Lladró, Almansa, JAS Conference, and Segovia

We have been very busy as we have been preparing to teach our Sunday School class and we were asked to teach a class at the Young Adult Conference that was held this week.  I am very grateful that we had this opportunity.  We enjoyed teaching and we enjoyed seeing the young adults from the Islands.  What a blessing these young people are to us!

We started our busy week early on Monday morning.  We drove to Valencia to tour the Lladró factory.  I have wanted to go their for years, so I was very excited when we pulled up to the entrance of the complex and saw the Lladró sign.  They have a huge complex.  There is even an olympic-size pool in the center of the complex.  We were not allowed to take photos inside.  This porcelain company was started by three brothers, with the last name of Lladró, in 1953.  This is the only factory they have, and they ship their pieces all over the world.  They have a training school and people begin at the age of 14.  Many of the people who work there are related to the Lladrós, and everyone who works there is from Valencia, or the surrounding area.  It was fascinating to watch the the process of making these beautiful pieces.  I particularly enjoyed watching them make the beautiful, tiny flowers. I was happy to go to the seconds shop and buy a piece that I have loved for years.  It is a girl who is pushing a flower cart.  I love this piece and appreciate the flowers even more after watching the process of making them.

We walked around Valencia for a little while and saw some very unusual architecture.  Then I spent several hours going over my notes for the workshop that we were going to teach the next day.  

We did take an evening walk along the beach.

I was a little disappointed that our walk along the beach was this far from the water.  I have never seen a beach that was this deep.  My non-beach, non-sand husband had no interest in walking on the sand, so that we could get close to the water!

But we did enjoy a grilled ear of corn that was yummy with salt, oil, and lemon juice on it.  

Tuesday morning, we headed to Almansa to see the very interesting castle.  It was built in the 12th century by the Moors.  It was at a crossroads between Christian and Muslim kingdoms.  In the 13th century it was taken over by the  Christians.  

The architecture is very interesting because it is actually built out of the mountain.  The lower parts of the wall are the mountain and then stones were added.

The leaning wall was originally an outside wall that was actually part of the mountain.  

There was also, at one time, a second tower and we met a team of excavators who are working in this area. They were telling us how thrilling it is to find bits of china and bones, animal bones.

There were some very interesting architectural features. 

The King's window seat

But this spiral staircase was by far my favorite.  I liked looking at it, far better than climbing up and down it, especially going down, since there is no handrail.  

The grounds around it were beautiful, as well as the views.

We headed to Albacete, where the young adult conference was being held.  What an amazing experience we had! It started out a little rough because the air conditioning was not working in the room where we were supposed to hold our workshop.  At the last minute, they moved us down to the corner of the main lobby of the convention center.  It was a bit dark, and we were right next to the air conditioning unit, so it was a little hard to hear, but we were able to still have a good experience.  We taught twice and had about 40 people both times.  Of course, we loved having the young adults from the Islands in our class.  I taught about temporal education and Elder Larsen taught about spiritual education.  Everyone was very attentive and the participated well.  We had very good feedback afterwards, so I would call it a success.  I was also pleased that I was able to teach.  Looking back to when we were on the Island, I have made progress with my Spanish. 

Elder Larsen made a Cryptoquote that we used as part of our object lesson to start our class. Everyone worked hard trying to solve the quote.  

These great young adults from the Island were on the winning team.

I felt good about my part, and Elder Larsen did a great job as usual. 

 Here we are with Enzo and Ruth from Vecindario.

We visited some more during dinner. 

And then everyone got ready for the Hawaiian Dance.

Salim was baptized at the first of the year and Yamilka was baptized in June.  

The Larsens, Ruth, David Legna, Yamilka, Salim, and Kimberly

The next morning, we had breakfast with our kids, and then headed back to the office, where we worked two very long days, trying to get our work done for the week.  Thursday night, we enjoyed a very late dinner with the Packs.  We called it our late night, date night.  They are such great people and are so fun to be with.  We feel privileged to serve with them.  

