Transfer 2, week 6

Subject: Transfer 2, week 6
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2015 11:36:33 -0600

Good morning family!

So I have good news and bad news.  The bad news is that we did not
have a baptism yesterday. The Pa family was really busy this
week, and we were not able to finish teaching them the lessons.  But
they are still excited, and we are hoping for next Sunday.  Plus, we
were able to find tickets for General Conference!  We are taking this
family to the Sunday morning session!  I am so excited!

We got a new car and a new phone this week!  Well, kind of.  Our new
car isn't brand new, unfortunately, but it's a red Toyota Corolla, one
of the few red cars in the mission.  So that brings us to the phone.
We were doing some service this week for a member of our branch, who
does paint and body work on cars.  We were scrubbing some body panels
to prepare them for paint, and Elder Aguilar dropped the phone in a
bucket of water.  The phone was fine, but the battery would not charge
anymore.

The temple was amazing!  It was so peaceful, and the spirit was really
strong.  From Oquirrh Mountain, you can see both the Draper and Jordan
River temples.  Only in Utah can you see 3 temples while standing in
one place!  I will have to go to Deseret Book soon and buy a temple
pin for Oquirrh Mountain.  Hopefully by the end of my mission, I will
have one for all three of our temples, plus one for Salt Lake.

We had interviews with President Chambers on Wednesday.  It was super
informal.  President Chambers just asked me how I am doing, and we
talked about the importance of prayer.  He also said hi to y'all!

We have an investigator right now who has gone through a lot lately,
and we believe that she is struggling to have faith in Christ.  She is
a single mother of three, and she didn't have very much furniture in
her apartment.  We were able to give her a set of couches, that
another family in the branch didn't want anymore.  She was so excited
when we brought them in!  I think she is beginning to have more
interest in the church.  We are also getting our Relief Society
president involved, who is super awesome!  I believe that she will
really help us with this investigator.

We had a FHE on Saturday with the Pa family (the ones getting
baptized) and with the Dz's, who went to Temple Square with us.  We
showed them the Restoration movie, and they loved it.  They also came
to church yesterday for the third time, which is the minimum
requirement to be baptized!

We had branch conference yesterday.  In Priesthood, we talked about
faith and true conversion.  The teacher used a really cool object
lesson.  He showed us a cucumber and a pickle, and asked how we can
turn the cucumber into a pickle.  Someone said vinegar, so he poured
some vinegar over the cucumber, and asked if it was now a pickle.  The
point of the lesson was that it takes time to become fully converted.
It takes a lifetime of following the commandments and doing our best.

The weather has been super nice this week.  It was in the 70's.  Also,
the trees and plants are coming back to life, and the grass is
starting to turn green again!  It is wonderful!

Also, Elder Aguilar and I have started running (again).  There is a
park at the end of our street, with a big water retention field.  We
run there, and then run around the field.

Transfers are this week!  I hope that both Elder Aguilar and I stay
here.  I love this area!

That is about everything for this week.  We are really working on
finding new investigators, but we are having a fireside for the branch
next Sunday, where we will help the members to practice sharing the
gospel.  We really hope this will help us.  The church is true.  This
becomes even more evident to me as I continue to experience miracles
in this area.  I read an awesome devotional this week by Elder Tad R.
Callister called "What is the blueprint of Christ's church?".  Elder
Callister proves that the church is true just by using New Testament
scriptures.  I really recommend it.  Have a fantastic week everyone!

Love,
Elder Jared Weller

Sent from my iPad

Another week full of miracles!

Subject: Another week full of miracles!
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2015 11:34:58 -0600

Good morning everyone!

Things are going fantastic here!  Spring is finally here, and the

weather has been warm and beautiful.  I hope you weren't worried when

I didn't email yesterday.  I forgot to tell you that our p-day this

week is today, because we are going to the temple this afternoon.

Oquirrh Mountain!  I am so excited!  I will send pictures.

