We went on a bus which took about two and a half hours to get there, the buses we go on are very nice like a greyhound bus with cushioned seats and most importantly air conditioning! This first picture is of the main town square. The two things we wanted to see there were a castle and several windmills.
The castles’ origin goes way back to King Alfonso VIII.
He gave it to the order of Saint John of Jerusalem.
In 1813 the castle was ruined by the Nopoleonic troops. 
At present, parts of the fortress have been restored (including a battle royal between Tom and Bob Sproul) 
allowing the visit to several rooms aljibes reserves
for waters, the east, west, and south towers, the archive room, the meeting room or the chapel. Of course, we needed to eat-picture in the garden area of the castle.
There are eleven mills remaining out of the original thirteen. Of these the Sancho, Bolero, Espartero and Rucio retain the complete machinery. The windmills were used for grinding wheat-the blades were turned into the wind, covered with fabric and then they would start to turn. Of course when they were completed with their grinding the fabric was removed and they stopped turning. 
These are part of the story of Don Quixote (a mixed up and mental type of man) who thought he was fighting knights but it was actually these windmills. The first windmill that you come to has a little store with drinks and souvenirs and a man to sale them who was a hoot. He was quite the salesman and fun to talk to.
There were 19 of us, the food was great and we all enjoyed each others’ company. This restaurant is run by a family who are so nice. We have been there before and it’s a great place to eat. Sister Rust is the caretaker of our group, she is always so concerned about everyone, and so thoughtful and helpful.
She plans many of the excursions that we go on. We went with her, her husband and Sister Linares on our trip during the closedown of the Temple last June.Saturday evening we had a webcam with Paul’s family and Jeff’s family. How we love the webcam! Sometimes you have better reception than others, but the last couple of times has been quite clear.
The kids never know quite what to make of it. It is so 
fun to talk to them and also be able to see them. The grandkids love to pull faces and look at themselves on the screen! In fact that’s all Jenacee would do at first when we had some webcams with them!
We happened to mention that to Ashtyn Whitney and Ethan, so they had to try it out!
We just discovered last week that we can take some pretty good pictures off of the screen which has been fun. How great it is to see all of them.Today, the Temple Missionaries had the opportunity to sing a special number in Sacrament Meeting. We sang “I Need Thee Every Hour” in Spanish.
It was a great experience, some of the Missionaries had probably never sang in a choir before. The spirit was very strong as we sang those special words. “Senor te necesito , si te nicesito. Bendice me oh Cristo vendre a ti.” Beautiful words which are so true. “I need thee oh I need thee, every hour I need thee, oh bless me now my Savior I come to thee.”
We also said goodbye to a neat girl we have become aquainted with who is leaving tomorrow. She has been here on an internship for cancer research. She plans to continue her schooling which will take up to seven to ten more years of school to complete. 
That’s not including the bachelors degree she already has. Her parents were able to come this week to spend some time with her and to see some of the sights of Spain. We meet so many wonderful people who are here for short periods of time. They really touch your life. I forgot to mention the best part of all her names is Malia. We knew the moment we heard her name that we would like her!
Temple work is marvelous and the people in Spain, Portugal, and parts of France are so grateful for this beautiful temple, as are we. We see many faithful saints come and spend their whole vacation time here to do temple work and cry when it is time to go home. It reminds us how much for granted we take the many Temples in Utah. There is work to be done in all of them and no excuse not to do it and bring all of our ancestors the same blessings that we have. We love the Lord, we are so grateful for his glorious gospel plan, and we are so grateful for all of you. You are our heroes and we are so grateful for your examples to us. A big Hug and Kiss to all of you. Love Mom and Dad!
One day I had responsibility in the Baptistery, I had been in with the confirmations of the youth and when I came out into the baptismal area I immediately saw that they had changed brethren doing the baptisms. This one was “slam dunking” the kids, there was water everywhere and the kids would come up out of the water with eyes as big as saucers! I quickly made my way to the Stake President who was acting as the recorder and told him to calm the guy down and that we had to clean up after the tidal wave was over, he soon became a little smoother and we were saved from a flooding of the entire area. Some of the things that you see are incredible!
They have been the on-site Doctor for the Missionaries. He was called as the Doctor for the area of southern Europe, but lived here very close to the MTC/Temple. They would often tour other missions and meet with the missionaries throughout the area but, obviously, the majority of his work was done here. 
