What it Means To Be a Missionary

Hola hola queridos familiares y amigos,

Ojala que toda estén bien con todos. Esta semana fue muy buena, y ayer encontramos muchos nuevos investigadores. Ahora, tengo un gran testimonio del poder del ayuno. Yo ayuné esta semana pasada para encontrar muchos nuevos y miren, encontramos once nuevos investigadores esta semana. Estoy muy animado. Cuando trabajemos duros, Dios siempre nos bendecirá. 

So, this week was really good as far as finding new investigators. We didn't quite have the amount of people I wanted attending sacrament this week, but that's alright. Elder Culbertson got really sick this week too.

One thing I realized this week though is how happy I really am! I am growing tremendously. One thing that I am learning is that you really can't be happy in the mission if you're not working hard and doing everything ALL THE TIME. Being a missionary is about forgetting yourself completely and focusing all of your efforts on others. That's something I can truly say that I'm developing on the mission, true charity and long suffering. If we focus on ourselves that's when we're miserable. 

I love Alma 60:36 where Captain Moroni is described. Moroni wasn't the man he was to impress anybody. He didn't strive for the glory of men. He strived for the honor of "su país." I want to be like Captain Moroni and just lead and be the very best missionary I can be every moment of every day. That's all that God asks of us, is that we do our best, and when we do our very best... the blessings will follow. 

We went to the temple this week with a recent convert named Ignacio. He's actually probably reading this now if this email is on my blog... SO HEY NACHO! He's an awesome kid and he plans on serving a mission in a few years because he's only 16. We also happened to go to the temple on the opening game of Copa América where CHILE BEAT ECUADOR 2-0. Lemme tell ya, it was absolute mayhem here. Since we were going to the temple too, downtown was PACKED because el partido was in downtown Santiago. The baptisms for the dead were really great, and it was just really awesome to have some peaceful time in the temple with Ignacio. He really felt the spirit too. We had to get back to our pension by 8:30 that night too because the game started at 8:30. The same will apply for every game where Chile plays... we gotta be in the pension. LOVE THE COPA AMERICA THOUGH! Even though I can't watch it, you can rest assured I'm keeping track of the games. Ignacio brought us some of his carne asada that night too, so we ended up having a little party just listening to everyone yell CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE VIVA CHILE all night long while we ate some good food. Pretty fun night. 

That's pretty much it people! I love all ya'll! The mission is super awesome as long as you're working hard! We have a possibility for 9 baptisms in my sector right now! That's pretty insane too because this sector is tiny and the people are super "cuico." 

I'm gettin a little chunky even with my extreme 30 minute workouts every morning, it seems as though I may have to lay off a few things... other wise I'll have to do an extreme 6 months to sexy like Uncle Derek. 

Les amo muchísimo, tengan una buena semana. 

Elder Weaver SANTIAGO OESTE LA MEJOR MISIÓN. 

Finding Out Who I Am

Email from today June 8, 2015...

Dear Family and Friends,

Well another week has gone by in the BEST MISSION ON THE PLANET-- SANTIAGO OESTE! This week was pretty crazy. We literally had meetings out the wazoo this week. 

So, this week we got 7 menos activos (less-actives) into the capilla (chapel)! DID YOU HEAR ME CLEARLY. 7 Menos Activos! Not to mention the 6/9 recent convert ratio! It was a really good testimony meeting too, and I was mostly just happy that my main man Jaime Hector came to Church! This guy is blind and he paints and sings. You should see some of the paintings that he has, they're incredible. He's a really, really great guy and he got baptized about 13 years ago. He's been inactive for 2 years, but he came to church this Sunday! He's really struggling right now because now that we're lighting the spiritual fire back under him he's sad that his family aren't members. They're all atheist actually and they want nothing to do with us... we're going to keep trying to get them involved though. They really appreciate us meeting with Jaime because he's 78 years old, can't walk very well, he's really sick too, and to top it all off he's blind. His main questions have been "if God loves me so much, why do I have basically every affliction known to man right now? Why am I blind?" We've had some great lessons with him though, and I read him D&C 121 where Joseph Smith is in Liberty Jail and wondering where God is. He was really touched, and he came to Church! BOO YA! I sat by him in Church because he was sitting all alone, and he about made me die laughing during sacrament becuase he had so much to say about everything. He didn't feel prepared to take the sacrament, but I basically forced him to. We're going to he working with him so that he receives the Aaronic priesthood. SHOUTOUT TO PAJARITOS BARRIO (Pajaritos Ward) they actually gave him a ride to Church and didn't slack off! It's nice to have members that are willing to help the missionaries get their ivestigators and inactives to church by offering rides!

