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!!!
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