The FINAL E-mail...This is IT.

December 12, 2016

This Is It!

I can't really fathom that I'm writing my last email as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Where has the time gone? These 2 years have been absolutely amazing. The chance that I had to serve with all my heart, might, mind, and soul here in Chile has changed me forever. The mission is something that I wouldn't change for anything. I wouldn't change it for 2 World Championships in triathlon. I wouldn't change it for an amazingly beautiful girlfriend. I wouldn't change these 2 years for anything. These 2 years have molded me into the person that my Heavenly Father wants me to be and He's still not done with me! I know that I'm going to come back and do exactly what Dad told me to do... work and not bury my talents. 

I've learned so much on the mission that it would take a week to write everything down, but it all comes down to this... 

I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that He is real. I never once saw Him on my mission, I never once had a vision, I never once even had a dream where God talked to me... the closest thing was a dream talking with Dad in Spanish and Dad just telling me to keep working hard and expressed how much he loved me when I was working in Pajaritos in Cinco de Abril. That's about the closest I've come to a prophetic experience. Despite all of that... I know that God is real and that this is His gospel! I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer, I know that He really was born in Bethlehem and that He lived, established His Church and His gospel, that He died for every single mistake and sin I've made, and that He resurrected. I know that He was the reason that I came on the mission in the first place and now I really know and understand that He is the one that gave me strength during these 2 years. I know that this gospel changes lives. I can't even begin to express how it changed mine and how it changed the lives of the people that I taught. 

This last week was hectic and was exactly how Heavenly Father had my whole mission... filled with trials and challenges! Elder Villota is not going home due to his back, but he did have special changes and Elder Nalesso (good bud in the mission) will be sending me home! 

I plan on giving it everything I've got up until the very end. Jesus Christ didn't take a break in His last week here on Earth and neither will I. 

This gospel is as true and real as the air we breathe and the water we drink. What an amazing, incredible ride it has been here in Chile! I've had my auto sufficiency class and my last interview with President. Tomorrow is Temple and lunch! Then it's full gas vomit until I'm in DIA! 

Thank you, thank you, thank you all for the love and support! I couldn't have done it all without you guys!!! SEE YA ON SATURDAY!!! 

ELDER WEAVER, SIGNING OUT FOR THE VERY LAST TIME!!!! WHAT A PRIVELAGE IT HAS BEEN!!!! 

SANTIAGO OESTE ES LA MEJOR MISIÓN!!! !

Saying Good-Bye! 

Week 100...Every Good Thing Comes to an End

December 5, 2016

Every Good Thing Does Come to an End

Welcome to the Weaver Report…

So this is it people. My time as a missionary is really coming to a close and I can hardly believe it. I'm not really sure how to feel because I mostly just feel tired. The stress never goes away! I just keep trying to help the zone and help the missionaries out, and then there's the stress of just making sure I end strong. The worst part is that Elder Villota's back is doing horribly and this week was anything but ideal for us, but we still baptized! Nicole and Josefa entered into the waters of baptism this Saturday night and I had the amazing opportunity of baptizing them! I'm sad to say it, but it looks like they were my last baptisms in the mission. This doesn't mean that I'm going to go into cruiser mode and just coast until the very end! I'm going to go FULL GAS VOMIT up until the moment I walk up those stairs and see you guys in the Denver International Airport! 

The baptism was a little stressful. The girls didn't actually get to the church until 8:20 and the service was set for 8:00. We baptized them at 8:50 and ended at 9:15 and then we blazed out of there to get to the pension on time at 9:30! Obedience with exactness! There is no excuse! The cool thing is that the spirit was still super strong and it was a super spiritual night for me as I got to baptize for the very last time on my mission. My hope and my dream is that I can baptize Marisol before I head out to BYU! It's not my last time being wet in December! 

I gave my farewell testimony in church yesterday because this coming Sunday is Stake Conference here in San Antonio. I talked about a lot of things, but I mostly just talked about pride and how pride is truly the pitfall and grand stumbling block to all of our lives. I finished the Book of Mormon again this week as well, so I expressed how interesting it is that in the beginning of the Book of Mormon it starts with the pride of Laman and Lemuel and ends with pride as the Nephite nation is destroyed. I expressed how out of all the things that the Book of Mormon teaches us, I think that one of the key principles that God wants us to grasp out of all the Book of Mormon is that pride kills progression and pride kills exaltation. I finished by saying that while my testimony hasn't changed much from the time I was a greenie up until now in terms of words, I can now say that the words I say in my basic testimony have much more meaning and much more importance in my life then what they had when I first started the mission. The reason is because God has truly changed my nature and has molded me into the man He wants me to be. I now have a very different perspective on the world around me and I can truly say that I have lived my mission without regret, not because I've been perfect, but because I've repented sincerely and I can truly say that I understand repentance and I understand this gospel in a way that I simply did not understand when I first got into the mission as a punk, self-centered, 19 year old teenage kid. That being said I just want to say that I know that this gospel is true, I know that José Smith was and is a prophet of God and that he was an instrument in the Lord's hand to restore the true church, I know that The Book of Mormon is true, I know that Christ lives and that He loves us with an infinite love, and I know that the Atonement works, I know that Heavenly Father lives and loves us as well and that's why he's created a perfect plan of happiness so that we can live with Him and our families forever. The mission has been the best two years FOR my life; they haven't been the best 2 years of my life, but FOR my life. I can't even begin to express how I feel, but it is all summarized with the simply assurity and knowledge that I know that Jesus Christ lives and that this is His church and His gospel. I love Him more than I can put into words and that's why these 2 years have been OH SO WORTH THE PAIN AND THE EFFORT! I know I have 1 more P-day left, but it looks like I won't have much time to write next Monday! 