Other than that, I didn't have any CRAZY experiences this week. Pedro is our prime investigator and he should be baptized the 21st of this month. He is a really, really great guy and really intelligent. He's a lawyer, and he really is just so kind. The problem is that he talks our heads off and he has REALLY, REALLY, REALLY difficult questions. I applied what I said last week though and just went simple with him. He basically was asking how the Book of Mormon was translated and how it came to be and how he's not so sure if The Book of Mormon is really a true document of the people in Ancient America. I finally got him to stop all his jabbering and just said that I can not prove to him that the Book of Mormon is true. I told him that instead of spending all of his time on the internet trying to find out more about the Book of Mormon, maybe he should READ IT and THEN PRAY to get the SPIRITUAL FEELING that the Book of Mormon is true. I said that asking to prove the Book of Mormon to be the word of God is like asking if God exists or if the Bible is true. (Both of which he believes in) and he agreed full heartedly with me and he's going to actually start reading and praying to know if the BOM is true. He basically already thinks our church is true, but he just thinks it's true from a logical standpoint and not from a spiritual. That's the cool thing about our Church though.... it makes sense logically and spiritually. It all just comes down to if you really believe that Jesus established a Church while he was on the Earth. 

We did find a new investigator this week named Robinson. He belongs to La Iglesia Africana. He has dreads and a huge turban that holds all his hair in. He's quite the character, and he talks in this Jamaican accent while he speaks spanish... he's an interesting fella. His Uncles are members of the Church but all inactive. He basically just was wondering why we try to baptize BEFORE people actually FEEL that the church is true and before they actually want to change their lives. I said that I'm not here to just baptize whilly nilly, I'm here to make sure that my investigators actually FEEL the truthfullness of the gospel before they make a huge convenant like baptism. He was really impressed by my testimony and he invited us back to see him this week... he'll be hard, but I think I can get him to change his ways of belief. He thinks Jesus was black and that Adam and Eve were too... so you can imagine that he's kinda hard to teach. 

Other than that, I just feel like I'm really finding out who I am on the mission. I pretty much have to lead every single lesson and I do EVERYTHING. I make the calls, I do the paperwork, I organize EVERYTHING: At times I'm stressed as can be, but I really wouldn't have it any other way. Someone's got to take the bull by the horn. That's what I'm going to do for the rest of my mish. 

Love all ya'll, this gospel is true. This mission is awesome! I literally love my district and my zone. All the AP's are leaving this change and I love them too and it's going to be sad to say bye to them. They picked me up from the CCM after all.... I also had another interview with President this week during one of our Meetings and it went really well. He's a great guy, but his portuguese overbears his spanish and it's rather difficult for all of us to understand him. 

PS We had a carne asada last week for P-Day with Chilean sausage and then we had Mexican food today with some other Elders in our zone because My Comp is in Santiago for a meeting of careers. P DAYS ARE SO AWESOME HERE! 

LOVE,

ELDER WEAVER 

JUST LISTEN TO THE MISSIONARIES

E-mail from June 1st...

Family and Friends, 

Man, it's getting harder and harder to just write in english... I guess that's a good thing. So this week was one of the best weeks of the mission as far as learning and growing, but one of the worst as far as actually having success. 

