Madrid MTC Week Five/Six-Next week, Barcelona!

 First of all, BIG CONGRATS TO THE CUTEST NOAH FOR GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!! What a happy thing!!!!

Also tomorrow is officially 6 months since I got my mission call!!! What a happy time! that might've actually been the best day of my life:)) YAY BARCELONA!!

Speaking of...I go to that exact place in 5 DAYS! Ah WHAT! I've been in the MTC for 6 weeks already???? I do not feel ready. But at the same time I'm so excited. I'm excited to get to teach real people and watch them progress. It is kinda scary though. But I know it's going to be awesome. So we take a bullet train at 4:30 in the morning on Tuesday. So Monday's our last day! Sad:( I actually LOVE the MTC. I'm going to miss it. And I'm going to miss all the missionaries here that I've become so close with. Not to mention my teachers who I absolutely love.

OH ALSO! Once I get to Barcelona my p day will probably change to Monday. So I won't be able to write until then. Just so ya know :)

The PARK! So. I was companions with one of the sisters going to Russia. But thankfully she loves languages and wants to major in something with languages and actually plans on learning 7 languages so she actually does know a little bit of Spanish. Thank goodness. But we did pray to find Russian people in the park, and we did meet one guy who spoke Russian! And she absolutely killed it.

It's funny people are very willing to correct our Spanish. We talked to one lady who made it VERY clear that she didn't want us to talk to her at first, but we explained that we were here learning Spanish and we don't speak very well. And then we got talking about where we're from, where she's from (Madrid). And then she opened up as she corrected us when we said wrong things and was very patient with our lack of Spanish knowledge. It was actually really nice of her. And then we got onto the subject of religion. She was telling us that she had seen missionaries before, but never girls, just the elders. And also that "all of Spain is Catholic" and she just kind of does what everyone else does because it's the culture. Interesting. And then she asked me "Have you been Mormon your whole life?" And I said "yes" and then she said "Are your parents members?" And I was like "yes." And then she sat back like she had made some kind of point with that. And then I was able to say "BUT, I am not a member of this church and I am not currently a missionary soly because of my parents. I feel the Spirit testify in my heart that these things are true. I recieve a confirmation anytime I ask, and I know for myself that these things are real, and very true." And that caught her attention. The Spirit was so strong too it was awesome. But it was just so interesting to watch her change from the beginning of our conversation to the end as she opened up to us and our message. So cool.

We talked to tons of people, but there was this other guy who we spent like 20 minutes talking to. He was older so he didn't know any English. We actually taught him "flower," "love," and "missionary." Haha those are super hard for Spaniards to say we should've picked easier words, but I couldn't think of any. But it's okay he had fun with it. It was VERY hard to talk to him though because he had SO MUCH to say. He just went on and on and on and I have NO CLUE what he was saying. And Cecpta (pronounced siestra) Garcia didn't either. I picked up little phrases here and there and just kinda went with that. But it was cool we read some of 3 Nephi 11 with him because he told us he doesn't like to read. And then left him with a Book of Mormon yay!!!! Happy park times.


Also this week (yesterday actually) we got 5 new missionaries! They had gone to the Provo MTC the same day I came to the Spain MTC but just got switched over to us! 4 sisters and 1 elder. Super exciting they're super fun. All going to the Russia St. Petersburg mission! The missionaries going to

Russia who were already here knew them from the Provo MTC so they were PUMPED to see them. Happy happy.

Ah man I absolutely love my teachers. LOVE them. Spaniards are so dang funny. And dramatic. Apparently it's a thing. But it's just hilarious. Last night we taught one of them (Hermano Caetano) some English slang. We taught him "I'm down," "What's the move," "I'm game," and "You do you." It was so funny what a guy.

Also I love my district. I feel like this week was just a good bonding week for all of us. Also Hermana Notario (another one of our teachers) played a game with us where we practiced if/then statements in Spanish by figuring out which Disney character everyone is. I got Jane from Tarzan. It was interesting because this is the first time I haven't been Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty or Rapunzel. I was curious to see what it would be with my new hair. I love Jane though so I'm so down.

Oh also P day last week! Oh my goodness favorite p day so far. We just went everywhere. We started by getting gelato at a place called Amorino's. Oh my word. Heaven. Also they're really cute and scoop your gelato into the shape of a flower! Love! And then we went to the Royal Palace of Madrid. Pretty sure it's called something along those lines haha. We couldn't go in but we took tons of pictures outside. It was big and beautiful. Then we went to the Royal Gardens. So pretty and GREEN! All evergreen trees and they keep up the grass so it looked and felt like spring. It was absolutely beautiful. Classic prince and princess place. Loved it. Then we went to a Cathedral. Not sure what it was called specifially but holy cow that took me right back to Italy. It was big and beautfiul and there was soft music playing and ah I absolutely loved it. I thought of you lil mama and all of Carroll choir partyin in Italy:) Such happy times.


Spanish! It's coming along haha. I'm terrible at understanding people, but I can talk. Which works great until someone responds to me. We now have a rule that we can't speak any English on the 4th floor of the MTC. Which is where all our classes are so we literally spend 12 hours a day on that floor. It's been awesome though. My mind just gets set into spanish and then it's like a switch to go back to English. Which is cool. Also my English is getting worse haha I can't structure sentences anymore. It's not actually that dramatic. But it's funny even just reading over this I feel like I don't make sense sometimes.

Also on Sunday President and Sister Pack came! They're the mission presidents of the Madrid mission. So they was happy for all the Madrid missionaries! And then they gave a devotional which was AWESOME about how to expect miracles while on our missions. And it really applies to life I think. When we are obedient and literally doing every possible thing we can to keep the commandments (not for the blessings, but because we love Jesus Christ), blessings and MIRACLES are a direct result! How cool is that that we can SHOW the Lord by our actions that we are expecting miracles. I love it. Mormon 9:19. Miracles haven't ceased!

Also I finished the Book of Mormon on Friday and started it again! I love that book. It's the words of God!!!!

Hey I love all you people and I miss you tons!!!
Love,
Hermana Johnson