On Tuesday we worked part of the day in the office and then packed and prepared for our trip to
Spain. Our flight left around 4:30 PM and it was very smooth and arrived on time. Paco met us at the airport and took us to meet Elder and Sister Rodriguez, a senior couple from Cadiz who are serving a 6-month mission in Madrid and will be helping us with the PEF contacts there. They are staying in an ApartHotel. This is a building of apartments which can be rented for one or two nights, six months, or whatever length of time is desired. Paco got us an apartment there for our two nights in Madrid. This made it much more convenient for him to pick both couples up and return us in the evening. After we visited and got acquainted, we went to VIPS for wonderful salads.
The next day the Rodriguezs invited us for breakfast. Then we had a day of training. This couple has never used the computer much, so we had to be quite simple in our training. Paco will be around to help them if they have questions, or they can email or call us also. They speak only Spanish, so it was a little challenging for me, but I was able to communicate some and Paco helped when it was needed. We broke for lunch and Paco took us to another VIPS because Sister Rodriguez doesn’t like Oriental food.
We finished up about 5:00 PM and then went to the old downtown Madrid again. I took quite a few photos, as there are so many beautiful buildings there. Many are so large it is impossible to get the whole building in the picture. Paco was disappointed as the place he wanted to buy us dinner was no longer in business, but we found another place and had some interesting sandwiches.
We had an early flight out in the morning and told Paco we would call a taxi. He insisted on picking us up, but when he was half an hour late because he was caught in traffic, we ended up getting a taxi and got to our gate just in time to board. There’s nothing like a little excitement to get the heart pumping! Needless to say, our week passed by rapidly.
Last evening we went to a nice production put on by the EFY attendees from Portugal. It lasted over two hours, with lots of music by the young people and video presentations and remarks by the leaders. We really enjoyed it. When we tried to start our car afterward, we got nary a sound. We stopped Elder and Sister Johnson and with their help and cables from another family, we got the car started. But now we had another problem, the brake wouldn’t release so we could go forward. It was finally decided to abandon the car there in the parking lot of a school. The Johnsons gave us a ride home. We were unable to attend church in Caparica again today, but we enjoyed visiting the Miratejo Ward. It is continuing to grow and the chapel was quite full today.
We were saddened to learn that Fletch, our dog for the last 14 years, had died. A big thank you to Brett for taking care of his burial. We have many fond memories of Fletch—his rebounding of the basketball, his leaping and twirling when anyone was swimming, and just being a great dog. We will miss him.
I will include some pictures from our trip to Madrid, including a photo of Elder & Sister Rodriguez. The gospel is true and we are so grateful to have it to guide our lives and find happiness. Love to all!
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