The first great experience was teaching one of our investigadoras se llama Rosa. Let me first just say that this lady is one of the sweetest old ladies you'd ever meet in your life! SO KIND! The sad thing is that she has cancer and she's going in to have surgery in two weeks. The missionaries have been teaching her for a while. They found her in the end of February, and she immediately knew the Church was true when they taught her for the first time! I got to listen to her story this tuesday and it's pretty amazing. She received the news that she had cancer in February and that day she was looking for guidance from God because she was scared to death. The missionaries were not planning on contacting her street that day but when they passed by her house, they felt prompted to contact it. She answered the door and let them in and now she's in love with the church. Her sister is a member of the church and her brother in law gave her a blessing a few weeks after the doctors told her she had cancer. That priesthood blessing verified her faith in the church because she says she felt something so strongly after that blessing that everything was going to be alright. She said she can't explain the peace she's felt since that blessing and since the missionaries have met with her. SO COOL! We taught her a lesson that night out of 2 Nephi 31 about baptism and enduring to the end. She is a smart cookie and she totally agrees that it's not enough to just join a church and not keep progressing. It was a very spiritual lesson and she committed to come to Stake Conference this Sunday! The bummer is that the morning of stake conference when we passed by to pick her up she was super sick and couldn't come!!! SUPER HUGE BUMMER! She's a great lady though and after her operation she's going to be baptized for sure! 

This week during zone/district meeting was awesome as well! Hermana McNevin represented Colorado well and gave a really strong testimony on how this time is extremely precious that we have as missionaries and that she's learned not to become preoccupied about the amount of lessons she teaches, or who's going to be her next companion or things that really don't matter because she's here to bring happiness to others. She's extremely happy just to have this time where she has the power to change lives. So that was a huge pick me up on my behalf. After district meeting I got to go on divisions with our Zone Leader Elder Martinez(from Arizona) and ELDER HATCH! Elder Hatch is one of the assistents and he's finishing his mission this change. Our zone leaders are a trio so that's why there was three. 

Okay, now let me tell yall about this division. I felt like I was a home! FINALLY I had people that were just as amped as me to get the work done! If anything Elder Hatch outworked me and he totally reminds me of Dad. While we were contacting and literally running from person to person and house to house contacting anybody and everybody he would just look at me and say "WOW Elder Weaver, Como Está?" "Bien Elder Hatch" "WOW Elder todo bien, que bakán, genial, woooooooo!" He's a funny guy and he acts just like Dad whenever I wasn't completely smiling from ear to ear he would just do that over and over. That sector is crazy too because there's a lot of Haitians that live there and they all speak french. Only a few really speak spanish... so contacting is a bit tricky. But, it was interesting and fun! At the end of that night I was totally exhausted and I just wish I could work with the zone leaders and assistens every day.  

Last but not least, we had an amazing Stake Conference yesterday where Hermana and President Barrieros were there too. All the talks were super super awesome, and I learned a lot and got another strong confirmation from the spirit that this is the true church on the earth today. We all need those strong confirmations even after we've gained a testimony! I also realized that I understood 99% of all the talks during the conference... So that's what made it easier to actually feel the spirit. 

So this sector is ridiculously hard. The people here are very very busy. They live in nicer homes and they really don't want anything to do with the missionaries. I have had some very interesting door slams to say the least. I think what gets me down most is that I feel like I'm not smart enough to even communicate everything to everyone. I read in Alma 37:6-8 though where small and simple things confound the wise. Often times people become preoccupied in the BIG HUGE AND SOPHISTICATED THINGS and they never just look for the simple and small things that you need to have a testimony of before moving on to things like why the blacks did't have the priesthood and why we had piligamy. JUST LISTEN TO THE MISSIONARIES AND LOOK FOR THE SPIRIT. Then we can move on to the hard stuff. 

