We have had an eventful week. Tom had already done the blog last Sunday night before we were able to go to a Fireside at the MTC. He did mention that Steve Allen who is the managing director of the Missionary Department and his daughter Teresa came here for four days.
We knew Steve because he had lived in our stake and he took Tom’s position when he was released from the Stake Presidency. Teresa was our Jeff’s age and went to Granger High School. He was the speaker at the fireside and he gave a great talk. He trained the rest of the time until they left on Thursday. Teresa came over to visit and brought her computer with her. She has been compiling a lot of pictures for her Dad’s history and shared some of them with us. Some were when they were building the Stake Center building in the Taylorsville North Central Stake. There was a picture of Tom with Presidents Luker and Emery when Tom still had brown hair! .jpg)
They also had pictures of a youth conference that we had been asked to participate in, which we were divided up in families so we were parents of a group of kids. 
It was like a wilderness youth conference and we still looked pretty young then! It didn’t seem like that long ago!On Monday the MTC President invited us to come and eat lunch with the Allen’s so we could chat some more. It was great to see them.
Tuesday started our week at the Temple and it was a great and busy week. A Stake from Elche came and they brought a lot of people and Temple workers with them. They trained a lot of new Temple workers from that area. We think that President Moore is trying to get more workers who can be trained before all of the American couples are gone. Many people who came had family names to do the work for and were anxiously engaged in getting it done. We have met so many wonderful people in the Temple, both workers and patrons. Many are so loving and kind and even though I still can’t communicate so well somehow we make do!
Saturday as I left the Temple there was a pleasant surprise by the Hostal door. There is a girl (Urselina) we got to know from the ward who speaks very good English and we had the opportunity to get acquainted with. She has had many health problems pretty much all of her
life. One thing she dealt with was throat cancer, in which she had lots of treatments and surgeries. She had a boyfriend (Chris) who was from England who lived in Denmark and when he would come to visit we got to know him a little bit. She became pregnant and found out she was having twin boys (Adam & Lucas). She is thirty six years old, which I would have never guessed. They were concerned for her health but she did okay in the pregnancy. A couple of months before she was due she and her then husband went to A’Coruna where her family lives. She started into labor at eight months and they tried to stop the contractions without success. So they needed to do a “C” section. Both boys weighed seven pounds and were healthy. I talked her into coming up to our apartment to have a sandwich, so that I could get a hold those babies! They were so soft and sweet. 
We missed that special new baby time with Maddie and Phoebe. I closed my eyes a few times and could almost feel like I was holding them. I even got to change a diaper and feed one of them, it was heaven. The babies are nine weeks old now. We were so grateful that she gave us the chance to be with them, having felt a little cheated with our own grandchildren. She had told her husband Chris that he could go have some space with some of his buddy’s so she had a lot of free time.Today we were invited to eat dinner at the Rust’s. They had invited us, the Lunt’s and Sister Linares. It was great.
We had been on trips with all of them at one time or another during our breaks. They are all great friends and the five of them came together two months before us. We are really going to miss them all. The Lunt’s leave next Saturday and the rest of them leave on August thirteenth. We have especially done many things with the Lunt’s, and I will lose my shopping buddy! We love all of them and are so grateful that we were privileged to serve with them.We love you all with all of our hearts and thank you for your support. What an opportunity we have been having serving in the House of the Lord. Temple work is so important and key to our church. Please know how much we care and love you. Love Mom & Dad / Nana & Papa / Elder y Hermana Shaw
The closest thing that I can think in comparison would be Yankee Stadium. Real Madrid started its playing days in 1902 and has won literally hundreds of cups, ribbons, trophies and much more throughout the world. They have “official” fan clubs in over 75 countries, their team logo 
and uniforms are one of the most sought after collector’s items. The stadium itself has grown to where it nowadays holds 80,000 fans for soccer games. The field was built just for soccer, consequently the upper seats are much like the Energy Solutions building…
are almost straight up and down which means that everyone thinks they are right on top of the game. 
They were replacing the water trickle system and the grass on the field, so it was just dirt, but you can see that it is a beautiful place and original stadium is almost 50 years old.
If you look closely the floor of their area is hardwood and concrete throughout the rest of the stadium. They have their own private dining room and I’m sure wonderful dinners are served there!
Some of the trophies are huge and wouldn’t fit in my living room. 
Ronaldo just signed with Real Madrid and they had 50,000 people show up for his introduction and press conference. 
Boy, oh boy, do they love and take their soccer serious here! And to think that Real Madrid is not the “national” team that recently won the European Cup.
Linda is from Venezuela and has eaten here a few times before (lived in Venezuela and we actually ate in her home several years ago when we were picking up Scott), Barbara and Everley are from Brasil. Barbara teaches our Gospel Doctrine class and Everley is involved in many other activities. She is going to BYU next year to study in the English Language Study course. We had a great dinner and everyone ate too much. They are such fun girls and wished that they had a better selection of younger, faithful men here in Spain.
We love serving in the Temple and the blessings that it has brought to us and our families. We know we are engaged in the work of the latter days and that there is much more that we need to do to be prepared. 
However, we know God lives and Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer and we will try and do all we can to merit returning to His presence, we have the same hope and prayer for each of you. We love you with all of our hearts.