Friday morning, we drove back to Albacete to pick up Yamilka.  That evening we were in the temple with the young adults from the Islands, doing baptisms for the dead. Click here to learn more about this beautiful ordinance.  It is always a peaceful, spiritual experience to be in the temple, but it was especially wonderful to be with our young adults.  For many of them, it was their first opportunity to be in the temple.  

While we were taking pictures, we ran into Hermana Caballero, now she is just Saray Caballero.  She finished her mission just one transfer after we got to the Islands.  It seems like she was with us for longer than that.  She is an amazing young woman.  She just started teaching at the Mission Training Center.  Those missionaries are lucky to have her as their teacher.  Her parents were also there.  It was nice to get to meet them.  We really are grateful for the opportunity to get to see so many of these people that we love so much.  

Saturday morning we drove to Segovia with Yamilka.  She is from Cuba and she has never been to the mainland of Spain.  She seemed to love Segovia as much as we do.  The location of this castle is just beautiful.  This fortification is first mentioned in 1120, but was probably no more than a wooden fort.  It was at one time used by the Romans and the Arabs.  The existing castle was later constructed and was home to many of the kings and queens of Spain, including Queen Isabella.  We love the old city and the location of the castle. 

It looks like Yamilka may have found her knight in shining armor.

A castle isn't complete without a dungeon,

and a courtyard and a moat.

I was able to add to my photo collection of beautiful ceilings.

I loved the stained glass.

The wall murals are beautiful.

             There is very pretty tile work on some of the walls.  

And the views are spectacular.

I just love this majestic building! 

Besides being known for the beautiful castle, Segovia, is also known for its Roman aqueduct, that was built in the 1st century AD.  It is made of unmortared, brick-like granite blocks.  It was still providing water to Segovia during the 19th century.  What a massive, beautiful structure!

Next we went El Escorial, which they began building in 1563.  It is a huge building complex that has a church, monastery, palace, college, and library.  They do not allow any picture taking inside the buildings, so I only have a few pictures of the outside.  It is a spectacular place.

We put Elder Larsen, our "Master Gardener," in the gardens by the hedge that they had trimmed to create these rounded mounds.  Very interesting!

Then we stopped for a bocadillo (sandwich) where we had a pretty view of the rooftops of El Escorial.  The weather was cooler than normal for August and we really enjoyed our day.

Sunday morning, we went to church.  We had to say goodbye to Hermana Bingham, 

and Hermana Staker, because they are being transferred to other areas.We have enjoyed serving with them and we will be sad to see them go.  

Then we took Yamilka to the airport our special week had come to an end.  

Multi-Miracle Marathon

I am so thankful for the Lord and for the little miracles that he provides in the my life and the people around me.  We were able to view some miracles that took place for this lady on the left, Hermana Dayton, on Monday and Tuesday that were pretty amazing.  Her story is amazing as well.  She is the mother of seven children.  On April 21, 2000, which was Good Friday, her husband, Bill Forrest, was struck and killed by a gravel truck.  In April Conference of 2010, Elder Andersen shared their story which you can read here.  About a year ago, Sister Forrest married Merrill Dayton.  Four months after they were married, he was called to be the president of the Spain Barcelona Mission, so they have only been here in Spain for a little over a month.  Her youngest son is serving a mission in Ghana. She had planned to pick him up from his mission, with one of her sons, and she thought she had everything planned out, 4 months ago.  On Friday, her son found out that they had to have a visa to enter into the country, and that they had to have a yellow fever shot, even though she had been told that they did not need one.  There was nothing she could do until Monday morning.  She found out that all of the clinics in Barcelona were booked up for shots, and that she would have to come to Madrid for a shot. She also talked to the Ghana Embassy in Madrid, because the one in Barcelona had been closed.  She rode the high speed train from Barcelona and we picked her up at the train station.  It was fascinating to hear her story of the trials and blessings that she experienced as she raised her 7 children, after the death of her husband.  Some of her children really struggled with the death of their father.  It was particularly hard for her youngest son, who was only 5 years old at the time.  He struggled with separation anxiety up until the time he went on his mission.  That is quite the story as well.  Let´s just say that many miracles fell into place and he has been able to serve as a faithful missionary and has had some amazing experiences.  Because of losing his father, he felt great compassion for the many orphans who are there in Ghana.  This is an article about major floods that took place in his area in Ghana. Because of his mom getting married while he was on his mission, it was very important to him that his mother would come and tour his mission and that he would have the same homecoming experience that his brothers and sister had.  

