Week 46: First Week As A Trainer 6/10/2019

Well, what another awesome week it was. Probably one of the best ones I have had on my mission so far! There was a ton of stuff that went down this week, including finding out who my greenie was going to be! His name is Elder McCuen and he is from West Valley City, Utah. This is only my second companion from the same state as me. So here's how this event transpired... Wednesday, the meeting started at around 9:45 and all the trainers and greenies gathered in the chapel of the church. The whole time, I was thinking of when I did this when I was a greenie and I was super nervous to find out who my trainer was going to be (I saw him there FYI). But, on the other end of things, I was a lot more nervous now then I was then. I didn't know what to expect from it at all. I was just hoping I could make an impact on this guy because what they do now lays the foundation for the rest of their mission! But I definitely lucked out with the person I got. He called the trainers up one by one, then announced who his greenie was going to be. It was very intense! 

Well, Mia's baptism was on Saturday, and we were so excited to be a part of it! Elder McCuen got to confirm her on Sunday which was really cool as well. Hasn't even been out a week yet and he already has a confirmation under his belt. But back to the baptism, it was such a wonderful thing for her and her family. She has been waiting for this moment for a long time, and the first thing you have to know about Mia, is she is super smart and she will make you feel real stupid at times. I know this because I have been teaching her for a while now and I've learned it the hard way many times. But she was so ready for this. Her mom Katya, who is not a member, literally video taped the whole thing so it seemed like she enjoyed it as well. But the defining moment I feel with every baptism, is the confirmation. It is evidence through the feelings that were felt when we layed our hands on her head, that she has the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. What I great gift for everyone to have, and she will have it for the rest of her life. It's going to bless her so much and bring so much peace to those around her. We will continue to go over there to teach her some recent convert lessons so hopefully as we are doing it, Katya will show some interest as well as her other son Max.

Another cool thing that added to our super cool week was last week, before Elder McCuen got here, we were invited over to dinner with a less active family named the Millers! We were told by our relief society president to go and visit them, and when we did they offered to feed us. So that happened last week, little did we know that they are in charge of some foreign exchange thing in Oklahoma, and whenever there is a problem with families having to drop our at the last minute, those students go and live with them. So they had one who is from Korea living with them. His name is Ki and he is about 15 or 16 years old and grew up with little to no religious background.It was his first time going to any church when he first came to Oklahoma! He told us his sister did the exact same thing in Provo Utah and told him who she really wanted him to come here because she really liked going to CHURCH over here. We asked him which church he thought it was and he had no idea, but we assume that it was very likely that it was one of ours because she lived in Utah. We talked to him also a little about prayer and if he'd ever done it before. He said he never has, but he wants to. So we gave him a pamphlet that told him how to pray and he said he would try it sometime. The Millers even pulled us aside and said "you guys have to teach this guy, he's like a sponge, he just absorbs everything, we are giving you full permission to teach him whenever you want!" So that was a huge miracle that happened to us this week.  

We also taught both the Hansons and the Terry's this last week. Taught the Terry's the plan of salvation to help her with her concern of who we can become. What our potential really is. We tied the whole thing back to God's unconditional love for us, and how he wants us to eventually obtain everything he has. I thought that lesson went really well. And then the lesson with the Hansons happened on Elder McCuen's very first day here and we talked a lot about the restoration and how the priesthood authority was brought back to the Earth. She still is having a hard time with it because the person that baptized her was someone she loved very much and she was wondering why his baptism didn't count for her. We tied it to prayer and said, we can blabber and tell you all these things, but it is not going to mean anything to you unless you ask God himself if these things are true. We gave them Enos to read and wanted her to pay attention to all the things Enos did prior to getting an answer for himself. It all starts off with a hunger and desire, which at times can be very hard to develop with people, but she says she wants to know, so we are leaving it at that. But Elder McCuen did a great job at explaining the Holy Ghost as well and with out that gift, our baptism doesn't mean anything as well. We will see what she does in these next few days.

Well, this week was super awesome and we are looking forward to another great one. If you haven't told my brother congrats on getting married, give him a shout!!:)

Can't wait to talk to ya'll next week!

Love,

Elder Weese 

Pictures:

1) Elder McCuen

2) Dinner at Freddy's 
3) Elder Weese, Bishop Bowman, Elder McCuen

4) Dinner with the Babcock's

5) Mia's baptism

6) Life Church!

7) Friends at transfers!

8) Shannon Miller is pretty cool!

9,10,11,12) Elder Weese's showed up to Parker's wedding!!