So last Saturday we went to the park again and it was really good. My companion this week was an Elder in my dorm who is from Norway who is really cool and really funny too, so I was excited when I found that out. We started off our day talking to a lot of people who were nice to have a short conversation with but as soon as we brought up the Book of Mormon or the gospel they were like "oh I'm not interested" which was kind of disappointing because in weeks past I've had a lot of good gospel related conversations. This continued throughout the day, but I wasn't too upset because I got to talk to a lot of people which is always cool to do because there are a lot of people from all over Europe there. Anyway, about 10 minutes before we had to go to the fountain where all the missionaries sing together, Elder Stulen (my companion for the day) and I were trying to find someone to talk to and this couple came up behind us and asked us something that we couldn't really understand because the guy was from Germany, learning Spanish, but the girl he was with was Spanish so eventually we figured out that he was trying to practice Spanish with people so he had come up and asked us to tell him a story from the Bible, and we were like "absolutely!" We got into a really good conversation with them about Jesus Christ and we steered it towards the Book of Mormon and were able to give a copy to them and we ended up talking for almost 25 minutes, it was awesome. Then the best part was that at the end they asked if they could take a selfie with us. After that we hurried back for the end of the singing at the fountain, which we barely made it in time for the last song. Anyway, throughout the day I had been thinking about how I was a missionary and that morning in the park, I had a moment of realization where the reason why we were there hit me really hard. We're there to tell people about the gospel and the joy that it brings to peoples' lives, and it doesn't matter how many people reject it, as long as we give as many people as possible the opportunity to hear it. As long as that is our goal, the Lord gives us the strength to do anything to serve him and the people here. Once I realized that, my fear of going up and talking to people was almost gone, and I was really positive the entire day.
Also, with one of our practice investigators (one of our teachers who pretends to be someone who we're teaching about the church) who we have a lesson with on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, brought her husband with her to the lesson, who was a different teacher here in the MTC, and he didn't like the missionaries. He was really hard on us and acted really mean to us and it was a hard lesson because he was critical of everything we did, when usually our practice investigators are nicer and more understand with us since we can barely speak the language. Anyway, we handled the lesson as well as we could have, but there was one point where even though I was scared to talk I opened my mouth and I didn't really know what I was saying but I could feel the Holy Spirit guiding my words and my Spanish so it ended up being better than I would have been by myself. I know that when I get out in the field, the Lord will be able to guide us and help us stand for His gospel, because that's why we're here.
Sadly, today we didn't get a chance to visit anywhere cool, just a government building where we had to pick up our residency cards, which say we can live in Spain legally. The pictures I'm sending are pictures of me with the MTC President and his wife, and our district with the MTC President and his wife. They're having everyone take pictures with them. Anyway, I hope you all have a good week! I love you all!
Elder Corey Dobbs
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