GOOD MORNING; WHAT A GREAT WEEK!

March 25, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,

What a great week!  We have found a couple new/former investigators who are interested and we have either met with them or will be meeting with them this coming week.  We went through our area book and dead pool looking for former investigators who may be willing to meet again and have had some good success with it this week.  We found 2 that we have taught now and have a few more scheduled for this coming week.  The two we met with are Cortina and Hayden.  Cortina met with missionaries before Elder Berryessa and I got here and for some reason just hasn't been able to meet for about 2 months.  She is now currently working towards baptism on May 11th.  Hayden is a college student here in Cleveland and met with missionaries until right before Christmas.  She had some family emergencies and the missionaries lost contact with her for a while.  She is very interested and has great questions.  We will be setting a date for baptism with her this coming week when we meet her again.  As far as my goal as a family goes we may have found at least one of them.  There is a part member family in the ward that we met this past week.  The Dad is a member and the rest of the family, numbering 12 kids and his wife, 13 all together are un-baptized.  They are a busy family, and he became less active soon after he was baptized.  We met with him finally this past week and in talking with him he expressed how he has been looking around at other churches.  He then expressed that he didn't feel like he belonged in the church.  He felt like something was still missing after he joined and so he stopped coming and started looking into other churches...what he was missing was doing his family history.  He expressed a great desire to know where he came from.  He had been feeling the spirit of Elijah to do his family history and to research and find out whom his family is.  The problem is that he had no idea about the church's resources in this area, and more importantly about being able to perform ordinances for their behalf in the Temple.  We read from Doctrine & Covenants 110 when the Lord, Moses, Elias, and Elijah appear in the Kirtland Temple and restore the keys of the Gathering of Israel and the keys for the work of redeeming the dead.  We read this and testified of these events.  We helped him understand that he was feeling the spirit of Elijah and that he very well may have ancestors who are waiting for him to do their work in the Temple.  We then gave information to him about where the family history center was and some other resources he could use in searching out his family.  At this point his entire attitude changed and he now would like to meet with the Bishop and us and to prepare to go to the Temple.  We are hoping to meet with him again this week and then start bringing the family in soon as well. Getting all of them together will be a trick though...nothing a miracle can't solve though.

I am glad to hear that our extended family is doing well!  I hope all continues to go well, if not, then I know that as we continually exercise faith in Christ, all will be well in the end.  

At home MTC huh?  I like it!  Sounds like a great Ward Conference you had.  The Lord is truly hastening His work here.  We are seeing that each day.  What I have noticed is the time that the Lord is preparing the next years of missionaries is becoming younger and younger.  The change in the youth curriculum is going to make a huge change.  What that curriculum teaches youth to do is missionary work.  Being able to teach and testify simply and clearly of the truth.  The missionary force around the world is being strengthened daily.  How incredible it is to see the strength of the youth and I know that we will see that strength become stronger and stronger in the following years.

Sounds like a great idea for our trip!  Start in Kirtland and then go visit people and then out to Palmyra.  That sound like a good agenda.  I am realizing I need to get in touch with some people from my past areas that I would like to visit so that they know I will be visiting...hmm, I will work on that.  It's tricky communicating and setting things up with former areas. Mission Rules make that part difficult.  I will see what I can do though.

I love you all lots.  Have a great week this week.

Love,

Elder Weaver

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

March 18, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,

First off Mom and Dad, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!  Sounds like you had a great weekend together and a lovely "seeing each other" at church. :) Congratulations on 23 years of marriage.  Thank you for your faithfulness to each other and God.  It has established a strong family in the Gospel through your commitment to keeping the covenants you have made.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

My new address is 2635 N. Moreland Blvd. Apt. 103, Cleveland, OH 44120  

And yep, it is ok to send a package to this address.  Are you sending it now or next month at my Birthday?  Just so I can keep an eye out for it. The way package's work in this part of town is a little sketchy...but none of them have been stolen so far.  Bikes, I can have a member put it on Craig’s list if I want to sell.  Should I?

