September 21, 2026

It was a fairly boring week but here are some updates:

- A good exchange with Elder Miller. It is his first transfer in Spain and is super fun. We had a few lessons with friends I had taught in Jerez a few months ago. 

- I made a homemade tortilla patata that turned out surprisingly well! It has potatoes, eggs, chorizo and some seasonings. 

- Today on P-Day we went to a property out in the country of a member. He has lots of animals and we had a BBQ with other missionaries from the district

- Continuing to teach our friend Cesar. He needs patience, but would be an extremely important baptism in this branch. 

- I've been enjoying listening to BYU talks from Presidente Holland in the mornings. Speaking of which, I loved this quote from his speech:

"As you wage such personal wars, obviously part of the strength to “hang in there” comes from some glimpse, however faint and fleeting, of what the victory can be. It is as true now as when Solomon said it that “where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). If your eyes are always on your shoelaces, if all you can see is this class or that test, this date or that roommate, this disappointment or that dilemma, then it really is quite easy to throw in the towel and stop the fight. But what if it is the fight of your life? Or more precisely if it is the fight for your life, your eternal life at that? What if beyond this class or that test, this date or that roommate, this disappointment or that dilemma, you really can see and can hope for all the best and right things that God has to offer? Oh, it may be blurred a bit by the perspiration running into your eyes, and in a really difficult fight one of the eyes might even be closing a bit, but faintly, dimly, and ever so far away you can see the object of it all." 

May we seek to maintain a greater vision. We are being prepared for things far beyond our current situation. Maybe even our life on earth.

Elder Dougall