New and Old missionaries & The Martinez's

Elders Reist, Woolsey, Plaskett, Blatter, and Hadley. They are telling Elder Hadley where he will be serving. Elder Stock got cut off in this picture. They are all looking so eager for their calls.

The Elders are enjoying their time even if it is an anxious time for them.

Elder Dredge is giving them their directions. He tells them the route they will take where they stop but never comes to the actual city until they are on pins and needles. They love to do that to the poor Elders. These are our two Assistance. Elder Dredge and Elder Woods. Elder Dredge is pointing to where the office is.

President is enjoying what the Elders are going through to finally get their place of service. They look like they are going to be a good batch of Elders. We have been really blessed in getting Elders that are excited about their call and ready to get out there and work. It is such a blessing to be in the middle of all of this. Some times it doesn't feel like we are even working. We have such a good time.

Exciting times here in the Spain Bilbao Mission. We got 6 new Elders. We have lost so many, it is really great to have some reinforcements. Here the Elders are waiting to hear where they will be serving. Of course, the Assistance draw it out as long as they can and make it really interesting for us who are watching. But the Elders are ready and waiting.

Going for left to right. First you see President enjoying this touchier they are giving the Elders. Elder Stock, Elder Reist, Elder Woolsey, Elder Blatter, Elder Hadley, You can't see Elder Plaskett in this picture.

Now you can see Elder Plaskett in the far left corner. He is here in Las Arenas with Elder Woods. Elder Woods is one of the Assistance, but when the mission is dissolved, he will just be Elder Plasketts trainer, along with being one of the great missionaries. I am impressed with Elder Woods, because Elder Woods is teaching him just as though he wasn't one of the Assistance. President wanted things to be a normal as possible. The Assistance used to study in their office here in the Mission Office. But Elder Woods & Elder Plaskett stay in their piso and study. Elder Dredge, who is the other Assistant comes in the office with the Secretaries to study.

Elder Reist, the second from the left is now going through the torture. You can tell by the way he is seated. By now, all the other Elders have their assignments.

With the new Elders coming in, there are always the old ones going home. Elder Smith on the left. We really got to know him really well. A very great Elder we are going to miss. Also, two other great missionaries, but I didn't know them as well. Elder Nestvogel in the middle is from Germany and Elder Sayaz is a native missionary. He doesn't speak much English, so our conversations were very limited.

Here we are again with our friend Elder Smith from Taylorsville, Utah. Maybe we will see him again some day soon.

We picked up Edna and Ray and Tony, Val and Troy at the airport on Wednesday. They have been so busy finding relatives that we weren't able to see them until Saturday. Which is really just fine. It is so excited to hear about their success while they are here. This is a Church in a small town of Amoroto. His grandmother very well could have gone to church here. You can see Edna, Tony, Ramon and Val.
div> The whole family. Troy, Edna, Tony, Ramon, and Val

We got a picture of us on the other side of the Chapel.

Here is the baptismal font that was in the back corner of the Chapel

Also, while we were there, Tony went into one of the local pubs and started talking with a man. Tony read a list of some of his diciest relatives, and before you know it, he was taking us out to one of the relatives place. The man on the left is a man that is related to Ramon. The lady in the middle is his wife. We didn't get their names. But this is how their week has gone. They have met over a 100 relatives. They found people that shouldn't have been where they were at the time. They have had doors to Churches open that are usually closed. They were able to get into a Church and a lady showed them the past records of their relatives. Including a Sister of his grandmother who he couldn't find her birth date. Everything was there for him. They have been so blessed.

I took this quote from one of Ramon's e-mails to us. "It has truly been miraculous (well beyond coincidence) that the people we have found have been right there where we ended up arriving to in so many cases. We have really been blessed to have so many details come together just right."

Troy, Ramon's son said, "You couldn't swing a cat around without hitting a family member."

