Here's Raini's new address:
Sister (Hermana) Raini Weller
3523 Roxboro Rd. #12D
Durham, NC 27704
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Monday, January 19, 2015
New Area: Durham!!!
Well! I was transferred into Durham 5th Branch!! I am with Sister Thompson, from Phoenix, AZ!!! Crazy!!! But, this area is proabably the most "ghetto" I have seen since I have been out on my mission.. But there is a lot of Hispanic people so it is good! This week has been FULL of miracles.. and just amazing tender mercies as well. So lets get right into it :)
Well, transfers was hard! I didn't want to leave Sister Swalberg! I just love her so much.. she was so much fun, and just SO easy going! We never had any problems-- ever! Daisy also was there at transfers, and she just started crying as well as one of the other members that was there to say goodbye. So, that was hard! Just everyone crying! haha. But I really had no idea where I was going before, so when I found out I was going to Durham I was super excited! We basically are white-washing the area because sisters have been covering this area but were assigned to the Apex Stake, Spanish.. and they spent most of their time down there in Apex... so we have a lot to do!! And the Lord has truly been preparing this area for us.
Our very first day, we went out to try and see a family on the roster that lived pretty close to us and then we got there and didn't have an apt number so we just started knocking doors in that complex. We had a couple funny experiences.. one lady said "Sorry I can't hear you!" ...because her dog was barking really loud! And then she just slammed the door shut and locked like 5 locks on the inside!! hahahaha. It was pretty funny.. and then we knocked this other door, they let us in and it was an African family. They were from Ghana! The daughter who was only like 13 let us in, and her mom who didn't speak really any English wasn't in huge favor of it... but we came in and sat with the kids while the mom was in the kitchen watching us.. and these kids.. WOW. I have never met kids that spiritually in-tune. We taught them a really really simple version of the Restoration, and they were amazed with Joseph Smith's experience. We even talked with them about baptism! Then we had the 10 -year old son pray at the end.. and I have never heard a more faithful prayer from a 10-year old --EVER.. It was such a neat experience.. when we left we were just like --wow..... We didn't even know what to say about that! haha. But then we had to give their info to the English sisters to follow up with them! :)
We have been going through the former investigators in our area book a lot lately.. and we have been trying to meet with them again. We went and saw this one lady the other day who was taught just a couple times previously. But she told us she is just extremely confused. She is just not sure what to believe and basically when she was telling us this, I felt like it was Rosa and Rosie again. It was pretty amazing tho, because I was able to then just have that DEEP desire to help her understand these things like I did for Rosa and Rosie even though I had only known her for about 15 mins! We taught a really powerful Restoration lesson and by the end the Spirit was so strong. She is going to pray about everything and try reading the Book of Mormon. Later that night, I don't think I have ever prayed so hard for someone in my entire life.. It was an incredible experience. I really hope that she is able to receive that answer and the Light in her life.. It just breaks my heart when people are that confused and lost. I am so grateful I have the light of the gospel in my life. and that I have really not ever had a moment where I have had serious doubts or confusions about what my purpose in life is.. or what my true identity is.
Ugh...my TIME on here IS RUNNING OUT ALREADY sorry!! So the last amazing thing that happened:
We went and saw one of the investigators the sisters had been teaching before the other day.. and we are supposed to always ask people who else they know that we could teach you know.. well this time we were about to leave and we were walking out the door and then I had a prompting that was like YOU NEED TO ASK FOR A REFERRAL. So I turned around right before the door shut and I asked her who else we could visit! She told us of one of her neighbors in the next building over. While we were walking to our car.. I just felt like we needed to go and contact her friend right then. So we went over and they were walking up to their house right as we were too. They are a WONDERFUL family.. so prepared. They know great things about the church from different things they've seen our church do in their country.. They are from Honduras and they had seen some of the temple that just recently got finished there in Tegulcigalpa! So great! So we set an appointment and went and saw them last night. We talked about the temple because we brought them the Ensign that has it on the front to show them! And then taught them the Restoration.. and wow. It was amazing. The dad, Nelson, asked if there was a prophet today at the very beginning!! And we were like, "YES!!" haha.. By the end they said they would like to be baptized! They really really do want to know if this is the true church. They understand what that would mean- SALVATION... and they want that :) honestly afterwards we just had such PURE JOY the whole way home we were so giddy haha and I am just SO grateful.. the Lord is SO good. SOO SOOO good. He loves His children so much.. and He has heard my cries. :)
I love this new area! I am so excited to be able to just work SO SO hard to the end.. (I am guessing I am dying here..) But I love you all! thanks for everything.
have a good week :)
-Hermana Weller
Well, transfers was hard! I didn't want to leave Sister Swalberg! I just love her so much.. she was so much fun, and just SO easy going! We never had any problems-- ever! Daisy also was there at transfers, and she just started crying as well as one of the other members that was there to say goodbye. So, that was hard! Just everyone crying! haha. But I really had no idea where I was going before, so when I found out I was going to Durham I was super excited! We basically are white-washing the area because sisters have been covering this area but were assigned to the Apex Stake, Spanish.. and they spent most of their time down there in Apex... so we have a lot to do!! And the Lord has truly been preparing this area for us.
Our very first day, we went out to try and see a family on the roster that lived pretty close to us and then we got there and didn't have an apt number so we just started knocking doors in that complex. We had a couple funny experiences.. one lady said "Sorry I can't hear you!" ...because her dog was barking really loud! And then she just slammed the door shut and locked like 5 locks on the inside!! hahahaha. It was pretty funny.. and then we knocked this other door, they let us in and it was an African family. They were from Ghana! The daughter who was only like 13 let us in, and her mom who didn't speak really any English wasn't in huge favor of it... but we came in and sat with the kids while the mom was in the kitchen watching us.. and these kids.. WOW. I have never met kids that spiritually in-tune. We taught them a really really simple version of the Restoration, and they were amazed with Joseph Smith's experience. We even talked with them about baptism! Then we had the 10 -year old son pray at the end.. and I have never heard a more faithful prayer from a 10-year old --EVER.. It was such a neat experience.. when we left we were just like --wow..... We didn't even know what to say about that! haha. But then we had to give their info to the English sisters to follow up with them! :)
We have been going through the former investigators in our area book a lot lately.. and we have been trying to meet with them again. We went and saw this one lady the other day who was taught just a couple times previously. But she told us she is just extremely confused. She is just not sure what to believe and basically when she was telling us this, I felt like it was Rosa and Rosie again. It was pretty amazing tho, because I was able to then just have that DEEP desire to help her understand these things like I did for Rosa and Rosie even though I had only known her for about 15 mins! We taught a really powerful Restoration lesson and by the end the Spirit was so strong. She is going to pray about everything and try reading the Book of Mormon. Later that night, I don't think I have ever prayed so hard for someone in my entire life.. It was an incredible experience. I really hope that she is able to receive that answer and the Light in her life.. It just breaks my heart when people are that confused and lost. I am so grateful I have the light of the gospel in my life. and that I have really not ever had a moment where I have had serious doubts or confusions about what my purpose in life is.. or what my true identity is.
Ugh...my TIME on here IS RUNNING OUT ALREADY sorry!! So the last amazing thing that happened:
We went and saw one of the investigators the sisters had been teaching before the other day.. and we are supposed to always ask people who else they know that we could teach you know.. well this time we were about to leave and we were walking out the door and then I had a prompting that was like YOU NEED TO ASK FOR A REFERRAL. So I turned around right before the door shut and I asked her who else we could visit! She told us of one of her neighbors in the next building over. While we were walking to our car.. I just felt like we needed to go and contact her friend right then. So we went over and they were walking up to their house right as we were too. They are a WONDERFUL family.. so prepared. They know great things about the church from different things they've seen our church do in their country.. They are from Honduras and they had seen some of the temple that just recently got finished there in Tegulcigalpa! So great! So we set an appointment and went and saw them last night. We talked about the temple because we brought them the Ensign that has it on the front to show them! And then taught them the Restoration.. and wow. It was amazing. The dad, Nelson, asked if there was a prophet today at the very beginning!! And we were like, "YES!!" haha.. By the end they said they would like to be baptized! They really really do want to know if this is the true church. They understand what that would mean- SALVATION... and they want that :) honestly afterwards we just had such PURE JOY the whole way home we were so giddy haha and I am just SO grateful.. the Lord is SO good. SOO SOOO good. He loves His children so much.. and He has heard my cries. :)
I love this new area! I am so excited to be able to just work SO SO hard to the end.. (I am guessing I am dying here..) But I love you all! thanks for everything.
have a good week :)
-Hermana Weller
Monday, January 12, 2015
My Raleigh 3rd Ward Days Are Over... :(
WELL.. sadly, I received news that I will be transferring from Raleigh tomorrow. I kinda have had a feeling that it would happen, and I almost even feel like it is what I need right now in my mission. So it is good but it was really hard yesterday at church! I had to bear my testimony and as soon as I got up there I started crying.. Ugh such a baby haha. But honestly I have come to love this ward SO much.. these people are just so amazing!!!!!! I just keep the hope that I will come back here soon and be able to see them again and keep in contact with them through FB too :) i just love them so much. I am so grateful that the Lord lets me have this much love for His children.. and even though I dont even know them THAT well! I mean I do, but really I don't lol.. So I am just really grateful that He has given me the capacity to love His children so much :)
So this week was a good one! (with the exception of the day I got sick)
We got to see a few new investigators- ____ is one that we found the week before and she actually is a relative of a lot of the members in our ward! They apparently have tried sharing the gospel with her multiple times with different videos and stuff.. but shes never been formally taught. So it was neat because we literally un-knowingly tracted into her apt and then we taught her twice this past week and it was super super good. We really feel like we have gotten to the point of understanding the Restoration and how to teach it with the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (and specifically baptism).. so by the end of that lesson when we invited her to be baptized she said yeah, if I get to the point of feeling it is true and that is what God wants me to do I will! she hasn't ever been baptized in a church before so that makes things even better. because that is often a difficult thing to have to say-- that their baptism wasn't "valid"..
We also went to her house the day between our lessons with her to walk her dog!! It was so fun!
IT WAS SO COLD THIS WEEK. Literally one day the highest I saw it get was 28 degrees... In the morning it was like 17. I HATE THE COLD hahaha..
But that I think it what took the toll on me this week! So many people here that we visit are sick.. because the weather is CRAZY. and so the other day I woke up and I felt really sick.. my throat hurt so so badly and i felt ferverish.. but I took some tylenol and thought i would just stick it out.. then we went and did service at the food bank that day.. and about half way through i was just SO tired I was like I cant do this.. haha we need to go home. So We went home and I progressively just realized how bad I was feeling. But luckily one of the sweet sisters called because she felt impressed to just check up on us! and I told her I had caught the inevitable cold.. and she just wanted to do everything possible to help me :) it was so sweet! haha. a couple other sisters called that day to make sure I was okay.. I was fine! lol, I just needed to sleep and stay out of the cold. :) one of them brought me a tea and did some kind of Hispanic stuff to me to get rid of my fever and I think it helped! now its just all stuffed up in my head..
So on Tuesday we were supposed to see ___ and her girls.. but she has been sick. So we didn't get to, but then we had the thought when they cancelled- oh! we should invite ___ (the 13 year old daughter) to go to mutual!! and we can go with her! So we called to make sure that mutual was happening and it was.. so we called ___ and she came! A member went and picked her up, and when we got there.. haha we realized we had literally picked the BEST mutual activity to go to. It was a progressive dinner and at the end we had a bonfire!! They burned a bunch of Christmas trees.. it was so great :)) we had fun as well!
Man... we also had an AMAZING zone training meeting this week.. it was really spirit filled, and then emotional at the same time because the elders told me at the beginning of the meeting that I was getting transferred and then we had to do a role-play during the meeting as if we were teaching one of our friends or family members we want to share the gospel with.. and then it all just came out haha.. But it was a great lesson because really that is the love that I wish I could have for every single person I meet!!! the love that I have for the person I role-played teaching and started crying because I just want them to know these things.. so that is one of my new goals and something I really want to focus on is having even more love for the people in my new area :)
One other thing-- there is a girl who is about my age n our ward who recently went through a lot with her depression and stuff.. and even almost took her life. Well, the elders were visiting her and helping her a lot after that happened (in October) and now she is getting more active again and she came out with us the other day!!! she told us when we were on exchange that she has decided she wants to serve a mission now.. she wants to be able to think of others and not herself any more and so she wants to start preparing to go out in about a year :) it was incredible.. and then she was talking about how big of an impact the elders made on her.. and it was just really special. We called the elders that night and told them and they were like crying.. it was so neat. I am so grateful for the amazing elders we work with... they are fantastic. haha Elder Fowers and I have pretty much been in the same area my entire mission.. and so I wonder if I will go where he is going to be district leader again now this transfer haha!
Sister Swalberg is stressed about having me leave and she is going to have to take over the area.. I feel bad. But I know she is going to do great :) I am sad I am leaving her after only being together for 3 months.. but we are gonna be bffs for ever haha :)
ok well.. sorry that there wasn't a TON to report on from this week. But it was really good. Hope you all have a wonderful week!!! Talk to you later. <3
-Hermana Weller
So this week was a good one! (with the exception of the day I got sick)
We got to see a few new investigators- ____ is one that we found the week before and she actually is a relative of a lot of the members in our ward! They apparently have tried sharing the gospel with her multiple times with different videos and stuff.. but shes never been formally taught. So it was neat because we literally un-knowingly tracted into her apt and then we taught her twice this past week and it was super super good. We really feel like we have gotten to the point of understanding the Restoration and how to teach it with the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (and specifically baptism).. so by the end of that lesson when we invited her to be baptized she said yeah, if I get to the point of feeling it is true and that is what God wants me to do I will! she hasn't ever been baptized in a church before so that makes things even better. because that is often a difficult thing to have to say-- that their baptism wasn't "valid"..
