Our Beginnings...in Spain

On August 23rd, after months of waiting, we were finally on our way to Barcelona to begin our service as missionaries.  Our hearts were in our chests with excitement we were ready to figure out what the Lord has in mind for us.  After a long 14-hour flight, we finally landed in the beautiful port city of Barcelona where we were met by our mission president and his wife.  

Leaving from SLC Airport...looking great before the long flight.

We were pretty jet-lagged and rather bedraggled but decided to try to make it through the day without sleep, forcing ourselves to adjust to Barcelona time.  After a quick freshing-up, we immediately left for a "new-missionary" orientation along with 30 young Sisters and Elders.  Wow, what an amazing army of righteous young people who are willing to give two years of their lives to serve.

President and Sister Dayton and ourselves standing before Spain's flag.

President Dayton is a quiet, seasoned leader who expects obedience while extending love and support.   He was a former surgeon from Buffalo, NY and at the U of U Medical Center.  He lost his first wife to breast cancer 7 years ago.  Sister Dayton is high energy, event organizer and also seasoned in service in the gospel who lost her first husband to an automobile accident 14 years ago.  They became acquainted about 4 years ago but did not seriously date until last year.  They were married and then just six weeks later they were called to preside over the Spain, Barcelona Mission watching over about 180 Elders and Sisters.

Among the Armies of Helaman!

On Friday morning we loaded our Chevy Cruz down with luggage and headed to our area.  The mission had arranged for us to stay in a quaint little hotel in the city of Le Seu d'Urgell about 2 hours northwest of Barcelona, just five kilometers outside of Andorra.  Little did they know that they would land us right in the middle of a five-day "Festival Mayor," with drum bands marching through the street just below our window, street vendors and amplified music until three in the morning.  We have been so tired each night that we have managed to sleep right through the crazies! We have found few minutes each day to explore our new community with narrow winding streets with multi-story apartments so close that they can nearly shake hands with the neighbors out their windows.

Apartments in the old part of Le Seu

My greatest challenge to this point has been language.  I am lost most of the time in a sea of sound, trying to figure out what people are saying to me in Spanish.  I have been brave enough to say ask a few broken questions and even prayed in church to today.  Yesterday Elder Fowers got himself locked in the parking garage and you should have seen me down at the front desk trying to help them understand our dilemma in my broken Spanish!

We have two great elders with us here in the branch.  Elder Culimore from Westpoint, which is next to Hooper.  He is 4.0 scholar and state pole vaulter, headed to USU with full scholarship in aerospace engineering.  He is a sharp elder and a district leader with whom we are already in sync .  His companion arrived with us, Elder Graham from Florida, just outside of Orlando, cross country runner, academic and given time will be a great missionary.

The Andorra branch covers a large area along the French border, however the bulk of the members live in three cities, Le Seu, Puigcerda and Andorra La Vella. The city of Puigcerda is on the French border and has a handful of members. Andorra La Vella is in the center of Andorra about 25 kilometers from the French border.  The branch was born there, but later moved to Le Seu.  Consequently, there are few active members and many less-active in Andorra La Vella.

On Saturday we ventured out with the Elders to Andorra.  I must say I have never seen anything like this terrain on planet earth. The mountains are steep and towering, leaving a small slice of valley only a half-mile wide in some places. We drove past many ski villages with condos of 5+ stories glued onto the mountain side.  I have not seen any ski runs yet but they all must be triple black diamond.  The scenery is breathtaking but I missed most of it just trying to keep on the narrow roads.  Yes, it could be Aspen Colorado times two.  We dropped the Elders off to make visits and we drove around looking for rental possibilities and got totally lost.  Later we helped the Elders teach a first lesson to a lady named Ellie, mother of three girls all attending the university in Barcelona.  It was a great lesson with a strong spirit, and Hermana Fowers even bore her testimony.  Ellie came to church today and we have a baptismal date with her.  This is very rare investigator because she is Espanola. She gave the most heartfelt prayer at the end of the lesson, even praying for us and our well being.  We are looking into starting a Group in Andorra leading to another branch in the long term.  However, due to traffic during the ski season and the border crossing between the countries, we have decided to find living accommodations in Le Seu.

Overlooking Andorra de Vella

This morning we attended the Andorra Branch for the first time.  It only took about five minutes to walk from our hotel through the very quiet city streets (I expect there were a few with hangovers with all the partying in the streets).  Elder Fowers meet with the past Branch President and our Stake President Hernandez to discuss the concerns and needs of the Branch. He was then sustained at the beginning of Sacrament Meeting as the branch president.  We had a lot of visitors today so there were nearly 30 people in attendance!  We haven't learned their names yet, but we could feel their sweet spirits and their kindness towards us. There is much work to be done and we can't wait to get to it!

We are living a dream. We are so blessed to be able to be part of this great work of bringing others to Christ.  We hope this finds you all well.

Mucho Amor,

Elder y Hermana Fowers