Hello everyone!!!! It is so amazing here! The Missionary Training Center in Madrid is so nice! It really is like staying in a very nice hotel! We get fed very well and the teachers are so nice! So there is no need to ever worry about me while I am herein the MTC.
We arrived here in Madrid last Tuesday and me and one other new American missionary got here 4 hours before any other American missionary (50 missionaries got their flights delayed and arrived late so me and the other American Elder were here by ourselves with 8 native Portuguese speakers. They were speaking Portuguese so quickly and it was so overwhelming for me. I had never felt so alone or intimidated in my life haha because I had no idea what they were saying. Shortly after being so intimidated I got to meet the President of our Madrid MTC and he is an amazing man. He has so much faith in Jesus Christ and knows the scriptures so well. He was an investment banker for a Wall Street firm before he got called to be a mission president. That is another reason why I love him so much because I have a true interest in that line of work. So talking to him really calmed me down and I know that it was a gift from Jesus Christ that I was able to feel comfort and love shortly after being so intimidated and feeling so alone.
The first amazing thing we did was go to a park on Saturday (4 days into learning Spanish) and proselyte and try to invite people to come unto Christ. It was so hard! My Spanish has improved a lot since I got here but it has not been easy at all. The park was no exception. Me and a missionary from Utah who also knew very little Spanish tried our best to communicate with the people. We found two people who were genuinely interested and I know that it was not us that got them interested but it was the Spirit of God that testified to these strangers that what we were saying could bring them joy and happiness. It was a total gift from God that we were able to even talk to one person about anything let alone the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We will go to the same park every Saturday until I leave the MTC so I hope I can communicate better each time we go there.
Sunday's here are so spiritual. They are such a good break from trying to learn the language. Sunday's we start with a great church service and then our mission president gives a devotional that he thinks we need to hear and then later that night we have another devotional. We learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ for 11 hours on Sunday's and it is so inspiring.
My companions name is Elder Hunsaker and he is awesome! He's from Logan, Utah and he is awesome!
Learning Spanish for 11 hours a day all the other days definitely is not easy though. It's easily the hardest thing I've tried to learn so far. What I have learned most from this week is that Spanish will come as I put my faith in Jesus Christ and recognize reason I am learning it (to bring happiness to other people's lives). This is what I want yall to learn from my experiences this week, we receive blessings from Jesus Christ only after we show our faith in Jesus Christ. Spanish will come as soon as I trust God and show that I know that it is not in my hands. But something else to learn is that blessings will not come until we act on our faith. Once we receive an answer from God we must act on that faith and show Christ that we love Him and that we will try our hardest for him as well. I love you all so much and I want yall to know that what I'm doing is worth it and I love Jesus Christ! Love yall!
- Elder Bristol
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