Sister Dayton was a little overwhelmed when she found out that things were not all in place for her flight on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m.  Her son in Arizona had to go to Houston to get his visa.  He obtained the visa, but he had problems with the ticket that she had purchased in his name, but with her credit card.  Monday night, we were at the airport from about 10:30 p.m. to midnight, trying to get the situation worked out.  The people at the Madrid airport were not able to help, but another miracle happened an they finally refunded the money for her ticket, and then let him purchase another ticket at the same price.  We were grateful for another miracle.  The next morning, we took her to the Mission Training Center, where President Lovell met her.  They have a person who helps with the vaccinations there, and that man was going to drive her to a city about an hour away, where a clinic said they could give her the shot she needed.  After waiting at the clinic and then going to the hospital nearby, she finally got her shot.  Then she met us at the Ghana Embassy, which looked anything but official.  The man who was working with us was very rude and unreasonable.  We were grateful to Elder Larsen for his ability to connect with people.  They never really connected, but he was certainly able to get the man to calm down.  Finally with much persistence and silent prayers, she got her visa. Let's just say that we were a little surprised to see the handwritten visa, but as it turned out, she did get into the country.  We got her on a plane back to Barcelona, where she arrived at 5:30, and she was on the plane at 7:00, headed to Ghana.  We got a quick email from her and she was having a wonderful time.  Truly a Multi-Miracle Marathon.  I love to see the Lord's hand at work in the lives of his children.

Wednesday, we had our office meeting and afterwards, Hermana Bingham and Hermana Olsen came to the office to help Caroline with her Chemistry.  She is grateful for Hermana Bingham's knowledge of Chemistry, since she has already graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering.

On Thursday we had District Meeting with these great missionaries!

And here we have a rather dramatic presentation of documents by Elder Barlow to Elder Daniels. Getting our residency cards when we first get to Spain, and then renewing them at the one year mark requires quite the procedure.  Elder Daniels is happy to have his official paperwork that he needs for his upcoming appointment.  

While we were at the MTC on Tuesday morning, we ran into the Dos Santos, from Las Palmas.  They were spending the week attending the temple.  So, Thursday evening, we attended a temple session with them.  I love these two people.  They love the Lord and they have spent their lives in His service.  It is always a blessing to be with them.

When we came out of the temple, we saw Hermana Irigoyen, who had served in Las Palmas.  She is such a wonderful young woman.  I was so happy to visit with her for a few minutes.  It is hard to believe that she goes home in November.  She was just starting her mission when we arrived in the Canary Islands.

I am in charge of the cedulas for our mission.  These are the baptism records that the missionaries send to me, that contain the information about the people who have been baptized.  I received a cedula this week from Hermana West.  She included a Canadian flag and a cute little note.  That really made my day!

And I was able to teach with these sweet sisters.  I always enjoy being with them.

I realized that I didn't have any pictures of Elder Schwanke and Elder Ruiz this week, so I snapped this quickly in the hallway of the church.  We have seen them a lot this week, but for some reason, no pictures.

The hermanas came over for dinner.  We had Cafe Rio sweet pork, Texas caviar, fruit, and Black Forest Cheesecake for dessert.  The fruit to the right of the watermelon is a type of cantaloupe, with green meet.  It is so strange to eat something that you expect to taste like honeydew, but it has that distinctive cantaloupe flavor.  We haven't seen much cantaloupe, so I really enjoyed it.

