Antiquity...

Dear Friends and Family,

We continue to feel the mantle of our calling.  We have been tasked by both the mission president and the Lleida stake president to re-establish a formally-recognized group of the church in the city of Andorra La Vella. This is the capital city in Andorra an isolated country located between France and Spain which is the size of Cache Valley. After a morning prayer to find an adequate place, we drove to Andorra, went to a local property rental business.  At first they did not have anything available, but then the lady said wait.  She checked and found that their next neighbor was moving at the end of the month.  She showed us this three room office space which is exactly what we needed at a very affordable price. Inside of 30 minutes we located the perfect place. I sent info and pictures to the stake president which he forwarded to the area offices in Germany.  We could have approval as soon as this coming week. We believe it will be such a blessing to re establish a group here after being absent from this country for more than 8 years.

Future Andorra Meetinghouse

We found some time on our prep day to do some exploring of antiquity that is so evident in our little village.  In the 11^th century a church was built at the convergence of two rivers, Segre and Gran Vilira, during the beginnings of Le Seu d’Urgell.  Believe it or not, that old church still stands.  Over the centuries it has been expanded through many different iterations to become a massive courtyard including Romanesque pillars with gargoyles.  The main cathedral, Santa Maria de Urgell was built in the 15^th century.  It is mind-bending to see the majesty and advanced engineering and architecture of these old churches.  Though they are still functioning churches with services held every Sunday, they are mostly empty.  During time of the dictatorship of Franco in the early 20^th century, he maliciously suppressed worship, so most Spaniards don’t believe in any religion.

Saint Maria de Urgell, Heart of Le Seu

St. Michaels Church, Standing after 1000 Years

One evening, just at sunset after a long day of work, we decided to take a quick trip to ARFA, which is only 3 miles down the road from the farmhouse.  There again, in the very center of the village, stands an ancient church that was constructed about the early 900’s.  Beyond that these early Spaniards build an arched bridge across the Segre River.  It stood from about 1200 until it was damaged in a flood in 1982.  It has since been reconstructed to its original form.  The antiquities of the structures are truly amazing.

Sunset over ARFA

ARFA Church...Build 900 AD

Bridge Over River Segre

Elder Fowers still has a lot of farm boy left in him even though he left the farm nearly 30 years ago.  He really get a kick out of getting up once in a while at 6:00 a.m. to milk.  Farmer Juan thinks its great that this old, missionary neighbor of his volunteers to help. Nothing better than FRESH milk!

Leche Fresca

One more sweet story to share... a couple of weeks ago we dropped in a sweet couple in our branch that we don't see often.  He has many physical and visual disabilities, the most serious of which is a frozen hip which makes sitting nearly impossible. They have struggled to find acceptance in the community both in and out of the church.  What they need most is kindness.  Pere showed me his intricate, hand-made paper boxes and I made a fuss over them.  When we returned this week for a visit, he presented me with this box.  It must have taken many, many hours, especially with his visual limitations--truly a gift from the heart.  I will treasure it!

Pere's Folded Paper Box

We feel and appreciate your prayers.  We know we are being guided in the work of our Savior and his church.  We know it is His true church on the earth.  We rejoice daily in our service to the Lord.

Love and Prayers from Le Seu,

Elder and Hermana Fowers

Andorra Branch...The Building Begins

Hola Nuestras Familias y Amigos,

Keeping with an important family tradition of "Elder" care, initiated by the Richards missionary sisters, we started our first weekly pancake breakfast this past Monday for our beloved Andorra Elders.  Even without maple syrup, I managed to make and they handily consumed mountains of pancakes.  They were over the moon when we served them with fresh, cold milk from the cow that Elder had milked that morning.  They work so hard and we love them.  I am always moved to be with them during gospel lessons.  They teach with great power and spirit. 

Monday Pancakes Elders Graham and Cullimore

After breakfast they stayed to help us prepare for first Andorra Branch activity at the Farmhouse.  Elder Cullimore spent a couple of hours knocking down weeds, while Elder Graham and I made a table out of an old wooden gate and some wooden pallets. What made it ever more challenging is that we had just a few broken hand tools.  After much perseverance we were able to bet it made.

Rudimentary Carpentry by Hermana Fowers and Elder Graham

Tuesday evening, nearly everyone of our branch members along with a few friends, gathered for a bar-b-que potluck.  They arrived about 6:30 and didn't even begin to leave until about 10:00.  They are mostly South Americans that have immigrated to Spain and they so enjoyed the evening of socializing.  The grill was going all night and we could feel the unity build among the members as they laughed and talked together.  We are hoping that the well know phrase, " Mi Casa es Su Casa", becomes a reality as the come often to rejoice together.

