Week 44: Tornados like CRAZY!! 5/28/2019

Hey hey everyone!! This email might be a little short this week. Don't have too much time today, but I am emailing today instead of yesterday because all libraries in Edmond were closed because of Memorial day so we received permission to email today, just not for very long! It was another super fast week! We had some crazy weather roll in which kinda slowed things down a bit! We literally had tornado's in our area and Saturday night we heard sirens and got calls from the zone leaders saying we needed to go to a members storm shelter ASAP! I really wanted to see if I could find a tornado, but it was too late and too dark outside and raining like crazy! Apparently these storms have effected many people here in the OKC area, killing and injuring quite a few people, so if yall would keep the people here in your prayers, that would be appreciated! All missionaries are still safe and sound though!

Something cool that happened this week was we got to teach a lot of lessons finally! Had a list of potentials we made while tracting, but our big struggle was getting back with those potentials, but this week we did a great job with that as we got to teach quite a few times! First, this lady named Stephanie Terry, her husband is a member and has a super strong testimony of the Gospel, he just hasn't been active. They recently got married, and she said she would love to have us over to discuss some of the "hang ups" she has with our religion! She reads the come follow me every week and has read the book of mormon before, she doesn't have any problem with that, it is mostly about what are view of heaven is, and "how we can become Gods." It was cool talking with her a bit about that, even though she still isn't really there yet, it just makes me more grateful to know we have a loving heavenly father who loves us enough to give us everything he has. We are literally heirs of the kingdom of God, he wants that so much for us that he was willing to put his only begotten to do what he did so that it would be possible to obtain exaltation! I'm so grateful for that!

Another person we taught this week was a man named Victor. He is a pastor for a congregation in Enid Oklahoma, so we were very shocked to hear about his interest in having us back over. Most Pastors or ministers don't! We tracted into him months ago, but his schedule has finally cleared up enough to have us over. We were kinda worried about it at first, we were thinking it was just gonna be a conversation of opinions, since most pastors do that, so we weren't really expecting to teach anything. But right after we said the opening prayer, he said "alright men, take it away!" We were shocked to hear that, so we taught him the entire plan of salvation! He thought it was pretty cool, he has some differences with certain aspects like the spirit world and premortality, but it was cool to share that plan with him! It was a 2 hour and 45 minute lesson! Haha! It is pretty cool teaching a pastor don't get me wrong!

One more cool thing that happened this week was I got a call from the Elders from my last area in Tulsa! When I answered the phone, it was Ron who was on the other line! If yall don't remember who Ron is, he was someone I taught for a very long time in Tulsa who I tracted into who literally was listening to David Archuleta the night before we knocked on his door! He was literally the most prepared man I have ever met in being ready to receive the Gospel! He talked to me and let me know that he had been baptized and that he couldn't tell me enough of how thankful he was for me in helping him out along the way! Ron has been such a huge blessing in my life and one of the coolest persons I have ever met out here! I wish I would've been able to make it, but I live to far way! I'm just sooo glad he called me about it! The first lesson I had with him he told me "I am never becoming a mormon because I can't give up coffee! Haha! Who would've thought?

Well, I guess this email wasn't short after all! I almost forgot how good of a week I had this week! I can't believe it has now been 10 months being a missionary. I wouldn't trade this time for anything! I can't wait for the time I have ahead, but it is going faster than I could ever anticipate! I love this work so much, and I know it's true! I love you all, and hope you have another safe week!

Love,

Elder Weese  

P.S. More storms are coming this week, I'll make sure to keep yall posted!

Pictures:

1) Dogs are cool!!!

2) Fun at primary!!

3) My parents are probably glad that I am helping people move, since I won't be there to help them move!

4) Storms a brewin'

5) Tornado watchers!

6) Someone's getting married!:)

7) Wall sittin'

8) We met a monk!!!

Week 43: Got to meet Pres. Eyring!!! 5/20/2019

Hey, what's going on everybody!! I'm super thankful for this opportunity I have to tell you about my week! I guess, the elephant in this email, the topic says that I got to meet President Eyring and oh man, what an experience that was! It was very interesting how it all went down to get him over here. He was here to dedicate the temple here in OKC, which I am very excited about feels like it has been a while since I have done temple work, but, knowing that he will be coming to our beloved mission, Our president called his secretary and asked if he'd be willing to take a moment with our missionaries here when you come. He agreed, and it was the best thing in the world to have him speak to us. When we listen to general conference, there are talks we listen to here and there that we think are specifically talking to us as individuals, and when president Eyring, it really felt like we was talking directly to me, even though he had no idea who I was. What he talked about constantly in his message was reassurance of how much the savior really is aware of all of us. Not only the people that we try to bring the Gospel to, but to people specifically like you and me. The way he assured us, and the way he promised us, how could you not believe him? He also told us that if we are constantly remembering him throughout the day, what he has done for us and his commission to us, will bring us courage to withstand our fears. It is hard to always remember the savior, especially as we encounter hard things and trying moments, but really, that's when we need his comfort the most. Hopefully that will help me overcome some of the fears I have as I look to work on that! We are so blessed to have prophets and apostles walking the earth today. Where would we be without them? Where would the Gospel be without them? 

