Week 5: I MADE IT!!!! LAST WEEK IN THE CCM!!

Hola Familia y Amigos!

CHAAAHOOO! I made it through the MTC! (Almost!) I have about 3 more days here and I head out like a baby on Tuesday morning at 6:30! We don't have our travel plans but that is just what President Lovell (MTC Pres) told us! We get time to email this Monday before we leave so expect another email from me on Monday!

This week was easily the best. I want to share what happened last Saturday at the park. I was with Elder Porter again, and we set our goals pretty high. We set goals on:

How many contacts we want to have
How many pamphlets we want to give
How many Books of Mormon we want to give
How many reference sheets (Peoples information for the missionaries in the field to contact)

Our goals were higher than usual, but we said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help us out a bit. It started off on the metro ride over to the park and we talked to this guy and told him all about the BOM and how it can change his life if he reads it. He accepted it and told us he was going to read it! Once we got to the park, it was nothing but uphill from then on! We talked to this guy from England named Alex. He didn't speak Spanish, but I had a BOM in English so we hooked him up :). We basically just testified the whole 10 minutes we talked to him. It was cool to see how interested he was in the book and how Christ came to the Americas and he was mind blown about how young Joseph Smith was when he saw God and Jesus Christ! He couldn't stop talking about that. Anyways, he thanked us for stopping him and talking with him and he promised us that he would read it and get in contact with the missionaries in England when he goes home!

After that, we were walking around the park and we saw these 3 kids so we went up to them and started talking about school and soccer and we started playing with them for a little bit haha it was super fun! It reminded be of playing with Luke and Reece on the side of the house :) All three of them were 12 and only one spoke English so we talked in Spanish. We told all of them about how the BOM can help them in their lives and it was so cool to see how 3 young boys could get so excited about the Gospel :). We gave all three of them a book and they all pulled out their wallets and asked "Cuanto?" (How much?) We laughed and said "Es un regalo para usted" and they got even happier!! It was super cool.

The best part was the last people we talked to. We were walking back to the fountain to sing and we went through this maze part in the park and we saw this family. A husband, wife, and and little baby in the stroller. We walked up and said "Hola como esta!" and they immediatley said "SHHHH!" haha we giggled and said sorry. In a very small whisper the dad in perfect English said "Tell me" Elder Porter and I looked at each other and then i looked back at the guy and said "Tell you?" he said "Tell me" So we literally gave him the whole first lesson. He asked us if what were doing was like an internship and we were like its kinda like an internship for the real world! It was so cool to see how they felt the Spirit and how much easier it was to teach them when we taugh with the Spirit! It was seriously the coolest experience and it made ALL THE STRUGGLE I HAVE HAD these past weeks in the CCM worth it!! I love going to the park and I am glad we will proselyte more in the field :) I would have given him a Book of Mormon but we gave away all the ones that we brought so we gave him everything else we had haha! It was awesome!

I love this Gospel and I am so greatful I got called to Spain. I can't wait to see the changes it can make in people's lives and I know that if ANY of you reading this need help or want change in your life, THIS GOSPEL CAN HELP!!

I love you all and and thankful for each and every one of you! I miss you all :) HAVE A GREAT WEEK AND WEEKEND!

Love,

Elder Hammond :)