This has been another great and interesting week. We are loving our work here in Madrid, and growing our relationship with people here. Last Monday a group of us missionaries took a train trip to the interesting city of Salamanca. It has one of the oldest universities in the world, established in the 1100s. There is an amazing cathedral there that was built in 1112, and added to for the next 400 years. There is a huge plaza surrounded by incredible architecture. There is also an old Roman aqueduct/bridge still in use. I will be posting pictures.
We enjoyed our visit there, as well as the train ride. We were able to see the country side for over 2 hours each way. It does not have the beauty of England and Germany. It was very brown and rocky most of the way. There were a lot of olive trees, though, and other vegetation. We also passed a walled city named Avila, that looked very interesting. We plan to return for a visit another time.
On another outing we took a very enjoyable walk through a really beautiful park. One of the interesting things about it is it is only open to the public two days a week, and you must wait in a line to get in. They control how many people may be in the park at any given time. It does make for a very nice walk that is not too crowded. When we left, there had to be about 200 people in line waiting to get in. We were very popular for leaving. I will be posting pictures.
We had one sad thing happen this week. The Payas (counselor in the Temple Presidency) had to go home. They live in Cannes, France. They had a family emergency and it was necessary for them to leave immediately. Since they were set to go home in about two months it was decided to release them. I was surprised how sad I felt at their leaving. I had only known them a month, but loved them so much and had such great respect for them.
We had a great week in the temple, which is what we are here for, after all. Greg and I have been being trained in various capacities, and I have discovered what poor concentration I have. Greg was able to use Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian and English all on the same day!
I also learned something else about myself. I have had a few instances in my life when I was not able to control my laughter, but this week I had THE MOST inappropriate uncontrolled laughter ever. I have grown extremely fond of a particular single sister missionary here that has a wonderful since of humor. She is the shortest missionary that I pictured with the tallest missionary on an earlier post. Anyway, the two of us were working together when a woman's name was entrusted to us. It was necessary for us to say her name out loud. We just glanced at each other and neither of us could keep a straight face. We started to laugh, and the harder we tried to control it, the more out of control we got. I finally had to leave the area and send in another worker to take care of her. She was in there for just a few seconds and started laughing herself and came out. She had to get a worker who didn't speak English to finish the work. But before long even the women who didn't speak English were laughing and had no idea what was so funny. I have decided that if I ever get another name like that I won't even attempt it, but will just hand it off to someone else. Later, my darling friend told me about an even worse situation. After telling me about it, I had to agree, and felt much better about myself.
Today we went to the police station with the church official to get fingerprinted and apply for our Spanish residency cards. Many years ago I needed to be fingerprinted and no one was ever able to print me. I just don't have fingerprints. They now have much more advanced ways to print people, but the police officer still had a hard time printing me. Luckily after several attempts on different fingers I finally passed, but it gave me a few stressful minutes. As we were waiting in line at the station we learned that the Church official who took us is a glider pilot. He invited me to go soaring. Greg was invited as well, but he said he would watch from the ground. I'm excited.
Well, we are doing very well. We are healthy, definitely happy, and enjoying our time in Madrid. Our work here is so important, and very rewarding. I can't begin to tell you what it is like to spend about 40 hours a week walking on sacred ground. Every day in the temple my testimony grows. I can feel the love of God so strongly. The peace is indescribable and the joy is profound. We are so grateful to be a part of this work. We love our family, and miss you all very much. We pray for you daily, and think of you all the time. Please let us know how you are all doing. Don't let the munchkins forget us.
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