Well, that was definitely the high light of my week, a few other things that happened was a few days ago, we got to go up to Stillwater to help out with the special olympics! That was also a neat experience. This world is full of incredible people and I was so glad i got to meet a lot of them this past week. Something that was an eye opener to me with that was even though we may feel like our life is bad, and that we are going through some rough patches, just know that there are people here that have it even worse than us. However, you may be that person that feels like no one else is going through, or has been through what I am going through. Just know that there was someone that had it worse then everyone that ever walked the earth, our savior, he has felt EVERYONES pains and afflictions. We can never have it worse than him. We must be positive on the blessings that we do have in life, we have many, and as I met some of these people at the special olympics, they weren't focused on the pain that they go through and the way their life is, it was priceless happiness that I saw because of the chance they had to participate in these games. It was so neat!

Well, we have a ton of lessons scheduled for this week. Honestly, I haven't taught in a while and it has been getting to me as of late. So we have made the push with everyone that we have to go and teach them and we saw great results because of that. I pray these lessons go well! Also, Oklahoma is under tornado watch and flood watch, so we are about to hit severe weather! I'll keep yall updated on everything that goes on, but in the mean time, love yall, stay safe, and have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Weese

Pictures:

1) B-dubs with the zone #edventure

2) Good friends!!

3) Dinner with the Hatches! 

Week 42: Still busy, busy, BUSY & sore from biking!! 5/13/2019

Hey everyone! How are ya'll doing?? ‘twas another awesome week out here in the mission field! Don't want to rub it in, but ya'll are missing out! Haha!! It was another busy week. I always think to myself every single week that things will slow down a little bit this week, but I find myself wrong every single week, so it was another busy one that came and left! We had 2 exchanges and a zone conference that was all day Wednesday. It was a very good zone conference, the last “teaching” zone conference that President and Sister Mansell will have on their mission! This summer is going to be very weird! There are going to be a lot of changes taking place. Since this was their last teaching zone conference, ;( prior to it, they thought it would be best if the trainings were requested by us as missionaries. There were a lot of ideas that came into fruition, and President gave a 4 hour training on most of the things that were requested. We got some “doctrine fire” the entire time and I learned some things that I thought I had down, but turned out that I didn't because there was just so much more. That is the glory of the Gospel, you can never get enough of it. As long you know the basic units that make it up, and strive to live them, all the unanswered questions that we may have of how everything works out will come. The Lord continues to give us line by line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, the more we come to understand more about his will, the more he will give us and it's such a huge blessing that I have found on my mission as I continue to experience wonderful things.

Something else that has been going on this week is bike week. I find it near impossible  to bike in this area because of how spread out everything is, but regardless of that, it is time to put the car keys away and get out on those bikes everyday. On Saturday, we made a 20 mile round trip down to the southern part of our area to spend the day down there. It was really fun riding all the way out there, but man, I haven't had a good bike ride like that ever since I got my biking merit badge in scouts, so I have been pretty sore. It was definitely worth it! We met this really cool part member family down there, the husband is active but the wife is not a member for some weird reason. We have found a lot of people like that in this area which is amazing to me! She was the only one home, and was super sweet to us, found out that we biked 10 miles to get there, so she offered us a lot of things! We also found a few potentials down in that part of the area as well, all over the age of 80! This one guy was a devote church of Christ guy and has been that way all of his life, but he told us we could come back and tell him more about the Book of Mormon we left him with. I'm so Thankful that we have the book of mormon! It's definitely the most powerful tool for missionary work! Hopefully he can feel that power as he reads it! We also met Ruth, who is a German native, it doesn't seem like religion was a part of her life when she lived in Germany, but ever since she moved to the United States, she has become exposed to it, so she claims Christian! We'll see how that goes as we try to meet up with her.

Well, all is well down here in the South! Still busy, busy, busy and very sore from biking! I can't wait for another week that is to come! We are already halfway through the transfer, so times are flying!! Can't wait to talk with y'all again next week! Hope ya'll have another great one! Love ya!!

Love,

Elder Weese

Pictures:

1) Exchange chillin'

2) "Let's take a pic!

3) Texas roadhouse after zone conference!

