Monday, October 20, 2014
Strange Week!
Hola!
So this week was a little weird because we emailed last week and then we went and did normal stuff the rest of the day. and then Friday we went to the temple and then had a preparation day after that! So it just threw me off! haha :)
But. okay- so we saw ____ and ____ and had an amazing lesson with them. We watched the talk by Elder Bednar (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/come-and-see?lang=eng) that was for the non-members of the church.. It was a really good experience because they got to watch a true apostle of the Lord speak to the world! and it was directed to them, and helped them really understand even more why we are here trying to share this great message with them. We then discussed discerning truth and really how we know if things are from God or not. Then they told us about all the changes they have been making all on their own! They have been trying to not watch as many novelas haha or tv in general! they deleted the games off their phones that they were wasting a ton of time on.. and they have been trying to replace that time with actually talking together as a family and reading the Bible! (we are getting them to read the Book of Mormon too) But they are doing these things because of the added Spirit that they have felt and that is in their home :) the gospel literally changes people in so many different ways.
They basically were just saying how they have more desires to follow Christ and they know that the Lord has sent us to them. So we opened up to 2 Nefi 31 and read:
"And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?
And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son."
and then we asked them if they have prayed about being baptized and truly following Christ.. and they said honestly, no we havent actually prayed specifically about that. We said how come? and then they were like.. well we feel like now we really HAVE to. we NEED to know.. we have to get rid of the doubts that we have and the wonders that we have.. but they are just a little nervous to ask God. (BECAUSE THEY ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER haha) and so they are basically going to try and have a Joseph Smith experience.. they wanted to set a specific time to be all alone, no distractions and to be able to pray and ask God if this is the true church or not, and if they need to be baptized. so we are SO excited!!! we get to go see them tomorrow :) we are actually going to go see them 30 mins after the transfer meeting is over haha! so my new greenie better be ready to hit the ground running! haha:)
I dont know anything about my new companion I am getting this week, all i know is she is american.. The Mexican sister i was supposed to get is STILL not ready to come out into the field because of her enlgish but none the less i am excited to be a mama! and train.. I am a bit nervous still.. but it should be good :)
___ and ___ are not really progressing still :( we had a good lesson the other day with them.. we talked about coffee and about them getting married AGAIN haha. They had another really neat faith building experience. They prayed the last week that they would be able to sell all the food and make the amount of money they needed to so that they would be able to go to church the next day, and they did! and they were able to go to sleep and come to church! but then this week they didnt come to church again.. so it is hard. We are really trying to discern what we need to do.. ___ is very stubborn about getting rings before they are married. She isnt going to get married without rings -___- but her goal is by December. We may just have to be more patient with them and continue to help them be strong and ready to be baptized.
funny story from this week... We had called this new investigator lady to set up a time to go and see her and she told us a very specific time. we even called a couple hours before to verify because she lives kinda far away. then as we were walking through the apt complex to get over to her apt i saw her from a far and she looked and saw us and then literally grabbed her daughter and RAN inside. then we still went over there and her sister was outside and she told us she wasnt there.. i was like seriously? hahahahaha i have never had anyone RUN from me..
The bishop and his family are so great in this ward! He is american (from utah) but speaks perfect spanish and his wife is from Spain. she is such a character hahaha. they are also very well off.. sooooo good news is that when we come back here to visit NC we can go and stay at their beach house on carolina beach and hang out with them! woop woop! :) He was so sweet, yesterday he told us that he really really appreciates us and loves us! He doesnt want sister Ashworth to leave. lol.
Well. That is about it for this week.. We have had a bit of a shortage of investigators lately, we are trying to rebuild our pool but it is just really hard for some reason right now. #doublingmyfaith
I am so grateful for the abilities we all have.. and that we are all able to receive personal confirmation of the truths of the gospel. I know that it is so important, like Elder Uchtdorf said in general conference, for us to gain spiritual light and knowledge every single day. I am amazed how things I have studied and learned in the past continue to just be impressed and illuminated more in my mind as I study them out more and teach them to others. Make sure you as well are doing all you can each day to gain more spiritual light and then share it with someone!
I love you all so much. Have an amazing day and week!!! (and dont forget its my birthday in about 3 1/2 weeks :) )
-Hermana Weller <3
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
ATTENTION!! B-day...
Hola, haha :)
Just a reminder to everyone out there! my birthday IS in ONE month. The big 2-0. :)
anyways.. what a good week i have had!!! and seriously this next week is going to be so good!
We get to go to the temple again on Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So today we are only emailing home and doing shopping/laundry and then we are proselyting the rest of the day! then friday after the temple is our day to do whatever :)
okay this is probably going to be a shorter email because I dont have a lot of time!! sorry!
We had zone conference this past week! It was really good. really spiritual.. I never want this time to end. gah! haha and then we got to watch meet the mormons! (just at the church as missionaries) but we had to leave part of the way through because we had an appointment to get to! but it was really good! i enjoyed it :) hope y'all have gone to see it as well!!
I guess because i dont have much time, i just want to express how much I love being a missionary and just how much i truly do know that we have a Heavenly Father that knows and loves us so much... With all these people we are visiting and trying to find, it is all so lead by his power and his wisdom. We are nothing without him in this work! We arent just trying to help people be better people... we are helping them truly come unto Christ and it is possible because of the help the Lord gives to us. I know this church is true. I really do. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I finished it again this week.. It is my favorite book.. It is so good. It is the word of God.
Have a good week everyone! i love you all so much and i appreciate all your love and support SO much.
-hermana Weller
Doing a service project for the food banks
My favorite place, the Temple.
Our district of sisters, driving to meeting
Thursday, August 21, 2014
August 18 Raleigh MILAGROS
HOLA FAMILY!! I love and miss you all so much :) This has been seriously just such another amazing week.. You probably think I just say that every week because I am supposed to be having a good time out here on my mission but seriously. I couldn't ask for any more blessings right now. The Lord is blessing us SO much. This last week we continued to see miracles upon miracles.
First, starting off with the lesson we had with _____ this past week.. It was POURING rain this day and so we were driving to our next appointment and as we were driving I realized we would be passing by her house and I felt like we should stop! So we did.. We got DRENCHED as we ran from the car to her door haha.. but we had an amazing lesson. It was one of the most Spirit-lead and special lessons I have had on my mission. She shared with us some really personal experiences she has had in her past.. and talked again about _____ (her cousin who just recently died who was a former investigator--so sad). She had a dream once that was almost just like Lehi's dream... so we left her with 1 Nephi 11 to read on her own. She committed to pray about everything. We are excited for her. :) Please keep her in your prayers.
Then these are the best stories ever. ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?
