Saturday at Retiro Park

Every Saturday at 2 PM the Madrid MTC missionaries all go to the largest and most beautiful park in Madrid.  It is located closer to the center of town (the MTC and Temple Square are located in the eastern part of Madrid).  It's 3 metro stops, if that helps (smile).  Once we arrive, all the missionaries split up into pre-assigned pairs and go tracting and meeting people in the park.  They have several goals, but the two most important ones are:
1.  Place copies of the Book of Mormon and obtain commitments to read
 2.  Get personal information from those who would like to know more about the Book of Mormon and the Church, i.e., names, address, telephone numbers, and (very important), location of the nearest metro stop.
We were a small group today, less than 20, but in a month when our numbers will explode to over 80, this will be quite a sight.

Here we are leaving Temple Square MTC for the Metro stop just around the corner.

Going through the turnstiles underground.  All of Madrid is connected by an fantastic metro (subway) that has actually been in existence since 1903 (obviously with many many improvements and expansions), so everyone uses it; all 6 million (OK, that's a little of an exaggeration).

Waiting for everyone to arrive underground.  The sister in pants is Sister Almeida from Portugal.  She has been teaching Portuguese at the MTC for quite a while but this week is her last.  She's going home to get ready for her marriage in August, but she'll be back then to marry in the Madrid Temple.

Down one of the 2 escalators to reach our platform.  Elder Purkis from England in front

Then Elder Wilson from Brownsville, Texas, Sister Almeida, another teacher

and then my companion, sister Sullivan

Boarding the train.

Just entering one of the many gates into the park.  Sister Seastrand from Utah and Sister Norton from Aurora, Colorado wasted no time in finding someone to contact.  Neither of them can speak much Spanish but they are courageous.

Sister Peterson from Sweden going to Barcelona mission and Sister Carvalho from Cabo Verde going to Portugal.  They could not communicate with each other but managed to contact quite a few people.

Elder Johnson from Utah going to Malaga, Spain and Elder DePina from Cabo Verde going to Portugal.  They could barely communicate with each other but had a great day in the park.  Here they got a referral who accepted the Book of Mormon and filled out a contact card.

I hope you enjoyed a quick walk through the park with the missionaries.