We also went to her house the day between our lessons with her to walk her dog!! It was so fun!
IT WAS SO COLD THIS WEEK. Literally one day the highest I saw it get was 28 degrees... In the morning it was like 17. I HATE THE COLD hahaha..
But that I think it what took the toll on me this week! So many people here that we visit are sick.. because the weather is CRAZY. and so the other day I woke up and I felt really sick.. my throat hurt so so badly and i felt ferverish.. but I took some tylenol and thought i would just stick it out.. then we went and did service at the food bank that day.. and about half way through i was just SO tired I was like I cant do this.. haha we need to go home. So We went home and I progressively just realized how bad I was feeling. But luckily one of the sweet sisters called because she felt impressed to just check up on us! and I told her I had caught the inevitable cold.. and she just wanted to do everything possible to help me :) it was so sweet! haha. a couple other sisters called that day to make sure I was okay.. I was fine! lol, I just needed to sleep and stay out of the cold. :) one of them brought me a tea and did some kind of Hispanic stuff to me to get rid of my fever and I think it helped! now its just all stuffed up in my head..
So on Tuesday we were supposed to see ___ and her girls.. but she has been sick. So we didn't get to, but then we had the thought when they cancelled- oh! we should invite ___ (the 13 year old daughter) to go to mutual!! and we can go with her! So we called to make sure that mutual was happening and it was.. so we called ___ and she came! A member went and picked her up, and when we got there.. haha we realized we had literally picked the BEST mutual activity to go to. It was a progressive dinner and at the end we had a bonfire!! They burned a bunch of Christmas trees.. it was so great :)) we had fun as well!
Man... we also had an AMAZING zone training meeting this week.. it was really spirit filled, and then emotional at the same time because the elders told me at the beginning of the meeting that I was getting transferred and then we had to do a role-play during the meeting as if we were teaching one of our friends or family members we want to share the gospel with.. and then it all just came out haha.. But it was a great lesson because really that is the love that I wish I could have for every single person I meet!!! the love that I have for the person I role-played teaching and started crying because I just want them to know these things.. so that is one of my new goals and something I really want to focus on is having even more love for the people in my new area :)
One other thing-- there is a girl who is about my age n our ward who recently went through a lot with her depression and stuff.. and even almost took her life. Well, the elders were visiting her and helping her a lot after that happened (in October) and now she is getting more active again and she came out with us the other day!!! she told us when we were on exchange that she has decided she wants to serve a mission now.. she wants to be able to think of others and not herself any more and so she wants to start preparing to go out in about a year :) it was incredible.. and then she was talking about how big of an impact the elders made on her.. and it was just really special. We called the elders that night and told them and they were like crying.. it was so neat. I am so grateful for the amazing elders we work with... they are fantastic. haha Elder Fowers and I have pretty much been in the same area my entire mission.. and so I wonder if I will go where he is going to be district leader again now this transfer haha!
Sister Swalberg is stressed about having me leave and she is going to have to take over the area.. I feel bad. But I know she is going to do great :) I am sad I am leaving her after only being together for 3 months.. but we are gonna be bffs for ever haha :)
ok well.. sorry that there wasn't a TON to report on from this week. But it was really good. Hope you all have a wonderful week!!! Talk to you later. <3
-Hermana Weller
Monday, January 5, 2015
Feliz Año Nuevo!!! (Happy New Year!)
HOLA! :) I can not believe it is 2015. that is SO weird!!!! It makes me feel old haha.. Have I really been out of high school for almost 3 years??
Well, we had a fun preparation day last week! We went over to Daisy's house and ___ and ____ came too and we made Oreo Balls, then they took an extremely unattractive picture of me after doing my makeup... and then we went over to the church and played basketball... and I kicked the soccer ball against the walls. It was a good time :)
Then we went and had a lesson with a referral we got recently! It is relatives of a family in the ward! It was a good lesson. They had a lot of questions already about the Book of Mormon and about what we need to do here on the earth and things like that. So, that was good. We were able to answer their questions and then at the end they were like- "You should go over and explain this to my brother. He doesn't understand what the Book Of Mormon is either." hahaha.. so that was pretty great!! We didn't even ask yet and they gave us a referral! We are going to see them again tonight and we are excited :)
Then we went on exchanges the next day with the Sister leaders and that was kinda fun because Sister Deacon had been comps with the sister I went with. So she had actually been partially Spanish for a transfer! So, she was loving being around Hispanic people again--and the food! :) We ate with the best cook in the ward!! haha it was so great :)
But we also got to see a couple of new investigators that we found the week before.. the ones we showed the He is the Gift video to and they really enjoyed it. I taught the Restoration all by myself because she doesn't speak Spanish.. and then at the end we were inviting them to read the Book Of Mormon and pray about it.. they said they have read it before because they have met with elders in the past i guess and they said they just have never really felt anything.. its just another book to them. I was like NOOO!!! It's not though!! I was just like-- "Okay well, will you give it another chance and read 2 of my favorite chapters, and I PROMISE YOU WILL feel the Spirit of God, because I always do when I read them!!" And they said "Yes"!!! :) So i gave them 2 Nephi 11 and 27. I just pray that they read it and they can feel the Spirit. The Book of Mormon is NOT just another book.. it is truly the Word of God. It is truly another testament of Christ, and I love it so much.
Then the next day was New Years Eve! So.. we couldn't really proselyte past 5pm because people start partying and what not at that point. and especially for Hispanic people! New Year's is just as big as Christmas for them!! but.. that evening turned out to be quite the adventure for us :)
....
Since it was the last day of the month.. and there were 31 not 30 days in the month.. we realized that we had about 4 miles left when we got home and we had a dinner with a family in the ward that night! So we texted the sister to ask if she could pick us up.. but she didn't ever answer so we were like... well.. they only live about 3.5 miles away soo.. if we drive 2 miles and then bike the rest of the way we will be good! So, we go and get our bikes.. and my tires were completely DEAD haha. NO AIR AT ALL and all we had was a hand pump.. soooo.. we sat there for about 20 minutes pumping the tires up hahahhahaha and we were just dying laughing because how ridiculous it was! But, I was excited! hahaha. Finally we got it all pumped up to 50 PSI and we left! We were just laughing the entire time.. it was so much fun. And even though that night was pretty cold, we got all suited up (i put on my helmet backwards at first because I don't really know how to use it) and it was actually quite fun to ride a bike! I loved it! (but I don't really want to have to do that often haha)
When we got there about 40 mins late becuase of the whole process of pumping the tires and stuff.. the members felt so bad!! hahahaha they forgot their phone at work so she never knew! but they did take us home afterwards :)
Then New Year's Day!! It was another non-proselyting day.. so we went and had lunch with the ____'s and then after we went to the sister leaders house and Sister Oliver cut my hair! So, that was fun.. i just got a trim --no worries :)
Then Saturday we had a really really good day. We went out to find people... and it was so great!! We prayed really really hard to just find the people that the Lord wanted us to find and we found a few really great potentials!!!!!!!! It was amazing.. We just felt so good afterwards. Even though we didn't really teach that many lessons that day we set up return appts and yesterday we had one of them... and they are super elect... Its a mom with 2 kids and she hasn't been to church in about a year.. and her girl is 9 and they have a little baby. She feels "alejado de Dios" (far from God) and she wants to get close to Him again.. especially for her kids too. So we taught the Restoration and they really liked it! I am really really grateful for the 12-week training program that we have and that I get to do with Sister Swalberg because I have been out for a while now.. but being able to review the basics with that program and be reminded of the true purpose i am out here.. is so great. While we were teaching the Restoration it just all came together for me again.. I was able to teach with such a good personal understanding again of why this was so important.. how really the restoration means-- SALVATION IS AVAILABLE. and so we were able to invite them to be baptized and the daughter was like I WANT TO DO THAT!! and begging her mom at the end to just let her be baptized haha.. the mom was baptized when she was a baby so we are going to have to just help her understand authority a little bit better...... but they already agreed to come to church next week :) it was amazing. the Lord is so good. :) He truly guided us and helped us SO much.
Then that evening the elder's investigators (the parents of the new member 16 year old girl) got married!!!!!!!! It was so great :) Their family came down and it was just really good. #miracles!!! The dad bore his testimony yesterday at church and he isn't even baptized yet and he was acting like he was.. just telling everyone how much he loves the church and how happy his family is and it was so great. Such an amazing family.
Today we went to downtown Raleigh and went to a museum and it was really really fun!!!!!!! I took a lot of pictures.. but i will just give you a couple :) haha..
Well. thank you for everything.. this week has been a lot better than last week.. I am understanding better each and every single day more of my purpose as a missionary.. and how if those things are my purposes.. how I need to help people know those things and truly help them understand that I am just trying to help them have SALVATION. I just want to help ONE soul come to Christ.. ONE. and that is all I have been begging the Lord to help me do. I know it will happen. I love the Lord so much.. and I am so grateful for His mercy and unconditional love..
Have a wonderful week :)
-Hermana Weller
Well, we had a fun preparation day last week! We went over to Daisy's house and ___ and ____ came too and we made Oreo Balls, then they took an extremely unattractive picture of me after doing my makeup... and then we went over to the church and played basketball... and I kicked the soccer ball against the walls. It was a good time :)
Then we went and had a lesson with a referral we got recently! It is relatives of a family in the ward! It was a good lesson. They had a lot of questions already about the Book of Mormon and about what we need to do here on the earth and things like that. So, that was good. We were able to answer their questions and then at the end they were like- "You should go over and explain this to my brother. He doesn't understand what the Book Of Mormon is either." hahaha.. so that was pretty great!! We didn't even ask yet and they gave us a referral! We are going to see them again tonight and we are excited :)
Then we went on exchanges the next day with the Sister leaders and that was kinda fun because Sister Deacon had been comps with the sister I went with. So she had actually been partially Spanish for a transfer! So, she was loving being around Hispanic people again--and the food! :) We ate with the best cook in the ward!! haha it was so great :)
But we also got to see a couple of new investigators that we found the week before.. the ones we showed the He is the Gift video to and they really enjoyed it. I taught the Restoration all by myself because she doesn't speak Spanish.. and then at the end we were inviting them to read the Book Of Mormon and pray about it.. they said they have read it before because they have met with elders in the past i guess and they said they just have never really felt anything.. its just another book to them. I was like NOOO!!! It's not though!! I was just like-- "Okay well, will you give it another chance and read 2 of my favorite chapters, and I PROMISE YOU WILL feel the Spirit of God, because I always do when I read them!!" And they said "Yes"!!! :) So i gave them 2 Nephi 11 and 27. I just pray that they read it and they can feel the Spirit. The Book of Mormon is NOT just another book.. it is truly the Word of God. It is truly another testament of Christ, and I love it so much.
Then the next day was New Years Eve! So.. we couldn't really proselyte past 5pm because people start partying and what not at that point. and especially for Hispanic people! New Year's is just as big as Christmas for them!! but.. that evening turned out to be quite the adventure for us :)
....
Since it was the last day of the month.. and there were 31 not 30 days in the month.. we realized that we had about 4 miles left when we got home and we had a dinner with a family in the ward that night! So we texted the sister to ask if she could pick us up.. but she didn't ever answer so we were like... well.. they only live about 3.5 miles away soo.. if we drive 2 miles and then bike the rest of the way we will be good! So, we go and get our bikes.. and my tires were completely DEAD haha. NO AIR AT ALL and all we had was a hand pump.. soooo.. we sat there for about 20 minutes pumping the tires up hahahhahaha and we were just dying laughing because how ridiculous it was! But, I was excited! hahaha. Finally we got it all pumped up to 50 PSI and we left! We were just laughing the entire time.. it was so much fun. And even though that night was pretty cold, we got all suited up (i put on my helmet backwards at first because I don't really know how to use it) and it was actually quite fun to ride a bike! I loved it! (but I don't really want to have to do that often haha)
When we got there about 40 mins late becuase of the whole process of pumping the tires and stuff.. the members felt so bad!! hahahaha they forgot their phone at work so she never knew! but they did take us home afterwards :)
Then New Year's Day!! It was another non-proselyting day.. so we went and had lunch with the ____'s and then after we went to the sister leaders house and Sister Oliver cut my hair! So, that was fun.. i just got a trim --no worries :)
Then Saturday we had a really really good day. We went out to find people... and it was so great!! We prayed really really hard to just find the people that the Lord wanted us to find and we found a few really great potentials!!!!!!!! It was amazing.. We just felt so good afterwards. Even though we didn't really teach that many lessons that day we set up return appts and yesterday we had one of them... and they are super elect... Its a mom with 2 kids and she hasn't been to church in about a year.. and her girl is 9 and they have a little baby. She feels "alejado de Dios" (far from God) and she wants to get close to Him again.. especially for her kids too. So we taught the Restoration and they really liked it! I am really really grateful for the 12-week training program that we have and that I get to do with Sister Swalberg because I have been out for a while now.. but being able to review the basics with that program and be reminded of the true purpose i am out here.. is so great. While we were teaching the Restoration it just all came together for me again.. I was able to teach with such a good personal understanding again of why this was so important.. how really the restoration means-- SALVATION IS AVAILABLE. and so we were able to invite them to be baptized and the daughter was like I WANT TO DO THAT!! and begging her mom at the end to just let her be baptized haha.. the mom was baptized when she was a baby so we are going to have to just help her understand authority a little bit better...... but they already agreed to come to church next week :) it was amazing. the Lord is so good. :) He truly guided us and helped us SO much.