Okay so Wednesday we went over to visit our family of investigators, _____'s :) When we got there they started telling us about the experience they had had. So the dad works with granite.. countertops and such. He needed to get a truck to be able to do his work better and to be able to find more work. So they prayed. He said that he prayed to God and asked Him that if everything we had taught them-- if Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the Church was really true.. he asked that God would help him get a truck to answer those questions . The next day, they found a truck to buy! He said he knows everything is true. God answered his prayer and he knows that this is the true church and that everything we have taught them is the truth!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!! Literally I was going to just bust out crying when they told us that.. And it really build his wife's faith, too. She I guess in the past she has had a harder time believing in God and in prayer and things.. and after that experience they had she knows that if you ask God in faith, He WILL answer your prayers :) man. Seriously. MILAGROS! (miracles)
Then. fast-forward to Saturday. We were out with a member to visit some people but they weren't home. So we get a call from ___ (the dad of the family that prayed) asking if we were going to come over that day. We said yes! Cause now we had an opening. He said well can you just come right now! So we went over there with the member that was with us and it was perfect! We finally got to teach them the plan of salvation all the way through with the little visual aide and everything.. and I can't even explain to you what happened.. It is one of those "priceless moments". As we explained the Celestial Kingdom and the fact that they could be together as a family- in a FAMILY UNIT FOREVER, they looked at each other with the biggest smiles on their faces and were just SO excited. I cant even express how incredible of a feeling it was! They loved it so much. and we invited them to be baptized on August 30th and ___, the dad, said YES. He would be baptized tomorrow if he could.. and his daughter loves church too. But ___, the mom, was still a little bit unsure about it. She wants more time. So we have been praying like CRAZY that she will have the experiences she needs to have to come unto the Lord and be baptized... for some reason we felt really prompted to set 3 as our baptismal goal this month and here we are :) They want to be baptized.. they know it is all true :) I cant even express my feelings haha.. God is just amazing.. He works on His elect people SO much and even though just a week or two ago I felt like we had messed up completely because we can't speak Spanish all that well....He has made up for those weaknesses and helped them feel the truth still. IS TODAY NOT A DAY OF MIRACLES?!?!? I SAY UNTO YOU NAY! :)
(Moroni 7:29)
Other than that.. a few not as spiritual things hahaha.. so the other day we went to have dinner at a less-active family's house that we go to all the time. As usual, I didn't park in the little "visitors parking" because we never do and nothing ever happens. BUT. mid-meal.. there was a knock and this Hispanic man said "¿Tienen visitantes con un carro rojo?" (Do you guys have visitors with a red car?) and we were like "¡si!" And then they were like.. "well you probably want to move it! so we literally ran out the door to the car" and I jumped in the front seat and my comp got out to back me up...And because she was back there backing me up the tow truck guy couldn't get under our car to tow us away!!! He got the car next to us instead haha.. But it was crazy haha.. we would have been in big trouble.. :)
Then the other story.. this week we went to this one sister's house for dinner and ate posole (i am so glad you know how to make that now mom haha it is so good) and then after we asked her, "well why don't we come back in a couple days and help you organize your pantry?" ...because it was a disaster and she could use our help! So we come back a few days later......... and started in the project not thinking it would be more than an hour or so.. but as we got to it... we found an infestation in everything! YIKES! But after we were done it looked nice and we were glad we got to do that for her.. she has been kind of depressed. So, it was great we were able to serve someone who needed it.
Other than that.. I think that is it for this week. Please just pray for the ____'s that we wont have any sudden barriers and that they can be baptized on the 30th :) Thanks!! I love you all so so so so so so much. have a fantastic week. Trust in the Lord! Miracles can happen when we have faith in Him and trust that He loves us enough to do so.
Con Amor,
Hermana Weller :)
Friday, July 25, 2014
Raleigh July 21
HOLA!
They always say that after a really bad and hard week, it is a good week. And that was for sure:) last week was so hard!! we didnt find many people to teach, but now this past week was amazing.
So as a Spanish sister, its kinda tough because there are other little rules with teaching people haha. So when we meet someone and teach them a lesson normally it would be counted as a new investigator if we set up a return appointment. But since Hispanic people are all really nice and stuff (for the most part) we have to teach 2 lessons with a return appointment for them to be considered a new investigator. SO. If we were English sisters... this week we would have found 12-15 NEW INVESTIGATORS. Yeah. That is what I am talking about!!!! haha so now this week we just have to go back and complete the process. Alot of them are just really really great too. FAMILIES :) CHILDREN and parents! and also single mom families are really common too.. but yeah. it is just so great.
____ DOESNT HATE US!!!!!!!!! So we were really nervous last week about that.. We went to the mission office though and they let us have a LARGE print spanish Book of Mormon to give to her and so we wrote our testimonies in it and then we were going to just drop by and give it to her, but she wasnt there when we tried. So then we called her that night and she answered!! and said she had sent us a message and we just hadnt gotten it. WOO! then we set up an appointment with her and we were able to go and see her yesterday :) We gave her the Book of Mormon so now she can actually read it because she had a hard time seeing the regular sized one and her children just love us so much too. Ah. It makes me so happy, we are still moving forward with her and it is all good!!
Okay really funny story time. :)
So tuesday. We had some plans to go and visit people in the evening and we even had some exchanges set up to go with us! But the sky was really dark all day, and so of course it started POURING that evening so we had to change our plans a bit. But from walking...(running) from the church to the car, and then from our car to someones house we wanted to visit we got so wet (even though we had an umbrella) and I was wearing a white shirt....... so we had to go home to change. We made some changes in our plans and we got to go see the family with all the small children which was so great. :)
THEN. we got home to do our planning session and it was still raining a lot. and right as we were about to finish up planning the power went out! so we were using a flash light to help us finish up and then we realized that the power had been out for a little while and that sister evans had just bought ice cream last monday and it was going to be wasted and we NEEDED to eat it!! so we went into the kitchen with the flashlight and just huddled around the chocolate ice cream in the dark. Eating it right out of the carton. sister evans said "we are living every childs dream right now" hahahahah man I was dying laughing. Then after we ate BASTANTE ice cream we got ready for bed because it was time to and then the lights came back on haha.
okay one other funny story really fast.. we went into a gas station the other day to grab a fast snack because we had a huge lunch and didnt have time to eat a full dinner. But as we were walking back to our car there was this man and his girlfriend or something sittting at this table and he was like " you are the first mormon woman I have ever seen in my life!" and we were like what?! really? and so then we chatted a little and then concluded with well.. yup! we are real-life mormon woman AND we have a car haha they were really surprised about that one as well lol.
We went and served at the food bank for the first time this past week! That was fun :) we were in the warehouse.. cleaning pallets off and checking to see if there was mouse poop any where hahah fun stuff!
Well I love you all so much! The Lord really does love us so much. We are so blessed. I love being out here and I cant believe it has been 8 months! AH! Time is flying. My spanish is getting so much better. I have been just praying my hardest to be able to learn better and understand even more and I see His help. I love this work! I love you! I miss you all! I dont know if my mail has been getting sent back or what but I havent gotten any mail since I have been here really haha.. So pick it back up people! lol jk :)
love,
Hermana Weller
They always say that after a really bad and hard week, it is a good week. And that was for sure:) last week was so hard!! we didnt find many people to teach, but now this past week was amazing.
So as a Spanish sister, its kinda tough because there are other little rules with teaching people haha. So when we meet someone and teach them a lesson normally it would be counted as a new investigator if we set up a return appointment. But since Hispanic people are all really nice and stuff (for the most part) we have to teach 2 lessons with a return appointment for them to be considered a new investigator. SO. If we were English sisters... this week we would have found 12-15 NEW INVESTIGATORS. Yeah. That is what I am talking about!!!! haha so now this week we just have to go back and complete the process. Alot of them are just really really great too. FAMILIES :) CHILDREN and parents! and also single mom families are really common too.. but yeah. it is just so great.
____ DOESNT HATE US!!!!!!!!! So we were really nervous last week about that.. We went to the mission office though and they let us have a LARGE print spanish Book of Mormon to give to her and so we wrote our testimonies in it and then we were going to just drop by and give it to her, but she wasnt there when we tried. So then we called her that night and she answered!! and said she had sent us a message and we just hadnt gotten it. WOO! then we set up an appointment with her and we were able to go and see her yesterday :) We gave her the Book of Mormon so now she can actually read it because she had a hard time seeing the regular sized one and her children just love us so much too. Ah. It makes me so happy, we are still moving forward with her and it is all good!!
