And then there were THREE!

Greetings from the heartland of Catalonia. 

We continue to press forward spinning several platters simultaneously.  We have had a few marathon days in a row and things won’t slow down until after Tuesday when Hermana will have prepared and served lunch for 110 missionaries in two days.  Additionally, on June 20 we have been asked by the mission president to host the senior couples conference here in Le Seu and Andorra.  Our first task was to find countryside hotel big enough to accommodate 11 couples.  Our investigations lead us to the hilltop communities of Estamarui and Bescaran where we found churches that dated back to the 1100’s.  Mountainside terrace rock walls are never ending.  It is hard to imagine the manual labor required to stack so many rocks.

Terraces of Bescaran...Stunning!

We stopped by the monastery San Serni Tavernoles.  Over half of the building has fallen down however the arches remain in place after 1000 years. What a great object lesson on the keystone in the dozens of arches that we explored.

Old Rock Church in Bescaran

Beautiful deep gorge and rushing waterfalls.

Arches of San Serni Tavernoles

Much of this week was spent assisting the missionaries in teaching and preparing three youth for baptism.  This was a first for the branch.  There has never been three baptisms in one week in the Andorra Branch.

Heyser Flores the 8-year-old child of Veronica Flores  was prepared by the missionaries and interviewed by me.  He is the oldest of three Flores boys who love to come to the farmhouse and play. Heyser is setting the example for his younger brothers and his non-member father who is slowly gaining interest in the church.

Elder Fowers and Heyser

Hermana Veronica, Heyser, Henri and Marc

Our second baptism was 18-year-old, Daiana None Silverio the older sister of Dariana y Arianny who were baptized a few months ago. She is shy but is training to become an airline stewardess.  Their parents are very supportive of their daughters and are beginning to show interest in their daughters’ new-found religion.

Daiana joins her younger sisters, with Elders Bown and Domingues

Glorious Day!

Our third baptism was 13-year-old Lluís Antoni Lamas Toro.  I had the privilege of performing the baptism but even more special was to look up from the water and see his mother and grandmother beaming with joy. Lluís’s grandmother, Ana Marie has come back to the church since we opened the new group in the country of Andorra.  His mom, Anita’s spark was rekindled by the family history work we did with Bette and has come back with full commitment.  She even spoke at the baptism and gave a beautiful talk with scriptures, doctrine and testimony.  It was her first talk ever. I was totally impressed. She is courageous in her determination to stop smoking, become active in the church and raise her son to become a missionary someday. This is an amazing reconversion of a mother who left the church for 20+ years and has only returned two weeks ago.  The grandmother, Ana Maria held true to the faith even with no church to attend.  To see her grandson baptized was a direct blessing from keeping her temple covenants. Lluís  is anxious to learn and grow in the church.

Rejoicing with Lluís

Lluís with Grandmother and Mom

After the baptismal service we had a big celebration at our farmhouse.  Hermana Fowers cooked 15 pounds of chicken with the members bringing side dishes.  Two other reasons for the party, Mothers Day in Bolivia, and farewell to Shane Burke, our recent convert who will be returning to Ireland.  I have already talked with his new Bishop to encourage him to keep him strong.

Celebrating Together

I taught seminary today, while Hermana Fowers did some “pinch-hitting” with an adlib lesson in primary.  She is working hard to try to train some future primary leaders.

Andorra Primary

Today we had 14 in attendance in our Andorra group.  We feel a strong spirit from the members there.  Sometimes the Lord is more involved in the work than we realize.  Last week the missionaries left their new apartment in Andorra.  As they walked along the riverside boardwalk they noticed a lady staring down at the river in seemingly deep thought.  They engaged her in conversation.  She told them it was a difficult day for her, the sixth anniversary of the son’s death.  She also told them that she had just then been praying to find a church, the true church, when the Elders walked up.  They invited her to attend with us on Sunday.  Today she came and stayed for both meetings.  We sat by her and explained a little about the church.  She left with a good spirit and wants to return.  We hope to fill the void in her soul.   The Lord is involved more than we will ever comprehend in the salvation of each and everyone his children.  “This my work and glory to bring to pass immortality and eternal life of man.”  Moses 1:39

Con todo nuestro amor,

Elder  and Hermana Fowers

From the Heart of Catalonia

We're MOVING!

