This Last Week Has Been A Cold One

January 28, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,

This last week has been a cold one.  However, we have been working on so many things at the office and with training missionaries this past week that we have hardly been out in the cold weather.  It never ceases to amaze me how busy this office is constantly.  We have transfers, mostly finalized, travel arrangements made, training for the month scheduled, and Zone Conference will be in the works next week in preparation for the following week.  This next transfer will be 5 weeks as opposed to the normal 6 weeks since this is the transfer that the time missionaries spend in the MTC will be shortened by a third.  This transfer will be a blur. 

May 29th will be the day you will be able to pick me up.  I will not be released at this point so I will still need to dress in proselyte clothes, wear my name tag, and will probably not be able to go to certain places within our mission. (Entertainment places, amusement parks, etc.)  I am still unsure about my flight home if the mission will cover it for a different day or not.  I still need to find that out.  President has had a lot of things going on so I haven't asked some of the details yet.

Sister Rasmussen!  Yep, I know her.  She used to be one of the training sisters at Kirtland.  What a small, small world.  I just met a member’s daughter in this ward that just got home from SUU and she knows Ally Johnson (Best, Maiden Name), and a bunch of other friends of mine.  She has a picture with them.  She sent a picture of me to Ally eating dinner at their house the other day on her phone. 

This past week we made contact with some neat less-active families and other individuals who have desires to come back to church activity and to have the Spirit in their lives.  One man hasn't been in the church for over 20 years.  He has served many tours in Afghanistan and recently retired from the military.  He has experienced many heart hardening things, things that we cannot even imagine.  He expressed how he has recognized God's hand in his life recently since retiring and has seen Him reaching out to Him.  When talking with him he expressed how he felt when he was active and attending church with his first wife.  He talked about what he would feel each week with the feelings of the Holy Ghost.  He said he hasn't felt that since he left, and has never felt it when he has gone to his current wife’s church.  We asked if he would like to have that feeling in his life again and the way he responded I would never forget.  I have never seen someone want or need that more in his life at anytime than that night with him.  We gave him a blessing after reading and discussing the atonement.  During and following the blessing there was a feeling of complete peace.  This man recognized it and we identified that to him as the Spirit.  We let him know we would invite him to do things to increase his faith and that it would take change on his part.  We then invited him to simply start with prayer and to pray each day and speak with his Heavenly Father.  He has amazing potential to become a strong and stalwart disciple of Christ.  He has a family that he could lead to baptism and to the Temple as he begins and endures making these changes.  He very well could be a very strong leader of the Saints in this area if he comes unto Christ and applies the atonement.  It is amazing what we are capable of becoming through the atonement and grace of Jesus Christ.  My testimony of and desire to serve Jesus Christ and my Father in Heaven grew that night.  I know that the atonement is real and purifies, strengthens, comforts, and enables us to become all that our Heavenly Father wants us to be.  I love being able to share this message.  Everything we are called to do and caused to endure to take this message to the world is worth it, every bit of it.  I pray that all of us as fellow saints will never tire of well doing.  That we may draw upon the strength of the atonement to endure all things, to do all things and to aid in this great work. 

I love you all very much and pray that you have a great week.  I know I will be emailing you all again soon.

Love,

Elder Weaver