Okay really funny story time. :)
So tuesday. We had some plans to go and visit people in the evening and we even had some exchanges set up to go with us! But the sky was really dark all day, and so of course it started POURING that evening so we had to change our plans a bit. But from walking...(running) from the church to the car, and then from our car to someones house we wanted to visit we got so wet (even though we had an umbrella) and I was wearing a white shirt....... so we had to go home to change. We made some changes in our plans and we got to go see the family with all the small children which was so great. :)
THEN. we got home to do our planning session and it was still raining a lot. and right as we were about to finish up planning the power went out! so we were using a flash light to help us finish up and then we realized that the power had been out for a little while and that sister evans had just bought ice cream last monday and it was going to be wasted and we NEEDED to eat it!! so we went into the kitchen with the flashlight and just huddled around the chocolate ice cream in the dark. Eating it right out of the carton. sister evans said "we are living every childs dream right now" hahahahah man I was dying laughing. Then after we ate BASTANTE ice cream we got ready for bed because it was time to and then the lights came back on haha.
okay one other funny story really fast.. we went into a gas station the other day to grab a fast snack because we had a huge lunch and didnt have time to eat a full dinner. But as we were walking back to our car there was this man and his girlfriend or something sittting at this table and he was like " you are the first mormon woman I have ever seen in my life!" and we were like what?! really? and so then we chatted a little and then concluded with well.. yup! we are real-life mormon woman AND we have a car haha they were really surprised about that one as well lol.
We went and served at the food bank for the first time this past week! That was fun :) we were in the warehouse.. cleaning pallets off and checking to see if there was mouse poop any where hahah fun stuff!
Well I love you all so much! The Lord really does love us so much. We are so blessed. I love being out here and I cant believe it has been 8 months! AH! Time is flying. My spanish is getting so much better. I have been just praying my hardest to be able to learn better and understand even more and I see His help. I love this work! I love you! I miss you all! I dont know if my mail has been getting sent back or what but I havent gotten any mail since I have been here really haha.. So pick it back up people! lol jk :)
love,
Hermana Weller
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
July 14 Raleigh
Woo! Another great week from Raleigh NC :) It has been definitely getting TOASTY here.. haha yesterday was incredibly hot. Man.
Not a whole whole lot happened this week...
This week was tough.
But it was good. We went on exchanges with the sister leaders which was interesting.. hahah I felt bad for my comp, Sister Evans because she stayed here in our area and had to try and find people to visit who spoke English, but that didn't end up working I guess haha she basically had to teach everyone by herself because all her lessons were in Spanish! But luckily they were just with less active members and such:) I got to go and speak just English! haha it was weird to be back in an English setting...haha but it was a good change.
Unfortunately after our really good lesson last week with ___ we haven't been able to get up with her! We don't know what happened :( But its really sad and we hope that we can some how figure out what is the problem and salvage that baptismal date! She is so great and we know that she really enjoyed everything that we had taught her.
So we have been having a really hard time finding new investigators to teach. This week we are just going to have to buckle down and double our faith we decided. We are going to have to pray more fervently and with more trust in the Lord that he is going to help lead and guide us to those we need to find! We have been doing a lot of good work with some less-actives and recent coverts though so that is really great. One of them that we have been helping get back is about 24 and he is now saying he is having desires to serve a mission!!! It is just so great to see the atonement really work in peoples' lives.
I am sorry this week's letter is not very exciting!!! I don't have a ton to report about this week that was super stellar. I do KNOW though that Christ really did suffer for me and truly has grace and mercy for all of us. I have been relying on his grace so much lately in helping me be able to learn and understand Spanish more... I know that obedience even if we dont really understand it or agree with whatever the commandment or rule might be will bring blessings EVERY time. I LOVE the Book of Mormon SO much! I have been in Alma 26-29 and I seriously just want to be like those missionaries! They are such great examples. I want that joy!! I want to make all my hard work worth it in the end, and that I can pass out because of my exceeding joy just like Ammon did;) hahaha..
Well I hope you all have a great week. and I love you so much. Trust in the Lord. He WILL help us if we have the faith and belief that He will.
-Hermana Weller
Not a whole whole lot happened this week...
This week was tough.
But it was good. We went on exchanges with the sister leaders which was interesting.. hahah I felt bad for my comp, Sister Evans because she stayed here in our area and had to try and find people to visit who spoke English, but that didn't end up working I guess haha she basically had to teach everyone by herself because all her lessons were in Spanish! But luckily they were just with less active members and such:) I got to go and speak just English! haha it was weird to be back in an English setting...haha but it was a good change.
Unfortunately after our really good lesson last week with ___ we haven't been able to get up with her! We don't know what happened :( But its really sad and we hope that we can some how figure out what is the problem and salvage that baptismal date! She is so great and we know that she really enjoyed everything that we had taught her.
So we have been having a really hard time finding new investigators to teach. This week we are just going to have to buckle down and double our faith we decided. We are going to have to pray more fervently and with more trust in the Lord that he is going to help lead and guide us to those we need to find! We have been doing a lot of good work with some less-actives and recent coverts though so that is really great. One of them that we have been helping get back is about 24 and he is now saying he is having desires to serve a mission!!! It is just so great to see the atonement really work in peoples' lives.
I am sorry this week's letter is not very exciting!!! I don't have a ton to report about this week that was super stellar. I do KNOW though that Christ really did suffer for me and truly has grace and mercy for all of us. I have been relying on his grace so much lately in helping me be able to learn and understand Spanish more... I know that obedience even if we dont really understand it or agree with whatever the commandment or rule might be will bring blessings EVERY time. I LOVE the Book of Mormon SO much! I have been in Alma 26-29 and I seriously just want to be like those missionaries! They are such great examples. I want that joy!! I want to make all my hard work worth it in the end, and that I can pass out because of my exceeding joy just like Ammon did;) hahaha..
Well I hope you all have a great week. and I love you so much. Trust in the Lord. He WILL help us if we have the faith and belief that He will.
-Hermana Weller
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
July 7 Raleigh
Yet again a fantastic week! :) To answer everyone's questions.. The hurricane didn't really effect us at all! It was kinda windy and it rained a tiny bit, but other than that nothing much happened!
Ok well let's just get to the good things that have happened this week!:) starting with yesterday.
Yesterday was fast sunday. they are always the best!! We came home after church and did a quick comp study and then we went out to visit some referrals we had. Literally for 2 hours we knocked doors and tried going to see other people and no one was home.. It was HOT and it was hard because NO ONE was opening up. But then we went home and ate our feast dinner haha.. and went out again to see some other people. and again no one was home everywhere we tried. Until at 7 we had an appointment with our investigator, _____ and we had a member coming with us to that lesson. All day through out my fast and as well as the hard times during the day I just kept praying that she would at least be there and we would be able to meet with her. We got there and she opened the door! and we had a lesson with her! :) It was such a good lesson too.. we really helped her understand the WHY of the gospel for HER. why SHE needs the gospel.. the blessings of the spirit that come after being baptized and how we need faith and hope to get us through this world. She said that since we have been meeting with her she has felt a lot of peace.. She said we have a peaceful feeling to us when we come and talk with her. :) and then... SHE ACCEPTED A BAPTISMAL DATE! woohoo! for the end of this month! please if you would, just keep her in your prayers that she WILL continue working with us to achieve that date:) She is amazing and just needs it so bad. She has 2 little kids that are so cute and they love us so much. and her husband.. well he is going to maybe need a little more time for things:) But one day he will join the church too and then get sealed as a family!!!! :) ah. so great.
A few other things that I have really learned this week from experiences we had..
We went and saw that family who apparently on the ward roster it said do not contact but we did anyways haha.. and they fed us some really yummy food. they are from Peru! But anyway.. when we shared our message we started talking about forgiving people because that is why the wife doesn't come to church any more is because she got really offended or something and the ward doesn't even really know what happened... but it just was so sad. I started crying when I was telling her that the Lord has so many blessings for their family that he wants them to take part in! It wasn't chance that we got into their home that first day.. The Lord is giving her this chance to take part in everything that he has for them and we love her and the Lord loves her and wants her to go to church. But she doesnt see the need. She has strong faith in Jesus Christ.. but as my companion said.. It is just misplaced. She doesn't understand that the "manchas" (stains) or scars that still might hurt from whatever happened can be healed through Christ. We don't have to forever have those bad feelings.. After we left we just were so sad. I imagine it almost as the judgement day. Jesus Christ will be there and he will basically BEG people (like we basically did with her) to accept him and his gospel so that they can have eternal happiness and they will reject it STILL. Makes me think of Alma 28:14. We see so much good from the gospel! but then we also feel the sadness that comes when people don't accept it. :( But the bishop said we have done more in the 3 visits we have had with her than they have ever gotten done in the past 3 years so he wants us to continue going to see her.
