Haitian Nation- Week 62

Family, Friends, and Those That Read These Emails...

I AM GOING TO LEARN CREOLE! I gotta do it. A huge miracle ocurrió ayer people! A Haitian that we are teaching told us on Friday night that his friend from Haiti was coming to Chile and was going to live with them, and that his friend is Mormon and was a missionary in Haiti. The thing is that Haitians think that all the churches that aren't the Catholic church are basically the same... so a lot of times they say they're a part of our church and that they do missions like us because they preach in the street for their church... so the news didn't really draw my attention too much. Either way we passed by yesterday to see if it was true or not. IT IS TRUE! THIS HAITIAN IS LEGIT!!! HE SERVED HIS MISSION IN HAITI AND FINISHED IN MAY LAST YEAR! HE DOESN'T SPEAK ANY SPANISH WHATSOEVER BUT THAT'S OKAY! It was so funny to talk with this guy, his name is Jean L. and his buddy translated for us and that's how we communicated. We were pretty skeptical and so we asked a lot of questions. He got to the point where he was so frustrated that he finally proved to us he had been to the temple and gave us a stare like "yes, I'm Mormon and I really did serve a mission." THIS IS THE FIRST HAITIAN I’VE MET THAT IS ENDOWED!!! The whole house was super pumped and all his buddies were like " YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH EL ES MORMÓN! El ES MORMÓN!!! WOOOO VAMOS A LA IGLESIA EL PROXIMO DOMINGO!" The thing is that Haitians don't speak super well in Spanish and the language barrier is real, unless they've lived in The Dominican Republic for 11 years like my convert Remy (who is super active and fiel)! Holy cow though, this guy is going to be Branch President here in Ochagavia because there are SO MANY HAITIANS! Elder Cachari and I are super pumped, because if we just enter into all these Haitian Huts and get all the millions of Haitians that live in each house gathered... this guy could translate in Creole! I was called to Chile to preach to Haitians... I'm almost 100% sure. They're so incredibly humble and just awesome people! 

Yesterday we had stake conference... actually all of Chile had Stake Conference, because we had a special broadcast from Temple Square and Elder Nelson spoke and so did some other members of the seventy and Presidente Soares spoke as well! They really stressed the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy and keeping the commandments. I loved the meeting and the coolest part was that Elder Nelson gave his whole talk in castellano! He's such a stud! We had very few investigators in the conference but it's all-good! This next Sunday our chapel is going to be filled with Haitians!

We went to the temple with our convert Miriam on Saturday and she did baptisms for her Mom, Dad, and Sister that have passed away! She absolutely loved the temple (who doesn't?) and she wants her whole family to get baptized in the church, but her husband is kind of a problem! We're super pumped that we could go to the temple with her just a week after her baptism and we went with Osvaldo and Katuisca as well! 

Speaking of Osvaldo... this guy is my hero. I seriously think he's got a stronger testimony than me. We had a family home evening with him this past Monday for Maycol's birthday and he was so happy. On Tuesday night he called me and was super, super sad. Turns out that his Dad died on Monday night. The worst part is that he was killed. Osvaldo's sister found him Tuesday morning in his bed covered in blood. Why are people so horrible? The world is seriously messed up. His dad is 79 years old and lives in the campo... they killed him for a gallon of gas in his house. That's all they took. You can imagine that Osvaldo was super sad and started crying. I just gave my testimony to him on the phone and cried with him. I told him that we should go to the temple this Saturday, and he agreed... but the rest of the week I lost contact with him because he was in an area without service. Turns out that when I saw him on Saturday he was tempted to revert back to his old way of dealing with things…but he didn't! He had a lot of anger more than anything and he told me that he just prayed a lot and he knows that our Heavenly Father has totally helped him cope with the loss of his Dad! He was sad going into the temple, but in the temple I sat with him and read (D&C 121:1, 7-8)

1 O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?

7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

 8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

 and told him to change hijo mio into Osvaldo Cordova... he thought I was a prophet and said that there couldn't be a better scripture. He left the temple all smiles and happy! It’s unreal the testimony this guy has! Pray for him and his family! 

