Quick update

I haven't blogged in a while, but wanted to mention that last Saturday Ciara went to Martina's house for the Spanish portion of her "intercambio."  Ciara was really looking forward to going and when we arrived at Martina's house I could tell that Martina was really excited for Ciara to come over too.  I dropped Ciara off at 4pm and planned to pick her up at 5:30pm.  I was a little late to pick Ciara up, but when I arrived, Ciara, Martina and Martina's little sister were busy making pizzas and having a great time.  They begged me to let Ciara stay a little longer.  So I left and came back 30min later. Ciara was happily eating the pizza she had made in the shape of Hello Kitty.  I was so glad to see that the girls had a good time together and that Ciara had the opportunity to speak Spanish with someone around her age.   It makes me think that I should find intercambios for the boys too.

On Sunday, Bob had to speak in another ward in our stake, so the kids and I rushed to get to church on time for choir practice.  I am the ward choir director and even though I never know week to week who will show up to choir practice, we always manage to get enough people out on the Sundays that we are supposed to sing in sacrament meeting.  This is the first time that I have ever been a choir director and I get to do it in Spanish!  Nathan has joined the choir.  I am really impressed that he is there to support the choir even though singing is not his favourite thing.

The choir sang in sacrament meeting and as always, a few extra people showed up to sing that never showed up to choir practice, but I appreciated their help.  After sacrament meeting, I went up to primary and taught the CTR 5 class.  Last week, when I taught this class (which includes Cole) it was terrible.  I could not keep control of the class, I wasn't able to teach the lesson, and the kids were fighting with each other.   This week I prepared a little better and I figured out a way to help the kids pay attention and take turns to speak.  I brought in a stuffed penguin and I called it "el pinguino de la palabra" meaning that only the person who is holding the penguin has the right the talk.  The kids enjoyed passing around the penguin and participating in the lesson.

I am definitely feeling more comfortable at church, now that I am not too nervous to teach primary or direct the choir.  Bob has been called on to speak regularly ever since we moved here, just like back home.  The kids are also feeling much better about going to church.  Ciara participates in primary, Nathan taught in Young Mens for the first time on Sunday and Rylan proudly told me that he was talking to another boy in primary in Spanish.

On Sunday evening we hosted our first "noche de hogar" (Family Home Evening) with the missionaries.  We wanted to try and reach out to more members in our ward, especially new members and less-active members.  We had 11 people over including the missionaries.  I thought the evening went pretty well and the kids seemed to enjoy having people over too.  We definitely haven't been entertaining as much as we did in Brampton, so it felt good to have people over like we used to.

So Barcelona is starting to feel more like home.  This was going to be a quick update, but it turns out that I have a lot to share and a lot to be grateful for.