Week 52: One Year Down!! 7/29/2019

Hello everyone! How are ya'll doing? This week was a pretty awesome week! Pretty busy as usual but the weather was a lot better! We hit a cold front this week so it dropped down to like 75-80 degrees, but I heard that it is supposed to get back up to the triple digits this week so I am not looking forward to that at all! 

Well, I'll send pics, but this last Thursday was the day I hit my year mark so we went to go celebrate it during dinner time! I burned a shirt and then decided to grill up some hot dogs, and played basketball in our proselyting clothes on the court near by! It was way fun! I can't believe it has been a year since being dropped off at the MTC for 2 years! I have learned so much this year and I can't wait for many more blessings to come as I embark on the rest of this journey! I don't think I've ever been more sad, angry, frustrated, or upset. But yet, I don't think I've ever been more happy, joyful, excited, and cheerful! I don't think I have ever been closer to my Father in Heaven and my savior Jesus Christ! This has been a decision I will never regret, because I have truly seen myself grow in capacities I have never even imagined. I have been pulled out of my comfort zone, which was the hardest thing, but I'm glad it happened! I have high hopes for this next upcoming year which I am very excited about, to think I have another year of this... I just don't even have the words!

Well, the people we are teaching still doing great! We had lessons with Henry and Emma this past week! Emma seems super ready, but Henry had a few concerns and he said he has a lot more to learn before he is fully ready! We still have the goal in mind for him to be baptized August 17th, but we don't want to rush him. Just whenever he feels ready for it! I'm so glad we have such awesome people to work with! We are 2 weeks into this transfer, so I plan on giving it my all in the time I have remaining here!

I hope everyone is doing well! I am in for another awesome week! I love you all and I can't wait to talk to you all soon!!

Love,

Elder Weese

1) Fun at church!

2) Lesson with Emma!!

3) Helpin people out!

4) Grill 'n chill

5,6) Up in flames!

7) 1 year!!

8) With the gang!!

9) Ducks at the park! 

10) Cool statue!

11) Moving pros

12) Stay stylin

13) Stay ballin!!

Week 51: Blessings and Miracles!! 7/22/2019

Hello family and friends! How is everyone doing this fine week? I have loved hearing about everything going on in everyone's life, so keep in touch and let me know what's going on! This last week was HOT! I feel like I have said that in every single email for the past few weeks, but we literally got up to triple digits for like 5 straight days and it was pretty miserable! The humidity makes it a lot worse as well, but as we as missionaries say "For every mile you bike in the hot weather, the hotter your wife will be." Haha:) I guess that's why I push through it! I am happy to have started a new transfer in the mission field. I have new goals I have set and have high hopes for the area, for me personally, and also as a companionship with Elder McCuen! I love taking the time to set new goals because it gives us something to shoot for, holds us accountable for how we use our time, and without a vision the people perish as it is mentioned in the Book of Mormon. 

Well, as you may have already noticed by the title I chose for this week, we had a really awesome week! I'll start off with this person named Delmar. We met him outside of his house while we were biking by! We stopped and talked with him for a bit and he is a very nice older gentlemen! He wanted to hear about what we believed so we just went right into the plan of salvation and taught the whole thing to him outside of his house! He LOVED it and thought it made so much sense. He said if God was the God he knew, than this would be his plan! He loves keeping an open mind to other perspectives! Usually people of his age are close-minded! Well, it was challenging to set up a return appointment with him because he told us his wife is atheist and she probably wouldn't appreciate having us over, but if he was ever outside, feel free to stop by and talk! I was like, shoot! We will probably never catch him outside again, but a few days later we biked by his house again, and there he was doing the exact same thing as the first time we saw him! We talked with him some more about the book of mormon, and since we didn't have enough time, he told us to come back on Wednesday and we will make something work! So I hope all of that goes well! I'll keep you up to date with him!

Probably the most exciting part of our week was we set 2 baptismal dates! One with Emma who I told you about last week, and the other with Henry!! These 2 seemed completely ready for this commitment, and there faith in Jesus Christ has grown so much in the short time we have been meeting with them! Both of them will be baptized the same day, August 17th, that is the goal we have set with them! We are very excited and feel very blessed that we have such awesome, ready, people to work with! I know that the Lord is preparing the hearts of his children. Just think of what wonderful examples Emma and Henry will be to their families after they are baptized! I know that with the steps they have taken, it's the first step in something even more grand to follow, even with their families! That is how the Lord prepares people! One by one!!!

Well, I'm super grateful for everything that has been going on in my life right now! I'm still enjoying every phase of this work and I am still looking for improvement each and every day! Looking back to who I was at the start of my mission and seeing how far I have come, it's just awesome! I hope everyone is doing great back home! I think about you all a lot! I'm thankful for the support and prayers you all have given me! Just know that I know that God lives, and loves us all and the evidence of that love is Christ! I'm so thankful for him and the power he has to heal us and put us out of our slumps! I hope you all have the most "bestest" week ever!  

