October 31, 2011

Hola,

It's week six which means we get transfer calls this Saturday. Crazy. Me and my companion are probably both staying but we'll see, I guess.

We had a pretty eventful week this last week. On Tuesday, we went on exchanges with our District Leader. Their companionship is English speaking and I went to their area so Elder Humphery's was in charge of our area. Since he was the only one who spoke Spanish I think it was a little tough for him but he did good. I guess he got sick and threw up in our investigator's bathroom. I'm bummed I missed that!

We had President and Sister Miller over for interviews and apartment inspections. I cleaned like mad! They didn't even check anything. They just walked in and said, "Oh, what a nice apartment". I was a little upset.

We've been working hard with some new people we're finding. We met this one family a week or two ago and our appointments kept falling through. We finally saw them and they said, "To be honest, I don't think we'll be interested but we do appreciate you guys trying to come by. We don't want you to waste your time..." We gave a powerful little message about families and temples and I think for how it started it ended really good.

We also have been working with a less-active family with an 8 year-old who hadn't been baptized yet. She finally got baptized this week-end and they had a huge party.

We also had the ward Halloween party on Friday and so we had to dress up. My companion was a hippie and I was a Mexican. It was a bit hit. A member hooked us up with our costumes.

Love,


Elder Wiest

October 24, 2011

Hola,

We were visited by a member of the 70 this week. Elder Malm came and spoke to us on Wednesday. It was pretty great! He talked to us like he was talking to an old friend. He was funny and spiritual and I think everyone got a well needed boost. He left us with a lot of things to think about.

Not to mention, Wednesday was my companion's birthday. We had a little party for him with some members in our area. We made cake and pigged out. It was awesome. The day before, a member took us out for his pre-birthday birthday lunch. That was awesome, too. We ate pretty well this week.

We've been having lots of fun meeting new people and trying to talk to everyone. This week, President and Sister Miller are coming to interview us...in our apartment. Scary.

I threw away soooo much junk today! Old missionary junk just piles up and I got rid of a ton.

Love,


Elder Wiest

October 17, 2011

Hola,

Our week was nice and busy. We did a fair amount of service this week. We helped paint some pillars white. My companion is afraid of heights so I did the top parts and he did the bottom. While we were there these guys came to measure windows because they are getting replaced. The lady (homeowner) didn't speak English and the window guys didn't speak a word of Spanish so we had a cool opportunity to translate. Translating is a weird thing, but it was fun. I think that was God's reason for us being there, to help them communicate with each other rather than for us to paint.

We also emptied, disassembled, and washed the nastiest pool ever. It was about half full and greener than green. Things were growing on the sides and little critters were swimming around. Worst of all, there was a dead bird floating around in there. We didn't really have a game plan so we just took it apart and let the water run out all over the yard.... maybe not the smartest. The ground was really dry so the water just sat on top of the ground for a while mixing with dog poop. It was sick. Then we washed the plastic, which took forever, and was kind of a never ending process because the yard was just sand and dirt. It was actually fun, though. I just pictured in my mind me scrubbing an elephant with a broom instead of me scrubbing a nasty pool with a broom.

We also had a very cool lesson at a park with a part-member family and the member's father-in-law. The father-in-law was just like the non-member son-in-law back in the day. But the cool thing is that the only person he'll listen to is his father-in-law.

We also had some other good lessons and it just feels good when you finally get let into a house. I love that! You're kind of like "We're inside... now what?" Love it.

We are meeting with a member of the Seventy on Wednesday.


Love,


Elder Wiest

October 10, 2011

Hola,

Things are good...as always. We worked hard this past week. We actually have been seeing some pretty good things happen in the area. We have added new investigators and are seeing a lot of different people.

We visited a member family one evening and had a good lesson with them and then had them really think about people that they want to share the Gospel with. They were able to give us some really good names. We used what is called the President Monson approach. It's a lot of work and takes some time but it works! Hopefully, we get some more chances to use it.

On Friday, I felt cold for the first time since March. I think it's officially fall. This morning we got free flu shots. Scary. Later today were are going over to the east side to play some zone-on-zone basketball and such. That will be fun.

We found a family when we were knocking on doors two weeks ago right when Elder Humphreys arrived to the area. They consist of a less-active sister and her non- member husband, and her 3 kids. Well, they just moved here: the mom, her mom, and 2 daughters came to church yesterday. It was awesome. It was a good Sunday!

Love,


Elder Wiest

October 3, 2011

Hola,

I'm a little bummed that General Conference is already over. It was awesome! I loved it all. We set up our own little TV in the Relief Society room in English and had a good time watching. I think some of my favorite talks were the ones by Elder Cornish on prayer, Elder Callister about the Book of Mormon, and Elder Christofferson on repentance. There were more I liked but those were some of my favorites.

I got my new companion this week, Elder Humpherys. He is from Arco, Idaho. He's a good kid. We've started the transfer working hard and hitting the streets. Since he is still in his first 12 weeks there is a new training program which means we get an extra hour of companionship study every day. 2 hours is a long time.

This whole week we didn't eat in a single members' home until last night. We either got money or were given something to go. It was kinda weird. I think everyone liked Elder Perez and they don't like me so they won't have us over. Just kidding.

The work is going good. We have a lot of appointments already set up for this week so were excited for that.

Love,


Elder Wiest

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