Then that evening the elder's investigators (the parents of the new member 16 year old girl) got married!!!!!!!! It was so great :) Their family came down and it was just really good. #miracles!!! The dad bore his testimony yesterday at church and he isn't even baptized yet and he was acting like he was.. just telling everyone how much he loves the church and how happy his family is and it was so great. Such an amazing family.
Today we went to downtown Raleigh and went to a museum and it was really really fun!!!!!!! I took a lot of pictures.. but i will just give you a couple :) haha..
Well. thank you for everything.. this week has been a lot better than last week.. I am understanding better each and every single day more of my purpose as a missionary.. and how if those things are my purposes.. how I need to help people know those things and truly help them understand that I am just trying to help them have SALVATION. I just want to help ONE soul come to Christ.. ONE. and that is all I have been begging the Lord to help me do. I know it will happen. I love the Lord so much.. and I am so grateful for His mercy and unconditional love..
Have a wonderful week :)
-Hermana Weller
Monday, December 29, 2014
SERIOUSLY???
:(
i am online.. and no emails....... come on!! i know its break and we just Skyped a few days ago... but come on!!
*Parental Confession*
--We are so sad that we slept right through Monday morning email time. So sorry, Raini Girl! Please forgive us.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Christmas Skype!!!!
Honestly the best part was to get to talk to you all on Christmas. thank you so much for that :) Sometimes, I feel like I don't even have a family lol. I just feel like I am me and that's it because I have gotten to used to being out here so far away.. but then when i get to talk to you it is just like good old times! haha. I love that we just laugh so much when we do those skype calls.
Anyways.. So we had a fun week! The couple days before Christmas and Christmas Eve, we were able to do some really great stuff. We went caroling on Monday night for FHE with a family in the ward and that was just really special. It isnt really something that hispanic people do, so it was fun to share a tradition with them (even though our family doesnt really go caroling.. other white people usually do and they come to our house soo.. yeah hahaha)
Then we got to meet ___ family. ____ is 16- a recent convert of the elders in our ward.. they wanted us to go over and try to teach her mom! she has a step dad too but they didn't think he was really that interested. UNTIL he has come to church the past couple of weeks and the Christmas dinner too.. and then last night they had dinner there and the mom and dad decided to set a marriage date for Saturday because they want to be married and get baptized!!!!! so that is pretty much the miracle of the week right there. amazing.. and i love that the examples of the children are what effect the parents so much! Like Daisy.. she was baptized exactly 1 year ago yesterday and it is just so neat because in this past year her brother and mom have been baptized too. so great!! these youth are amazing.
Speaking of Daisy and her mom.. we got to see them on Christmas eve eve and it was so great because we shared with them Luke 2. We all went around and read a verse like we always do on Christmas eve at Grama and Grandpas! and we told them to keep it as a tradition to do every year :) that was neat.
Then! Christmas eve! We had district meeting.. and ate food.. and did some studies. Then we got to go with the English sisters in our district to sing at an old folks place. it was really special too. they loved it and I don't know what it is, but when I go to places like that I can just feel an instant love and care for those people.. it was a really great experience. We got to sing in Spanish and English :)
then we went and ate a ton of food at the ____'s.. goodness. She made so much!!!! And, soooo good!!1 But the good news is that i now know how to make flan and choco-flan too!!
then we went out to another families house, and they wanted us to eat too!!! and they made even more food than the ___'s!!!! so that was insane. I was dying on the way home haha i was SO full. my stomach has never been that stuffed in my life. i thought my birthday was bad.. this was even worse!
Then Christmas day- opened all the presents! :) that was great :) and then we got to do studies as normal and then go talk to y'alL!!!! and then ate SO much at the bishop's.. it was sooooo yummy :)
since then it has been a little rough getting lessons with people because everyone is still hanging out with their family and what not.. but we did get to see ____ and ____ which was a miracle because it was the day after Christmas and we just were in the area and everything else wasnt working out! so that was pretty amazing. :) unfortunately she isnt doing super good in the ways of getting back on track with everything like she had wanted to just a couple of months ago. she is working 2 jobs with ridiculous hours so it is just craziness all the time. she hardly sees her daughter and shes falling back into other bad habits. But once January is over she is hoping to be able to change her schedule to be able to come to church again and have more time to be with ___.. and then hopefully she will be able to be baptized at that point then.
____ and her girls are doing good! I gave them the Pero you sent to help them stop drinking coffee.. they really really want to! they really want to be baptized! we are still hoping for mid-January with them.
well.. this week was generally just really good because of the holidays and everything. but we are really going to have to crack down this week and get to work finding new people after the new years because our teaching pool is back to being really low.
I love you all and i will talk to you again soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Hermana Weller
Monday, December 22, 2014
Feliz Navidad!!!
Hellooooooo and Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!! :D I seriously can't believe that it is going to be Christmas THIS week. I am SOOOOOO excited to get to talk to y'all.. ugh. Cant wait :)
Well.. This has been a great week. Again. Lots of learning experiences. Some quick highlights of it--
So Monday we had a really crazy preparation day, but after that we went and had dinner with a family that is less active. They told us they are looking for new jobs so that they don't have to work on Sundays! woo! and THEN they were like oh.. and we have some family we really want you to go and see, but we don't want them to know we sent you there. So that was amazing.
So the next day we went and acted like we were just contacting.. ya know knocking doors.. the norm! We said the normal thing that we usually do when people open the door and then he was like, "Just a minute..." and he left the door for a little bit. When he left, I said, "I know I have met him before!!" .. so then when he came back and welcomed us in, I said, "Haven't I met you before??" and he was like, "Yeah! remember I am _____'s sister! (the family we had saw the night before) and I met you at her other sister's house one time.." and I was like, "Oohhhh yeah!"
I realized when I had actually met him in the past.. so that was kinda neat that he recognized me too. and then we just chatted a little bit. He told us that he knows that our church is the true church because the sisters in the past had taught him and he felt it then, and when he went to church he just knew.. and he said, "I was supposed to be baptized then, but I didn't end up doing it. But its never too late right??" And we were like, "uhhhh no!!" haha so we have a return apt. for this week with him and all of his family! He wants his mom to learn too.. I really hope we can have good lessons with them, because the ______ family is so great. and they said if we could get them to help their family join the church we would forever be in their hearts :) and I just can only imagine.. how amazing that would be for their family to have them all in the church and eventually go and get sealed :) ahh!! we are so excited. it was such a blessing that they gave us that referral! we are gonna go there for one of the many Christmas dinners.. lol.
Then, that same day something really really hard happened as well. I have never had this kind of an experience and it was really hard to deal with, but I think the Lord just really wanted us to learn this specific lesson right now. So we haven't had any contact with ____ or ____ for about 2 weeks.. They haven't been answering our calls or texting us back or anything. I was really scared because we taught about the temple the last time we saw _____ and I was just hoping that she didn't come across anything untrue or anti-Mormon online or anything like that.. So we decided to just stop by and try to talk to them to know what exactly was going on. So we went, and they didn't answer. We were writing a note to leave on the door when they walked up! They let us in.. but I could just feel it was really weird. Something was off.. and I didn't want to leave until I knew why. So we sat down and started talking some.. and then finally _____ told us that she is basically SO confused and she is scared of making any kind of changes from what she is comfortable with... and she has obviously been getting a lot of people telling her a lot of different things. She doesn't understand why we need the Book of Mormon which made me sad because I thought we had pretty well taught her that.. and she feels like she doesn't know enough about the Bible to start reading in the Book of Mormon so she still hasn't read out of it to know if it is true or not.. She has been going to some pastor's Bible study class to learn more about the Bible and have him interpret its words.... It was so hard. I just wanted to cry. I was just like LET US HELP YOU! Plus, I was frustrated because it felt like she hadn't told us her real doubts this whole time of us coming over.. and if we would have known better we could have helped her overcome those doubts. So I was disappointed with the situation and I wanted to cry because she just wants the truth.. and now she is SO confused. It just makes me sad :/ but afterwards i just was thinking and trying to receive the comfort I needed to be able to keep going that day and not let it affect me.. and I did. I felt the Spirit and I just felt a reassurance that it was okay.. at least we were able to help her to this point of her earnestly seeking. and by the end of her journey she will come back to where she started because this is where the truth is. She just needs some time and she will eventually come around. I was really grateful for this experience though because it all of the sudden put everything with our other investigators into perspective..
Everyone has doubts.. everyone has some kinds of concerns or fears about being baptized even if you can tell they have received that spiritual confirmation.. even though you have shared the most spiritual lessons with them.. and you have fasted and prayed for them so much. They all have worries about this big change they are committing to. and we have to make sure that we figure out what those are and make sure to help them find the way of overcoming those hurdles. So it was really good because it made us re-evaluate our relationships with our other investigators right now and talk about what we could do to make sure that we have super trust with them.. that they feel comfortable enough to express to us their concerns and worries and how we can ask them about those.
So we got to see _____ and her girls this week and we decided to just talk all about that.. and really figure out if they are really working towards being baptized and if they have anything that is holding them back from doing that.. ____ said she wants to change her life.. and that is why she wants to be baptized :) ____ said she wants eternal life :) and _____ said she wants "to be clean and be like born again". We were so impressed and excited when they answered that way!! haha then we talked about any concerns they had, and really ____ is just having a hard time giving up coffee! It is a toughy lol. And then since _____ is going to a different church (and has been for 6 years) it is really hard for her to want to change.. but we made some plans as to how we are going to get her some good friends in this ward :) _____ is just ready. she has no worries lol :) so it was really good. it is just so much better when it is really open and they feel like they can tell you whatever.
OH! we finally got to give the Book of Mormon to that man that called us a couple of weeks ago wanting it! We met up with him and he told us that he is actually a Pastor!! but he said he respects us SO much and just is so impressed with how "disciplined" we are with our faith and that we are out here with nothing really in return.. just out of our love and faith in the Savior. So that was really neat. he said he is going to read it!! and we hope to hear about it soon :)
We had our ward Christmas party Saturday!.. oh man.. I cant wait to be able to come back and party with these people! They are so much fun!! and i love to dance.. but as a missionary i guess we probably shouldn't be dancing and stuff. so I had to pull it together and fight the urge! lol.
I really just can't wait to get to talk to y'all and see your faces.. honestly. I am gonna freak out!! also we realized the other day that I will talk to you for Mother's Day and then come home like a week later!!! haha.. Anyways.
I love you so much. I am so grateful for this Christmas season and for the love of the Lord for each and every single one of us. I love Him so much. and I know He loves me. Merry Christmas!!!!!! <3
-Hermana Weller :)
Well.. This has been a great week. Again. Lots of learning experiences. Some quick highlights of it--
So Monday we had a really crazy preparation day, but after that we went and had dinner with a family that is less active. They told us they are looking for new jobs so that they don't have to work on Sundays! woo! and THEN they were like oh.. and we have some family we really want you to go and see, but we don't want them to know we sent you there. So that was amazing.
So the next day we went and acted like we were just contacting.. ya know knocking doors.. the norm! We said the normal thing that we usually do when people open the door and then he was like, "Just a minute..." and he left the door for a little bit. When he left, I said, "I know I have met him before!!" .. so then when he came back and welcomed us in, I said, "Haven't I met you before??" and he was like, "Yeah! remember I am _____'s sister! (the family we had saw the night before) and I met you at her other sister's house one time.." and I was like, "Oohhhh yeah!"
I realized when I had actually met him in the past.. so that was kinda neat that he recognized me too. and then we just chatted a little bit. He told us that he knows that our church is the true church because the sisters in the past had taught him and he felt it then, and when he went to church he just knew.. and he said, "I was supposed to be baptized then, but I didn't end up doing it. But its never too late right??" And we were like, "uhhhh no!!" haha so we have a return apt. for this week with him and all of his family! He wants his mom to learn too.. I really hope we can have good lessons with them, because the ______ family is so great. and they said if we could get them to help their family join the church we would forever be in their hearts :) and I just can only imagine.. how amazing that would be for their family to have them all in the church and eventually go and get sealed :) ahh!! we are so excited. it was such a blessing that they gave us that referral! we are gonna go there for one of the many Christmas dinners.. lol.
