Villagarcia de Arosa

This past weekend (Sunday) I had an assignment to speak in the smallest of the eight units here in Galicia--Villagarcia de Arosa.  Villagarcia is only 49 kilometers away, and we were able to be there in plenty of time to be assured of a good seat!! (tongue in cheek!)  Being the tiniest unit in the District, they only had a total of ten people there, and that included the two of us!

They meet in the downstairs "social room" of the Hotel Playa Compostela, pictured above.  The 

Branch President actually lives in Vigo, but has been called to go to this place and serve as their President. The man in the picture, in the suit, is Presidente Temes  and the woman closest to you, is his wife.  The only other male in attendance, that lives and attends here, is 80+ years old, but , oh, what a sweet ole man he is!!

This is a picture of the outside of the Hotel, which is located on the main street of Villagarcia.  The day we attended, the city was sponsoring a race, and you can see some of the contestants making their way down the road in front of the "church".  Because of the race, and where we had parked the car--on the street--we were not allowed to leave immediately after the meetings until after the race had run its course (pun intended!!), so that we would not be endangering any of the runners if we were to drive down the street.

With about 20 minutes to kill, we strolled (reverently, because it was still Sunday  :>)     ) a block to the west, and found the beach.  Even though it was lightly raining, it was enjoyable for us to be able to just walk along the seaboard and see the beautiful area that these folks call home.

Looking to the north, along the walkway,  The following shot is from the same spot, but looking the opposite direction.

The village (as I call it) has a population of around 57,000.  It is a beautiful place, and very clean.  

The people we passed by seemed happy, even in the rain.  I suppose, that living with rain as a normal occurrence, it doesn't seem to dampen their spirits at all.  We hope to be able to return and do some more exploring along the beach, when we have more time, and not being on a Sunday.  Our branch has a little get-together every fourth Sunday, where everyone brings a dish of something to share, and we all sit down together and snack on (picar) the things that were brought, so that caused us to have to hustle away from Villagarcia sooner than we would have normally wanted.

Last Thursday, I dropped Hna. Bake off at the Church for a R.S. project, and then I hiked across the valley and up the hill to the south, to check out the  Cultural City of Santiago.  The Cultural City is (was) supposed to be one of Santiago's claim to fame, sort of a big deal, but it has not gone as planned.  They held an international design contest in 1999, for this project, and building began within the next two years.  After more than a decade  of frustration with the construction, they decided to halt the deal, because of being over-budget by more than four times.  Some portions of the 4-building complex are completed, but others are not.  It is supposed to represent something along the lines of the buildings just "springing up out of the ground, sort of like a continuation of the rolling hills that surround them."  (does that make any sense?)  Well. we'll let the pictures do the talking.  Here goes:

Two of the buildings, springing up out of the ground, sort of together.

Windows:  major reason for some of the cost overruns.
So many of the windows had to be cut on-site, with very few
being of the same size.

Good look at the four!

On the backside now, looking down between them, taken
from the middle of the plaza.  Notice that the plaza is laid
with tile.

Check out the windows on this one!!!

More tile.

Look at all those different cuts of glass.  No wonder they were
pulling their hair out on this one!!

This doesn't really belong with the Cultural City photos, but is a
shot of the freeway going past Santiago.  Notice how they had to
follow the contours of the land.  There are no long, straight stretches here.

The Relief Society project that day was to make  cards to send to active and less-active members of the branch for the holidays.  One of the sisters in the branch had a paper cutter (Cricket), so they were able to make some neat looking cards, to let folks know that they have not been forgotten

On the left, Hnas. Baxter and Iregui.  Hna. Iregui took the place of Hna. DeWaal,
who went home a couple of weeks ago.  On the right, Hnas. Felicitas and Eteluina.
Hna. Bake's striped shoulder can be seen in the lower right.  

Our branch president lives and works on a dairy, about 65 kilometers from here, toward the northwest.  We have been taking the Elders in our car, out there, to visit them and to teach some of their neighbors.  Their milk cows stay indoors all year-round, under a huge metal shed.  Like most dairy farmers, they sell the bull calves and keep the heifers for replacement animals.  They grow corn for silage, and put it in big pits, just like they do in the states.  

The one time we went there in the daylight, we were able to see one of these little deals on his farm.

We had been seeing them in lots of places where we had driven before, but did not really know what they were.  We have seen miniatures of them sold in the tourist shops.  We asked one shop owner what they were, and her answer was that "they were a place to keep sacred things."  Well, that did not jibe well with the one that we saw, once, that had the lady's laundry hanging inside it!  Another person told us that they were used for the remains of dead folks, (cremated, of course).  That did not seem right either.  So. . . . we asked President Goyes what his "horreo" (Spanish name for them) was used for, and he said, "For storing corn".  The parts (legs, slats, bases and top) are all formed from concrete--something that will last and hold up under the onslaught of rain, and humidity.  He also added that, in the old days, the larger the "horreo", the more wealthy the farmer.  Based on that, this place was one of the better (more wealthy) ones around.  This particular one is the largest one we have seen.  Notice the large, round "wheel-shaped" parts that sit on top of the legs, and support the upper portion of the "horreo".   Varmint control!!

Did not control this 'varmint', but you know how Elders are.
Elder Nickerl--what a neat young man--goes home in 12 days!!

The corn is for their chickens, who live in a tiny coop, just underneath the Horreo.

                                           Just can't get the farm-boy out  of me, I guess!!!

Well, time to let this go for another couple of weeks.  

Elder and Sister Bake

P-DAY in VIGO!!!

From the top of the mountain.

