Vive España: First Week of Training

Wow. What a crazy week, but it´s been really fun. I really enjoy training. La Linea is getting warmer. We´re on a peninsula here and so we always get these crazy cross winds and a lot of just crazy, crazy humid cold. I´m glad we can go outside in short sleeves now. But his week. Where to begin?

I love how international this area is. We were at an eating appointment, while on splits, and we realized that each of us where from a different nationality. There were five of us an American, a Scot, an Englishman, an Argentine, and a Phillipino. Super cool. We´ve gotten to meet a lot of different nationalities here, because of how international a destination Gibraltar is.

La Línea continues to be great. We´ve worked so hard this last week. I used to love to talk with my companions after we´d go to bed. But the second we lie down we are out. It´s a good feeling. Elder Holman is great. He motivates me to be better. We´ve been able to see some great miracles.

Reme, continues to progress. She is reading the Book of Mormon and doing just amazingly. She´s promised to come to church this coming Sunday which is HUGE. The commitment to come to church from our area is not something to be taken lightly. The church is in Algeciras which is on the other side of the bay. It takes about an hour to get there in bus (slightly shorter if you have a car) and then an hour to get back. What an amazing commitment. The sacrifices of the members here blow me away. Blow me away. We have two members that come from Gibraltar to come to church (we ride with them on the bus every week) and coming over the border from there takes about an extra twenty minutes. Even farther for Stake Conferences. We had a stake conference yesterday in Chiclana. Chiclana is about two and a half hours away by bus. The members are amazing. Really, I´ve learned so much from them.

Pepe. Our seventy two year old investigator. Is doing well. He is getting excited about baptism. He dropped coffee, tea, and tobacco the second we asked him. It was pretty miraculous. He didn´t question it. He asked us if it was the will of God for him in his life, and when we told him that it was, he immediately did what we´d asked. What a champion. He loves to talk. Sometimes our lessons are pretty long with him because he loves talking, but it´s crazy how much love you develop for these people that you teach. You get so connected to them, and when they don´t do what you ask, it makes you sad. Which I´m pretty sure is exactly how Heavenly Father feels about each and every one of us. It´s such an amazing experience.

Ana Florín. My Spanish Grandmother. Ana is one of the only members here in La Línea that we´ve been able to find from the branch that existed about twenty years ago. She is the nicest lady. Every time that we pass by her house she gives us some nice, but always very healthy little Spanish treat so that we don´t ¨coger peso¨ (gain weight). We take her the Sacrament every week. It gives it a different meaning to be able to take it to someone who hasn´t been able to get the sacrament since the branch was here. It´s a very cool experience.

Denise. She is our Gibraltarian investigator. She take us out to eat every Friday morning. Last time we went out to eat, she took us to a pizza place. I´d never been there before, but I saw on the menu a calzone that sounded fantastic. I ordered it and when they brought it out. It was MASSIVE. I had never seen anything like it. I think it was supposed to be split between multiple people. Anyway, Denise looked at me and told me I could not eat it, which naturally meant there was no other choice but TO eat it. About a half hour later, I was left with an empty plate and a very nasty stomach ache.

But wow. The time goes by so fast. We have a zone conference in Sevilla this week, and it feels like we were just having one. The time really does fly. There are days where I feel like I just got here. Some days where I can´t believe I´ve been gone for so long. I love being a missionary. I really do. It is by far the best thing that I have ever done in my life. It´s hard sometimes, but we get to see a lot of miracles here. We have to be working hard, and being obedient enough to merit a miracle, but when they do come, they are amazing.

I love you all so much. Thank you so much for all that you do for me.. I miss you all a lot and pray for you.

It´s a great day to be a missionary!

Elder Weenig