Anyway, this week was a pretty good week. Last Saturday we went to El Parque del Retiro again and it was awesome for everyone, President Packer said it was one of the best days there. Every night on Saturday we have a meeting where we can share experiences from the park and there were some awesome stories. One of the biggest miracles each week is probably the amount of Russians that the Russian learners find to talk to, it's probably around 5-10 each week.
Then on Sunday at our church service I was called up to give a talk which made me really nervous but it was alright. The way it works is that President Packer gives everyone the topic for the meeting the week before, and everyone prepares something to say for 4 minutes, then in the sacrament meeting he'll call people up right after the sacrament and he tries to get as many people in as he can. First, he got through the last 6 Russian learners who hadn't spoken yet while they've been here, then he announced that me and this other Spanish learning sister were going to give a talk. You prepare the talk in the language you're learning, then they have a translator repeat each phrase in English. I'll attach the English translation of my talk at the end for anyone who is interested. Then that night instead of watching a devotional given by one of the church general authorities to the Provo MTC, we got to watch the movie 17 Miracles, which was super amazing. I love that movie so much, it really helps me remember the sacrifice that the Mormon pioneers made and it especially hit home to me since I did the reenactment trek with everyone back earlier this summer. Then after that we went to sing on the steps of the temple again, which I always love doing. Sunday was an awesome day. After my talk I felt good about it, like I had shared a good message, then watching the movie kind of helped me refocus on my mission, I realized that if those people could walk 1200 miles (or however long it was)pulling handcarts with low rations and an early winter to get to the temple in Utah, then I could sacrifice two years to help other people receive the blessings of the church.
All the Russian learners left on Tuesday morning which was kind of sad because they were all so cool and fun, but I'm sure they're happy to be out in the field. In place of them we got 3 native Russians who are here for 3 weeks, 5 new Americans learning Russian who came from the Provo MTC, and about 15-16 kids who are going Spanish speaking but will be here for 3 weeks because either they're from another part of Spain, or from South America, or they did really well in school, like 5-7 years of Spanish, which is crazy.
Today for our excursion to see part of Madrid, we went to the Museo del Prado which is supposed to be about as nice as the Louvre in France except the paintings here aren't as well known, it's all Spanish art. It was really awesome to see because there were a bunch of originals worth millions of dollars by people like Francisco de Goya and Pablo Picasso(it's okay if you haven't heard of the first guy, I hadn't either) and a bunch of others. After that we went to this souvenir shop kind of thing nearby where they had a collection of swords from Toledo which was awesome. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to buy any, but it was really fun to look around.
I hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer! I love you all!
Elder Corey Dobbs
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| Me and my district in front of the Museo del Prado |
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| Plus one of our teachers who came with us |
My talk from Sunday
Good morning, Elders and Sisters. today I want to focus my talk on courage. Courage is especially important for us as missionaries. As Elder Holland said, "Fear no man." There are many times in the scriptures when the people of the Lord are afraid of enemy attacks, whose armies are often bigger and stronger. When they cried unto the Lord, He said, "Fear not, for I am the Lord, thy God, and I am with you," and each time that the Lord's people trusted in Him, they were saved. It's important that we remember that we have the Lord with us always. With His strength, we can do anything. It doesn't matter how great the opposition is. We only need to remember that we are not alone as missionaries. One of my favorite hymns, "How Firm a Foundation," has a verse about courage, that says "Fear not, I am with thee, oh be not dismayed; for I am thy God, and will still give thee aid; I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand; Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand." This hymn testifies of the courage that we need, and I know that it's true. When we do what the Lord wants, we have the power to work miracles. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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