Then, that same day something really really hard happened as well. I have never had this kind of an experience and it was really hard to deal with, but I think the Lord just really wanted us to learn this specific lesson right now. So we haven't had any contact with ____ or ____ for about 2 weeks.. They haven't been answering our calls or texting us back or anything. I was really scared because we taught about the temple the last time we saw _____ and I was just hoping that she didn't come across anything untrue or anti-Mormon online or anything like that.. So we decided to just stop by and try to talk to them to know what exactly was going on. So we went, and they didn't answer. We were writing a note to leave on the door when they walked up! They let us in.. but I could just feel it was really weird. Something was off.. and I didn't want to leave until I knew why. So we sat down and started talking some.. and then finally _____ told us that she is basically SO confused and she is scared of making any kind of changes from what she is comfortable with... and she has obviously been getting a lot of people telling her a lot of different things. She doesn't understand why we need the Book of Mormon which made me sad because I thought we had pretty well taught her that.. and she feels like she doesn't know enough about the Bible to start reading in the Book of Mormon so she still hasn't read out of it to know if it is true or not.. She has been going to some pastor's Bible study class to learn more about the Bible and have him interpret its words.... It was so hard. I just wanted to cry. I was just like LET US HELP YOU! Plus, I was frustrated because it felt like she hadn't told us her real doubts this whole time of us coming over.. and if we would have known better we could have helped her overcome those doubts. So I was disappointed with the situation and I wanted to cry because she just wants the truth.. and now she is SO confused. It just makes me sad :/ but afterwards i just was thinking and trying to receive the comfort I needed to be able to keep going that day and not let it affect me.. and I did. I felt the Spirit and I just felt a reassurance that it was okay.. at least we were able to help her to this point of her earnestly seeking. and by the end of her journey she will come back to where she started because this is where the truth is. She just needs some time and she will eventually come around. I was really grateful for this experience though because it all of the sudden put everything with our other investigators into perspective..
Everyone has doubts.. everyone has some kinds of concerns or fears about being baptized even if you can tell they have received that spiritual confirmation.. even though you have shared the most spiritual lessons with them.. and you have fasted and prayed for them so much. They all have worries about this big change they are committing to. and we have to make sure that we figure out what those are and make sure to help them find the way of overcoming those hurdles. So it was really good because it made us re-evaluate our relationships with our other investigators right now and talk about what we could do to make sure that we have super trust with them.. that they feel comfortable enough to express to us their concerns and worries and how we can ask them about those.
So we got to see _____ and her girls this week and we decided to just talk all about that.. and really figure out if they are really working towards being baptized and if they have anything that is holding them back from doing that.. ____ said she wants to change her life.. and that is why she wants to be baptized :) ____ said she wants eternal life :) and _____ said she wants "to be clean and be like born again". We were so impressed and excited when they answered that way!! haha then we talked about any concerns they had, and really ____ is just having a hard time giving up coffee! It is a toughy lol. And then since _____ is going to a different church (and has been for 6 years) it is really hard for her to want to change.. but we made some plans as to how we are going to get her some good friends in this ward :) _____ is just ready. she has no worries lol :) so it was really good. it is just so much better when it is really open and they feel like they can tell you whatever.
OH! we finally got to give the Book of Mormon to that man that called us a couple of weeks ago wanting it! We met up with him and he told us that he is actually a Pastor!! but he said he respects us SO much and just is so impressed with how "disciplined" we are with our faith and that we are out here with nothing really in return.. just out of our love and faith in the Savior. So that was really neat. he said he is going to read it!! and we hope to hear about it soon :)
We had our ward Christmas party Saturday!.. oh man.. I cant wait to be able to come back and party with these people! They are so much fun!! and i love to dance.. but as a missionary i guess we probably shouldn't be dancing and stuff. so I had to pull it together and fight the urge! lol.
I really just can't wait to get to talk to y'all and see your faces.. honestly. I am gonna freak out!! also we realized the other day that I will talk to you for Mother's Day and then come home like a week later!!! haha.. Anyways.
I love you so much. I am so grateful for this Christmas season and for the love of the Lord for each and every single one of us. I love Him so much. and I know He loves me. Merry Christmas!!!!!! <3
-Hermana Weller :)
Monday, December 15, 2014
Only 10 Days Til Christmas!!!
I don't know where my life is going.. time is just absolutely FLYING by... But my companion and I were just talking the other day about HOW happy we are. Honestly, I don't think I have ever been as happy in my entire LIFE than right now.. It is the best feeling ever. I love being a missionary of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This week we actually had some really neat experiences and some special meetings! We had a Sisters Conference which was really good as well as a special meeting for just Spanish Elders and Sisters! So the Sisters conference was good because ALL the sisters in the mission came up and President and Sister Bernhisel taught us.. it was all about the priesthood and womanhood, and how impactful we are as women.. We talked a lot about the roll of moms in their families and it was just really good.. if anyone ever has questions about women and the priesthood, Gordon B. Hinckley has the BEST quotes haha. It was fun to get to see all the sisters and my old companions :) I miss Sister Ashworth!! She is so funny.. Then, we had the Spanish missionaries conference and Elder Zwick from the quorum of the 70 came and talked to us!!! (perks of being a Spanish missionary!!) it was really neat because that was the first time ever that we have had a meeting all in Spanish!!! and President and Sister Bernhisel and the assistants had to use headphones!! hahahaha, the roles were reversed. it was nice for once...haha But he talked a lot about the importance of virtue, and how that is really what we need to have written on our hearts.. He talked about learning by faith. and how through the rest of our lives we are going to have to keep learning by faith. And there was a lot of revelation that I personally received from both of those conferences because I have been working A LOT on putting more trust than ever and having more faith than ever in the Lord.. I want to see more miracles and so I know that miracles only come according to our faith :) and something that I read this week in my personally study that kinda hit me was about Alma, and how when Alma the younger (his son) was visited by the angel and converted it was BECAUSE of the FAITH OF HIS FATHER.. Alma had so much faith in the Lord that He would answer his prayers, as well as he had SO much faith in his son, that he could actually change and be converted.. that an angel came and appeared to his son.. His prayers were definitely answered. and from reading that and studying a lot lately how I can put more trust and more faith in the Lord, I realized that according to MY faith, I CAN have an effect on other people.. and I need to have more faith in THEM too. See them as they can become, and trust that they WILL come to know everything is true and achieve the baptismal dates we have prayerfully decided for them.
This week we were out trying to find new people to teach.. and no one was letting us in to teach them. So finally we drove to a new street to knock and before we got out of the car we prayed. and we had a very mighty prayer to be able to find someone to teach at that moment.. and we got out of the car and just started walking towards one of the houses right in front of us.. we didn't even say anything to each other, we just walked over to the house and I thought maybe it was just my companion following my lead. But when a Dominican woman opened the door and let us in because we started talking about Christmas and "He is the Gift" we knew God had heard us :) afterwards, we talked about it and my companion said that she had felt like that house too.. so it was just kinda neat that we just started going for it. and it resulted in finding someone new who is really open and has great potential.
Another thing going along with everything that I have learned in my personal study this week with faith and in the meetings too.. was last night we were visiting with a less active family and the daughter started telling us all the things that she didn't like about her mom.. and how her mom is so annoying, yada yada..she's 15..go figure...haha But, ya know, we aren't really supposed to like be counselors for people, so....I just thought of something to share with her... it was neat because it was second point of the first lesson we teach investigators. It is "The Gospel Blesses Families". So we talked about how living the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our families is what will bring us the most happiness.. even when its really tough. And so we took the first 2 principles of the gospel- 1. Faith and 2. Repentance and broke those words down into what words are associated with those words.. 1. trust, belief, hope, etc. 2. change, forgiveness, saying you are sorry, humility, etc. and then talked about how those things are the GOSPEL. and we need to apply them with each other.. not just having faith in Christ and repenting when we sin.. but having faith in one another as family members and then applying the principles of repentance with each other too.. we have to be willing to forgive each other and ask for forgiveness and be willing to change. And I had really never thought of these things until all of the sudden I was teaching them last night haha. The spirit truly gave me in that moment what I needed to say, and I too learned something really really valuable for myself for my future family.
So, we got to see _____ and her family twice this week! We had really good lessons with them about the 10 commandments, the Sabbath day, chastity, the Word of Wisdom, and fasting.. It was so neat because she honestly is just so willing to accept these things into her life right now and do them.. they were a little concerned about coffee with the Word Of Wisdom, but they are going to try they said to stop!! It was really fun when we talked with them about the spirit this last time, and how they have felt when we come and visit with them.. they are just SO happy. (and so are we!!) and i just cant even explain most of the time just how grateful and happy I am to have the gospel in my life and to see in the lives of others working.. They came to church again yesterday. They are still moving towards the 27th for baptism!! :)
Well, we haven't been able to get in contact with ___ and ____ in about 2 weeks now.. :( I am worried why they aren't talking to us any more.. but, maybe its just not their time yet.
Well.. I love you all so much and I am so so so so glad that Christmas is only 10 days away and that I will get to talk to you then :) WOOOHOOOO! haha. Thank you so much for everything, and I really hope that this year you can think of a new way to remember Christ, and that you can #SHARETHEGIFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO FORTH AND DO IT!
love.
-Hermana Weller-
Monday, December 8, 2014
Mamita Chula
Great week for sure!!!! :) como siempre.. haha
So I had a really great study earlier this week that really put me in my place haha. I was reading this talk "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" and it just really hit me this time when i was reading it the part when it was talking about TALKING WITH EVERYONE, and how the Lord has truly COMMANDED us to do that.. to preach the gospel to EVERY person.. every single person that we see is His daughter or son.. and they need what we have. and I dont know how or what happened, but literally it was just like an over night change. I just from then on have had NO FEAR and I have literally just been talking to everyone I see. If there is someone outside, it doesnt matter if they dont speak spanish, we go and talk to them. And we think we have seen HUGE blessings from that. This week we had 2 days where we taught 5 lessons and by the end of those days.. we were literally EXHAUSTED. it says in that talk also that consecrated missionaries put every drop of energy into the work.. and honestly by the end of that day... I felt like that is what I had done. It was a very rewarding feeling :) we felt super accomplished.
A neat experience with that that we had this week was, we went over to invite ___ (our old investigator) to the community Christmas activity that we had this weekend. (it was amazing... i will tell you more about it in a bit!) and when we pulled up to her house there were some men outside of her neighbors house. SO of course.. we went to go and talk to them. They were luckily Hispanic :) so we wanted to just invite them to come to the activity too, but then they started asking us questions and stuff because they had heard of Mormons before.. had watched videos on Youtube or something I guess.. anyways.. it was a very interesting conversation. and they were talking super fast, and I got a little lost at times... but by the end we gave them Restoration pamphlets because literally everything they are really confused about in their religion is answered with the Restoration, and then gave them #HeistheGift cards and an invitation to the activity. We wrote our number on the back of the pamphlet and told him to call us if he had any questions about what the pamphlet said. The next morning... we got a call. He read the entire pamphlet!!! He wanted to know if we could give him a Book of Mormon because he wants to read it and know the doctrine that it teaches in there for himself. :O It was so great. He made it clear that he just wanted to meet up and get the Book and be able to read it on his own.. he isn't interested in changing his religion, so we are going to meet up with him this week. and then hopefully we get another phone call telling us that he read the entire Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized lol. ;) #miracles!! #talkwitheveryone!
After that though, we had a really good lesson again with _____ and her girls. :) they are so cute! and we invited them to be baptized on the 27th of this month.. they said yes, they are going to pray about it. We are really excited for that :)
Then we got to see ______ and _____ twice this week! We had a couple really good lessons, and we showed _____ how she is really really close to having learned everything she needs to know to be baptized! she really wants to, but now _____ has 2 jobs.. and is working insane hours. and she is working Sundays ---- sooo. we will see what we can do this week to help her understand and realize again how big of a step this is that her daughter is wanting to take.
Oh.. the title of this email is "mamita chula" because there is this less active woman that we visit and her kids are now coming back to church every week! which is super great.. but she calls me mamita chula. like ALL the time haha everything is "siiii mamita chula", "gracias mamita chula" haha its so funny.. so we have been using that one jokingly a lot lately ;) *for those who don't know, it means something like "pretty mama" or "cute thing"
Miracle at the Food Bank this week when we did service there!! We have started praying before going into the food bank to have more experiences and opportunities while we are there to share the gospel!! and this day was amazing. We went in and got paired up with this lady from Colombia!! we got to speak Spanish with her! She of course asked us lots of questions about what we did as missionaries and stuff.. and she had known a Mormon in the past.. and then we invited her to go to the community event too! We don't think she ended up coming because she wasn't there at least when we were there.. but that is okay. We just really hope we can serve with her again at the food bank and this time get her phone number or address so we can actually come and visit her :) she was sooo nice. It was amazing.
We also had a very long interesting conversation with one of the other main guys there about religion and controversial topics like gay marriage and stuff like that.. it was interesting. but good.. the Lord is seriously blessing us so much. I love it :)
SO. the Community Christmas event was amazing. They had gathered together like 300 nativity scenes and decorated the gym really really nice and there were choirs from other churches and schools in the community singing the entire time. it was Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We went and helped work it on Thursday and saturday. It was just so good!!! It brought a lot of people into the building to feel the Spirit and help them remember the true meaning of Christmas :)) There were some familiar nativities there too, which was neat. I felt right at home!
Pues.. I love you all so so so so so much. Hope that you have already watched the #HeistheGift video and have tried sharing it in many different ways :) it is a great way to talk with random people!!! love you again! have a good one.
-Hermana Weller <3
So I had a really great study earlier this week that really put me in my place haha. I was reading this talk "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" and it just really hit me this time when i was reading it the part when it was talking about TALKING WITH EVERYONE, and how the Lord has truly COMMANDED us to do that.. to preach the gospel to EVERY person.. every single person that we see is His daughter or son.. and they need what we have. and I dont know how or what happened, but literally it was just like an over night change. I just from then on have had NO FEAR and I have literally just been talking to everyone I see. If there is someone outside, it doesnt matter if they dont speak spanish, we go and talk to them. And we think we have seen HUGE blessings from that. This week we had 2 days where we taught 5 lessons and by the end of those days.. we were literally EXHAUSTED. it says in that talk also that consecrated missionaries put every drop of energy into the work.. and honestly by the end of that day... I felt like that is what I had done. It was a very rewarding feeling :) we felt super accomplished.
