Winter Snows

Hello from the Pyrenees mountain valley of Le Seu d’Urgell,

Welcome to La Seu

The long awaited snowfall arrived this week covering everything with a blanket of white, closing schools and some roads.  It was a test of faith to press forward and make a few member visits amid the soggy and icy conditions.

Snow-covered Pyrenees

After visiting a member in Andorra, we took a side road up the mountain to discover this mountain top church.  Its construction dates to 1050AD.  It's location on a small outcrop from the mountain side is thousands of feet above the valley floor.  I often wonder how such a construction was accomplished.  I believe these mountain side churches served as strategic look outs for invaders.  Through the small windows we could see original wall painting dated back a thousand years.  These people were a special breed of pioneers.

Sant Serni de Nagol Church

Exploring Antiguity

Mountain-top vista

We thought we would include a random photo of this crazy treehouse for the grandkids.

Ideas for future projects for the grandkids

I normally help Juan, our neighbor milk his cows every Monday morning.  It takes about 1½ hours to complete the task.  He asked if I would also help him Monday night in that he was short handed and I gladly agreed.  He is very Catalonian, with strong options but has a soft heart, kind of like a burnt marshmallow.  He does not want any religion, much like many of the people in Spain because they have been so tainted by his previous church exposure. However, Juan always asks questions about the Mormons, so I try to teach him about God without referring to a religion specifically.  As a reward for helping him milk he invited us on Saturday to another pig slaughter and sausage making party.  We had helped out previously, so we went knowing exactly what we were getting into. We invited the missionaries to join us and they got into sausage up to their elbows.  Not only did they mix the blood sausage, but also they stayed around for lunch to sample all the different varies.  All in all Juan and Carmen are beginning to feel that Mormons are normal people who milk cows the same way they do. I have a year left to get across the gospel message to him through word and deed.

Elders mixing blood sausage

On Wednesday we traveled to Barcelona for interviews with the president and to view the Worldwide Missionary Training.  My impressions of the new schedule is that the brethren are trying giving the missionaries more agency to manage their own time, therefore they can adapt to the local conditions and their particular cultural needs.  The other principle that really stood out to me was that we often move too fast toward baptism before repentance get a chance to work in the investigators life.  It was a blessing to be taught at the feet of three apostles.  We also had a chance to have personal interviews with President Dayton.  He filled us with the determination to press forward in the work. 

While in Barcelona we toured the Christopher Columbus statue near the downtown seaport.  The Rambla is a wide walkway going from the statue several blocks through the old city.  We enjoyed a typical Spanish cuisine at one of the open air restaurants before returning the 2 hours drive to La Seu d’Urgell.  We were blessed to travel during a break in the storm but the Pyrenees were blankets with a beautiful covering of snow.  The next day that same mountain pass was closed for 40 kilometers.

Bundled up as we tour the Barcelona Seaport

Magnificent Architecture

Christopher Columbus pointing the way

We continue to prop up this struggling branch the best we can.  Finding the “menos-activos” reminds me of a game of hide and seek. However, as Elder Bednar taught in the training this week; “do the best you can, but ultimately each has his own agency to respond to your invitation.”  We find ourselves returning to the same piso door multiple times with no response.  We have come to know that we must continue to reach out and press forward, but so doing we are successful missionaries.  Agency is an eternal principle and each individual ultimately makes their personal choice to follow the Savior on the covenant path.

The full stake presidency came to our little branch today arriving from several different directions from at least 2 hours away.  Their message was clear: step up and do your duty, pull together, don’t complain, pay your tithing and the Lord will bless you and permit the branch to grow.  Actually, it was the first time I have not had to speak in Sacrament meeting in a month.  Hermana Fowers took on the primary single-handedly while all adults met for the third hour after she taught seminary during the second hour.  We can only push forward and see what the Lord has planned for both this group and the new group to be formed in Andorra.  It will be a challenge to keep both fires going, simultaneously.

Stake Presidency eating at our table

 Some times the work here is routine like milking cows and comes without any adulation. None the less, God has a plan and we just have to align ourselves with his will, have faith and press forward.  This I know and this is why I serve.  May you all find purpose and rejoice in service to God's children, whatever and wherever.