Exploring Andorra and the surrounding Pyrenees Mountains is a popular Preparation Day activity for missionaries in our district.  Last Monday we gave two sister missionaries, who traveled from Lleida, for a quick tour of our favorite local sites.  We hosted them for breakfast and gave Hermana McConkie quick haircut them we were off for an adventure.  We hiked up to the abandon grain mills on the way to Civis.  While crossing the creek a rotten tree branch gave way and Hermana Fowers took a tumble and injured her hip.  She limped for a couple of days but is seems to be getting better now, even though she still has trouble climbing the stairs.  I guess we just need to act our age.

Hermana McConkie after 6-inch trim.

 

Hermanas Clark and McConkie on our favorite bridge.

On Tuesday Juan, our farmer friend, needed help moving his cattle to the summer pastures high in the Pyrenees.  The missionaries joined us herding the Aubrac mama cows with their feisty calves.  Elder Bown was right at home at this cattle drive, however, his companion Elder Domingues who is from big city Brazil, kept his distance from these wild critters.

Missionaries moving the Aubrac Cattle for Juan

This week has been rain mixed with days of bright sunshine, which has been a blessing for our garden.  Plants are jumping up and so are the weeds.  I love to look out the window or wander up and down the rows.

Our Branch Garden

We’re finally MOVING!...at least the young Elders are. This week we moved the missionaries from their apartment in La Seu to a new apartment in Andorra.  This has been a months-long undertaking as we have tried to negotiate terms with stubborn landlords and rental agencies.  We think the work will now take off in this micro-country now that we have full time missionaries that live within its boundaries.  We remained behind in La Seu to manage the branch here while the missionaries press forward where the “field is much more white and ready to harvest.”

We met Lluis, the 12-year-old grandson of Ana Maria, when we were doing family history work with Bette.  We may have shared the story of his willingness to sit right done and help his grandmother to help navigate the computer, even though he knew nothing of the church. Last week the missionaries knocked his door by accident and his mother invited them to return to teach Lluis.  He is a bright young man and is taking in the gospel like a sponge.  Previously his concept of religion was very dark and mysterious.  He attends an elite parochial school in Andorra and Lluis is naturally very inquisitive.  He told me that every time he asks one of the priests a question they would ignore him or say something like, “It is not important for you to know, just accept it”.  In contrast, he feels the spirit of our meetings, his questions are answered, he can feel the difference and we see him grow with each lesson.  In many ways, I think he is like the young Joseph Smith who asked the ministers of his day difficult questions, and received no clear answers.

Lluis and his mother Anita in Church

Anita is Lluis’s mother who has been out of the church for some 20 years.  Since her son has taken an interest in the church, Anita has rekindled her desire to return to her childhood religion.  Last Sabbath we discussed several gospel principles in our second hour Sunday school class in the Andorra group.  We gave Anita a gospel principles manual to study at home.  Like her son, Lluis, Anita is soaking in the truths of the gospel after two decades of absence.  When we visited her later in the week she had 3 pages of study notes and many question written down to discuss with us.  I have never seen such thirst for the truth in two people in all my missionary experiences.  Anita even asked me for a tithing slip on her first day back to church.  She wants to be fully immersed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ once again.  Lluis has a baptismal date set for next Saturday.  His grandmother is overjoyed to see this long awaited day.  We are really moving...the work rolls forth one by one. Soon Lluis will be a Deacon and passing the sacrament with more true Priesthood authority than anyone in his school.  He now knows where to get answers to his questions.

