Vive España: The Rain in Spain stays mainly in....Alicante

This week has been AMAZING. So amazing. Alicante is a beautiful city, and we have had a crazy busy week. We've been teaching every day, and trying to contact people in the streets. The language is a lot different than from what I've ever learned. The Spanish accent has a slight 'th' for c's and z's, which makes a lot of words hard to understand. But, if you just smile and listen more than you talk, you can generally get a feel for what the conversation is all about. The Spanish food is amazing. The members are great and feed us some of the best food on earth. If you ever get a chance to visit Spain, the Tortilla de Patatas is incredible.

But this week has been different. We had exchanges with the zone leaders, and I had the opportunity to work in a different area for a day. It was great. Later today, we're actually heading over with the Zone leaders and a member to see the start of an international boat race that starts here in Alicante. We hope it still goes on because there have been a lot of rain here. Way more than usual, because generally, Alicante is a very dry part of Spain, but the past week we have had so much rain, which is a relief, because it cools down the day and makes it a lot easier to be walking around, especially in suits.

With investigators, it's been a little hard, because we had two baptisms that didn't work out. But, we are going to find new investigators, and keep working until we find those ready to receive the message of the Restoration. That's one thing that I've noticed on my mission is that a lot of the time, your initial plan doesn't work out, and a lot of the time, neither does plan B, C, or D. But we have to keep on trying. And that's what we've been teaching a lot this week is about never giving up or enduring to the end. It's probably one of the hardest principles of the Gospel, never giving up. We have to every day be doing the things that make us better. We have to be constantly asking for help, because we can't reach our potential or what Heavenly Father really wants us to be without His help. If we want His help, we need to ask. That's literally all we need to do: hold on faithfully and ask for help from our Father when we need it and He will answer. He wants to help, but a lot of the times, we are too stubborn and believe that we can do it by ourselves. I know a lot of the times in my life, I've struggled with relying too much on my own strength, and not allowing Christ to step in and help me.

Thank you all so very much for all of your love and support. I love it out here, it is hard, very, very hard but also very, very rewarding.

Love,

Elder Weenig