Our first week in Madrid

What a week!

We said goodbye to our son Michael, who had helped us get to the airport with all our luggage, and left SLC the afternoon of Monday, the 4th., arriving in Madrid on Tuesday the 5th at 5:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. Utah time) after a very long day in airports and airplanes, and a 6 hour time change.

our new bed, comfortable and welcoming

President and Sister Tenney met us at the airport with a van they had borrowed from the Missionary Training Center.  They had asked one of the stake presidents to drive for them, but we were so tired we didn't even get his name.  As they dropped us off, they invited us to their apartment for dinner a half hour later, and told us after dinner we would be free to go to bed, but that we would be serving at the temple bright and early the next morning, beginning with prayer meeting at 7:15 a.m.  Temple apartments are compact but comfortable.

from bed looking thru living room into entry hall

Tenneys had invited our friends the Eastmans (former missionaries in Brazil with us) and the Zimmermans, who live right across the hall from us.  We ate a very nice meal, returned to our apartment to get unpacked enough to find our temple clothes for the morning, and fell into bed.  We had been up for about 30 hours, and were very tired.  This is what our apartment looks like.

bathroom

kitchen seen from living room

living room seen from kitchen

The apartments for both temple missionaries and temple visitors are in a building in the temple complex called "the Tower," which also houses the Missionary Training Center on the upper floors, and the Distribution Center, Employment Center, and Family History Center on the ground floor.  Across from the Tower is the Stake Center, where our ward meets.

When we arrived, members from Portugal were here, so many of the ordinances, such as baptisms and marriages, were done in Portuguese; but there were people from France and Italy visiting as well.  It is an interesting challenge to perform ordinances such as baptisms and marriages in several different languages, even when reading them from cards.  It brought back memories of Brazil so strongly I sometimes found myself speaking the wrong language.

We begin our day at the temple with a prayer meeting, a short instruction video, and an assignment meeting where we receive our schedule for the day.  At one of the prayer meetings President Somoza, first counselor in the temple presidency, compared John 3:17, "For God ^asent not his Son into the world to ^bcondemn the world; but that the world through him might be ^csaved" with John 17:3, "And this is ^alife ^beternal, that they might ^cknow thee the only true ^dGod, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast ^esent."  The temple, where everyone is dressed in white, and everything is quiet and peaceful, is a wonderful place to think about God and Christ.

Some of the places in the temple are for women only, and it was there that I came to know women have a special place in God's plan.  Spending time serving there is a special blessing.

On Saturday I was assigned to serve awhile in a room called the Celestial Room.  When I arrived the only other person there was a man standing to one side with his eyes closed.  He told me he was a bishop, praying for help for his ward.  Later a group of men gathered in one end of the room and talked quietly; a couple came in and sat hand in hand with their eyes closed; a woman sat down and looked up at the huge chandelier, lost in thought; several people sat and silently read the scriptures or just sat in prayer.  For the first time in the week I had time to sit and enjoy the spirit of the temple.

Sunday we went to church, and got to see many of our old friends.  Sister Smalley, and a new missionary couple named the Sullivans, were there trying valiantly to understand Spanish, and I was very grateful that I was past those initial days remembered from our first mission to Spain.  We are comfortable enough with the language we can begin befriending, supporting and serving, and everything is good.

-- Monti