Sunset glistening across the snow

 Our Love to All,

Elder and Hermana Fowers

Sowing, Daily Sowing...or is it Sewing?

Querido familia y amigos,

The big news of the week!  Darianna None Silverio was baptized.  Dariana is a beautiful, quiet, young lady from the Dominican Republic.  She has been studying with our diligent young Elders Bromley and Bown (from Brigham City, by the way) for the past 2 months.  She has been earnestly studying the doctrines and reading the Book of Mormon.  We introduced both her and her sister to the Seminary home-study program and they have been so determined to complete the lessons for the New Testament. 

Happy Day, Dariana's Baptism

Happy Missionaries!  Dariana with Elders Bromley and Bown

The Andorra Branch Family at Poolside

 There is something very sacred about a baptismal service that touches that hearts of all who attend!  Yesterday, after the service the members just wanted to linger and not leave that profound spirit.  Afterwards we retired to the church for a bit of a celebration for Dariana…rejoicing together about her choice to follow Jesus Christ.

Celebrating Together

Pizza enjoyed by all!

Now there was one problem with the baptism.  When we contacted the local swimming pool to reserve it for the baptism, they could not accommodate use due to swimming competitions so that left us in a pickle.  It’s not like we can go out into the river and break up the ice, so a frenzied search started to find a font.  Elder Fowers with Raul, first counselor in the branch,and the missionaries went to several facilities including hotels in Le Seu proper, but to no avail. They stopped and said a prayer to guide them.  After being turned down by 3 hotels they had one possibility left: Hotel Dolcet located just out of town in the tiny community of Alas.  Again they stopped and said a second prayer.  After talking to the owner and explaining our need, he was most accommodating to our request. He showed them the perfect little pool (font), so arrangements were quickly made for our Saturday baptism! Indeed a tender mercy was given. While there we discovered that there was a four-star restaurant associated with the hotel so we stopped to enjoy a beautiful lunch together!

Our little miracle font!

Four-star Lunch

Earlier in week, the Hermana’s from Lleida (two hours away) asked us if we be willing to show them around Andorra on their preparation day.  We gladly agreed, but little did we know it was going to be the biggest snow day of the year.  Up to this point, they had received no more than a skiff of snow even though it has been bitter cold.  But as we drove into Andorra last Monday it was a winter wonderland of snow.  There was about 18 inches on the level so it really limited our ability to get around in our tiny car.  However, we had a glorious day in the snow!

Glorious snow on our favorite bridge.

Hermanas Stahl and Stostich

Quiet Beauty

Sewing, daily sewing…I have been humming that hymn everyday this week as I worked to repairing slacks and tailoring suits for the Elders.  One of the Elders had lost a lot of weight since he came on his mission, and his pants were hanging on him.  The other Elder was the opposite, he needed his pants let out.  When they found out that I could sew, they borrowed an old Singer sewing machine from one of the sisters in our branch and the pants haven’t stopped coming.  I have already tailored 6 pair plus a suit jacket and have 5 more to do during the coming week.  Last night, at the branch gathering, the Elders were bragging up my work, so a branch member asked if I could help him.  He brought me two suits to church today. Maybe I should hang out a shingle…Free Tailoring in exchange for listening to our message of Jesus Christ.

Mending slacks with a mouthful of pins!

What a blessing to be in the service of our God!  I'm not so sure we are doing anything remarkable in our service, but everyday we try to reflect the love our Savior to our members and friends in the community.  We are not changing the world, but perhaps we are changing a few hearts.

Thanks so much for your continual love and prayers.  We feel them.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder and Hermana Fowers

One by One...

Hola Friends and Family,

As Utah and the western US has been covered in snow and rain, Catalonia Spain has been rather dry.  The ski resorts in Andorra have survived on manufactured snow to keep the lifts open.  However that all changed when we awoke this morning to white pastures with cows sleeping under a blanket of fresh snow.

Farmhouse Driveway

New colt weathering the snow.

Snowy morning viewed from our front window.

