Twelve years ago at this time, I was in the Portland, OR airport getting ready for the last of 4 flights that brought me home from my mission in Spain. I'd started my journey the day before with a roughly 8 hour train trip from Cartagena to Barcelona. Then early the morning of the 13th (it was a Thursday I think) I, along with 6 elders, left the mission home and headed to the Barcelona airport where we boarded a plane and flew to London. After a few hours in Heathrow, another elder and I boarded a plane to Seattle. From Seattle we flew to Portland where he was met by his family and I was met by a former companion who lived in Portland and had come home almost a year before. Then I flew alone from Portland to Medford where my family was waiting for me! By the time we drove home, dropped off my grandma and got to our house it was after midnight on the 14th. I'd been travelling close to 30 hours that day (Spain was 9 hours ahead of California) and was exhausted, but so excited to be home.
Our scanner isn't hooked up, and I've found that I haven't scanned many pictures from my mission yet. So here are just a few pictures from my mission:
From my first area, Valencia, where I was from October 1995 to March 1996. When US ships docked, they would often have tours for the public. We loved it because we got to speak with other Americans, enjoy American candy & soda, and we even got to enjoy "real" milk (it didn't come in a box that sat on the shelf). And what was also special was the chance to see our flag.
My second area was Elche...I loved Elche, it was a beautiful city set amid a forest of palms. I was only there from March to July of '96, but remember it well. We would often do contacts in the mercados (open air markets...kind of like farmer's markets) and we saw this man about once a week and he was happy to pose for a picture with me.
My final area was Cartagena where I was at from July 1996 to February 1997. I hadn't wanted to be transferred from Elche one bit, so it took me a little while to adjust to Cartagena. By the time I came home, I'd been there for 7 months and it was very hard to leave. My companion took this picture of me in one of my first few months in Cartagena when we'd gone exploring on our Preparation Day and gone up to a fort or something on one of the many hills surrounding the city.
I loved my mission and my time in Spain. I loved Spain (even eating snails) and someday would love to go back and see if I could find anyone I remember (or anyone that would remember me!) And some days it is almost like those 16 months were a dream. And some days I would so like to go back...to be so in tune with the spiritual aspects of my life and to have so few distractions. But as I start thinking of that, I usually get distracted by Joshua or Nathaniel needing Mommy for something, or Brian and I'm so glad to be where I'm at in my life now and am so grateful for the things that I learned on my mission that helped prepare me for marriage and motherhood. Yes, a mission can prepare one for that!
3 comments:
It was awesome being your comp!! Can't believe how quickly the time has flown! You were an incredible missionary.
Hna Dougall
Beth, I miss my mission sooo much. I loved every minute of it, including the hard ones. I, too, am so grateful for the things I learned on my mission that have prepared me to be a wife and mother. I wouldn't trade that time of my life, or this time of my life for anything in the world.
Thanks for that great reminder.
Ahhhhh Elche. My first city, and one of my favorites. I also remember that train ride you were on to Elche, because it was my first train ride to my first area...I spent hours without anyone who could speak English, the rest of my MTC companions staying north, and if it weren't for you, I probably would've gotten off at the wrong stop and ended up somewhere in Sevilla...good times.
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