Seville
The Seville Mission: back after a forty-year stint. Wow. I feel so incredibly blessed; what a tender mercy it is to return! Even though some details have faded, I still have vivid memories of “tracting”, teaching, and feeling the Spirit change my heart. I have felt the 'aftereffects' (blessings) of having served a mission for forty years—countless blessings and tender mercies. I am so deeply grateful for the opportunity to have served here and to finally return. God is so Merciful.
Seville is a big city, and looking back, I think I rarely ventured into the city center during my mission. We didn’t go to the bullring, we didn’t shop in the old city, and I don't even remember visiting the cathedral. Instead, we rode buses and walked the streets of smaller pueblos and the outskirts of Seville.
This time, however, we truly experienced the vibrant culture the city has to offer. We 'played tourist' and loved every minute of it! One thing I did remember was peeling those BIG grapes in preparation for the twelve gongs of the New Year's Eve midnight countdown. We tried our hand (and our mouths!) at stuffing in twelve grapes again. There was simply no way to get them all down in time, but it was absolutely fun!
