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