Elders Dredge and Holmes Birthday

It has been to long since I've put anything on the blog. We haven't done any traveling. And the pisos are all cleaned. But we had some birthdays. Elder C. Hansen had the first. I remembered that I should have taken a picture after the fact. There is a cute one on the Mission Blog.
Elder Dredge and Elder Holmes both had birthdays on the 22rd of May. Since I had given Elder Hansen a birthday dinner, I wanted to give one for Elder Dredge and Holmes. So I asked them what they wanted for their dinner. They came up with BBQ Ribs, twice baked potatoes, carrots, deviled eggs with brownie sundaes. I almost forgot this time to, but when we were almost done, I remembered. Here is the picture of the office troops. Hermana Clegg, President Clegg, Elder Belnap, Elder Woods, Elder Dredge, Elder Holmes, and Elder C. Hansen. Our kitchen and table is not very big. What you see, is what we have. The table actually seats 6. But we managed and had a great time.

Hermana said we needed one with me in one. The Birthday Elders, Dredge, Holmes and myself, Hermana Belnap. I really felt bad because President was on a diet, and all he could eat was protein, so he really didn't get very much.

After we were all done, President came in and surprised everyone with this spray goop. I think he should have sprayed more on them. He was very kind. I don't think any of us got any rib juice on us. We did really well. Elder Woods, Elder Dredge and Elder Holmes.

Elder Hansen was a huge help with the ribs. They came in one piece and they weren't trimmed at all. We had 2 pieces and I was really glad he helped me. Elder Holmes mom told me how he likes his carrots. They turned out really good. Thanks! Pretty much, everything was cleaned up.

Loiolakok Basilica - Delwyn in hospital

I got the pictures in backwards. So you might go to the bottom and come up. It will make more sence.
As we were leaving, I saw this beautiful tree. I loved it and would love to take this home with me. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but I really liked it. Maybe Elder Hansen's dad would know what it is.

Right next to all of this, was this little creek running through town.

Here is a map of the Basilica. You can see the name on the top. Loiolako Santutegia.

On the outside looking away, was this pretty garden. It had rained that morning so the flowers were a bit droopy. I still liked it. You can see Elder Holmes in the back ground. Everything is so green and pretty here in this part of Spain.

This has to be a more modern statue. I don't know what it signifies but on the left, you can see two alters where someone could pray. Right in front of the alters is a tall cross.

Here we are in front of the cathedral. I have to have a picture of us, too. Above the door, they called this a Basilica. I wish you could see up close the different carvings.

Elder Hansen and Elder Holmes in front of the Cathedral Loiolako Santutegia. The is where they said the Order of Jesuit Priest came from. It was a holiday so we couldn't go inside. They said it has many pretty glass windows. Maybe we will have to try and go back. It wasn't too far from home.

Elder Belnap after the surgery. Doesn't look to bad for just having heart surgery. He has our bible in his hand. Our english/spanish dictionary, he is always learning something. The hospital is similar to the ones in the States, but ours are a lot nicer and have more things in them in case of an emergency. But we didn't have any emergencies and they did a great job. He is doing great. Sorry, I got these pictures backwards.

This is the first day that Delwyn was in the hospital. This is Nico, our auditor from England. He was stuck here in Las Arenas because of the volcano in Iceland. Poor man, he was here for a whole week doing nothing. So the last day he was here, he said he would stay with Delwyn while the Elders went to Zone Conference. I was there, but I don't speak Spanish so we needed someone who could interpret what ever the Dr. needed to tell us. As it was, Delwyn could understand a lot of it. But he did help us and it was nice having him there. After Delwyn's stress test they explained what needed to be done and that we should have the procedure done within 72 hours. We decided to leave the hospital and talk to Dr. Dye who is in charge of the missionaries and see what he said. They wanted Elder Belnap to go to the states for the surgery, but we didn't really want to and felt good about doing it here. After what he went through, we are really glad we stayed here. It would have taken us longer just to fly one way than the whole thing took here, including recovery. After it was over, Dr. Dye said they really know what they were doing and was impressed.

While we were there, a man went out and started spear fishing. You can see his red tank. We decided he was just learning. He had a hard time keeping his feet behind him and his tank on top of himself. It was fun to watch. I'm sure, if he knew we were taking pictures of him, he wouldn't have appreciated it.

I had to take a picture of the Elders. Elder Belnap probably thought, another picture. But I like to take pictures of Elder Hansen and Elder Holmes so their folks can see them once in a while. They are great Elders and they sure keep the office in order. They work really hard.