I love this gospel. I love testifying to people that I know my Redeemer lives every single day. I love my Savior, I know that I can only improve and be with my family forever with this true gospel and the atonement! I love the small miracles I see everyday! I love carrying His name on my chest every single day!

This is the truth. 

Have an awesome week people! HAITI!!!!!

Elder Weaver 

Last Minute Milagro...Week 61

March 7, 2016

Wow, what a week! The last week of this change and I was dying to baptize, but nobody was looking too firm coming into the beginning of the week. Heavenly Father is a father of miracles and really loves us. He pulled through and we had a baptism! Sister Albarrán is now a member of La Iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santos de Los Últimos Días! 

As always there's a lot to tell, but very little time. Long story short…we couldn't even pass by Miriam's house until Wednesday and even then nothing was 100% that she was going to get baptized this weekend. I was in the most ghetto sector in the mission the whole day with Elder Walker and was DYING!!! I wanted to know if they were able to get the baptismal interview completed. I called in the night and she had her baptismal interview! Unreal, this baptism is one of the most surprising baptisms I've had in my mission! She accepted everything and was baptized by Elder Cachari on Saturday! Elder Cachari finished his first change in the mission baptizing, couldn't be happier! 

I know that Heavenly Father is a God of miracles. Sister Albarrán has really been struggling with many things in her life... she’s had some really hard circumstance, but she definitely felt the spirit and knew that baptism was the only way to feel clean from all her sins and to start over again! We're working with her 16 year old son Victor so that he can be baptized this month of March as well! 

There's really not much more that I can say!  I was so excited for Sister Albarrán and Elder Cachari! All the hard work, fasting, and prayers paid off! Oh, I'll be staying in Villa Sur for 6 more weeks! Wow, 7 and half months in one sector is a lot! Heavenly Father must really need me here is all I can say! I'm looking forward to this change and I feel like we will be able to baptize 6 of our investigators this change! 

I had divisiones in La Victoria Thursday! After 6 months in Ochagavía I finally go to go to La Victoria! All I can say is that Satan himself walks the streets of La Victoria! Look it up on Google and look up the story. It is literally a neighborhood filled with drugs, alcohol, prostitution, it is unreal! It's crazy because it's right across the streets from my sector, but it's 87643290864 times more ghetto and I thought my sector was ghetto! There are communist symbols in all of Santiago, but wow... La Victoria is a completely different world. The police don't even go in there. There's a ton of people to talk to though because everyone is out on the street all day! 

I will just reiterate that Ochagavía has taught me a lot. In Villa Sur you can't depend on the ward to carry you... you have to carry the ward. The worst news is that we lost our Mission Leader this week and a lot of members that attend every Sunday were called to stake callings.! Hay que trabajar no más! 6 more weeks! 6 more weeks!

LOVE ALL OF YOU! THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT!!! 

Elder Weaver

Week 60...

February 29, 2016

Wena Wena mis wachitos,

So this week was pretty dang cool. We got to listen to Elder Bednar on Wednesday and let me tell ya I loved the meeting. He was down in Good Air, Argentina, but it was still cool to see him through broadcast. He was speaking to all of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia, more than 6000 missionaries. I learned so much, and we all left the meeting super motivated and ready to take out the trash. I was super impressed by his wife though! Wow, Sister Bednar is amazing! It just goes to show that my wife needs to be and will be 99094059304530954 times the person that I am. I nearly cried her message was so good. She actually said a lot of what Mom tells me... She talked about how as a mom she just wanted to be a fly on the wall watching her kid get ready every morning, watching her kid teach lessons, and watching her kid go through tough times on the mission and see how he reacts. She told us to be the missionaries that our Mom's think we are! No worries Momma, I'm doing' ya proud, heck everyday I come home dead tired and unfortunately you're not here to talk to. The one person I have to talk to is my Heavenly Father and I just talk to him for 20 minutes every night talking about my day and my stresses, my blessing, all the miracles, etc. If I could do one thing in my mish, it would be talking to my Mom on those really hard days. 