It was a little bit sad to all be together for what could be the last time.  Transfers are next week, and there is a possibility that one or two of these sweet hermanas could be transferred.  We are grateful for the time we have had to serve together.

Senior Couple Dinner and Temple Session

I am grateful that we are enjoying our time here in the mission.  We are very busy and time is just flying by.  It is a blessing to serve here in this beautiful country.  One thing that I love about Madrid is that there are trees everywhere.  The cities are very different here because almost everyone lives in apartments.  There are lots of multi-story buildings and lots of concrete.  But they plant trees everywhere.  I love green and I love trees and I am grateful they have so many here in Madrid.

Tuesday we had our office meeting.  Jonathon was at the office with us all day.  I had lots of jobs that he helped me with.  We have 42 missionaries coming in September.  He got a good start on putting their packets together.  Thank you Jonathon!  We also tried something new for lunch--papusas from El Salvador.  It was similar to the dough of an arape, with a meet and cheese filling cooked inside.  As you can see, we all enjoyed it!

Wednesday, Javier Benito, who is a church employee over technology, came to take a look at our phone system.  It is old, to say the least, and we have lots of problems with it.  The APs, Elder Ruiz and Elder Schwanke, use it for conference calls every Tuesday morning as they check in with all the zone leaders.  Frequently their calls will cross and they will hear each others calls.  Not a good thing! We are looking at getting a new phone system, but in the meantime, Javier was able to set up conference calling on their cell phones and they are both very grateful!

Elder Guerra spent a few days in the office with us because of a change that was made with his companion.  He has been serving on the island in Vecindario.  We enjoyed the time we spent working with him there, and it was fun to have him with us in the office for a few days.  His parents are Peruvian, but he was born in Sweden.  He speaks perfect Spanish, Swedish, and English, and a little French.  He is one of the most positive, hardworking young man I have ever met!  He also helped me with laminating and cutting some things for the 42 packets!

We had a good district meeting.  Elder Larsen went with Elder Schwanke to Leganes, and I went to our district meeting.  Our district leader, Elder Daniels, asked the companionships to share the First Vision of Joseph Smith in five minutes.  They had to tell it with their companion and they switched off every 10 seconds.  The elders went first and of course they did an amazing job.

             

The hermanas were not happy about doing it.  They said their Spanish was not good enough.  But, finally they got started and I was so impressed with them.  It was great to see them work together and I was very impressed with how well the hermanas are doing with their Spanish. 

                                  

              

Thursday, I went grocery shopping with Hermana Pack.  I just love her.  We have such a good time together.  We found some smoked ham lunch meat, and some braised turkey lunch meat in the deli at Al Campo.  It really has a good flavor.  And we managed to take a selfie at the deli counter! 

We almost had a catastrophe.  Because all of the grocery stores have underground parking, there are escalators to take the grocery carts to the other floors.  There are special wheels on the carts that magnetically lock onto the escalators.  Because we were talking, I went down both sets of escalators instead of just one.  When I figured out my mistake, we had to go back up the escalators with our grocery carts that were very full, and very heavy.  I was in front pushing my cart, and then there was her cart, and then her.  When we got to the top of the escalators, the front wheels of my basket would not go over the edge of the metal plate.  I was pushing with all my might, which isn't much, and I could not push it onto the metal plate and off of the escalator.  I was trying to get some traction, but everything was moving, including Hermana Pack and her cart.  Pretty soon I hear her saying, "Watch out! I'm coming!"  I suddenly realized that I was about to be smashed between two shopping carts. Blessings from heaven, the cart finally moved onto the plate and I was saved, literally!  I wish I had a video off it, or at least a picture.  I am sure we could have rivaled a scene on "I Love Lucy," with Lucy and Ethel.  We did have a good laugh!

