Wow. This is awesome. Really though, I feel so blessed to be here in Spain, it is an amazing country. We left the MTC, and traveling up the Airport was just me, Hermana Garcia and Elder Fillmore. It was sad saying goodbye to Elder Voss, he is such a great guy and will do such great things, but we are actually going to different missions in Spain, he will serve in Madrid. We got to the airport, got on a plane and flew to NYC. We were hoping to see a bit more of the city, but ended up not being able to, because it was at night, and we didn´t have much time in our layover anyway. It was very cool being there, a few people asked us about the Book of Mormon musical, if we had seen it. We told them that we hadn´t, but we were sure that the book was MUCH better. From NYC, we flew to Paris. That was cool, although we couldn´t leave the airport, we ended up walking around the Chas de Gaulle airport. It is MASSIVE. We had a slight problem where our tickets would not print because of baggage problems, but other than that, it went pretty smoothly. Finally, we got on the plane going to Malaga. On the ride there, all of our travel group fell asleep, we were exhausted because we had been traveling for a really crazy long time (almost 24 hours in total).
We got to Malaga, and met out mission president and wife, President and Hermana Deere, who are pretty much two of the best people I have ever met in my life. Actually, we met them through glass because we were pretty confused on what to do, and then we saw them, and they gave us instructions by typing them on their phone and showing us. We were driven to the mission home, where we found out who our trainers are. They call it the ´sorting ceremony´and we are brought up in front of a map, and then they announce our trainer. Mine will be Elder Flint. He is awesome, this is actually his last transfer, so he knows the mission and how to be a missionary really well, so I am very lucky. We are assigned to the Alicante 2nd ward. we have an awesome view of the Alicante castle right outside our piso (apartment) window. To get here from the mission home was a eight hour bus ride throughout Spain, where we got to see a lot of the countryside and see a lot of new sites. Apparently, olive trees are abundant here- which reminds me a lot of Jacob 5 with the parable of the Lord´s vineyard and His olive trees. I like to think that we are in that parable, laboring alongside God.
It has definitely been a crazy, crazy week, but a great one. With a LOT of miracles. We have been teaching lots of lessons and contacting tons. I have made it a personal goal to try and talk to everyone. It´s difficult, and sometimes you say the wrong thing. For example, I accidentally asked a woman if she was married to the man waiting in line, and she gave me the strangest look and said no and then proceeded to stare at her phone until we left. Well. The language is definitely coming, slowly but surely.
My companion and an hermana sang at a baptism for a little girl in our ward, and I accompanied. Music is an awesome way to share the gospel.
Also, for those of you who know a missionary´s schedule, you would be interested to know that Spain missionaries in Malaga have a significantly different schedule. We wake up at 7:30, study for an hour and a half, then go out and proselyte. At two, Spain has Mediodia, which is essentially a break during the day to eat or take a nap. We go back to our apartment for a couple of hours, finish studying and have lunch. After mediodia, we proselyte until we go to bed or until we come back at either 10:15 or 10:45, depending on our investigators. We go to bed at 11:30.We got to Malaga, and met out mission president and wife, President and Hermana Deere, who are pretty much two of the best people I have ever met in my life. Actually, we met them through glass because we were pretty confused on what to do, and then we saw them, and they gave us instructions by typing them on their phone and showing us. We were driven to the mission home, where we found out who our trainers are. They call it the ´sorting ceremony´and we are brought up in front of a map, and then they announce our trainer. Mine will be Elder Flint. He is awesome, this is actually his last transfer, so he knows the mission and how to be a missionary really well, so I am very lucky. We are assigned to the Alicante 2nd ward. we have an awesome view of the Alicante castle right outside our piso (apartment) window. To get here from the mission home was a eight hour bus ride throughout Spain, where we got to see a lot of the countryside and see a lot of new sites. Apparently, olive trees are abundant here- which reminds me a lot of Jacob 5 with the parable of the Lord´s vineyard and His olive trees. I like to think that we are in that parable, laboring alongside God.
It has definitely been a crazy, crazy week, but a great one. With a LOT of miracles. We have been teaching lots of lessons and contacting tons. I have made it a personal goal to try and talk to everyone. It´s difficult, and sometimes you say the wrong thing. For example, I accidentally asked a woman if she was married to the man waiting in line, and she gave me the strangest look and said no and then proceeded to stare at her phone until we left. Well. The language is definitely coming, slowly but surely.
My companion and an hermana sang at a baptism for a little girl in our ward, and I accompanied. Music is an awesome way to share the gospel.
Anyway, in total, I am really just so glad to be in Spain and to be able to preach the gospel in this language. I still have yet to master the accent, but I love it and hope I will. Spain is on fire, our ward is giving us references, and we are hoping to get a couple of baptisms this coming Saturday.
Remember how much God loves us, no matter who we are and what we´ve done, He loves us and really does help us get back up when we fall down. He gives us our weaknesses not so that we feel bad about ourselves, but so that we can know how improve and grow in this life. being on a mission has definitely shown me how weak I am, but I know that through Him, our weaknesses can become strengths.
I love this Gospel. Tell everyone about it, Elder Bednar just gave a great talk about Social media sharing the gospel. Do it! And help the missionaries out in your area, have them over for dinner. I can PROMISE you they will appreciate it. :)
Thank you all for your love support and prayers, they mean a lot. I love you all so much and am so glad I have this opportunity to be out here, because I know this is what I am supposed to be doing, and I want to challenge every to be a missionary even if you aren´t using words. Just be an example in everything that you do.
Love,
Elder Weenig
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| Travel group -- Me, Elder Fillmore, and Hermana Garcia |
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| Chas de Gaulle airport |
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| A window pic of Spain |
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| My trainer, Elder Flint, and I. Assigned to serve in the Alicante 2nd ward |
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