Speaking of Prayers... Elder Bednar talked about prayers and faith. He said something that I have been chanting for years! WE DON'T NEED TO HAVE MEETINGS TO TALK ABOUT ALL THE PEOPLE WE NEED TO HELP IN THE WARD!!! For the love of Mike, we always pray for the people that didn't come to church so that they'll be able to come the next week, but NOBODY EVER DOES ANYTHING! He says a good prayer would be saying "Heavenly Father, here we are, in church, and we realize that a lot of people didn't come to church today. Help us to get out the door quickly so that we can go to these people's homes right after this prayer and check up on them to see how they are. We have a lot of faith that if we ACT and if we WORK then you will help them to come to church next week. We only need your help in one thing... help us make sure that we don't all go to the same person's house to see why they didn't come to church. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.” 

I love the Apostles; I know they are men called of God and that they are special witnesses of our Savior Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary and giving this message every single day to so many different people. I know my Redeemer lives; I know that He knows each one of us individually. I know that families can be forever, and I know that people can change their lives completely through the priesthood, with the true gospel of Jesus Christ! People can change for the better with good Christian beliefs, but a person will always have struggles and stains from their past sins because they have never received the fullness of the atonement in their lives. THIS IS THE TRUTH. I have no doubt that Jesus Christ guides and directs this church through a living Prophet and 12 apostles on the earth today! 

The good news is that our Haitiano investigator told us that he's ready to be baptized. It was a huge miracle, he literally explained perfectly what repentance is and he just wants to be clean and follow Christ! I love it! We also have a family we have been teaching, we thought they were the most put together people in this sector... yeah, well we passed by Tuesday and it turns out…they aren’t as together as we thought…'m not lying... they seemed so well put together. The wife wants to be baptized though and she LOVES THE CHURCH!

Love Ya All!

Elder Weaver

Week 59

 Mis Queridos Familiares y Amigos, 

Another week has passed by here in Villa Sur, or as Elder Cachari siempre dice (always says) "Villa Flyte" (flyte is a Chilean term that they use to describe crazy or out of touch). First and foremost I have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST MOM IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!  The 19th I was thinking about you! Can you believe that a year ago Presidente Doll let me make a video to send to you on your birthday while I was in the CCM? Crazy how time flies! I wasn't able to do that this year, but I was still thinking about you and all that you do for me! I LOVE YA A TON MOM!!! 

In other news, it's a bummer to hear about how Preston ended his wrestling season. That kid is such a fighter though! He's definitely a Weaver! He got beat because he literally lost consciousness out on the mat… I can only imagine the amount of pressure and pain he went through, but HE NEVER GAVE IN AND NEVER GAVE UP! That's the Weaver way, no pain no gain, and no mercy. The kid will be State Champ next year when I'm there to see him! What a stud!  He’s so freaking ripped too!!  So proud of that kid not only as an athlete, but his pure goodness as a person.  I love that kid!  

So this week another interesting thing happened. On Friday we went to an appointment with a group of Haitianos that we're teaching. They were sitting outside their house (because it's hotter than heck here) and were eating sandia, (watermelon) super tranquillo, enjoying the shade and sunshine. They invited us to sit down in a lawn chair with them to share "la palabra de Dios." (The Word of God) Suddenly a flyte came out of his house, the house right in front of the Haitianos. He started yelling at me and getting up in my face and saying SO MANY CUSS WORDS. Elder Cachari didn't understand a single thing he was saying because the cuss words are different here in Chile than they are in Bolivia, and flytes are super hard to understand because they have no education and they speak even faster than the typical Chileno. I was calm and started talking about Jesus Christ with him, he wasn't having any of it though and he was also super drugged out... to the point he was foaming at the mouth. He told me that if I didn't leave "his sector" right there and then that he was going to put a cap in my head or "da un palazo a mi cerebro." He threatened that he was going to grab his palo (stick) from his house. He went into his house and the next thing I know he came out with a huge freaking 2 by 8! He came running at me and I got up from my chair to defend myself. The coolest part is that one Haitiano got up first and totally defended me. The fylte didn't do anything to him, and he ended up putting his palo away. He kept screaming at me though and saying that he was "el diablo." (The Devil) Next thing we know he was outside watering his plants with a hose and I was looking at him and just knew he was going to mojarnos (get us wet). Sure enough he did, he totally drenched me with water and Elder Cachari too. Then kept screaming "he vivido aquí 20 años, yo y mi perra, yo y mi perra! Ésta es mi población!" (I have lived here 20 years, me and my dog, me and my dog. This is my area/home!) Of course he had cuss words mixed in there... he was totally drugged out though and it actually just made me laugh. We went into the Haitian hut to have the lesson to avoid any other problems... 