We took Elder Holmes and Elder Hansen to Makro on the 16th to get food for the week. We needed to do something different afterwards, so we drove out to the end of where we walk every day. The traffic was crazy, but we finally got there. This is what it looked like. Such a pretty day.

April 21, 2010 - Report from Delwyn

Dear family & friends,
This is edition nine of our monthly newsletters – we’re at the halfway point and still having new experiences and learning new things. The language we’d hoped to have good capability in by now is still one of those areas where we’re learning – it’s a struggle for both of us. Thanks to those of you who’ve taken time to write to us during the last month – we appreciate and enjoy them a lot.
Unless we’re assigned a similar duty when we move to Barcelona, we’ve completed the chapter on cleaning pisos thru our mission. And as we neared the finish we got a little better control of our schedule and were able to see some attractions along the routes we were driving and the missionaries were preparing better for our visits so it was more enjoyable. For our final piso-cleaning trip, Elder Hansen was driving us to Avilés and, about two-thirds of the way there, we were stopped at a police road-trap and given a citation for not having a current ITV inspection sticker & stamp for the car. I’d thought that we had all the vehicles current so I had no explanation for why our documentation in the car didn’t reflect that. Some might recall that we took our little car last fall to a station and had the inspection done and in my communication with the vehicle coordinator (Miguel) then, I’d gotten an understanding that everything was current. When we got back to the mission offices I did research thru the notes & records and sent email to Miguel (he was out for a 5-day holiday) and came to the conclusion that the car had never been inspected. The citation gave us 10 days to get it inspected so, per an appointment, we took our piso-tour car to get the ITV inspection done. I wasn’t driving so I’m unwilling to shoulder total responsibility for getting us lost on the way but I was trying to navigate and couldn’t figure out where to tell the Elder to drive. After recognizing that we had to be lost we again called the station, they gave us better instructions this time and we found the shop. This was a different shop than we’d been to before but I expected the same kind of testing. After checking in at the office we got into our assigned line and it didn’t take long to establish that we were in the slowest moving line of three. We spent an hour creeping forward until our turn came and they began the testing. For me there were a couple of noticeable differences in the test – they didn’t shake this car nearly as violently as they’d shaken our car last fall. But they went thru the same checks (even Elder Holmes had to ask a couple of times what the tester was asking for – the daily missionary vocabulary doesn’t include fog lights and ‘punto muerto’) and their final check wasn’t something we’d seen before. We drove over an open pit below the floor, the tester went down a flight of stairs and inspected the car from below. After a couple of minutes he called Elder Holmes down the stairs and showed him a significant bulge on the inside sidewall of a front tire. Because of that, we failed the test and were given a month to correct the problem and return for signoff. We got the front tires replaced, returned to the test station and got our stamps and sticker.
When we’d finished cleaning the pisos in Avilés, Oviedo and Gijón (we worked till 10:30 one night so we’d have some time the next day), we decided to drive to Covadonga and Los Lagos to see the sights. Our GPS took us on the shortest route which turned out to be a very winding road up and down the mountain range between the freeway and the site – we should have chosen the fast route. Covadonga (apparently named after someone who’d had a visitation of Mary) has a cathedral on a hill and a small chapel built into the mouth of a cave with a memorial built outside the chapel. Tourists are not allowed in the chapel but can visit the memorial (access either thru a cave or up a steep stairway) and take pictures from a short distance away. I continue to be amazed by the construction of these elaborate buildings, some in remote areas like that one, that has been done with manual labor and hand tools. The entire area is in a steep mountain valley and is a very popular tourist spot – there’s even bus service to it. We drove from there further up into mountains to see a couple of glacial lakes sitting near the tops of the mountain range. We drove past Lake Ercina and the road ended at a small lake where a trail leading to Lake Enol begins – we walked partway out the trail but it was rainy and we had neither time nor energy to hike to the lake. Flo has put pictures and some info on the blog if you have interest in seeing it (dfbelnap.blogspot.com).
