Week 31: 7 Months!! 2/25/2019

Hey hey, Elder Weese in the house. What's going on everybody? Sorry that ya'll weren't able to hear too much from me last week. Had a lot going on that that day. It was another super great week out here in Tulsa Oklahoma and ya… 7 months now?? Crazy!! Time is definitely non existent out here. Well, before I get going, shout out to everyone who was able to send me something for valentines!! Ya'll are awesome and made my valentines a little less lonely… No offense Elder Gibb. But life is still rolling even in high gear. Last Monday for presidents day we had an all day p-day where we went to a place called soccer city where we played tons of sports such as soccer, football, and spike ball (President Mansell is a pro at spike ball by the way). We went to the church afterward and played some b-ball where I showed off my inner Steph Curry!! Haha! But that day was full of physical activity and I ended up being super sore the next day especially in my legs from all that running around.

Well, it was a pretty good week for us this last week. We taught Brian Wood about the word of wisdom. Before that, we were kinda nervous to share this commandment with him because he has a huge smoking problem. He smokes before and after all of our appointments so going into that appointment we were a bit apprehensive. And of course, he needs to be following this commandment if he wants to be baptized on his planned date of March 31.We prayed for some spiritual guidance and for the strength and courage to be bold in our approach with it. In our lesson, it was a miracle, because he told us he had planned to quit smoking for a while now, he was just waiting for the doctor to give him a prescription to help out with that. He knows the bad smoking will do and he has a desire to stop. He has quit before for a bit, but now he wants to stop for good. Of course, the hard thing is also getting his wife to support him by not smoking anymore too. But he plans on living the word of wisdom as we told him the blessings and benefits that can come out of it.

We also have a brand new teaching opportunity that we found with this man named Salim. He was born in the Palestine part of Jerusalem so he grew up Muslim his whole life. Later on, as he got out of Jerusalem, he noticed the affect Christianity had especially on the people here in Oklahoma. He knew who Jesus Christ was obviously because he was born in Jerusalem but has always been curious of who he was and why we need him and if he really is the son of God. He has read the Bible twice, once in English and the other in Arabic and he has a ton of questions. He went to a Reyma Bible College and he told us that none of them were able to answer his questions, so through a friend of his, who is a member of our church, he was able to reach out to us for help for answers to his questions. I can't wait to teach him some more, only saw him for a brief moment but it is gonna be quite a new teaching opportunity for me. It will be difficult, but exciting because I get to teach him about my Savior and to help him come into a realization of who he really is.

Well for me, I have been doing very well! Missionary life has brought me so much joy and comfort and it is just so hard to describe it. For example, yesterday I was pretty frustrated from the moment I woke up. I had a pretty harsh dream that reminded me of some personal missed opportunities that I had when I was home and it was stuck in my mind. I had a pretty bad morning because of it, but because of the glory of daily study, I was able to find strength right away really without even trying. I just went along in my studies as I have always went along, continuing my studies in the Book of Mormon. I am in 3 Nephi where Christ has made his appearance in the American continent. Before he leaves the first time, the people were extremely sad and wanted him to stay because they hadn't experienced much peace in their lives that Christ was able to provide for them. Christ told them to bring up all those who are suffering from any matter of illness or affliction so they could be healed. This is in chapter 17 where his bowels are filled with compassion towards them and tells them there faith has made them sufficient even unto healing. Once I read that I thought to myself of the difficulty I was having in the morning, and immediately that load seemed light and I got on my knees and thanked my Heavenly Father for my Savior!! I want to let ya'll know that Jesus Christ is real, he is the son of God, and that no manner of hardship or tribulation is impossible when you have him by your side. He has put bandages on many wounds and has wiped many tears through the hard days I have had out here. It makes it totally worth it and this relationship I have built with him is something I wouldn't trade for anything in this world! I'm thankful for ya'll and for the wonderful support you have put an effort in giving me! I love ya'll and hope ya'll have another fantastic week!!

Love,

Elder Weese

1) Valentines day aftermath!

2) Elder Gibb appreciates the gift!

3) Master teachers!

4) Fooling around!

5) Oklahoma sunset!!

