Mike and Charmaine Anderson

Mike and Charmaine Anderson

Sunday, February 10, 2013

RETIRO PARK IN MADRID

When we arrived here five days ago I was wishing that we could move on quickly instead of staying here to wait for our residency permit.  We have a dorm room in the Madrid MTC with a view of the lovely Madrid Temple from a close foyer.  But being here with the young sisters and teachers has been wonderful.  They are quite amazing and it gives me hope for the church in Europe.  There are missionaries from Cape Verde, which is off the coast of Africa, not far from the Canaries, including one sister.  They speak Portuguese.  Then we have some sisters and elders from Tahiti, who speak French and will be serving in France.  An elder from England, who is happy to have someone speak English to him. And there is a boy from Italy.  Both of them will be serving in Spain along with and Swedish sister who speaks fluent English.  Most of the language tutors come in for three weeks to help with the language.  They are amazing young people. 


 Someone willing to listen to 2 young men who speak Portuguese


Every Saturday the missionaries go to Retiro Park in downtown Madrid to practice their missionary skills for 2 hours.  They take Books of Mormon and pass them out.  They gave away 30 on this day.  Mike and I went with the MTC mission president to "observe" the proceedings.  Some of these missionaries have only learned a little Spanish but they went to meet people anyway.  It was a joy to see them in action.  At the end of 2 hours they meet to sing hymns.  Everyone sings in their own language.  I am glad we were able to be here.  If we are here next week we will go again and maybe get into the action.

Singing Hymns in the Park
A very fun puppet show.  This is Elvis singing and dancing.  This is clever enough to be lucrative for those in the 50% young adult unemployment group.



Music Performers
One of the lions on the lake


It is fun to watch the kids chase the huge bubbles

Elder and Sister Diaz from Portugal.  A recently married returned missionary couple.  They are language tutors in 3 week stints at the Madrid MTC, coming from their home in Portugal.  They are multi-lingual, awesome young people.  Members like them will change the world. 

1 comment:

  1. Retiro Park is a great place in its own right, and would be doubly enjoyable to go there with the young MTC missionaries. What a great experience.

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