I really know just HOW important the family is.. How much we all need both a mom and a dad paired with the gospel! There is a single dad in the ward who recently joined the church and his little kids are just going to have problems.. you can already tell. It is so sad. It breaks my heart! one of them sat with us during sacrament meeting though. he is too cute.
We had a really really good zone conference this week! I seriously love the Berhisel's SO much! they are just amazing people. So inspired and just so loving. :) one of the new assistants was my zone leader when I was in Raeford and he was SUCH a good zone leader so that is so great! We were just very inspired after zone conference and we have been able to apply new things in our teaching from what we learned:)
Well.. that is all for this week really. I love doing this work so much. I know that the Lord loves each and every single one of us on this earth SO much. I have been trying to see every single person that opens the door to us as Heavenly Father sees them and it is just great. My companion is so good at always baring her testimony of that love to those we teach and so i am trying to develop that same charity for these people! I love you all so much and I am so grateful for this short time I have to give everything to the Lord. Our district leader did some math and of a 24 month mission 16 of them are used in eating, sleeping, meetings, church, etc. and only 8 of those months is proselyting time. That perspective has really hit me! Time is ticking! I am going on 8 months of being out! I just want to make the most of this time:)
I love you and I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you even more! Have a great week. :)
Hermana Weller
Ok well let's just get to the good things that have happened this week!:) starting with yesterday.
Yesterday was fast sunday. they are always the best!! We came home after church and did a quick comp study and then we went out to visit some referrals we had. Literally for 2 hours we knocked doors and tried going to see other people and no one was home.. It was HOT and it was hard because NO ONE was opening up. But then we went home and ate our feast dinner haha.. and went out again to see some other people. and again no one was home everywhere we tried. Until at 7 we had an appointment with our investigator, _____ and we had a member coming with us to that lesson. All day through out my fast and as well as the hard times during the day I just kept praying that she would at least be there and we would be able to meet with her. We got there and she opened the door! and we had a lesson with her! :) It was such a good lesson too.. we really helped her understand the WHY of the gospel for HER. why SHE needs the gospel.. the blessings of the spirit that come after being baptized and how we need faith and hope to get us through this world. She said that since we have been meeting with her she has felt a lot of peace.. She said we have a peaceful feeling to us when we come and talk with her. :) and then... SHE ACCEPTED A BAPTISMAL DATE! woohoo! for the end of this month! please if you would, just keep her in your prayers that she WILL continue working with us to achieve that date:) She is amazing and just needs it so bad. She has 2 little kids that are so cute and they love us so much. and her husband.. well he is going to maybe need a little more time for things:) But one day he will join the church too and then get sealed as a family!!!! :) ah. so great.
A few other things that I have really learned this week from experiences we had..
We went and saw that family who apparently on the ward roster it said do not contact but we did anyways haha.. and they fed us some really yummy food. they are from Peru! But anyway.. when we shared our message we started talking about forgiving people because that is why the wife doesn't come to church any more is because she got really offended or something and the ward doesn't even really know what happened... but it just was so sad. I started crying when I was telling her that the Lord has so many blessings for their family that he wants them to take part in! It wasn't chance that we got into their home that first day.. The Lord is giving her this chance to take part in everything that he has for them and we love her and the Lord loves her and wants her to go to church. But she doesnt see the need. She has strong faith in Jesus Christ.. but as my companion said.. It is just misplaced. She doesn't understand that the "manchas" (stains) or scars that still might hurt from whatever happened can be healed through Christ. We don't have to forever have those bad feelings.. After we left we just were so sad. I imagine it almost as the judgement day. Jesus Christ will be there and he will basically BEG people (like we basically did with her) to accept him and his gospel so that they can have eternal happiness and they will reject it STILL. Makes me think of Alma 28:14. We see so much good from the gospel! but then we also feel the sadness that comes when people don't accept it. :( But the bishop said we have done more in the 3 visits we have had with her than they have ever gotten done in the past 3 years so he wants us to continue going to see her.
I really know just HOW important the family is.. How much we all need both a mom and a dad paired with the gospel! There is a single dad in the ward who recently joined the church and his little kids are just going to have problems.. you can already tell. It is so sad. It breaks my heart! one of them sat with us during sacrament meeting though. he is too cute.
We had a really really good zone conference this week! I seriously love the Berhisel's SO much! they are just amazing people. So inspired and just so loving. :) one of the new assistants was my zone leader when I was in Raeford and he was SUCH a good zone leader so that is so great! We were just very inspired after zone conference and we have been able to apply new things in our teaching from what we learned:)
Well.. that is all for this week really. I love doing this work so much. I know that the Lord loves each and every single one of us on this earth SO much. I have been trying to see every single person that opens the door to us as Heavenly Father sees them and it is just great. My companion is so good at always baring her testimony of that love to those we teach and so i am trying to develop that same charity for these people! I love you all so much and I am so grateful for this short time I have to give everything to the Lord. Our district leader did some math and of a 24 month mission 16 of them are used in eating, sleeping, meetings, church, etc. and only 8 of those months is proselyting time. That perspective has really hit me! Time is ticking! I am going on 8 months of being out! I just want to make the most of this time:)
I love you and I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you even more! Have a great week. :)
Hermana Weller
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Hola! Que tal?!
I love my new area.. It has been so great so far. I am in Raleigh 3rd ward so we technically cover the entire raleigh stake (english area) so it is again a large area, but we share it with 2 sets of elders as well. I was completely blown away yesterday when I went to church and there was an entire chapel full of people. and they were all Hispanic! It is the only Hispanic WARD here in our mission, and they are honestly amazing:)
My companion is so great too!! Hermana Evans. She is "from" Hawaiii.. But she is a military child so she has moved all over the place! She went to high school in Tucson but then now her family lives in Hawaii.. So it has been fun to talk all about the different places we both know and have been to! :) she is incredible though, she has such a strong testimony and such a great love for these people. She speaks good spanish already and she has only been out 2 transfers (this is her 3rd) so I am the senior comp but it doesnt always feel that way now haha. We are definitely working together and helping eachother a lot. It is great.
That I think has been the hardest part of this past week. Is just my Spanish abilities. I get really frustrated with myself because I wish I could say more.. or when I do talk, sometimes I say things I didn't want to say or I just feel like I sounded stupid when I said whatever it was I did. I have just been thinking a lot about that and I have realized that I if I really am just being lead by the spirit to say what the Lord wants me to say, I wont have to worry about it. I will say the right things.
Then, this morning I read a talk in the Liahona (Ensign.. actually it might be new era. it is combined in the Spanish one) about "Llegar a ser perfectos en Cristo" translation: "Becoming Perfected in Christ". I would invite you all to read it.. it is soooo good. It just really helped remind me that I dont have to be perfect.. and that being discouraged weakens faith. So there is no use or benefit of complaining about the things that are bad or discouraging. The Lord doesn't expect us to be perfect in general in all the things here on this Earth. That is why He gave us His son, to atone for us so that we COULD make mistakes and we COULD grow and learn. He doesn't want us to mess up or sin, but he DOES want us to grow and learn while we are here on the earth.