First Branch Gathering at the Farmhouse

Members and their friends enjoying the covered patio.

Elder Fowers is still in farm heaven.  Wednesday, we heard an early morning tractor start up just outside our window. They were chopping out the field of corn that borders our house.  Before you could blink, he was out the door with his camera to take pictures to send home.  I have to admit the smell of freshly chopped corn brings a ton of memories of our farm days.

Corn chopper and truck, with our farmhouse in the background.

Thursday, the young Elders were away for a training, so we ventured out to Andorra on our own.  As beautiful as it is, it is more than scary to drive there.  With so little land, they have narrow, winding streets between multi-story buildings that wind up through the mountains and of course all the signs are in Catalan.  We drove around for nearly and hour lost...without functioning cell phones!  After much consternation we were able to find Bro. Hector who acted as our navigator for the rest of the day.  We went searching for menos activos (less active) members who stopped participating in church when the branch was moved from Andorra to Le Seu.  We were able to find Sister Maria Teresa!  What a dear elderly Spanish saint!  Even though they moved the branch many years ago, she has remained strong in her faith and dedicated to her personal worship and scripture study even though there is not a unit of the church there.  She was brought to tears when we explained that we needed her help to reestablish an "official" group there once again.  We are systematically finding "lost sheep" that we hope to pull into a group.  We then went to meet Jose, and elderly gentlemen who slowly lost his faith during his religious isolation, but Emily, a new member who joined us on the visit, bore a powerful testimony. We were humbled by her pure, determined faith.

Friday we drove to Barcelona at attend a mission-wide training under the direction of Elder W. Craig Zwick of the Seventies.  We were well rewarded for our efforts, spending the day immersed in the things of the spirit.  The training presented nearly totally in Spanish and I was able to track the major concepts presented...a tender mercy. I am beginning to see the promised gift of tongues in my life.  Elder Zwick was so powerful and concise in his instruction, helping us understand how simple the gospel of Jesus Christ really can be.  We often make it way to complicated when we teach. He taught us to keep it simple and intensify your message with powerful testimony.  

Elder Craig Zwick at Mission Training

Elder Bledsoe, an Elder from our home ward.

Finally at the end of a long day we took a moment to consider how blessed we are to be here in Spain, doing His great work, as we watched the sun set over the Pyrenees. We feel our Heavenly Father guiding the work as we try to build this little group of members into Saints who are motivated by their love Him.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!  Without all of your love and support we know we couldn't be here.

Mucho Amor,

Elder Y Hermana Fowers

Evening View from our Rock Wall

Settling into the Farmhouse

Hola desde la ciudad bonita de Le Seu d’Urgell, España…

Our week was filled with a lot of travel to different parts of the mission with house projects squeezed in between. 

Last Sunday was Elder Fowers’ first week as Branch President in the tiny Branch of Andorra (Rama de Andorra).  When we started the meeting there were exactly 7 members plus the missionaries in attendance.  Throughout the meeting they trickled in until we had about 18 members.  There are three foundational families in the ward, which are both from Bolivia.  We have a handful of members with callings, but there is much work to be done.  We are still trying to get accurate branch records so we can systematically visit all the less active (menos activos) and find out if they still live in Le Seu.  After the meeting they held a little “Break the Fast” to welcome us into the Ward along with Elder Graham who came to Andorra the same day we did.   One sweet sister, Caroly, made us a charming cake to celebrate the occasion even inscribed our names on it.

Welcome to Andorra Branch

Immediately following our Sunday meetings about 4:00 p.m. we began our very long trek to Bilbao.  It is a port city along the Atlantic coast about 585 km from our house.  We drove through the most beautiful cornfields and vineyards that stretched for miles and miles.  It was a stunning site to see the sun set over the fields as we traversed Northern Spain. 

Lush Farmland of Northern Spain

Sunset

We were invited to attend the Sisters’ Conference for the sister missionaries where Sister Fowers was asked to speak.  Thank heavens it was in English!  Elder L. Tom Perry’s wife was the keynote speaker.  Sister Perry is the sister of our mission president, a tiny little lady of 84 years and gave a wonderful talk.

Enjoying time with Sister Perry

Amazing Hermanas

  We finalized the deal with the farmhouse and are getting moved in and settled.  We have come to realize it is a really old house/barn.   Ever since we moved in the owners have been here nearly everyday fixing one thing or another.  In the basement there is an open pit well with a submersible pump, which supplies our water. The system was not grounded which kept us in the dark and without water for two days. After fixing that problem, the owners came to install some additional kitchen cabinets, and while drilling into the wall ruptured radiant heating line that supplies the radiators throughout the house.  What a mess.  We do love our quaint little house.  It feels so much like a country farmstead home from the 1920’s.  We enjoy the smells of country…fresh cut hay and even the cows who solemnly march by our home every morning and night going to and from the milking barn and the nearby lush rolling pastures.  Elder Fowers really thinks he has died and gone to heaven.