So on Monday, we bought a 26" pizza from Big Daddy's, and ate the

whole thing as a district.  I also bought 2 sweaters at Kohls for $20!

I got them both from the clearance rack, and saved $110!  You raised

me well, Mom!

Sorry this isn't the best picture, but this is my district.
I can't believe that the transfer is almost over!

On Wednesday, I had a training meeting with President Chambers.  We

read 3 Nephi 11, and talked about how Christ prepared the people

before he started teaching them doctrine.  We also talked about how we

need to help our investigators have a see-feel-know experience, like

the Nephites did.  Then, that evening, we came out of a member's home,

to find that I had locked the keys in the car!  We had to walk to our

chapel for a meeting (which is actually outside our area), and then

all the way back to our house!  It is times like this when I am really

grateful to be living in Utah!  The next morning, we got a ride to the

mission office, and picked up the spare keys, so all is well now.

Sunday was amazing!  Remember the family that literally fell into our laps a few weeks ago when a friend brought them to church?  We took

them to Temple Square!  It was amazing!  The Spirit was so strong, and

they recommitted to be baptized this coming Sunday.  I am so excited!

I hope you got the picture.  They especially loved when we were

talking about how families are sealed together in the temple forever.

We also saw some other Spanish elders there from my old zone with an

investigator.  Small world!  It is so cool that we can take

investigators to Temple Square!  This is the best mission ever!

Yesterday was a normal day, which was kind of strange.  We taught this

family twice, because due to jobs, they are only all home together on

the weekends.  We have to teach them all of the lessons by Friday.  No

pressure!  But I have faith that we can do it.  They are so receptive

to everything we teach!  They ask a lot of questions, but never to

denounce the church or prove it wrong.  They just really want to

learn.

We also saw Mario yesterday!  We drove into our neighborhood, and

there was an old guy driving a little go cart.  He had the hat and

everything!

Our branch is awesome!  They have been so welcoming to our

investigators, and always willing to help fellowship them.  We have

both our youth missionary activity, and our missionary fireside coming

up, so we hope that we will motivate the members to help us even more,

especially in finding new investigators.  Yesterday, an older

missionary couple (we call them MLS couples) told us that they found a

family that we had been looking for.  We had their name, but not their

address.  We are so excited!  They also gave us several Hispanic homes

to visit in their neighborhood.  The work is really picking up here!

I have really enjoyed having an iPad!  I am still figuring out how to

use it to teach.  I love that we can show people videos now.  I love

Because of Him, and they are releasing a new Easter video this month,

called Because He Lives!  We watch Bible Videos and Mormon Messages

all the time.  It is awesome!

So I had a fantastic week!  I am so excited to go to the temple today!

my testimony has definitely been strengthened this week, as I have

seen the Perilla family embrace the restored gospel.  Every time I

teach a lesson, my testimony is strengthened, as I testify to others

that I know.  Have a fantastic week everyone, and enjoy the warm

weather!

Love,

Elder Jared Weller

Sent from my iPad

A crazy amazing week!

Subject: A crazy amazing week!

Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2015 11:41:31 -0600

Good morning family!

This week was super weird, because we had a lot of meetings.  On

Tuesday, we had a mission wide meeting where they gave us counsel on

how to use technology wisely, to prepare us for iPads.  Wednesday,

Elder Aguilar had a district leader meeting, so I went on splits with

the companions of the other district leaders in the zone.  More on

that later.   Thursday, we had a zone training meeting, where we

learned a ton and also got our iPads.  And Friday, we went back to the

zone building to set up the iPads.  They are awesome guys!!  Right

now, we can only teach using the pictures, videos, and pamphlets on

there, but eventually, we will be able plan, use Facebook, Skype, and

a whole lot more.  We can also use them for our studies every morning.

I will be honest, it is pretty nice not having to carry around my

scriptures anymore.

