Week4: Christ is at the command and we should not fear

Hola Hola Hola!!

This past Tuesday the last of the five Portuguese elders left. He is the one who has cerebral palsy and who had been struggling with health issues, and in the end they decided he had to go home because it was just too risky. We had a going away devotional for him on Monday night and he sang a song and bore his testimony. It was very short but the spirit was so strong. One thing he said that really struck me was "Christ is at the command and we should not fear." Coming from someone with so many issues but who still has so much faith and joy, that was just incredible. He also talked about how you can be a missionary, on a mission to share Christ's love and message, for your whole life. You don't need a nametag to spread the gospel.

Also, the gift of tongues (el don de lenguas) is so so real! The CCM teachers are fantastic, but it really is hard to teach three years of Spanish in six weeks. And as I've been sitting in grammar lessons I'll remember the exact lesson from Spanish 2 or whenever and remember the examples that my teachers in high school gave and I'm able to remember and learn things easily. Faith can do anything and everything!! 

This week my park companions were Hermana Forsyth and Hermana Curtis. We had a really great time in the park. First we went into this peacock garden that had AT LEAST 100 peacocks just walking around all over!! One of them even had all its feathers out. It was pretty awesome. We talked to a few people in there, then we left and went back into the main area of the park. Hermana Curtis saw a man sitting on a bench who she felt like we should talk to, so we walked up to him and talked for a minute but  he said he wasn't interested. So then we were confused why we had felt prompted to talk to him-- until we suddenly saw a man sitting one bench away who we hadn't seen before! We talked to him and he was actually from Argentina, and he was super nice. He said he didn't believe in God but just because his parents hadn't, and he was really interested in what we had to say. We had a good conversation and were able to give him a Book of Mormon, which he said he would read! So that was super exciting.

My district definitely had an in-depth discussion of the different Disney Channel movies the other day. We decided the worst movies are Cloud 9 and Radio Rebel, and the winners are Sky High and High School Musical 2. Most of the elders in my district have little sisters so they know a lot more about Disney Channel movies than you would think haha.  Photo of my district.

For P-day today we went to the royal palace and a beautiful cathedral and then we got Italian ice cream and finished off visiting an ancient Egyptian temple with a beautiful view!

My metro ticket for some reason didn't work, along with about 8 other people's tickets. Hermana lighten had already made it through onto the metro with the rest of the missionaries, so we split up and she went on her way with the companion of another sister who's ticket also wasn't working. The 8 of us, with some teachers, waited around in the metro for about 20 minutes before giving up, buying one-way tickets, and following behind the rest of the group. We caught up to them in the cathedral, but until then I went on an emergency exchange with Hermana Glover from my room (her ticket didn't work either)! She's super cute and we had a fun time together. She's going to Madrid.

We didn't get to go into the palace since we're, you know, not Spanish royalty (jk, I think you could get in but you had to pay), but we did get to go into the cathedral. I LOVE the old cathedrals we get to visit! They're so beautiful, with old pews and stained glass and beautiful statues.

Then we got gelato, which was good because it was HOT today! And it was also good because...gelato. Super good.

The ancient Egyptian temple was a little underwhelming to be honest, but it was still cool.

And just past the temple was this lookout point with the most beautiful view ever! We could see the whole city!

And there was a road of parked cars underneath us that reminded me of that scene from lalaland.

Last thought from this week is about prayer. Have you ever heard the primary song "children all around the world"? It talks about the different languages children speak when playing to God and I realized a few nights ago how true that song is. Every night all the sisters gather in the hallway to say a group prayer and that night the sister from Ukraine said the prayer. None of us had a clue what she was saying in the prayer but we could all still feel the Spirit! It was crazy to think that there are people all over the world praying to the same God in their own language and feeling his love and support. He really loves ALL his children!

I've been here a month, and I can't decide if it feels more like 2 years or 2 days. But the time is flying by, I love the MTC but I also can't wait to get into the field! My only worry is that I might melt in the southern Spain heat. But overall it's been another great week, I'm glad to be back in air conditioning after our P-day excursion, and I'm sorry this email is so long!!

This picture of the Madrid temple at night was taken from my bedroom window.

Love, Hermana Walker