All and all it was a hard, but extremely spiritual week. I love all of you and thanks for the support! CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE VIVA CHILE! Copa America starts in 2 weeks. Man... the contacting here is not going to be fun. 

Elder Weaver 

Summertime In Colorado and Winter Time Here...

E-mail from May 25th...

What is up family and friends? 

This week was great because I'm in a new area and I'm in a ward. The cool thing about changes is that it gives us a chance to improve or change some things that we didn't do well in our last area. Not to say that I didn't give it my all in my last area... there's just always something that you can improve on as a missionary. 

So this area is WAY different from Padre Hurtado. Holy cow is it "quico." This area is very very well off. It's honestly like serving in the United States, but everyone just speaks spanish. This is definitely what you get when you're serving more in the city! Elder Culbertson and I are in a 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom house with 2 floors. Yeah, it's way too big for just the two of us. Our ward has an average of about 190 members show up for sacrament meeting. THAT IS UNREAL BIG! Oh and our shower has water pressure and it's always warm! As far as feeling really comfortable, I'm doing great! The problem is that Elder Culbertson is still rather new to this sector too and his last comp basically lead the sector this last change. So it's like being in a whitewash (when two new missionaries enter a sector). We only had 16 lessons this entire week. We did a ton of contacting! The people are mixed. Some are really nice, some really just don't want anything to do with us, and then most just don't know how to feel about us mormons. It's been interesting to say the least. This is what you get when you're in a quico area, the people aren't humble enough to accept Jesus Christ because they already think they have everything. 

Elder Culbertson is leaving at the end of this change, but he still has a real desire to work hard and finish strong. I LOVE IT! We're EXACTLY obedient as a companionship. As a missionary, we really don't have the normal day to day temptations, so when you don't follow the mission rules to a T... Ya feel horrible. We're working really well together though and Elder Culbertson told me that I'm his favorite comp that he's had in the mission! 

One thing that I kinda like and kinda hate about being in a total gringo companionship is that we both talk equally during the lessons. Elder Culbertson is convinced that my spanish is almost better than his, so he let's me talk a lot. He's also convinced that I'll be training this next change... I doubt that. When I bore my testimony this past Sunday in front of our ward I basically just expressed how I want to get to know the ward really well and work with the members to try and have some real success in this sector. The bishop is a machine! We had our consejo de barrio ayer and he just is a total stud. He wants to work hard with the missionaries and he has a real desire to help us out! There's definitely a different feel in this ward than I had in the other ward. Padre Hurtado will always be my place of birth, but this ward functions a lot like the wards in the US and it's very organized. It's just a different area and therefore a different way to do things. 

The members that we've had almuerzo with so far LOVE me. I made it a goal to always share a scripture and a thought at the end of our lunches because the members deserve it. It doesn't matter how simple my message is or how bad my spanish may be, I want to express my appreciation. I usually just read a few verses from Alma 8 where Alma goes back into the city after an angel tells him to go back. There he finds Amulek and Amulek feeds him. Alma blesses Amulek and his house for feeding him and then they go out and just do work in the mission field! I usually just tell the members how we can't work if we aren't fed and I tell them that they're basically the Amulek family to us. WORKS LIKE A CHARM. They love it and they all have said that they want to feed us more often. 

This ward is super nice too. They all have told me that they thought I had 1 year in the mission because my spanish is so good. They can't believe that I only have 4 and a half months. They all loved my testimony too on Sunday, so I feel like I have the ward on my side. I can only see positive things in our future here in Pajaritos 3! 

Our sector borders the Santiago North mission. So now both of my sectors so far have bordered the South and now North missions. The only thing left is to go to Republica and I'll border the Santiago Este mission! 

The mission has it's ups and downs, but the cool thing is that I CAN CONTROL IT. I'm basically leading the sector and every lesson and I make the plans at night, so it's a lot more work for me now! I'm a lot happier when I'm working and not just following. I'd challenge all of you to start being leaders in your own way and don't just follow. Go out of your comfort zone and just do your very best. That's all that God expects. 

