The Semana Santa Week

Holy cow. This last week has been awesome. Really, honestly, we´ve been able to see a lot of miracles here in La línea. I´ve really come to enjoy being in this area. It was pretty difficult at first, but I´ve really come to love it here. The Catholic church has a really powerful influence in Spain, and even more so in La Línea, so this last week we´ve been able to get an up close and personal look at the Semana Santa (the Holy Week). Basically, Semana Santa corresponds to events that happened the last week of Jesus Christ´s life. It´s a lot of processions and a lot of people wearing costumes walking through the streets. The demonstrations are really just fascinating. The people paint, decorate, and basically adorn these massive statues of saints, Christ, and the virgin Mary and they are taken around the city. Some people have told us that this tradition started so that the church would be able to visibly show the people scenes from the Bible, which is cool. It does show how powerful the Catholic church is here in Spain. It also makes me really happy to see that people do have faith in Christ. Even if they just demonstrate it differently than we do.

This last week, we got blessed with the miracle to get back in contact with Reme. She is doing well, her family situation has gotten better, so we have been able to meet with her more often. She is such a great lady. She has a lot of faith in God. While we were in a lesson with her, her son came in and she was actually help us explain things. She really is getting a testimony of the Book of Mormon. The book´s powerful. I have never really given that much thought, but it is one of the most powerful books that we have on earth. It´s incredible. It changes lives. I have seen it in Alicante, and I have been able to see it here. It´s an incredible book. Really, really powerful. We´re hoping to get her to come to church this Sunday. It´s not an easy thing to do. It´s really actually quite difficult. We´re praying for miracles daily.

We had a really cool opportunity to teach an elderly French couple. They speak Spanish very well, but struggle with reading, so we´ve had to get them a French Book of Mormon. They have some different views about religion, but we´re really hoping that they advance. They both committed to reading and studying to Book of Mormon. Which I know that if anyone really does want to know if the book is true, they will get a testimony of its truth.

I don´t have much time, but I have to tell you about conference. Our Gibraltarian couple invited us over to eat in their flat for conference and watch a session there. While we were there, they made us traditional English breakfast. It was AMAZING. Sometimes I feel like I am serving my mission in the United Kingdom and Spain. This area is easily one of the coolest and most amazing areas in the mission. It´s such a blessing for both my companion and I to be able to teach in our native language to people who have so much faith. It´s so amazing. Conference was great. For me, it was like getting a refuel. It´s such a blessing. Especially for missionaries. I love being a missionary here. We´ve had a lot of opportunities to teach this last week, and we´re hoping to be able to find more and more people to progress in the gospel. We are praying daily to find miracles and to find more people who are ready and willing to accept the gospel. We will find them. They are here. In Alma 13:24, it talks about angels preparing the hearts of men to hear the word of God, and I know that that is what is happening here in La Línea. We just have to do our part to be able to find them, and God will do the rest.

I love you all so much. Thank you all for the support and love that you give me. Do not forget, it´s a great day to be a missionary!

Elder Weenig