Food...The Language of Love

One of the joys of serving in Le Seu is the beautiful environment in which we work.  It has turned bitter, cold so I have to really bundle up to go walking in the morning…but the misty majesty of the valley make it worth it.  The Pyrenees are capped with snow and Andorra is full of seasonal skiers arriving from all over Europe. 

Sunrise

A follow up of last week’s sausage marathon, I dropped over to deliver some cookies to Carmen and she took me on a tour of her menagerie of sausages.   After having spent a great deal of time with Juan and Carmen, we have come to realize that we were “city” farmers compared these folks.  They produce every part of their livelihood…meat, milk, eggs, produce and etc.  They even share their house with the pigs!

Carmen and in her Sausage Room

Even though I don’t speak Spanish very fluently, I do speak “food”.  So I have been showing my love to the members by cooking.  We have now hosted four different family dinners and have three more scheduled.  It is lovely to spend an evening with just one family and get to know them better and learn how we can best serve them. I have master Grandma Faye’s roll recipe.  Two dozen rolls disappear pretty quickly!

During this week we hosted a family with three little boys who had a bit of extra energy to spare so we gave them each a hammer and let them crack walnuts. The scatter pattern was pretty impressive when they were finished but we had a few quiet minutes to chat with their mom.

Food is the Language of Love

We decided to visit all the members in our little branch before Christmas and take a message of how they could better worship the Christ Child through gifts of personal worship.  We made a custom Christmas card with the Nativity scene and our message printed on the inside.  Additionally, we purchased some cookie canisters (torros de galletas) and Hermana Fowers filled them with several varieties of freshly baked cookies.  We enjoy seeing each recipient feel a moment of peace and joy as we performed a simple act of giving. In this part of Spain there is nothing that even comes close to Hermana Fowers’ “fresh-out-of-the-oven” cookies.

Baked with Love

Torros de Galletas

The front yard of our farmhouse once was a beautiful flower and vegetable garden, but has been abandon for many years.  Next spring we hope to bring this back to life again by allowing the member families to have their own garden plot.  Saturday we had a clean-up party cutting the excess grass and weeds.  We will then get a neighbor to plow the rich, brown soil after we spread manure from Juan’s cows and my chickens.  We plan to use this project to teach self-sufficiency tool for the members.

Members Working Together in Branch Garden

Today we had our Andorra Branch Primary Program.  Our new Primary President had never attended Primary because she joined the church as an adult, but today she organize a sweet little program with two primary children and a nonmember cousin singing and giving their little talks.  I remember the last primary program I attended in our Silver Lake Ward.  There were probably 200+ kids on the stand singing and giving their little talks over the pulpit.  The spirit is the same.  Primary children are the same all over the world we have come to see first hand.  Little 10-year-old Faviana gave a 10-minute talk on the restoration and coming forth of the Book of Mormon without any help from her teacher. There was an “espiritu sagrada” (sacred spirit) in the words and songs of the children.

Andorra Branch Primary Program

I sometimes wonder what the Lord would have us do during our 18-month calling in this branch where real growth is so difficult.  The local people have no God in daily routines and only go to church when someone dies.  Today in Priesthood meeting I called upon the 5 brethren to stand up and represent Jesus Christ to this Godless community.  I know that all of God's children will have his opportunity to know the truth and that all will eventually confess that Jesus is the Christ.  May we endure joyfully together until that day comes. It will be worth it.  That I believe and testify.

Elder and Hermana Fowers

Day by Day...Giving Thanks

Querido Familia y Amigos

We have learned our lessons…first of all, never leave your computer in the hotel and never go two weeks without writing the blog!  So much has happened in the last two weeks that it is rather overwhelming to try to decide what to write about. So we have decided to create a timeline that will give you snapshot of what fills our days.

November 22:  Attend a Catholic Funeral and High Mass for the mother of a sweet member, Maria Teresa in Andorra, who died at the age of 101 years.  It was a rainy, wet night and we only had a few hours warning, so winding our ways through the heart of Andorra de Valle to find the cathedral in a down pour was a miracle unto itself.  We understood little of the service because it was conducted entirely in Catalonian.  There were a few heads turned to try to read our badges and figure out why the Mormon missionaries were attending their services.

Funeral in the Andorra Cathedral

November 23:  Journal:  “I spent the morning studying and preparing for both my Seminary Lesson and visuals for primary music. I asked God for his help before I started and I could really feel his presence. I have come to love my quiet mornings of study as a sweet treasure.”