I'm a little sad I'm missing the Bolder Boulder. First time in what? 11 years? HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ADIN!!! 13!!!! Go and enjoy your PG 13 movies bud! I sent you something today, so you'll probably be getting it in a few weeks! I hope you like it!

I love all of you so much and I love this mission! There's really no other place I'd rather be right now! This is God's work! 

CON MUCHÍSIMO AMOR Y SINCERIDAD,

Elder Weaver 

Vamos a la ciudad

E-mail from May 18th...

Hola hola mi familia y amigos y mis estimados misioneros,

So this past Saturday night we got the the call from our District leader about who was going to leave and who was going to stay. I was expecting that Elder Ortiz was going to leave, but when I heard them say "Elder Weaver se va," I immediately said "freaking fetching fetch!" Elder Ortiz left our sector as well but he's staying in our zone. Yesterday was super sad because we just went around saying bye to all of our investigators and members of our ward. I thought I was going to be staying in Padre Hurtado until at least August, but it turns out that the Lord wants me in Pajaritos in the Zone Cinco de Abril. My comp is from Lehi, Utah and his name is Elder Culberston. He has one change left, but he doesn't appear to be trunky in the slightest which is great! We honestly just got back from the changes meeting so I don't know much about him, I'll give you more info next week! This area is defintely different from Padre Hurtado. It's city and not the campo so that's why. It's different though, and it will be fun to experience something new. I'm going to miss my place of birth though, I'm still a little bummed that I had to leave! But siempre tengo ánimo. 

So this past Sunday we had 2 investigators that went to church! The parents of my baptism Eduardo! It was so awesome to finally get them to go to church! They said that they loved it and I Hermana Ruth (Eduardo's Mom) has a baptismal date for the 30th of this month! She's already cut down to one cigarrete a day and she definitely is working to try to be ready for her baptism on the 30th! Too bad I won't be there to see it... Jorge (Eduardo's dad) is reading the Book of Mormon pretty diligently and he says he'll be baptized as soon as he gets an answer. I hope to see that family turn their lives around! I worked really hard with them, let's just hope the Elders in whitewash can get the job done! 

We had another 3 investigators that were really progressing well too! Johan was working on giving up smoking and then Gabirella and Carolina were reading the Book of Mormon. I'll never forget the lessons that I had with them! 

So life is pretty rad here in Chile! I love it here! The weather is just like Colorado though. One day it's hotter than snot and the next day it's freezing cold! Last night we had a family home evening with the Barrega family. They have 6 kids! They can't do Noche de Hogar on Mondays because it's super crazy on Monday nights for them (who does that sound like?) so they do it on Sunday. It was so funny because they're kids are crazy and all vary in age. Their oldest is Pedro and he's preparing to go on a mission in December. We played pictionary, but it was obviosuly in spanish and it helped me a lot with my vocab, but it's suprising how many words I actually do know. I'm constantly working still to improve my language! The game got crazy and their youngest kid just started crying because he couldn't draw on the notepad the whole time. It reminded me of our family home evenings and all the scripture and prayers that we had. PURE MAYHEM. I just started laughing and I told Hermano Barrega how much that their situation reminded me of our family. It also reminded me how after my mission I want to keep being a faithful member of this church. There are so many members that don't do family scripture study every night, that don't pray as a family, and that never do family home evening. I want to be a Dad that is always leading my family with gospel principles. 

I've been reading in Alma when the Anti Nephi Lehis are burying their weapons of war. We all think that we are willing to give up everything to serve the Lord, but really when you think about it we all have a weapon that we should probably bury deep in the Earth! This is a gospel of progression and salvation isn't a cheap experience. If we're not constantly working to be better then we're just getting comfortable and if we're comfortable we're doing something wrong. Try to find your weapon of war that you need to bury and constantly try and progress! Spiritually and temporally! 