The only other thing I can say about this week is that I'm real tired. I can't lie, I think the one thing I will look forward to when I get home is being able to go to church and actually enjoy all the meetings. SUNDAYS ARE SO STRESSFUL ON THE MISSION! I have to worry about investigators going to church, menos actives going to church, then when I’m finally there…I end up giving talks/lessons because others just don’t show up. I know that God is the only one giving me strength, because honestly, no normal human being would put up with the stuff that goes down here in Villa Sur. Sometimes I just want to break down and cry because of the lack of any desire or understanding to be obedient to Gods laws, or because they don't want to get up in the morning to make it to church by 10AM. It just all kills me. The one thing that keeps me going is that I have converts like Osvaldo, Maycol, and Remy that are very active members and set an example to even those who have been members for many years in the church. It’s a miracle.

Speaking of Osvaldo... He had his cousin come over to his house last night to get a lesson from us. Not going to lie... it was super sad. Him and his kid who is 4 years old just live in poverty. He wants to change his life, but it's just so sad to see the way people live here in Ochagavía. Osvaldo just wants to save his whole family... he's such a stud. 

GOTTA GO! LOVE YA GUYS! HAVE AN AWESOME WEEK!!! 

Elder Weaver

Week 56...

Mi Gente, 

This week was absolutely insane! I have never gone so many days in a row without sleeping. Unreal the lack of sleep I had this week. The cool thing is that I somehow had the energy to work hard and fast this weekend, so I definitely saw a lot of blessings in that aspect of my life! My hijito is Elder Cachari from La Paz, Bolivia! He's the only Boliviano en La misión and he’s definitely got that greenie power we all talk about. He basically came into the mission ready to go to work, but I don't think he was expecting this kind of heat in Santiago. He's like "Elder, is it always this hot in Chile? Can we take more than one shower a day?" I was like... uh, no we can't take showers in the middle of the day. We must work from 11:30 to 9 or 9:30 everyday. The news that we only have 1 hour to eat almuerzo was also a kick in the pants. He asked me "Elder, when do we have our hour to eat dinner?" I was like; there is no such thing as dinner first of all, and second, we work the rest of the day after almuerzo. That kinda got him down, but he's getting acclimated to it all now. He's got a super powerful testimony and the first thing I asked him when I saw him was "Está listo para trabajar duro? Le gusta hacer ejercicios?" He responded "quiero trabajar full y me encanta hacer ejercicios!" Perfect kid for me! He doesn't exactly like the fact that I wake up at 6 to get an hour of working-out in before we get ready for the day... but he's getting accustomed to it! He ran pretty well with me the first day, but the second he nearly died. It's all-good, he leaves to run with me and that's all that matters!

Meeting our Greenies...

We had our fair share of Grizzweaver experiences this week! So Tuesday in the afternoon we were paired up with our greenies and we left immediately from Maipú. We gave his luggage to the pensionistas and they were going to bring us his bags in the night... yeah they never came. The worst thing is that the next morning we had to go to district meeting early so that I could have "El Consejo de Guerra" with the zone leaders and all the other district leaders in Ochagavía. On top of the fact that we didn't have his bags, I didn't have any credit in my cell phone to call anybody! Fortunately Papa Soza gave me his phone and I could make a few calls. He ended up going to his first district meeting with his dirty clothes from the day before and after the meeting his bags finally got to the pension! Poor kid... a Weaver as his trainer; this is just the beginning of the Grizzweaver misfortunes for this change. 