I am sure he would get several dozen calls a day from missionaries throughout the area and have to try and diagnose illnesses/injuries over the phone. His background was an Emergency Room Physician, so he was probably pretty good at getting the right diagnoses, because he has seen it all. He and his wife also functioned as a counselors in the MTC Presidency/Assistant.
We will be without a Doctor on site for about four months while another is preparing to get their visas. They were not going to replace him with another Doctor and then the closest would have been in Germany, so it is a relief to know that one is coming even though it is a few months away.
We also spent about eight days with her on our Barcelona/Santiago trip during June. She is a great sister and taught Spanish for over 30 years at Kearns High School. 
They are great people and always keep you smiling. He is a Lawyer by profession and she also worked in the legal end of things.
We can’t wait to hold her in our arms!
Goya was a famous Spanish artist. It had three floors full of paintings, artifacts, jewelry and fabrics. Some dating back to the 3rd and 4th centuries before Christ. You could have spent all day there, besides what was displayed there were drawers you could pull out with lots of other artifacts. Lets just say that we feel we are not connoisseurs of this kind of history or artwork! We were definitely ready to leave!
We all brought our lunches so we ate in the garden of the museum, which was pleasant. The weather has not been quite as hot the last week and in the shade it felt quite comfortable.
He is a very sharp young man and will do a great work on his mission-he will be serving in Madrid, so we will be able to continue the banter for the next few months.
They also brought about 20 young people (12-16 years of age) from the Lisbon Stake for Baptisms for the Dead. They were there each and everyday at 10:00 am and 4:00 pm for baptisms. Their Bishop, Stake Presidency and other ward leaders were with them, so the baptisms went very well each and every time. They were probably the most reverent group of young people that we have had come to the Temple. They sensed what they were doing and the importance of the work for those who have passed on from this life. They wanted to do many more sessions of baptisms, but we were just unable to do so with the limited number of workers that we had available to assist. I think this is a great lesson for the youth of the church, to give up one week of your summer vacation to come to the Temple and serve!
This past week the MTC, located in our same building, received the most “new” missionaries that they have every received in one week. Twenty five from the states and another nine from Europe showed up, in addition to about ten from Russia for visa renewal. They are so full that they are having to put cots in the hallway to give them all a bed to sleep in-and yet, not one complaint! These young men and women are unbelievably dedicated to the work to which they have been called. We look forward to hearing from this new group tonight as they present their usual Sunday Night Concert on the Temple grounds. 
So they had their sweet little girl at 5:37 pm (MDT) and 1:37am our time (Madrid). She weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20" long. Sharon stayed up the entire time to make sure we didn't miss the event, but Tom took a little nap before the big event (I need my beauty rest more than she does!). We did a webcam at about half an hour after she was born! What a beautiful sight she was and so alert! The picture was very clear and we wanted to reach in to the computer to hold her. It was hard not to be there. Paul sent us a few more pictures on the email of her from that first day. We treasure those and can’t wait to get more.
here going to the temple for 2 weeks. They did many family names and had spent their vacation here. We got close to them just through seeing them so much at the Temple. They were going home on the 31st. We were pleasantly surprised the night before to have them come to our apartment to say goodbye. They were so sad they had to go, they had been teary eyed the entire day. They will be coming back in December so we can renew our friendship them.
(Sisters Jones & Lester) over for lunch. One of them is a sister we have mentioned before who lives in Rose Park. She also went to West high, the same high school we did. Her companion Sister Lester has been out about the same time we have. She is a convert of 2 years and we really like her as well. They showed us a new DVD that the church has come out with. It is excellent , it is about seven minutes long. It tells about how life is and how there is a great designer of this earth our Heavenly Father and how much more purpose our lives can have. All the Missionaries have been given this as a tool to use to get into some homes to share their message. 
paella since we’ve been here. It is one or their native dishes. It is seasoned rice with peas and shrimp with eyes on and chicken of whatever meat or fish they decide to use. We liked it though we would probably not order it in a restaurant. We had a great time, 
they invited two other couples the Petersons (CA) and the Santos (Brazil). The Ramos’s told us about their conversion and how difficult it was to join the church back when Franco was the ruler. 