Our daughter had sent some tax documents that I needed to prepare my income tax return (a mere 12 days between postmark and delivery) so one evening I spent about 4 hours working thru our tax returns (used TurboTax Online). There didn’t seem to be any convenient place to stop so I kept plugging along until I was done. One of the most difficult problems I had was trying to fix an obvious error but couldn’t figure out how to get back to the place where I’d misread the question and entered the wrong data – it could be evidence of ‘you get what you pay for’. Our circumstances – old, low-income, missionaries – resulted in a relatively low income tax liability and the bottom line said the Feds owe us some money. And we look so poor on the state return we might be eligible for county or state assistance in Arizona. If I hadn’t just finished paying my property taxes to the county, I might feel a little guilty about doing my share to support government employees
In one of our weekly grocery shopping trips, Flo’s debit card was rejected when she tried to check out at Makro so she had some email exchanges with our credit union and they could find no reason for that. She began wondering if she’d gotten her card mixed up with one she has on my account that had been terminated because of a Visa report that the data might have been compromised. We don’t have records here that would tell us which account any of the cards are assigned to so she made a trial cash withdrawal using what she thought was her card and it gave her the money - she cut up the card that had been rejected. The next day I discovered that the cash withdrawal had come out of my credit union savings account even though her request had been from checking. It took more email exchanges to learn that, in addition to the cards that had been blocked and replaced on my account, they’d also replaced the debit card on Flo’s account. There are one or two questions that we didn’t get answered but we don’t have to go thru the hassle of getting a replacement for the card the landfill now owns.
Via the internet we got to see live all the sessions of General Conference except Priesthood meeting. I went to the office Sunday morning and watched a recorded version of that – it was a great conference. It’s easy for me to see why these men have been called to the assignments that they have – they’re talented teachers.
One afternoon this month when only Flo and I were in the offices, a member called and asked to talk to the missionaries. After his second call I conveyed (we don’t really talk in the usual sense of the word) that we’d ask the missionaries to call as soon as they returned. When they did come back to the office we asked them to call, they did and the member told them that, somewhat circuitously, they been told that ‘two Mormons’ had been hit in the street by a car in San Sebastián and were hospitalized in critical condition. Except for missionaries, who would ever be identified as ‘two Mormons’? We began trying to call the elders there but got no response – no busy signal, no answer, no drop to message mode – so we began to be worried. We called members of the stake presidency for the bishop’s phone number, talked to him, talked to their district leader (who’s in Pamplona) and continued to call the elders’ phone. After an hour or so of frantically trying to get information, the San Se elders called the office – they were okay. They’d been in a visit with the phone turned off and, when they left the visit, had 26 missed calls on their phone – everyone from Pte Clegg to most of the missionaries who’d been told of the situation. The bishop had called the police and been told they had no reports of car-pedestrian accidents that day so we may have been set up by someone.
Pte Clegg had been in and out of the office a lot last week as he prepared to take the written tests for a Spain driving license. He’d signed up in a nearby driving school, had lots of materials to study and they highly recommended to him that he come to take practice tests before taking the test for credit. So he’d been going in nearly every day to take practice tests and says he’s been doing quite well on the practices. One day when he’d gone to take a practice test, we got a call from UPS telling us they had a delivery for him but wanted to confirm that he would pay the duty of 92€ when they delivered the package. Since the package was addressed to him personally, Flo wasn’t willing to commit to the duty payment and we finally got a message to Pte on the issue. At a break, he came into the office, identified the package as 6 short-sleeved white shirts they’d bought on the internet in preparation for their move to Málaga where they apparently have Phoenix-like temperatures in the summertime. Having already paid for the shirts, they were between a rock and a hard place so he made arrangements to pay the duty. I don’t know what the shirts cost but that much duty adds between $20-25 to the cost of each shirt – be careful in Spain what you order off the internet!
Once again, that’s probably enough report for a month. We appreciate your love and friendship, wish each of you the very best and are very happy to hear from any of you. Hope all’s well. Love, E&H Belnap

