Spain 17th Week 11-17 Aug 2008

Spain 17th Week 11-17 Aug 2008

We started out this week by going to a museum. It was called Fundacion Lazaro Galdiano Museo. Goya y sus contemporaneous were the main contributors. 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.

This past week we had a lot of people from France, some from Portugal, and a few from Italy. You could hear several languages being spoken at all times. The spirit that these people brought with them was very strong. The French brought several Temple workers. It was nice to work side by side with them. One thing we definitely know is that the spirit has no boundaries and no language barriers. The French also brought some youth (22) with them. They had their own family names and wanted to do both baptisms and confirmations for their families-this was a special blessing to them to be able to do the work for their ancestors. This has been the "busiest" week that we have had since we have been here and it was a wonderful feeling to be running around trying to get everyone where they wanted and needed to be. We also had a Young Adult Institute group from Barcelona come to perform baptisms...they did them twice one day and once the next day before they left to return to Barcelona. They also had a dance with our Institute Young Adults. The youth are great and set such a good example. We also had about 10 people receive their own endowment this week, this is one of the greatest things that we are able to be involved with. Four of the young men were going on Missions. Two were brothers 19 and 20, (Boise, ID and Salt Lake City, Utah) and two were twin bothers who were 19. Many of the people who come will ask how long our mission we will be serving....one lady asked me and I thought for a minute thinking I was saying 18 Months. Instead I said Ochenta Mes’s, which is 80 months! We had a good laugh!

Friday was a holiday here set aside for the Ascension of Mary. They have a parade and fiesta all day. Everything was closed down so people could attend. Tom had seen this several years ago when they were in Seville, Spain with the Guard. The carry large, very large statutes of Mary throughout the streets-they definitely honor, adore and worship her. They seem to have many different little holidays quite often. August is also the Month when many go on month long vacations. The Missionaries say it is a difficult time for them because no one is home.

We also said good-bye to Elder Fronce (MTC), from Salt Lake City and a University of Utah “DIE HARD” fan. Every time we saw each other he would sing the entire UofU Fight Song (A Utah Man Am I) and we would sing the BYU Fight Song (Rise and Shout).

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.

We have enjoyed watching and following the Olympics. We have been watching a lot of it on Euro Sports station. The guys who commentate are English and they are a hoot-we both agree that they must get paid by the number of words that they say! We wish Scott was here to imitate them, he would have a hay day! Tom would look on the internet every morning to see who had won medals, because we never knew if we would catch everything because of being at the Temple. The athletes have been incredible as usual and inspiring in their pursuit of excellence. It is really a shame to see some of them fail or get injured and not even be able to compete….to think of all the thousands of hours that they have trained and trained, then to have it end in failure.

There were three special anniversaries this week: August 12th was Paul and Kellie’s fifth; August 14th was Jeff and Amanda‘s tenth; and August 15th was Miles and Kristy‘s eighth. We tried to talk Scott and Malia into having theirs (wedding) in this week but it was not going to happen! Congratulations to all of you. It is amazing to think how quickly time has passed. We love all of you so much.

Every time we see little kids we think of our sweet grandchildren and miss them. Today their was a beautiful baby boy blessed in our ward with lots of black hair-so tiny and sweet he reminded us of little baby Ryan. You are all so special to us and no one could ever take your place. Thanks for your prayers we gain strength from them.

Love Mom & Dad