nutcracker!
We haven't ever been to the Valletta Harbor at night, so we grabbed a few night shots. It was beautiful!
I captured a picture of this Nativity scene last week during the day.
At night, it was even more remarkably beautiful.
The towering Christmas tree was breathtaking when it was fully lit.
Pictures don't do justice to this street leading to St Paul's Co-Cathedral.
We finally got to ride the Ferris Wheel.
The views from the top were magnificent!
The weather was nearly perfect. It was a splendid evening!
On New Year's Eve, there was a YSA Party at the church, but we were invited to the Beck's and decided to let the YSA's handle it on their own. We went to the church earlier in the day and set everything up, dropped off snacks and ordered pizza for later in the night and then we let John Paul, our YSA leader take care of everything else.
It looked like they had a great time. We certainly weren't left out. Throughout the evening, they sent us pictures and videos of all their activities. And I was thrilled when several of them sent us texts telling us that they missed us! That made us feel so good!
The Becks invited three couples over for a game night. They had an abundance of food laid out for us upon our arrival. The most interesting food was the cheese plate, which included black, purple, jalapeño, cinnamon, and mozzarella cheese. We tried each one of them, and they were all good!
We played games until approximately 11:45, at which point we paused and walked down to the harbor. It was a beautiful night, and we lined up along seaside to watch the fireworks over Valletta.
The skyline was illuminated with numerous fireworks, creating a spectacular display to welcome the new year.
This group photo was taken without the Gallegos, who were putting their baby to sleep. When we returned to the apartment, everyone wanted to finish the game. We thought it was a good idea, so we played until the end of the game. By this time, it was 1:00 AM and we were ready to go home, but then they brought out another game! They assured us it was short. At 2:15 AM, we were finally on our way home They are some pretty serious gamers! We certainly enjoyed ourselves!
The following day, Torch and Gloria invited us to join them for lunch in Valletta. It was fun to view the harbor from the opposite side of where we had watched the fireworks the night before. This is the skyline of Sliema.
We watched the fireworks the night before on the water's edge just to the right of those dark buildings. See picture below.
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We had a great lunch at Ambrosia with Torch and Gloria. We love spending time with them!
I've probably taken a half a dozen pictures of the Triton Fountain, but it was so pretty that day with the sun and the intriguing cloud formations, I had to take one more!
New Year's Day was designated as deep cleaning day for the missionaries. They were all required to thoroughly clean their apartments, and we were assigned to judge the apartments, with the winner treated to a meal. We disliked being made the judges. We visited the Sisters first, and their apartment was impeccably clean. We were certain the Elders could not surpass them. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the Elders' house, which was also exceptionally clean. In truth, the Sisters' apartment was cleaner, but we did not want the Elders to go unrewarded after they worked so hard, so we declared it a tie. We will be taking both groups to out to eat next week.
On Friday, I went to get my hair done. I've been going to a Salon in Sliema every month since I arrived in Malta. The view from the salon is incredible! Rene is my hairdresser. He is a member of the church, but hasn't been active for a couple of years. Every time I go, I invite him to come back. I also send him texts inviting him to come to our YSA activities. He never comes!
Today was the day! He came! I was so excited to see him! Welcome back Rene!
This is our YSA Sunday School Class. John Paul gave a fabulous lesson!
Last week I was called as the Temple Prep teacher. After Sunday School today, I taught my first lesson. I am so excited to teach this class. We are planning a YSA Temple trip in February, and we're hoping everything will come together so that some of our class members can go to the temple at that time.
It's been an excellent start to the New Year!
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