Our missionaries leaving

Power. This might not look like too much, but here are some of the best Elders you would ever want on a mission. From left: Elder Corbridge, Elder Rowley, Elder Moore, Elder Webb, Elder Stevens and Elder B. Hanson. Elder Corbridge and Moore were the two traveling Elders this past 6 weeks. They were teaching all the Elders great ways to contact people. In fact, Elder Corbridge wanted to do contacts all night long the night before he left. President said the Holy Ghost went to bed at midnight. I think they ended up contacting until then. We are very sad to lose these missionaries, but realize this is just the beginning of a great life for each of them. My sweet Hermana Rudder. We bonded from the first. Her Grandfather was President Washburn of the Phoenix Mission when Jace was an Elder in Phoenix.

Two of our Spain Hermanas ready to go home: Hermana Calderon and Hermana Sanchez. Hermana Calderon's Father works in the Madrid Temple. We would talk on the phone once in a while.

Hermana Miskin. What a darling missionary. We got to know each other while she was in Bilbao.
Here they all are for their final picture with President and Hermana Clegg. This was a very tender moment for them.

The final meal in the Mission Home for these missionaries. We realized we didn't have a dessert for this meal, so I made some Strawberry Short Cake. It was mighty fine if I say so myself. Probably my most favorite dessert. Strawberries are in season now, so why not?

If you remember the Hermana that could touch her nose with her tongue. Here she is again, Hermana Rudder. She is fun in everything she does. I love her.

I took this picture from the missionary lookout. You are viewing Las Arenas from on top of the lookout. This is where we live. Can't see our place because it is on the left behind the hill. But I think you would appreciate seeing Las Arenas.

On the lookout there is a play area. They love to get on the things and have fun. Here are my Hermanas. For one of the last times.

This is Elder Webb. He is from Gilbert, AZ. He is personality plus. We love to be around him. Also, one great missionary. He is supposed to call Chad when he gets home, for me.

The last line up. How very sad to see so many leave at once. This is their last memory of the Spain Bilbao Mission. That is why President likes to take them up here on the mountain.

A picture of Bilbao. Bilbao is just over the mountain from Las Arenas. You can see a park in the middle on the right. We have walked across that many of times. That is another favorite place for the people to do their daily walk. If you look close, right in the middle there is a white road. The high brown building right left of it, is where the Bilbao Hermanas live.

Another picture of Bilbao. In the middle bottom you can see one of the famous bridges here in Spain. They have very interesting bridges. It is red. To the right of the bridge is the famous Guggenheim Museum. We went there with Russ and Jen Perkins while they were here.

The day before all the Missionaries leave, President interviews each one. It was lunch time, so as always, we eat. Famous past time here. Thus, the weight gain. From left: Elders B Hanson, C. Hansen, & Webb. The Hermanas, Rudder and Miskin.

Elder Holmes our Financial Secretary getting his plate ready. Also Elder Stevens, Elder Rowley and Elder Hansen, our Executive Sec. with the big smile.

You have heard me mention the Pan here in Spain. These pieces have been cut in 3rds so you can tell how long they are. The Elders love to make sandwiches out of them. I'm not sure who's plate you can see. But he is getting it loaded up. Hermana Calderon in the back watching the Elders.

They are all hanging out waiting their turn for their interview with the President. Left: Harmana Sanchez, Elder Holmes hiding. Elders Rowley and B. Hanson. Sitting: Elder C. Hansen and crazy Elder Webb. Elder Stevens and Hermana Miskin and Rudder. The office was not quiet that day. Loved it and took out my hearing aids.

Mean while, Delwyn in his office working as usual. Does this remind you of home? Always working.

Monday the 12th Elder Moores father came in and surprised him. So the Elders made lunch for most everyone. Left: Elders Dredge and Woods our Assistance. Hermana Roerig who has been with Hermana Clegg because she can't walk on her foot much because of Tendinitis. Then our own Elder C. Hansen.

The other table had President Clegg, Hermana Clegg, Elder Corbridge and Elder Moore our Traveling Trainers, then Br. Moore. We went home for our lunch.

Another Day: We had another going away breakfast, which we have every transfer. We didn't lose anyone from the office, but we were losing our Traveling Elders. So anything for a good time to eat. Left: Elder Holmes, Elder Corbridge, and President. We were having Breakfast Burritos.

Elder Moore and Elder Woods getting ready to enjoy.

Everyone was hungry because they had to clean all the mission cars before they could eat. They were all so dirty. We don't have a good place to clean them here. So we took advantage of the Mission Home with all the cars. You can see the filling for the burritos.