From Portugal With Love: May 26, 2013

Happy First Anniversary today to Brad and Suzie Henry, who were sealed in the Draper Temple one year ago today. We wish you many more years of happiness together. We are very excited that Gregg and Crystal’s baby will be induced on Tuesday, if she does not choose to arrive earlier. We can’t wait to get acquainted with her, but pictures will have to do until December.

We had a very busy, but wonderful week. After working at the office on Monday, we received a call from Elder Almeida and Elder Shumway that Paula’s husband had left her and could we take them to visit her in Caparica. She was an investigator with a baptism scheduled for Sunday. We took them and had a very nice visit with her. It was a difficult time for her, but she is converted and was baptized today, on her birthday. The ward really rallied behind her and we had a nice luncheon after the baptism. (I made Chocolate Crinkles on Tuesday night since we were going to return home from Spain on Saturday evening.) She is thrilled to be a member of the Church. She has daughters 10 and 13 who are being taught and were there today along with a 12 year old friend. We also met her mother, who is my age and a real spitfire. I really enjoyed her. She isn’t interested in religion right now because of the predicted end of the world which didn’t happen.

We flew to Madrid on Wednesday afternoon. Paco met us at the airport, took us to check in at our hotel, and then to his home to eat a wonderful Mexican dinner prepared by his wife, Susie, for their youngest son’s 20^th birthday. We enjoyed the evening with them. They are very gracious.

Thursday we met our new missionary couple, Elder and Sister Riggs from Concord, CA. We did some training and answered their questions regarding the PEF program. Elder Riggs served his mission in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Northern Chile, so he speaks Spanish quite well. He also worked in the USAF as a linguist in Spanish. He is very willing to do whatever he can to help with the work. She doesn’t speak much of the language yet, but is translating some documents for Paco at present. We enjoyed getting acquainted with them. Paco and Susie took us to a wonderful Chinese restaurant for lunch. Later we went downtown and walked past El Prado and viewed some of the downtown area, then enjoyed some great salads at VIPS.

On Friday we took a taxi to the temple and attended a Portuguese session. It was our first time in the Madrid Temple and it had been almost a year since we had been inside the temple, so it was a special treat for us. We also did another session on Saturday, but this time in Spanish. It is a large temple and very beautiful. We felt very blessed to have this opportunity.

Friday afternoon we were able to travel to Toledo with the Riggs and Paco and Susie. It is a very old city where Paco tells us that the Jews, Muslims, and Christians live together in peace and harmony. We had a wonderful time wandering through the narrow cobblestone streets, visiting a tapestry shop, a museum of Leonardo Da Vinci’s inventions which were constructed from his drawings, eating ice cream, and enjoying the view from a spot high above the city. There were statues and memorabilia of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza everywhere we went. Toledo is in his homeland of La Mancha.

On our flight home we sat next to Rolando from Mazatlan, Mexico. He had been in Portugal to participate in a mountain bike race of almost two weeks. He said it was really difficult, but he had enjoyed it immensely, had finished the race, had seen some beautiful sights, and made new friends. We had some good discussion on the importance of Jesus Christ and family with this wonderful Catholic man. We shared emails and he invited us, as did we him, to visit his country and he would be our host. He has a wife and four sons and is involved in the franchising of Burger King establishments in Mexico and the US. On our flight to Madrid, I sat next to a beautiful Brazilian lady who has lived in Spain for 18 years and flies to Portugal every week because of her employment. It is great fun to meet people from many countries.

We are so grateful for the opportunity and blessings of serving a mission. The gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives and it’s a privilege to witness the growth we see in the lives of new converts. Living the gospel is worth the effort!