I have had some really good personal studies lately mostly focusing on the Atonement. and that is because in PMG it says "as your own knowledge of the atonement increases, your desire to share it with others will increase" (or something to that effect) so I have really been trying to understand all the different aspects of it and it has been great. I love the illuminating effect of the spirit! :)
I wish i had more time to be able to share with you all that i have learned about the atonement, but I just cant express it through a short email. I am just so grateful for it. I am so grateful for this time we have on the earth to learn and that we can feel the LOVE that God and Christ have for us through the Spirit. It is such a blessing too to be able to share that with other people here in Raleigh.. and even though it is hard-- in Spanish!:)
The leaders in our ward are a lot of americans that know spanish, and it is just exciting to think that in the future maybe I will get to go to a Hispanic branch and be apart of that because I will know Spanish woo! haha
so anyways. this week... We had good lessons with people! Hermana Evans introduced me to a lot of the members and we have a new investigator as well! He is the brother of a woman that just got baptized. (she actually got confirmed yesterday which was awesome too!) and he is very emotional about how great his family is and how much change they have had in their lives since they have joined the church. We are so excited for him! We have faith he is going to be baptized this transfer!! Other than that, nothing else to report.
I love you all so much and I am so glad to be here in Raleigh!!! Thanks for all your prayers and support. I can feel it:) I also cant believe it has been 7 months.. but i am one of the oldest Spanish sisters now... weird.
alright have a great week,
Besitos!!
-Hermana Weller
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
TRANSFERRED to Raleigh!!
Well folks,
After a great almost 6 months.. I am going to be leaving good old Wallace to go to the opposite way of life here in the mission... IM GOING TO RALEIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am kind of freaking out actually right now. I have to speak Spanish full time now.. And I haven't been for the past like 3 months.. I am so nervous! But excited at the same time. Man. This is craziness.. I found out I was transferring after dinner on Friday night right before we went over to the _____'s. So you can imagine when we told her.. It was not super good haha. She was really really sad. But we are going to see them again tonight! The last appointment here in Wallace.
Anyways.. Thanks for the pictures of y'all on vacation, you look so great and look like it is so much fun!! I am totally jealous but it is okay. haha
Let me tell you about the rest of the week and I will get to these past few days:)..So we went Monday and taught another lesson to this great Hispanic family we found last week. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and the mom just started bawling.. She has a few relatives back in Honduras that are really sick and they don't know what is wrong with them.. so it was just perfect for us to teach that. :) we were supposed to see them again yesterday or something but they had to reschedule:/ But it is super exciting! They have 3 kids and are all of baptismal age:) the great thing too is I think Sister Cardenas (the one from Tucson who I had known a little but before my mission) is the one coming here to Wallace to take my place-- and she obviously can speak Spanish for real! hahaha.. So the Spanish work will move forward a lot better now:)
Then Thursday-- we got to go out to Fayetteville to hear from Elder Corbridge!!!!!!!!! I loved his talk in general conference so it was so neat to meet him in real life. He instructed us for like 2 hours too! It was soo good. Literally amazing.. I learned so much and we were able to come back and apply things right away in our area that he had talked about:) He told us we really need to help people understand 1. why 2. how 3. what with everything we teach. We need them to understand the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST because that really can answer those questions. Helping people know WHY they should do things we invite them to do!! then him and his wife also talked about not beating yourself up and being upset with your self. And it was just perfect. it was literally just what I needed right then.. And I was sitting right in the middle of the chapel-- and he was looking at me like the whole time. I literally felt like he was talking directly at me. It was amazing.
Then Friday we found out about transfers.. sad day haha but at the same time exciting! and then Saturday we went to a baptism with Lorena up in Jacksonville! It was so good:) the spirit was SO strong and I just started crying at the end when we had to sing the closing song "Lord, I would Follow Thee" (for some reason that is ALWAYS the song we have to sing when I am super emotional.. Its one of my fav's though:)) because ____ was there with us and I want so badly for her to be baptized!!! and i was sad I was leaving and all that.. but it was a good experience for sure!
We were at the Niebaur's to say goodbye...
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Here I am with Lorena
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Yami and I
Sister Alvarez and I
After a great almost 6 months.. I am going to be leaving good old Wallace to go to the opposite way of life here in the mission... IM GOING TO RALEIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am kind of freaking out actually right now. I have to speak Spanish full time now.. And I haven't been for the past like 3 months.. I am so nervous! But excited at the same time. Man. This is craziness.. I found out I was transferring after dinner on Friday night right before we went over to the _____'s. So you can imagine when we told her.. It was not super good haha. She was really really sad. But we are going to see them again tonight! The last appointment here in Wallace.
Anyways.. Thanks for the pictures of y'all on vacation, you look so great and look like it is so much fun!! I am totally jealous but it is okay. haha
Let me tell you about the rest of the week and I will get to these past few days:)..So we went Monday and taught another lesson to this great Hispanic family we found last week. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and the mom just started bawling.. She has a few relatives back in Honduras that are really sick and they don't know what is wrong with them.. so it was just perfect for us to teach that. :) we were supposed to see them again yesterday or something but they had to reschedule:/ But it is super exciting! They have 3 kids and are all of baptismal age:) the great thing too is I think Sister Cardenas (the one from Tucson who I had known a little but before my mission) is the one coming here to Wallace to take my place-- and she obviously can speak Spanish for real! hahaha.. So the Spanish work will move forward a lot better now:)
Then Thursday-- we got to go out to Fayetteville to hear from Elder Corbridge!!!!!!!!! I loved his talk in general conference so it was so neat to meet him in real life. He instructed us for like 2 hours too! It was soo good. Literally amazing.. I learned so much and we were able to come back and apply things right away in our area that he had talked about:) He told us we really need to help people understand 1. why 2. how 3. what with everything we teach. We need them to understand the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST because that really can answer those questions. Helping people know WHY they should do things we invite them to do!! then him and his wife also talked about not beating yourself up and being upset with your self. And it was just perfect. it was literally just what I needed right then.. And I was sitting right in the middle of the chapel-- and he was looking at me like the whole time. I literally felt like he was talking directly at me. It was amazing.
Then Friday we found out about transfers.. sad day haha but at the same time exciting! and then Saturday we went to a baptism with Lorena up in Jacksonville! It was so good:) the spirit was SO strong and I just started crying at the end when we had to sing the closing song "Lord, I would Follow Thee" (for some reason that is ALWAYS the song we have to sing when I am super emotional.. Its one of my fav's though:)) because ____ was there with us and I want so badly for her to be baptized!!! and i was sad I was leaving and all that.. but it was a good experience for sure!
We were at the Niebaur's to say goodbye...
Here's our last picture of our zone...
This is Rachel, Yami's mom
Then yesterday at church it was just super unreal that everything was happening, I had to baer my testimony.. and Sister _____ and Sister ____ both were at church! It was so great:) and then we went and ate dinner with the ____'s one last time and saw _____ one last time.. and I didn't really get upset about going until today Brother ____ called us and told me that he is really going to miss me and that I have been one of his favorite "grand daughters" :) They are the BEST. I am going to miss them a ton.
Well wish me luck in my now totally Spanish adventures! I am off to the "promised land" of Raleigh! haha.. I can't believe it.
I love you so so so so so much. Thank you for your support and your emails. It helps so much each week.
I know this church is SO true. The Spirit is something un-deniable. I hope we all are able to recognize when He is speaking to us.. giving us that guidance and direction.. Have a wonderful week.
-Hermana Weller
Well wish me luck in my now totally Spanish adventures! I am off to the "promised land" of Raleigh! haha.. I can't believe it.
I love you so so so so so much. Thank you for your support and your emails. It helps so much each week.
I know this church is SO true. The Spirit is something un-deniable. I hope we all are able to recognize when He is speaking to us.. giving us that guidance and direction.. Have a wonderful week.
-Hermana Weller
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
My Mom Would Be So PROUD!!
