Week 94...Get Up, Get Up, and Get Down...Jump, Jump, Jump Around

October 24, 2016

Get Up, Get Up, and Get Down... Jump Jump Jump Around

What be good,

Another week has flown by here in San Antonio. We had an amazing baptism with Barotlo this weekend. There was a solid turnout at the baptism and we're happy that we've been completing with the vision that President Woodward has for us. We are having the members baptize our investigators so that the retention will improve in the wards. Bartolo definitely has a ton of friends in the ward and is solid. I honestly am blown away by every baptism I've had on the mission. This baptism was no exception. Just 5 weeks ago we found Bartolo after he had been drunk for a solid week. Since that time he hasn't drank a single beer and he actually no longer feels the desire to drink. But he's changed his life completely and he's actually going to move into a new home in 2 weeks. He has a job now and everyone in the ward has done a great job of just loving him. We really focused on having a lot of family home evenings with him and just helping him recognize all is not lost and to see the spirit witness this to him was amazing. He's going to be receiving the priesthood next week! I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, and all of us! The mission is amazing. 

We also did a little service project with a member in our ward that is going through a really tough time with her kids. They're completely lost in the world and they're only 13 and 14 years old. She's super amazing and she has a son on a mission, but her other kids are really bringing her down. We decided to cut her grass... or her jungle in the backyard to aliviar su carga. The project will last until I go home cause there's a ton to do and we only have 90 minutes every Tuesday morning to do it. It's fun work though. 

Elder Villota and I pretty much just pass the time laughing and loving the work. I honestly don’t even think about coming home because I'm always so busy. I've just love the work and I can't think about going back to real life. I'm trying to think about things that I love back home, but honestly I just want to see you guys and then just go back to Chile to share the gospel. This work is amazing. I expressed a little bit of my feelings in a talk that I gave yesterday. I talked about charity and how I didn't always have it as a self-centered tri-athlete punk before the mission, and how the mission has literally taught me to have more charity. I know that Jesus Christ is our perfect example of how to live happy and I know that I'm no where close to being perfect, but I'm so grateful to be apart of his true church and to be his representative. The experience of the mission is something I can't even put into words; it's simply been life changing.  

I'm glad everyone's happy and healthy. I'm sad that BYU football continues to lose, but I'm glad that BYU XC is killing it. GO VISTA NATION! WIN STATE! Love all ya'll and love the support. 

Quick update. I found a Haitiano that lived in Connecticut for 20 years and he talks and looks just like Biggy. I'll take pictures this week. IF YA DON'T KNOW, NOW YA KNOW! He totally sang rap songs with me as well. 

Pray for Mayra, William, Marta, Enrique, and Antonella and Carlitos! They're our fechas! 

ELDER WEAVER 

SIGNING OUT! COLORADO HIGH! 

Week 93...Hey, Hey, Hey

October 17, 2016

HEY HEY HEY, 

First and foremost I'd like to give a huge shout out to my amazing family for putting together the birthday video & package! I almost cried, but I held the tears back because I’m a man! It's insane to see how much everyone has changed. I can't get over how Preston has pretty much just converted into the next Michael Jackson. I imagine that he's got 99 problems but a girl ain't 1. Dad's gotten a little chunky, Mom is as beautiful as ever, Adin is a stud, and Mia is amazingly beautiful as well. Not to mention my grandparents who look great and my cousins who are all amazingly good looking! Ethan is WAY DIFFERENT! WHAT THE FREAK! I come from a very attractive family... what happened to me in the process of everything? 

So other than the video, the week was just splendid. We have 4 baptismal dates set up and things are looking amazing for this weekend. Bartolo and Carlitos want to get baptized this weekend. Things got a little complicated with Carlitos this week and he backed out of his baptismal interview after we taught him the law of chastity. He's a 13 year-old boy, but he just wants to feel super sure with everything before he takes this step. So, we continued to teach him the principle of chastity and why it is so important, and after a few more lessons, he is good to go. The coolest part is that I found him contacting with Elder Montero on my birthday in the night and I said to Elder Montero "una puerta más!" That happened to be Carlitos and his family who let us in. 

Bartolo is the guy we found the week before general conference and he's just rocking it. It's amazing to see how much the atonement really works. He has been really struggling for 9 years and has lost everything... his wife, his kids, his job, everything due to alcohol. We really have just been loving him and helping him and he hasn't drank since we found him before general conference. He's pumped for his baptism! What a miracle! 

William is our other fecha and he's a Haitiano that Elder Villota and I found and I've just been saying the basics of what I know in Creol to help him. Thank goodness that Elder Villota speaks fluently! 

The other fecha is Mayra and she's the cousin of our convert Kamila! Pray for her and her family.

Nothing super funny happened this week. Just watching Dad biff it on the mountain bike made me laugh like crazy.

I Love all of you more than I love Chile, and that's saying something. I'm one lucky guy to have the family that I have. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I know that this is His work! We so blessed to be a part of it!  The gospel is true, The book is blue.

Elder Weaver 

Week 92...Get Up, Get Up, and Get Down

October 11, 2016

Get Up, Get Up, and Get Down

Let's get to it,

We're just rocking and rolling here in San Antonio! Elder Villota is a trip. We get along just great and he entertains the heck out of me. Unfortunately that means that my time in the mission is just going to fly by even faster! The other bonus is that Elder Villota is fluent in Creole and we found some Haitians here in San Antonio and 1 of them has a fecha to get baptized the 22nd! He came to church and loved it even though he didn't understand a stinking thing. Elder Villota also has Principios del Evangelio and the book of Mormon in Creole so we're all set. The other good thing is that once one Haitian gets baptized the whole Haitian hut is going to get baptized which means that we're going to be wet for a solid month I think. What a blessing that he learned Creole while he was in Estacion Central for 10 months of his mission! 