A neat experience with that that we had this week was, we went over to invite ___ (our old investigator) to the community Christmas activity that we had this weekend. (it was amazing... i will tell you more about it in a bit!) and when we pulled up to her house there were some men outside of her neighbors house. SO of course.. we went to go and talk to them. They were luckily Hispanic :) so we wanted to just invite them to come to the activity too, but then they started asking us questions and stuff because they had heard of Mormons before.. had watched videos on Youtube or something I guess.. anyways.. it was a very interesting conversation. and they were talking super fast, and I got a little lost at times... but by the end we gave them Restoration pamphlets because literally everything they are really confused about in their religion is answered with the Restoration, and then gave them #HeistheGift cards and an invitation to the activity. We wrote our number on the back of the pamphlet and told him to call us if he had any questions about what the pamphlet said. The next morning... we got a call. He read the entire pamphlet!!! He wanted to know if we could give him a Book of Mormon because he wants to read it and know the doctrine that it teaches in there for himself. :O It was so great. He made it clear that he just wanted to meet up and get the Book and be able to read it on his own.. he isn't interested in changing his religion, so we are going to meet up with him this week. and then hopefully we get another phone call telling us that he read the entire Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized lol. ;) #miracles!! #talkwitheveryone!
After that though, we had a really good lesson again with _____ and her girls. :) they are so cute! and we invited them to be baptized on the 27th of this month.. they said yes, they are going to pray about it. We are really excited for that :)
Then we got to see ______ and _____ twice this week! We had a couple really good lessons, and we showed _____ how she is really really close to having learned everything she needs to know to be baptized! she really wants to, but now _____ has 2 jobs.. and is working insane hours. and she is working Sundays ---- sooo. we will see what we can do this week to help her understand and realize again how big of a step this is that her daughter is wanting to take.
Oh.. the title of this email is "mamita chula" because there is this less active woman that we visit and her kids are now coming back to church every week! which is super great.. but she calls me mamita chula. like ALL the time haha everything is "siiii mamita chula", "gracias mamita chula" haha its so funny.. so we have been using that one jokingly a lot lately ;) *for those who don't know, it means something like "pretty mama" or "cute thing"
Miracle at the Food Bank this week when we did service there!! We have started praying before going into the food bank to have more experiences and opportunities while we are there to share the gospel!! and this day was amazing. We went in and got paired up with this lady from Colombia!! we got to speak Spanish with her! She of course asked us lots of questions about what we did as missionaries and stuff.. and she had known a Mormon in the past.. and then we invited her to go to the community event too! We don't think she ended up coming because she wasn't there at least when we were there.. but that is okay. We just really hope we can serve with her again at the food bank and this time get her phone number or address so we can actually come and visit her :) she was sooo nice. It was amazing.
We also had a very long interesting conversation with one of the other main guys there about religion and controversial topics like gay marriage and stuff like that.. it was interesting. but good.. the Lord is seriously blessing us so much. I love it :)
SO. the Community Christmas event was amazing. They had gathered together like 300 nativity scenes and decorated the gym really really nice and there were choirs from other churches and schools in the community singing the entire time. it was Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We went and helped work it on Thursday and saturday. It was just so good!!! It brought a lot of people into the building to feel the Spirit and help them remember the true meaning of Christmas :)) There were some familiar nativities there too, which was neat. I felt right at home!
Pues.. I love you all so so so so so much. Hope that you have already watched the #HeistheGift video and have tried sharing it in many different ways :) it is a great way to talk with random people!!! love you again! have a good one.
-Hermana Weller <3
Monday, December 1, 2014
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hola Familia,
Mom: (my middle school Spanish teacher)I love spanish!! haha :) i bet you never thought you would hear me say that now did you?!?! ;)
Well Happy Late Thanksgiving!!! :) Hope it was a good one.
I know you want to know how mine was.. so I will tell you quickly because we acually didnt do a whole lot!! So in the morning we had organized to go and play sports with the women/girls while the men played too.. turns out the elders told us a totally different place of where the men were going to be (...elders...) but it turned out fine because we just had a few people and it was really fun :)
I was really hoping that I was going to feel good enough to play and everything because all week I had been feeling really gross just nauseous a lot.. but it was all good! We had a ton of fun :) It was pretty cold, but it was fine.
Then we went home and showered and did our normal studies and then went over to Daisy's house. We thought we were going to be eating pretty soon to when we had gone over there, so we had told a couple other people that we would go and be with them too.. but turned out we didn't eat until like 5.. so we spent a couple hours just playing some games and listening to Christmas music. Then we ate with her family... and we ate: enchiladas, arroz con pollo, and tacos. hahaha... no turkey in sight.. no stuffing or mashed potatoes... no pie. Although it was yummy, it wasn't our typical Thanksgiving! BUT, that was actually okay because we started eating and I just felt AWFUL. I thought I was going to throw up all over the place haha.. SOOO we went home and I just crawled up into bed haha. But we had a good 1st half of the day at least!
Okay but back tracking to the first half of the week now..
so we got to see ____ again, como siempre! But ____ was out shopping for Thanksgiving food with her husband so it was just us and _____... But it was amazing because we had prepared to teach her about the temple and the word of wisdom. and when we got there she told us about how she recently started reading the old testament from the beginning and she was just reading the other day about the temple they built and all the different things that they would do there and how specific it was and we were just like... this is perfect! because we wanted to teach you about how we have those same temples on the earth TODAY! :) we brought some pictures of our temples and talked about how sacred they are and everything.. then talked about the WOW and she actually really liked it! She has a hard time with coffee, but she totally understands why we shouldn't drink it. We are really really trying to get a firm date still with her for bautismo though.. that is really our focus this week. Ether 12:6.. she has to just take some steps into the dark to know.
Well we had a really good week in finding.. We had 6 new investigators this week.. Makes up for all the past weeks that we have been struggling for sure!! The members have been helping us with that :) 4 of them were because of members..
We are teaching a new family- a single mom and her 2 girls. They are so great.. We taught the plan of salvation the other day and when we invited them to be baptized she said yes.. she has been through kinda a lot in her life and it is really really hard to be a single mom.. so she really just wants that fresh start. that "pagina en blanca". They came to church yesterday.. so good :)
We met a man the other day when we decided to knock the door next to a potential investigator.. and he is amazing.. unfortunately he doesn't speak any Spanish.. but the English elders have a treat coming for them! he told us he LOVES Mormon Tabernacle Choir and then he randomly was like..oh you know something else I really agree with you about? baptism by immersion like Christ was. ahahaha.. What?? and then he told us just a lot of good things have been going on in his life recently and he is starting to go back to church.. so basically the Lord lead us to Him and we really felt like it was inspired getting to talk to him and pass him onto English elders.
oh!! the other day ____, one of the members from Wallace who I really loved, and we were friends (she is my age) came and we had lunch together!!!!!!!! :) it was the best!! She is so sweet.. she gave me a really cute ring so that i don't ever forget her! haha i love her! :)
Here we are:
I am so excited for this time of year.. I honestly am so grateful I get to be a missionary right now at this time. With the whole #heisthegift thing, we just have been given a bunch of cards to give out with that on them, and we have been watching the video with some of our members. But I had an amazing study this morning.. I just read the different accounts in the scriptures that talk about the Savior's birth.. I am incredibly grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ, I love Him SO much. I am so grateful that He was willing to do what He did so that I have the opportunity and chance to change every single day!
This week I had an impacting study in realizing that the mandate from the Lord to TALK WITH EVERYONE is really a commandment.. not just a suggestion. and in order for me to be a "consecrated missionary" I need to do it. and So with the help of the Lord, I have been able to change (rather quickly too) and have the courage to just be awkward sometimes and literally talk to every single person we see. Its been really great so far. I love it!
Last night I got to eat a real thanksgiving dinner with our bishop's family.. :) I was superrr grateful for that as well.
Honestly, I hope you all know how grateful I am for you and everything you do for me. I am so grateful that I have had this gospel my whole life.. I am grateful my grandparents had the courage to search and find the truth of the restored gospel!! I am so grateful that when I was 8 I was able to be baptized by my dad, by the restored priesthood, and that I have always been able to rely on him to be able to give me a blessing or help me in any way. and that I have been able to have the greatest gift-- the gift of the Holy Ghost since I was so young.. and that through having that wonderful gift I have been able to develop my own testimony of my Savior and this gospel in general. I am so grateful that for this next 6 months I get to share this with EVERYONE here that crosses my path :) I am grateful for the women in my life as well that are so strong and have helped me know the things of the gospel. I just feel so blessed. and I am so glad I am here on a mission. Even though it is hard at this time to see all the families getting together, I am so happy I am here, and that this special spirit of this time of year is something I get to help others truly embrace and love as much as I do.
Have a GREAT week, and never forget the many things you are blessed with!!!! Show your gratitude for those things this week by DOING something :)
Y'all are the best.
Love,
Hermana Weller
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
B-day Cake in the Face
Must be some sort of tradition to do this on your birthday?? Or maybe they just got a gullible gringa??
Monday, November 24, 2014
¡Milagroso! (miraculous)
HOLA!
So. first off, ___ and ___ :) We got to go and see them with a member this week.. they told us that they had read! woop woop! __ read the beginning stuff up to Joseph Smiths testimony. and ___ had read 1 Nefi 1-13 haha! we were really impressed, but she didnt actually undestand a lot of what she read soooo we were able to explain and use the pictures that are so "handily" put in the front of the BOM about what the setting is at the beginning of the BOM. They understood a lot better and they are going to read again.. Then they started talking again about all the huge changes they have seen in their lives since we have been visiting with them.. and it made me think of a chapter we had read together in companion study this past week- Mosiah 5. I LOVE this chapter.
So we read some of those verses:
And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of theirsurety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that wehave no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.
3 And we, ourselves, also, through the infinite goodness of God, and the manifestations of his Spirit, have great views of thatwhich is to come; and were it expedient, we could prophesy of all things.
4 And it is the faith which we have had on the things which our king has spoken unto us that has brought us to this greatknowledge, whereby we do rejoice with such exceedingly great joy.
5 And we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things thathe shall command us, all the remainder of our days, that we may not bring upon ourselves a never-ending torment, as has beenspoken by the angel, that we may not drink out of the cup of the wrath of God.
6 And now, these are the words which king Benjamin desired of them; and therefore he said unto them: Ye have spoken the wordsthat I desired; and the covenant which ye have made is a righteous covenant.
7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; forbehold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, yeare born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.
and then we talked about baptism again.. It was amazing because the day before we had a meeting for all the new missionaries and their trainers and we went (obviously) and the assistant when he taught reminded me of a phrase i really like.. "YOU GET WHAT YOU GO FOR" and so we had planned to go in and get a baptismal date with them because they have progressed SO much and they are ready. So after discussing a lot of different things based off those scriptures we invited them to be baptized onDecember 16th and they are now praying about it :)) we invited them to come to church this week but ___ said she was going to definitely have to work :( we were sad but we have still been praying and we sent out a voicemail to the whole zone about praying for them. and guess what happened :)
___ CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we seriously werent expecting it AT ALL and then sacrament meeting was starting and I looked over at the door and saw her walk in! I had a mini freak out haha and we went and sat by her :) it was amazing. so so good.. and the best part of all was that all the members we have brought with us to see her were amazingly helpful the entire time during church.. we were scurrying all over to do different things and we didn't even have to worry about her because the members were being so helpful. It was the best thing ever :)
then we went on exchanges! the sister I got to exchange with came here and she is from Gilbert too!! She went to Highland haha so we knew some mutual people it was pretty funny.. she is so cute :) Sister Oliver is her name. we had fun!
Then, the next day we were able to go and visit with ___ and __.. we finally got to read 1 Nefi 8 with them! We have thought for a long time that would be a good chapter they would like.. and then when we were talking about it and reading it with them Will suddenly came to another realization.. that really he wanted to get married and that it was ridiculous not to get married and follow the commandments as well as the law over a RING. but ___ wasn't having it. so it was slightly awkward because they were arguing and I was trying keeping it centered on keeping the law of Chastity haha.. but they said they were going to come to church this week so that was really great.
But then we got a call during sacrament meeting.. and we called them back and they said that in the middle of the night the apartment below them had a fire and their apartment caught on fire too.. they are now staying in a hotel for a couple of days because red cross luckily put them in one. (that was a neat and unique experience a lot of people don't get lol we got to go and visit them in their hotel!! haha) but they literally have nothing now :/ they ran out of the house because it was like full of smoke and they just grabbed random clothes and left. its horrible... we went and bought __ an outfit for school for tomorrow though at the thrift shop. It was really cute though!!! haha :) she loved it. $6. haha.
We saw __ and __ again.. They are just amazing. I cant even believe the 180 change that __ is making in her life.. So great. She even cleaned up her instagram and facebook so that she isn't following anything that would be a temptation and instead is now following the church and temple pages and things like that.. ___ was trying to sing I am a Child of God when we went over.. Seriously. It is just amazing. :)
They came with us to one of the elders in our wards baptism so that ___ could see what it was like! and they loved it :) it was neat too because we got to help the girl who was getting baptized get all ready and stuff.. Gah! i love baptisms! Unfortunately ___ is now going to have to wait until the NEXT week to get baptized because her mom has to work on next Saturday.. but it is actually better this way because we were trying to plan for her for next week and we have A LOT to teach before she can be interviewed. So it will be good.