Still can't believe that I'm not in Padre Hurtado anymore, but on to a new adventure here in the sector of Pajaritos. This gospel changes lives, this gospel is true, and I love the missionary work! I'll never forget the memories that I made in Padre Hurtado though! I'm going to miss the dirt roads and teaching people living in "blocks." 

Love all of you a whole lot and have an awesome week of PROGRESSION!

Elder Weaver

Feliz Día de La Madre

E-mail from 5/11/2015...

Friends and Family,

First and foremost, it was obviously so awesome to be able to talk to you guys this past Saturday! Not afraid to admit that I definitely cried and it´s because I love my family that much. I can´t wait to spend eternity with you guys! But for right now, I´m going to try and help other people obtain salvation. Elder Ortiz can testify that I recuperated well after we talked and we´re working as hard as ever! 

So, yesterday was a really good day! The talks in Church were really great, but Obispo Alvarez definitely gave the best talk. He talked about how missionaries wouldn´t be on their missions if it weren´t for their Moms. I can testify of that! I wouldn´t be here if it weren´t for my Mom! She knows everything about me, and sometimes I think she knows me better than I know me. What a comfort to know that I have her praying for me and thinking about me every. single. day. So everyone should really take a moment to give their Mom a hug! I am so blessed to have the Mom that I have, and to have the family that I have. The Obispo talked about how when he was in the army he felt completely and totally alone, but he always had his Mom that was writing him and she was the only one waiting for him at the airport when he was discharged. After Sacrament meeting we got to hear the primary sing a song for their Mom´s and it was pretty adorable. Then we had cake and that was that! After that Elder Ortíz and I got to work and we had 4 lessons. All and all the week was pretty normal with it´s fair share of drunks, drug addicts, and people wanting to kill themselves stories. Our last lesson last night was with the Mom of our convert and she was telling us about how she was really close to killing herself 2 days ago. She feels like her house is possessed and she hates the woman she´s become. It´s the whole Latino culture that we talked about, and I´m getting kinda sick of people saying they want to die. We´re not freaking shrinks, we´re missionaries. Obiviously they need the gospel in their lives, but it´s kinda hard for them to get the picture if they can´t get past the fact that el diablo is not possessing their home. 

We do have a great investigator though! His name is "J" and we had such a powerful lesson with him yesterday about the Book of Mormon and La Palabra de Sabiduría. He has a REAL desire to change his life and he wants to find the truth. He´s loved the two lessons that we´ve had so far and he committed to go to church this Sunday as well as to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. He´s a genuine guy too, he´s definitely going to do it. He also has no problem with meeting with us every other day and he actually KNOWS his schedule so we can actually fix times to meet with him. His aunt´s a member of the church and he really admires the life that she´s living. 

Always be a great example to those around you. Don´t be afraid to say that you´re Mormon. Share your beliefs, share your testimony, and keep living the gospel! Freaking love Chile and love the people! One more week until changes! Thank you everyone for the support! SEND PHYSICAL LETTERS. I WILL RESPOND. 

Love all of you,

Elder Weaver 

You Think I Got Where I Am Today Because I Dressed Like Peter Pan Over Here... Forget About It!

E-mail from May 4th...

My most dear family and friends, 

This week was definitely a long week. Elder Ortiz and I worked super hard and unfortunately all we accomplished by Sunday was that one of our inactive families attended church and one of our recent converts as well. 

You'd think that I'd be super down in the dumps right? WRONG. Okay, not gonna lie... yesterday was one of the hardest days on the mish so far. We just rode our bikes around everywhere and NO ONE WAS FREAKING HOME. ALL OF OUR APPOINTMENTS FELL. Then contacting yesterday wasn't great either, we had a fair amount of rejections. Luckily, I'm keeping tally of how many rejections we get a day now and so when I come back home you guys can look at my planners and see exactly how many rejects I got a day! Elder Ortiz thought it was dumb to count rejections, but now he's always asking me after someone rejects us "¿qué cuenta los rechazos?" I respond "¡tenemos diez ahora! Mejor que ayer!" He laughs and we keep going trying to give something that is more important than anything else in this world to these lovely people of Padre Hurtado. I'm happy, but if you don't ask yourself at least once on the mish "why the heck am I out here on a dirt road in the middle of the day, in chile, yelling halooooo, when I could be in America, speaking English, and mountain biking right now?" You probably are 1. A freak or 2. You really didn't have that hard of a mission. So there's my two cents of that, ya'll can judge me as ya will, but the mission isn't always sunshine and roses. If you think otherwise you're just nieve. 

