Hidden Roads

Feliz Nuevo Año a Todos,

After Christmas, things have finally slowed down a bit for us.   Christmas Day we hosted 11 people at the farmhouse for dinner.  I made a boatload Grandma Faye’s traditional sweet and sour pork with egg rolls as appetizers. I couldn’t bring myself to cook turkey again!  The missionaries came early to help with the preparation and stayed late to chat with their families.  We gathered up the family-less members of our branch that we knew would spend the day alone and had a wonderful afternoon of fellowship.

A preparing few platters of sweet treats in the farmhouse kitchen.

Elders Warr and Christensen 

Christmas Dinner with our sweet branch family.

Hi Mom!

Christmas Call!

For weeks we had been looking forward to the Pressebre Viviente (Live Nativity) that we attended last year at the village of Corbera de Llobregot, but this time we invited  the senior couples that wanted to join us, to tag along.  So the day after Christmas, we came together from three corners of the mission to enjoy an evening together.  It really is  a “must-see” experience. We enjoyed watching the awe and wonder of our friends, nearly as much as experiencing the actual Pressebre ourselves.  One of the sweet cultural twists of this particular nativity is the fact that all the pastores (shepherds) are dressed as authentic Catalonian shepherds with red/black wool hats and sheepskin vests.  When the shepherds hear of the new of the birth of Jesus Christ, they come pouring out of the hills removed their caps, and knelt before the infant Savior. Elder Fowers and President Dayton even bought the authentic hats.

"Pastores" preparing their evening meal.

Showing off new shepherds hats.

Sharing an evening at the Pressebre Viviente with dear friends.

Throughout our mission we have been required to travel a great deal to many of the same places, so to make things more interesting and educational we often take a side road that winds us through the mountains. We have found some of the most interesting hidden villages.  Enjoy the photos from the hidden back roads of Catalonia.

Isolated Mountain Village

Hidden Medieval Bridge

Misty Mountain Road

Jose Lluis Vasques has been employed with Juan our neighbor on his dairy for the past nine months. He had worked on the dairy previously for many years but left for other employment. When He returned in March, I met this long time member who has had a difficult past. I learned that he had served a mission, been a branch president, institute teacher and is a High Priest. Instantly we became brothers in the priesthood as he accepted any and every call to help out our struggling branch.  Every Monday morning I join him in the milking barn giving a hand milking Juan's 40 Holsteins. He helped plant our huge garden last summer and brought us freshly made cheese of his own making from time to time.  However, in the past several months both his parents passed and it was time for him to return home to his wife and family.  Two of his children have served missions.  This picture is at our departure.  

Sometimes senior couples are called to be stepping stone to help other along the path where the gaps are too wide.  I will miss his smile and his friendship.

Jose Luis: home to Ecuador after 14 years

 With the new year around the corner, we knew it was time to get serious about our departure preparations, mainly the farm house, branch records and a myriad of details. We want a seamless transition for the Southwicks, the senior couple that has been called replace us.  So we spent the rest of the week working our way down a long checklist.  I spent one day inserting pictures of all known members into the church records. We hope to uncover some of the hiding sheep in our branch.

As we look back on this year, we have seen a great deal of growth.  So many members have been touched by the spirit to rekindle their faith and return to church activity. Sadly, too many of them have not been able to hang onto the light that they once enjoyed. We often asked the question "What more can we do?"

 As we look back across the duration of our mission here in Spain, we have seen our own personal growth and conversion. We know that God knows the challenges that we faced. He has carried and guided us at many crossroads. We have tried to do our best.

We pray that you too will see God’s hand in your lives as you take a moment to reflect on his tender mercies during this past year.

Con Mucho Amor,

Los Fowers

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad a Todos,

We had a blessed week of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ with some the dear friends that we have come to love here in Spain. 

Monday morning we loaded up our little, red Prius to the very doors and headed to Barcelona. Tuesday and Wednesday we prepared turkey, dressing and all the trimmings for our beloved El Faro missionaries.  Our intent was to bring a taste of home to their Christmas Zone Conference feast.  It was tons of work…but such a sweet blessing for us to serve in this way.  However, things were complicated by a little hitch! 

Loaded with Christmas Cheer!

We arrived on Monday in order to decorate the cultural hall with a centerpiece being a beautiful nativity; thinking that we would get a jump on the preparation of the next morning.  All was set and so we planned to arrive early in order to get the turkey in the oven.  However, a short time after we began our food preparation, we found out that the cultural hall had been promised to the school next door for their annual Christmas program. 