I am loving the Ward here and the area.  The members are great and we are focusing on helping them invite people to something at least once a month.  This is what the Stake Presidency has asked members to work on here so we are helping by keeping it in their remembrance.  Many of the members here are medical/dental students/residents.  They have some crazy schedules, but it's ok, we will work with them.  They are solid young members so it's fun.  The area itself is very unique.  Different than any other area I have served in.  There is the Cleveland side and the Shaker Heights side.  The architecture with many of the homes on the Shaker Heights side is very interesting.  Many cool designs and various types of stonework.  They are pretty cool.  We live right outside a shopping/major bus station called Shaker Square if you want to Google it.  

We are working on another Mission President's Fireside for the Kirtland Stake in May currently.  We are going to hold it in the Kimball's old Ward in Solon.  It is going to be a great event.  We are trying to get the word out now so that we can have as much of the Stake and their friends attend as possible.  The member work is definitely driven by events, and this is one that is powerful.  Everyone should attend it at all possible.  It helps non-members feel the spirit and want to learn more, and it helps any member strengthen their testimony and inspires them to continue sharing the Gospel.

We have the same investigators as last week with a few more potential investigators we are following up with this week.  Zhaosu however sounds like he was anti'd/peer pressured by some of his Baptist friends.  We were bold and loving on the phone with him and left it very open for missionaries in the future to help him receive the Gospel.  As for now he doesn't have a desire to continue meeting.

Still looking for the family that is prepared here.  I hope it is a family that we can teach before I leave though.  Either way I am going to keep seeking to find them till the end.

Elder Berryessa is awesome and a great companion.  He loves his mission, is obedient, has the spirit, and is a blast to serve with.  We have fun!  He is from Santa Clara Utah, down by St. George.  He graduated in 2011 and went to a year of School at Dixie State.  He enjoys traveling, boating, and camping.   

Well we have a busy Preparation day ahead.  Have to bring the cleanliness bar up a little more for this area than it has been.

I love you all and hope you have a great week.  Be safe!

Love,

Elder Weaver

I Am Loving The New Area

March 11, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,

I am loving the new area, new companion, new investigators, and new members!  This area has great potential.  We had our first 3 lessons with new investigators our first 3 days here and 2 of them have a date for baptism in April and the other should have one in our next lesson.  There were a couple investigators from when Elder Berryessa, my new companion who was already serving here, but it sounds like we are starting over with a new teaching pool since we haven't been able to meet with the ones from before I got here.

Here is a quick update on the new investigators.  Zhaosu is from China, but has lived all over. He is 25 and is inviting his 12-year-old sister to meet with us as well tonight. Another investigator named Jerome we were going to teach for the first time introduced us to his cousin Paul when we came over. Paul is a less-active member of the church in another ward and expressed a desire to come back, but felt he couldn't because of some mistakes he has made. It was neat to be able to testify of his ability to come back and be forgiven through Jesus Christ and then have him help us teach his cousin Jerome the Restoration. Julio is from Brazil and is here while his wife completes a research project. He has lived here for a year and plans on being here for at least 1 more year. We learned his expectations and let him know our purpose in being there. At first our purposes conflicted, he was interested in knowledge but not converting.  By the end he understood that we were there to deliver a message from God, one that he could know to be true from God. And if God let him know that it were true that he would want to be baptized and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. We are meeting with all of them again over the next 3 days.

Elder Berryessa and I have a goal to meet with all the active members in the ward in 3 weeks and then to meet all of the less-actives in the ward by the next transfer.  We are looking for investigators to help prepare for baptism and families that we can help prepare for the Temple.  Speaking of families, that's one of my goals in this area, is to find and help a family prepare to be baptized.  I had this impression come to me right before I was transferred here.  I have a really great feeling about this area.  

