Week 5: One month out in the field 8/27/2018

Hey guys!!!! I hope everyone is doing good!! It was good to hear from you all again!! Thanks for keeping me in touch!! I am still adjusting!! Can't believe it has been one month since I left everything I ever knew to come out here on a mission!! I have had so many life changing experiences that I wouldn't trade for anything!!! I'm going to make this a little short because we have a lot to do today and such very little time!! 

This past week has been awesome!! It flew by really quick. I can't believe I am sending out my emails again. I love being able to talk to you all!! Well, this week I have met a lot more people!! There are two investigators we have with so much potential! It is awesome to see their growth as we teach them new things!! We have this older couple named the Ollivers! They are doing really well!! The only thing that is holding them back is going to church because the wife is having health problems and she is unable to travel around and leave her house a lot!! I know they will come around though! They are super nice people and the love what we teach them!! They also do I really good job of reading the Book of Mormon!!

Another guy we have been working on has also come a long way!! His name is Bryan Sweitzer!! He believes almost everything we taught him like the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and he has prayed about these things as well. But he keeps going to his baptist church which I find it kinda odd because if he believes in all these things, he would have to know that this is the one and only true church that has the same authority that Christ had when he was on the Earth. He has been to our church, but he is sticking with his baptists church!!

I have been doing really well since the last time I emailed. I love having the chance to get to know more people and become more acquanted with the people here. Their hospitality has been great!!! I miss you all and I hope all is well back home!! Missionary work is definitely not easy, it never was. But I have grown so much in the short time I have been out here and it has strengthened my faith and my testimony in my savior Jesus Christ!!

I love you all!!!!!! Please stay safe!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Weese

The "death stairs" up to his apartment.  

Our little chapel. (Elder Weese's branch in Vernon).

Hello mom,

It's good to hear from you! Wow, I can't believe the school year is already beginning to start. It literally feels like I just graduated from high school yesterday. This summer was probably the busiest of my life. It was also the quickest and I can't believe it is already that time of year again. It has me remembering what it was like for me a year ago starting my senior year. That also didn't feel like too long ago!! And he is also starting drivers ed?? Jeez!! He is going to be so old by the time I get back. 

Well I am still doing pretty good. I am adjusting well to life out here. I am still getting used to it though. This week was way faster than last week because it wasn't as overwhelming. The temperature out here is dreadful though. The high this week was around 105 and humid. We were being broiled!!!! The thing that is different here than in Utah is in Utah when it is hot outside, you can just find the shade to cool down. Because of the humidity out here, even when you find shade the heat still gets to you so you really can't escape it out here unless you go inside. The missionary work has been great!! We have a few people who are interested in learning a little bit more about the gospel. We have one older couple who has a ton of potential of being baptized but it is so hard to get them out to church because the wife has been having health problems and can't really travel around. But I am hoping they come around!! We also have this guy named Bryan who has a lot of potential as well, he believes in the book of mormon and Joseph Smith, but still isn't willing to give up his membership in the baptist church which is really confusing to me because if he really believes in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, than this has to be the truth. That is the hardest thing about finding people out here because almost everyone is part of a religion. There is literally a church on every block. It is hard to get people to accept and listen to us because they are tied down to another religion and aren't willing to give that up. It is also a good thing though because I have learned A LOT of all these different back grounds and religions and it is quite interesting!!

The members are awesome!! We get fed by them at least 3 or 4 times a week. I always look forward to them feeding us because all I have to eat at the apartment are either sandwiches, quesadillas, or cereal. Some members really like to take us out to this restaurant called Lupes, which is like El Toro Viejo!! I have been there like three times already. They don't really have that many restaurants out here to choose from besides McDonalds, Taco Bell, and Subway. I've been getting used to living in the apartment everyday. The first day I was like.. Man how am I going to survive living in this place?.. But I have adjusted to it will and I feel more at home. It does have A/C which is a huge plus. The only thing I have trouble adjusting to is the stupid shower. Haha. The temperature adjuster is broken so you either get a really hot shower or a really cold shower. Me and my trainer are the only missionaries in Vernon because it is quite a small area. The nearest missionaries are about 30 minutes away! But every Thursday we have district counsel where we drive an hour and a half up to the stake center where all the districts from the zone gather. So that is really when I see other missionaries. Oh, and the backpack thing, ya, the shoulder bag was good with fitting things but it was a pain in the butt to ride your bike with. That strap thing that they said to use when you are biking is so tight and it makes your chest really sore. So i decided to buy a 10 dollar backpack from walmart. I'm sure it will last me quite a while. Very durable.