Elder Cachari is an interesting name and the Chilenos are having a hoot with our compañerismo. Weón is a curse word here in Chile... a rather strong curse word. I'm used to people reading my tag and saying "weeeeaaaver" like "weón?" I always say "no, weeeever." Chilenos also say "Catchai?" Instead of saying "entiende?" So Elder Cachari is like the hero here in Chile. They think his last name is so cool! 

This week we had some of the most spiritual lessons I've had in my mission. Elder Cachari really brings the spirit into every lesson. He shares a lot of personal stories and he's already made 3 Chilenos cry, which I've only seen once in my mission until now. Way cool guy, we're going to get along just fine! We have 4 investigadores with baptismal dates and church attendance!

The assistants are going to leave Villa Sur, so our sector just got a whole lot bigger and a whole lot more Ghetto! WE HAVE THE BLOCKS NOW!!! 

My first district meeting was pretty good. I have the Elders from Buenaventura (a small branch) and La Victoria (The most ghetto sector in the mission for the Zone Leaders). I talked about having confidence everyday to talk to everyone and overcoming our fears and obstacles that impede us from being the best missionaries we can be. I used the story of the lions and the perritos, that mom shared with me in a letter awhile back and how all of us have perritos in our lives that keep us from seeing our Regal Identity!  I love that story and it was perfect for my training.

YOU CAN'T PLAY BASEBALL IN THIS WEATHER! IT'S SO HOT HERE! (This is a line from the movie The Sandlot… Connor loved this movie growing up! It must be really hot!)

I Love the mission, I love my Savior, love my greenie, and we're going to take out the trash this change!

Paz Gente! 

Elder Weaver 

Week 55...

Hey all ya'll! 

So this last week was literally nuts. I'm running on very little sleep right now, but I'm pumped because I'm going to be receiving my first greenie today! That’s why I’m writing you guys today and not yesterday! Not only was I called to train, but I will also be District Leader here in Ochagavia. I have a companionship in a rama called Buenaventura and I'm District Leader over the Zone Leaders in the most ghetto sector in the mission called La Victoria. Sounds like they all have baptismal dates this weekend, so I'll be doing baptismal interviews this Thursday.

This last week was a solid week of work! Elder Marquina wanted to leave the sector in a good condition after being in the house for 2 weeks so we went all out this week to try and find and put fechas down! We also had the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast from the general authorities this past Wednesday that was spectacular.  It was a super simple message, but many times we forget as missionaries that the person really needs to experience that conversion before baptism or they’ll never stay firm in the church after their baptism. The people have to realize that without Christ we really are hopeless and if we aren't constantly doing our part to come unto Him, we aren't true Latter-Day Saints. I realized personally how much I really need the atonement even as a missionary. The times that I have felt the most successful is when I was constantly looking to improve myself rather than seeing all the reasons and excuses why people weren't progressing in my teaching pool! I loved the lesson that Elder Bednar touched about teaching with the spirit as well and how we are only the instruments for the spirit, but the Holy Ghost is the teacher. He mentioned something that is so true. We think as missionaries and as members that we can just jam our testimony into the heart of another person, but really we can only present an opportunity to bring the spirit close to the person's heart and they have to do the rest! They have to take the first steps of repentance by acting! That action is compromisos like reading the book of Mormon and praying and going to church. The people need to understand that every compromiso is an act of repentance because we're saying to our heavenly father that we're willing to act in order to change and come unto His son Jesus Christ! All in all, it was a great Worldwide Missionary Broadcast! Shout out to all those Mozambique missionaries that are going to see Elder Cook in this next month!

It was sad to say bye to Elder Marquina. He's been a great comp, and he was also the comp that I learned the most from. Lots and lots and lots of desafíos and pruebas de paciencia. I only hope to apply what I learned from him the rest of my mission. His Peruvian cooking will be missed as well. 

This is my first sector that I've had more than 3 changes. Not going to lie, it's hard because the sector is small and I feel as if I've contacted every house. We're going to baptize anyway though. 

