My thoughts- by Elder Stephenson

Here I am at the MTC in Spain

What is it like  be a Senior Missionary Couple in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?  It has been wonderful.  At this point I (we) feel like unworthy servants.  At the MTC in Provo all the senior missionaries  were treated like royalty  by the Senior Missionary teachers and by the young missionaries.  We found the world to be small as we met old friends, the Kays’ from Minneapolis, distant cousins- decendants of Thomas Christiansen Stephenson, and neighbors of family in Emery county Utah.  The quality and strength of the young missionaries at the MTC is admirable.  The young teachers, usually return missionary students were also great.

 The building on the left is the MTC in Spain on the right is the Madrid Temple

You can see how close we were.

The experience at the MTC and Temple in Madrid was also Faith building.  The language training mission President Elder Sitterud grew up in Huntington Utah and he told me of the time he worked for my Uncle Ralph Lemon hauling hay, he said he never had worked so hard, starting at 4 a.m. taking a break at 10 and working until 5 or 6 in the evening.  He and his wife are great language training mission leaders always keeping  a spiritual focus with the missionaries in all their meetings .  The other amazing thing was the temple attendance.  We were there for two weekends and each weekend the temple would get busy Thursday thru Saturday with buses arriving from Portugal, France or Spain.  We attended 5 sessions at the temple and the sessions were taught in 4 different languages.  Those that could not speak the language chosen, usually by the native language of the majority in the session, would have head sets with channels for their particular language.   It was so beautiful to see all of Gods young children there to be sealed to their parents.  We saw children from Spain, France, Portugal, Africa, Russia. 

This is a picture of Elder Stephenson and the 2 young elders we took with us to Madrid to get our Resdencia cards on our 40th day in Spain.

playing minute to win it  with Chopsticks and 5/8" nuts

Oreo minute to win it

Eating Dinner after the Games ( chili on baked potatoes)

We attended some JAS (Jovenes Adultos Solteros) meetings and Institute Classes at the centers in Madrid.  It was great to see their depth of gospel principle knowledge and their friendship one to another.  We have been greeted with great enthusiasm and love wherever we go by the members and the young missionaries that are here.  We are trying to help the young adults move forward in their lives adopting principles that bring eternal happiness by living the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Our Family Home Evening and weekly activities have been great, they always start with a spiritual message and the activities have been playing games, having a “Minute to Win It” contest, singing Karaoke,   Elder Stephenson was careful to just watch, a visit to the large Aquarium Museum etc.