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