We did get 12 new investigators this week! One of them is gone though because he was arrested on Saturday night for robbing an almacen. His name is "M" and he's schizophrenic. We taught him on Thursday and he has a sincere desire to turn his life around. He was a reference from the hermanas in our district. He has problems with drugs, but more specifically paint. He feels horrible for the life he's lived and he committed to baptism. He seemed awesome when we left him on Friday and he was going to go to church this sunday. He didn't show up though so we went to his house to check up on him. When we got there the carabineros (police) were talking with his sister outside and we found out that he's in a jail cell in melipilla now... So there's that. We're teaching his Mom too, and she has BAD depression. It's seriously so sad to see the lives that a lot of our investigators live. We're going to continue teaching her and I just hope she can find the hope and happiness that the gospel offers. We've had a lot of powerful spiritual experiences with her, and Elder Ortiz even started crying yesterday when he was telling her that "Nunca vamos a abandonarle. Todo va a salir bien hermana Ana!" In other words, we're never going to leave you. Everything is going to turn out fine! 

We had another great experience with an older couple. They're Catholic and they let us in to their house last Friday night. They're pretty normal people actually! He has problems with smoking, but other than that... completely normal and no huge issues! WHAT A RELIEF! We found out that their son passed away about a year ago. They really don't know if they'll see him again. We talked a little about the plan of salvation and once again Elder Ortiz started crying when he looked at Maria right in the eyes and said that he knows that they will see their son again! I did the same thing and they totally felt the spirit. They committed to read the Book of Mormon and we hope to continue to see them frequently. Their appointment fell this Sunday though... so that super sucked. Super powerful lesson with them though, and it was definitely one of those days when YOU LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. 

So that's about all. Today we went for a hike as a zone and that was super fun. The Andes mountains are unreal, but the smog is so bad here that you can hardly see them most days. It's getting colder here, but the weather is super bi polar. I'm happy, I'm alive, and I know the gospel is true and that The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real. A lot of people think "they know Christ." I'm sorry to say it, but you don't know Christ until you've been to the gaul of bitterness and found the truth. The truth being the gospel of Jesus Christ which is found in La Iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santos de Los Últimos Días. 

I hope everyone has an awesome Mother's day! To all my missionary friends reading this... enjoy your family! 

Con Muchísimo Amor,

Elder Weaver 

¡Pero mi familia ha sido Catolica para siempre!

E-mail from 4/27/15...

Dear Family and Friends, 

Man, not going to lie this week was a tough one. Elder Ortiz and I decided that we were going to "kill" most of our investigators this week and try and find new ones. The term "kill" means that we´re leaving them because they´re not progressing or keeping their commitments. It´s just a waste of time to visit people who don´t really want to change their lives. The hard part about leaving investigators is that you have to do a lot of tracting. So this week we didn´t have a lot of lessons, and on Thursday I had my first day without a single lesson. Yes, it was definitely one of the harder days for me on my mission. Tuesday was a pretty amazing day though, so I´m going to start there and then talk about something that I´ve been thinking a lot about this week. 