Well it has been another awesome week. I am still learning and growing everyday while I am out here. I am so glad you are all happy and doing well back at home. Oh and before I forget, could you send me 2 or 3 more short sleeved shirts? I didn't realize that I needed more until I was out here for a full week. Can you also send me another tie clip but one that is made for skinnier ties? I also realized that those are really handy because it keeps your tie from blowing everywhere while you are biking. Other than that I'm good. Well I miss you!! I pray for you all everyday as well and look forward to this day also. I love you and I hope you have a good week especially with school starting back up!!

Love,

Elder Weese

Hello dad!!

How are you doing!!! It sounds like you guys have had a pretty busy week with school and everything getting started up again. It felt like yesterday when I was walking through the tunnel at the Dee Events center and receiving my diploma!! That is crazy how fast this summer has gone buy and how busy it was. Probably the busiest of my entire life! Well I am doing good!! Everyday is another step of my adjustment process and I continue to learn and grow each day!! There are times where it has been a bit discouraging, but it has really helped strengthen my faith, testimony, and who I am becoming. Probably the hardest thing about being in this particular mission is that there are different churches EVERYWHERE!!!!! People don't really like to listen to us because they are set in stone with the church that they are going to. Most of the time they are really nice to us about it saying... Hey, we are all in this together, we all have the same goal which is our salvation, we appreciate what you are doing but we are good with what we have. Sometimes they tend to be a little mean though. We get some nasty words yelled at us while we are biking. All we can do is just smile and wave. I think this when guy threw like a cigarette at us as he drove by and said something like have hell save you. It doesn't affect me at all because I know what the gospel has done for me in my life and all the blessings I have received from it. There is no doubt in my mind that this is the truth and I wish others can have those same opportunities and experiences!

This week has also flown by for me! It felt like I had just barely been emailing you guys and here I am again. I look forward to this day just as much as you guys do. I love hearing about things going on back home so keep me updated!! That jeep thing is pretty crazy! I am sure you were pretty shocked when you saw that happen!! Everyday we bike by a dodge dealership and it gets me missing work back home. It is cool that I get to see the cars though still like the new jeeps and rams. I miss driving those things around everyday. HAHA!!

Choosing joy in this life is a huge thing especially out in the mission field. If you do not have joy in the work that you are doing than how are you going to make it out here? You are gonna be miserable!! At the start of my mission, I found it really hard to have joy in waking up at 6:30 everyday just to get out with set goals that we have of meeting people who would be interested in learning about the gospel. Only to have people tell us to go away or that they're not interested. It happens everyday and I am still working on trying to love this work. I know that if I find joy in doing this, than I know I am going to be a lot happier everyday as I approach this work. Still a working progress tho!

I don't have any particular needs.. Oh, could you or mom send me a small family pic that is like framed? I would love to have one around the apartment to show my companions!! There is the pic that we took when we were at the beach in Cali a few months ago. That one would be a good one and it is also most recent. Like I said that will be cool to have. Well I am glad to hear that all is well back home!! I love you and miss you and I look forward to hearing from you every week. Your example strengthens mine and I know there would be no way I would be out doing the things I would be doing if it wasn't for you. Thank you!!!!!

Love,

Elder Weese

Week 4: Hello from Texas!! 8/20/2018

Ladies and gentlemen I have made it to my mission!! I am super excited to get things going. It has been an overwhelming week with everything going and I am excited to take a step back a bit and try to get used to the missionary system!!! I am sure most of you had heard about my experience just traveling to Oklahoma. If you haven't, buckle up! It was an adventure to say the least. Got on the plane in SLC expecting to have a two and a half hour flight. Well that wasn't necessarily the case. While I was on the plane the guy next to me asked me to put my window down because he was watching a movie on his tablet. It kinda sucked because I like being able to look out of the plane and see where we are at. I did lift the window up a few times so I could see. One time I looked out the window and saw that we were just getting ready to land. We were really close to the land. I shut my window and waited for us to finally land. I was thinking to myself, huh... this is taking longer than expected. I looked out the window again and just saw clouds. It made me really confused because I thought we were just getting ready to touch down. Next thing I knew the pilots voice came over the intercom. He said due to weather issues in the OKC area, we will be flying over to the Dallas airport and wait for the storm to clear up. And that we did... We waited... and waited... and waited... For about 3 or 4 hours at least. We had many members come up to us and offer to buy us food. It was kinda like we were homeless and had no money. They were super nice to us tho. One of them called the AP's and told them about the situation. After waiting for a long period of time, the pilot finally decided to give it a go. The plane ride back into OKC was crazy!! There was lightning everywhere and it was the bumpiest plane ride I have ever been on in my life. The lady behind me was freaking out and screaming. It felt like we were all going to die. I thought it was exciting though. A huge adrenaline booster. But it freaked a lot of people out. A guy came to us after that experience and said "Thank you for your prayers." Well we did land safely and made it to the mission home at around midnight where the president and his wife were patiently waiting for us. It is gonna be a super cool story to tell someday!

