Segovia by Night

This week I am grateful for the good people that we have met while living here in Spain.  We are so grateful for the friendship of Jonathon and Gaby.  They were two of our JAS on the Island and now they are a married couple.  We are so proud of these two and the love they have for the Lord and the desire they have to serve Him. It was fun to have them with us.

Monday morning Jonathon and Gaby started out early to get Gaby's passport papers taken care of. There was a little bit of a chill and the air, and that was too much for these islanders. Gaby started out the day thinking that it would be so fun to live in Madrid.  When  they returned in the evening, there was no talk of wanting live in Madrid.  They hated the metro (subway), they hated the hustle and bustle of the crowds, and they hated the brusqueness of the people.  They were happy that they would be heading back to the Islands on Tuesday morning.  

We were at the office for a few hours on Monday, and we celebrated Elder Weiss's birthday with a big batch of mint brownies.

We decided to go to Foster's Hollywood again.  I had my usual avocado eggrolls, Gaby had steak tacos, and the men enjoyed large, juicy hamburgers.  Gaby was in charge of the selfie.

Afterwards, we drove by the temple.  They had hoped to see it during the day, but some of their metro problems kept them from getting to the temple.  They were very happy to see it, and it is so beautiful at night.

Tuesday, we had office meeting.  I decided to make taco soup for our after meeting meal.  The missionaries were very appreciative of the simple meal.  And Hermana Pack baked a cake for Elder Weiss's birthday, so he got a second day of celebration!

And afterward, Hermana Pack and I started planning for upcoming events.  It seems there is always something else on the calendar.  We appreciate the Packs and their service.  They work hard and sacrifice so much to serve this mission.

Here we have our financieros sorting and counting the petty cash, not their favorite activity.  

Because the weather has turned a little chilly at night, we have heard from missionaries that they need blankets in their apartments.  We found out that we had about a dozen blankets in Segovia.  They needed to be picked up so that we could distribute them to the other missionaries.  So we volunteered to go pick them up.  We have been to Segovia several times, but we had not been to Segovia at night when we could see the cathedral, the aqueduct, and the alcazar lit up.  We were not disappointed.  We got the blankets and we saw the lights.

And we had some roasted chestnuts.  It was the first time I ever had them.  I was surprised that they taste starchy like a potato and not like a nut.  Elder Larsen reminisced about when he was a young missionary and they would buy the chestnuts so that they could keep their hands warm.  

On Saturday, I rode to Leganes with the Packs.  Pres. Pack was doing interviews and we enjoyed the time we had to visit with these two good missionaries.  They are very different in size, but their hearts are united in serving the Lord.  

 Elder Alacama and Elder Douglas

After the interviews, we drove over to the new Costco.  They have had one in the Sevilla for about a year, and now there is one in Madrid.  It was actually the opening day, and there were hundreds of people there.  We only had about an hour, and there was not enough time for us to purchase anything and stand in the very long lines to pay.  So, Pres. Pack stood in line to get some pizza and Hermana Pack and I went through the store to see what they had.  We will be going back next week, so I will share more about the wonderful products they carry.  We all enjoyed a little piece of home!

 

We were impressed with the store, but we were even more impressed with the parking lot.  Just look at this space.  This is an American parking lot in Spain!

       

We were back on our Sunday eating schedule with these good elders and Jonathon.  We had chicken bundles, rice and gravy, salad, and apple cake.  It is such a pleasure to work with these good elders.

I have given this statement much thought this week.  I feel like as missionaries we are all seeing this happen on a daily basis.  It doesn't matter if we are a senior couple missionary, or if we are one of these fine young missionaries.  We each have times when we feel inadequate and we don't feel like we have what it takes to do what needs to be done.  But, what a blessing it is to know that God is there for us.  We can turn to Him.  He will make more of us than we ever imagined.