Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Delwyn's Birthday & Conference

On Delwyn's birthday, Hermana Hinckley and President bought Chocolate Neapolitanos for his birthday. After she had them in the office Hermana remembered he didn't care for Chocolate. She felt really bad. He was very gracious though. The rest of us really enjoyed them. I made a Carrot Cake for his birthday that we had after lunch that day. He ate the Carrot Cake.
Danette wanted me to take a picture of one of the pictures in a folder we got from Lleida of the tapestry the they had hanging on the wall. This is a picture of one of them. There were about 18 of them. They were about 10' x 18'. They were really huge. This was in an old Cathedral that they took over and made a fort for the army. They really ruined a lot of the Cathedral.
Our piso clean in Tarragona. We had the Elders take a picdture of one of the statues in the end of a street. It is a stature of a human ladder.
The two Elders that were in the City. Elder Close and Elder Mettice. Elder Close is Hermana Hinckley's nephew. He is the really tall one. We had cleaned their old piso and we helped them move into their new one. When the landlord checked out the piso after we had cleaned it, he said it was cleaner than when they moved in. One of the very few pisos that we got the deposit back.
When Elder Teixeira was in town, we had 3 Zones in town. The couple on the right is Elder and Hermana Thompson. They live in Manacor which is an island in the Mediterranean. We think President should let all the married couple have a retreat weekend on the island.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Valencia

While we were in Valencia, we went to se Lladro. What a beautiful place. It was so interesting to go on the tour. After seeing the work that goes into these pieces, you can understand why they are so expensive.
This is the Christus on the left and the one on the right is one of 2 Elders with the Book of Mormon. Good advertisement! They even have their name tags.
Here is Cleopatra's ship. This was only 120,000 Euros. So we didn't get it this time. The picture doesn't do it justice. It is about 4ft. long and about 2 feet high. You need to make it larger to appreciate the work.

Here is Cinderellas Pumpkin. It wasn't quite as much as the ship, but not much less.
As we were driving, this was a good look at the Sea. The gard rails were in the way. We don't thing they want us to see the views off the road, because there are either rails or trees in the way.
This is a picture that was just across the road from the view up above. All the houses point to the sea. I guess if I was there that is what I'd want also.

We visited the la llotja de mercaders (Commodity Exchange Building) while we were there. This is considered the most emblematic building of the Valencian civil-Gothic period. This building has 3 parts to it. The Contract Hall, Tower and the Pavilion of the Consolate de Mar. This picture is of the front door. It is the original. Looks like Delwyn is tired.

Here is the roof of the Pavilion of the Consulate built in 15th Century. I believe this is where they must have had their meetings or other business. It is remarkable.
This is the Contract Hall where they did their selling of goods. The top is the prettiest so that is why I took the top. The floor was just a plain floor. I couldn't get a picture of the tower because it was closed. It was way old and not in good repair. We could just look in it.
We visited another Cathedral and a Basilica. They were right next to each other. There was also the Bell tower in the Cathedral. This is over looking Valencia from the tower.
This is overlooking the Cathedral and the Basilica. We had to pay 2 Euros each to climb to the top. It was 207 steps up. This one was a little bigger than the one in Lleida, but not much.


Just a little more of Valencia from the tower. I took this so you could see the Sea, but you can't really see it.
We are in the Cathedral. It was very interesting. They were having a mass or some other meeting while there were many people just milling around and looking at things. It is so different than our Temples.

One of the walls in one of the rooms in the Cathedral.
Here you can see the opening door of the Cathedral where we had to go around to get in. On the left you can see a store where you can buy just about anything that pertains to the Church.
This is a picture of the mass that was going on. I didn't have my flash on, so they didn't know I took a picture.
This is the bell tower. While we were up there, they rang the bell. I was right next to the bell and it liked to have blown me off the top. It was fun to watch though.
One of the many fountains. This was right out side by the Basilica.

This is the Basilica de los Desamparados. It is right next to the Cathedral.
We are facing the front of the Cathedral. We had to go around to the right to get into the building.

At night, I took a picture of the city from one of the towers on the entrance gate.

This is the entrance gate. You have to go around the left to climb to the top. It was dark and the stairs were really dark and hard to see where you were stepping. We made it safe and sound. It was a bit scary in places because it was so dark.