Never give up. I still kick myself that I must have picked up my dad's acoustic some twenty times before I actually stuck with it and I could have been about five years further on development-wise than I currently am if I had only had a little more perseverance the first time I sat down to learn.
Also, I found it best to find the chord progressions of songs I liked and try to strum my way through them.
Start with a single down-strum marking the change from chord to chord to begin with whilst you develop finger memory for the chord shapes. Then, later on, try to develop right hand technique by strumming along to the song by 'feeling' for the pattern that sounds best.
By the time you can do the above, you will have expanded your chord library, improved your right hand technique and developed good finger memory.
After that it might be worth delving into a bit of basic music theory to learn the fretboard and how the chord shapes you have been playing are made up.
Good luck with it and yeah, the pain goes eventually - but not before you get some nasty blisters first!
