Wow! This place is incredible! The MTC is a place of preparation and holy cow do we prepare! My schedule is so full and we are in class form 8 am to 9:30 pm with breaks for lunch, an hour for sports, and a few 5 minutes breaks. I speak straight Spanish every minute expect for sometimes at lunch. I am in class with my 2 companions, 2 other sisters, and 2 elders. My comps. and the elders are native Spanish speakers and the 2 hermanas grew up speaking it at home.
I have the most incredible comps. Hermana Boateng (Bow-a-tang) is from Ghana but has lived in Spain for the last ten years. I learn a lot of Spain Spanish from her and she is kind, funny, and loving.
Hermana Quispe (Key-spay) is from Peru and is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. She and Hma. Boateng are really great blessings for me. They are both patient with my Spanish and we carry a great spirit with us.
On Wednesday last week I got my name tag! I got one with a magnet and one with a clip. I am really a representative of Christ because His name is right below Hermana Moore. I live in a dorm with 4 other sisters and there are bathrooms down the hall. Every night all the sisters (about 20 of us) sing a hymn and pray together. We get up at 6:30 am and have breakfast at 7. I shower quick (I'm talking 4-5 minutes showers here. I KNOW.) get ready and spend the rest of the day and then spend the rest of the day focused on preparing to do the Lord's work! After class all day we have from 9:30 to 10:15 to get to bed. And 10:30 is lights out. During that time I rush to get everything from the day in my journal and then squeeze in 10 minutes of grammar study. In all humility (because I'm being humbled a LOT here!) I am proud of how quickly my Spanish is improving! I’ve gotten to the point where I don't need to translate from Spanish to English in my head, I just know what they're saying.
My speaking is still a huge work in progress, but it's coming. I had a sweet experience with Hma. Quispe last week. We were in a small group discussion about the plan of salvation and when they ask questions I formulate an answer in my head just in case they call on me. Hma. Quispe took one look at me and said for me to say it without having me tell her I even had something to say. So I testified how each person on earth is a child of God and that a lot of times our job will be to simply convey God's love for them. I spoke confidently and fluidly. Then Hma. Quispe leaned over and said, ¨See, I knew you had something special to say!¨
I'm only a couple weeks in, but I'm so excited for what's coming in my mission. I already can tell that I'm becoming more outgoing and confident in everything. I know this confidence comes from the truthfulness of the work that I'm doing.
Thursday (today) is my p-day and today we're going to the Museo de Plado in central Madrid. Thursday is also temple day! Look up the Madrid temple because it is GORGEOUS. I am blessed to live 40 steps away from it. Last Thursday we did a session and I didn't use the English headset they gave me!
The food here is great! There are about 45 or 50 missionaries here right now and so we have 3 ladies who do all the cooking for us. It's always homemade food and the other day I had paella de marisco (seafood). I ate octopus!
ALSO. For those of you who know about my time in Chile, I'm happy to say that they have GOOD HOMEMADE BREAD HERE. And I bet that I've already gained 5 pounds worth of bread. No regrets.
The Presidente of the MTC is Presidente Packer and he is just wonderful. I had an interview with him and I could see the love and concern he has for me individually. I told him I was worried about my Spanish and right away he talked to some teachers and set up times for me to work with them privately.
Saturday was such an incredible day! It was park day! Each Saturday they take all 50 missionaries and pair them up randomly. Then they tell us to go to El Parque del Retiro which is basically the equivalent of Central Park and go contacting (basically just going up to strangers and talking about the Gospel). There are several Americans here learning Russians who don't speak any Spanish, and Americans learning Spanish who don't know Spanish. So an American elder learning Spanish was paired up with a Russian speaker and they taught the gospel to a French woman in the park. God is incredible. :)
I was paired up with an American learning Spanish and an American who grew up speaking it, and I was somewhere in the middle. We loaded our bags with Books of Mormon and pamphlets and headed out. The first man we talked to on the metro was an an old man who told us that Joseph Smith was a fake and that everything we believed was wrong and that we were not going to be saved. YAY MISSIONARY WORK! For the next 2 hours we wandered around el parque and tried to find people who would listen to us. We got a lot of glares, stares and not a lot of kindness. We shared with a few people who were willing to listen and gave out 3 Books of Mormon. It was a rough time... but I learned a lot. I definitely enjoy teaching lessons in homes rather than contacting.
On Saturday night, all was made up for. The Madrid missionaries and the MTC missionaries were blessed to hear from sweet Elder Bednar, our latter day apostle. We did a Q and A session and his answers were so inspiring. The 2 hour meeting turned into 3 and it was incredible to be taught by a disciple of God. The past few days have been full of classes and studying. I really love it so much. We practice teaching lessons by having our teachers be fake investigators act as people with backstories. They are such good actors! My trio has been teaching a lady named Rosa and yesterday I (me! in SPANISH!) extended a baptismal invitation and she accepted!! Even though she's not real, the Spirit we feel as we're teaching is real. Our testimonies we share are real. :)
I'm sorry I don't have time to respond to all of your emails. I almost cried when I saw that I had 18 emails to read from the people I love! I have half an hour left and I'm going to go read them and try to respond to as many as I can. I just have so much I want to say! Also, sorry for the lack of pictures. We're only allowed to take pictures on p-days (so we don't waste time and so I only have a few from the plane ride over. And I would rather read emails and respond to more people than figure out how to upload pictures right now. I love you all so much, thanks for your support! I testify that this is hard work but it is the Lord's good work!
Love, Hermana Moore
Oh! I forgot. I'll be leaving the MTC on Tuesday May 31st! I don't know if we're taking a bus or train or what yet though. Then I'll be put in my first area with my first companion in the field! I'm terrified but excited!
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