Elder Fowers, went to the school to negotiate a solution to the conflict—we needed to feed 50 missionaries in the same space they were practicing for a 3:00 p.m. performance.  With throngs of kids coming and going all morning, somehow we managed to serve Christmas dinner to our missionaries about 1:30 and by 2:15 we had taken down the tables and every trimming.  A troop of parents came in and set up 350 chairs for their afternoon performance.  The hall was packed as the sweet little ones sang Christmas songs in Catalan.  Immediately after their performance, they took down all the chairs so that we could reset the tables and decorations for the Christmas meal for two more zones of missionaries the next day.  Again, we had to immediately break down our tables and decorations so that they could reset the chairs for their second performance the next day.  There was a sweet and happy attitude as we worked with the community and as Pres. Hinckley said, “Everything will work out,” and it did! 

Preschoolers coming for Rehearsal

Double Booked Cultural Hall

From restaurant...

to theater...
Parents attend "Bon Nadal" Program

On Thursday we took a few minutes to shop at the Christmas market in front of the Barcelona Cathedral.  They had dozens of different vendors with beautiful and elaborate “pressebres” (nativity scenes).  We purchased a couple of unique ones for our own collection as a reminder of  the real reason for the season.

Elaborate Nativity Scenes in the Market

We purchased this precious piece.

We arrived home late Thursday afternoon and began to prepare food for the Branch Christmas gathering on Friday.  After a few hours in the kitchen we were ready to gather with our dear members for a small little fiesta de Navidad.   For weeks we had announced the start time as 7:00 p.m. and we expected to serve food about 8:00.  Members started to arrive about 8:30 and food was finally served about 9:00.  I don’t think we will ever get used to “Spanish Mormon standard time!”  Nonetheless, all had a good time, even my sweet little primary niñas who gathered around the manger to see baby Jesus.

La Seu Branch Fiesta

Our little angels surrounding the Pressebre

We had a wonderful spirit in our meetings today as we celebrated with word and music the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Even with small numbers in our meetings, the “capilla” was filled with glorious music as we sang together the Christmas himnos.  We raised our voices with members throughout the world who sang praises to the babe in the manger, whom we have promised to follow.  We are so blessed to know the joy and hope His gospel brings to the world.

We pray that you will all be blessed with a peaceful and joyous Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Con Mucho Amor,

Los Fowers

Joy to the World!

Querida Familia y Amigos,

¿Qué tal? How are you all?  We hope that your homes are filled with the joy of Christmas, surrounded by family and friends.  Though it is hard to be away from family during the holiday, we have found that our Christmases on the mission have been more tranquil and sacred.  Because we are not caught up in all the trimmings and trappings...and best of all no shopping, we can focus on the real reason for Christmas! 

Keeping it Simple and Sacred

We have been on the go this whole week! We visited 15 homes delivering our christmas card and the homemade nativity sets.  We loaded three shopping carts full of food at the local market and then I spent all my extra minutes this week, prepping Christmas dinner for about 110 missionaries in 4 zones.  I have 14 kilos of turkey thawing, 9 loaves of bread transformed into stuffing, stacks of brownies baked for the Candybar/Brownie/Ice Cream Cake.  We will be in Barcelona the next three days bringing a bit of Christmas cheer for our beloved "El Faro" Missionaries. 

Early Friday morning, we loaded our car and a 9-passenger rental van with 12 sleepy members for the long 6-hour drive to the Madrid Temple.  Ramon and Haloua, recent converts, were attending for the first time, while Sonia (you may remember her, we found her on facebook) had prepared herself to receive her own temple endowment. She was filled with sweet excitement anticipation. Carmen (she is the one who road the bus until she found a member that she remembered) was returning to the temple for the first time in 8 years. Almost everyone had family names of parents, grandparents, deceased husbands and other ancestors who need their work done. There was a spirit of unity among our little group of saints from Andorra.

Andorra Branch in front of the Madrid Temple

We arrived at the temple by 1:00 pm and checked into temple housing. Everyone changed from travel clothes and prepared to enter the temple. I entered the temple with Sonia as her escort while everyone prepared to join us in the 5:00 session. As we sat together with the Hermana Gardner, the temple matron, as she explained the different elements of the upcoming ordinances. Sonia turned to me and asked if I could explain that to her.  Keep in mind that this is all taking place in Spanish.  My heart skipped a beat or two, and I was wondering how I would ever be able to string together the words to adequately explain the details. I took a big breath and started speaking.  I wanted so much to express what was in my mind and my heart. I can't remember what I said, but the words just flowed and I knew that I was truly experiencing the gift of tongue in a profound way.  What a joy!  

