How Glad I Am To Have You As My Family

February 25, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,

How glad I am to have you all as my family.  You are wonderful examples of Gospel living and you strengthen me each week as I get to see that example through the experiences that you have that you share with me and your wonderful desires to follow Jesus Christ.  Thank you, I love you. 

So we have been in various meetings all day today and have permission to email at this time during our preparation day.  We are actually at the Mission Home right now on President's computer.  There is tons happening and in motion right now in preparations.  We have transfers mostly done now and are working on getting 13 new areas opened this week and prepping about another 11 or so for the next transfer as of now.  We will be moving the majority of the mission in some form on transfer day.  Between 29 new ones, 29 trainers, and then moving many of the trainers former companions to new areas, there will be many at transfers.  For the arrivals we have 2 large trailers, a 12 seat van, a Silverado, Acadia, Mini-Van, Subaru, and another truck rolling up to the airport to pick up all these new missionaries and there luggage.  I wish I could go in and pick this group up inside the airport so I could see the faces of all the people there as an army of missionaries comes walking through the airport.  It's quite an operation.  We moved transfers back a day so that President and Sister Vellinga could interview them all. 

Elder Skalla and I along with the office staff and a few others are going to be doing various training with them all day next Wednesday while they are being interviewed.  It will be a fun week.  We are getting there as far as preparations go and it should all go over rather smoothly.  We hope. :)  It is amazing to be able to hear how the work is going forward with an ever-increasing rate.  The response to a Prophets call has been miraculous.  It's like the Gospel is true or something.

(Omitted out this paragraph and have now put back in):  It's amazing how fast the last six months have gone.  Time just has sped up with this assignment of assisting the President.  I have loved it and have learned so much here.  President Vellinga asked if he could change my assignment for this next transfer.  I knew it would be happening this transfer and although I have loved it here I am ready to finish out my last 2 transfers out in the field more.  Right now it looks like I am between being a zone leader in Kirtland or training again.  I am personally really hoping that it works out for me to train one last time before I go.  Train a new one right, one that won't get trunky at the end.  Trunky missionaries waste everyone's time, especially the Lord's and should go home at that point in my opinion...but maybe that's a little harsh.  Oh well.  Elder Ingersoll got the call the other day to be the next Assistant.  Elder Skalla and I saw that coming from a mile away.  He is an awesome Elder and will be a great Assistant.  I look forward to his leadership.  None of this goes out to the mission until next Thursday...so postpone reposting this letter until then just in case. 

I sure love you all.  Keep being wonderful examples to all. 

Till next week!

Love,

Elder Weaver

The Elect Are Being Found

February 18, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,

Ok so first things first, I am going today to get the license renewal sheet notarized.  This is literally the first day I could.  Sorry!  

I will include Uncle Brian in my prayers as well.  Let me know how the surgery goes.  

David is the name of the investigator I was talking about last week.  He is moving into the ward boundaries of the other ward that meets in our building today though.  We will still get to see him and go on exchanges to teach him occasionally, but he and his family found a new apartment and are moving which makes this kind of tough.  Glad he is still doing so great, but I wish we could still be teaching him.  The first Sunday David wore a black shirt and jeans to church.  This past week however a dry cleaning company that had lost his suit 2 months ago called saying that they had found it.  So this week he came in his suit.  Oh the tender mercies of the Lord when we do what is right.  The 18-year-old young man who attended the Mission President's Fireside is now being taught, has a baptismal date for March 10, and loves the Gospel.  He would really like to go on a mission.  In church on Sunday the missionaries serving their said he introduced himself in Priesthood saying, "I am not a member of your church yet, but I have a baptismal date for March 10.  The Elders said I could probably move it up though."  The Elect are being found.  We love the work here because miracles occur every day.

We had 3 of the 5 Zone Conferences this past week and the Spirit has taught us.  It has been wonderful to see how so many new missionaries who are growing and becoming great instruments in the Lord's hand.  I love being able to go around the whole mission to see and hear how everyone is doing.  We are growing as a mission and it is neat to be able to witness this.

So the wave of missionaries draws closer.  We are still making preparations and trying to transport as much "stuff" before they arrive as possible.  There will be lots of driving time in the coming weeks.

Well I sure love you all.  I am doing great and love serving here in the Ohio Cleveland Mission.  Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Weaver

Well, Last Week Was Awesome!

February 11, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,

Well, last week was awesome!  Quick updates...I am feeling much better.  Kicked the cold after a couple days.  It nailed just about all of us here in the office though.  Four sick missionaries from the MTC got just about all of us. 

