The Final

May 28, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,

Well looks like this is it. It sure is amazing what can happen in 2 years.  I have had so many wonderful experiences here with having the opportunity to serve my Father in Heaven, my Savior Jesus Christ, and my brothers and sisters in the Cleveland, Ohio.  I am humbled by how good God is to us, even when so many of His children go on in rebelling against Him.  I know that it is only through our Savior and His atoning sacrifice that we each will be able to someday stand before God, and it is my prayer that it will be a day of rejoicing and peace for each of us.  

I want to thank each of you, all of you back home, for your love, support, encouragement, and faith filled prayers on my behalf and on behalf of the missionaries around the world.  We truly appreciate every sacrifice and petition to God to help us be instruments in His hands and bring about his purposes upon the Earth every single day.  We feel those prayers and it brings us power to continue to go about this great work.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I love you all dearly and pray that God will continually bless each of you and your families.

Some updates on Tinisha's baptism...It will now be Friday, May 31st at 7:30 PM.  She will be getting baptized along with another investigator that has been meeting with the sister missionaries in the ward.  We are excited for them and are so proud of the changes they have made and how they have faithfully prepared themselves to make and keep sacred covenants with God.

So, today I will pack.  It's our Preparation Day today.  Tomorrow we will be heading out to the transfer meeting.  Following we will go to the Kirtland sites, enter the Whitney Store, and go up to a little room upstairs called the School of the Prophets.  We will have an opportunity to close our missions through prayer in the same room where 2 years ago we started our missions by dedicating these two years to Them.  From there we will go to the Mission home, eat dinner, enjoy each others company, go through our departure packets, laugh, cry, and SLEEP!  I enjoyed watching these evenings as an assistant, it inspired me to want to work hard to the very end and not waste any time out here.  Then at 12 o' clock the next day Mom and Dad will be knocking at the mission home door and I will answer!  Then off for a great week!  I will be coming home after a week here in Ohio and New York the following Wednesday.  I am excited to see all of you!  

By the way Mama and Daddy-O, I had my final interview with President Vellinga on Saturday and I asked him about some of the rules we will have.  He said as long as I am with you we can go and do whatever we would like while out here.  So, we can do Niagara Falls, if we want to see a musical here in Cleveland, etc., we will be able to do that as long as I am with you.

I love you all lots and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Weaver

I Am Sure Excited To See You All In The Next Couple Weeks!

May 20, 2013

Well good morning everyone!  I am sure excited to see you all in the next couple weeks.  The following Wednesday is coming super fast.  

Sounds like you had a great sacrament meeting yesterday.  Is this Jason Brown’s second time speaking in the Ward?  

Our week went well.  Tinisha is progressing well and is working for June 1st.  Leeneal won't make that date, but Tinisha really would like to take this step as Leeneal continues to work towards baptism.  She has an interview this next week.  We continue looking for more investigators here and across the mission.  We have been receiving training recently for how we can better work with members to help them be engaged and excited about the work in each ward.  If we can do our part to help them become more engaged, other than just coming and teaching with us, then they will begin to have experiences that will be inspiring and help them to invite more of those they know to learn of the Gospel.  This will in turn bring about more baptisms as a mission when we are able to help the members become more effectively engaged in this great work. 

Dad, will you be attending your Mission President's funeral this next week? Do they live close enough to attend?  I hope so.  That would be great for you to be able to go.  It's amazing how much your Mission President and his wife/family impact you over the 2 years you serve.  I sure love the time that I have been able to serve with and learn from both of the Mission President's I have had here.  

My bike, I have not sold yet.  My offer that I was going to take claims he just bought a new bike, but now his brother is interested in buying my bike for $300 and CAN'T go any higher.  That was this guys original offer, I am pretty sure he is just trying to get the price lower.  I brought the price down on Craigslist and will see what offers come this week.  If nothing I will take the $300 I think.

Well, I am going to finish out strong!  I sure love you all and look forward to catching up with you all soon.  Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Weaver

It Was Good To Be Able To Hear From All Of you Yesterday!

May 13, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,

It was good to be able to hear from all of you yesterday on Mother’s Day. I sure enjoyed getting to catch up on all that is happening and being able to share with you personally on how things have been going here. I came away from our conversations inspired to continue working hard to the very end. I am glad for the "boost" our conversation had on me to serve with ALL of my heart, might, mind, and strength to the end.