Sonia

I (Elder Fowers) escorted Haloua and Ramon into the temple hoping to introduce them to the baptismal font area where they would be preforming baptisms the next morning. Our initial request was denied to visit the font, then a message reached the temple president's attention that some recent converts from Andorra would like to see the font.  President Gardner greeted us (in perfect Spanish) in the reception area.  He took the time to become acquainted with the new members. He talked about the temple explaining in a loving way the purpose of this beautiful "House of the Lord". He then gave us a personal tour of the baptismal font area detailing the art work, explaining the symbolism, and pointing out the unique carving that have origins in Moorish and arabic architecture.  Ramon, who has limited vision was overcome with emotion.  He later commented of the peaceful feeling in his heart, as if time stood still. We thanked the president for taking the time to minister to the one.

Ramon

After a beautiful session, we took everyone to Chinese restaurant to celebrate,  Again, the feeling of unity in the Lord's work dominated the table conversation.  On Saturday we did baptisms, another session and sealings. Hermana Fowers and I kneeled at the temple alter while Hermana Ana Maria watched, as we sealed her parents and grandparents. The spirit was so strong that aren't really words to frame our feelings.  Ana Maria was thrilled to have this work finally accomplished after decades of trying to find their information.  We all arrive home very late, after an exhausting drive home.

Today our Sunday meetings were filled to overflowing with the joy of temple service. Sonia was literally beaming from the experience. She approached us and asked, "When will this feeling go away?" Unfortunately, we explained that it would settle down as she was pulled back into the worries of her daily living, but as soon as that happened she should start planning for her next trip to the temple.

Happy!

Con Mucho Gozo,

Los Fowers

Lighting Our World...

Querida Familia y Amigos,

We hosted the Lleida District for an activity in the farmhouse on Monday, which was their preparation day.  After an omelet made with 18 eggs, we were off to an adventure in Andorra.  Once a month the District holds their meetings up here to give our Elders a break.  It seems that they spend much of their time commuting on a bus, so it is a blessing for them to have a meeting up here once in while.  We really live on the very edge of the misson and it take our Elders 2 ½ hours by bus just to go to go to District meeting each week.  Of course, all the missionaries want to see Andorra so we had a grand adventure with them!

Lleida District in Aristot

The traffic congestion into and out of Andorra has been grueling this week.  Everyone from France and Spain journey to shop in tax exempt Andorra. Last Tuesday, Elder Fowers needed to drive to Andorra for a temple recommend interview. He was in line for nearly an hour with the afternoon shine blazing into his window.  As he inched along, and being alone, he nodded off for a moment and smashed into the back of a Jeep.  No damage to the Jeep, but our tiny, little Prius has a big nose bleed.  Traffic is still plugged up today and we are on our way home from our afternoon group meetings. I am writing this blog as we creep along trying to get home! (it took us an hour and 50 minutes to drive 15 kilometers!

Ugh!  Christmas Shoppers

We plan to visit all of our members with a message and a little homemade Nativity craft ( by Hermana Fowers) to each as we encourage them to keep Christ at the center of their holiday.

Reason for the Season

Juan and Carmen, our neighbors with the cows, also have a couple of pigs they fatten and kill each year in December.  Some of you might remember from our blog entries last year at this time. Tuesday the first pig was slaughtered and placed in a large pot to boil. Wednesday morning Elder Fowers volunteered us to help Juan and Carmen with their butifarra (sausage making) production again this year. We were up to our elbows in pig parts including the blood sausage that Elder Fowers is mixing below.  What a way to break in our new Elder Warr to our Andorra farm culture!

Boiling the Pig

Elder Warr tying Butifarra

Elder Christensen sampling the Blood Sausage

A unique way to "Light the World"

The highlight of our week was our Senior Couples Conference held in Mallorca.   The Baleares Islands, which are a few hundred miles off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea, and are part of our mission. We have five mission branches and a District organized out there.  Three of the ten married missionary couples in our mission are on the islands, so President and Sister Dayton organized a three-day retreat for all us out there this week.  What a delight! 

