September 26, 2011

Hola,

First and foremost, I'm staying this transfer. Elder Perez is leaving to the East side and I'm going to be getting Elder Humphreys. This will be his 2nd transfer so he is still pretty fresh. I've met him once but I don't really know him that well yet. Actual transfers are tomorrow. We're going to work hard. He could be my last companion. Scary.

This last week was different. We got rear-ended on Thursday. An older lady 2 cars back hit the guy behind us and he then hit us. We were at a stoplight. She was a little crazy. The good news is that nothing happened to the truck. The guy behind us just got a square dent in his bumper from our trailer hitch. That's the nice thing about the truck. We still had to fill out an accident report for Salt Lake so that was annoying. Then the very next day we were driving and I guess right before we got the the stoplight there was an accident. We didn't see it happen but we stopped to see if they needed help. This girl wasn't hurt or anything but she was freaking out!! I guess she was in shock or something. Elder Perez called 911 and we were heroes. Not really, we just stood there while other people did stuff.

The teaching is a little slow. I'm formulating some plans in my mind for this transfer and hopefully my new companion will bring some greenie fire. I really believe that greenies get miracles. I did.

In my last area there was a family that consisted of a Mom and daughters. They were all members and lived with another member family. Good people. The non-member husband came home from Iraq or Afghanistan. We were told before he came home that he was a dry Mormon. He had never been baptized but lived all the standards of the Church. He is a super good guy and great father and husband. He just wasn't a member. We started visiting them often. We would go over for dessert. We made a point to be his friend and not preach to him -- he'd had enough of that from other missionaries and he already knew the scriptures and Mormon doctrine more than us. After I left, the Elders continued visiting them and being their friends. The Mom went to the temple about a month ago to take out her endowments. I think the husband felt a little left out. Short story long or long story short...something clicked last week and he got baptized on Saturday. I'm so happy for them. She's been waiting along time for this, probably some 8 years.

Love,


Elder Wiest

September 20, 2011

Hola,

I can't believe its already week six of the transfer. We get transfer calls this Saturday!! That is weird to think about. The time is flying by.

We went to the temple yeterday and it was great! We rode up with Brother Arroyo from the english ward. We call him Grandpa. We ate a ton of junk food. It was really nice being in the temple, though. It was nice to get the mind cleared a little bit. We also went to Deseret Book.

Last Friday was Mexican Independence Day, 16 de Septiembre. We had a party at the church. It was fun...music, food and the Relef Society did a few dances. It was a good time.

We were able to find some more people to teach this week and that was a relief.

I guess some kid got away from the Sheriff and stole his car, guns, and stuff. There was a little man hunt in the area (Editor's note: not a midget hunt, but a little man hunt). Crazy.


Love,


Elder Wiest

September 12, 2011

Hola,

I’m going to write really quick today, were going to try to go to the zoo right now. 


Soooo our week was good. Things are a little slow but were working on it. We helped plant a tree in the spot where we took one out last week.  It looks nice.  We also did some painting for a member. I’m getting pretty good at climbing ladders. 

I really don't have a lot to say.  We’ve just had a lot of long days trying to find people and working with the ones we’ve got. We’re going to the temple next Monday!

Love,

Elder Wiest

September 6, 2011

Hola,

This past week has been good. We are seeing signs that the weather is cooling down. I can't believe it's September already. We've been working hard, though I don't really have too much to report for the week.

We took out a tree. It was on purpose. They asked us to do it.

Our Zone Leaders went to Albuquerque for a meeting and took our car. They brought us a new one! Well...we made a little trade and gave the Zone Leaders our new car for their truck! It was the best trade ever!!! So now we have a Chevy Colorado and I remember riding in that exact truck the first day i came out on my mission. It's a sentimental thing.

We had Zone Conference in Las Cruces at the beginning of last week. We talked a lot about the restoration and how to teach it better. I received a little bit of revelation during that meeting so it was good.

Yesterday for Labor Day we went hiking in the morning in the Franklin Mountains with a recent convert and her daughter. That was a lot of fun. I was afraid of rattle snakes the whole way. At the top we got to check out some caves. We also went to the mall, and then played some ball. It was a good day.

Love,


Elder Wiest

August 29, 2011

Hola,

This week has been busy. We've been working a lot on finding. I think I might have said that last week. It's a never ending effort.

Things are good. We've come accross some cool new people and we've been making progress with the investigators we have. We are teaching a young man who was able to go to Seminary a couple times this last week. We are way proud of him for that, although here Seminary starts at 7:00am not 6:30am. I guess the youth here aren't quite as valiant as we were back home.

Me and Elder Perez started working out hard in the morning. It sucks.

We have a couple of Family Home Evenings tonight with some investigators and recent converts, so we're excited for that.

Volleyball training started this past week so we went and played a little bit with our investigator and recent convert.

Things are going great. Hitting the streets and working hard!


Love,


Elder Wiest

August 22, 2011

Hola,

Well, I'm pretty much all settled into my new area. It's a pretty cool place and so far I like it a lot. The ward is really supportive and that helps a lot. We have a couple of people we are teaching and we are trying to work through the members to find some more investigators. We have 4 Family Home Evenings planned for the next 3 days.

The first couple of days here the swamp cooler didn't work at all! We were burning up! It finally got fixed it and we got a fan so we are staying relatively comfortable. I honestly can't wait for summer to be over.

School started today! Suckers!!

We have a full car again so I don' have to bike. This area is huge and is all hills so I'm thankful for that Chevy Malibu.

My companion, Elder Perez, is awesome. He kinda reminds me of a brown Uncle Scott. We've been working hard and having some fun. We had the chance to give some beginning of school blessings yesterday and that was neat.

I've gotten to the point were I'm more afraid to knock on the door of a huge house in a rich neighborhood at night than a little apartment in the ghetto. I love it!

Love,


Elder Wiest

August 15, 2011

Hola,


Well.....I'm getting transferred, but I'm staying in the zone. I will be going to the Rio Grande Ward. It's just back over the mountain. These last three areas have all been bordering each other. I'm going to be with Elder Perez. He is a cool kid. He comes from LA and is built kinda like a bowling ball. I'm really excited to go over there and serve with him. I've got three transfers left so this could be my last area. Elder Salazar is going to be training a new missionary, so that's exciting.

We had a baptism on Saturday. Ben got baptized and it was an awesome baptism. The ward did everything. Ben's non-member parents and step-dad came to the baptism and then also came to his confirmation on Sunday, so that was really cool.

I was able to say some goodbye's to members and investigators. I've decided I'm going to miss this area. Last night we had dinner with the Bishop and his family and they made me my favorite meal: chocolate chip pancakes with peanut butter, nutella and syrup! it was amazing. The Bishop also gave both me and Elder Salazar each a priesthood blessing for our new transfer. That was really awesome.

Love,


Elder Wiest