Thanks for sending me that mothers day e-card. That is a great one! Hope you had a great finish to your Mother’s Day mama! I love you and am so thankful for all you have taught me, for your great faith that has influenced my life greatly, and the love that you have for each one of us no matter what. You truly magnify your calling as a Mother and I will ever be grateful to you for that.

In answer to your question about my companion he is doing just fine. He will be going home in August and this is probably his last area too. We're working hard and focusing on the right things. So no worries here.

I had another offer on my bike for $360 last night and am thinking I may accept that offer. We will see if I can get a little more out of it though. As far as clothes go I will be throwing out most of my white shirts, and yes they are still white...especially compared to some other Elders, my towels will be going out, and a pair of shoes or two will be thrown out. We'll see what else gets thrown out when that time arrives.

Tinisha and Leeneal are progressing really well. Last night Tinisha felt the Spirit strongly as we discussed the principles of Faith and Repentance. She has experience a lot with these two principles the last 2 months and has experienced the joy of growing in Faith and making changes to follow her Savior. She is sharing what she is learning with her friends and has many friends and family who are not members planning on attending her baptism. She is experiencing what Alma teaches in verse 24 of Alma 36. When you know the sweetness of the Gospel and Atonement of Jesus Christ you have a desire to share it with others. The 2nd page of Preach My Gospel says, "As your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ grows, your desire to share the Gospel will increase."  This is a great sign of someone who is becoming truly converted.

I hope you all have a great week. I sure love you and look forward to seeing you all again when that time comes.

Love,

Elder Weaver

30 May 2013 President Vellinga Letter to Bishop Hulbert

30 May 2013 - Elder Weaver Completes His Missionary Labors

Sounds Like Quite The Eventful Week/Weekend!

May 6, 2013

Dear Family & Friends

Sounds like quite the eventful week/weekend you have had.  I sure love getting your emails and hearing how you are all doing and what has been going on.  Congrats on making Seussical and Pimpernel sisters.  And Happy Birthday Sissy!  This weekend sounds like it has been loads of fun.

Time just keeps flying right on by.  I can hardly believe I have less than a month left here in the Ohio.  I will keep working hard till the end.  No worries at all.  I look forward to spending another week here in Ohio touring the sites with you mom and dad.  Glad you got my measurements in the mail.  I am so excited to go back to the Temple.

For my Birthday we had pie and ice cream at night, but for lunch we went to The Melt.  It's a Cleveland restaurant.  Super amazing grilled cheese sandwiches.  Awesome place!  We may have to go to it when you come out. 

Thanks for adding Antoine on Facebook!  Also, I am in the process of selling my bike.  I have an offer for $350, another guy is coming to take a look at it today, and I have 2 emails I need to respond to of others who are interested.  My asking price was $450, I'm going to wait it out until I can get at least $400.  We are pretty confident we can sell it at that price.

That's awesome for the Davis family to have 3 missionaries all out at the same time.  What a unique and wonderful opportunity.  They will be greatly blessed.  A senior couple in the mission from their ward actually said hello to me for them the other day.  Their name is the Riches. 

This week we found out somewhere Julio's understanding of our message is and where we may need to focus on in our future lessons.  He would be a solid convert to the church.  Just a few things need to click for him and he will be a great Kingdom builder.  Tinisha and Leeneal weren't able to meet this week, but they are doing the things to get prepared and be baptized.  They feel the spirit and are excited about the Gospel.  However, since we weren't able to meet this week it is going to put them back about another week until they will have received all the missionary lessons.  So they may be getting baptized on May 25th as opposed to the 18th.  We are still on the search for some more investigators.

Stake Conference was great.  We heard many awesome talks on strengthening home and family through the Priesthood.  Tithing being a principle of faith was talked about by every one of our Stake Leaders on Saturday.  President Uchtdorf talked about tithing on Sunday, and I read back through President Monson's talk today and saw him talk about it as well.  Faith and obedience is the key.  On Sunday we heard from Robert C. Gay of the Seventy, Mary Wixom General Primary President, Elder Robert D. Hales, and President Uchtdorf.  Wonderful messages of trusting and having faith in the Lord to be obedient and faithful, strengthening home and family, and doing these things to be prepared for the storms that lay ahead.  Great conference!

I look forward to talking with you all next week and especially to wish a happy Mother's Day to an amazing Mother!!  I love you all and will talk to you soon.

Love,

Elder Weaver