Well like my subject says, I am in Texas in a very small town called Vernon!! Didn't think my first area out in the field would be in Texas but it is super awesome here. Despite the heat and the grouchy farmers, the people here are so nice and I look forward to getting to know them a little better. It is quite the small place here though!! Very small town and very hot!! My trainers name is Elder Kathriner from Oregon and he has been super awesome helping me become situated and adjusted to the life of a missionary. I relate to him a lot! We were able to get right to work and he has already taught me so much. He has a year of experience ahead of me!! Met some cool people who are interested in our church. I can't wait to be able to teach them all about it! It is really exciting.  I was able to get my bike and thankfully you picked a good one dad because we will be biking A LOT!!! The very first day I got a flat tire and my comp had to teach me how to patch up a bike tire!! So now I know..haha!! Hydration is probably the most important thing out here though and I am making sure to drink lots of water while I am out!! 

A few experiences that I have had with prayer this week:

Well, I have experienced many hardships as well this week! But all have led up to even better experiences!! For example, when I first got out here, I became very homesick. Living in an apartment had so much to do with that. Made me miss my house a little bit! Having to prepare food for myself as well has also made me miss home!! I prayed and prayed and asked Heavenly Father if he can help me cope with my homesickness!! Literally 20 minutes later, Elder Holt, one of the AP's called!! Just asked me how I was doing. I told him a little bit about me being a little homesick and he gave me some really good advice!! He said when he first got out to the field, he was the exact same way. He was really close to his family and it didn't make sense for him to leave them. But he told me to always remember that you are making them proud every minute that you are out here. And that there is so many people cheering you on and want you to keep going!! That was very uplifting and encouraging and it helped me know that Heavenly Father is looking out for me and is always helping me every way he can!!! 

My first Sunday was awesome. I was able to meet a lot of cool members. There was about 30 of us there so it was kind of small. It is just called the Vernon branch because it is the only branch in the whole city. We have to drive an hour and a half to just get to the stake center. Of course, me being fresh off the plane, I was assigned to speak for yesterdays sacrament meeting and I had about a 5 minute talk prepared. Well guess what!! Two speakers went up before me and when it was my turn I had 25 MINUTES I had to fill. During the intermediate hymn I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help me fill in that really long space. I did it!! I was able to use all that time. I found out ways to make your talk super long, just talk about your family. That is what I did as I introduced myself to the people in my branch. It was a cool experience though because I remember back at home it took me a month to prepare for my 15 minute farewell talk. It was cool that I was able to speak for 25 minutes on the spot. The spirit definitely helped out with that. 

I am so excited for the awesome experiences I am yet to make. 

Love y'all and PLEASE BE SAFE!!!!

Elder Weese

MTC Roomies at the airport

Torture at the airport...some dude playing NBA2K!!

 

Elder Weese meets his trainer...
Elder Kathriner from Oregon 

Elder Weese with President and Sister Mansell

Elder Weese and Elder Wildman

Elder Weese and Elder Erickson

Biking 24/7 in the mission field!!

Flying to OKC: 8/14/2018

Elder Weese left for OKC on Tuesday morning with 14 other missionaries.  Unfortunately, due to high winds and thunder storms they were diverted to the Dallas Texas airpot to wait out the storm.  So many nice people stopped to offer their phones to the missionaries to call home, offered to buy them dinner, snacks, ice cream, took pictures of them and sent them our way.  We are so grateful for earthly angels looking out for our Elder.  Finally after several hours, they were able to board the plane and head to OKC.  We were so grateful for their safe arrival, below are the pictures from those "earthly airport angels" and the emails we received from the mission president and Elder Weese that day. 

Pictures from people who ran into our missionaries
at the airport!! - stranded in Dallas 

Still stranded in Dallas, but still smiling!!

From the mission president & his wife:

12:07 am: Officially our record for the latest arrival to the mission home!  And...the pizza place that is open until 1 am...wasn’t 😂😂 So I’m pretty sure this was the weirdest “welcome to the mission dinner” ever:

• Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

• Macaroni & cheese

• Chocolate chip cookies

• Taquitos

• Cold cereal and milk 

But since we didn’t lose anybody and no one went to bed starving I’m going to call that a win!!  Welcome to Oklahoma y’all!!

