Fun fact! Cadiz is mentioned in the Bible and BOM! It used to be called Tharshish/ Tartessus- 2 Nephi 12: 16. 1 kings 10:22 

Monday- we had my first p day in the field!! :) we woke up and went to the ward to watch the Sunday afternoon session with the hermanas. Then second Counselor, most awesome guy ever, Jorge took us to a really cool Pueblo (village) called Vejer. Jorge drives a very nice Citroen C4 which has many cool things. I like seeing all these European cars. :) And Vejer was way way gorgeous. After P day ended (it ends at 6:30) me and Elder Stephens had a tough night. All our plans fell through so we did our back up plans which fell through but we just kept on going. But we found no success. You must know the bad to know the good! :) but we had a good plan set up for the next day. 

Tuesday- Today ended up being a very busy day, we had so many plans for teaching and finding.  We taught our less active member Jose Gomez who has had a very difficult life, and then we taught our super nice and humble member Ana.  She has so little, yet she still always wants to feed us.  We told her that we didn't want her to feed us because we know she has so little, but she said she really wants to because it makes her feel happy and closer to god.  Her humility amazes me. Then we had lunch with Member Juan who was as usual, very nice.  Then we randomly got called and said that President Andersen and his wife were in Cadiz and wanted to interview us.  So I had another interview with President Andersen and talked with his wife a lot.  It's funny how they've really only been here one more transfer than me, so they're both still in the learning stage as well.  They said that it's hard because it's more "saint seeing than sight seeing" which when your in southern Spain is very difficult.  Then later we met with members Merche and her less active husband and her brother Jesus.  Jesus is mentally challenged, but I've never seen someone with such a sweet spirit and he loves president Gordon B Hinkley that's all he wanted to talk about.  Funny story, I totally forgot my tie on the way to that appointment so Merche gave me one of her husband's and told me to keep it.  I will always love that tie.  Then on the way home, we got stopped by some Hooligans in the street who told us we were in the Ghetto or something like that (I still don't understand anyone).  I thought we were about to get robbed, but all they wanted was to learn more about the church, so that was fun.  

Wednesday- the day started off a little rough. We woke up (having not slept much) and both mine and elder Stephen's bodies were covered in big red marks. We turned on the light and there were about 15 Mosquitos covering the wall. So we took some spray And rolled up paper and got to work on them. So today was some big festival of some virgin here in Cadiz so our whole ward invited us to celebrate by going to an amazing Pueblo called Ronda. It was absolutely stunning as you will see in pictures. We just explored the city and its beauty and it was so nice. Pictures will not do it any justice. The feel of it, the peace and the surrealism and the entire ambiance of this small village nestled in the mountains of Spain, It was absolutely remarkable. I also got to talk with a lot of the members so that was fun. We returned late at night and went out to do some contacting with not much success. 

Thursday- Today was weekly planning in the morning which went well.  We've set some high goals for the coming weeks but we know we can achieve if we really work hard and rely on the spirit.  We also finally got Elder Stephens credit card to work!!! So we finally got to buy some compras (groceries) which was nice.  Then since we always play soccer every Saturday morning, which is a great way to obtain new investigators and teach a lesson to a huge group of people, I bought some new Soccer Shoes!! They were normally 45 Euros but were on sale for 9 which was crazy!!! We'll see how long they actually last. Then the rest of the day was lessons.  We had our regular Thursdaylunch with Juani who is the nicest lady.  Then we went and taught Domingo and Llolanda.  Llolanda is a member and married Domingo, a non member, a bit ago and she actually has a son in the London mission Named Elder Thomas.  Domingo really wants to get baptized but he wants to wait for Elder Thomas to get home which is a problem because that's 14 months away.  But we're hoping to gain his trust more and help him feel the spirit to be baptized.  Then we went and visited David, a member, and his wife who is a devout catholic, and his wife didn't want to join in our lesson.  But one day, she will. I know it. 