As you may well imagine, P-day is a welcome "rest" from the normal rigors of the missionary work-week.  Not long ago, the Zone Leaders arranged, for those who wanted, for us to travel to Vigo and hike up a rocky knob outside the city limits.  It was a "festivo" day (some sort of day "off" and "fiesta" all rolled into one) and  the buses were not running their full routes, so  . . . .our little car got put to good use 'ferrying' a bunch of the missionaries to the actual point of beginning for the hike.  Thank heaven that not all the Zone came that day, or we would still be transporting missionaries to the point of beginning!!  We did have 14 of the 28 participate, so we had a good number to work with.

The first group, 'ferried' to the starting point.  You can see
the rocky knob in the background.  We had a pretty good
hike, just to get to the bottom of the knob!!

Ahh. . . a mountain stream--but, alas, no fish!
It felt really good to be back in the mountains again!

A view of Vigo, part way up the knob.  Vigo sits right on  one
of the large bays that lead out into the ocean.

She wasn't sure she really wanted to do this!!  She was pretty
tired already, just from the hike to this point.

We had already gone a long way, and Hna. Bake was ready to
sit down and wait for us to climb, and to return, but the
young missionaries kept encouraging, so . . .she took a chance,
and started up, again.

"I think I can!  I think I can!

Maybe.  We'll see!!

Yeh!!  It was worth it!!

View down the other side.

Vigo, in the distance, from the top.

Hna. DeWaal, who just went home on Sunday!!
She will be sorely missed!
And YES< the wind was howling!!!!

Hna. Baxter, who gets a new companion this week.
Photobombers in the background!!

Hna. Spencer, from Parma, Idaho!!!

Left--Elder Jones, from Rigby, Idaho
Right--Elder Muller, from Argentina, who provided most of
the encouragement for Hna. Bake to make it to the top!!

I have said before that in the Santiago District there are 8 units.  Our Mission President Pack, has a vision to try to have a stake established here by the time he goes home in 2 1/2 years.  It will take some doing, but it is within the realm of possibility.  To have a stake, you need to have at least 5 wards functioning, with at least 90 members per ward.  Vigo, right now, has around 120 active members.  If they can get to 180 and then split, there are two of the required 5 wards.   They also, just recently,  received permits to build a grand, new building of worship that will be able to house 420 people!!  That could easily be the new Stake Center.   A Coruna has enough right now for a ward.  (there's your third ward).  Ferrol sits at about 70 active members.  If they can improve just 20 more, there is your 4th ward for the new stake.  They biggest hurdle will be finding that fifth ward.  We believe it will be our little branch--Santiago.  Right now we have anywhere from 25 to 35 attending on any given Sunday.  There are many who have to work on Sundays, so it is a constant struggle to always have the same ones attend from week to.  We have set a goal, for the coming year, to arrive at the number 60, regularly attending meetings.  That is a lofty one, for sure, but we feel it can be done, especially if the members get excited about bringing their friends and neighbors.  Within the 2 1/2 years remaining for President Pack to be here, we feel like we can get Santiago up to the 90 required to become the 5th ward for the new stake.  There is already a piece of ground purchased where they could construct their very own chapel.  Still, there is a lot of work to be done here, before that happens, but we are up to it.

If I wrote down this logo--USC-- what would you think?  (University of Southern California, right?)  That's what I thought the first time I saw someone here wearing a sweatshirt with that logo on it.  I should have been a little more "up on things", I guess.  It stands for the University of Santiago de Compostela.  There is a very famous university here, and people come from all over Spain, and parts of Europe too, to attend the university.  I had wondered, during the first week-end we were here, why we were seeing so many young men and girls, towing suitcases down the streets.  They were students, heading home for the weekend, to get their clothes washed (I assume), and to see the family, and to rest from the week of being students.  Then, again on Sunday evenings, and Monday mornings, you can see the same students, arriving back in town, to resume their studies. Our piso is located not too far from the train station, and several of the major bus routes, so . . . we see them almost all the time, suitcases in tow, on their way too and from. those locations.   The street below our piso, fills up with college-aged students, almost every evening, as they meet up with their friends and sit down at the sidewalk cafes to enjoy an hour or two, drinking, dining, chatting, and having a good time. 

Even though we are well into Nevember. we are still seeing a few 'hikers', either on their way to Sangiago, or passing through, and on out to "Finnisterre" (the end of the world), where some of the 'pilgrims' (hikers) go to finish their march.  It is located on the far western shore of Spain, straight west of Santiago, and in the real old days, they considered it to be the 'end of the world'.  That little jaunt is on the bucket list for us before we leave this region.  I have never been to the end of the world before, but I remember people talking about it, when I was little, and living in Parma!!  Not sure what they meant by that!!  I thought Parma was a pretty good place to grow up in.

Hna.Bake, being the good cook that she is, has made a lot of new friends!  A goodly number of them are the local, and district, and Zone missionaries.

Elder Hale, brand new missionary, from Logan, Utah, had his
birthday on the 28th of October.  His mother was happy to know
that someone took care of him on that day!!

These last two photos are for any and all electricians out there, who may sometimes grumble about the codes you get to deal with (I'm thinking of you, Jason).  We had a couple of young 'technicians' come to our piso a few weeks ago, to install the needed items for internet service.  It was an eye-opener to watch them work!  I'll leave it at that!

When they were 'done' with the install, this is how it ended up.
These little 'patches' (I call them) are all over in the piso.

Would you dare call this a 'junction box'?
This was inside one of those 'patches'!

Well, I had better finish up.  Thanks for all who are thinking of us and praying for us.  We are doing very well and feeling like we are making a difference.  All of you, who are in condition to do it, ought to be thinking about how you can get out here in the mission field, and enjoy this great work.

Love to you all,

Elder and Hermana Bake