We have now been in Madrid for over two months. It has been the fastest two months of our lives. It is so true that time flies when you're having fun. We love it here in Spain, doing what we love to do. Life is grand. We have been very very busy, and I'm sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I will attempt to catch you up on the happenings of our lives.
In way of temple news; we have a new counselor in the temple presidency. They are a wonderful Spanish couple, President and Sister Montoya. They both have such a special spirit about them. Sadly, they speak no English, and my Spanish is awful. So it will be hard for me to get to know them well. But I love them all the same. President and Sister Tenney will be going home the end of October and President Somoza will become the new President. He will need to call another counselor. I'm praying hard for an English speaking couple.
We have been very busy at the temple. However, we have been very very short of temple workers. My temple working friends at home would not believe how we manage. It is nothing short of a miracle that we are able to keep the work moving along. Every single ordinance worker who shows up is utilized to the max and there are no "do nothing" assignments. We are kept running from one thing to the next for the entire 7 to 8 hour shift, with no breaks. Everyone who is not coordinating any given day, will spend 3 to 5 hours each day in the most demanding assignment (all you temple workers know what I'm talking about.) We also do much of that assignment with 2 ordinance workers instead of the usual 3. They have really learned to make the most of the help they have. We could sure use more senior missionaries, especially Spanish or Portuguese. When we do get them, though, they will only stay for about 2 months. That is just enough time to train them, and then they are gone. They seem to somehow take our 18 month commitment to mean that we don't care about our families as much as they do.
Speaking of families, I have noticed that here in Spain the majority of people pushing buggies and strollers are grandparents. With both parents working, the child rearing seems to fall to the grandparents, so perhaps it is harder for the Spanish to serve missions. Although, I'm sure all the American missionaries here would enjoy being with their grandkids as well. Everyone speaks of how well their adult children step up to the plate to help each other out while they are gone, and the growth that occurs when that happens. We are certainly grateful for the love our children have for each other and how well they take care of one another.
Week before last was our birthdays week. We had an amazing time. We were working mornings then and we rented a car for the week. When we left the Temple at 2:00, we hopped in the car and went exploring. We visited a couple of really neat places. Alcala de Henares is only a short distance from Madrid, and is the birthplace of Cervantes (Don Quijote fame). It was such a pretty town. One interesting thing about it is that roof tops are littered with stork nests. I will be posting pictures when I get a chance.
In this picture you will see that my purse is on the ground by my foot. About 30 minutes or more later, I realized I had left my purse there. Panic set in because our passports were in there, along with our money credit cards, etc. Greg went running back to try and find it, with no hope at all. Of course it was gone. He went into the house behind us, Cervantes' home, and asked if anyone had turned it in. No one had. They suggested the bar across the street. He went in, and amazingly enough, they had it. A policeman had come past as soon as we left, picked it up and took it into the bar. I guess he figured that who ever lost it was going to need a stiff drink. We were so amazed and relieved.
This is one of the several police officers we stopped to thank for the return of my purse.
They next day we drove to another town that we were anxious to see it. It is a walled city called Avila. It was so delightful. I'll post more pictures when I get a chance to go through them all.
Then when we got off on Saturday afternoon we took off for a 3 day weekend. We drove, stopping along the way at any place that looked interesting. We visited several small villages, and then stopped for the night in a place called Burgo de Osma. It was also a walled city and very very interesting. It also happened to be a big festival day. We stayed in a great hotel that was part of the city wall, and our room faced the town square where all the festivities were taking place. It was really fun and we had a great time watching all the people of the city dancing in unison circling the square.
Then in the morning we were woken by marching bands. A little noisy, but lots of fun. We drove to Burgos by way of the National Park at Rio Lobos. It was beautiful and we had a nice hike to a church at the bottom of the canyon that was built by the Knights Templar.
Then we arrived in Burgos in time to go through the absolutely amazing Burgos Cathedral. It reminded us a lot of the Cologne Cathedral in Germany. It was designed by the same architect. The interior cannot be adequately described, but I would say that the Pope might be jealous. Hopefully some of my pictures will turn out well enough to post.
It had also been a walled city. They liked their walls in Spain.
This is the top of the cathedral from the hill behind it.
We had a marvelous time and enjoyed the company of the Hawkins, who have become close friends.
We got back to Madrid last Tuesday and went straight to work in the Temple. It was a hard week, just due to lack of help. We work hard all day and come home and crash, but it is so worth it. Then, when we get the chance, we play hard, and see as much of this beautiful country as we can. We feel incredibly blessed to be here, engaged in Temple work, making good friends and enjoying life.