SO much fun! this week we also got to go to a kick boxing class that one of the less active members teaches with some of the other women of the church.. and a couple of them have mentioned to us that they have friends that go to that that they want to share the gospel with! SOOO that meant, obviously, we went and got to meet them! haha it was hilarious because i think they were all SO confused when they saw two white girls come in.. but by the end they realized we were normal and in fact we DID speak Spanish haha.
Lastly.. (sorry there was A LOT of good things that happened this week!) Saturday and yesterday we went and contacted a couple referrals that members gave to us.. and they are amazing!! haha Truly, the best people we find are through the members. We are SO glad!! things are just coming together and our faith has been really tested but here come the rewards :)
I love this work so much!!! It has been so much fun, and I truly have learned so much over this past year... Wow. I am excited to push it out and work hard this last 6 months :) #BAPTISM!
to celebrate my birthday/my 1 year mark we went to one of my favorite families houses and did a hispanic culture tradition.. where they shoved my face in a cake...... hahahaha it was funny. i wish i could send the video!!
alright well have a fantastic week. I know that the Lord hears our prayers and He may not answer our prayers right away.. but if we dont lose our hope and faith in Him, He comes through :)) always.
Love,
Hermana Weller
So. first off, ___ and ___ :) We got to go and see them with a member this week.. they told us that they had read! woop woop! __ read the beginning stuff up to Joseph Smiths testimony. and ___ had read 1 Nefi 1-13 haha! we were really impressed, but she didnt actually undestand a lot of what she read soooo we were able to explain and use the pictures that are so "handily" put in the front of the BOM about what the setting is at the beginning of the BOM. They understood a lot better and they are going to read again.. Then they started talking again about all the huge changes they have seen in their lives since we have been visiting with them.. and it made me think of a chapter we had read together in companion study this past week- Mosiah 5. I LOVE this chapter.
So we read some of those verses:
And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of theirsurety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that wehave no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.
3 And we, ourselves, also, through the infinite goodness of God, and the manifestations of his Spirit, have great views of thatwhich is to come; and were it expedient, we could prophesy of all things.
4 And it is the faith which we have had on the things which our king has spoken unto us that has brought us to this greatknowledge, whereby we do rejoice with such exceedingly great joy.
5 And we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things thathe shall command us, all the remainder of our days, that we may not bring upon ourselves a never-ending torment, as has beenspoken by the angel, that we may not drink out of the cup of the wrath of God.
6 And now, these are the words which king Benjamin desired of them; and therefore he said unto them: Ye have spoken the wordsthat I desired; and the covenant which ye have made is a righteous covenant.
7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; forbehold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, yeare born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.
and then we talked about baptism again.. It was amazing because the day before we had a meeting for all the new missionaries and their trainers and we went (obviously) and the assistant when he taught reminded me of a phrase i really like.. "YOU GET WHAT YOU GO FOR" and so we had planned to go in and get a baptismal date with them because they have progressed SO much and they are ready. So after discussing a lot of different things based off those scriptures we invited them to be baptized onDecember 16th and they are now praying about it :)) we invited them to come to church this week but ___ said she was going to definitely have to work :( we were sad but we have still been praying and we sent out a voicemail to the whole zone about praying for them. and guess what happened :)
___ CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we seriously werent expecting it AT ALL and then sacrament meeting was starting and I looked over at the door and saw her walk in! I had a mini freak out haha and we went and sat by her :) it was amazing. so so good.. and the best part of all was that all the members we have brought with us to see her were amazingly helpful the entire time during church.. we were scurrying all over to do different things and we didn't even have to worry about her because the members were being so helpful. It was the best thing ever :)
then we went on exchanges! the sister I got to exchange with came here and she is from Gilbert too!! She went to Highland haha so we knew some mutual people it was pretty funny.. she is so cute :) Sister Oliver is her name. we had fun!
Then, the next day we were able to go and visit with ___ and __.. we finally got to read 1 Nefi 8 with them! We have thought for a long time that would be a good chapter they would like.. and then when we were talking about it and reading it with them Will suddenly came to another realization.. that really he wanted to get married and that it was ridiculous not to get married and follow the commandments as well as the law over a RING. but ___ wasn't having it. so it was slightly awkward because they were arguing and I was trying keeping it centered on keeping the law of Chastity haha.. but they said they were going to come to church this week so that was really great.
But then we got a call during sacrament meeting.. and we called them back and they said that in the middle of the night the apartment below them had a fire and their apartment caught on fire too.. they are now staying in a hotel for a couple of days because red cross luckily put them in one. (that was a neat and unique experience a lot of people don't get lol we got to go and visit them in their hotel!! haha) but they literally have nothing now :/ they ran out of the house because it was like full of smoke and they just grabbed random clothes and left. its horrible... we went and bought __ an outfit for school for tomorrow though at the thrift shop. It was really cute though!!! haha :) she loved it. $6. haha.
We saw __ and __ again.. They are just amazing. I cant even believe the 180 change that __ is making in her life.. So great. She even cleaned up her instagram and facebook so that she isn't following anything that would be a temptation and instead is now following the church and temple pages and things like that.. ___ was trying to sing I am a Child of God when we went over.. Seriously. It is just amazing. :)
They came with us to one of the elders in our wards baptism so that ___ could see what it was like! and they loved it :) it was neat too because we got to help the girl who was getting baptized get all ready and stuff.. Gah! i love baptisms! Unfortunately ___ is now going to have to wait until the NEXT week to get baptized because her mom has to work on next Saturday.. but it is actually better this way because we were trying to plan for her for next week and we have A LOT to teach before she can be interviewed. So it will be good.
SO much fun! this week we also got to go to a kick boxing class that one of the less active members teaches with some of the other women of the church.. and a couple of them have mentioned to us that they have friends that go to that that they want to share the gospel with! SOOO that meant, obviously, we went and got to meet them! haha it was hilarious because i think they were all SO confused when they saw two white girls come in.. but by the end they realized we were normal and in fact we DID speak Spanish haha.
Lastly.. (sorry there was A LOT of good things that happened this week!) Saturday and yesterday we went and contacted a couple referrals that members gave to us.. and they are amazing!! haha Truly, the best people we find are through the members. We are SO glad!! things are just coming together and our faith has been really tested but here come the rewards :)
I love this work so much!!! It has been so much fun, and I truly have learned so much over this past year... Wow. I am excited to push it out and work hard this last 6 months :) #BAPTISM!
to celebrate my birthday/my 1 year mark we went to one of my favorite families houses and did a hispanic culture tradition.. where they shoved my face in a cake...... hahahaha it was funny. i wish i could send the video!!
alright well have a fantastic week. I know that the Lord hears our prayers and He may not answer our prayers right away.. but if we dont lose our hope and faith in Him, He comes through :)) always.
Love,
Hermana Weller
Monday, November 17, 2014
B-day Goodnessssss!
Raini was taken care of with lots of love on her big 2-0 b-day! I'm so happy for that!
Here's her letter this week and some pics.
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Wow. This has been SUCH A GOOD WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D
Okay. Lets start from the beginning or else I am going to be all over the place lol. :)
SO. We set up an appointment with ___ and ___ for Tuesday but we called and asked them if we could do it at the church because we really wanted to do a church tour so that they could feel the spirit there and want to come to church even more... and to see the baptismal font and everything.. But ___ said that only she would be able to go, not ___. But we decided that was okay. So we went to the church and got everything set up and prepared ourselves and prayed... and the spirit was UNREAL in the church when we were just there by ourselves. But when they got there-- because __ did end up coming with her kids!!! They walked into the church and you could just tell they felt the Spirit, too!! :) We talked and walked around.. showed them the different rooms and talked about some of the different paintings in the halls. The baptismal font was really powerful.
And then we went into the chapel. We told them they could just sit and ponder and try and feel God giving them their answer if this is where they need to be.. so they sat down, but ___'s baby kept crying and being kinda distracting. We were just sitting there, and I just kept being prompted to go and play the piano.. I really didn't want to haha...only because I am really rusty... but I did it. and wow.. it completely changed the feel of the room. The baby fell asleep and it made the room fill with the Spirit of the Lord.. (even though I wasn't playing super good). We went back into the hallway after like 10 mins in the chapel, then ___ said that she really enjoyed that.. she started crying and said that she really felt the Spirit when I started playing the piano.. (Thank you mom for making me do piano for those 5 years.. now is when I regret quitting). But after that lesson with them, we knew we needed to have another lesson this week if at all possible because we needed to know what they have been thinking.. we have literally had THE BEST lessons I have ever had with those two women.
The spirit is so tangible every time.. how are they not committed to baptism still? So we were able to see them again Friday (my birthday). We just talked for the first while.. and they shared about how they have all the sudden kinda realized that they have changed a lot since we started meeting with them, and they know that only good things come from God, and everything we have taught them has been good..
We brought up the Book of Mormon and they said they get it.. at first they had felt like they couldn't accept more scripture than the Bible, but now they see how really they just work together!!!!! :) They are going to read and pray about the BOM this week and next week I can feel it.. they are going to have a baptismal date :) please pray for them and put their names on the temple rolls if you can! They are so close, they just need help being able to get to church because of complications with work. :)
Okay. next BEST NEWS EVER. We went and taught ___ (__'s daughter, the lady who we found that was away from the church for so long) for the first time on Tuesday. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and literally best moment ever.. we explained baptism and how it makes us perfectly clean of our sins and the daughter said "AWH, I WANNA DO THAT!!!!" So we left her that night with the homework to pray and decide about what day she wants/God wants her to be baptized. WE had set the goal earlier that week of November 29th, but we didn't want her to feel rushed if she wasn't ready. We want her to have a good testimony before being baptized. So we went back last night and had a lesson with her. She said "I did my homework!" we said okay yay! She said "the 29th!" and we about jumped up for joy hahahaha. :D that is true inspiration right there. We hadn't even said a date to her!!!! She is super prepared.. she is honestly just such a smart little girl and so ready to learn everything! WOOOHOOOO! we are so excited for her :))
It's especially exciting because yesterday was also the young women's program (its like the sacrament primary program where they sing and then some of them gave talks about personal progress and stuff.. it was neat!) and ___ (the mom) had a moment where she really realized why it is so great and so important for her daughter to get to now grow up in primary and young women's :)) literally.. they have an amazing future ahead of them. Such a miracle that we were able to find them. The Lord is so good. He really does answer prayers! And he really loves his children who are lost, wondering in the wilderness. We are so blessed to be able to help them back home.
Okay, so my birthday was just so much fun! We went to serve at the food bank! And then ____ (the new convert teenage girl we love) gave me my present :) She is so sweet!! Then we ate a ton of deliciousness at the ___'s.. (flan, cake, chicken, Dominican rice, fried yuca root, quiche) and then __ and ___'s house...they remembered it was my birthday, too some how!! :) They got me a cake! :)) and then went to dinner.. ate enchiladas haha and then went to ___'s and she made me banana pudding. So needless to say I was absolutely STUFFED haha! so great though. I felt so loved! :)
Well.. I am loving every day out here. Honestly.. It is truly the best year of my life up to this point. I am SO happy I came on a mission. So SO SO happy :) I have changed so much.
love you all so so so so much. have a great day :)
-Hermana Weller
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Happy, bright, beautiful servants of the Lord
Raini is looking so happy!! This was one of her most recent pics!
Me, at my favorite place, the Holy Temple of the Lord
FELIZ CUMPLEANOS to Hermana Weller!
Help Raini celebrate her 20th birthday in the mission field! Send a package, a birthday card, or just an email! She would LOVE it, I'm sure!
natalie.weller@myldsmail.net
Here's her latest email:
Hola everyone! :)
Such a great week.. honestly after last week being a bit harder with not having many lessons and not seeing a ton of people, it was so great to see miracles this week!!!
Okay so you know last week how i told you that we found that lady, ___- the one who just moved into the ward and has a 9 year old daughter? well, she is absolutely amazing... just wow. She wants to just completely change her life around, and she knows exactly how she is going to do it. She really doesn't need any strengthening with the gospel principles because she knows it all. She just needed help getting to the church, and they came yesterday! It was so cute because they came like 10 mins early.. She was so excited to come back. and her daughter had so many questions about things that Aida told us exactly what we have been thinking. she wants us to teach her! and get her to the point of baptism!! WHOOO! And for her first time in primary she LOVED it. they are just the best.. seriously. gah! I love them so much and we have only known them a week. They are just so great, the Lord has something great in store for them.. He has been working so hard for her for the past year or so. He wants her back on His side SO much. yay!