President and Hermana Dayton and other Senior Missionaries
in front of Mallorca Cathedral

1000 Years of Experience standing
 in front of a 1000-year-old Olive Tree 

Standing in Chopin's (the Composer) Private Gardens

Each couple was able to give a report on their stewardship.  It is so evident that each one of them has received the perfect calling.  Each couple detailed how they have used their talents and experiences to define and enhance their missionary service.  (Just think about it, how many other missions would give Elder Fowers the opportunity to milk cows and make friends with our farmer neighbors while he serve the Lord as Branch President?)  After a day of training, we had an awesome time exploring the antiquities of these beautiful islands, but even more so, we enjoyed just chatting and getting to know each one of them.  We were so blessed to work shoulder to shoulder with these remarkable, faithful saints.

Sunset on Mallorca Beach

Con Mucho Amor,

Los Fowers

Igelsias... Ahora y Antiquidad

Querida Familia y Amigos,

This week has been really quiet.  Perhaps it has been the calm before the storm because our December is really packed with activities with myriads of details to organize so we tried to focus on planning, including everything from branch parties to temple trips.  We are looking forward to each one, knowing they will be our last.

Sadly we said goodbye to our chickens this week. We gave them to some members who made Bolivian chicken soup.  Chicken farming has been great diversion for Elder Fowers along with gardening and milking.  In some ways, those activities seem rather frivolous as missionaries, but in reality, each activity has been a missionary tool.  I am certain that as we have interacted with neighbors and friends in these endeavors, we have changed attitudes and opinions about this "American Church".  In future years, when the subject of “Mormons” comes up, we are certain that they will shed a positive light on upon what kind of people we really are.

Elder Fowers helping deliver a calf.

Today I want to share the story of small hymnal.  When Jaime came to church for the first time, he brought with him a small book of “Himnos”, which he clearly treasured.  He connected these sacred hymns to his parents, his home and his early teachings in the church.  I think the hymns have been an anchor to him for more than two decades.  Today as we were singing hymns, (I am the chorister) he is fully engaged in the music and it was clear that it was a spiritual experience for him to connect to those powerful memories.  I snapped a silent photo of his well-loved hymnal which he laying on his leg throughout the meeting.

Beloved Hymnal

We spent two days in Lleida this week, helping our Elders move to a different piso.  I was expecting a grueling two days of cleaning, packing and hauling, but I was pleasantly surprised.  These young men were so organized.  They had everything packed up, had organized a few members to help and given the place a pretty good cleaning.  I was really proud of them…Kudos to them!

We know that you have gone a few weeks of the blog without pictures of churches...so we thought we had better share your monthly quota of churches which we explored all in one day.  We were able to get away on our preparation day to explore some unseen environs on glorious, crisp, fall day.  Without the boring details, we were able to visit four very unique, ancient churches.  Church #1:  Red rock church in the abandoned village of Rubio.

Rubio Church

Church #2, tiny Romanesque church built in the medieval fortress of Santa Crueu de Llagunes.  The amazing archeological site was first inhabitated in the Bronze age and the primary village built in 1010 AD, more than a thousand years ago.

Just the right size for our Andorra Group

Medieval village dating to Bronze age 600AD

Walls that formed homes, held animals and provided defense 

 Church #3:  Church in the village of Vilmar.  One of the great frustrations of exploring these old churches is that we seldom have the opportunity to go inside. Check out the photo I took through the key hole. This particular church was so fragile that had it held together with huge metal plates and bolts that spanned from width of the church.  

 Peeking through the keyhole of an old church

View from the Keyhole

Church #4:  Església Marc de Déu de Valldeflores (written in Catalon) in Rialp.  It appeared to have been built in many different phases over the centuries.

Catalans know how to stack rocks

Església Marc de Déu front entry.

Today in our Andorra group, 15 saints gathered for Sacrament meeting. Ramon Rubi, baptized just three weeks ago, and ordained with the Aaronic Priesthood last week, stood to pass the sacrament for the first time.  All eyes were on him as he approached the sacrament table and the missionary kneeled to bless the bread. After the prayer the Elders handed Ramon the tray and he began his first priesthood duty. Ramon is nearly blind. He only sees shadows and partial outlines.  He can read for just a moment with a large magnifying glass looking from the side. After a few moments images go blurry.  In spite of this disability he was able to pass the sacrament flawlessly to all. I commented him over the pulpit for a job well done. His sight was magnified as he magnified his Priesthood.  I (Elder Fowers) wish all Priesthood holders would seek to do the same with the sacred authority we have received.

Ramon, determined to honor his priesthood with little sight.

 
Con mucho amor, hasta la proxima semana,

Elder y Hermana Fowers