Spain 13th Week 14-20 July 2008

Spain 13th Week 14-20 July 2008

Monday of course was our Preparation day, and 12 of us missionaries went to a town called Avila. It was 1 hr and 45min bus trip.

This is a completely walled city. The walls are 2,516 meters long around the perimeter, have an average thickness of 3 meters, a height of 12 meters and have 88 towers or round turrets. The exact chronology of the erecting of the walls is not known. Although there was a modest wall from the beginning of the conquest of Spain. The current wall dates from the second half of the 12th century. The existence of Great and Small markets is documented from as early as the 13th century. There were two squares. From the late Middle ages these squares and the San Vicente arena were host to bullfights, for which wooden barriers were erected and the balconies of private houses were rented out. They were used for receptions, and for beheadings as well! There were swarms of sparrows flying all over we are not sure why except for the fact that they were obnoxious! We also spotted a storks nest, with two of them at home. This is a shot of pine cones growing on a pine tree....I didn't know that they grew on top of the branch, I thought it was kind of interesting.

The Temple was quite busy this week. We had a stake called Hospitalet, which is close to Barcelona. They brought 10 youth with them who did baptismal sessions twice a day. Four of them were from the same family whose Mom and Dad were also there. There were also three girls and their Mother from Cadiz that were here. They were also great. They did many, many baptisms and confirmations. Sharon had the opportunity to work in the baptistery three days this week. The youth are great and several can speak a little English! There was also a couple from Italy who have been here for two weeks. They said that they had completed all of the ordinances they had after the 3:00 session today. They were beaming! Today seven people received their own endowments. Two of them are going to be Missionaries, here in Spain so they will spend some time in the MTC here. Those people who come to the temple are always so grateful to everyone in the Temple for their help and love.

Linda Lovera whom we mentioned last time who is from Venezuela, has also served in the Temple every day she has been here. We were able to take her to lunch and enjoy her company. She is leaving on the 19th to go stay with an Uncle. She is hoping to work for a Doctor here. In a month she will go back to Venezuela to visit and then come back if the job has worked out. We were unaware of that until we met for lunch, so we may be seeing more of her! She is so sweet and so strong in the gospel.

Tomorrow on the 20th we are speaking at the MTC. It will be a treat to actually be with them, as we live in the same Hostel. We do see them every Sunday when they sing in the plaza and get to talk to a few of them, but not all. As you all know the MTC carries a special spirit which is so strong and adds to the special spirit that is felt on the whole Plaza. We will let you know how that goes next week, when all the nerves have calmed down! It is a wonderful opportunity , but also an awesome responsibility. Our topic is merely what would we tell our son or daughter if they were about to leave on a mission. President and Sister Hill are in charge of the MTC and invited us to speak a few weeks ago and like idiots, we said yes. We will have the opportunity to eat with them in their cafeteria following the meeting (the food is catered, so we look forward to this opportunity), hopefully, they won’t throw rotten tomatoes at us during or after we have spoken to them.

We love what we are doing. it’s a goal we have had even before we were married. To actually be accomplishing this goal is wonderful. The Lord has truly blessed us so that we can be here, and enjoy and participate in this beautiful Temple. We have felt at home right from the very first, which we know is a big blessing in its self. We love the Lord and we love all of you. We have all the pictures that we have been given since the start of our Mission. It is our favorite pass time to sit and watch them over and over which have all of you in them. So feel free to send more recent photos over the Email any time! We can’t get too many. Thanks for your love support and prayers. Love Mom and Dad

P.S. Dad just got another haircut, he told the barber to not take anything off of the top….we now call him “Butch”