Interviews

We started our first round of interviews this week.

I slacked on my bloggerly (is that a real word?) duties...I forgot to take photos in the 1st few zones... sorry missionary families with children serving in the Springs, North, Fountain and East Zones! I won't forget next time around.

This week we drove down to Alamosa ...for some reason the pictures of our drive loaded out of order ... but you can still tell that the drive down to the San Luis Valley is septacular! 

These are the Sengre de Christo Mountains ... I am amazed by what looks like walls going up the mountains . It's called the Big Wall...it does look like a smaller version of the Great Wall of China. 

This one looks like stegosaurus spikes to me...(I have sons and grandsons ...they love dinosaurs) it called the Devil's Stairway.

On investigation (thank you google) I discovered that they are volcanic dykes...magma filled fissures in the ground and over time with erosion the dykes were exposed...so they are walls of basalt..( again I have sons and grandsons...we love ❤️ volcanos 🌋  too) On one of our Preparation Days we would love to go get a closer view. 

These are the Spanish Peaks! Absolutely breath taking...and we get to serve here!

When we were just outside Alamosa the clouds got dark and drizzly but just around the storm there was a ring of light streaming through the clouds.that surrounded the whole valley.

It looked stunning! We were driving so this was the best I could get...I would have loved to get a panorama of it. The light encircled the whole valley.

This is another shot of the Spanish Peaks... so beautiful!

 

Our Alamosa and Salida Sisters having lunch after interviews...missed taking pics the whole rest of the morning...😕

 

When we were done with interviews we had a late lunch at Oscars...the Missionaries said the food there is wonderful We weren't disappointed. 

President Stevenson went out with two of our elders (the Zone Leaders for Alamos and Manassa zones) for a lesson at a members home.  He loves participating in this part of the work!

  Our Alamosa and Manassa Zone Leaders

But I did better the next day in the Manassa Zone.

I really enjoyed visiting with the Elders and Sisters while they waited for their interviews

Our sweet sisters...

We met them so quickly the week before. 120 new Names in 48 hours...I want to be able to say their names without looking at their tags.

 

Great missionaries come in all sizes!

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Val's Place, the only Restaurant in Manassa but it's very cute and the food and service are excellent! Best burger with a fried egg President has ever had (including Fatburger, sorry Scott.)

 

I did better on Thursday, these are the Missionaries from the Pueblo Zone. It was 100 degrees plus in Pueblo that day and no A/C in the interview room.  So President shed his coat and invited missionaries to do the same during the interviews.

Another small world story. The elder in the center is the cousin of a sweet Sister Missionary, Natalie Shaw, who served in our ward back home 🏡  in Chino Hills. She just got married recently and I was able to show him pictures of her on her wedding day and a huge group picture of all his family at the temple. So fun to make that connection!

Our Zone Leaders and more of the Zone....

...(notice 2 of the elders are in the photos twice!) our Elders serving in a branch in Raton, New Mexico, and in a branch in Walsenburg. Our Senior Couple who are member leadership support in the very small branch there in Walsenburg as well. There used to be a mine and a factory in Walsenburg but when they both closed the town changed drastically.

We have loved the time spent in interviews with these wonderful missionaries!