Spain 30th Week 10-16 Nov 08

Spain 30th Week 10-16 Nov 2008

Well, this week has been very exciting. We received two new missionary couples and two single sisters to our ranks. The first couple (Fourtina’s) is from France, they don’t speak English or

Spanish, but are wonderful people. He is a sealer in the Temple and so they both know the ordinances very well….but in French. This will come in very handy when the French saints are in town and I would imagine that all of us will start to learn some of the simple French phrases so that we can communicate. The other couple (Thomas’s, Gordon and Kathy) just arrived from their eighteen month mission in the Canary Islands…they extended six months and came here. They speak Spanish very well and have worked in a Temple before, so they will be up to speed in no time. Sister Nancy Lafertt also arrived, she is from Spain and has come several times to theTemple while we have been here, she is here for at least twelve months this time. Also, Sister Martins from Portugal has arrived, has come to the Temple many times and is now here on a mission for at least twelve months. These great people will greatly add to our abilities to do the things that we are supposed to do.

On Monday, we went with the Lunt’s and Bradshaw’s to the LaVaca Argentina Restaurant in

downtown Madrid. We heard that they served a pretty good steak, so we decided to try it out for Sister Lunt’s and my birthday. The food was excellent, and yes, you can get a decent tasting steak in Spain (although they advertised this meat was imported from Argentina). The cost was a little more, but very much worth it.

Prior to dinner several of the Temple missionaries had gone on a guided tour of “Old Madrid.” It was very interesting and we learned a lot about the city, even though we didn’t walk more than about 10 blocks. The tour started and centered on where the current Palacio Real (Royal Palace) is currently located, this area was chosen by the dynasties because of the view that it gave to them to the north (Toledo area) where all of the problems/invasions would be coming from. We

saw the city wall of Moorish dynasty that occupied this part of Spain before Christ, then close by we saw the city wall of the Islamic dynasty,the walls are just different enough that you can tell they are not pulling your leg. We also were shown the two remaining Christian towers that havebeen restored from the 16th Century. I believe they said there were twelve, but these are the only two that have been restored (but you can see the Moorish influence in the construction). As the Islamics moved in, the Moors either left or just moved outside of the city walls…the same with the Islamics when Christianity came to the area. This picture shows a man standing and gazing at what it used to be like (he’s a bit stiff and not very talkative). If you look closely at this picture you can see rows and rows of flowers in racks/rows leaning against the front of the Cathedral….they had just celebrated their “Veteran’s Day” and these were all in honor of those that had given their lives. This picture shows an example of the beautiful exteriors of many of the buildings in the older part of Madrid.

We also had opportunity to walk around Plaza Sol (one of the hot spots of the city), here you can see Mom in all of her Flamenco splendor and her and Sister Lunt standing next to the “headless” man. Tom is the next great Matador of Spain and is constantly in demand for pictures. In Plaza Mayor (every city has a plaza which is/was central to the city) and in the Madrid Plaza Mayor there are always a lot of Mimes doing their things (nothing…until you pay them). Here is the "Mud Woman” I can’t imagine getting that stuff on you a couple of times a day?

On Friday, we took Claudia da Silva (Madeira, Portugal-Jeff served on this island) to lunch

following our shift at the Temple. She is a single gal that has been here twice since we arrived…she comes for three weeks at a time and does a lot of work and is also a Temple worker. She is recently widowed, her husband died about nine months ago, he was the Stake President in Madeira-it was unexpected, but got pneumonia and died rather quickly. She is 28 years old and has a great attitude for having just gone through an ordeal such as this. She lives with her mother and they are extremely active.

Today (Sunday) we had her and Brother & Sister Pereira (Portugal) over for dinner.

This is the little older couple that we have written about before. This is the second time they have been here, they also come for three weeks and work, work, work. They do 5-6 sessions a day plus other ordinances. They were both born in Venezuela (Caracas) moved to Portugal many years ago. They are the most humble people that we have met and we have learned much from them. He is 85 years old and she is just a little bit younger. They brought us some homemade jam (Quince?) this time, it tastes pretty good. All three ate and ate and ate. We fixed small pork chops, funeral potatoes (had to make our own hash browns) and corn. He ate about five pork chops, three helpings of potatoes and about a pound of corn. She ate just a little less and Claudia ate her fair share also. We hear they have been living on soup and sandwiches since they have been here. There was a little bit left over so we sent it home with them. This experience was one of the paybacks for being away from your own family.

This is a photograph of our new Temple President (Garry and LaNell Moore), they are terrific! Really caring and loving to everyone and they both speak great Spanish. The next couple is President Gene and Sister Joan Hill (Missionary Training Center President). They are great people and we appreciate all they do for the young missionaries as they strive to learn the language of their mission (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and other).We thank each of you for your love, support and prayers. Without them we would not know what to do or where to go. We really love this experience, but can only be here because we know that our Father in Heaven is mindful of each of you and blessing you with blessing that otherwise might not be available. We want you to know that we love all of you and look forward to hearing about your holiday traditions. Love Mom & Dad