10/26
Saturday I was in the park and we were not having very much success. We ran into pretty much only English speakers but they only wanted to talk because we spoke English. As soon as we mentioned the Church they would walk away. Just as we were getting ready to go back to the fountain to sing, we started talking to a man. We asked if we could walk with him and he obliged. He was a very interesting man. and spoke English, German, and Spanish. He told us how he is no longer religious because when he is a nice person people treat him badly but when he is a bad person people treat him nicely. So we told him all about how nice everyone is in the church and gave him a Book of Mormon and continued to explain how we had gained our testimonies. We talked to him for 40 minutes and it felt great. We got a referencia!
I have never been so sure of something in my entire life. Since I have been here, my testimony and entire feelings of this gospel have tripled. I hope I can keep this faith in the real world as well as I did here in the CCM. La iglesia es verdad siempre."
10/22 "This week we learned subjunctivo and it pretty much explains to us that we have been speaking Spanish wrong the entire time. I am really going to miss the CCM but I can't wait to get out and start having experiences like Maggie has had.
I really don't think I have ever changed and been this devoted in my life. Today was my last time in the temple for 22 months. It's a sad thought but the joy will overpower the sorrow (Alma 31:38)"
10/15 "It's crazy how fast time is flying by. It really feels like yesterday when I was with my friends and we just hung around doing nothing and now Jose is coming to Espana! Que guay! I can't wait for him to get out here. I am sure he will be an awesome missionary."
10/8 "This General Conference could not have been at a better time. I can't stop thinking about all the awesome messages we received from so many great people. My favorite was Pres Uchtdorf's about love. This work is is not something we do because we repay the Lord for what He did. It is a work of love. President Monson's talk Sunday morning topped it all off."
9/24 - "We are having all sorts of strange food but it's actually good. We had squid that was mixed with all these other sea things. The classes are complete opposite of what the Provo classes are like. Our entire focus is on the language and we have have 3 gospel classes a week. I have already taught the first lesson 3 times in Spanish and normally we would not be getting to that for another 2 weeks in Provo. Elder Salari just arrived. He's from Santa Cruz and met Max this summer. Small world, eh?
On Saturday we went to the city park and tried some contacting. It was crazy. Luckily they paired me up with a native and we managed to get a Book of Mormon out to a great family and a few pamphlets.
Right before we left the park we had the entire CCM sing to the park people. Our teacher said we sounded like a cat screaming while it clawed on a chalk board. (He doesn't really like to sugar coat things.)
Last week we went to the temple and my companion tried to listen to it in Spanish but it was actually in Portuguese so he had no idea what was going on the entire time. ha ha.
Sept 16 - "I made it! This is going to be so different - shooting from 2500 missionaries in Provo down to 19; I can't wait. Every Saturday we go out to the central park of Madrid and do contacting for an hour. I'm really scared but I hear it's great and going to be good for me. All the teachers and the CCM president are awesome. They are super nice and willing to help us with whatever we need."