Love,

Elder Weese

1) Torchy's!

2) Tall oak!

3) The red rock!!

4) Last zone pic!!

5) "That isn't rice, that's maggotts!"

Week 50: Staying Put!! 7/15/2019

Well, I don't have too much time because I need to be at the bowling alley really soon for zone p-day so this email is going to be super short. I just wanted to let you know that we got our transfer calls this last weekend. I will be staying in this area for at least one more transfer to finish up Elder McCuen's training! I'm very happy that I am staying, once this transfer is over it will be the longest area I have ever served in. It will be a 6 monther!

From last email, I told you I was going to tell you more about this girl that we started teaching. Her name is Emma D. and she was a referral from one of our member in our ward and she is SUPER ready to be baptized. She's very interested in the church and LOVES reading the book of Mormon. The first lesson we had with her was on Wednesday and it went really well! She says she thinks it's true, she just wants to take more time to know it more fully before she commits to anything. We are very excited for her and we will be meeting her again tomorrow so pray that it goes well. Henry just barely got back from his trip, so we will be starting where we left off a few weeks ago. He is super close, in my belief, in committing to baptism as well. The Hanson's left for a trip to Hawaii, it's like one person comes back and then one person leaves. Haha!

Well, I am looking forward to this week! I've been feeling a lot better and healthier and am ready to get a brand new transfer started! I hope all of you are doing good back home! I love all of you very much and appreciate all you do for me! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Weese

1) Best district!!

2) Messin with sasquatch!

3) Hit the pavement!!!
4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11) Pictures from members

Week 49: Happy 4th of July!! 7/10/2019

Well, this past week was America's birthday. It was pretty weird how it was celebrated here in Oklahoma. People in the south are a lot more patriotic than people in Utah. The strangest thing was the parade they had where it felt like it was just a bunch of rednecks driving around nice cars and motorcycles screaming to the crowd, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!! I thought that was kinda funny and enjoyable to watch. We also got spoiled by having the city fireworks right next to our apartment complex so we got to see and not miss out on the traditional firework show! This week was a little slower for us so I don't have too much to write about, I have been pretty sick this past week and a half with some sort of stomach bug. It comes in spurts, one moment I can be completely fine and then the next moment I can be in A LOT of pain. Makes the work a little hard! A cool experience to go a long with that was, due to those struggles, I felt extremely bad some days where I get coped up inside all day, feel bad for my companion for having to deal with it, and feel bad for wasting precious opportunity to be outside in the humidity of Oklahoma. It's funny how Satan works like that. He's constantly telling us that we are not good enough, or that we are incapable of the extraordinary and he attacks at our most vulnerable times. The thing that strengthened my testimony was as I was going through this, I turned to the lord and asked what he thought of all this, what he thought of me, I felt so much love come over me during that prayer and as I turned to the scriptures and I knew that God is pleased with me. God has the power to bind the adversary and I definitely felt that as I turned to him. My encouragement to you all is to turn to our father in heaven during your hard times, Satan has power to destroy in hard times, but as we turn to God, he can take away all pain, all affliction. Doesn't come immediately, but he allows you to change your perspective of the hardship you are going through, and that makes so much of a difference!

We also finally got to meet President and Sister Christensen. Got to see them a few times! Yesterday for the meeting with the new missionaries, and Monday for MLC! They seem to be the right people for this mission and are inspired to keep this mission moving in a positive direction. We are focusing on developing a Christ centered mission. Using the conversion tools we learned from the Mansell's, and giving it our all to the Lord. Something really awesome I loved during President's training to us was we are to set high expectations through high love. Christ does that. He has high expectations for all of us and has the most love out of anyone ever to exist. He knows what type of creature we can become, and with that goal in mind, he expects highly of us. I can't wait to use this not only in my teaching, but as I strive to set goals for my personal development! I have already learned so much from the Christensen's! It's so awesome! I can't even describe how excited I am for this next year!!

Well, I'm so thankful for all of you! Your support means the world to me! I hear all the time of the prayers I constantly receive and it fills me with so much gratitude! I'm glad to have such great people in my life! I think some of the people we are teaching will be getting back from vacation soon, and then we can pick up where we left off! We have a lesson tonight with someone new we are teaching named Emma who really wants to get baptized! Pray that it goes well! I'll tell you all a little bit more about her next week once I meet with her tonight! I love you all and hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Weese

1) Bullet holes!!

2) Pullin up!

3) Happy 4th!

4) Church homies!!

5) Taco bell!!

6) Do I look like Cardi B?