Shane In Spain: Transfers!

Well family, the dreaded day has come. It´s transfers week, and Elder Webb is leaving Elche. I´ve only been here for three transfers, and it doesn´t feel like I´ve been here very long. There is still so much to do! But Elders Pascau and Adams will do a good job together. I¨m sad to be leaving the members and my hijo elder Adams! But the Lord has a special assignment for me, which I am stinking excited to be doing. I¨m headed to Motril, in Granada, in the Granada zone. I¨m going to be opening this area with Elder Peroni (he´s from argentina but grew up in Barcelona), we´re white washing it. There haven´t been missionaries there for almost two years. The branch has between 5 and 10 members, and they meet in a piso. Right now they´re building a new chapel, and President felt that it was time to send missionaries and open it back up. So he has entrusted me and Elder Peroni to do the job, and I´m so stinking excited! This is actually my dream. I think about the first missionaries in the early days of the chruch and how it would have been to go to a place where there weren´t missionaries before, and just start spreading the gospel. And now I get to do that! I can´t wait to get in there and start working. Getting to know the members will be easier than in other areas, and we´re going to work really hard with them, and with the whole city and we´re going to stinking BAPTIZE!! I¨m a bit disappointed to be leaving Elche, but at the same time super excited to be going to Motril. This for sure is going to be an awesome experience.

So this last week was a fun one. Some elders in my district had to travel to Malaga, and one elder was left without a companion, so being that I was in a trio, I went to his area and we did exchanges for two days. We had a lot of fun and worked really hard, their area has been suffering as of late, so we worked really hard to just talk with everyone, and get references from members and help their faith grow so that we could raise the area. Have I ever said that I love missionary work? Being apart of the process, and seeing peoples faith in Christ grow, and their trust in Him grow, it´s the greatest thing ever to witness!! I don´t ever want to stop being a missionary. So after that exchange we had a really cool conference with President Deere and the stake presidnet of the Elche stake, President Lopez. They´re both super awesome men, spiritual giants and their so united in their vision of the area. We spoke to them about how the members could help us better in the work, and they spoke to us about how we could better help them and the members in the work. The things they were saying really hit me, about forgetting yourself and serving selflessly. I´ve been trying really hard to become a better, more focused and harder working missionary, and it seems like the Lord just keeps giving me signal after signal that yeah I already know how to do it, I just need to buck up and do it! So now is the time, with me going to Motril and the area having been dead for so long. This is going to take a lot of hard work and diligence, and I´m totally up for the challenge!

One quick note about my companion Elder Pascau. He´s a stinking prankster, always trying to prank the elders in the piso. Last night, he filled a bowl of flour and taped it to the door and then called for me to come help him. I heard what he was doing and knew what he was up to and so he didn´t get me. So then after about five minutes he tells everyone it´s time for bed and turns out all the lights in the house. I go into the bathroom to brush my teeth and as I turn on the light he jumps out from the shower and scares me and for a moment I thought he was going to kill me, like a reverse Psycho or something. That time he did get me. Although I don´t like being scared, what I love about Elder Pascua is that he´s always happy. Even if the day was cruddy, he´s always laughing and has a smile on his face and tries hard to be pacient and smile. He´s a great example to me and to everyone!

So my dear family, that is all that I have to say this week. I´m going to Motril! I

can´t wait to get there and start working. Sorry if this email was way too long and boring. Please pray for the people in Motril and all the missionaries in the mission and in the world! I love you all and I challenge you to try to keep a smile on in every moment this week. It´s a lot harder than you think, but Elder Pascau has inspired me to be more happy. I love you all so much! I´ll talk to you next week!

con mucho amor,

Elder Webb