We have just had another fantastic week in Madrid, Spain. The weather has been really hot and dry; I don’t think we have had measureable rain in three months. Although we had some missionaries that went to Toledo last weekend and their car was nearly washed off the road with mud, rocks and other debris from heavy rain, hail and flooding. It never even scared Madrid, they said on the way back they measured the hail to be about 4” deep in spots…I guess we’re glad we didn’t have that here!
This week in the Temple we had the stake of Granada (south and east of Madrid). They brought many workers and people and it was a really busy week. Also, the Ramos’s (former Temple Missionaries) came and worked all week. It was really good to see them again and to hear about their family and how life is following a mission. It’s very gratifying to see the locals take charge and run the various responsibilities of the Temple. If they only were here a little more often it would relieve the tremendous pressure to the everyday Temple Missionaries, but eventually that will come. Saturday was the busiest day with all ordinances operating at maximum capacity for most of the day.
On Monday we were able to go downtown and finish up some shopping, we grabbed a quick bite to eat then returned to the apartment and prepared for the coming week. We have been assigned to the morning shift three weeks in a row (this was our second week) and with this being the “vacation month” for the Europeans we have been put in the leadership role almost every day.
On Thursday, we waited for Sister Elisa Monteiro (Portugal) to finish up at the Temple and ate dinner with her.
She was quite a bit later than she thought she would be so it was a late supper.On Friday, we invited Veronica Puig (Valencia) to dinner and we went to a local restaurant “Foster’s Hollywood” at the La Rosa Mall.
They food was great and we had an enjoyable evening. This was also the last working day for Elder David and Sister Eleanor Rust (Vernal, Utah) 
and Sister Lorraine Linares (Kearns, Utah) in the Temple. 
We will now be on our own for music at our preparation meeting as they are two organ players that we have had. They have all been wonderful friends and would go out of their way to make anyone happy. They will be greatly missed.Following Saturday’s shift we were invited by President Rogelio and Sister Olaya Parra to go to lunch at his favorite fast food restaurant “Burger King” – they eat there at least twice a week and he loves the Crispy Chicken, so we all had that to celebrate the day.
The sandwich is really good. It was fun to talk with them and to hear of the eight years they have spent as counselors in the Madrid Temple Presidency. These are the ones that we think Miles knows from San Fernando. They informed us that they had just spoken with President F. Burton Howard and that he is going in to have his other hip replaced on the 20th of August.We also had the weekly movie at our place, we all wanted a laugh so we watched “The Return of the Pink Panther” we laughed and laughed (shows how hard up we are-we are very easily entertained)! The treats were good and we had a great time with our friends.
Today, Sunday, we had the opportunity of speaking at the MTC. There are about 20 missionaries there now, but numbers will soon be dropping as they will be leaving for their fields of labor and there are only a few in the pipeline to replace them. The spirit is always very strong there and you can feel the love that the missionaries have for the Lord. It really is amazing how much these young men and women are blessed and helped in learning a new language, in six short weeks they learn so much and are able to converse (so they can be understood) out on the street.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is TRUE, God lives and Jesus is the Christ! We love our mission and the time is slipping by much too fast. We pray that we might have, in some small way, done what we should have done while serving here.
We love the people, the culture and traditions. There are so many people that we owe so much to that we could never repay them all. We look forward to again seeing our family in person and feeling of their love. We are engaged in the work of the Lord and we stand ready, able and willing to do the things that He would ask of us at any time. Take good care of yourselves, thanks to each of you for your love, support and prayers.Love Mom & Dad / Nan & Papa / Elder y Hermana Shaw
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