Elder Berryessa is from Santa Clara, Utah down by St. George.  He is a hard worker, obedient, and loves the work.  I am enjoying our companionship already.

Elder Berryessa & Elder Weaver Transfer Day 3-7-2013

Transfers were incredible this past week.  Just for the new ones and their trainers they packed half the middle section of the chapel.  59 missionaries just involved with training.  Many things came up last minute in the arrivals of all of these new missionaries, but everything worked out as it always does.  At midnight, the night before they all arrived, President got a call that due to weather conditions the flight for all these missionaries had been canceled.  They either would then come really late the next night or possibly really late Wednesday night and be sent back to the MTC for a day.  What ended up happening was they got split up onto 3 separate flights and all came in at different times.  I can just see all 29 missionaries in the airport confused because they just learned their flight had been canceled and then to receive different boarding passes and having to split up and figure out how to get here.  It was an adventure.  We also were told that a missionary that was supposed to come out next transfer was on the plane coming to our mission that day.  So President called up another person to train and we were going to split their area since there was a triple up in that area.  When they all got here we had them eat dinner and sent them to bed.  During dinner however Elder Skalla was talking with some of the new missionaries and they kept saying there were only 29 of them.  Elder Skalla came over to me and said, "Elder Weaver, I never saw Elder Cuestas..."(the missionary that was supposedly on the flight.)  We went over to President and learned that he had just called the MTC and they told him that he wasn't coming until next transfer.  So if you see an Elder Cuestas walking around looking lost, send him our way or back to the MTC because apparently he is supposed to be in one of those two places.

The next day was the training day and it went really well.  No surprises. :) Having them get some rest and then receive some training and orientation worked much better than having them take all of it in the day they got here. We also had the opportunity to let them know the expectations of our mission and what our goals and focuses are right now.  It was very positive and the things they learned are definitely helping them adapt quicker and be the missionaries that they need to be.  What a great group of Elders and Sisters.  We opened 13 new areas this transfer and are looking at opening at least 12 more next transfer.  We have 26 currently coming in the April transfer and 14 coming already for the May transfer.  

I am almost out of time now so all of you have a great week.  I love ya lots!

Love,

Elder Weaver

Here We Go Into The Quickest 4 Days Of My Mission

March 4, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,

Well here we go into the quickest 4 days of my mission!  We are running until Friday this week.  Tomorrow we pick the 29 missionaries up, welcome them, feed them, and put them to bed.  Then Wednesday they will be interviewed by the Vellinga's and trained by the office staff, Elder Skalla, and I.  Then Thursday we transport them to Kirtland for the tour of Kirtland and then to the transfer meeting.  From the transfer meeting I will be heading to Shaker Heights as a Zone Leader in the Kirtland Zone with Elder Berryessa.  I am pretty positive I will finish my mission in that area.  The area is on the East side of Cleveland.  I will get to go on exchanges in Solon, where the Kimball’s used to live occasionally.  I will see about going and visiting their non-member friends out there while I am on exchanges. 

David (investigator here in North Olmsted) just moved to Lakewood this past week so we are in the process of transitioning the next Elders to teach him.  He just text this morning saying that his favorite verse in the Book of Mormon so far is 2 Nephi 10:23.  Great verse!  He is progressing really well and we will be meeting him tonight.  This will be my last visit with him but I plan to stay in contact with the process.  

Thank you so much for your prayers and fasting.  We are fasting and praying for those who God has prepared and it is amazing to see the miracles that occur as we are united, missionary & member, in faith through fasting & prayer.  Immediately after a Ward fast for missionary work and opportunities to share the Gospel, a member called with a contact they had just met in returning a red box DVD and also a recent convert asked if he could bring a friend to our next lesson as the new member lessons are being shared.  I love this work.

I apologize this weeks letter is so short.  I have to go pack and get a few things done before tomorrow starts. 

Love ya lots,

Elder Weaver