Preparation Day for the Mallorca missionaries brought quite a surprise.

The elders from Palma and the sisters from Inca wanted to play tennis with Los Thompson and the Manacor elders. June 13 was our day. The Palma and Inca groups arrived by train and we decided to try the old clay courts where Nadal developed his talent. To our surprise, Nadal was there practicing. He recently won the French Open, but had been defeated in a grasscourt tournament due to exhaustion. The missionaries watched him practice and then played for a hour. When Nadal was ready to leave, the missionaries greeted him and he allowed us to photograph him with all our Mallorcan team.

Cleaning the Inca Branch

Here are more photos of the Inca Branch workers preparing with gusto the new branch for worship. The sister missionaries are shown below with the branch member Rosanna Larrubia cleaning the barthroom. Also shown is Elder Thompson with branch members cleaning the chapel.

The Inca, Mallorca Branch moves to a lovely new facility

In the Fall of 2010, the Inca Branch had to move out of their rented space because the neighboring judicial offices needed more room. For six months the branch has met in a rented temporary building. Saturday, June 4th, branch members gathered to move furniture and clean the new facility. In four hours the new space was ready for members to use. Sunday, June 5th was the first time the Inca members worshipped in this light and spacious place.

A different kind of preparation day

Transfers brought major changes to the Baleares Zone. Two elders left the Palma area, one sister the Inca area, and one elder from the Manacor area. Even the Menorca elders were given new assignments. Sister Thompson was assigned to serve with Sister Martin for the day until her new companion flew to the island from Barcelona. In order to accommodate the waiting elders and be a companion to a sister for the day, Sister Thompson had to leave Elder Thompson at home in Manacor. She drove to Inca, picked up the sisters, continued to Palma to meet the elders. One sister and three elders left to fly to Barcelona. While three elders and a sister waited for their new companions, we enjoyed some sightseeing together. Valldemossa, Soller, and the Port de Soller were beckoning to us. Sister Thompson drove the little Opel filled with missionaries to these exotic spots.

Mallorca District meeting is our last with these angels.

May continued to be a busy time, driving elders and sisters to appointments far from their assigned cities. We have just finished our district meeting held in Manacor so we can use Skype to add the Menorca elders to the meeting. Elders Egan and Farley work in Manacor, Hermanas Martin and Bennion in Inca, and Elders Hadley, Thompson, Bodily, and Bennington in Palma.

Back in Africa with our friends

This is catch-up time for the busy Los Thompson. In April, Elders Hadley and Thompson in Palma invited us to an evening with their Nigerian investigator and his family. As soon as we came to the door, we felt like we were back in Africa. Owen said to us, "You are Welcome", a phrase we heard often when we served our first mission in Accra, Ghana. This dear family was most welcoming. They had prepared a large meal with fufu, rice, and a spice soup. We prepared a notebook with conversion stories about the Nigerian and Ghanaian members for Owen. We wanted him to know of his wonderful heritage through church members in West Africa.

A feminine touch has been added to our zone

During February, los Thompson had the assignment to find a piso (apartment) in Inca. President Hinckley was going to send us some more missionaries. The Inca Branch was particularly grateful to hear of this plan. After finding a piso owned by a member, we brought two lovely young sisters to fill it--Hermanas Martin and Bennion. Having these sisters here assigned to Inca makes life more manageable for the Manacor elders. They can concentrate on their own area and allow the sister to perform miracles in Inca. We are pictured at our zone conference which includes the Menorca elders and on our p-day on the Palma tennis courts.