Friday- Most of our morning was occupied by our Zone Meeting which we held right here in Cadiz. It was absolutely amazing and at the end of the meeting the couple missionaries (who leave next month)  made some chile which was way good. The meeting was all in Spanish which took some major focusing for me to know what was happening. I've decided that I can understand when Americans speak Spanish, but as soon as a spaniard speaks Spanish, I have no clue what they are saying (our zone leader is from Spain). The accents and how fast they speak, man it's so hard to understand them. But it was a good meeting. Then we had a meeting with an 86 year old lady named concha, who is a devout catholic, but her son is actually a member and the first counselor in the stake presidency. She was very nice to us and gave us food but she is very very set on her beliefs, and that's okay. Then we had a perfect appointment set up and had even set it up with a member and everything with our great investigator Mariam from Dominican Republic, but when we arrived she wasn't there. We called her but nothing so that made us sad. So we visited a less active member Adriana and her non member daughter who is 13 and set up a appointment for next week to teach which is awesome. They are from Mexico and Mexicans here are the best because I can actually understand their Spanish!  Then on our way home, we ran into the same hooligans in a different area though and they were really nice again. They had more questions about the church and God so that was fun.    

Saturday- we started the morning playing some Futbol! :) that is always way fun and I'm slowly getting better. We met a 17 year old kid during it named Javi and he is very interested in the church. But Wow does he have a hard accent. I've decided the younger they are, the harder it is to understand because they talk a lot of slang and they talk very fast. So hopefully we can start teaching him in the future. Then we studied lots. If we don't have appointments, from 2:00-5:30 (which is siesta or it's more called medio dia in Spain) then we are supposed to do extra study in the piso during that time. So we did that. Then we had a big family home evening planned with the Coen family who are amazing members and the Hermanas and some of their investigators. That was really fun but it got a little out of hand at one point. A little argument broke out between a member and an investigator about some word of wisdom issues. I didn't understand most of it (when spaniards get mad, they speak super super fast) but it all was okay in the end, I think. Then we had lots of food!!!! 

Sunday- my first day in church in the mission field. It was fast and testimony meeting but me and Elder Stephens couldn't bare our testimonies because it seemed the entire ward was wanting to that day. I will be honest, I had no clue what was happening most the time but I still felt the spirit. Me and elder Stephens were also asked to teach nursery that day!! That was really funny and I enjoyed it a lot. It was a great day though, we have an amazing amazing ward and stake here In Cadiz and everyone is so nice and wanting to help us. Then we returned and studied lots.  Then we went out to find some old investigators but we found no success there.  So we visited our investigator Bartolo and the member Ana.  Unfortunately, Bartolo is not progressing, as he is not willing to overcome his addictions.  But God will always love him no matter what.   Then we passed by our dominican investigators Miriam and Rosa and it was crazy!!! All of their cousins who live all around Spain were there and they invited us to eat a huge dinner with them!! We shared a lot about what we do as missionaries with those who hadn't heard of our church and we talked a lot about religion.  We invited them to learn more but unfortunately they said no, saying that they always work and don't have time to meet with missionaries.  That was really disappointing.  But we will continue trying with Miriam and Rosa (who are sisters and live in the same apartment building) and their kids.  We ate with them and had some amazing Dominican and Peruvian food and I've never been more full in my life.  They wouldn't let me say no!!!! So i just had to keep eating.  And it was way spicy so that was crazy too.  So that was that day.  

All in all it's been a wonderful week.  It's hard because the work is starting a little slow and some people are not willing to change.  But the goal is to always keep trying.  That's all we can do, we ask the lord for help in our work, and then we just try.  Our goal is to bring others to Christ and if that means helping lots of less actives and facing lots of rejection from investigators, then that's what we will do.  But there are reasons for all things and we just have to keep trying.  

Something I've learned this week:  If you're ever new at something, always observe the example of those who know what they are doing and ask yourself what you can learn from them. President Lovell from the MTC always told us that The first step in being a good leader is being able to be a good follower.