Friday morning, Cody and I went to the temple with Bryan Peña.  He is headed to leeds England to serve his mission.  We were not able to get any pictures, but here is one from last May when he got his call.  Aida served in Leeds about 1 1/2 years ago.  We are so excited for Bryan.

When we got home, I fixed an Eclair Cake to take to the Packs for our senior couple dinner.  We had some delicious food.  She had bruschetta for appetizers and then lasagne, salad, bread, and cake.  It was all very delicious and the Packs served us!

                                                                    The Schwartz and the Browns

               

               The Larsens and the Guerreros

The Schwartz, Browns, and Bakes

We had a wonderful evening as everyone shared some of their missionary experiences.  The Schwartz and the Guerreros are serving Record Preservation missions.  The Bakes are doing Self-Reliance.  The Browns are serving in the North in Gijon and they are working with the young single adults and as support to the small branch.  Though our assignments are all very different, we all have one very important thing in common, we love the Lord and we are happy to be here in Spain serving Him.  That is the most important thing.

Elder Ruiz and Elder Schwanke arrived just as we were about to close with prayer.  President Pack asked if they had a musical number for us.  Elder Schwanke didn't have his ukulele with him, so we were able to persuade Elder Ruiz to play for us.  He played a beautiful arrangement of "Come Thou Fount," which happens to be my favorite hymn.  I was so grateful that he was willing to share his talent with us.

                                                     Come thou fount of every blessing,

                                                     Tune thy heart to sing thy grace.

                                                     Streams of mercy never ceasing,

                                                     Call for songs of loudest praise.

                                                     Teach me some melodious sonnet,

                                                     Sung by flaming tongues above.

                                                     Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it,

                                                     Mount of thy redeeming love,

       

                                                     Here I raise my Ebenezer,

                                                     Hither by thy help I come.

                                                     And I hope by thy good pleasure, 

                                                     Safely to arrive at home.

                                                     Jesus sought me when a stranger,

                                                     Wondering from the fold of God.

                                                     He to rescue me from danger, 

                                                     Interposed his precious blood.

                                                     Oh, to grace how great a debtor,

                                                     Daily I'm constrained to be.

                                                     Let thy goodness like a fetter,

                                                     Bind my wandering heart to thee.

                                                     Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,

                                                     Prone to leave the God I love.

                                                     Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it,

                                                     Seal it for thy courts above.

I loved these last lines because my heart is "prone to wander," and I want to "seal" my heart to the Lord that I might be with Him in His "courts above."

Saturday morning, we attended a temple session with the senior couples and the Packs.  It was wonderful to be in the temple with these good people.  Then we spent the afternoon with the youth from the Las Palmas stake.  They had attended youth conference during the week, and then were at the temple to do baptisms for the dead.  Click here to read a simple explanation about this ordinance.

I was sad that we didn't get any pictures of these wonderful youth.  

Sunday, Elder Larsen and I started teaching a Marriage and Family Relationship Class for Sunday School.  I have taught this course many times, but in English.  It was a very daunting experience to teach in Spanish.  I had studied and practiced all week and I felt like it went pretty well.  Of course, Elder Larsen did a wonderful job, as usual.  

I had gone to the American Store with Hermana Pack and I bought this little treat for the hermanas. These packages were so tiny, and they were 1.50 euros or $1.65.  They must know that there are crazy Americans like me who will buy them.  It was worth it to see how excited the hermanas were.

We had the Elders for dinner.  Elder Guerra was very happy that his flight back to the Islands wasn't until later that day, and he was able to come and eat with us.  We had a repeat of last weeks meal, chicken bundles, rice, gravy, salad, fruit, with scotcheroos for dessert.  Chicken Bundles, which Elder Daniels calls Chicken Rollups, is his favorite dish at home, so he was particularly happy!

 Elder Schwanke and Elder Ruiz with happy smiles.

My favorite part of having them come to dinner is having them sing.  I actually recorded them last week, but I need a refresher course on how to upload the video.  Maybe next week.  Their voices are beautiful, and I feel blessed to have them fill our home with music.