I think previously in our blog we have mention Sonia Douiri, the long lost member we found in Facebook.  She had no contact with the church for 12+ years. We invited her to come back and she has come to church every week since we opened the group in Andorra 3 months ago.  She has witnessed the miracle of paying tithing, the miracle of finding family names and taking them to the temple.  She had forgotten much of the gospel during her long absence however the feeling of the spirit and the Holy Ghost testifying to her never left her heart.  Today she was asked to speak in Stake Conference.  Hermana Fowers and I drove 2 hours to the Sabadell chapel where the main conference was held.  The stake covers several hundred miles across North-central  Spain, so the proceedings are broadcast to Lleida , Zaragoza and Andorra.  Sonia’s less-active, 23-year-old daughter joined us to hear her mother’s address.  I must say, that Sonia’s talk was from the heart, simple, sincere about her coming back after having been lost and the joy she is experiencing was very moving.  She will be one of our special mission memories for a long time.  Who ever thought that Facebook would be a tool to find His lost sheep!

Sonia Douiri speaking in the Lleida Stake Conference

Last night, just before we published this blog we got a Skype call from Jesse and Jen in Balitimore.  Jesse is graduation with a Master's degree in Mathematics from Johns Hopkins University and most of his siblings (all but Andrew) were able to go help Jess celebrate this awesome accomplishment.  We are so sad that we can't be there with them, but through the wonders of technology we chatted with them online and felt like we were right their with them.  One of our greatest blessings as parents is to watch our children love and care for each other.  Here is the screenshot of all of us together with Andrew and us as insets in the bottom corner joining them online.  Nosotros somos muy bendecidos!

Fowers Family Portrait 

Madrid Temple Trip...Joyful

Happy Mother’s Day to all of my beloved daughters and daughter-in-laws, my sister and sisters-in-law and so many other model woman who have touched my life!  Thank you for being such amazing missionary Mom’s…you teach the gospel everyday to your children and grandchildren simply by the way you live your lives.   We love you all so much.  We hope you have a wonderful day! 

Flowers from my Sweetheart for Mother's Day!

One of my favorite Mother's Day gifts was a little portable set of watercolors from Jess and Jen.  They figured that if Elder could find time to milk cows and raise chickens, then I should find a bit of time to do some watercolors.  It has been so wonderful to spend time to do a little painting now and then.  I have been fascinated with the unique doors I see here so I thought  I would try to paint a few. Here is a sketch of a little well house door I saw recently.

Pleasant Pastime~ "The Wellhouse Door"

Just like in the scriptures of old…”there was a day, a night and a day, without any night”... and then the miracle occurs.”  That is how it happened for our temple this past week.

Thursday night at 10:00 p.m. we boarded the autobus with 23 members from our branch for the 7 hours drive to the Madrid Spain.  We had reserved a small, 26 seat bus and we were worried about how we would get all the people and parts in such a small bus.  Apparently, they didn’t have any small buses available, so unbeknown to us, they upgraded to a full-size, 60 passenger bus! What a blessing. 

Boarding the bus at 10:00 pm Thursday night

Spacious New Bus

The youth were excited to be together and had a party in the back of the bus long into the wee hours of the morning.  We arrived in Madrid about 5:30 a.m. after a long night of struggling to catch a few hours of sleep we caught our first glimpse of the temple lighted up against the early morning sky.  After a couple of hours to have breakfast and freshen up, we started our day of service in the temple.   

Madrid Temple at 5:30 in the Morning

Changing facilities for Temple Patrons

To prepare our minds and hearts to enter the sacred “Casa del Senor”, we held a branch devotional. Before entering we took a moment for a branch picture, in order to keep this sacred day fresh in our memory.  Our little troop of 20 members (6 for the very first time) then entered the temple, armed with their own family names, and excited for the opportunity rescue an “antepasado” that had been waiting.  Before that day was over, they had completed about 60 ordinances for 26 ancestors that they had found through family search and an additional 200 ordinances for names that had been shared by family and friends. Words just can’t quite quantify the experience…sacred, solemn, humbling, joyful, blessed, holy, emotional, tender, spiritual, peaceful all capture an element of the experience, but simple can’t capture entirely the feelings of that sacred day.

Andorra Branch ready to enter the Temple

Excitement and anticipation to" Stand in Holy Places"

Standing with the Andorra Branch Pioneers

Virginia Gomez at 81 and her first trip inside the Temple

Returning home filled with the JOY of the Temple

Yes it was worth it--A moment of celebration!