4) Demolished tree from a lightning storm!

5) Safe parking spot for our bikes!

Week 41: Oh Ye that Embark in the Service of God!! 5/6/2019

Hey ya'll, What's going on? Man, another quick, busy week has come and gone. Once again, it went by so quick I feel like I am going to have a hard time remembering everything that went on because it was such a blurr. It was definitely a success oriented week with everything going on at the Oklahoma City temple open house. Spent 2 full days out of our week working there. On Tuesday, we were volunteering with the parking side of things. We did that for the first half of our day and it was literally pouring soooo hard on us. We thought a hail storm was coming, but we were fortunate enough to not have that happen to us. The next half of that day was spent in the temple itself ushering people around through the hallways and where they were supposed to be going through out the tour. Then on Wednesday we did ushering as well, but this time it was all day standing in the temple. I'm glad I was lucky enough to be in this area at this time and to have a chance to work at the temple open house. Can't wait for it to get dedicated on the 19th so I can finally go for the first time in a really long time. It was also cool to see people at the open house from previous wards, and also some previous companions I had.

Another event that took up an entire day was MLC (mission leadership conference.) Meetings like that are definitely long and exhausting, but super fun to be a part of. There is so much revelation and inspiration that has been coming at this mission left and right, and I'm just glad I am able to be apart of it. As President Mansell keeps assuring us, there are gonna be some changes in the months to come. President and Sister Mansell only have a month and a half left, then President Christensen and his wife will be coming in. That time is gonna be coming so fast, it's hard to imagine that we are already at this point.

Friday was also a fire day for us. We had District counsel with our district and zone, and it was awesome. Right after that, one of the assistants, Elder Wold, his companions were out of town so he asked to go on a quick exchange with us right after district counsel. We didn't have a lot of time, but we spent 45 minutes knocking some doors. Rewind: A goal that I have been having in mind for finding efforts was to set our expectations high, so we are shooting for 10 new people a week. It's a lofty goal, but that's definitely going to push us to give it our all! Now back to our 45 minute door knocking, we found 3 potentials all back to back! It was way cool to see the miracles come instantaneously after we set that goal! Don't be afraid to shoot for the stars ladies and gentlemen! On Saturday we got to help out volunteering with the Red Cross for the “Sound the Alarm” event. We went door to door in OKC trying to install fire alarms for people who didn't have any. It was way fun and felt good to be doing something like that for the community! Definitely a Christlike move!

Well, I guess this week was more memorable than I thought it would be. It was good to be with y'all on this fine p-day! Thanks for all the love and support ya'll give me back home! Can't wait to talk to ya'll soon! Love ya'll!!

Love,

Elder Weese

Pictures:

1,2,3,4) Old Friends!!!

5) Perks of being a missionary!!

6,7,8,9,10) More Temple open house!

11) Wet parking day at the open house!

12) B-Dubs after MLC!

13,14) American red cross "sound the alarm."

15,16) Pictures from last transfer day

Week 40: Month 9 and Transfer 7!! 4/29/2019

Wassup?? How is everyone doing?? It's good to be writing to ya'll on this wonderful p-day! I hope everyone back home is alive and doing well. This week was very significant for a lot of reasons. I hit my 9 month mark on Thursday, and just began my 7th transfer out in the mission field! Time is going by way fast and I can't believe it is already that time of year where we are approaching summer time. As a new month and new transfer roll on by, I can't help but express my gratitude for the time I have been out here serving as a missionary for our Lord Jesus Christ. I have learned so much in my time being out here and I know for a fact that this is the place I need to be at this exact moment in my life. Next week will mark a full year since I opened my mission call and found out that I was going to be coming to Oklahoma, ever since then time has definitely taken off. I can't wait for the many other things I will learn in my next 15 months being out here, there is much more to come and I am very optimistic.

Well, the few high points of my week, I said goodbye to Elder Neff and Elder Wells on Tuesday, it was the "bomb.com" being in a trio by the way, I definitely recommend doing that everyone reading! Haha! It was a great 6 weeks serving in Edmond 1st ward and I am excited for even more things the Lord has in store for this area serving alongside my new companion Elder Beckstrand. Like always, it takes time for me to get used to a new companion, but I have a feeling that everything is going to be just awesome with this guy. He is from American Fork Utah (finally my first companion from the same state) and he is very funny, very smart, and a great disciple of the Lord. He has been out 4 and a half months so this is his second area in the mission. Things have been going pretty good in our companionship so far, I am very excited for the rest of this transfer.

