ELDER BEDNAR visits Spain. . . . .

A couple of weeks back, Elder Bednar came to our mission (Espana, Madrid) and asked to be able to meet with all of the missionaries, so we all headed to Madrid, on Saturday the 14th of April, and had a three hour meeting with him in the chapel that is located on the Temple Grounds.  What a quick 3 hours that was!!

(Sorry that there are no pictures to verify, but it is a little squirrelly trying to take a picture in the chapel!!)

The first thing he said as he began his time with us, as he noticed all the missionaries bring out their pens and paper, to take notes, was to make a comparison between the large plates of Nephi and the small ones.  The large ones, he said, were confined to things mostly historical, and told us not to take notes like on the large plates--meaning that he did not want us to write a 'history' of the meeting--rather, he desired that we do something more likened unto the small plates, with a recording of the more spiritual things;  things that come into our minds as we listen.  The whole idea was to write down the things that aren't said, rather the things that are felt in the heart--the things that the Spirit whispers to us as we contemplate the proceedings of the meetings.

Made a lot of sense to me!

Before his coming to Spain, we were all sent 4 of his recent talks, to study, and learn, and prepare our minds and hearts to be taught by the Spirit.  Then, he spent almost the entire time asking us what we had learned (heard) during the study of the talks.  It was fun to be taught in this manner!  The time just flew.  One of his main objectives what to then get us to 'act' upon the things that the Spirit had already taught us.  Imagine that--learn something, then act upon it!   That seems to be one of his favorite things to talk about, lately, and it is sorely needed.  "Good meeting"!  Now, go home and DO something about what you have learned.  Seems to be a good practice for all of us to employ.

The meeting concluded by him inviting the missionaries the ask him anything they wanted to ask.
It took a little while, but then they began to have faith in his invitation, and the questions came.
Again, the time flew by much too quickly.  What a treat!  He is such a 'normal' person, but the spirit that emanated from his as he taught, left no one in doubt as to his Apostleship.


We probably have 4 of the best missionaries right now, than we have had the entire time we have been here.  They are busy teaching a lot of people, and they invite us to go with them every once in a while, to help with the teaching.  Also, our piso (apartment) makes a nice place for them to bring people to, so that the teaching environment is conducive of the Spirit.  We have been very busy also, trying to keep up with them.  It helps to make the time move on more rapidly, also.

Transfers come every six weeks.  Most of the missionaries keep track of time this way.  "I only have two more transfers." they will say, when you ask how much time they have left.  New missionaries come, and the older ones leave for home, every six weeks.  Hna. Bake and I have only between 2 and 3 transfers left.  We still don't know our exact release date yet, but that should be forthcoming, soon, we hope.  The missionaries are told their release date with about 5 months to go, so that if parents want to come and pick them up, they have time to plan for that event.  We will let you know.

We have been able to travel a little, (day trips, mostly) and have been able to see some real beautiful places so far.  We would like to spend a day at the beach (which, we are allowed to do!!), but the weather is warming up, and we have already had an experience that let us know that that is probably not a good idea!!  There are a lot of places (almost all of them) that have folks not fully clothed.  We were walking along one of our favorite places, not too long ago, and Hna. Bake said, "Don't look!"  Of course, I had to see what it was that I was not to look at, you know!!  Bad idea!!  Anyway, the beaches will probably be off-limits now--and we really wanted to take a dip in the ocean while we were here.  Maybe our branch president can direct us to a 'family' beach, and we will yet have that opportunity.

In the past month, we had the privilege of dedicating a new chapel
in A Coruna, the first real chapel in the Santiago District.
Hopefully, there will be more to come in the future.

There are 27 parking spaces in the basement, and four more
outside, on the property.  What a blessing that is, as parking
 is a beast here.

A chapel that will seat 170 people!  It is hard to imagine needing that many seats here.  Most of the branches are now around 30-40 people.  Seeing this chapel gives the small branches hope that they will grow. Ground was broken in Vigo for their chapel.  Santiago, when "grown up" will be the Stake Center.  We have the ground, just need more people to come.

The back yard, complete with a combo soccer/basketball court.

Yep, that's my car!  And I was the last one to park!  I have often
wondered, when I have seen stuff like this, that the guy in the
middle must have parked there first, and then the others came
and hemmed him in .  Not So!!!!!  It can be done!!  I have almost'
graduated to real Spaniard when it comes to parking.  I am just
not sure if that is a good thing, or not!!

Sometimes our GPS takes us to places, that I swear are not
where we should be going.  4-Wheeling, anyone?

Storms comin' in!!

On the plains, between Galicia and Madrid:  the canola fields
are ahead of where we are in the US.   They roll on for
miles and miles.  And. . . Julie Andrews was so wrong--the rain
in Spain stays mainly in Galicia, not in the plains!!

This is a famous rock in the little coastal town of Muxia
(pronounced   MooSheUh)  (it's Gallego)

When the tide is high, the waves cause this rock to ROCK!!, if
you know what I mean?  Tourists, and other normal people, have
their pictures taken under the rock.

This chapel in Muxia, is the chapel of the Virgen of the Boat.
There is a big celebration here every September, when the priest
blesses the fishing boats that leave from this harbor,so they will
be safe in their endeavors.  Muxia is on the coast that they call
La Costa da Morte  (The coast of Death).  The storms can get
pretty wild here.

Muxia, from the parking lot.

The street of the 'barca'

One of our recent transferred Elders wanted to have a good P-day prior to moving out, so we took him and his companion to the far northeaster coastline of Galicia, to a place called the Playa de las Catedrales.  (the beach of the cathedrals).  The 'cathedrals' are a bunch of huge rock formations, just off the coastline, that are pretty impressive.  What follows is a picture tour of our outing.

Before dropping down to the beach.  Elder Hendrix, on my left,
and Elder Trassierra (from Spain).  Love these Elders!

Going here at low tide allows you to walk among the cathedrals.
Otherwise, you see them from above.

If there is water near, she has to get in it!!!  Love her!!

I always look wind blown!

This beautiful 'shrubbery' grows everywhere.  Look closely, though,
and you can see how nasty it is.  It will rip your lips off!!!, or
your legs, or ankles, or arms!!

We had heard that Lugo, one of the cities in our district, had some neat Roman walls that a person needed to explore.  We had to do some piso inspections (all the pisos in our district) so we built in some extra time to try to explore those walls.  We did not build in nearly enough time to do the job correctly, but enough to show you what is there.  We will return another day and do a better job.

These walls are some of the oldest in Spain.  The type of rock used
and the manner of the  construction will tell you that.

Every place has its own cathedral--and they are magnificent!!

The city sprung up both inside and outside the walls.  

It was kind of a hazy day, but you can still see the length of
just one of the four sides of the walls.  Pretty impressive!!

Wannabe!!!

For whatever reason, I don't know, they depict Santiago-
the Apostle James- as riding a horse.  Here in Lugo. this is
the official beginning spot of the Camino (the way) to Santiago.

One last fun thing before ending this epistle.  We found a new park one P-day and spent an hour or so there, just enjoying the solitude and beauty.  On the way out, Hna. Bake called my attention to this dark, black thing, in the pathway.  We had to get down real close to it to be able to tell exactly what it was.  This has got to be the largest SLUG I have ever seen in my life!!

Hna. Bake's hand, just for scale!!

Lunch anyone??

Can't end on something that ugly!!  They really have a ton of
cool plants and flowers here.   Hna. Bake tells me this is Bottlebrush.

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