Sunday, September 27, 2015

Spain Self-Reliance seminar & Temple Visit

As we arrived in Spain, we had lunch with our SRS manager, PAco, and then proceeded to hold meetings with the three stake presidents in Madrid.  It is a very positive way to leverage our visits, to hold meetings that might otherwise be difficult to organize.  In each of these cases we were able to spend a full hour discussing the self-reliance initiative in their stakes.  I believe that each of them came away with a better understanding of the doctrine and the benefit for their stake members.  Consequently, we anticipate this will increase their ability to bless the lives of their members.

After settling into a small apartment/hotel close to the temple grounds, we were able to have a wonderful evening sharing a dinner with PAco and his wife, Suzy.  They are a delightful couple that are very committed to the gospel.  It is wonderful to share stories and spiritual experiences.  In Spain, lunch starts at 2:00 pm and dinner is typically at 9:00 pm.   A little late for our customs, but when in Spain . . .

The next morning we were able to participate in an endowment session in the Madrid, Spain temple.  Personally, I was able to receive this endowment for my sixth great grandfather.  This finishes up some considerable temple work for this great grandfather, his wife and his children.  These were my first significant family history discoveries a couple years ago.  I am now excited to be able to finish up the sealing of this family together in a family sealing session when we return to Utah in November.  Going to the temple is so uplifting in the middle of a lot of activity in our lives.  Although we had done initiatory work and baptisms during our recent visit to Utah, it has been about a month since we have done an endowment session.  I was surprised how much I missed it.  With no temples open in Germany at this time, we need to take advantage of the opportunities when we are close to temples!  Since we held our meetings on the "temple square"  I was able to share photos during the day and in the evening.




After the temple session, we had some time to get caught up on emails, etc. and then we began setting up for the Seminar that was to begin that evening.  All of the Stake Self-Reliance Specialists for the stakes and districts in Spain were invited to a  Friday night and Saturday all day training session.  This was the primary purpose of our visit, to assist and to learn from this experience.  

Our first experience was to assist in setting up the tables, organizing the materials and setting out the snacks.  PAco, Debbie and I and one of his wonderful volunteers spent a few hours and when it was time to begin at 6:00 pm, we were ready.

The training began with a message from the Area 70 who also shared a summary message at the end of the training on Saturday.  We were pleased with the attendance, more than 20 stake specialists or members of the stake committees in Spain were in attendance.  Many had traveled four or five hours to get there.  

We focused our agenda around the new Leader Guide and then drilled down in more detail.  Several of the discussions were led by some of the specialists.  Some were very seasoned and dynamic, others were newly called and at the beginning of the learning curve. Debbie and I each had opportunity to lead some discussions with the help of able translators.  Each discussion including the learn, ponder and commit process that is used in the self-reliance materials.  Overall, we were very pleased with the experience.  As the Area 70 said in his closing remarks, Spain should see a significant increase in helping members become self-reliant from this day forward.  





We were especially impressed in the quality of the specialists.  This is our great blessing, to get to know such capable and humble members of the Church wherever we go.  That is how the Lord works, through each of us as we seek his guidance in our lives and in our responsibilities.  We know that he will always do his part if we but seek his help and put forth our efforts.  We have seen it happen over and over in our mission so far.  It is so clear that this is his work and we are so thankful to be able to be part of it!

Finally we were able to catch a late flight out of Spain and arrive home before midnight.  We are looking forward to staying in Germany for the next week!

Mostly business in Paris . . .

Our hotel in Paris was within walking distance from the Church meetinghouse where the self-reliance activities occur.  Each morning we walked to our work and walked back home at night.  This gave us a  completely different perspective of Paris than the normal tourist.  We had been to Paris 15 years ago, so we didn't feel a need to see the tourist spots anyway, plus there really wasn't much down time.  Below is a photo of the Church meeting house which is also shared with other tenants, including some apartments on the top floor.


From this building we were able to hold our bi-weekly video conference with our European managers and get acquainted with the building and spend more time with our manager, Momo.  We then took a trip in the afternoon to visit the site of the Paris temple which is under construction.   The first photo was taken through an opening in the fence in front of the temple.  This temple will not have a spire or an Angel Moroni due to local ordinances.  The next photo is from a side view where you can see the full size of the temple and the work that is occurring on the marble facing of the temple.





