Spain 71st Week 24-30 August 2009
Another busy week in the Madrid Temple has passed. The saints from Setubal, Portugal were here in great numbers including youth. This was one of the busiest weeks and month for the Temple in the last several years. The members brought thousands of family names for baptisms, confirmations, initiatory, endowment and sealing ordinances. Most of the endowment sessions had 30-40 people in them (I know this doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you realize the rooms have 40 chairs) which was pretty amazing. The only problem was that they didn’t bring many Temple workers and our afternoon shift was hampered by a couple of Temple missionaries being sick (one couple-Brother and Sister Guillen) went home to Elche to see their own doctor and to visit with their daughter that had just arrived from Brazil. Those of us that remained were extremely busy and there would have actually been times when we would have had to shut down ordinances/sessions if it were not for the arrival of some unexpected local temple worker. It seems like almost every day there was a “miracle” in the Temple and when we recognize what had happened we stood in awe of the direct hand of the Lord in His Temple and getting the work accomplished. There were many friends again that we said goodbye to and will look forward to meeting them sometime in the future; Brother and Sister Olinda Silva (she works in the Human Resources area for the church),
Sister Sophia Silva (Tom has called her Queen Sophia and bowed to her since we have been here for the Queen of Spain), 
Brother and Sister Ferreira from the Azores, 
they come once a year for their entire vacation. They are truly an inspiration to us. 
On Monday, we took a picnic and went down to Retiro Park (similar to Central Park in NYC), ate lunch, sat in the shade of the hundreds of trees and read books; it was really a relaxing time. 
We visited the majestic lake and monument to Alfonso XII, 
he must have really been proud of his accomplishments as the monument is very expansive?
Tuesday, before our shift we went to the Open Flea/Farmer’s Market and shopped around a little. It’s crazy to see how many people they can pack into one street with the booths and all. It was a robbery just waiting to happen with people as thick as flies.
On Friday we were going to go a smaller version of running of the bulls (in Madrid).
Robert and Susan Sproul had gone the day before but told us that it was kind of a joke…there were fences up along the street, thousands of people that thought they were matadors or world record holders in the mile or drunks that made the whole affair a mess. 
So we passed on the event, he forward us two pictures so you can see how crazy it really was.
Saturday we went to the store to buy things for the Missionary “Bienvenidos/Despedidas” party that we will have on Monday evening; more will be covered next week. This is the last one that we will be in charge of as we will be leaving shortly. It really is amazing how fast time passes when you are busy!
Today we invited Scott and Lou Ceil Taggart (Scottsdale, AZ) and Fidel Silvestre (Barcelona, Spain) to dinner. The Taggart’s arrived shortly after we did (this is their 10th mission) and Brother Silvestre has been her for a month.
He is a great worker and our hats come off to him as he is here alone, his wife was baptized several years ago but is inactive at this point. He hopes that one day she will want to return to activity and then they can fulfill a mission together. We also went to listen to the weekly Missionary Choir…it is a little bit different now as they only have seven missionaries in the MTC. Five are French and two Americans. The numbers have really dwindled and will stay pretty low until next month about this time, but long range forecast has the numbers staying relatively small through the end of the year.
We are so blessed to be here in Spain, serving with wonderful missionaries and members. The gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is TRUE. The teachings will help us grow closer to God than anything else in this world. We know we are not alone in the work and that there are thousands upon thousands involved on both sides of the veil working with the Lord to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of mankind. May you all know of our deep love and appreciation for your love, support and prayers, THEY DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Love Mom & Dad / Nana & Papa / Elder y Hermana Shaw
Another busy week in the Madrid Temple has passed. The saints from Setubal, Portugal were here in great numbers including youth. This was one of the busiest weeks and month for the Temple in the last several years. The members brought thousands of family names for baptisms, confirmations, initiatory, endowment and sealing ordinances. Most of the endowment sessions had 30-40 people in them (I know this doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you realize the rooms have 40 chairs) which was pretty amazing. The only problem was that they didn’t bring many Temple workers and our afternoon shift was hampered by a couple of Temple missionaries being sick (one couple-Brother and Sister Guillen) went home to Elche to see their own doctor and to visit with their daughter that had just arrived from Brazil. Those of us that remained were extremely busy and there would have actually been times when we would have had to shut down ordinances/sessions if it were not for the arrival of some unexpected local temple worker. It seems like almost every day there was a “miracle” in the Temple and when we recognize what had happened we stood in awe of the direct hand of the Lord in His Temple and getting the work accomplished. There were many friends again that we said goodbye to and will look forward to meeting them sometime in the future; Brother and Sister Olinda Silva (she works in the Human Resources area for the church),
Sister Sophia Silva (Tom has called her Queen Sophia and bowed to her since we have been here for the Queen of Spain), Brother and Sister Ferreira from the Azores, they come once a year for their entire vacation. They are truly an inspiration to us. On Monday, we took a picnic and went down to Retiro Park (similar to Central Park in NYC), ate lunch, sat in the shade of the hundreds of trees and read books; it was really a relaxing time. We visited the majestic lake and monument to Alfonso XII, he must have really been proud of his accomplishments as the monument is very expansive?Tuesday, before our shift we went to the Open Flea/Farmer’s Market and shopped around a little. It’s crazy to see how many people they can pack into one street with the booths and all. It was a robbery just waiting to happen with people as thick as flies.
On Friday we were going to go a smaller version of running of the bulls (in Madrid).
Robert and Susan Sproul had gone the day before but told us that it was kind of a joke…there were fences up along the street, thousands of people that thought they were matadors or world record holders in the mile or drunks that made the whole affair a mess. So we passed on the event, he forward us two pictures so you can see how crazy it really was.Saturday we went to the store to buy things for the Missionary “Bienvenidos/Despedidas” party that we will have on Monday evening; more will be covered next week. This is the last one that we will be in charge of as we will be leaving shortly. It really is amazing how fast time passes when you are busy!
Today we invited Scott and Lou Ceil Taggart (Scottsdale, AZ) and Fidel Silvestre (Barcelona, Spain) to dinner. The Taggart’s arrived shortly after we did (this is their 10th mission) and Brother Silvestre has been her for a month.
He is a great worker and our hats come off to him as he is here alone, his wife was baptized several years ago but is inactive at this point. He hopes that one day she will want to return to activity and then they can fulfill a mission together. We also went to listen to the weekly Missionary Choir…it is a little bit different now as they only have seven missionaries in the MTC. Five are French and two Americans. The numbers have really dwindled and will stay pretty low until next month about this time, but long range forecast has the numbers staying relatively small through the end of the year.We are so blessed to be here in Spain, serving with wonderful missionaries and members. The gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is TRUE. The teachings will help us grow closer to God than anything else in this world. We know we are not alone in the work and that there are thousands upon thousands involved on both sides of the veil working with the Lord to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of mankind. May you all know of our deep love and appreciation for your love, support and prayers, THEY DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Love Mom & Dad / Nana & Papa / Elder y Hermana Shaw
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