After a full, non-stop day of temple service, we boarded the bus again at 6:00 pm and headed back to Le Seu d’ Urgell.  The joyous, happy feeling of camaraderie was palatable as we all settled in for the long trip home.  We arrived home 28 hours after we had left, exhausted and yet exhilarated.  It felt like we had been gone for a week!  

We carried in our hearts, a deep since of gratitude for all those who had made the trip possible.  You all know whom you are that made some contribution to lift and support our sweet members during this temple trip.  We love you for your sacrifice.  Hearts were touched and the experience was etched upon our minds, not to soon be forgotten!  We all took a part of the spirit of the temple home with us. 

Mucho Amor,

Los Fowers

Spring has Sprung

Querida Familia y Amigos,

I am finally warm.  After a very long winter, it has been a blessing to going walking in the mornings without 4 layers coats and scarves.  I have so enjoyed the sunshine on my back and the stunning array of wildflowers.

It seems that spring has finally sprung, but there are no guarantees here in Le Seu.  We got some flowers planted in the window boxes and Elder Fowers, Jose Luis and the Elders spent much of yesterday afternoon replanting the tomatoes and peppers that got killed in the last frost.  The locals tell us it is safe to plant, so with a bit of faith and determination we have the garden up and going.  When it starts to produce we will have enough for the whole branch!

Reflection in the Farmhouse Window

Planting the Garden--Again.

Farm Boys... Elder Domingues and Elder Bown

Our new missionary, Elder Domigues arrived on Wednesday. He is a native of Brazil and comes from the southern city of Curitiba.  His first language is Portuguese, but he is very fluent in both English and Spanish.  He is joining our long-time, beloved Elder Bown.  We expect great things from this new companionship, especially since they will be living in Andorra.  Yes, that is right! We finally were able to secure an apartment for the Elders in Andorra after months of struggling to get through the very prohibitive “red-tape” of the Andorran government and biased apartment owners.  They are scheduled to move on May 15, unless they find some obscure regulation that will cause the contract to fall out yet again.  If all goes well, it will be a great boon to our little Andorra group!

Since we didn’t have Elders in town on our preparation day, we spent most of the day out in the garden and catching up on household chores.  The wind kicked up in the afternoon, but we still decided to do exploring.  There is an old dirt road that we walk by nearly every time we exercise, that we had never followed.  So we took our little red Prius off-roading!  After several kilometers of hairpin switchbacks we came upon a very old farmhouse that was in varied stages of collapse.  I expect it was built sometime in the late 1800’s.   The most intriguing find was the old wine press and wooden wine barrels that we discovered in the basement.  Elder Fowers spent some time trying to figure out how he could get the barrel home to but in the back of his Model AA truck. It was so big that I don’t think it would be possible to could get it through the door. 

Collapsed Roof of Barn

Evidence of Rugged Pioneers

Number 17

Detail of Upper Window

Enormous Old Wine Barrel

On the way home we ran into an old sheepherder leading his sheep up into the mountains. I was intrigued to see the sheep dogs running ahead while all the sheep followed obediently behind.  As the procession passed by I noticed this shepards' weather beaten face displaying a huge smile.  He was joyfully at his work, not a care in the world, content with his life.  He carried a night blanket, an umbrella and a few utensils. He would bed down with his herd.    "And the sheep know their master...The Good Shepard."

Local Sheepherder Heading up the Mountain

Other than that, Elder Fowers has had interviews nearly every evening this week in order to get everyone ready for our temple trip that is coming up Thursday, May 11.  The number is still in flux, but it looks like we will have at least 21 but maybe as many as 24, depending on if they can arrange to miss a day of work.   Keep in mind that our average attendance on Sunday is about 28, so nearly every single member has not only prepared their own family names to take to the temple (thanks to Bette), but have prepared themselves to be worthy to go to enter the temple.  Many of our members who could not have sponsored their own trip, can now go due to the generous donation of our dear friends.  This truly is a branch miracle!  More details to follow, in our next blog.

We rejoice in the light.  Not only the spring sun on our shoulders as we work in the garden, but the light of Christ that guides our lives and the Spirit that enlightens our minds. How blessed we are to have so many that share their love and support.  We feel your prayers.

Much Amor,

Elder y Hermana Fowers