We had another incredible lesson this past week with ___ and ___.. I cant even handle how prepared and elect they are! They are seeking the truth so so so badly.. yet they haven't been reading the BOM. so, we started with watching the Bible video of Christs baptism. and it was super powerful and then we talked about the key things about Christs baptism.. 1. immersion and 2. proper authority. It was kinda funny because ___ was like well.. I don't really know why the Catholic church changed those things if that is how Christ was baptized I don't know why they decided to change it... so then we read out of the BOM in 3 nephi 11 when He teaches about authority and immersion and then in Romans 6 the symbolism of immersion. It was really great. But to really punch in the point of the importance of the BOM as well as EVERYTHING else we have taught them.. we read a scripture that I recently found since I recently started the BOM over again. 1 Nefi 13:40-- "These last records, which thou hast seen among theGentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain andprecious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lambof God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot besaved."
so.. basically. it is saying the PLAIN and PRECIOUS truths and details of the gospel were taken out of the Bible.. because of the errors of men with out the power of the priesthood and everything during the apostasy.. BUT because we have the BOM those truths have been restored. and it is amazing. and so we were finally able I think to help them see the true reason we have the BOM and why we want them to read it so badly. Daisy, (the 16 year old who just got baptized a year ago and is absolutely AMAZING) she was with us and she was able to bare an amazing testimony and personal experience with everything we taught.. in talking about baptism/catholic church/seeking the truth.. everything and they felt it so much. We are going to see them again tomorrow, hopefully they have received their answer this time. :) please pray for them!!
After that lesson and now that it has become just such firm knowledge of the truthfulness of the BOM to me personally we have been sharing that with all of our active members too. We have been playing this really fun game where it is like "telephone" but you write a sentence and then draw a picture and then you keep repeating that cycle.. and it gets changed each time, and sometimes it is REALLY funny because i cant draw... lol. But really, at any moment in our personal lives we might have an apostasy.. there are times where we just feel further away from the spirit.. we might have doubts.. whatever it might be!! BUT just like the world, when it was in that time of darkness and confusion.. we can have individual restorations.. and through the same way that the plain and precious truths of the gospel were restored to the earth is how they can be restored to just personally.. THE BOOK OF MORMON!
I love that book so much. I know it is so so so true. I hope you all feel that as well.
Another quick story! we had a picnic ward activity on Saturday! and we had tried to see a less-active youth, ___, the other day and she wasn't there.. but we called her and invited her to come to the picnic.. we didn't really think she was going to come.. but we were pleasantly surprised when she showed up!!!! it was so great! :) she told us she really likes us.. she didn't really feel it so much with the other sisters I guess. so that's good! and then we hung out with her with some of the other girls her age the whole time there. We played some soccer and squirrel ball with the little girls since the elders were there and we cant play sports together.. and it was actually really really fun! Then after the picnic we went and had a lesson with ___ at her house and shared the talk by Elder Uchtdorf "Your Happily Ever After" and talked about the plan of salvation. she had a bajillion questions so it was good to talk to her.. she is the only member of her family so it is hard with all the other things she is told and she hears.. but then by the end we got to the root of why she doesn't come to church and probably why her family stopped progressing and didn't get baptized.. she told us she doesn't believe in the BOM.
ITS ALL ABOUT THE BOM PEOPLE! if you know it is true.. everything else just falls into place.
but anyways.. she came to church yesterday too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was a miracle. gah!!! it was so good.
well. i also really love my companion. I dont ever want to have to leave this area and her!! we just get along SO well. it is so chill and NEVER any kind of contention it is the best. we are putting together a powder puff football turkey bowl game lol because we just we want to play sports too. so its gonna happen. (shout out to dad! we are trying to use all of our talents to do our work!! haha)
But ...my comp (new trainee) told me yesterday that she has never been so grateful for someone other than her family as much as she is grateful for me... wow.. I couldn't believe that she said that! it was very humbling. I am so grateful the Lord gave me another chance to train and that I was actually prepared for it this time.. I love being a missionary. I don't ever want to not be haha..
well. that is all for this week! :) I love you all so much. Thanks for the birthday wishes... I really can't believe I am 20. SO WEIRD. I am going to gain like 20 pounds my b-day this year because everyone and their mom invited us over to "celebrate" aka: EAT really really good food. hahahaha
Thanks again for everything all you do for me. It means a ton.
love,
Hermana Weller
New Comp (trainee) Pics
this was the extent of our "disguise" for Halloween! haha!
My fresh new "baby", straight the the CCM (MTC, in Mexico)
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
November in Raleigh
November 3, 2014
This was a good week! It was hard!! But it was good. We have really been relying on the Lord EVERY single day to know where He wants us to go, and what we need to be doing.
Okay- couple of things first. Do you remember _____ ?? The investigator we had in Wallace (my second time there) She is 16.. Well.... she messaged me on facebook the other day and told me- SHES GETTING BAPTIZED THE DAY AFTER OUR BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she has the same birthday as me (i didnt realize that) and she is excited to get baptized on the 15th :) this was the message she sent me : "I love you too Sister Weller and I know I can always come to you if I ever need to talk to someone... Btw I'm getting baptized November 15. A day after my birthday." Man, I was overly excited.. I almost started crying!! haha. Fruits of my labors are coming forth.. It was so good to see. :) Especially yesterday, it just gave me the hope and joy i needed in that moment!
So, we had interviews again with President Bernhisel this week and it was good. I just love the Bernhisels so much. They are so great :) Sister Bernhisel shared some personal experiences she has had on her mission with me as we talked when i was waiting for my comp to be done, so that was kinda neat.
THEN, started like.. the BEST DAY EVER. We went to try and see some one we had set up an appointment with. They weren't home, so we decided to knock some doors right around her.. We walked up to one of the buildings and knocked a door and we thought the lady spoke English because she said "Hi" when she opened the door, and then welcomed us right in. But we then realized she spoke Spanish.. so that was really great! She told us that she was kind of sad that day and then when she saw Sister Swalberg's (my comp's) blonde hair through the window when we walked by, she knew that she needed to talk to us.. and then when we knocked on her door first.. she said she knew that God had sent us! :) She then told us she used to have a Book of Mormon, and she talked with elders in her country (Honduras) in the past before she came here to the US. So that was really neat.. We got to share Mosiah 24 with her.. the spirit was super strong.. she was crying.. and it was just really good. We even got to bring up baptism with her! We are excited to go back and see her soon. The Lord truly lead us to her in her moment of need. and answered our prayers to be guided to her. We were on cloud nine after that lesson! haha
Then, we went and had a lesson with ____ and ____. Before even starting our lesson, Rosa told us she had figured out a way to leave work early Sunday and be able to come to church!!! We were so excited. We watched "Finding Faith in Christ" with them.. and I cant even describe to you how strong the spirit was. Literally you could like feel it just FILLING the room. There were definitely angels there with us. That was THE best lesson I have ever had. After the movie we read the account in the Book of Mormon of Christ appearing to the people in 3 Nephi 11 and then discussed the feelings of the spirit and how they were feeling at that moment. Then (like you suggested dad!!) we got down and knelt together with them for them to receive their answer of whether or not they need to be baptized. After the prayer, ___ was smiling.. you could tell they felt so good! they were filled with the joy of the spirit! and then she was able to tell us really what was holding her back from knowing is just the fact that they already were baptized as kids.. So we hit really hard the connection between reading and gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and the authority to perform ordinances. So she said "We HAVE to know (again). So she committed to start from the beginning of the Book of Mormon and really to figure out if it is true. :) We are still so excited for her!! she is coming around.. she knows. :)
THEN we went to the trunk or treat activity and a member had picked up the kids of our invetigating family, ___ and ___, and brought them to the activity!! It was so great :) it was a fun activity.. we got to help ___ find some little friends. and we were just so over joyed at the help of the members and the involvement the kids were getting.
Unfortunately when we had a lesson with them again this week, it just again was very ineffective. They are not progressing and it makes me so sad! they have hit a serious road block and for whatever reason have lost that drive and desire to follow Christ. I prayed a lot about it and pondered a lot about what we need to do with them because I don't want to just give up on them but.. I got the impression that we have done what we needed to. We came into their lives, and helped them build their faith in Jesus Christ SIGNIFICANTLY.. but that is all they were prepared for at this moment.. that's all they can handle right now. so I am sad they aren't going to keep progressing, but I feel like we did do what was needed of us.
Halloween.. haha well. it was a good day :) we were tracting around a neighborhood that day and then got kinda lost.. haha but by some miracle we were able to find our way back to our car!! So after that happened we were like OKAY. what does the Lord really want us to do. We just got lost for a while and didn't really find anyone.. WHAT do we need to do?? so we prayed and then we both got the impression to go and see this lady, ___, who we had taught once a week earlier. It is really neat and a miracle how we found them, a member in the ward just moved into that apt complex and her daughter texted us the address.. but it was the wrong address.. but these people are so great. so prepared!!! so we went over there and had an amazing lesson with her!! she read the chapter we had left her the time before!! and she just understood everything we taught. we invited her to be baptized and she said yes. then her husband walked in the house.. (moment was kinda ruined to invite to a date unfortunately) but then he was like I want to know everything!!!! haha so we gave him the pamphlet and they are gonna read and pray. gah! it was so good!! :) #miracles!!!
okay haha then, Saturday all of our plans fell through... and it was like 45-50 degrees and super windy and raining.. haha it was tough. we luckily had a dinner apt that evening and we were able to have a good lesson with that family.
okay last miracle!! wow sorry this is such a long email!!!
so yesterday our bishop gave us a list of 2 people that just apparently moved into the ward and he didn't know who they were. so he asked us to go and see them this week! a couple of our plans fell through yesterday after church so we decided to go and see one of the ladies on the list! We showed up and she opened the door and was like "OH! yay! come in!" hahaha like she was expecting us to come!! it was so funny. she just moved into our ward.. really long and amazing story of how her records got sent to us, but basically she has been inactive for the last 5 years (was baptized just 6 years ago) and she has serious desires to come back. She basically wants to change completely. and she has a 9 year old daughter. :D it was amazing. SUCH a miracle.
I love this work!! even though it is really hard some days... sometimes I just want to cry because no one lets us in.. and I know it is true.. and I know that God loves us all so much...He wants His children to hear our message. He is our LOVING Heavenly Father. He knows us by name :) this is His work. and I love being able to be His instrument.
have a great week!!! i love you so much!
-Hermana Weller :)
Oct. 27, 2014 I'M A MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!
1st week with my brand new missionary, fresh from the MTC:
Well this week has just FLOWN by, let me tell you! haha :) It has been so so good though.
I am so excited to tell you all about my new companion- (my baby haha)
Her name is Hermana Sarah Swalberg, she is from Utah (a little town called Green River), she is 21, she went to SUU for the past 3 years on scholarship for track and field (javeline), and she is the best!!!! Honestly, time and time again I just KNOW that God hears our individual prayers and helps us out so much. I had been praying for the couple of weeks before transfers that I would just LOVE my new companion with everything I possibly could, no matter what.. And when I was sitting in the trainers meeting before our trainees came into the room I was so excited. ( I had been kinda freaking out before hand haha) and then when they started filing in, she came over and I was just able to give her a BIG hug and I could feel it, Heavenly Father totally helped me just love her, and feel like she was my best friend for years. Turns out too that its really not gonna be hard for us to get along at all!! haha, she is very "chill" and go with the flow like I am, but since she is an athlete she has good work ethic. She is ready to go out and do whatever it takes to have success :) it is seriously the best. She is also great because she has the best "go and do" attitude. She doesn't question any of the mission rules we have!! she just wanted to know what they were and then do them. So needless to say.. its been a great week and I am super grateful for her :) the Lord is so good to me. She came from the Mexico MTC- but she is still very new at speaking Spanish, so its been fun to help her learn some already.. She gets better every day. and the members are so accepting its so nice :)
So we jumped right into work Tuesday after the transfer meeting. We literally went home and took in the luggage and then went over to ___ and ___'s house for a lesson! I think it was a bit overwhelming for her, but it was good :) Unfortunately __ and __ hadn't felt they still have received their answer still.. They expressed to us that they feel like their relationship with God hasn't developed enough.. they don't think they are on the level yet with God to be able to receive an answer :/ so we are helping them understand how to improve that relationship and recognize their answers more.. it is a process BUT they will get there eventually I think :) It is hard for them to think of changing everything they have ever known and what the "traditions of their fathers" are too.
___ and ___ are doing alright.. we shared with them the other day the Wise man and the Foolish man story from the Bible: ¶Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thyname done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 ¶Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upona rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was foundedupon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his houseupon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall ofit.
and it was cute because we had their kids, __ and ___ act out the story as we read it.. and at the end it was really neat because Will put it all together with very little prompting that Christ is truly that rock that we have to build our foundation on. They said they would come to church Sunday, but they didn't again. It is really hard. i just feel very confused and stuck with what to do with them because I know that ___, the husband, KNOWS it is true!! and I don't want to just give up on them.. I love them a lot. But it is frustrating and difficult to know where to go with teaching them, so I think we are going to just continue teaching them once a week, but lay off a little bit until maybe they are more ready.
Something this week that we have been sharing with basically all of our active members is a story from Preach My Gospel in chapter 9 and I want to share it with you too:
Read the following letter from a missionary to her parents: “I taught a wonderful lady on the bus. We were coming back from district meeting, and it was the only empty seat so I sat down and started to look at my mail. Of course, the first one to be read was yours, with the baby pictures of Evan. I noticed that the eyes next to me were also looking at the pictures, and I looked over to meet eyes with an older woman. She gave me a half smile and looked out the window. She then closed her eyes like she was going to sleep. I prayed, ‘Heavenly Father, I want to talk to her. Please help me.’ A minute later she opened her eyes and sat up straight, and I quickly said, ‘Don’t you think he is cute?’ I showed her the pictures of baby Evan and started talking about families with her. I asked her about her kids, and she got teary-eyed and told me a story about how her daughter hates her and wants nothing to do with her. She cried and I cried with her. I told her about the plan of salvation and how Heavenly Father knows her and knows what she is going through. I cried and told her that I know that her daughter loves her because I am a daughter of a mother that loves me, and I love her. I explained that sometimes people make bad decisions and that her daughter has agency. She told me, smiling, ‘I bet your mother really misses you, and she will not let you go when she sees you again.’ She thanked me for talking with her and gave me her address so that we can share the gospel with her. As she was getting off the bus, she said, ‘I got on the wrong bus, but I didn’t get off. No one sat by me until you came … and look what happened.’ God’s plan is perfect!”