So on Wednesday, when we went on splits, we found a guy from Chile,

who has met with the missionaries before.  It was Elder Hollett, who

came from Mexico with me, Elder Buschilon (who is fresh out of the

Provo MTC, English speaking) and myself.  So Elder Hollett and I, two

fairly new missionaries, taught this guy the Restoration in Spanish.

It was awesome!

On Friday, after setting up the iPads, we had to go to the mission

office to have our car checked for dents.  We're getting a new car

soon!  Elder Mortimer, the vehicle coordinator, sent us to a body shop

to have them check it out.  They told us that it is one of the

cleanest mission cars they've seen, considering that it does have a

few minor dents and damage.  It really makes me

wonder what other missionaries do to their cars!

On Saturday, we moved.   I was sad to leave the Clausens, but our new

apartment in our branch president's house is really nice.  There is

even a spot for our car in the garage!

Miracles have continued to happen this week!   On Saturday, we were

trying to visit people in the apartments, but no one was home.  Elder

Aguilar felt inspired to visit someone in another building, so we

went.  When we got the building, we saw a Hispanic family walking up

the stairs, so I started talking to them.  The mom was hopping up the

stairs, because she injured her knee really bad in a car accident a

few years ago.  They live on the third floor!  I can't imagine how

difficult it must be for her to have to hop up those stairs every day.

Apparently, they had visited with the previous missionaries before,

but hadn't gotten very far.  We taught them about the Restoration and

the Book of Mormon, and they were really interested in reading the

BOM.  Then, last night, we met an inactive member in the apartments,

who has wanted to come back to church for a while, but has lacked the

motivation.  She has twins who will be turning 8 this month, and she

wants them to be baptized.  We will be seeing her tomorrow, so I am

really excited.  Elder Aguilar and I were talking last night about the

success we have been seeing in our area.  For the past few years, our

area has had very few baptisms, but all of a sudden, we have people on

date, and we have found several investigators.  It seems that the

previous missionaries planted several seeds, and we have been chosen

for the harvest!  It is great to be a missionary!

Yesterday, the P family, who were our miracle last week, came to

church again!  We were also told that there was another investigator

in sacrament.  The previous elders were teaching her, and she is ready

for baptism, but she wants to wait for her daughter to immigrate from

Peru. Because of that, she works ALL THE TIME!  We have not been able

to meet her yet, because she is never home.  We were sad that we

missed the opportunity to meet her yesterday, but at least she came to

church!

So there you have it, an amazing and crazy week in the mission field.

To make it weirder, it snowed Tuesday, but it has gotten up to

about 60 degrees the past few days!  It has been awesome!  I am glad

to hear that everyone is doing well!  Dad, I love your analogy with

the peanut butter and chocolate!  And Mom, that joke was pretty great!  

(* Note from the Mom. The joke Jared is refering to is this:  "Why are vampires afraid to go to church?  They are afraid of the Sunbeams."  Courtesy of Elder Cottle serving in our ward whom we fed dinner to last week.)

A couple more cool things that happened:  Saturday, we ate dinner

with someone who just came back from her mission in Roseville, CA.  I

told her about a sister in my MTC district who just went there.

Apparently, she (the RM) went back to visit a couple weeks ago, and

her previous companion is training my friend!  Also, we ate with the

S family last night, and he has a brother in the Seattle Hill

ward!  Finally, I found out that Michelle Searle (Jared's childhood babysitter) is in the Westland

3rd ward!  So we were in the high council room at the zone building,

which is the Westland stake center.  They have pictures/names of

people in certain callings throughout the stake, and voila, there was

Justin Searle, who I believe is a clerk.  Mind blown!  So yes, it

really is a small world!  The church is true.  My testimony of this

has grown immensely this week as we have been guided to those who are

prepared to receive the gospel.  I am so excited to start teaching

people using videos and other resources on my iPad!  The Lord has

truly inspired man to develop this technology for the carrying forth

of the gospel.  It is an awesome time to be a missionary!  Have an

awesome week!