We see Karen once a week at the Temple but really didn’t know them too well. They asked if all the American Temple Missionaries could come to their home for a 4th of July party. They actually live in a big home with a big yard and a swimming pool. 
Tough duty right? They said that they think here that all Americans live in big homes with swimming pools so that’s what they arrange for them here in Spain. You could tell that Karen loves to entertain. They supplied all of the food and wouldn’t let us bring anything. Come to find out the 4th of July is her favorite holiday and so she had all kinds of decorations and party décor. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed just relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere.
They actually had grass which isn’t to big around here, even in the parks there are a lot of bushes, trees, and flowers - but no grass. It took about an hour and a half to get there but was well worth the trip.
We consider ourselves very blessed as well as our family. We know that God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ care for all of us and know us. We are so grateful for the plan of salvation for the opportunity, if we live worthily; we can return and be with them again. We love you all Love Elder and Sister Shaw / Mom and Dad / Nana and Papa
the Prado Museum 
and some souvenir shops to give them a taste of Madrid. Tom was anxious to try Paella, but we made him suffer with some home cooking and McDonald’s. We stayed awake until quite late talking about our families and some of the things that we would be seeing in Valencia.
We then went to the seconds store and purchased a couple of figurines (these are not the ones we purchased, but are my favorites). We returned to the hotel and headed for the ‘City of Arts and Science.’ 
We walked around this area and were amazed at how
this ultra modern city was constructed in the middle of this two thousand year old city.
Hemispheric building and watched the IMAX production of “The World Beneath.” They gave us this ultra modern hearing apparatus that we put on to enable us to hear in our own language
(this picture is Tom’s last conscious moment before he fell asleep). Of course, a few minutes later we looked at Jo and she was also checking her eyelids for leaks, they missed all of the secrets of the underwater universe. When the lights came on they both sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out where they were and what on earth did they have on their heads? We continued to use this ‘blackout’ episode as blackmail for the next few days as only little brothers can do. After this, we jumped back on the tour bus and saw the remainder of the city. 
We reboarded the train and returned to Madrid and to our apartment.
and went on both of their routes (Historic Madrid & New Madrid). 
We saw many beautiful sights, buildings, museums and some interesting people. 
We spent time in the Plaza Mayor and Sol and visited many of the local stores. We went to Las Ventas Bullfighting Ring (built 1929) and got them tickets for that night’s bullfight. 
They had some wonderful seats and really enjoyed the event. They were seated in ‘sun’ seats, but the weather was a bit overcast so they have the benefit of ‘shade’ seats. One of the bulls was declared ‘unworthy’ of the matador and they tried to get him out of the ring….of course he was not interested in leaving so they brought in a few cows to coerce him to leave-eventually he followed them out of the ring and they were able to get on with another bull. The last fight had another ‘near miss’ for the bull. He upended the matador, tore his pants, tore off his little shoes, but the matador came back and was able to finish him off. They made this trip by themselves and were proud of their mastery of the Metro.
There we took a little train tour of the city and saw many beautiful buildings, bridges, castles
and sights. This city dates back several centuries and is a beautiful city; it is surrounded by water on three sides and you either have to walk up or down…there are no level places here. It is also the city of the artist El Greco. The cathedral, with 22 chapels is one of the largest in the Christian world and its tower rises high above the city.
Inside are several of the cardinal’s robes (they are so thick you think they could be carpets). The city is also famous for its steel (knives, etc) and inlaid gold plate designs.
Having been gone for two + weeks really makes you miss the spirit that is ever present! During the preceding two weeks we saw many gigantic and beautiful buildings, castles, cathedrals, etc, but we can honestly say that nothing compares to the pure, simple-yet elegant Temple. “Holiness to the Lord” immediately came into our minds and hearts and there is no doubt that this is the house of the Lord!
The setting was beautiful; the performers outstanding, the costumes elegant and the company
better! We all enjoyed ourselves and got a little flavor of both the Flamenco and National dances. 
Wednesday, Jo & Tom visited the Royal Palace; 
watched a small version of the ‘changing of the guard’ and visited about 28 of the 2,800 (that’s correct 2,800) rooms. I think they say this is the largest palace in all of Europe. The King and Queen no longer live there but it is still used for formal functions. They then visited the Armory where they saw some armor, etc that was used several centuries ago. Sharon and I again had the privilege of serving in the Temple! What a joy! After we finished our session in the Temple we walked down the street with Jo & Tom and ate Chinese food.
It is really impressive as there is no mortar used to keep the stones in place. At its highest point it stands about 85 feet tall, we climbed to the top and looked over and surprisingly the trough that carried the water was only about 10” wide and 12” deep-at least it stopped them from having to hand carry water from one side of the city to the other side. It truly is a magnificent engineering feat! We also toured the Alcazar (castle) of Segovia.
It was used in the filming of Camelot, it also was built without mortar. It has been a castle, prison and a military artillery school.
We returned from Segovia and stopped at Foster’s Hollywood and ate a wonderful dinner.
and the Sanchez's-son serving mission in Madrid, Spain- 
(both have been here 6 times sinces we arrived). They are the salt of the earth and some of the most faithful people that we have ever met. We took some pictures, cried and said good-bye. We look forward to seeing them again whether in this life or in the hereafter.