This is something that each and everyone of you all can do too. Every morning-- pray with "REAL INTENT and FAITH in Christ" for the opportunity to serve someone.. to be able to have a short conversation with someone where you are able to bring up the church/the gospel.. something small but specific. And i KNOW it will come :) do it everyday.. every morning and then SEEK that oportunity that God puts in your path.. ask for the spiritual sensitivity to RECOGNIZE it. It will happen :) I love you all so much!!!!!!
Thank you for everything you do for me.. and all the love I feel each week when i get online and have a full inbox of emails. I have been thinking a lot lately about just how far I have come in this past almost 1 year out here on my mission.. I am so happy I decided to come. I am so grateful for the many people I have met, and the effects they have had on me :) But I am especially grateful for (you) my parents (i dont know if anyone else really reads these emails) and helping me gain my own testimony growing up, and keeping me on the right path. I love you so much, I miss you so incredibly much. I am so so so so so excited to be able to skype in about 2 months.. geesh.
as for birthday requests... i dont really need more scarves haha I have quite a few. maybe one or two more really warm ones would be good... and then i REALLY need a yellow(more golden) and red cardigan.. LONG SLEEVED THOUGH PLEASE. :) other than that.. nothing that is going to make me fatter.. I am finally feeling like I have gotten back to normal lol.
Thank you again so much for everything. Pray every day this week for that opportunity to be an instrument in the Lords hands!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Hermana Weller :)
This was a good week! It was hard!! But it was good. We have really been relying on the Lord EVERY single day to know where He wants us to go, and what we need to be doing.
Okay- couple of things first. Do you remember _____ ?? The investigator we had in Wallace (my second time there) She is 16.. Well.... she messaged me on facebook the other day and told me- SHES GETTING BAPTIZED THE DAY AFTER OUR BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she has the same birthday as me (i didnt realize that) and she is excited to get baptized on the 15th :) this was the message she sent me : "I love you too Sister Weller and I know I can always come to you if I ever need to talk to someone... Btw I'm getting baptized November 15. A day after my birthday." Man, I was overly excited.. I almost started crying!! haha. Fruits of my labors are coming forth.. It was so good to see. :) Especially yesterday, it just gave me the hope and joy i needed in that moment!
So, we had interviews again with President Bernhisel this week and it was good. I just love the Bernhisels so much. They are so great :) Sister Bernhisel shared some personal experiences she has had on her mission with me as we talked when i was waiting for my comp to be done, so that was kinda neat.
THEN, started like.. the BEST DAY EVER. We went to try and see some one we had set up an appointment with. They weren't home, so we decided to knock some doors right around her.. We walked up to one of the buildings and knocked a door and we thought the lady spoke English because she said "Hi" when she opened the door, and then welcomed us right in. But we then realized she spoke Spanish.. so that was really great! She told us that she was kind of sad that day and then when she saw Sister Swalberg's (my comp's) blonde hair through the window when we walked by, she knew that she needed to talk to us.. and then when we knocked on her door first.. she said she knew that God had sent us! :) She then told us she used to have a Book of Mormon, and she talked with elders in her country (Honduras) in the past before she came here to the US. So that was really neat.. We got to share Mosiah 24 with her.. the spirit was super strong.. she was crying.. and it was just really good. We even got to bring up baptism with her! We are excited to go back and see her soon. The Lord truly lead us to her in her moment of need. and answered our prayers to be guided to her. We were on cloud nine after that lesson! haha
Then, we went and had a lesson with ____ and ____. Before even starting our lesson, Rosa told us she had figured out a way to leave work early Sunday and be able to come to church!!! We were so excited. We watched "Finding Faith in Christ" with them.. and I cant even describe to you how strong the spirit was. Literally you could like feel it just FILLING the room. There were definitely angels there with us. That was THE best lesson I have ever had. After the movie we read the account in the Book of Mormon of Christ appearing to the people in 3 Nephi 11 and then discussed the feelings of the spirit and how they were feeling at that moment. Then (like you suggested dad!!) we got down and knelt together with them for them to receive their answer of whether or not they need to be baptized. After the prayer, ___ was smiling.. you could tell they felt so good! they were filled with the joy of the spirit! and then she was able to tell us really what was holding her back from knowing is just the fact that they already were baptized as kids.. So we hit really hard the connection between reading and gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and the authority to perform ordinances. So she said "We HAVE to know (again). So she committed to start from the beginning of the Book of Mormon and really to figure out if it is true. :) We are still so excited for her!! she is coming around.. she knows. :)
THEN we went to the trunk or treat activity and a member had picked up the kids of our invetigating family, ___ and ___, and brought them to the activity!! It was so great :) it was a fun activity.. we got to help ___ find some little friends. and we were just so over joyed at the help of the members and the involvement the kids were getting.
Unfortunately when we had a lesson with them again this week, it just again was very ineffective. They are not progressing and it makes me so sad! they have hit a serious road block and for whatever reason have lost that drive and desire to follow Christ. I prayed a lot about it and pondered a lot about what we need to do with them because I don't want to just give up on them but.. I got the impression that we have done what we needed to. We came into their lives, and helped them build their faith in Jesus Christ SIGNIFICANTLY.. but that is all they were prepared for at this moment.. that's all they can handle right now. so I am sad they aren't going to keep progressing, but I feel like we did do what was needed of us.
Halloween.. haha well. it was a good day :) we were tracting around a neighborhood that day and then got kinda lost.. haha but by some miracle we were able to find our way back to our car!! So after that happened we were like OKAY. what does the Lord really want us to do. We just got lost for a while and didn't really find anyone.. WHAT do we need to do?? so we prayed and then we both got the impression to go and see this lady, ___, who we had taught once a week earlier. It is really neat and a miracle how we found them, a member in the ward just moved into that apt complex and her daughter texted us the address.. but it was the wrong address.. but these people are so great. so prepared!!! so we went over there and had an amazing lesson with her!! she read the chapter we had left her the time before!! and she just understood everything we taught. we invited her to be baptized and she said yes. then her husband walked in the house.. (moment was kinda ruined to invite to a date unfortunately) but then he was like I want to know everything!!!! haha so we gave him the pamphlet and they are gonna read and pray. gah! it was so good!! :) #miracles!!!
okay haha then, Saturday all of our plans fell through... and it was like 45-50 degrees and super windy and raining.. haha it was tough. we luckily had a dinner apt that evening and we were able to have a good lesson with that family.
okay last miracle!! wow sorry this is such a long email!!!
so yesterday our bishop gave us a list of 2 people that just apparently moved into the ward and he didn't know who they were. so he asked us to go and see them this week! a couple of our plans fell through yesterday after church so we decided to go and see one of the ladies on the list! We showed up and she opened the door and was like "OH! yay! come in!" hahaha like she was expecting us to come!! it was so funny. she just moved into our ward.. really long and amazing story of how her records got sent to us, but basically she has been inactive for the last 5 years (was baptized just 6 years ago) and she has serious desires to come back. She basically wants to change completely. and she has a 9 year old daughter. :D it was amazing. SUCH a miracle.
I love this work!! even though it is really hard some days... sometimes I just want to cry because no one lets us in.. and I know it is true.. and I know that God loves us all so much...He wants His children to hear our message. He is our LOVING Heavenly Father. He knows us by name :) this is His work. and I love being able to be His instrument.
have a great week!!! i love you so much!
-Hermana Weller :)
Oct. 27, 2014 I'M A MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!
1st week with my brand new missionary, fresh from the MTC:
Well this week has just FLOWN by, let me tell you! haha :) It has been so so good though.
I am so excited to tell you all about my new companion- (my baby haha)
Her name is Hermana Sarah Swalberg, she is from Utah (a little town called Green River), she is 21, she went to SUU for the past 3 years on scholarship for track and field (javeline), and she is the best!!!! Honestly, time and time again I just KNOW that God hears our individual prayers and helps us out so much. I had been praying for the couple of weeks before transfers that I would just LOVE my new companion with everything I possibly could, no matter what.. And when I was sitting in the trainers meeting before our trainees came into the room I was so excited. ( I had been kinda freaking out before hand haha) and then when they started filing in, she came over and I was just able to give her a BIG hug and I could feel it, Heavenly Father totally helped me just love her, and feel like she was my best friend for years. Turns out too that its really not gonna be hard for us to get along at all!! haha, she is very "chill" and go with the flow like I am, but since she is an athlete she has good work ethic. She is ready to go out and do whatever it takes to have success :) it is seriously the best. She is also great because she has the best "go and do" attitude. She doesn't question any of the mission rules we have!! she just wanted to know what they were and then do them. So needless to say.. its been a great week and I am super grateful for her :) the Lord is so good to me. She came from the Mexico MTC- but she is still very new at speaking Spanish, so its been fun to help her learn some already.. She gets better every day. and the members are so accepting its so nice :)
So we jumped right into work Tuesday after the transfer meeting. We literally went home and took in the luggage and then went over to ___ and ___'s house for a lesson! I think it was a bit overwhelming for her, but it was good :) Unfortunately __ and __ hadn't felt they still have received their answer still.. They expressed to us that they feel like their relationship with God hasn't developed enough.. they don't think they are on the level yet with God to be able to receive an answer :/ so we are helping them understand how to improve that relationship and recognize their answers more.. it is a process BUT they will get there eventually I think :) It is hard for them to think of changing everything they have ever known and what the "traditions of their fathers" are too.
___ and ___ are doing alright.. we shared with them the other day the Wise man and the Foolish man story from the Bible: ¶Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thyname done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 ¶Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upona rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was foundedupon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his houseupon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall ofit.
and it was cute because we had their kids, __ and ___ act out the story as we read it.. and at the end it was really neat because Will put it all together with very little prompting that Christ is truly that rock that we have to build our foundation on. They said they would come to church Sunday, but they didn't again. It is really hard. i just feel very confused and stuck with what to do with them because I know that ___, the husband, KNOWS it is true!! and I don't want to just give up on them.. I love them a lot. But it is frustrating and difficult to know where to go with teaching them, so I think we are going to just continue teaching them once a week, but lay off a little bit until maybe they are more ready.
Something this week that we have been sharing with basically all of our active members is a story from Preach My Gospel in chapter 9 and I want to share it with you too:
Read the following letter from a missionary to her parents: “I taught a wonderful lady on the bus. We were coming back from district meeting, and it was the only empty seat so I sat down and started to look at my mail. Of course, the first one to be read was yours, with the baby pictures of Evan. I noticed that the eyes next to me were also looking at the pictures, and I looked over to meet eyes with an older woman. She gave me a half smile and looked out the window. She then closed her eyes like she was going to sleep. I prayed, ‘Heavenly Father, I want to talk to her. Please help me.’ A minute later she opened her eyes and sat up straight, and I quickly said, ‘Don’t you think he is cute?’ I showed her the pictures of baby Evan and started talking about families with her. I asked her about her kids, and she got teary-eyed and told me a story about how her daughter hates her and wants nothing to do with her. She cried and I cried with her. I told her about the plan of salvation and how Heavenly Father knows her and knows what she is going through. I cried and told her that I know that her daughter loves her because I am a daughter of a mother that loves me, and I love her. I explained that sometimes people make bad decisions and that her daughter has agency. She told me, smiling, ‘I bet your mother really misses you, and she will not let you go when she sees you again.’ She thanked me for talking with her and gave me her address so that we can share the gospel with her. As she was getting off the bus, she said, ‘I got on the wrong bus, but I didn’t get off. No one sat by me until you came … and look what happened.’ God’s plan is perfect!”
This is something that each and everyone of you all can do too. Every morning-- pray with "REAL INTENT and FAITH in Christ" for the opportunity to serve someone.. to be able to have a short conversation with someone where you are able to bring up the church/the gospel.. something small but specific. And i KNOW it will come :) do it everyday.. every morning and then SEEK that oportunity that God puts in your path.. ask for the spiritual sensitivity to RECOGNIZE it. It will happen :) I love you all so much!!!!!!
Thank you for everything you do for me.. and all the love I feel each week when i get online and have a full inbox of emails. I have been thinking a lot lately about just how far I have come in this past almost 1 year out here on my mission.. I am so happy I decided to come. I am so grateful for the many people I have met, and the effects they have had on me :) But I am especially grateful for (you) my parents (i dont know if anyone else really reads these emails) and helping me gain my own testimony growing up, and keeping me on the right path. I love you so much, I miss you so incredibly much. I am so so so so so excited to be able to skype in about 2 months.. geesh.
as for birthday requests... i dont really need more scarves haha I have quite a few. maybe one or two more really warm ones would be good... and then i REALLY need a yellow(more golden) and red cardigan.. LONG SLEEVED THOUGH PLEASE. :) other than that.. nothing that is going to make me fatter.. I am finally feeling like I have gotten back to normal lol.
Thank you again so much for everything. Pray every day this week for that opportunity to be an instrument in the Lords hands!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Hermana Weller :)
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