Evening Walk to Pasture, Our Farmhouse in the Background

Elder Fowers has already made friends with the owner of these dairy cows.  Juan and his wife Carmen milk about 34 cows daily in an eight-on-a-side herringbone milk barn.  They have two older daughters who like to show their purebred Holsteins but leave the milking to mom and dad and a helper named Karem. He is a Muslim from Morocco and told us that there are no prophets after Mohammad.   Juan invited Elder Fowers to help with the milking. So he purchased some milking boots at the local store and on Saturday he joined them at 6:00 am.  He wore his missionary badge, which led to great gospel conversations.  What better way to share the gospel than to have your sleeves rolled up washing an udder?  Juan is about ten years younger than Elder and was very interested in the church, asking a lot questions. Elder Fowers came home with a picture of fresh milk!  We returned this evening and met their daughter.  She told us she was very Christian and wanted us to teach her about our church.  Honestly, we did not ask her, she asked us to be taught.  That is so rare here in this deep Spanish Catholic people. We plan to build on this relationship with our new-found dairy farmer family who have lived here on this farmstead for four or more generations.

Getting Acquainted with the Neighbors

We have the blessing of driving to Andorra again on Tuesday evening for a famiy home evening with a dear family from….  Cecilia and her sister Emily are members of our branch but can’t attend very often, because of the difficulty of the border crossing.  It is always so congested with traffic that it takes their entire Sabbath to come to church.  Apparently during the winter months when half of Europe comes to Andorra to ski, it is nearly impossible to cross the border.  We have started earnest efforts to begin an authorized “group” of the church up there and try to revitalize the faith the lost Saints in that area.

Andorra Branch is like a three-legged stool.  The first corner of the branch is Le Seu d’ Urgell where most of the active members live and where the chapel is located.  It is about 120 kilometers northwest of Barcelona just 10 kilometers from the Andorra.  The second little pocket of members are in Andorra where we visit at least once a week with just a handful of known members, but many others that are lingering on the records.  Finally, Puigcerda is a little nucleus of a couple of “menos activos” with a few investigators. We take the missionaries to teach at least once a week there.  It is a beautiful Spain villages tucked in the foothills right on the French border about 50 kilometers east of Le Seu. The other challenge is the isolation of the Branch generally.  The center of the Lleida stake is located 2+ hours drive south so these fledgling groups gets little exposure to the full, rich programs of the church. If the missionaries are able to teach and baptize someone in these isolated villages, the likelihood of them remaining strong and active is slim because travel will prevent them from attending, especially during the winter. Last night we drove home from Puigcerda in a roaring thunderstorm that came rolling off the Pyrenees and nearly washed us off of the road.  We are beginning to see the real challenges of weather, distance and isolation in the development of the church here.

We know we are on the Lord's errand.  We feel it everyday as we see small miracles unfold in our lives.  You are constantly in our prayers.

Much Love,

Elder y Hermana Fowers

Papa y Mama

Abuelo y Abuela

Amigo y Amiga

Majesty of the Pyrenees

We have now been in Spain for nearly two weeks and our senses are overwhelmed.  Everywhere we look is a magnificent vista, or a majestic building centuries old, and a flood of smells and sounds that are foreign to our experiences.  Enjoy a quick photo journey of our past week:

Early Morning Drive to Barcelona

View from Mission Home

Determined farmer tucked in narrow canyon!

Tiny Mountain Village on the Way to Andorra

Visiting Members...View of Capitol of Andorra
(tucked in the very bottom of this narrow canyon)

Typical Street in Old Town Le Seu d'Urgell

Antique Cooper Pots

Farmlands around Le Seu

Sharing a snack with members...trying to get a Grandma fix!

Tower of Saint Mary (Built in 1170 A.D.)

Stumbled upon an Ancient Church (607A.D.)

 Saturday Market in Le Seu

We have finally found a place to live for the next 18 months in an old farmhouse just outside of town.  Elder Fowers is in heaven!  We are scrambling to get moved today, so this is just a quick note to say hello and share our adventure. As we work and serve among beautiful people of Spain and Andorra our lives are enriched everyday.  We wish you could each be here with us to share in the experience, but perhaps the photos will give you a taste.  Until next week, may God bless and watch over you and yours.