So Tuesday we started tracting. We started in this street or little area called Villa Chiloe. We prayed a lot the day prior and the morning of to find miracles. Little did I know that literally the first house we contacted would be our first miracle. This house had one lady sitting outside with her daughter and a kid who was handicapped. They were listening to music and just enjoying the morning. I felt immediately impressed to talk with them because she had a kid in a wheel chair sitting by her and I just have a soft spot for people with disabilities because of my uncles Tyson and Timmy (they were handicapped and passed away)! So it was a golden opportunity to talk about Tyson and Tim and how Grandma and Grandpa needed the gospel to help them with their trials and challenges concerning having two handicapped sons. Sure enough, the lady let us in. Unfortunately she doesn't believe in God. So, we taught about how God is our Loving Heavenly Father. Bang, the question came up. If God is our loving Heavenly Father, why is my son handicapped? Boom, I had my time to shine. I talked about how her handicapped son is literally an angel right now. He will live with Heavenly Father again because he had to bear the trial of cerebral palsy for his whole life. I talked about how Heavenly Father gives us trials to help us grow. I talked about how with the gospel we can find peace that can't be found in any other way. Honestly, I can't remember everything I said, but it was a powerful lesson. She wants to hear more and we hope to she her progress. She really liked what we had to say about God, but she still doesn't know if he's really there for her. 

The next house we contacted was a man named Washington. Haha yes, Washington. He was pretty much blind and had really bad hearing also.  This was the first lesson that I've had where I actually started tearing up in front of the investigator. He immediately expressed how happy he was to see us and how he's been feeling lost and alone. Long story short, we taught him and his wife Rejena (who has breast cancer) about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We taught about hope and happiness. We even talked a little about the Plan of Salvation. Washinton totally started crying and we just gave him a big hug. I told him that I knew without a doubt that Heavenly Father loved him and that Christ know EXACTLY what he is going through and his Atonement can enable him to feel peace even with all the burdens he has in his life. Pretty awesome lesson, we hope to see them both progress as well. 

Last but not least for Tuesday, we contacted a lady by the name of "L". She was smoking a cig when we knocked on her door and her son was actually in his room doing drugs with his friends while we taught her a lesson.... so that was cool. He came out a few times to talk with his mom and he was definitely as high as a kite, so sad to see that stuff but I've actually taught quite a few lessons where people are drinking or smoking. Either in the room we're teaching in or in another room. "L" confessed how she wants her life to change. She wants to stop smoking, she wants her son to not be a drug addict, and she wants her husband to stop cheating on her. Pretty heavy stuff right? Yeah, we get that ALL THE TIME. So we taught about Heavenly Father and the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how with the gospel we can overcome all of our trials and temptations of this life. She was really interested and we hope to see her progress. So that was Tuesday with some other lessons of past investigators or inactives mixed in. I thought that the week was going to be awesome, but like I said.... Thursday we didn't teach a single lesson! We did have a ward FHE on Thursday night though and it went really well! 

Friday we taught an excommunicated member named "R." Unfortunately, him and his friend JC were high as can be when we passed by and they had a crap ton of alcohol all over their house when we came in. "R" was so high that he even confessed his sin that got him excommunicated, but he did say how he wants to come back to the Church desperately because he's been out of the church for 10 years. He talked about how hard it is to leave drugs and alcohol behind because now he's addicted. He actually called us earlier this week because he feels like now is the time to finally come back to Church. He does have a testimony and I know that God loves him, but the road is going to be really hard for him. 

So not going to lie, many times I'm sitting in a lesson and I go "holy crap, here I am. In Chile with people that are drinking and smoking as I try and spread the good news of the gospel. One day I was running to the finish line for a national championship win in Miwaukee and now here I am, in a room full of booz and smoke talking about Christ and the atonement."

With that, I would like to say that I KNOW this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. I wouldn't be here if I didn't know that this gospel could change lives. Trust me, I could be spending my time doing other things right now, but I'm here because this is the most important thing in my life. Even on the hard days, I am so blessed just to have what I have and know what I know. 

I love all of you guys and think about you all the time. I have the best family and friends on Earth and I feel your prayers everyday! 

Have the best week ever! 

Love,

Elder Weaver