Earlier in the week we took a walk along the mountain side road with temperatures in the 20's.  We came upon a great hill for ice blocking, without the ice block.  The leaking irrigation canal above provided a perfect ice sheet several hundred feet long. Wish my kids could have joined in the spontaneous adrenaline rush.

Elder Fowers enjoying some spontaneous fun.

Frozen waterfall.

After three weeks of closed offices and businesses, things finally started to thaw out a bit this week as far as Le Seu commerce goes, so we were finally able to get our package from the post office. We are especially thankful for all the treasures and gifts we received. HerMama wrote the following in her journal: "Getting packages from home are like getting little packets of love. Even though we delight in the little gifts and treasures included in each envelope, it is really the message of love that means the most. It is the DO part of love." We are rationing the chocolate to make it last longer. Speaking of our kids, here is a picture of our refrigerator covered with all the pictures from home. It helps us keep everything in perspective and lifts our spirits when things get a little difficult.

Each picture is an expression of love.

We have come to believe that this mission for us is like Elder Bednar's new song: "One By One".  That is what we are doing here.  We visit, listen, invite, admonish and pray with all the members here in and in Andorra. Some are stepping up... one by one.  Slowly we have seen some members make changes abandoning past behaviors that are not compatible with a Latter Day Saint.  Hermana Fowers has honed her special message in Spanish to all who will listen:  "Come back, we miss you, we love you, God needs you, how can we help You".  She continues to teach seminary in Spanish which stretches her skills every week, but her students have come to love her for her efforts. You don't need a lot of words in Spanish to convey the message of the rescue.

Laddy Flores (one of my seminary students) hugging her daddy.

Yesterday, we went to Andorra and met with a young lady originally from Paraguay.  She hailed down the missionaries on the street a few weeks ago and is now on our branch records.  Mari is here without papers and hoping to get legal soon.  She left her family and friends back home to seek a better life in Andorra. Her boyfriend is a member from Nigeria and they plan to marry soon. She is alone here, so finding the missionaries and thus the church will be a real boost to her. She is the one. Mari will help us find other "ones".

We are pressing forward with the Andorra group.  Right now we are waiting for the area authorities to secure a rental agreement for office space we have selected.  We hope to begin group meeting sometime in February expecting about 8 people initially.  This could grow quickly as we have about 35 more members on record in Andorra.  Again, "One by One".

Location for our new Andorran Group

Hermana Fowers here...I have recently read two books that I would highly recommend.  They have both lifted me heart and my understanding: The Rent Collector by Camron Wright and The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox.  I would also like to bear testimony of the gift of tongues.  During the first week after we received our call to serve in the Spain Barcelona Mission, a good friend our ours dropped by the house and said, "You need to start reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish, if you do, you have been promised that if you read the Book of Mormon in your mission language you will be blessed with the gift of tongues."  I took that heart and started that very day to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish.  With the Elder Fowers help with pronunciation and translation I would plow my way through a few verses everyday.  With my old brain, it would require the reading of a word a hundred times before I could hold it in my memory.  But I persisted, everyday since then.  Now, 11 months later, I can read and understand about 90% the Book of Mormon in Spanish and I am nearing the end of my goal, as I am now reading in Ether.  Though I am still not very fluent in speaking to the members or community members, the words of the gospel in Spanish have come alive for me and "the eyes of my understanding have been opened".  It is truly a gift to be able to learn a language at my age.  I have been just enough language to fulfill my purpose here, but I will continue to trust His promises.   

Mi amado Libro de Mormón

Our Love,

Elder Fowers y HerMama

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Feliz Año Nuevo!  Happy New Year!  

First of all, we apologize for not writing a blog last week.  When we sat down to write last Sunday we realized that we had not taken one picture all week because we had spend everyday at our little chapel searching for lost members.  A long quiet week of detective work!  So, we just sent a letter to our kids. Were back this week and hope this blog finds you all well and happy. 

Walking on frosty mornings is so very beautiful. We often have to wait until after our studies so we won’t freeze, but it is so crisp and invigorating.  The colder it gets the faster I walk to try to get my blood pumping.  We haven’t had any snow yet (the locals are telling us they are suffering from a drought) but the ground is covered with “hoarfrost” which is intricate crystal formations of ice frost everything.

