Trip to Malaga, Day 8

Sunday, January 29, 2012


We got up and I showered in cold water. I waited a while for it to get hot, but when I saw that it didn't, I thought there must not be any, so I carried on.

Then Irina got in the shower and called for her mom to plug in the hot water heater. She asked me if I had showered in cold water, and I admitted that I had. The whole family was horrified at this and tried to make me go again to warm up in a hot shower, but I wouldn't. "You'll catch cold," they said. "That water is freezing." "No, no pasa nada (it's fine)," I said. It became quite a joke that I don't think I'll live down for a long time.

Irina and I were kind of slow getting ready and got to church pretty late (11:20, when it started at 11). Church was good and it was good to see all the people I hadn't seen yet (and the ones I had). I took so many pictures with so many of the wonderful people there, and we stood outside the church, talking and laughing.

After church, Elisa, Alejandra, and I went over to Irina's for lunch. We were all telling jokes when Irina's mom made a comment that stuck with me. "Everyone has time to tell jokes," she said. "but it's funny--no one has time to talk about the Lord." Ephesians 5:4 came to my mind and I thought, "How true."

We had the yummiest Ukrainian food that Irina's mother had made, and it was very filling and delicious.

I also made the acquaintance of a couple of Irina's nieces, and they were the most delightful girls. I was entertaining them by bouncing them on my knees like a "horsey ride" and they loved it! Is this not the cutest little girl EVER?

After we ate, Irina and I went to Ana Maria's for coffee and then we went to the evening service at church. After church, there was coffee and hamburgers. Then Irina's brother was kind enough to give me a lift in his car to the house of some missionaries I was going to visit. Irina went with us, and she and I almost cried when we said goodbye, but we strengthened our resolve and managed not to.

My time with the family I was visiting was lovely! They had invited me to spend the night and leave straight from there to go back to Madrid in the morning, which worked out wonderfully for me. They showed me to a room that made me feel like a princess! Then we had a lovely dinner of fish, rice, vegetables, and salad, and we talked and had a good conversation. Then we played a good game of Settlers of Catan. :-) The wife mentioned a book she had written, and some formatting problems with it, and I offered to fix it for her. She started emailing the files over to me, and I stayed up till like 1 or 2 in the morning, checking and reading email and doing stuff online.

The next morning, I got on the train back to Malaga, boarded the bus to Madrid, arrived back there safely, took the metro back to church, and joined the girls.

This is the last post in the series.
First post: Trip to Malaga, Day 1