November 24:  After much searching, I finally found some turkey parts (a leg and a breast) and Amy sent me some sage seasoning so we were able to pull off a pretty authentic Thanksgiving dinner.  It was a bit more challenging this year because nothing come from a box or can.  Everything was made from scratch including the mushroom soup for green bean casserole.  We shared our feast with our missionaries and Shane our new member.  It never ceases to amaze me how much these young missionaries can tuck away!

So THANKFUL!

November 25:  Thanksgiving #2.  We drove to Lleida (two hours to the south) to help the Hermana’s there prepare an American Thanksgiving dinner for their branch.  Thank goodness I made the dressing ahead and had it in the crock pot, because all the prep for the meal was done on one tiny stove.  With a lot of help from the sisters in the branch, who cooked the chickens and some magic with stacking food five-deep in the mini-oven to try to keep it warm, we manage to serve a tasty meal.  What was to be 25 turned out to be 45 people that attended their activity!  There was a great spirit, which was felt by the many members and  investigators that participated.  We fell into bed exhausted!

American Thanksgiving including the Stuffing

Happy Hermanas after successful activity!

American Thanksgiving!

November 26:  We took off for Barcelona for Seminary training at the crack of dawn and managed to leave our computer in the hotel room!  (Thus the reason for no blog last week.)  We didn’t realize it until two hours later—PANIC MODE!  After much angst and maneuvering, and a lot of help from the local missionaries we were able to get it secured but had to wait another few days to get it back.  A miracle and a blessing!

November 27:  This was a Sunday.  So many of our members are young in their faith and have never had the responsibility of a calling, so we generally go prepared to help out wherever we can to bring the spirit into our meetings.  Last Sunday Elder Fowers spoke, and lead the music while I played the piano.  Then we taught Seminario together the second hour. The third hour he taught Young Man (we only have one) while I taught Primary and with my limited Spanish… it was really challenging!  The highlight of the day was that Shane received the Priesthood and was ordained to the office of Priest.  What a great young man.

November 28:  There is a little chapel called Saint Antoni, on the hill near our house that we decided we would hike to for preparation day.  It was a cold, overcast day but was so beautiful as we saw in emerge from the distant mist. In our travels that day we also visited the ancient city of Cerc just a few miles from our house.  Its centerpiece at the top of a steep, winding road was an old chapel built in the 9^th century.  I am always so in awe of what they were able to construct without any power tools or machinery?  I would love to have had a bird's eye view to watch that construction.

Morning Mist

Exploring St. Antoni

Still standing after ten centuries!

Bell Tower

Ancient Foot Bridge

Top of the World

November 29:  Sometimes as missionaries, we think that everyday we should have some amazing interactions and spiritual experiences, but that is not really the case.  Most days are pretty normal filled with the routines of life.  The spiritual experiences happen very rarely, but when they do, it is enough to keep you going.  The joy of that occasional bright light and joyful heart makes all the redundant work worth it!

December 1:  One of our greatest assets is the farmhouse, so we decided that we would invite individual families to our house for a holiday dinner.  In the past week we have had three families join us for a feast.  It gives us the opportunity to love and serve them on a more intimate level and testify of Jesus Christ.  “If you feed them they will come…”  has become our mantra. 

One of many Holiday Meals

December 3:  Saturday morning we had pigs ears for breakfast. We were invited by our farmer neighbors to join them for their annual pig slaughter.  We missed the first day when they were dressing out the beast, but joined them on the second day.  They traditionally serve the pig’s ears and feet that have been boiled all day for breakfast the following day…So there I was sitting next to Juan at the breakfast table and he was scooping the delicacies onto my plate.  I could not bring myself to eat them…but Elder Fowers gave it a go.  We spent the rest of the day up to our elbows in bins of ground meat and fat helping them make miles of sausage that were encased in cleaned intestine.  They will then hang and age them for six months. Luckily we had a afternoon appointment so we miissed the blood sausage production. What a cultural experience.  Elder Fowers explained it precisely when he said, “They eat everything but the oink!” 

Mixing Sausage by Hand

Making Sausage in the Slaughter Room

Miles of Sausage

As you can see.  We keep ourselves very busy. The people of Spain are beautiful. Not only our sweet members, but the kind people we meet on in our Le Seu community. Each day as we interact we try to see them as Heavenly Father sees them.  Not as they are at the moment, but what they may become.  We are humbled and thankful for the blessings in our lives, especially each of you.  May you all be blessed during the holidays.

Mucho Amor,

Elder and Hermana Fowers

Hermana helping neighbors move their cows.

