I Will Be 20 Years Old This Week

April 23, 2012

Dear Family,

I am so happy to hear you are all doing so well!  I have been having a great week as well!  I love you all a bunch!

So I will be 20 years old this week, and guess what my birthday gift to the Branch is?  I get to speak to them all in sacrament meeting!  I am going to speak on the WHY of the Gospel.  I have been reading and pondering several talks and scriptures on this and I am excited to begin organizing and preparing my talk.  The other 2 Elders in our district Elder Lincoln and Elder Kitchen have birthdays on the 18^th and 27^th so we are going to get together on P-day the next day and go somewhere to eat.  That's the plans for my birthday pretty much!  Other than that I hope to find a whole heap of brothers and sisters to teach the Gospel to!  Happy Birthday Elder Weaver, here are souls to save.  That would be great!

So Alicia Bryant is doing awesome!  We are planning on going to Kirtland with all of them on Saturday, May 5th.  In one of our phone calls this week she told us how happy she feels when she is learning in lessons or reading the Book of Mormon.  She has great desires to raise her son Javin (13 months) up in the Church.  The Saubers are doing amazing at fellowshipping and we are working together to do all we can to help Alicia partake of this wonderful Gospel.  She is great and she is comprehending, applying, and committing to everything.  She has definitely been prepared. 

Dianne Kimmet knows everything is true.  She is just getting over some fears of disappointing some of her family members.  We are trying to have her come to Kirtland as well, and are thinking of committing her to a baptismal date in the same room of the school of the prophets.  That would be way neat!  She is so close, just needs to put faith over fear! 

Mark Gruber was in the hospital with pneumonia for like 8 days.  He finally answered his phone and we were able to find out where he had been after 2 weeks of not meeting.  He said in the hospital he had a lot of time to think about where he was in life and how his addictions have been running his decisions.  After 20 years in AA he has finally decided to just say no to his addictions and he is looking to come unto Christ and make the necessary changes to live a happier more peaceful life.  He is beginning to have his "change of heart."  We are excited to keep helping him find that happiness and peace!

Things have been going well.  Members are starting to catch the fire of the Spirit and their desires to serve are growing.  Investigators are making changes and are now desiring to come unto Christ, and Elder Tollefsen and I have been growing and enjoying this opportunity which we have to serve.

Well I hope you have a wonderful week this week!  I love you all very much!

Love,

Elder Weaver

I Am The District Leader Here Now

April 16, 2012

Dear Family,

I am sorry about misinforming you about the title of the talk by Elder Bednar last week; it was actually entitled "Ask in Faith."  Sorry if that confused you at all!

  

Well this last week was transfers.  I am the District Leader here now and am looking forward to our Zone Development meeting on Wednesday.  Elder Tollefsen and I will also be singing a duet.  Hymn 197 O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown.  Some great things from this last week is the power of the spirit through General Conference!  We had 3 investigators watch Elder Christoffersen and President Monsons Sunday morning talks.  The investigators were Sherry Kent, Kelsea Gordon and her friend Alison.  After they watched the talks it was incredible to see the visible change in each one of them.  With Sherry we talked with her a few days later and she said that things are now clicking, that everything is making sense to her like no other church has ever done for her.  She has felt that what we share is truth, but it just finally hit her after watching those talks.  Kelsea and Alison both learned so much about our message as a people and now understand our purpose in visiting so much better.  After they watched those talks we again shared Moroni 10:3-5 and 2 Nephi 33 where it talks about the Book of Mormon being the words of Christ.  They have seen how their faith has grown since meeting with us, and is now understanding that this is so much more than just learning about another religion or just meeting with educational purposes.  Something has changed in them as they have heard truth.  They are finally realizing this, and both now trust us and their fellow shippers the Grines enough to have told us some of their fears which has helped us know how we can help them progress so much more.  They will be moving at the end of the semester back home but we are going to get missionaries in their hometowns over there as soon as they are back.  I don't have time to talk about Alicia right now...but great things are happening there and we are hoping to go to Kirtland with her, her sister Sarah (24), Dianne Kimmet (another investigator) who just finished the Book of Mormon, and the Saubers!!  Exciting things I will talk more about next week! 

I love you all so much and pray you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Weaver

The Days Just Keep Flying

Dear Family & Friends,

Good Morning California!  I hope you are having a wonderful week there and are enjoying the sun!  Fingers crossed it isn't raining on you!  So where did this week go?  The days just keep flying...so I am now going into the transfer after today that at the end of it will be my year mark...that is crazy.  Also this month I am saying good-bye to the teenage years!  Time to grow up and stuff. 