- President & Sister Mansell

Welcome dinner at the mission home...looks like Elder Weese chose cold cereal!!

From Elder Weese:

Hey mom, it is Elder Weese!!! I am alive and safe and finally in Oklahoma!! You would have flipped out on that flight last night!! It was soooo bumpy and people were freaking out the whole time!! We flew right into a huge thunder storm and there was lightning everywhere!! Well I am off to meet my trainer now. Met my mission president and his wife last night!! They seem awesome!!! I love you all and I will email on Monday next week!!

Love,
Elder Weese

Week 3: The field is white, already to harvest 8/13/2018

Wassup everybody!!! Tomorrow is the big day!!! I cannot wait to start my journey in OKC!! Thank you to those who sent me emails today!! I loved hearing from you and I hope you have received mine!! Once again, another really quick week here it the MTC it literally felt like a day and I can't believe I am already getting ready to leave here and head out to the field!! It is bittersweet!! I have made so much memories here and so many new friends who will be going to different missions!! It will be hard to say goodbye to all of them. But I know bigger and better things awaits us in the actual mission field so I'm pumped!!!

Like I said, this week was a blur, but it was super powerful as well!! It was probably the most powerful week of my life!! It all started off 2 Sundays ago when it was fast and testimony meeting!! It was the most powerful testimony meeting I have ever sat through!! Almost all the missionaries in our branch got up and had something to say about how they found their true conversion!! It certainly strengthened my testimony hearing other people share theirs and it has helped me come to realize that our Heavenly Father truly loves each and everyone of his children!! The spirit was so strong in that room and it was so sad to think about having to say goodbye to all of these awesome missionaries! They have all been huge examples to me and we have grown so close!!

Another awesome experience I had this week was I got to participate in three priesthood blessings to fellow missionaries in our district!! I got to anoint the oil for the first time in one of those blessings and that was an awesome experience. It was in the first blessing where this girl from our district named Sister Foote was struggling with constant headaches! She was so grateful that we were able to do that and she told us if she could, she would give us all big hugs!! She said that her blessing has had a huge impact on her and she has been starting to feel a whole lot better!! THE POWER OF THE PRIESTHOOD LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!! Another blessing was to my companion Elder Martineau as he was also feeling sick. He also felt a lot better after that blessing!! Lastly, to a newer girl from our branch who is having trouble sleeping at night!! This blessing was last night so I wasn't able to talk to her about it with her!! As we get ready to depart tomorrow, the plan is that everyone in our district will receive a blessing before we head out tomorrow. So tonight I will be giving my very first actual blessing. It is a little frightening, but I am ready for it!! I am so grateful that we have the power of the priesthood here on the earth and that I am apart of it!!

Lastly, the week ended on a talk given by Elder Holland from an MTC broadcast a few years back!! I love Elder Holland because he is so passionate in whatever he talks about and he always delivers with so much emotion!! This talk he gave was titled "open your mouth." In order to open our mouths and to have them be filled with the spirit, we must experience our own true conversion to know if these things are true. Without that, the spirit shall not reside in our lessons. When we teach, the spirit is the only teacher in the room. There is no way people would want to continue taking discussions with us if they weren't able to feel the spirit! It would just be two young boys in a white shirt and tie talking and no one probably wants to listen to that!! 

Well, I'm off tomorrow!! Please continue to send me emails!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!

Elder Weese

Elder Weese and Elder Hansen

Elder Weese and Elder Glover

Week 2: Teaching in the MTC 8/7/2018

Hello peeps!!!!! How is everybody!!!!!! Thanks for all the emails this week!! There is truly nothing I love more than to receive your emails!!! It makes my day so much better!! Things are going great here at the MTC! I'm still very happy here and I have been adjusting smoothly!!! This will be my last Tuesday email!! Starting next week, my p-days will be on Monday!! I will be shipping out to OKC a week from today!! It is sooooo exciting but I am definitely going to miss my MTC experience!! I have made so many new friends here who will be going to separate missions so it is going to be so hard to say goodbye to them!!!! I have learned so much here in the short amount of time being here. Many experiences I would'nt trade for anything in this world!! Even though I will miss being at the MTC, I am so excited to head out into the field and spread the joy and happiness the gospel has brought to my life.

