Oh my goodness! Time is flying by! This is
week 5! What the heck!
Let´s start with
the park this week! It was spectacular! I got partnered with a native Ukrainian
so she of course spoke no Spanish so I was alone contacting basically,, but
she´d find the people and Id have a conversation and translate for her and then
translate whenever she wanted to say something. It was super difficult but
really good practice for me too. So at the end of our time in the park, we sing
as a group and companionships are chosen for contacting while people listen to
us. I was one of those companionships this week and met the coolest guy! He was
with his daughter and I asked him what was most important in his life and he
said it was of course his family. I was able to tell him a bit about the plan
of salvation and that families could be together forever. He seemed so
genuinely thankful to meet us and I felt so much love for him. I know that what
I felt for him is only a fraction of the love our Father in Heaven has for his
children, which is insane to think about. On the metro ride back to the CCM, we
rode past our stop because my companion was talking to a woman from Ukraine! So
we rode two stops past and then turned around to go back the right direction.
When we were waiting for our next metro, my companion spotted a guy and asked
if we could talk to him. I was a bit hesitant, but I agreed. HE WAS AWESOME! We
explained we were missionaries and asked if he´d heard about the Book of Mormon
or if he´d like to and he said he´d never heard of it, but would love to hear
more. I gave him some background and said it testified of Jesus Christ, and he
said, oh, just like the bible! And I was so excited! I told him it was just
like the bible and they both testified of Christ. I shared my testimony and
asked if he´d like to know more from some missionaries in the field and he said
yes. I gave him a contact card and we only need their name and one way to
contact them, so I told him that and he gave me every possible contact form he
had! He was so thankful. It was such an awesome day in the park! My companion
was such a positive influence and really helped me to be optimistic even when I
didn’t want to be.
Every
week, we are assigned talks for sacrament meeting, and you prepare a talk and
then random people are assigned to speak, but it´s in your mission language. I haven’t
been called up yet, but I have a really strong feeling I will be this week,
which is our last week giving talks since our last week is Fast Sunday.
We
sing on the temple steps every Sunday evening and the teachers contact the
people who come listen. We started singing Christmas music this week, which is insane because it´s still
about 50-60 degrees here! Speaking of Christmas, I´ll be skyping you in less
than a month. Isnt that insane! We learned all about Spanish Christmas
yesterday and it´s actually on January 6, but I´ll still be calling on our Christmas.
I
tried this drink called EKO which is huge here in Spain apparently. It´s pretty
good. It´s made from like barley and wheat and weird other grains and such, but
doesn’t taste like that at all. It´s supposedly really healthy for you too, so
that´s a plus. It looks and smells like dirt before you mix it with milk
though.
In
the park, I met 2 brazilian families! I told them about Joel and Michela and
they seemed more willing to talk to us after. It was kind of funny. We have
Portuguese speakers here in the CCM now
too. Two are from Brazil, but I couldn’t tell you what part.
I
went to the Prado! Super cool! I saw the Mona Lisa that was painted by
Davinci´s student and in my opinion is better than the original. We didn’t get
pizza on Thursday like we´d planned, but whenever a group leaves from the CCM,
we all have pizza for dinner so we just had that the other day and it was
DELICIOUS! I ate so much and tons of ice cream too. I miss American food. The
food here in the CCM goes through good and bad cycles. Lately bad though.
I
memorized the first vision! In Spanish, people! I did it in less than a week
and it is super useful in lessons! Also, I´d like to know all of your opinions,
I got asked in a lesson what the difference between Savior and Redeemer was, so
email me because Ive been asking around and I´m curious what you all think.
Have the ward email their opinions too because Im curious. I read in 2 Nephi 2
this week. I loved verses 6-8 and you should all take time to read them. I am
so grateful for the knowledge I have that Christ is our Savior and that he died
for each and every one of us, and I am so thankful for the opportunity that I
have to share that knowledge with the world! Well, Spain!
I
met Hermana Jackson! She is the sweetest and I cant wait to meet President
Jackson next week…. HOLY COW! NEXT WEEK!
I
love you all. Happy Thanksgiving! We are having a special thanksgiving p-day
today with a huge thanksgiving lunch and then we get to watch meet the Mormons and
later tonight we have a live devotional from the Provo MTC. I´m so thankful for
all of you and for this gospel and the opportunity to share it! I love you all
so much! Here are my pictures! None of me this week, sorry.
1.
We think it´s the palace, but
I´m not sure.2. The Prado
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