Going the Distance

Dear Beloved Family and Friends,

Greetings from Spain! Happy Thanksgiving this coming Thursday!  Though we won't be sharing a meal, we will

When you live on the very edge of the mission, everything takes a long time.  For example, this week was transfer week.  The missionaries get notified on Saturday and then leave for their new area on Tuesday morning. Our little Rama hosted a “funeral” for our “dying” Elder Cullimore on Monday, and we were so sad to see him go since he was our trainer during those first few crazy weeks of adjustment.  So, our Elders left on Tuesday, but because of distance and logistics our new Elder didn’t arrive until late Thursday after hours of train and bus travel.  We were delighted to welcome Elder Bromley along with Elder Graham back in our little corner of the mission.

 

Welcome Elder Bromley

We spent a great deal of time preparing for our Seminary SuperSabado.  Once a month we have a special seminary Saturday where we have time to dive a little deeper into the doctrine.  We have four seminary students and we had 100% attendance, plus our Elders.  After our lesson, we had tons of fun with some “Win it in a Minute Games” and stacks of waffles.  (Our big purchase of the week was a waffle iron!)  I was so involved in the activities of the day; I only snapped a few marginal pictures. This is the first time there has been any kind truly organized seminary program, so we feel it is great step forward.

SuperSabado Waffle Stupor

Today was stake conference, which was held in Lleida, a two-hour bus ride to the south.  Much of Elder Fowers’ energy this week was spent on arranging for the bus and contacting each member to personally invite them to attend.  Even though each member was required to pay 5 Euros for the bus, we had a wonderful response with 28 in attendance!  Sadly we had to leave a few behind that had intended to go because they missed the bus. (Spanish Standard time is pretty loose.)  Elder Christopher Charles of the Seventy spoke and we were all richly feed.  Our new member, Shane was encircled in the arms of friendship throughout the day.  It was very special to him because Elder Charles was from England and his wife was from Scotland and he could hear their talks in English rather than through a translator. Beyond that, he was able to meet Elder Charles and his wife personally afterwards in the new member meeting. What a blessing for us all! Our dedicated members, boarded the bus at 8:30 a.m. and arrived home at 4:30 p.m. just to attend a two-hour stake conference.  We are so very proud of their sacrifice.

Praying that the Member will Show Up

Gathering for a Long Ride to Conference

Elder Fowers nurturing our new member, Shane.

Arriving Home

Surrounded by our Beloved Andorra Branch Members

We have some sad new to report.  One of Elder’s chickens died and the rest have gone into the molt.  So far we are not too successful as chicken farmers, but he still goes out everyday to bond with his little hens.

Farm Boy!

Happy Thanksgiving this coming Thursday!  Though we won't be sharing a meal, you will be in our minds our hearts.  Each one of you is such a blessing in our lives and your prayers for us are evidenced in our work everyday.  We love you and ask the Lord's richest blessing to be with your families during this holiday season.

Love and Prayers from Spain,

Elder and Hermana Fowers

A Mighty Change of Heart

Hola Mis Familias y Amigos,

Hemos tenido una semana fantástica!  (We had a fantastic week!)…Not because the work has changed, but rather we are beginning to change.  We have spent a great deal of time analyzing  our motives and have had wonderful spiritual insights that have changed our view of the work we are doing here. Thanks kids for your counsel and encouragement. As it says in Mosiah…”a might change of heart.”  We have come to understand, more clearly than ever before that our work is really about “the one”, rather than the administration of the branch.  We zeroed in our efforts this week on how to better serve individuals. 

Gladys, for example, joined the church with her father more than ten years ago in the Dominican Republic.  Both she and her father were fully immersed in the joy of the gospel and the bonds of fellowship in their ward.  After a few years however, returned to his vise and became an alcoholic with confrontations with church leaders. When he left the church, his young daughter left with him.  She then moved to Spain with her non member mother and brother and has been living in Le Seu for some years with occasional visits from missionaries.  We decided to visit with her this week and really understand her journey and her feelings towards the church.  The Elders had brought her a copy of the Himnos as a gift because she said that she loved the music of the church.  We opened our Ipads and played “Oh Esta Todo Bien” (Come, Come ye Saints) and her eyes welled with tears and she couldn’t speak for joy.  During the conversation she told us that she had been excommunicated some time ago in the Dominican Republic and the leaders told her not to come back.

After leaving, Elder Fowers was still really puzzled by the fact that she was listed with a membership number.   So he called the Church confidential records department.  To our delight we found that she WAS NOT excommunicated.  In her young mind, it was apparently a miscommunication between her and local ward leadership.  Oh that you could have been there when she found out that she was a member in good standing and she was welcomed back with open arms.  She was beyond happy!  She came to church today and threw her arms around me and said over and over, “Estoy en mi casa otra vez!” (I am home again.) We may not be able to rescue then all, but we found Gladys.

