Sunday, March 1, 2015

A Letter from Elder Weaver and his Presidente...

This last week we heard very briefly from Connor's mission President and then, even better, from Connor himself! He wrote it by hand and it was difficult for us to read and so we tried our best to translate it and type it out for you. We should hear from him again early this week to see how it's all going. We also hope that he will have had the opportunity to have read e-mails that we have sent him and respond.

Dear Family & Friends,

Holy Cow!  What a week!  It was definitely an eventful last week in the CCM.  I can’t wait to tell you all about it, but first things first!  I’ll write Preston more about this next week, but I just want to publicly brag about him real quick. 
Preston- YOU ARE A STUD!!  I cannot even explain to you how pumped I was for you when I was reading about how you made it to State in wrestling!  I was bragging about you all week to everyone in the CCM.  Proud does not even begin to describe how happy I am for you.  So, just so everyone knows…MY BROTHER is going to wrestle for Penn State and you better not mess with him cuz he’ll beat the liven tar out of ya!  Oh, and he can do a back flip on flat ground too.  Man I am just so proud and excited for you!  I wish I could have been there to see you.  I wish I could just know how you did!  But I have to wait another week to find out. 
Okay, now that my brag fest is over, I’ll tell you about my week or at least attempt to try and tell you.  Same-ol’, same-ol’ for most of the week.  However, we did baptize our fake investigators here at the CCM and learned more Spanish.  But on Thursday (2/19) yes, mom’s birthday, we went contacting!  Yep!  Just Elder Leavitt and I for an hour and a half out in a random park here in Santiago.  The same Elder Leavitt who has a hard time not pronouncing his “H’s” sometimes, and only conjugates correctly every 10 tries!  Then, there’s me…who’s not much better! Ha! Ha!  Was I nervous? Uh, yeah!  But our goal was to place 3 Books of Mormon and we ended up placing 2 and one pamphlet on the Restoration.  So, we get to the park with Elder Conjer (Colorado Guy) and Elder Mason.  We stood there just looking at the park for 20 seconds and then a ball came flying in from these kids playing soccer in the park.  Then BOOM! Elder Conjer and Elder Mason were on the move.  Elder Mason plays soccer so he just juggled the ball for a little bit and then kicked it back to them.  Then they went to talk to the kids about something that is even better than Futhol…El Evangelio de Jesuecristo (The Gospel of Jesus Christ)!  Then it all became real for Elder Leavitt and I.  We said a quiet prayer together and then went contacting.  The park was packed and it was a beautiful Thursday night in Santiago.  I could tell you all about our contacts, but I just don’t have time.  Just know that I loved it!  We got denied, we had difficulties with Spanish, but we did place 2 Books of Mormon and a pamphlet!  Not bad for having only 5 weeks in the CCM.  I did most of the talking with our contacts, but that was fine.  The people here are so kind.  The best lady we talked to was an older woman who even admitted she was Catholic, but that she never attended church or mass.  She talked a lot about her family and we really connected in how we view Christ and God.  One man was having a rough day, and it was really amazing seeing how my simple testimony could lift his spirits.  I just flat out love my mission and love the Chilenos.  The next day was even better too because I got to go to Santiago Sur and my companion was Elder Vidoso from Peru.  He did not speak any English and it was just awesome!  I hope my trainer is native, I really do! 
I’m at my mission home now; my mission President is just awesome and amazing!  I love him and his wife already!  They speak a lot of Portuguese to us too.  I have a feeling that I might get a little taste of Portuguese on my mission too.  Our last night in the CCM was super spiritual, and I definitely felt the spirit as I watched the Joseph Smith Story in Spanish.  So, now it’s all becoming real.  Tomorrow I’ll be teaching and talking to real people, with a new companion!  I know this gospel is true, I know I am supposed to be here in Chile!  I love my Savior, I love the experiences that I’ve already been given, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now, than in Santiago, Chile serving the Lord! 
Funny things for the week:  I’ve slept walked 3 times in the CCM.  The first was when I screamed, “Donde esta mi Companero? (Where is my companion?)”  Then, I was doing sit-ups in the middle of the night and telling my companion that I needed to workout because I’m getting fat, and then finally the last one was kind of freaky.  I got up and just stared at Elder Leavitt gorilla style for 2 or 3 minutes.  He was scared out of his mind, and then I just got into bed and starting punching the air.  Elder Jacobson said that my sleep walking and talking is stress induced.  Oh, and listening to our roommates sing “The Real Slim Shady” by Eminem was hilarious.  Elder Velasco is from Argentina and Elder Rutty is from Peru.  I seriously laughed so hard!  Oh and I’m learning Chilean, not Spanish.  Everyone needs to know that I am Chileno proud!  Universidad de Chile is my equipo (soccer team)! 
Anyways, the mission is very exciting.  No matter how hard I try to share it with you guys you will never be able to understand and feel how much I am feeling right now.  Which is great in a way because, my experiences are unique to me!  Thank you for all of your e-mails!  I’ll reply next week once I get access to a computer. 

Alma 26:27…bear your trials with patients…it gets better!
(Thanks mom and dad for 19 years of this advice!)

Los amo, Chau!
-Elder Weaver


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