This past week we met a new investigator.  He referred himself after some experiences in his life that has pushed him away from faith in God.  He has begun to realize something was missing in his life and wants a relationship with God again.  He served in the military and that is where much of his faith was shaken.  He is married now and has a 4-year-old son.  We have met with him and his son, but haven't met his wife yet.  We were told that she doesn't have much of a religious background and thinks it's weird that her husband is meeting with us right now.  However, I know that as he starts to apply these gospel principles in his life, she will see a difference in him and want to know what he is learning about.  That is how he came to refer himself.  Growing up he had a lot of LDS friends.  As he has talked with them recently they have repeatedly told him to meet with the missionaries.  He finally got in touch with us and we went and taught him that night.  He told us what was going on in his life and he said, "I want what they have (his friends that are LDS) and I want what you two have."  We focused our message on prayer and he offered a sincere prayer to be led to what was right.  Two days later we met with him at the church with our Bishop and shared the message of the restoration.  He bore a testimony after we talked about prophets saying, "I know God calls Prophets."  His former religious background was Catholicism, which he gave up on when he started questioning things at age 14.  This is a great comparison to the Joseph Smith First Vision account.  What made the comparison even greater was when he learned about Joseph seeing "…a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.  When the light rested upon me I saw two personages whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air."  He told us about when he was in Afghanistan and a story about when he died over there.  He has a big scar on his forehead from a hit he had taken.  His helmet stopped enough of the blast that they were able to bring him back.  However, he said before they brought him back, he saw a being of light.  He said he felt a pure love as he was there in the presence of this being.  He said, "I've experienced that." Referring to the Joseph Smith account.  In his prayer at the end of the restoration video he said, "I know that you call prophets, and I accept that you called Joseph Smith to be a prophet."  He then received a confirmation of that from the great Spirit that was there to testify. He came to church on Sunday, really enjoyed it, but said he was really tired.  He said, "I haven't drank coffee or tea for 3 days."  The first night we had met him, he had briefly asked about us not drinking coffee or tea.  He wants the church, he wants to know, and he wants this for his family.  He has a baptismal date for March 17, but he very well could be baptized sooner than that.

This week we also had an awesome Mission President's Fireside for the Cleveland Stake.  We had a great turn out, especially for our first one we have done.  The whole chapel was filled.  We are going to start taking it to all of the stakes in the mission.  We didn't have anyone conduct the fireside.  We showed the Mormon Message entitled "He Lives" to start it off, and then Elder Romrell played the piano and I sang "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul" after the opening prayer.  Following this we played the Mormon Message of Elder L. Tom Perry sharing the message of the restoration. Then a recent convert of about a month from Nigeria who came here to author books shared his conversion story of how he found the Church and joined.  We then had another musical number of a small missionary choir sing, "This is the Christ" and another recent convert of about a year who is getting sealed in the temple in a couple months share her testimony.  We then as a congregation sang, "I am a Child of God."  President Vellinga then shared his testimony of the restoration and talked about Kirtland and showed a brief slideshow of the sites.  He then invited everyone to attend the Kirtland sites and feel the spirit that is there.  Then our Stake President bore his testimony and we closed with all the missionaries in attendance singing "I Know That My Redeemer Lives."  It was an inspiring event.  One 18 year old young man who is not a member who was invited and brought by a member of the stake asked his member friend pointing at all the missionaries singing, "How can I become a missionary like them?"  He now wants to take the lessons and invite his family to learn.  Other non-members in attendance grew in their desire to learn and also to attend the Kirtland sites.  Amazing what the Spirit can inspire and invite others to do and become. 

Well we are off...we have 5 missionaries coming in soon from the MTC.  They are waiting for their visas and the MTC needs them out for the room.  So we are taking them in for a while.  Love you all lots! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Weaver

It's Monday Again!

February 4, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,

It's Monday again!  How is it that it always seems to be Monday?  Transfers ran smoothly and all the missionaries are where they need to be. This week is always especially quick.  We get a little less sleep, especially on these weeks and four of the new missionaries that came in had varying degrees of colds.  Unfortunately, four of us in the office caught it, including myself.  Lots of vitamin C, Orange Juice, and some other neat little things you sent out with me Mom should kick it quick.  This transfer of Missionaries that just came in is a great group.  They will all do well.  It's always a cool experience to see all the new ones come in one day, see a bunch of the mission the next, and then see and say goodbye to the departing missionaries.  We get to see each phase of this as assistants and it is cool to see the transformation that takes place between the arrival of a missionary and a departure of a missionary all within one day.  It's amazing how inadequate we may feel at times, but how the Lord qualifies and strengthens us.  We change, almost imperceptibly at times, and over the course of these 2 years it amazes me the growth that occurs.  I can clearly see how these 18 months to 2 years amplify your spiritual maturity and ability to build God's kingdom for the rest of your life and into eternity.  The things you can learn and acquire in a mission field would take years and years to accumulate elsewhere.  Something that I think is really cool is that even though it will be different back home I can still learn and apply the things I have learned here through studying Preach My Gospel and continuing to look for opportunities each day to be a missionary.  What the mission trains you to do is not just stop after these short few years.  It teaches you how to structure and discipline your life so that you can be an instrument in God's hands wherever you serve.  That is what God asks of us.  That is what we must do.  We can't just spend these two years serving God and then fall off.  That isn't what He asks of us anywhere that I can find.  Instead, He tells us to lose our life for Him and then we will find it.  He tells us to feed His sheep and save His lambs.  He invites us to follow Him and lets us know that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.  That is conditional on if we do the things He asks of us.  It really is the easier way.  If we do all that He asks of us we will never regret it.  We will be happy, have peace, and live a life that we can have joy in.  Stark examples and lessons learned here in the field have taught me this.  Thank you everyone back home who helped me get here.  I am eternally grateful for the examples, testimonies, and loving correction that have blessed my life and helped me to become more of what my Heavenly Father desires and knows I can be.  I love Him, my Heavenly Father, and my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know that they live.  We have a Prophet and Apostles today to lead and guide us.  They teach us the doctrine of the Kingdom of God.  I know that the gospel and The Church of Jesus Christ have been restored by the power and authority of God through Joseph Smith.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and it works in perfect harmony with the Bible and each of the other standard works.  They teach us eternal truth so we can clearly understand our purpose and potential.  I know that the promises found within these sacred texts are true.  I know that this is the way to return to live with our God and family.  I know these things by the power of the Holy Ghost.  I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Weaver