Granáda

Alright,  I need to apologize for what happened last week, and I suppose the week before as well. I was using my iPad to write my email, but when I got close to wifi, I realized that my email had somehow been deleted. So, sorry about that.


Cool fact for the day: Santa Fe, the city where Jhizel lives was actually where Christopher Columbus met with the King and Queen of Spain to get finances to go to America. It really is, like one of our members told us, "The Cradle of Spain".

These past two weeks have flown by. I love being in Granada. I love our area and all of the people here. We've been able to see a lot of blessings. I want to share a really cool blessing that we were able to see. We have a member here named Araceli. She was in a store one day when she found herself with an old friend of the church, named Rosi. Rosi hasn't been to church in over 20 years, and Araceli was very happy to see her again. Unfortunately, she forgot to get her number to stay in contact with her. This is where we come in. We were looking through old teaching records, and we found Rosi's name. We gave her a call and set up an appointment with her. She lives in the same city as Araceli so we had decided to bring Araceli to help fellowship her. When we called Araceli, she was ecstatic. She told us that she had been praying for a way to come back in contact with Rosi. Yesterday we had a family night with them. It turned out very well, and she has a son that is nine years old and is not baptized. It was a cool demonstration for me that God answers prayers. It showed me that even the small little encounters that we have with people can have a lasting influence.

Jose Juan and Sandra are a couple that we met a few weeks ago. I think I may have mentioned them, but if not, Sandra is a lady from Chile who moved here and met Jose Juan. She also introduced him to the church, and he now has the goal to get baptized. He is progressing very well. We actually had an appointment with them on Tuesday, but got there very late because we needed to take a missionary to the emergency room. It was actually our second time to the emergency room this past week. The first now seems very funny, though in the moment was definitely not funny. We were eating at a member's house when their cat started to jump all around. We didn't think much of it until it started to bite Elder Black's arm. It actually broke skin, and while the marks didn't look like much, it is mission protocol to call the mission nurse if we get bit by a cat of any kind. So we called the mission nurse who immediately sent us to the hospital. We got there late and were there even later waiting for our spot. Anyway, every thing's alright, it turned out that Mariflor (the cat) was entirely harmless, and everything was fine.

We've been working very hard and we are seeing a lot of blessings. I really love being here in Granada.

It really is a great day to be a missionary.

Love,
Elder Weenig

Short and Sweet

Hello!

We don't have much time at all today, so this will be quick.

This last week has gone very well. I really have just a few minutes, but I just want you all to know how much I love this work. I love being a missionary and things really are going well in our area. We are finding a lot of new people and those that we have found are progressing very well.

I love Granada, I love the people here. It's the best.

It's a great day to be a missionary.

I love you all,

Elder Weenig

This is my group at Leadership Council. They were at the Madrid MTC, while I was in Provo.

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

¡Feliz Año Nuevo! and happy Kings Day on the sixth. In Spain, Christmas lasts until January 6, because of the celebration of Kings Day, who are the Spanish equivalent of Santa Claus. Supposedly the three wise men came to give presents the night before. I like it a lot. It gives us an excuse to keep celebrating all the way into January. Also, interesting fact, the Day of the Taking (Día de la Toma) is celebrated just after New Years here in Granada. It's a celebration of when the Catholic Kings defeated the Moors and took Granada. It's a really interesting holiday. I know I say this a lot, but it's one of the reasons why I love Granada. It's so full of history.

This last week, we were asked to help with a wedding proposal for one of the members. There is an incredible view of the Alhambra from a place called the Albaicín. My companion plays the violin and was going to be playing during the proposal. Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication, and we went up to the Albaicín thinking it was a rehearsal for the proposal, and we forgot the violin. It turns out he wanted to propose to her that very night. Whoops. Well, at least we got to see the Alhambra from the Albaicín. 

This last week was busy. Very crazy. We did exchanges with the other elders in Granada, celebrated New Years, and are actually on our way down to the Leadership Council right now. Although we had a lot to do, we've been able to see a lot of success in our area. We met with Eduardo, Jhizel's brother, this last week. It was one of the best starts to an appointment that I've ever had. We sit down at a table with Jhizel and Eduardo. Eduardo looks at us and says, "I am very interested in becoming a Mormon. How do we go about this?" We were taken off guard, but the lesson went really well. He felt something very special at the baptism of Jhizel, and wants to feel that special something all the time. Really great. We are working really hard for him to get baptized. He accepted a date to be baptized on the first lesson, which is always a good sign. Keep him in your prayers.

Another blessing that we saw this last week came in a pretty different way. We got a referral from our bishop of a lady who just moved here from Chile and who has a boyfriend that she would like to introduce to the church. We called her (her name is Sandra) and she explained the situation a little bit more. Apparently, she and her boyfriend met over the internet. She introduced him to the church. Now he's an interest in becoming a member. We're really hoping to meet with him this week along with our bishop. We were able to meet him briefly after church when he came to pick up Sandra.

It's been a great week. I hope you've all been able to set some goals. I hope that this year has started well for you all.

It really is a great day to be a missionary.

I love you all.
Elder Weenig

Alhambra from the Albaicín

(Email sent on December 28, 2015)

Disclaimer: this email will be a little bit shorter, but this week has been amazing.

Christmas in the mission is always fun. Different, but very fun. We had a packed week, and our apartment became temporarily a four man apartment because the Elders from Motril came and stayed with us (mostly for the need for transport to and from Murcia.) Murcia is where we had our big half mission Christmas conference. It was really good fun. My companion and I sang for part of the talent show, and I was asked to translate the entire conference. Which is great, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to remember much of what was said. My companion took good notes and later gave them to me.

Really, this last week has been full of eating with members, talking to people about Christmas, and the skype call that we were able to make. I guess I should explain why the connection was so bad. We were in a small town called Quentar up in the Sierra Nevada, and because of that, the reception was so bad. I'm sorry about that, we learned our
lesson though, the next time, we will try and stay away from secluded mountain towns to skype home. In terms of the rest of the week things have gone very well.


Jhizel is doing very well, we're working hard and doing our best togrow this area. We are actually about to go and visit Jhizel's brother right now. I'm sorry this is so short.

But it really is a great day to be a missionary.

Love,
Elder Weenig

Inside a cathedral in Granada