This week flew by!! It felt like just yesterday I was sending out my first email to you guys. The start of my MTC experience was way slow because of how busy we were but now since our schedule has opened up, last week came and was gone in a blink!!!!! I gained some experience teaching actual people! We call the TRC's! It helps us have the oppurtunity to teach real people before we start teaching real people in the field!!! Our first guy we taught was a guy named Ethan who is a local student at BYU! He is WAY smart!!! He was born in Rochester England so he has a pretty dope accent!! Ever since he came to BYU, he noticed that he was surrounded my mormons. So that is why he met with us so he can see why we act the way we act. He also says there is a certain brightness that he sees in us that has made him want to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ! It was such a good experience to teach him this past week! He has learned so much and has gained a strong testimony of the book of mormon and Jesus Christ!! The very last lesson, we brought up the invitation to be baptized!!! He said it is definitely something that he will have to pray about. He knows how important baptism is and he asked why he had to be baptized again after being baptized in a different church. That got us talking about the priesthood saying that the priesthood is the proper authority given from our heavenly father. And if we get baptized under that proper authority, it would be much more meaningful. We commited him to pray about it and since we won't be meeting with him anymore, I told him to shoot me an email once he made a decision. It was so exciting to see the growth of that individual and I know heavenly father will be looking out for him! We are now teaching a guy named Paul who is from Alabama, so he has a pretty cool accent as well. Even though we only have taught him once so far, we were able to get to know him, and what his needs are from us. He said he had a really strong realationship with god as a teenager. But he stopped going to his church. He now wants to invite god back into his life but this time he wants the truth and he also found out that there is a possibility to live with families forever. He found that very intriguing because he just recently got married and is planning on starting a family of his own!! I can't wait to see his growth and his love for god grow!!!

I am so thankful for missionary work and that I have the opportunity to be apart of it. These are the latter days and this work is crucial for us to gather up the children of Israel before the day of Christs arrival!! I learned this week that there is no better teacher when we teach lessons than the Holy Ghost!! He is the only way for people to become truly converted and for people to come closer to our savior Jesus Christ! No matter how hard I study as a missionary or how much I know of the gospel, people will not listen to the message I have unless the Holy Ghost is present. I have truly recognized that!! I would start saying something and then go off for five minutes!! After that I would not be able to remember what I said. I testify that that was the spirit talking. If we are worthy to preach his gospel, all we have to do is OPEN OUR MOUTHS and they shall be filled with the power of the Holy Ghost!! I love you all and wish you all nothing but the best and please continue to send me emails!!! Thanks Guys!!!

Love,

Elder Weese

Week 1: MTC Life 7/31/2018

WEEK 1 OF BEING A MISSIONARY HERE AT THE MTC!!!
Hello everybody!!! Thanks to all who have written to me! Just wanted to let you all know that your emails make my day soo much easier and I truly appreciate them. Oh, and you can send me emails whenever you want throughout the week. I just cannot respond to them until Tuesday so PLEASE write me because I love hearing from you all!!

Well, it is really hard to put into words... But my first week being at the MTC has been amazing!! I love it here! My companions name is Elder Martineau from Gilbert Arizona and we have gotten along way well. I have been extremely busy as well!! We wake up at 6:30 every morning and are out and about until nine going through classes and devotionals! I like how busy it gets here! It gets my mind off home and helps me build a stronger focus to missionary work!! I have felt the spirit sooo strongly here and have had many life changing experiences here and I have only been here for a week!!!

I would like to go in depth into one experience I've had here.  So, I have had 2 hard days here! The first day, and Saturday! The first day of course because you guys dropped me off and I couldnt sleep that nigh because I was thinking about home. Saturday was VERY tough as well. I was just  was out of it! I wasnt feeling the spirit and Satan was toying with me to the point where I was asking... Why am I even here? It was tough because everyone else were having these great experiences and I was not. I was pleading that night to my heavenly father and asking if everything was going to be ok. The very next day... Sunday.. Was probably the BEST day I have had here. We had a fireside that night giving by Elder Bednar and it was probably the most powerful talks I have ever heard in my life. He talked about Christ and how he was sooo caring and sooo concerned about others even up to his death. On the cross, he was still showing concern for others. The topic was, how to turn outward instead of inward. I feel like that night I was worried about MYSELF. And i wanted to be a great missionary now!!!! I realized that i also need to stop comparing myself to others. The way I feel of heavenly fathers love and the spirit is I need to start turning outward! In helping other people. That talk was sooo powerful and Im gonna dedicate that to my mission. I also learned that I cant be to hard on myself. The more and more I have been here the more and more I have learned and I am starting to feel more comfortable talking to others. It just needs time!!! If you press forward and work hard and stay focused, the lord will promise you with great blessings and experiences and since that day. It all went up hill.

I love you all and miss you dearly and sorry that I am ending here. I am supposed to be at the temple in an hour.. Once again I would love to hear from you all and feel free to ask me anything!!!!!

Love,

Elder Weese

Elder Weese and Elder Martineau: MTC Companion

Elder Weese and his roomies at the MTC