Hola! Introduction and question

So, I've had a dream for literally decades to speak several languages. I speak a passable Hebrew since I grew up in a religious community and have spent considerable time in Israel. my next big language is Spanish. I've been trying off and on for years and I know a lot of words. Most of which I learned using Gabriel's method after reading hie LifeHacker article many years ago. But that's just it. I know words. I'm kind of horrible at verbs - although I plan to work on adding a boatload of actual sentences to my ANKI deck to help with that. My other problem is that I can read it, but I can't speak or "hear" it well. since I don't process it that fast. So... 1) what are some good methods to start learning the spoken/hearing part of a language? Upon suggestion of a Latino friend, I listen to Spanish radio, but they go blazingly fast! And again, remember my virtually non-existent ability to deal with verbs and conjugation at the moment. 2) Once I can actually keep up a bit in a conversation, I would love to have a "speaking buddy". Someone who I can actually speak with, maybe even once a week on the phone, to work on conversational Spanish. Does such a "service" or concept exist?

* Originally posted by gelerinter13.