The zone is doing alright. We've had 4 baptisms in the zone up until now and it looks like we'll finish with about 10. The good news is that all the sectors are working now! 

We had a consejo de guerra with Presidente Woodward and Hermana Woodward on Friday and something was finally brought up that I thought would never be brought up in all my life here on the mission! President Woodward talked about how pathetic it is that we talk and hype up so much the fact that people "subir" as district leader, trainer, zone leader, or assistant. It was amazing. It was honestly a huge slap in the face for some of the missionaries. They honestly just sat there almost speechless. President Woodward is honestly very different than what I’ve been use to in the past where we had a ton of mission meetings and all got together to learn about and see the progress of the mission. We would see who's where and who's who. It was honestly the perfect setup to make the missionaries aspire to subir as leaders. It worked to get us pumped, but it shouldn't be the reason as to why we work hard. I have yet to have a mission meeting with President Woodward where he publishes the cambios. So nobody knows anything about where other missionaries are or what they're doing. President Woodward basically just said that we need to be the examples and not talk about subir or bajar and we're all equal. He also said that it will be very normal to finish your mission as a trainer now and it's not because you did anything wrong it's just the way he wants to do things. It was really spiritual actually and he even shared that in his mission he wasn't comp mayor until about 14 months and he was zone leader his last 3 months in the mission, but he was never a bad missionary and he has no regrets about anything he did on his mission. He simply stated that the mission changed his life and that if we don't it allow it to change our lives it won't matter jack squat whether you were assistant or not when you get back home. I loved the meeting. I was ask to give my two cents and just said, "si yo hubiera querido la gloria de los hombres, no me hubiese venido a la misión. Me hubiese quedado en mi casa para participar en mis deportes... vine a la misión para participar en la obra de salvación." ("If I had wanted the glory of men I would not have come to my mission. I would have stayed home for my part in sports ... I came to the mission to participate in the work of salvation.") I also shared that the first reunión de cambios that I had in the mish was basically like the NFL draft and everyone just busted up laughing. It's so true though. Needless to say, things have changed here in Santiago Oeste! 

Other than that it was a solid week of work. We have 4 fechas and it looks like we'll be baptizing this weekend! Pray for Carlitos, William, Maira, and Bartolo! 

Miracles happen on the daily here. I love the mission and honestly never want to come home. Hey, enjoy the Fort Collins temple dedication! How cool is it that Grandma and Grandpa were invited to participate in the very first endowment session with a member of the 1st presidency! 

Love ya'll! Read your scriptures and invite someone to church! 

Elder Weaver 

Week 91...What be good?

October 3, 2016

What be good? 

Another week has come and gone here in the most amazing country in the whole wide world... Chile. I find myself here in the Internet cafe starting yet another change in the mission with a new companion who will probably be killing me off. My new companion is Elder Villota from Ecuador, he's a great missionary and I've known him since he started the mission because he started the mission in my second zone in 5 de Abril. It's crazy, but I literally know everyone in the whole mission and I basically know how they are and how they work because the mission is so small and word gets around. Elder Villota is defnitely not the same type of guy as I am, but the good news is that he's obedient and he's excited to be a zone leader now! It'll be fun showing him the ropes and letting him feel the stress and pressure. The zone got a ton of new missionaries and things are looking a little better for this month of October. Elder Villota and I will get along just dandy, at this point in the mission there's nothing I haven't seen and nothing that I can't deal with. One of the first things you learn here in Santiago Oeste is that "Es Bueno Ser Diferent." I know that's true. The other good news is that Elder Carroll is staying in our pension so that means early morning runs are going to continue.

So this week was just a normal week of hard work. Nothing new really happened. We found people to teach, we taught, and we brought people to church and we have 3 fechas with Victor, Carlos, and Nicoloy... so pray for them please. We also brought a new person to conference, his name is Bartolo and when we found him he was in a super bad situation, he's an alcoholic but he wants to give it all up and get baptized. This is the first guy that has issues with alcohol that I've taught that I actually have hope in. He hasn't drank since we met him on Tuesday. The atonement is now in play in his life. He came to conference and loved it, and now we're going to help him get baptized the 22nd this month. 

Speaking of the atonement, I sure loved the focus that the conference had on repentance. I feel like as a missionary I've really seen the importance of this super simple but complex principle. ALL OF US NEED TO REPENT! ESPECIALLY MY STUD BROTHER PRESTON WHO IS GOING AROUND LOOKING LIKE A MODEL TAKING GIRLS TO HOMECOMING AND JUST KILLING THEM WITH HIS GOOD LOOKS. I honestly can't even recognize the kid. Those pics are unreal; he's a lady killa for sure.

Anyways, repentance is so important. I don't have my journal with me, so I don't remember the name of the lady who spoke on Sunday morning but her talk on repentance was powerful. I know that people can and do change with the atonement of Jesus Christ. I know it because I have changed and continue to change and purify myself in Christ. I Know we always need to have that burning desire to change our lives to become more like Christ. The problem is that we don't view small errors as a big deal, but NO UNCLEAN THING CAN ENTER INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD. This means that constant repentance and weekly sacrament partaking is essential and we should feel a deep desire to partake every single week! 

I love conference and I love my service as a missionary. I am now in my last full change as a missionary para La Iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santos de Los Últimos Días. (for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) This time is so sacred and I love this amazing work. Get out and open your mouths and share the gospel! 

Shout out to BYU CROSS COUNTRY!!! NUMBER 1 BABY!!! 

Let it be, love ya'll! Arriba Chile!

Elder Weaver 

Feeling Like Superman!