Downtown Madrid

This is the subway.  It was very clean but had many many steps to get out of it at the end of our journey.

This is a water closet (ie.toilet) right on the sidewalk.  You put in a Euro and the door slides open and you step in.  There is also a small sink and a towel.

Everywhere we went there was marveloul wrought iron.  Fences, Giant Gates, window coverings and lots of ornamental.  I am a sucker for wrought iron but this was beyond compare.

One of the beautiful fountains in Madrid.

The Grand Palace.  This is actually the back.  It went on for blocks.

O Templo do Madrid- O Espanha

We experienced a wonderful miracle this week as we were able to go to the temple in Madrid Spain. We were traveling using Google Maps because Dad Hates his GPS.          He didn't think to talk to Vodaphone - our internet carrier to see if we would have internet in Spain.  We were about 172 hour out of Madrid when the internet quit.  We tried the GPS but it couldn't find the address.  Dad couldn't remember the name of the hotel so we couldn't even ask directions.  We were thinking we might have to turn back but we pulled off the road and had a prayer.  It was a simple prayer in which Dad said "Weŕe just to old people who want to go to the Temple."  We smiled at each other then tried our various devises again hoping to figure out something when lo andbehold the internet started working and took us all the way in to our hotel.  We were there three days and we did the work for several of my ancestors.  The day before we left we took two of the young women (Women but not married) with us and we had an adventure going through the subway and seeing many of the beautiful old buildings.  Madrid is a beautiful city.  Throughout the whole area there are parks and green areas with fountains and flowers.  It is amazing how much some greenery changes the environment.  Reminded me of Central Park in NYC. So Friday morning we slept in and started for home.  I kept checking the internet to see what I had missed while off line but it didn't work until about an hour from home.  Everything was the same.  Everything was charged but we didn't need the internet on the way home.  Miracles come to us and many times we don't even recognize them.  I'm glad that I recognized this one.

 This is the dormatory type hotel because so many people travel long distances to come to the Temple.  It was full so we stayed in a simple little hotel a couple of miles away.

I didn´t know Missionaries got sick

This week we have spent lots of time on medical issues.  Who would have thought about missionaries being sick.  We had one Elder who we think had a reaction to his malaria shot but is now doing well.  We had another who thought he had a fungus growing on his foot but it turned out that when his sox got wet they dyed the callous a kind of hinky purple to pink shade.  All is well with him.  We have a sister with some gynecological problems (enough said) coming up.  And we have an Elder with foot pain who needs an x-ray and a cat scan.  The insurance company only wants to schedule these one at a time so I have been jumping through hoops to get it all done.
Meanwhile, Sister Tavares had scheduled a tonsillectomy for an elder who has been suffering for months and feeling lousy.  We were asked to go to Lisbon and stay in the mission home as Pres.Tavares and her were due in the Acores (Azores) for a zone conference.  While they were in our area last week for a zone conference she got several calls about a Sister who apparently had appendicitis and needed immediate surgery.  So she and her husband left our conference a little bit early so she could be here with this sister.  We arrived on Thursday and were taking care of the sister and yesterday Elder Roberts took the elder to the hospital for his tonsillectomy.  He was scheduled to be there at 2:00pm with surgery at 4:00. He actually got taken to the operating room at 9:30.  He got out at about 10:30.  Elder Roberts didn't get back to the mission home until midnight after having gotten lost in Lisbon twice.  He didn't have keys to the mission home or the gate so I had to wait up for him.  Our Elder came to the Mission home today and  both he and Sister are doing very well.  Jello in the fridge.Ice Cream too. Sister Tavares, who is a mother hen, is probably flying back from the Azores today because she can't stand being away from her missionaries when they need her.  We will be here until Sunday then return to Loule. This morning when Elder 

Roberts left the alarm went off.  I didn't know what to do so I started punching buttons....President Tavares got a call from the police.  Luckily they didn't come here. All for now. MOM