Week 30: The 1st call home!!!!! 2/18/2019

Week 29: Pressing Forward with a Steadfastness in Christ 2/11/2019

Well guys!! It has now been 200+ days since I put on the name badge to be a full time missionary. It feels like time is passing me by and is about to slip out of my fingertips if I don't hold on tight enough! Elder Gibb and I have been doing really well together! He is awesome and super funny so we are having a good time down here! These last few weeks have definitely been trying times as of late. I feel like all of the people we are teaching have been hit by a truck. All their lives are so busy as of now and the flu bug is around so we didn't see many people at church and we had a ton of lessons fall through! A ton of return appointments fall through! This one was super frustrating where we met this awesome couple named Jim and Sue about a week ago. They let us in on the spot and we had a really cool conversation with them about the Gospel. We set a return appointment for the next day. When that day came around, they bailed on us because they had company over for the superbowl, and this time you could see it in there faces that they were kinda annoyed in a sense even though we set up that return appointment the day before. So we rescheduled for Saturday and when that day rolled around, Sue answered the door and said that Jim was sick and it was bad time! We asked again, when would be a better time for us to come over. And she responded, “probably never.” Disappointment kicked in at huge abundance and we were so confused because she seemed super interested in us coming back. But I guess it happens in missionary work. That's just the life. Be disappointed for a sec, wipe the dust off your shoulders, and keep moving forward.

This week wasn't a total loss actually. It was actually more a win than a loss for a huge reason. We set a baptismal date with Brian Wood!!!!!!!!!!! Man, he has come along way. When we were first becoming acquainted with that family, you could tell that he didn't want anything to do with the church, but he wanted to support his wife as she was returning back to activity. This is probably the most I have seen someone grow while I was working with them on my mission so far. His faith has grown a lot and the spirit has really worked with him and pushed him to make this decision. And he did and it has been so rewarding and I feel so blessed to have been apart of it with this man! This means so much to him and also for his family and he has begun to understand what the important things in life are. Here's an analogy I like to use to describe Brian called the sunrise analogy. It started out with darkness aka I don't want anything to do with the church, but since becoming acquainted with the Gospel, there was a bit of a sunrise that started taking place and slowly but surely that sun was rising and rising and it continues to rise til this day and I know it will rise to be a bright and glorious sun that lights the entire earth. That has been the faith increase that I feel Brian has had since we met him. He will be baptized on the 17th of March which is a few days after transfers, so I am hoping I will stay in this area for his baptism. I really don't want to miss it.

I'd say the next person we are probably really close to setting a baptismal date with is Ron! We have only known him a few weeks, but we have built such a strong relationship with this man and just this short of time! He definitely exemplifies a character of Christ and has been super kind to us ever since. He has grown so quickly in the Gospel. I never mentioned the cool story of this so called “coincidence” when we first met this man. This guy loves listening to music and he had recently discovered David Archuleta and started listening to some of his stuff. One night, he found out that David is a member of the church and he was jsut amazed how he put his singing career on pause when he went on a mission and was wondering why people like us hold ourselves to these type of standards. That led to him doing more research where he read about Joseph Smith and receiving the plates for the Book of Mormon. The VERY next day, we knocked on his door and that's really where our story with him begins. Coincidence? I think not! Anyhow, he reads and believes in the Book of Mormon, believes in Joseph Smith. His main concern as of now is if being baptized by priesthood authority even matters, but I'm not worried about Ron. To think of how he was able to get into contact with us is just enough evidence of his readiness and preparation he has been given from the Lord! It has been awesome!

Well guys, I'm still alive and doing well even 200+ days later! This week, along with its challenges and hardships, is a week I won't trade for anything and I am always eager to see what's in store at the beginning of a brand new week! Thanks for those who have been emailing me! Ya'll are making me proud! I love you guys! Stay safe and have an awesome week!!!

Love,

Elder Weese

1) Entire mission, all together!!

2) Baby pit!!!

3) Told us he wasn't interested, but let us take a pic with his big rig!!!

Week 28: Blessed and Highly Favored!!!! 2/4/2019

Hey ya'll, How ya'll been doing? It was good to hear from some of ya'll today in my emails. I really appreciate your guys concern and support for me on my behalf. It has been a pretty stressful week, getting a new companion and trying to get him settled into the new area. Made a lot of visits so he could get to know some of the people in our ward a little better. Now that that he is more involved with what is going on and what our plan in missionary work for the ward is, we can finally have a stress free next couple of weeks to do some work. Getting a new comp can be difficult in the first couple days to adjust to, but we are well acquainted with each other now and excited to get things going on a high note.