As Debbie said during the week, even though we did not see all of the normal tourist sites, we were able to see the most important building in France.  This temple should be ready for dedication by the end of 2016, so we should be able to be back to participate in the temple before the end of our mission.  The temple is on the west side of Paris, near Versaille.  As we drove back from the temple site, we drove along the Seine River and were able to see Paris from a car, which is somewhat complicated due to incredible traffic challenges.  However, the photos below are some that we took from the car, including some wonderful views of the Eiffel Tower.




We finished the evening back at the Church house where young adults were meeting for an activity.  We took the opportunity to visit with several of them to better understand the opportunities for education and work in France. This was most helpful for my understanding.  We finally finished the evening with a nice meal at a French restaurant (imagine that).



 

On Tuesday we joined with a stake president from Lyon, France by video conference and understood better the self-reliance progress and challenges in his stake and then held meetings with our manager and the full-time missionaries.  We finished by participating in a My Job Search self-reliance group until 8:00 pm.  We finished our night off with some gourmet ice cream in a location near to our hotel.





Finally, on Wednesday we held another video conference with a self-reliance specialist from Nice, France.  She was amazing! We would love to have more like "Dorothy" in all of the stake of the Church.



We then took to the subway to meet a stake presidency counselor for lunch.  He is the counselor responsible for the Stake Self-Reliance Committee.   En route to the meeting, we experienced the tight fits in the subway and this was during the middle of the day:


After the lunch, on our return, we took a few minutes to stop at the Louvre.  We did not enter into the museum but were able to enjoy the site as you can see in the following photos.  You can tell that Debbie loved the subway.


Upon our return, we had another video conference with a branch president in the Lausanne, Switzerland stake, held a phone conference with PEF HQ and finished with a wonderful meeting with the Area 70 over the French speaking stakes.  We shared our impressions from our trip and discussed some of his ideas to emphasize self-reliance with Priesthood leaders in his stewardship.

On the way back to our hotel, we saw some mimes that were incredible, they did not move the entire time that we watched them. I was able to stand and be one of them.  We then had another artistic ice cream treat and finished our evening with quiche lorraine.  The next morning we awakened early to go to the airport and continue our trip in Madrid, Spain.










Our first train experience in Europe . . . to Liège, Belgium

We just finished a very busy week visiting with two of our Self-Reliance Service managers in their regions.  It all started 8 days ago as we took our first train ride in Europe.  We boarded a train in Frankfurt to head to Liège, Belgium, 310 kilometers away.  The trip took just over two hours, including 3 stops along the way.  Below is a photo of part of our car on the train, which had over thirty cars on it.


We were met by our SRS manager at the train depot and arrived at a nice little bed and breakfast where we spent the night.  This was a step back into the past for a hotel, which was charming and very sufficient.


On Sunday morning we went to the Church house, where we met with the Stake Presidency, the High Council, the Stake Relief Society President and the Bishops of the stake.  We had a small sacrament meeting with them and attended while they covered other stake business. Then they gave us one and a half hours to discuss the Self-Reliance initiative.  This was led by our Self-Reliance manager and the full-time missionary couple, but Debbie and I were able to share a few ideas and our testimonies.  The meeting was held in French.  We had a high councilor that sat by us and translated.  For once, I was at the disadvantage in the language arena, at least Debbie understood a bit of what was going on.  We were very pleased with the time given and the positive response that we received from the priesthood leaders.  This stake had not participated in the Self-Reliance initiative until this point, but we believe that they are now on their way.


Once again, we wanted to keep the Sabbath.  We were pleased that the missionary couple and our manager had the same idea.  They had some food for us to eat at the Church after the meetings and then we drove for four hours to Paris, France, where we would be for the next 4 nights.  This always allows us time for a lot of conversations, getting to know our manager and discussing a wide variety of topics, from personal to "business".  These may be the most important moments that we have and it is always beneficial to follow a scheduled meeting so that we can talk about the successes and challenges.