Invigorating morning walk

Frozen Creek

Hoarfrost

Between New Year’s Day last Sunday and “Los Reyes” (Three Kings Day) this past Friday, the entire city come to a screeching halt which makes the third straight week of holiday celebrations, so the work has been really slow.  One beautiful, winter morning, we decided to walk the calles (roads) of Le Seu to see if we could find someone to talk to and share our message .   Shops, banks, post offices were all closed and walking through the town was eerily quiet.  We wander down a few streets that we had not found before.  We found an interesting old grist mill that was driven by the diversion of the river, so interesting. We also discovered the Diocese Seminary Building on the far edge of town that was built in the 16th century.  It was enormous, but empty. It was closed because the Catholic Church simply cannot recruit priests any more.  We engaged in a conversation with one very feeble, old Catholic priest who explained that there are no longer students in this academy.  Very sad! We have found that this scenario aligns with the attitude of the general populace towards organized religion...they simple don’t seem a need God in their lives.

Diocese Seminary

Millstones

Old Wooden Mill Wheel hidden in the center of Le Seu

After last week’s work of extensively searching out lost members, we had a very clear picture of the potential of future stability and growth in our branch.  Jesse, you would be so proud.  We spent a couple of days “crunching” the data so that we could present a report to the Stake President.  We had been deeply concerned about our little flock and decided to seek advice about next steps.  Just the day before we were to meet with the Stake President finally got notification of the APPROVAL of the ANDORRA GROUP!  We had waited so long to hear that we could start a dependent group in Andorra,  that you would have thought we would have been ecstatic, but actually we were concerned.  How could our little struggling branch support another  group in Andorra if they could barely manage their own affairs?  We made it a matter of prayer with open minds  hearts when we drove the two hours to meet President Hernandez.  He is truly an inspired leader and we left the meeting knowing exactly how to proceed.  So we have been tasked with opening a whole new country to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, after a nine-year absence.  ANDORRA here we come!

Address to the future location of Andorran Group

Now our little old farmhouse is always cold, even thought we have a gasoil, old-school radiator “calefaction” heating system.  If we keep a fire burning in our stove, we get along just fine.  But Friday night, just before we went to bed we noticed that all the radiators were cold and it was not working.  We knew we were in for a cold night.  We bundled under the covers and slept fine, but woke up to a house that was so cold we could see our breath.  We were able to arrange for a repairman to come check it out to find out that we were just out of fuel.  We immediately ordered some gasoil, but it won’t be delivered until tomorrow.  Muy frio!

Only source of heat!

What an amazing Sabbath we had today!  After a couple of weeks of very slim attendance we had hopes that our members would again join us after their holiday.  Just as we were about to start our meetings, two families, the Youngs and the Dennings from Utah walked in with their 11 children expanding our Sacrament meeting attendance to 40!    Unfortunately, our Primary leader moved this week and forgot to tell us, and we had 17 children in the primary, which is normally 2.  Brother Denny, taught seminary (which I had prepared) and I diverted to primary to pinch-hit a Spanish/English lesson there. The night before, I had decided to make clay to supplement the activities in primary.  It truly saved the day!

17 Niños in our tiny Primary Room...800% Increase!

Choose the Right (Haz lo Justo)

Clay...Saved Primary

On a whim, I decided to invite the two families to the farmhouse for Sunday dinner since they had a driven 1.5 hours from France to attend our meetings.  So I pulled together a huge pot of spaghetti, a salad and several dozen cookies, all of which disappeared.  We past a wonderful afternoon with the Andy and Janelle Young  and their four children and Greg and Rachel Denning which have seven children. We even celebrated Aaliyah's birthday with candles in a cookie.  Two amazing faithful families that evidenced their devotion to their Savior, by making sacrament meeting attendance a priority even while vacationing in a foreign country.

Young and Denning Families Join us for Dinner

Sunday Night Cookies

 Le Seu sunset...

Glorious!

 Mucho amor,

Los Fowers