Spain 51st Week 6-12 Apr 09

Spain 51st Week 6-12 April 2009

Dear Family, Feliz Pascua, Happy Easter to all of you. This has been a great week. On Monday we had a Home evening With the Temple Missionaries. Brother Thomas who was a professor in English Literature at BYU presented the lesson. His message was very interesting and he talked about poets and writers of the nineteenth century being companions and forerunners to the restoration of the gospel. President Lorenzo Snow in a special conference stated every advance of the nineteenth century whether in religion, philosophy, science, poetry, literature, music, transport, has resulted from the revelations of the Holy Spirit. Brigham Young stated I believe positively that there is nothing known except by the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether in theology, science, or art. William Wadsworth in 1807 wrote “Intimations of Immortality” which is still quoted today. “Our Birth is but a sleep and a forgetting The soul that rises with us , our life’s Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, and not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home. A lot of these great British thinkers of early nineteenth century would get together and share ideas. All involved were religion non-conformists who did not conform to the teachings or beliefs of the church of England. The Saint George Temple was the first Temple to really do work for the dead. In the revelation to Wilford Woodruff many of these important people appeared to him and asked to have their work done. Many of course, we have heard were the signers of the Declaration of Independence and some past United States Presidents. Also some of the people he told us about that night had appeared to him for their own work, of which William Wordsworth was one. So inspiration of a higher nature were prerequisites to the restoration of the Gospel.

Dad had heard that some people had had the opportunity to go up in the spire of the Spain Temple,

as close as you can get to the angel Moroni which is about one hundred and forty feet in height. So he had approached our Temple Recorder to see if there was a possibility of doing that. He said he had not done it either so he asked one of the security personnel if we could do it. He said yes and so on Monday night Tom, Berkley our friend and the Antonio Calderon (Temple Recorder) and I did it! I kept looking for the elevator which of course didn’t exist! We climbed metal ladders all the way up. I think I’m the only women who has done so which is quite a privilege for me. It was windy and raining, but what a beautiful sight it was. Right above us was Angel Moroni which is said to be about eleven feet tall. That’s as close as we have ever come to an Angel! We can’t tell anyone else because then many others may want to do it, so we feel very privileged.

We had a wonderful, busy week in the Temple. People who live here celebrate Semana Santa (Holy Week) for the entire week so many had vacation and came to the Temple. There were hundreds and hundreds of Baptisms, Endowments, Initiatories and Sealing ordinances done. It was a great feeling to see so many there.

On Wednesday we received a package which we had asked Jeff and Amanda to get together for us. Thank you so much! Even though we knew what we were getting it was fun to open it.

I had asked for some cheap cheater glasses and this is one of the pairs I got!

Thursday was our thirty-fifth wedding anniversary. We spent our last anniversary in the MTC. Both of us had forgotten until we had to write the date sown on a paper for our class! This year we did not forget and we spent half of the day in the Temple, what a wonderful way to celebrate.
Today of course is Easter.

We were thinking back of Easters past when our kids were young. Dying the Easter eggs and having the Easter bunny come and hide eggs and baskets to be found. We were always pretty sure that it was Paul’s goal to have all his candy eaten before going to church! Its fun now watching the grandkids and being apart of their Easter time. The Easter bunny came to our apartment and left us some candy. He even hid some eggs for us to find! What a great guy he is.

We were also invited to eat today at the Taggarts (these are the folks who have been on 10 missions). They also invited the Picard’s from France and who speak pretty good english. We had a wonderful dinner. They gave us hollow chocolate eggs with a little toy inside, they were really cute.

But most importantly we celebrated our Savior’s Resurrection. The talk the Elder Holland gave at conference was so touching and powerful about Christ. This perfect plan for Salvation was certainly the ultimate sacrifice and plan of his redeeming love. We know that our Savior lives and loves each and every one of us. Our ultimate goal is to see and have His image in our countenance. He has blessed our lives in so many ways we will never be able to repay him. The greatest gift we can give is to live worthily enough to be able to return and live with Him again. We love you all dearly and you are always on our minds. Please feel our arms wrapped around you.
Love Mom & Dad / Nan & Papa / Elder y Hermana Shaw