This gospel is amazing, this mission is amazing, and I'm ready to take on the challenge of training while being a District Leader! I imagine my greenie coming in like Elder Calhoun from best two years with bottle glasses and his luggage everywhere and grabbing me and saying in the nerdiest voice ever "MY NEW COMPANEGA, ELDER JOHNSON WILL YOU TAKE A PICTURE OF US?" Then I'm going to give him the dirtiest look ever and we'll go to work! Ha! Ha! I love that part in the movie!  I’m sure I’m going to love him and we are going to get to work from day 1!  I'm pumped and nervous as all get out at the same time. Presidente really put the pressure on us yesterday in our trainers meeting. I have to set an example so that this mission continues to be the highest baptizing mission in Chile! 

Love all of you!

Much Love, Un Abrazo,

Elder Weaver 

Week 54..."You Can't Play Baseball in this Weather Benny..."

January 18, 2016

“You Can’t Play Baseball in this Weather Benny”

Hey there mis queridos! 

So Elder Marquina officially became Non-contagious today! So that's the good news for the week! We can finally leave the pension and work this week! I plan on just going absolutely crazy in the streets this week. There will not be a single person that will not be contacted. 

I wish I could say that a miracle took place this week, but it just didn't happen. Ludes is our main investigator right now and he passed his baptismal interview last week, but the reason he wasn't home last Sunday and didn't come to church is because another Haitiana that lives with them tried to kill his wife with a knife in the night... so I'd say that's a pretty valid reason not to get baptized. The Haitianos are kind of unpredictable, but it looks like this woman has some serious jealousy issues... Fortunately nobody was hurt and that woman doesn't live there anymore. Ludes told us that he still wanted to be baptized so we planned on baptizing him this Sunday... didn't exactly come to pass... A little frustrating, but I did everything I could. I'm confident that we'll see a baptism this last weekend of this change if we have the faith and if we work hard and if we're obedient. God is bound when we do what He says. I rely on that scripture everyday! 

Elder Marquina obviously looks a lot better, and he's ready to end this last week of changes here in Villa Sur. He'll definitely have cambios this week, he's been here since July…5 cambios in one sector is the maximum! We'll see what happens with me. We have some pretty solid investigatores, it'd be kinda hard for me to leave now, but I'm honestly dying to go to the coast right now, I've been in the city since May and it's SO FREAKING HOT HERE IN THE CONCRETE JUNGLE OF OCHAGAVÍA!!! 

The 14th I obviously had to burn a white shirt. Papa Soza helped me out, and luckily we didn't even come close to burning the house down. Turns out that about a year ago another Elder burnt a shirt to celebrate his one-year mark and he almost burnt the house down. 

I've learned a lot while being in the house. I've really analyzed why I'm here and what I plan on doing this last year of my mish. I read all of Dad's motivational quotes that he gave me, and I love the one that says, "Life would be awfully boring if we never tried to accomplish something extraordinary." I completely agree. I plan on baptizing and sharing the love of our Savior to a ton of people this last year. Everyday I plan on working even harder to try and save the souls of mis queridos estimados chilenos wachitos. Reading in Mosiah 26-29 really made me realize that there are a lot of people that will not be in the Celestial Kingdom. If we truly have love in our hearts for those around us, we should want everyone to partake of this gospel. I only hope to be able to be at the feet of my Savior in the last day and say "HE HECHO TODO LO POSIBLE, TE DI MI MEJOR!" I love my Savior and I love that we have the atonement in our lives to improve and be better each and everyday. As missionaries we sometimes think we're perfect and we don't need the atonement as much as our investigators, if we think that way we don't truly understand the atonement. We need to be constantly improving and progressing, none of us are even close to being like our Savior. 

I love all of you! Pray for Ludes, Felusme, Carlitos, and pray that the boyfriend of Rosalia, so that she can be baptized. 

I taught Elder Marquina a lot of lines from Sandlot this past week. He has no idea what he's saying but it's funnier than hearing aunt Lelsy say, "hot dog." You just gotta meet this guy; his English is pure "Weaverized." Who knew that a Peruvian would ever learn the phrase “What the heck are ya doin ya putz!" 

Signing out! Pray that I don't get skin cancer! KICK BUTT IN WRESTLING PRESTON!!! YOU ARE THE FREAKING MAN! 

 Love Ya!

Elder Weaver