West Africa Cruise: Alyssa and the Sister Missionaries (11.11.24)

Dave and I flew to Spain on November 10, 2024, to meet our cruise ship and sail down the coast of Africa.  One "must", on our trip to Spain, was visiting our granddaughter, Alyssa Flindt, in Granada.  Alyssa is an LDS missionary there, recently transferred from Malaga.  On November 11, 2024, we met Alyssa in downtown Granada, together with her "quad".  Usually, missionaries work in groups of two, but today two partnerships had joined together for their "P-day," or personal day.  We took the quad to lunch.

Alyssa's group of missionaries was diverse.  Alyssa is from Seattle and one of the other girls, or "sisters," was from Southern California.  The other girls' families were both originally from Peru, although one had lived in Madrid for many years and the other had parents who had emigrated to Colorado.  One Spanish sister spoke fairly good English and the other spoke little.  The Spanish sisters taught their companions Spanish and the American sisters taught their companions English.

We were delighted to find that Alyssa is happy with her mission experience.  Although Spanish people are generally not interested in the Church, the missionaries do find converts among people from South America who immigrated to Spain from Venezuela, Honduras, or Peru.

We hugged Alyssa goodbye and tucked some euros into her hand for an early Christmas present.  Alyssa is serving an 18 month mission and will be home in a bit more than a year.

Before meeting Alyssa, Dave and I explored the Granada Cathedral and the shopping area around it.  After centuries under Moorish rule, the cuisine of southern Spain is spiced with Arab flavors.  I enjoyed checking out the large array of spices in a shop by the cathedral.  The spices were measured out and sold in little packets.

The Granada cathedral was squeezed between buildings in the crowded downtown, so it was not impressive from the outside.  Inside, it was huge and spectacular, covered with the silver and gold leaf that colonial Spain shipped home from the New World in the 1500s through 1700s.

The cathedral was also filled with beautiful paintings, sculptures, and woodwork.