This week was really good! The reason I titled this email what I did is because we did some service this week (cleaning) and afterwards I was like.. Wow, if my mom saw this she would be proud of me haha! Really, Mom. You would be proud of how well I clean and how good our house stays!
We helped Sister ____ clean out her car this week.. It was pretty grody (idk how to spell that) because when ___ was still here those kids tore up her back seat! But after we were done with it, it looked great.. and we were sweaty haha.
This week we got to meet yet another friend of ___'s and we are now teaching her:) She is really great! We taught her about the gospel of Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, endure to the end) and then at the end she started just crying and crying and we were like.. What are you feeling right now? She said, "scared". And we said what are you afraid of? Basically she said she is scared of going full force into a church again because as a teenager she had a really bad experience:( But she felt the Spirit and she opened up to us and we think she has great potential. We are excited to keep teaching her.
We got to go see ___ with Sister ___ and teach her about prophets and why we listen to their counsel and about the Word of Wisdom. She has been reading the Book of Mormon just from the beginning and she is enjoying it! She said she doesnt really have any problems with the word of wisdom so we are still doing great with her! She came to church yesterday.. and wow. it was a good sacrament meeting!! She was crying, I was crying, it was just really good. We are having her pray about June 14th. (she has to be baptized by that day because June 16th is transfers and I don't know if I am staying or not!!!) haha:) It's not about me.. I just really would love to be able to see her take that step.
Then the other cleaning we did was for Sister ___. She is less active and we have been working with her forever! We went and helped her clean her house (deep clean it!) because her back is pretty bad and she can't do certain things that we have no problem doing. So that was good. It was nice to get dirty and clean and just talk with her and build that trust. She ordered pizza and we ate lunch with her whole family before we left and she said she was for sure going to come to church and then she didn't :( It is really hard to have that happen because they seem sincere and our less-actives we are working with really are changing and want to come. But then they don't. We are going to do what you said, Dad- and go knock on their door before church and make sure they are getting ready.. but some of them live really far away) :)
But yesterday was really just such a great day at church, I love fast Sundays. I always just feel the Spirit so strongly when I am fasting and it is crazy how much easier fasting has become even though I do it longer than I used to. Our lessons were all just so great and the spirit helped me learn some things and write down some things that I want to make sure and apply to my family when I get home and down the road when I start my own family.
I have been loving the Book of Mormon so much this time that I am reading it through.. I have been just trying to absorb it ALL because when I gave away my first book of Mormon experience book I feel like I lost a lot of my ability to just turn and find a scripture. So this time I am trying to just lock it in:)
I love you all so much. I know that the Lord loves us all very very much and He puts people in our lives so we can effect them and bring them closer to Him just through our example. I know fasting is powerful. It can help us to feel the Spirit so much.
Well. that is all for this week.. Nothing extremely exciting! Life is great as a missionary though:) so great.
-Hermana Weller
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Pics This Week
Elder Mora got 100 fortune cookies from His grandma and this is the one I opened up today!
WOOO!!! baptisms-- here we come!! haha
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and my comp made me some mustaches.. haha i had fun.
Six Months Gone Already!
Well. I can't believe I've been out for 6 months already! Time is going way too fast.
I am sorry that I didn't get online yesterday.. Maybe you figured it out, it was Memorial Day and the library wasn't open, so we just decided to come today:)
Last week seems like a long time ago haha! Well. We got to see ___ and ___ and ____ again at the beginning of the week.. We taught about The Law of Chastity and The Sabbath Day.. and that was interesting haha. But the great thing about it was that we made a list of things with them that we should do on Sundays and things we shouldn't do...They taped it onto their wall in the living room! haha. They are so great:) We got to do service for them Tuesday, we cleaned the kitchen for them and then helped pick up a bunch of trash and take it to the dump:) it was fun, we got to wear jeans!! haha..
Oh man. funny story about jeans. So we saw them Monday, and then we decided to come do service the next day and we told them we could wear jeans! and they were like "oh, we have this pair of jeans that we got for our cousin and they dont fit her.. they might fit you!" So, I took them, and they were like "these are special jeans too.. they are "levanta pompis" brand! hahahahahahahaha..[that means, "Butt Lift Brand"] Unfortunately, I couldn't get them all the way up my legs.. but it was so funny.
We went and had dinner with the ______'s this week as well.. and wow. After we ate dinner we went outside to have a little lesson with Sister _____ (because it is glorious weather) AND because the elders showed up asking if they could eat there haha.. (we now understand why the elders get more meals per week than us..) Anyways. We went outside and sat with Sister ______. She wants us to help her learn English, so we read out of the Plan of Salvation pamphlet in English with her.. That then lead to her telling us her life story (literally). And it is inspiring.. She is an incredible woman that I respect so much.. I don't know if I have ever met someone with as much faith as she has. As she told us her story I was crying.. I have really come to have a greater understanding and respect for the Hispanic people that come here to America.. Their lives in their own countries are horrible. All they want is for their kids to have a better life.. I still don't exactly think it is ok to come illegally, but it is just sad and humbling to hear their stories.
We got to see the ________'s again! Woo! haha:) we talked about the atonement with them.. and this was the miracle of the week:) As we were discussing how Jesus Christ can help us change and things like that, Sister _____ told us that she had recently decided that she is going to quit drinking all together... We hadn't even addressed that issue really! and she just felt that on her own. The Spirit is truly amazing, it can soften peoples' hearts and truly help them know the things they need to change. And when they feel that, they cant deny it. We have another lesson tonight with them and we are really excited to talk about the WOW more.. The best part about it was that Sunday we went over to his parents' house for dinner and unlike last time-- she didn't drink anything!! :) and guess what they made for us? COW TONGUE! haha man.. i am just eating everything possible from cows.. it is not too bad. It is really really soft meat!
Yesterday was a great day as well.. We had a weird preparation day because we didn't email but it was nice to just be kinda lazy! we relaxed and cleaned the house and shopped. Then when we went out last night to do visits all we really had planned was tracting a few different areas. So we had set a goal the night before to find 4 new investigators.. I had been praying so so so hard all day and night that we could do it. We went out and we just kept having to speak Spanish! haha it was great. we don't get that many opportunities in a week usually! So we got in a door and had a lesson with a woman who was Catholic.. she wasn't really feeling it that much but we taught her the restoration up to the Great Apostasy and she definitely learned something new!
Then. We went over to see a potential investigator and they weren't home.. So we went to a trailer at the front of the street and the family was all sitting outside. The parents, 2 boys and a girl. They are Hispanic as well.. they let us in no problem :) and the two boys are 11 and 13.. they sat in with their parents the whole time and listened to us (it may have been just because they were amused with our Spanish....) but they were so humble and nice. We gave all of them Books of Mormon and then we started talking about "is there life after death?" and so we are going back to teach the Plan of Salvation in a few days. At the end we asked if there was anything specifically we could pray for and she said her mom was really really sick.. People's questions of the soul are always related to the things they are struggling with and the Book of Mormon can ALWAYS answer those questions and concerns. And the best part..? they are a FAMILY of 4. We had prayed for that specifically.. and we found them.
The Lord is truly here working WITH us and helping us find opportunities each day. I recently read the allegory in Jacob 5 and I used to think it was so boring but now I LOVE IT! it is US. exactly..
I love you all so much and I know that if we keep our faith strong and we work hard in keeping the commandments of the Lord we can see miracles in our lives.. Not just in missionary work but with everything.
Have a great week!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!
-Hermana Weller :)
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Last month in photos...
Sister Deacon is being transferred...gotta get her there, one way or another!
Our district of sisters
Our trio's final week together
One of my favorite places on earth...ahhh...miss the beach so much!!
Some members took us to the beach!! It's beautiful...and yes, we had permission!
My nametag got to get in the water...but I could not. :(
Strawberry Festival!
