Day 6: Huercal Overa & the Plaza

    We've been sleeping in still, partially due to jet lag, but also because we have not been going to bed before 1:00am. So it is hard to get up early this morning for church (which is 30 minutes away) at 9:00am. "Today I got up (barely). Peyton kept me up all night last night, saying, 'Don't close your eyes, I'm scared I'll be the only one awake.' When it was dark he would punch me." Dallin.

   We drive to a small town, Huercal Overa, and cannot drive to the exact  address of the church building that is plugged into our GPS, so I hop out and run down the street, to find the very welcome sign "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" on the front of building. The front door is locked, so I push on the door bell and Elder Fagersten from Iowa and Elder Jones from St. George open the door, very surprised to see an American standing on the other side. Boy is it great to run into some American missionaries that speak English! The rest of the family parks the van and joins me. We are a half hour early, and the elders are surprised that we even knew about the branch, as it opened just a year earlier. We meet the branch president, then sit down and watch the branch members come in. As the women come in, they greet the branch president with a kiss on both cheeks - I wonder what bishop Bertoch would do with that sort of a greeting. The members are very friendly and welcoming. After everyone files in, there are about 28 members - including the 8 of us.
     "I got to pass the sacrament. The chapel was tiny and my shoes squeaked really loud on the floor. We passed it differently, there were two trays, and two people passing. There were five rows. I was in one of the two seats in front." Dallin.

Stopping for some beautiful views . . . of the countryside as well=).

The streets are so narrow and lined with tall buildings/homes whose front doors open right into the streets. 

 A small apartment building/market where we find free wifi (or weefee as they call it).

 We spend the evening at the plaza. The kids make friends. We teach them how to play volleyball

 and enjoy some games of futbol as well.

"After church, we went to the plaza. It's a big open space where you can play sports. We played for a long time there. Today was an AWESOME day." Ashlynn.