Dog days of summer

Hey everyone,
With temperatures back up to over 100 each day, I can definitely say we're back to a normal Madrid summer. I've never sweated more in my life than I have in this last month, but at least the heat reminds me of home. The only difference is that at home I could go swimming or go to the beach, or not go outside at all. But I love it here because I get to be a missionary every day.
We're continuing to share a 4 minute version of the Restoration with all of the members, and it's amazing. I feel the spirit even stronger than when we share it with people who have never heard it before. The Restoration is still one of my favorite things to teach. We taught it to a guy from the Dominican Republic named Luciano yesterday, someone we hadn't met with before, and he said it all made sense. People don't always accept it, but I love it when we've presented it the best we can and have invited them to read and pray to find out for themselves.
We also had a really cool teaching experience with Javier, a guy from Nicaragua. He was an old investigator from 6-8 months ago, and we called him and said he was willing to meet. We had very little information on him, so we didn't know what exactly to expect. We went in and started talking to him, and he mentioned that his mother had died a year and a half ago, and we found out that either the missionaries before had never taught him about the Plan of Salvation, or he didn't remember it. I told him that we could explain where his mother is and how he can see her and he said yes, please. It was a great lesson, and the Spirit was really strong. We haven't been back since then, but we're excited to keep helping him.
Now for the culinary experiences of the week; yesterday after church we ate with an old Spanish couple in the ward, Manolo and Manoli, and they made sopa de marisco (seafood soup), which included shrimp, mussels, and tiny bits of squid and octopus. If you know me well, you'll know that seafood is not my strong suit, but I ate it like a champion. The Lord was definitely helping me. On a different day, I learned how to make arepas, a food from Colombia and Venezuela. It's basically corn flour cooked in a small, thick tortilla, and you cut it open horizontally and put whatever you want in it. There are a lot of Venezuelans in the ward, so after we ate it at someone's house a couple weeks ago, I asked how to make it.
I love being here in Spain as a missionary and my testimony is being strengthened every day. I love you all and hope you continue enjoying the summer, wherever you may be!
-Elder Dobbs

my 5 star international cooking results: arepas