Malta - Week 33

-

Big News: John and Julieth got Baptized!!!


Monday Morning we had to say good-bye to two of our amazing sisters.  Sister McIntyre and Sister Loughney are both going home.  We will miss them so much, but we are excited for them to start a new chapter in their lives as they go home armed with the many new skills they have learned during the last 18 months to continue with new goals and dreams.

Seyi and Alfonso both recently baptized, came to the airport to say good-bye!

We had a full English Class on Monday night with several new faces and some who had finally returned from Christmas break.

Sometimes the best things in life are right under your nose and you don't even know it.  This section of the Victoria Lines Trail is only 5 minutes from our house, and we just stumbled onto it the other day, never knowing it was there.  It has great walking paths and magnificent views of the valley.  We are enjoying our daily walks here now!












  

We had another large group for English Class on Wednesday

On Thursday, we said good-bye and dropped off Elder Stewart at the airport. He will be serving in Rome and we wish him the best.

Later that day, we picked two new Sister Missionaries, Sister Hoyt and Sister Jensen who will be serving here in Malta. (I forgot to take their picture.)

On Friday, we made our fourth and final trip to the airport for this week to pick up Elder Parkes' new companion.  Elder Guerrero is a brand-new missionary.  He is  from Naples, Italy and this is his first area. He speaks Italian, Spanish and English, so he will be a great asset to the work here in Malta.

He must not be experienced at air travel, because he walked out of the gate and we noticed he had no luggage!  He had forgotten to pick up his bags.  We made quick trip to security; they took him back and he returned in a matter of minutes with 2 large roller bags in hand.  It seems like a pretty efficient way to get your luggage!


And now for some super exciting news!!!  John and Julieth got baptized on Saturday evening!  They have been coming to church regularly for over a year and had taken all of the lessons, but John wasn't ready, so Julieth has been waiting for him so that they could be baptized together.  

They didn't want to get baptized in the frigid ocean, so we rented a pool for the baptism.  We had a program in the lobby and then all walked into the pool area to witness the baptism.


The missionaries sang a beautiful musical number.


Milana Hobby was one of the missionaries who taught them the lessons and she got up at 4:30 AM in Australia so she could join in by Facetime.

John and Julieth talking to Sister Hobby!

After the baptism program, they asked us if we would serve refreshments in our home.  It was about a 20-minute walk or a five-minute drive from the pool location.  Steve was sure they would all just go home, but none of them did!  A few of them drove, but most of them walked together to our Apt.  

We had a full house.  They all came.  We ended up with over 30 people in our tiny missionary apartment and it was really great!  

A beautiful way to celebrate such a special day!

I'm so happy for Julieth!!!!


A great ending to the week, as always is my opportunity to teach all of these great young men and women about the temple in our Temple Prep Class!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Malta Week 41

-
Image
Malta Week 41 - Finally, a week to get caught up! We have been so busy.  The extra trips to Rome have really taken a big bite out of our time.  That is why I am so far behind on this blog!  But this week, we didn't have as much going on and it was nice to be able to have time to work on lessons and try to get caught up.  Monday Night English Class Tuesday Night Institute Wednesday Night English Class On Wednesday we decided to go to Mauricio's Restaurant, Don Edward.  He was so excited that we came! While we were out checking on some other things, we found a new beautiful spot in St Paul's Bay.   I'm always amazed at how clear and beautiful the water is here. On Saturday, we went to Mama Mia's for lunch with the Beck's.  We really enjoy their friendship. YSA Game Night Saturday Night For our game night this week, the YSA leaders planned several challenging games.  This one was too intense for me.  I had to drop out.  It was a form ...
Read more

Malta Week 20 - Part 2

-
Image
Part 2: ROME On Wednesday afternoon, we took a flight to Rome accompanied by Shane and Sam. A member of our Branch was celebrating their wedding in Rome and invited us to join. Having Shane and Sam with us made the trip even more special, allowing us to enjoy Rome together. We packed as much as possible into the brief two days we spent there. Upon our arrival, it was raining. Our Airbnb was conveniently located just outside the Vatican. We discovered a quaint cafe for dinner and later strolled to view the Vatican by night. It resembled a scene from a fairy tale, with lights reflecting off the glistening pavement. Even with the drizzling rain, it was a beautiful night. We had to try some Italian Gelato, so we found this charming little restaurant to indulge. The following day, we located the Metro and made our way to the Coliseum. I had no idea this was Sam's first subway ride! As we came out of the subway station and stepped outside, the immense Colosseum stood directly before us! ...
Read more

Malta - Week 35

-
Image
This week's highlights include a Zone Conference in Rome, a visit from Shon Hiatt, Gozo and more! After a great weekend with the Morrises, we dropped them off at the airport on Monday afternoon.  We had to fly to Rome that same day for Zone Conference on Tuesday, so I don't know why they didn't book us on the same flight. Our flight was just a few hours later.  So after dropping them off at the airport, we drove home, finished packing and headed back to the airport.  That's when the drama began.   As we were driving to the airport that evening, we got a call from the Elders saying that Elder McPhie had forgotten his passport, so the two elders went back home to get it.  At this point they couldn't make it to the airport on the bus on time, so they needed us to come get them.  That wasn't too far out of the way, so we went and picked them up.  We lost a little time, but we were once again on our way to the airport, when we got a call from the Siste...
Read more