We got to help out with the Oklahoma City Temple open house a few days ago which was awesome. At first, we weren't expecting to go in, we thought we would just be helping out on the grounds or in the parking lot, but in the middle of our session there, someone decided to be courteous enough to switch with us, so I got to be in the endowment room ushering people through the tour of the temple! All the members here are super excited to be getting their temple back and you can tell by the turnout of people that have come to it. Many members who also invited their nonmember friends to come along with them so they can see for themselves what goes on in a temple. It was so awesome being able to be inside, Once I stepped foot inside and as I looked around, the Spirit hit me so strong and there is no doubt in my mind that that is the Lord's house, and through there we make special covenants with Him, we unleash the powers of heaven from the veil to those who haven't had the chance to hear the restored gospel yet, and there is also where families become forever!! It is such a blessing to have Temples!

Another cool thing that happened to me yesterday was I got a call from one of my previous companions from my last area. Do y'all remember me telling ya about Ron? Well, I found out that he will be getting baptized really soon! It literally changed my whole day hearing about that news! He was someone that I worked a ton with in my last area and have become very good friends with him. It was sad to leave, but when I found out that he is doing well and had accepted baptism, I was soooo happy!! I'll send some pics when they come!

Well, This was another awesome week out here in the OK! Thanks everyone for all the love and support! I really appreciate all you do, and love and miss you guys! Keep doing great things, and remember to always reach out to those around you, you never know who could need it! Ya'll have a great week!

Love,

Elder Weese

Pictures:

1) Thanks for the Easter ties mom!

2) Last p-day of the transfer.

3) Early mornin' tennis

4) Oxford oaks studs!!

5) Last dinner with the Jankunas's (another awesome family I met along the way)

6,7) New companion Elder Beckstrand

8,9,10) Work at the temple!

11) church ballin'

12) Big Shot!

13) We have awesome members!! #sistermckinleythegoat

14) dinner at Freddy's

15) Oh, I forgot to tell ya, we knocked on Paul Georges door, that's his house!!

Week 39: Happy Easter!! 4/22/2019

Hey ya'll, what's up? I hope everyone had a fabulous Easter back home. Literally, it was the one of the best Sunday's I have enjoyed out in the mission field. There is definitely a different kind of spirit on Easter Sunday, the speakers were definitely inspirational and the topics were on point on why we celebrate this holiday. We were asked to think about how much life would be different if we didn't have a Savior. I thought about it, and it narrowed down to “hopelessness.” Since we do have a Savior, we don't need fear through the unknown of different circumstances, and what is to come after this life. The chance that we have to receive new life from him comes from the power of his resurrection, which is why we celebrate Easter.

Well, it was a blast this last week. I think I might have forgotten to tell you guys this, but this last week I was in a trio companionship with Elder Neff and another missionary named Elder Wells because his companion went home a week ago so he needed someone to stay with to the end of the transfer. Being in a trio was way fun, it is definitely harder for knocking doors though because the people who open their doors open them and see 3 guys standing there in white shirts, ties, and name tags at the front door rather than 2, but it was still an awesome time. Transfers are in fact tomorrow, so that means this last weekend we did indeed get the news of what will be happening. Elder Neff will be going down to Lawton, I will be getting a new companion and his name is Elder Beckstrand. I don't know too much about him, I do know that he came to the mission in December but that's about it, and I will still be the district leader over here. I am very excited for this transfer to come, I am gonna miss elder Neff and his enthusiasm and positivity, I admire that about him, he is gonna have a blast down in Lawton. The mission keeps on getting faster and faster. I can't believe I am almost at my 9 month mark!!

Something very exciting that happened to us in the work this past week was we were able to start teaching a part member family named the Hansons. The dad Nathan Hanson is an active member and he is a Co manager for a car dealership. His wife, Holly, is less active, she is from Texas. Super sweet lady, but tougher than nails. She kinda was a head scratcher because I was wondering why she hadn't joined the church yet. It would have definitely been confused if I didn't know anything about her. She seemed like she already was. We had dinner with that family on Wednesday and she opened up to us about her questions and why she hadn't joined yet. She agreed to take the lessons to see if her questions would get answered, so that is a family we are gonna be working very hard with in this next transfer. We also had a baptismal interview for Mia Jeffery. She will be baptized on either the 4th of May, 25th of May, or 8th of June. They are still yet to decide which one, but we are very excited to be having another baptism pretty soon!

Well, thanks for everyone who thought of me over the Easter weekend and to those who sent packages out. I really appreciate everything ya'll do for me and the continuous support I have received! I can't wait to get a new week going! I love ya'll! Have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Weese

Pictures:

1,2,3) Dynamic trio!

4) Jo's pizza!

5) Life church!

6) Kitty cat!!

7) Easter socks! Thanks Mom!!!!!!!!

8) Best District!!

9) Best zone!!