Ama a los otros

This morning, we prepared for the day and had a breakfast of thin-sliced ham, scrambled eggs, pain au chocolat, and fruit juice. Mmmmmm. There is a subway station just a stones throw away, and that line took us straight to church. When we were just about there, a pair of Hermanas (Sister Missionaries) got on the train, and the next stop, several members got on, too. Well...we didn’t have to worry about going the wrong way to find the church building. We just followed everyone else. The meeting was nice, though I did have a headache toward the end. I was concentrating so much and trying to translate what I could for Sherry Ann. We debated whether to go to Priesthood and Relief Society, but in the end decided to go to Primary, since that would be easier to translate and understand. They were learning “Love One Another,” hence my title for today. I was asked to lead a group of children in reading John 13: 34-35. We were given instructions, and I asked the children if they knew what we were supposed to be doing. When they said, “No,” I told them I didn’t either. They giggled. We read the scripture and talked about it. Sherry Ann’s assignment was to play the piano for singing time. Of course she left he reading glasses at the hotel, so we decided that when we go to church in Rome, she needs to take them just in case she might need them. It was fun to be able to help out. On the way back to the hotel, I practiced what we had learned. When we were just about to the hotel, I noticed a man drop some money on the ground...10 Euro...so I picked it up and gave it back to him. Remember that we can show love to anyone at any time.

So, after returning to the hotel and changing, we spent the next 8 hours touring other parts of Barcelona. The first order of business was lunch. We had a baguette with Iberian jamòn and some AWESOME potatoes with sriracha sauce and shaved jamòn. Wow! It was so...perfect. Then we made our way by subway to the temple of the Sagrada Familia, designed by Antoni Gaudi, which began construction in 1882 and has not yet been finished. You should read about it...it’s pretty fascinating. Then, we walked past the Casa de los Punxes, another really cool looking building with towers and
pointed roof. Then, we were off to another Antoni Gaudi designed building...the Casa Ballò. You’ll have to look these up later since we’re still trying to get pictures made into a video. After going through that area a little, we made our way to the Arc de Triumf and the Park de la Ciutadella where we found a monumental fountain. However it was under renovation, and the water was off. We walked around the parc for a while longer and found the Castel de los Tres Dragones; yet another impressing piece of architecture.

It was getting close to dinner time at this point, so we found Xurreria and had Xocolata a la tassa con Xurros. Okay, so in this area of Spain, they use “x” for the /ch/ sound. We decided to have a little dessert before dinner, including a divine tarta al Pom, and a hard and crunchy tarta al Xocolata (really just a brownie with walnuts). So, last night we found a Taqueria Mexicana that we wanted to try. So we went there and had some delicious street tacos and nachos. I know, not very “Spanish” of us. We finished dinner at about 8 pm, and headed to our final destination for the evening. Plaça de Espanya. There is a huge monument in the middle of the roundabout, and then two mammoth towers flanking the boulevard leading to the Font Mágica and the National Museum of Art of Catalonia. On the way up the boulevard, we saw two older couples switching places to take pictures, so I asked whether they would like us to take their picture all together. They agreed and then reciprocated the favor. They were from the lakes region of the UK near the border of Scotland, but not in Scotland. It was fun chatting with them for a moment, then we headed up toward the National Museum. We got there a little before 8:30, and people were crowding the area around the Magic Fountain waiting for the water show to begin. So, we joined them and waited perched on a wall...for an hour! But it was worth the wait! Admittedly, we did leave before the show was over because we got thinking about how crowded the metro was going to get after the show...so we left and went back to the hotel. If was an exhausting day, but we saw so much.