I love you all a ton! Wow will it be cool to see all of you again! It's going to be weird going home to cold and snow! 

Elder Weaver 

 

This is the family Connor baptized last year, and they will be going through the temple in January! The dad just baptized his youngest son last week. He LOVES this family!

The last baptisms of his mission! Nicole and Josefa!

Week 99...Beware of Pride

November 28, 2016 

Beware of Pride 

Crazy news people!

I've decided to extend my mission! Ha-ha nah I'm still coming home the 16th! El fin se acerca y hay poco tiempo! I can't lie to ya. There are so many problems that arise in the mission I’m super stressed and just want to be baptizing up until the very end because the baptism of Tamara was so good that it makes me want to just keep baptizing more! 

Tamara is pretty amazing. I can honestly say that I know that God prepares people to receive the restored gospel. She is way excited to be a member of the church and the ward is going to give her a calling right away because she's "super seca" in chilenismo it means just super on target and exceptional. She's going to be a convert that really helps the ward grow! The baptism went really well. Tamara was getting ready to come to the chapel when her kid fell and bumped his head and was bleeding a ton. She called and told us that she was going to the hospital and then straight to the baptism. It's a good thing the hospital is right next door to the church here in San Antonio! She got to the baptism just 30 minutes late but her poor kid who has like a year and 10 months had the biggest goose egg I've ever seen in my life. The other funny thing is that everything was going well and right before entering into the baptismal font a member said, "and your towel?" It turns out that she forgot her towel. So this member ran to her house and ran back to give her a towel. That took about 10 minutes, so that was an awkward delay right before getting baptized! All her family was there and they still ended up loving it! We sang a special musical number "Cuando me bautice" and Tamara cried. Not going to brag or anything, but I could be a MoTab singer after my mission! I sing so well! Ha-ha! Not! I still sing worse than all get out. 

We had interviews with President Woodward on Wednesday and he basically just asked me how I felt and I said stressed and he said "that's good. Keep it that way." It was a short interview because we'll be having my last interview here in a few weeks! 

I had to help out a new missionary on Thursday and Friday. Turns out that he basically just wanted to go home after 1 week in the field and President sent me out to Cartagena to help him out. It was interesting listening to his mentality about the mission. It was also really hard to relate, because I've never really been home sick on the mish. But I did tell him about my experiences on the mission and at the end of it, he was feeling a little better. While we were doing some practices on Friday morning President Woodward called him and told him he had special changes to go to Santiago with a new gringo comp. So, I helped him pack his bags and then we were off to Santiago! It was a super, super, super long day and not exactly the way I wanted to spend my last few days of finding my last baptisms before heading home, but I trusted that God was going to bless me later in the week and boy did he ever! Yesterday a member called us and told us to come to his house because he had a friend he wanted us to meet. His friend was super prepared and he wants to be baptized the 15th of December! My last day in the field! He actually wants to be baptized this weekend, but he has to attend church at least 2 times before he can get baptized! His name is Kevin! 

The comp of this new missionary really made me think a lot about humility and pride this week. This Elder is really struggling with PRIDE! He was a zone leader and President made him a trainer and now he's not training and he comp mayor. He basically started crying and throwing a temper tantrum. To the point where he called President Woodward to tell him that he isn't going to finish his mission and he's going to go home after this change because he's not going to put up with being treated like a "low class" missionary. It's as if I were watching the fall of the Nephite nation in the mission.

I love all ya'll a ton! I'm glad that you had an awesome Thanksgiving! I'm looking to baptize 4 more people before I leave! Marcelo, Nicole, Josefa, and Kevin! 

La Familia Vegas came out to San Antonio and totally surprised me! It was awesome to see them! Osvaldo got the Melchizedek priesthood and they'll be getting sealed in January! Their son Jerek is going to be baptized this week by his dad! I WANT TO SEE THEM GET SEALED SO BADLY!!! Man, I love the mission. 

Be humble and let the atonement change you. That's all I have to say. 

 Love you guys! Keep strong!  

Elder Weaver