Papa Weezy April 28, 2014
Well this week was good! We have been on fire lately with finding new investigators. We found 5 more this week. Which in turn has actually been sad because we feel like we are losing our old investigators :( ____ and ___ are kind of avoiding us.. and _____ has been being weird with us as well.. But we should hopefully get up with both of them this next week.
So.. you are probably wondering why I titled this email papa weezy though haha.. I got sick this week with a cold. It is so weird because I never used to just get colds at home! But its no bueno with my asthma!! I literally couldnt breathe.. The first day i was sick i just slept all day long and took a bunch of meds and junk and my inhaler like 4x. So Sister Dickerson nicknamed me papa weezy hahahaha.. It was just so funny:) but i am doing better now! Still have a cough but its getting better.
I cant remember if I told you or not, but we are teaching this lady named ____. She is a member of the branch's friend. She is only 20 years old but she has 2 kids and is just really searching right now for happiness. She is ready for a change and ready to do what ever it takes to help her kids and herself be truly happy. She has been really great to teach, I am so excited for her. We used the #becauseofhim video in our lesson the other day when we taught the second half of the plan of salvation and it was exactly what we needed. It brought the spirit so well. I just LOVE that video so much. SO MUCH. She is preparing to be baptized the end of May.. she smokes so we are going to give her some good time to prepare for being baptized. But she is ready to quit and change so its just so exciting!
I think I told you all last week.. But I will again! I am staying in Wallace next transfer! Sister Deacon is leaving. So that is exciting.. I am really excited because now i will be here for the cinco de mayo RS activity as well as the annual Carolina Strawberry Festival! which is hosted right here in Wallace:) also i have just really developed love for these people. and there are some people that I just dont ever want to leave haha! Some of the young women I have really developed a love for and hopefully have effected them because most of their families are less active so they dont get to come all the time.. But we had a lot of people yesterday at church that dont normally come! It was neat to see our work from this week in visiting them pay off.
It has been a bit hard this week with different things. But I really have been trying to rely on the Lord to strengthen me.. To make my weaknesses become strengths- Ether 12:27. I just want to have the effect on my trainee that my trainers had on me. They were such great examples to me and I just hope I am doing as much as I can to be like them, and ultimately my Savior, and effect Sister Dickerson in the way they effected me.
I am so grateful for you all.. I am so grateful for the realtionships we share, and that I am here on my mission. I just feel extremely blessed... I re-read Elder Uchtdorf's talk this week from conference and I am trying have that grateful attitude always.. It is NOT easy in Wallace! There are a lot of things that you can dwell on or be negative about, but I know by trying to always see the good things that are happening that hope is able to stay there and I am able to wake up every single day ready to work hard and do all I possibly can to do the Lords work that day.
Sometimes I dont even know if my emails make sense.. haha but I hope they do! And I hope you really do know how much I love and miss you. Go forth and do the Lords work!!! Be as supportive to the missionaries in the ward as you can.. go out with them and always offer your home or your help with getting investigators to where they need to be. I love you, and I will talk to you again soon:) Happy May day!
Love,
Hermana Weller
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Mother's Day!!
Hello Everyone!
It is weird to be writing an email to y'all when I just got to see your faces yesterday:) that was so great.. thank you so much for being prepared and asking me good questions:) I was thinking about it last night and I am so blessed to have you as my family. I love that you know what it is like to have served a mission and you helped me not get super distracted or anything like that while skyping:) I love you!!! I miss you so much, but that was just what I needed:) I hope you had a very good mothers day mom and grandma too.
Well. this week has been great. It was very long!! (probably because I was looking forward to Sunday) But it was good.. Sister Deacon left really early Tuesday morning and then we had an amazing day that day. We utilized facebook and were able to have 2 lessons on there with investigators.. It is still strange sometimes to me that we are allowed to get on there haha.. And then we met with our investigators, ___ then ____ (she is ___'s best friend) and then the _________'s all in one day!
We finally were able to figure out _____'s real concern with being baptized which was a miracle.. She told us she is worried that if she is already baptized and then she makes a mistake and sins then it will be worse because she will have that promise with God.. So she thinks it is just better for her to not be baptized and be able to be forgiven easier. But it is not that way!! It is wonderful that our investigators have these kinds of questions though because then I get the opportunity to study it out and learn it better for myself.
I came up with a really good analogy today when I was studying about the importance and roll of being baptized and taking the sacrament each week. It is exactly like going on a hike up a mountain.. In 2 Nephi 31:17-18 it relates perfectly. Before you go on a hike you make some sorts of preparations.. you get water snacks etc. and then you have an idea of where you are going. Then you get there and you usually start out at the trail head. The trail head is this "gate" that is spoken of in 2 Nephi 32 and repentance are those preparations you make before heading out. Then as you are hiking up the mountain you are really excited.. you know what is ahead of you and you can see the top! As you get to about half way up yo usually have to take a break.. sometimes before that and sometimes more than just one time depending on how steep and how long the hike is. But as you take a break and get a drink of water you look back down at how far you have come and you look back to where you are going and you get that renewed excitement to go! This is what the sacrament provides for us! that recharge of our batteries! and we can reflect as we take it where we have come and make sure we are still on the right track to get to the top. Once we get to the top of the mountain it is beautiful... so peaceful and relaxing. you can see the whole (valley usually haha) and its just a great feeling of accomplishment and you get to appreciate the beauty there. This is what it will be like achieving the eternal life we all want. and it all starts with repentance.. luckily too we have the spirit from the very start. he is there to help us the entire way up.
I am so grateful to know this! and to really be able to apply it to my life and share it in ways that they can apply it to theirs as well..
The Lord has been helping us so much this past week.. I know as we have been diligently working hard and actually doing our language study well, we have been blessed with new investigators and some even in Spanish!!
I also recently started over reading the Book of Mormon and as I read the story about Nephi building the boat it really hit me! We can relate that to our lives as well! The scriptures are great haha..
Well. That is all I really have for this week! It is getting pretty toasty here in NC. Don't send me candy if you are going to send me a package.. please!!!! hahahaha. It is horrible. I always say I am not going to eat that candy when my comps get it in their packages and then they are like well you can have some if you want.. I ALWAYS give in! save me from myself haha and just don't do it:) thank you!
I love you so much and thank you for everything. I am so grateful to be out here as a missionary and I know that I am truly doing the Lord's work.
Love,
-Hermana Weller-
x
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Happy 5 de MAYO
Sorry I got online so late this week!!!! We got to go down to Wilmington during the day and see the beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BEST DAY EVER. I don't have very much time now though!
OH MY GOSH! the other day was actually the best day ever. AN APOSTLE CAME TO MY MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Neil Anderson came and spoke to us. It was amazing.. They sent out the message that we had to be in Raleigh to see him Saturday afternoon on Friday afternoon. They literally gave us a 24 hour notice, I started screaming when I heard!! I was so excited because I have never been in the same room as an apostle before, so it was pretty great:) He talked to us about the Savior majority of the time.. He talked to us about how through Christ and learning more about Him by reading the Book of Mormon we can do things we never thought we would be able to do. He also talked about what a blessing it truly is to be called to serve here in Raleigh North Carolina. He said that some people have a misconception that the best missionaries get sent to crazy places around the world, but in reality there has to be some really good missionaries that stay here in the United States and build the church here because it is kind of the central point to the church.. So not necessarily saying I am one of those great missionaries that needed to be in the US instead of out of the country (in fact not at all haha), but I just thought that was interesting that he said that and it is good to hear and be able to share with others who may feel disappointed in their state side mission calls.
We were all sitting there in the chapel as a mission before he came into the room and we were just singing hymns and I almost started crying.. The spirit was just so strong.. I loved it. Then he came into the room and we all got to go up and shake his hand. It was amazing.. I know that he is truly a chosen man to teach and preach the gospel.