Love,

Elder Jared Weller

Sent from my iPad

Note From the Mom ... Close Encounters

It is really challenging having Shaney and Jared living so close to each other and not being able to see each other.  I think it is only about 25 miles apart.  Talk about torture.  Shaney will often say that she just wants to pick up a phone and call him or text him.  "He is SO close and I can't do anything about it", she often says.  We knew there might be some close calls with those two when Shaney would be in Jared's area running errands or hanging out with friends.  Well, this one was really close.
(Hang with me ...)

My cousin, David Powers King, has recently written a book called Woven.  He had a signing event in Utah at a place called "Jordan Landing" on Friday.  I sent Shaney out to buy two books, one for her and one for Jared and go to the signing to represent our family.  If you read Jared's letter, Jared was at "Jordan Landing" just the day before, on Thursday.  I wonder how long it is actually gonna take before those two run into each other.  I mom can wish.  Sigh...

Exchanges and Miracles! What a week!

Subject: Exchanges and Miracles! What a week!
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2015 11:32:42 -0700

Buenos dias familia!

So things are starting to pick up here!  It was a really exciting week!

We went on two exchanges: one with some other elders in our district, and one with the zone leaders.  The first one, I went with Elder Koo, who is from Korea, and we worked in my area.  That was a lot of fun.  On Friday, I went with one of the zone leaders, Elder McKinney.  Honestly, I was a bit apprehensive about this exchange, because it was with a ZL, but I really enjoyed it and learned a lot.  We taught a guy who lived in Monroe for a while!  He was golden!  

On Saturday, we took a young man around with us.  A stake in Draper did something for the priests called Camp Alma, where they did several activities to learn about missionary work, and ended by spending a few hours with full time missionaries.  Dad, I thought this would be a great idea for our stake.  I definitely wished that I had an opportunity like this.  The young man that came with us was really cool and really excited to serve a mission.  It also snowed a little bit on Saturday, and also earlier in the week.  A little bit stuck overnight, but it melted away Sundaymorning.

And that brings me to our miracle.  Yesterday, we walked into church, and there was a new family.  They just moved here from Colombia, and are living in the basement of a less-active in our branch.  A relative of this less active brought this family to church.  They stayed for all three hours and LOVED it!  They love how the church is centered on families.  So we taught them last night, and both of the parents committed to be baptized March 22.  Both Elder Aguilar and I could see them in the baptismal font and in the temple in the future.  They were so ready and the Spirit was so strong!  

Also, on Monday, we were looking for the address of a recent convert who hasn't gone to church in a while.  We found the road, but we couldn't find the house.  The address was 8800-something South, and the road was East to West (which means all of the numbers were in the 4400's).  So on our way out of the neighborhood, I almost turned to go out the way we came in, but I felt like I should just continue going straight, and sure enough, the road turned, and Elder Aguilar noticed that the numbers were now in the 8800's!  We found the house!  We feel that the Spirit guided us there for a reason.  The rest of the guy's family are nonmembers, so maybe we will be able to baptize them!  Miracles happen!  We are now really excited about this area.  We are planning a missionary activity for the youth and a fireside to help members do missionary work.  They will be awesome!

On Monday, I bought another BYU Men's Chorus CD at Deseret.  Sadly, it also includes some folk songs that are technically not missionary appropriate, so we have to skip over those ones.  But the rest of it is awesome!

On Thursday, we went to Costa Vida, a Mexican restaurant in Jordan Landing, where missionaries get free meals.  I had a really good quesadilla!

This week, we are getting Ipads!!  Elder Aguilar and I are also moving to live with our Branch President.  (Did I tell you about that?).  Also, our car is nearing 50,000 miles, which is when they take the cars out of rotation.  So we are getting a new car soon!  

I'm glad to hear that everyone had a great week.  Shaney, thanks for getting me that book!  I'm excited to read it when I get home!  Also, Mom, thanks for the pics!  I love seeing what everyone is up to.  After yesterday, I definitely know that this church is true, and that miracles do happen!  I am so excited for the next few weeks!

Love,

Elder Jared Weller