Well guys, another pretty exciting week is in the books. We had a lot going on, stayed very busy, and we're able to see some good miracles come out of our efforts. It all started out with a lesson we had with Ron who we met a few weeks ago. We had a super awesome lesson with him about the restoration. I have some advice for those who are preparing to serve missions or are on missions currently, take members to lessons as much as you possibly can. It works out sooo well when you bring someone of the same personality to a lesson with someone. It makes the person we are teaching feel a lot more comfortable and there are some cool things said by members that at times we don't even think of. Anyhow, we taught this guy the Restoration, Ron got to know the member we took with, and Ron basically committed himself in coming to church and he was able to make it! It was sooo cool and really good to see him there. He said he had never attended our church before and he really liked it.

We also had a super spiritual lesson with Brian. We read 3 Nephi 27 with him and had an open discussion about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end of the lesson, we got back into the talk of him recognizing an answer when it comes to him. We talked about at the start of the lesson what had been different in his life since meeting with the missionaries. He told us he feels more at peace and that he has a better relationship with his wife and kids. So 20 minutes later, we got back into the talk of recieving an answer. Our awesome member, again the member thing… SuperSuper important… Asked what he was expecting when he would receive and answer. Brian answered some peaceful feeling. Then our member said, so you have felt an answer before when you said you feel more at peace when the missionaries come. It hit Brian way hard!! It was soooo cool!! We told him the only way we can notice that peaceful feeling more, is by his own efforts to find out. So his job is to continue to make that light he has found a little brighter.

Oklahoma temperatures have been super weird as of late. It was really cold in the middle of the week when it was about 15-20 degrees outside. This weekend it got to 70 which felt amazing. But the weather is sooo unpredictable that it may get really cold again! Today we will be going on a hike, on a hill, since there are no mountains around, so we are hoping for good weather. But, life is still good. Elder Gibb is awesome!! Amazing missionary and a super hard worker. Can't wait to get things going again for another awesome week! I love you guys! I hope all of you are doing amazing!! God lives, Jesus Christ is his son, and his church has been restored. That is the best news you could ever give anyone! Have another great week!

Love,

Elder Weese

1) New companion Elder Gibb!

2) Arkansas River!!

3) Flat Oklahoma!!

4,5) Lambos and Rari's!!

6) Mirror maze!!

Week 27: New Opportunities!! 1/28/2019

HEYYY Wassup everybody?? Well, we have officially reached the last Monday of the 4th transfer of me being out on a mission. With that being said, the big news of what will be happening this next transfer came around this last Saturday. Good news… I'm staying in Tulsa for at least 6 more weeks! I'm so excited to be staying in this awesome ward once again and be with these wonderful people. Bad news… I'm gonna have to say goodbye to Elder Hammond as he has been transfered to Lawton. Dang, it's going to feel so weird not having him around. It was really weird being around him yesterday being around him when he was saying goodbye to everyone in the ward. To think we have been companions for the past 80 plus days is crazy to me. Once you are around them for that long, it feels super normal to have them around and once we are separated, it feels soooo weird. With that, my new companions name is Elder Gibb, I don't know to much about him, but from what I hear he is a good Elder! Can't wait keep this area moving in the right direction with a new companion.

Well ya'll, it was another flippin fast week again. Don't know why time is moving sooo quickly. Probably the most rewarding thing that happened to us was yesterday at Ashlynn's baptism. It was a pretty great experience being able to baptize her. Her dad was able to be there which was awesome. We hope to continue to stay in touch with them so we can work on him as well. All of the other investigators are still doing well. We have been meeting with Brian Wood a lot as of late. It has definitely been a challenge trying to help him find out the truth for himself. It's just weird how he hasn't found it yet even though he comes to church every week and is well acquainted with all the members.He said he hasn't felt that spiritual influence yet to fully make that decision. We just need to keep on pushing that book of mormon reading. If I am able to see him baptized while I am here would be a huge success, but if not, I know the Lord will reveal to him the truth sometime in the near future. We also taught Ron again this past week about the plan of salvation. He seems to know a lot about our belief in it, a challenge that lies ahead of us is his belief in infant baptism. He says he believes the Book of Mormon is true so we are using that also as a tool for him. Gave him Moroni 8 to read concerning the matter. It's going good, he's such a sweet guy!!

Well guys, life just keeps on rolling!! I can't belive we are already at he brink of beginning another transfer. I'm so pumped to see what the Lord has in store for me as I face new challenges ahead. I'm happy, healthy, and loving life. The people our awesome!! Glad I get to spend some more time in this wonderful area! Thank ya'll for your wonderful emails. They truly mean a lot to me!! I love ya'll and hope you have another terrific week!!

Love,

Elder Weese

1)The church boys!!

2) Gonna miss this guy!!!

3) The most snow we have gotten all winter!!

4) Ashlynn's baptism!!

5) Favorite Portuguese member, Brother Santos!!!