This past week was a little bit slower than the weeks previous.. I am not exactly sure what was different. But yesterday was the BEST sunday I have ever had here in the Wallace branch. Actually I probably would say in my mission! It was just really inspiring and spirit filled. I love this place.. It is hard but it is so great. I am so excited for this next transfer.. We have so many people in our teaching pool and there are 3 people that I am confident that the Lord has prepared and wants to be baptized by the end of this month. I am trying my hardest to do everything we possibly can to get them there. I think it is finally time that we see someone get baptized here:) we work so hard every single day.
We do a companionship inventory every week with our planning sessions and it was such a compliment this past week my companions told me that my strength is that I am so diligent and hard working.. That is one of the best things to hear.
AHH I have to go already. Sorry i am so flustered because i dont have like any time. talkto you sunday i love you!!!!!!!
-hermana weller
Happy Cinco de Mayo by the way:)
Monday, April 21, 2014
Wallace! Wallace! Wallace!
Hello family!!
Well. This week was great as always!
Monday night we got to go to teach ____ and ____ our new investigators that Sister ____ introduced us to last week. We taught them the Restoration and it was good.. We definitely realized after that lesson though that we really need to figure out what is going on with our flow with having a trio. It is difficult having more than one other person to teach with because sometimes you are fighting to get your comments in. So luckily later this last week we went to the first transfer training meeting and one of the activities we did there in a role-play opened our eyes and helped us figure out what works for us in teaching and since then it has been SO much better. It is great:) We are so much more organized and the Spirit is stronger now that we are working in better unity.
So when we went and taught them the second time, Thursday, we taught the Plan of Salvation.. It was amazing. The Spirit was literally so strong! and I truly love them so much. A really neat experience at that lesson was that they told us at the beginning of the lesson they JUST had a family member pass away about 2 days earlier. Then they started discussing about how at funerals everyone wears black and how it is so sad and dark.. but they don't want people to wear black at their funerals... they want everyone to wear white. I almost started crying.. Just thinking about them in white and going to the temple and even after this life when we all do get to meet up and celebrate together how we will all be wearing white. It was really special.
We taught our one Spanish investigator this week as well.. and it was actually a really really good experience. We sat at her table with her this time...and it was quiet- her kids were outside playing and it was amazing the difference the environment made. We were able to understand her and she really opened up to us. Even though we didn't use perfect Spanish in our responses, she respects us a lot I think and we feel like she has great potential. We just read from the Book of Mormon with her and asked her inspired questions about things and it was super good. We now say we need to have "____ -lessons" with everyone haha.
Other than that not a whole lot to report:) We played soccer again with the youth (and others) on Friday because the Easter egg hunt for the primary was Saturday morning and we didn't want to interfere with that time.. and it was a huge success!! Our investigator, ___ and her friend came and so did a ton of other people.. it has been good doing the soccer.
Yesterday we had Easter dinner with the Adkins family and it was so nice.. haha Home-cooked food, and TONS of it!! Casseroles upon casseroles.. yummmmy. and lots of desserts.
So, we did some service this week...helped planted a garden and some flowers!
We have way too much candy in our house for our own good.. Thanks to Mom's package and my companion's families, too! I gave a bunch of it away yesterday lol :) ...but not the good stuff, G'ma Weller! ;)
OH! big news as well.. I am staying here in Wallace! President told all of us at the meeting this past week what is happening. Sister Dickerson and I are staying in Wallace and sister Deacon is going to open a new area with a new sister this next transfer! Sister Lopez (my old comp) is going to be an English sister for one transfer! It is fun stuff:) There will be 10 Spanish Sisters after this next transfer and I don't think we will be getting any more for a while after that..
Well. If you didn't get the opportunity to watch the #becauseofHim video on easter.mormon.org go do it RIGHT NOW. It literally is amazing.. I cried the first time I watched it. I love it and I want to get it on a disk and use it year around!!!
I know that my Savior truly did suffer for me and everything I will ever experience in my life, and that He died for me. But not only did He die for me, He rose 3 days later in perfected form.. Which in His perfected form he came back and visited the people and showed them His scars.. His scars are eternal and a part of His perfected body because that sacrifice He made for us is eternal. I love Him so much, and I love the work I am so privileged to be called to do.
I love and miss you all so much!!!
-Hermana Weller
Friday, April 18, 2014
This Week in Wallace
Hello:)
I don't even know where to start with this past week.. It has been amazing. Honestly. So great.
So coming off last weekend, General Conference just started the week well:) Monday we went out with Sister ____(ward member) to a family that she knows that was taught before by elders. They are AMAZING. They are some of the most humble and loving people you will ever meet in your life. They gave us a "plancha" so we can make tortillas :) But we found their teaching record from a while back and they were only taught the first lesson.. so we are going tonight to teach them again! We are so excited. They are just so great.
Then Tuesday was zone conference a.k.a. best day of the year!!!!! We had normal meeting part of it where President Bernhiesel taught us and then we ate lunch and changed and we went outside and played ultimate frisbee, soccer, volleyball, and capture the flag. It was SO fun hahaha.. They split companionships up onto teams and so we all got to play different people. I of course just had so much fun sprinting around and winning every game we played haha. Soccer was hard because it was a really small area, but frisbee sent me back to the days at the MTC! It was so fun.. then the next day.. hahaha my companions were SO sore (hah!) and I was kinda sore- just shows how out of shape I have gotten!
We matched! We all wore RED!
Anyways. Lets get to some more of the real good stuff:)
So Friday we didn't have really any plans.. We didn't have any appointments set up and when we were planning for our day Thursday night we were all kinda worried that it was going to be a rough day. We set plans to go try and contact the referrals we had as well as the former investigators we found in the area book.. We finished planning and we were getting ready for bed and the thought came to me that we should fast the next day for miracles to happen and for us to find investigators. So I told my companions I thought we should fast and they thought it was a good idea so we did! The next day we woke up and fasted.. It was hard.. But I was determined to find investigators and to have a good day! We went into this trailor park where there were a few former investigators and started knocking doors. (It was an all Hispanic area here in Wallace) We knocked and knocked...and then the LAST door we knocked, I had a really good feeling about when we were walking towards it. They opened the door and we started speaking Spanish to them because the woman was Hispanic. She just let us right in without us even really asking haha. Then we come in and we realized they spoke English as well (because they were saying things to their kids in English). So we taught them in English! It was really really good. It was two young moms and one of them apparently has listened to elders before, but the other one had never even heard of Mormons and she seemed really interested. It was incredible. We walked out afterwards and we just started freaking out in the car! Heavenly Father blessed us so much for our sacrifice with fasting, and I am so grateful we can fast and receive such direct blessings from doing so.
We went and ate ice cream then to break our fast:) haha.. and then we ate dinner. It was funny.
Saturday!!!! WE PLAYED SOCCER with the Youth!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOO!! We got the youth out to a field and played on Saturday morning for about 2 hours!! It was just so much fun. We think it is going to be so great for them.. We think by strengthening their relationships with each other in their ward, they will have a better support system and will want to come to church more. And then it will help their parents actually come, too because so many of them are less-active. So, it is just really exciting stuff, and it is a blast! :)
Well.. I can't really say a whole lot more about this week other than it was just SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO great. I love being a missionary. I love it so much.
I have been able to develop love for these people here that is not just a normal kind of love! It is truly the Lord's love for His people that I have been feeling. I don't want to leave Wallace! Who knows what transfers will bring.. but it is a possibility.
I have really strengthened my testimony in the prophet these past couple weeks.. I know that Thomas S. Monson is our prophet and we need to listen to him and his council. It will truly help us. This is a really special time of year because we got to hear him and the apostles, and then now it is Easter.. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ!! He helps me every day be better and becoming more like Him. I honestly love this work so much.
I love you all so much. Have a happy Easter and remember...I miss you so much.
-Hermana Weller
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