So this last Sunday the Saubers in the Branch brought their niece Alicia (21) to church again.  Her first time coming was on the "invite a friend to church" Sunday a while back.  She has liked both experiences and agreed to begin taking the lessons!  We had dinner at the Saubers with her and then we went over the Restoration together.  She has been prepared.  She quickly accepted to read the Book of Mormon, and committed to May 26 for Baptism.  She wants to learn and develop her relationship with God.  She works every other Sunday so not this week, but the following she said she is going to bring her 24 year old sister with her to church.  We are also going to see if her 12-year-old brother who came to church once is interested in coming again with them.  We are so excited for her!  The Saubers have acted on the promptings of the Spirit the last couple weeks for sure, and we are so grateful for their willingness to do so.  We hope their example will sink into the hearts of all the members here.  When we follow the council and the process established by our leaders today miracles happen.  Those who are truly prepared are found, and they progress so much smoother when members find them.  We have the Smiths also working with some family members and are helping them to invite them to learn the gospel. 

Something that has really stood out to me this last week, and has helped me personally grow has been studying a talk by Elder Bednar titled "Meaningful Prayer" (April 2008 General Conference).  The principles that it discusses have helped me grow as a missionary and son of God and has caused a major change in me again and has helped me learn my purpose further.  One thing that really stuck out to me in the talk and is going to help a family here to know how to go about inviting their family to learn of the gospel was this...We all know the Gospel and it's principles in the church, most of us are very familiar to them...but how often do we actually use them?  How often do we have "meaningful prayer" and truly rely on the Spirit for all things?  I have found I do not use the principles of the Gospel, especially prayer as often or as effective as I need to.  After reading that talk several times and pondering and studying I have grown in my testimony of prayer, and how much easier and powerfully things happen in our lives as we rely on the strength of God instead of our own strength.  As we rely on that strength this work will move forward in a remarkable way and the church will grow with an ever-increasing speed and power.  Re-read and study this talk this week.  I have very much enjoyed studying it and know as well as with Elder Bednar that "all of us can improve the efficacy and consistency" of our prayers.  I love you all very much and pray that you will each have opportunities to share the gospel this week.  I invite you to pray for an opportunity to share the gospel with someone in some way while in California, and let the gospel light and warmth touch someone while there.

I love you each so much.  I know this Gospel is true. I know that we are each engaged in a marvelous work, and that as we each seek the will of God and His power to do that will, we can each accomplish our purposes in this life and witness great miracles as we do so.

Have a wonderful week together in California! 

Love,

Elder Weaver    

What A Wonderful General Conference

Dear Family & Friends,

What a wonderful general conference!  It went by very, very fast.  Each session had great messages for all of our investigators, the Branch, and for me personally, to know how I can become a better missionary and son of my Heavenly Father.  We had Dianne Kimmet to conference this last weekend...many things came up for others not being able to be there unfortunately.  But Dianne loved the session she was able to attend, and just finished the Book of Mormon with our Mission Challenge of reading it by the 30th of March!  She has never read the Book of Mormon cover to cover and she said she has loved it and found so much that applies specifically to her as she has read.  She plans on reading it again before the year is over.  We are hoping to help her identify and recognize the examples of faith in the Book of Mormon to helping her commit to a date for baptism.  Her Mom is Catholic and she is working through that concern of not disappointing her mom.  I know as she has read the Book of Mormon her faith has grown, and she has increased in her desire to be baptized and go to the temple.  Faith over Fear!  I can't wait to meet with her this week.  I pray she will accept a date and continue to prepare for that day. 

We are hard at work here in Tiffin striving to help those we have found to progress and seek for more of our Brothers and Sisters to help come unto Christ.  We met a pretty cool guy named Tyrone Mormon this last week.  We knocked on his door and talked with him for a while.  In our conversation he talked about how he always got hit by teachers in churches growing up because of questions he would ask.  Like one of them was, "why is there the old testament, and new testament?  Did God mess up or something?"  We then explained the Old and New testaments to him and he said, "well that's simple, why didn't they just say that?"  We then shared the restoration with him and shared an additional witness of Christ with him, the Book of Mormon.  We are hoping to meet with him again this Friday (our usual day in Fostoria.) 

John Lange said he is reading but wasn't able to meet on Thursday or come to an sessions of conference because he was moving and getting some final things done with going to school at Tiffin University.  We are planning on meeting with him this Thursday.  We gave him the site to watch the talks online and said he would check them out...I have found specific talks for most of those we meet with and am excited to invite them to watch them online with us.  The words of the Prophet and Apostles today are very powerful and the spirit is so strong each time they speak.  I know if they listen sincerely and with real intent they will feel the Spirit as they are uplifted and invited to change and come unto Christ. 

Well I hope you have a great week!  Continue to grow in Faith and become what our Heavenly Father wants us all to be!  I love you!

Love,

Elder Weaver

P.S. I do have a mormon.org profile, type in “Chris Musical Theatre” and I should be right there.  Do you all have one?