Week 53 - October 2, 2018

Dear Family,

We just returned Sunday.night from Madrid where we held an Assistant Area Auditor Conference and helped with the training of AAAs from Spain, Portugal, Cape Verde, Hungary, Poland, Albania, and Croatia.  Prior to our coming, they had held the other two conferences in England and The Hague.  I really wish we could have gone to both of those, too, not only for the great countries they are, but because we really got to know these wonderful, dedicated people we met at this conference.  You feel a kinship with each other when you spend a few days together, and now I think they are more willing to ask for help and are willing to trust that we can help them by the presentations and interactive learning that we had there.  It has truly been a blessing to get to know couples and auditors called from their stakes from all over the world!   I have so much respect, especially for the Senior Missionaries who have left family, packed up their houses, some selling many of their items in order to have money for their missions, and some even pushing aside aches and pains to get the opportunity to serve.  It really humbles me to think about the many sacrifices so many of these people make.  In addition, we are working with many who live in the various countries and never have had the training to know how to handle finances and the record keeping that this requires.  I feel that this is such a great way to teach them a life skill as well as teach them how to care for the widow's mite that is entrusted to them.  

 Senior Couples:  Burkhardts in Croatia, Gagniers in Hungary, Williams in ______

 and Us in Frankfurt

Real "fish and chips!"

There wasn't a lot of time for seeing many things in Madrid because we were pretty busy with meetings, but we did take a morning to see the Grand Palace, the official residence of the First Family of Spain.  They don't actually live there, but choose to live in the outskirts of Madrid in a more modest palace.  The Grand Palace is only used for state ceremonies. It has 1,450,000 sq ft. of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the largest royal palace in Europe by floor area.  It truly was amazing!  I just wish we could have taken more pictures inside.  One room was made entirely or porcelain--walls, ceiling, light fixtures, everything!  Amazing!

Spain's first family.

It was great attending another session at the Madrid Temple.  

The other fascinating thing we did was go to church in a little UNESCO World Heritage City by the name of Alcala de Henares about 30 miles outside of Madrid.  Of course, it was all in Spanish and we had to have an interpreter, but it was fantastic to see about 135 people in attendance.  We haven't seen those kind of numbers at Sacrament Meeting since we left home!  Afterwards, a church member took us on a walking tour around it.  We LOVED i!  We climbed the old tower there for a great view and could see the huge nests of the more than 90 storks who make their forever home there.

We climbed the tower to the very top for a view of the entire city.

Example of one of the pelican nests on top of the building to the right.  They are huge nests!

 Another fascinating place was the convent where nuns make candied almonds, but because it is a cloistered convent, no one can see the nuns.  You just order the amount you want to the nun behind the little revolving door, she puts the amount in the door, turns it, and you put your money in the door, which pays for the delicious treats!  So fun to see the process! 

We, also, were able to visit the home of Cervantes, who wrote "Don Quixote," (later made into the musical, "Man of LaMancha," and which book has been translated into more languages than any other book except the Bible.  Cervantes is a real hero in that town (and all of Spain!)  

Then we walked through the University section, which is housed in those 16th Century buildings.  BYU actually has a satellite college there, where of course, they teach all-things Spanish.  After the walking tour, we headed for the airport and back to Frankfurt.  

We were pretty exhausted on Monday, but we had to hit the ground running  because there was so much to catch up on while we were away.  We didn't even leave the office until about 6:30 p.m., so we had a long day!  But, both Gpa George and I felt we had accomplished so much, and that is a great feeling.

We hope you are all doing well.  We send our love and can't wait for the forthcoming visits.  We can handle as many people as want to come.  We have a hotel which is literally 100 yards from our front door, and from this little city of Friedrichdorf, we can get trains to anywhere in Europe, practically.  We will have great suggestions after we spend a little more time here.

Thanks for all your love and encouragement!

Love, Gma Laura

PS  I hear you are a grandmother now, Beth!  I really want to see pictures!