It is hard to express how difficult it has been for me to be so limited in my ability to speak Spanish.  My gift to teach the gospel has been silenced by my inability to speak…until we met Shane!  Many times in recent weeks I have been blessed to participate fully in teaching the gospel of the restoration to Shane in our home.  Oh, what a blessing to able to teach and testify in English.  It feels like I have been let out of a language prison. Shane was baptized yesterday, and I have never met a man more fully converted or more profoundly taught by the spirit. It was a hallowed experience to watch the spirit work in his heart and mind.  Beyond that, he has joined a congregation with which he can’t communicate, but he knows that he has found truth, and is pressing forward with courage.  We have touched his life but even more so he has changed our hearts. What a joyful day!

Elder Cullimore and Shane Burke Waiting for the Baptism

Deep Thought

Our Adopted Irish Son

Elder Fowers Conducting Services Poolside

After Shane's baptism all came to a celebration at the farmhouse. Here is sister Fowers with Cheita and Gabriela helping her in the kitchen, while I was outside showing everyone my chickens.  Actually the farmhouse is becoming a gathering place where joy and a spirit of fellowship resides.  The members all tired to make Shane feel part of the branch even though few words were exchanged. 

Hermana's Kitchen

It's transfer week and we are losing our beloved Elder Cullimore.  He has been with us since we arrived in the Andorra Branch, always patiently teaching us old-timers all that we needed to know to survive while we settled into our calling.  He is an incredible missionary who never fails to bring the spirit in whatever situation he happens upon.  No matter the challenge, we could count on Elder C. to face it with optimism and determination.  He will be greatly missed.

Goodbye to Elder Cullimore from dear Friends

Each morning we awake to the most beautiful sunrises over the Pyrenees mountains.  This is a picture of our back yard.  A new born calf frolics in the pasture in front of our bedroom window.

Pyrenees Sunrise 

Last week was so challenging, but as we continued in faith and waited upon the Lord, our hearts have begun to change through his tender mercies and insights.  We are grateful for your love and support and most of all your letters of encouragement, it has made such a difference!  We love you all so very much.

Mucho Amor,

Elder and Hermana Fowers

Caring for the Flock

Hola Familia y Amigos,

Meet Shane!  Shane is a young Irishman who is living in Le Seu as an English teacher in a local high school.  A few weeks ago, he came walking by when the Elders who were hosting an open house at the chapel, inviting passersby to come inside and view Bible Videos.  As they approached Shane, he held up his hand and said, “I don’t speak Spanish”, without missing a beat, Elder Cullimore said, “Great, I speak perfect English.”  He did come inside and was touched by the teaching of Jesus Christ.  He has been studying with the missionaries, searching the scriptures and sincerely trying to come to know the truth.  He is planning to be baptized this coming Saturday and we are overjoyed.

Meet Shane! Planning for Saturday baptism.

Early this week we were blessed to host the Maxfields, another senior couple that serve with the Young Single Adults in Barcelona.  We had the blessing of picking them up in the Puigcerda train station and driving the northern route through France to Andorra to show them the amazing Pyrenees.  We came upon the ruin of an old French castle, a fortress of yester years.  Of course we were blessed to visit a couple more ancient church, one of which we were able to get inside and see the simple beauty of its architecture. I'm not sure how many we have seen so far, but the antiquity of these structure continue to intrigue us. 

Abandoned old French Castle

French Countryside in Full Foliage

Santa Joan de Caselles Church

One of the true engineering wonders of Andorra is a 12^th century arched bridge that is still fully functional today.  It was built across the Segre River as the main access from Andorra de Valle into Spain. I simply can’t figure out how they were able to build it across a roaring river with huge stones and no power equipment. 

Ancient Bridge in Andorra

Imagine the centuries of feet that have crossed this bridge.

The other big event of the week was that we got chickens!  Yup, we are now chicken farmers.  We bought just a few for ourselves and are hoping that as members find the means they will buy a few of their own to join the flock.  Elder Fowers is getting a real kick out of it…see the picture of his first egg. You would think he laid it himself.

First Egg!

Latest Edition to the Farmhouse

We have faced many challenges in the past weeks, but we continue in the work because we love our Savior and know that we are the only “hands” he has to serve the members in this corner of Spain.  We continually pray for his grace, guidance and comfort.  Even with all our challenges, we see his hand and witness miracles.

Couple of random pictures:

Handcranked, Wooden Farris Wheel at Local Fair

Still out working in a downpour.  Love the Hat!

Thank you for your love and support,

Elder and Hermana Fowers