A Jog Down Missionary Memory Lane

...So this is the post about my visits to Santa Cruz, the city where I spent the last 12 weeks of my mission. We flew into Tenerife on Saturday, and I spent all of Sunday in Santa Cruz. I went with my sister and her family on the bus, or as some of you know, its called the guagua, to the chapel and we attended church in the branch where I served. The branch has grown alot in the nearly two years that I have been gone. There have been some move-ins and quite a lot of baptisms. All the members are happy and healthy and going strong in the gospel. The Canary Islands are working really hard to be a stake by October. My convert, Maritsa, is still great, happy, and very active. Her son, Aron, will be 8 next year, and they are both excited for him to be baptized. Our investigator, Ernesto, from Cuba, still attends church and meets with the missionaries regularly, but he is yet to make a serious commitment to be baptized. Sunday was actually really funny...a lot of the members didn't recognize me at first, they wanted to know why an American was on vacation there, or why my face looked familiar...apparently some highlights and bangs, and a little more make-up really throws them off...I must have looked pretty bad on the mission, hahaha. Those of you that know Sayli, she has been working in her medical field in France, and she is engaged to a member of the Church who is French, she has never been so happy and so strong in her terstimony of the gospel. I think she gets married in October. Oh, and a very cool side note...as I was visiting with members after the meetings, a girl came up to me, it took me a second to remember who she was...her name is Maria Martinez, she is from Venezuela, and Hermana Schaugaard and I found her knocking doors, taught her a few lessons, she came to church, etc., but I just didn't feel like she was really serious about the gospel...come to find out she just needed time...I went home in Sept. 2006 and she got baptized the following July! So all those seeds we planted, some are being reaped! I spent most of Sunday afternoon with Maritsa and Aron-walking through the city, enjoying the park where we taught her the discussions, they fed me dinner, and we enjoyed each other's company. I went back up to Santa Cruz on Tuesday where I met up with Maritsa, Aron, and Any Flores, a member from Venezuela who helped us teach Maritsa. They took me out to lunch and then out for yummy ice cream, we relaxed in a park, and then I went with Maritsa to visit Ernesto in the store where he works...The islands are wonderful...I loved visiting becuase I felt like a little part of me was home. Being there reminded me of my mission and all the things I learned and all the amazing experiences that I had...Love to all!