Thank You All For The Pics!!!

July 28, 2014

Weirdos
Sister Trent & Sister Weaver

Dearest Family,

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE PICS!!! It makes me so happy (and shocked) to see all the changes going on at home. Tell cuz Chris hello from the happy land of WI! He is so cool and facial-hairy! I hope that everything works out wonderfully between him and his (would-be? or already?) girlfriend. That's so great that Karissa graduated!! Is she still pursuing Criminology?

As for the iPads, instruction for the President concerning them comes in September, but until then, nada. Don't worry, this week I made up for lack of appetite by eating the million cinnamon rolls we baked (YES, I actually played a hand in BAKING) at a less active's house, Harriett who is almost as sarcastic as I am (almost). Mommy, I am so happy that you are being such an amazing missionary. And it didn't shock me as much as you think…you all don't know how wonderful you are as missionaries. A lot of people in the wards I've been to don't take nearly as much initiative as you do.

Yeah! Georgia O'Keefe! The museum we work at has pics and artifacts about her for DAYS! Oooooh!! And tell Allison this: we went to the warehouse where all of the cool antiques are kept that aren't in the museum and they have old 1800s-1900's clothing galore! I will take a pic for her. ...Elder Stephens likes to try them on.

Actual size of Goliath

As a goal for our district, we all committed to have 4 baptisms by the end of the transfer. I hope and pray that God will grant us this petition and we may all continue boldly, nobly, and independently on the quest to find the one! This week we got 5 new investigators. I am so looking forward to meeting with them this week. We also got a couple of solid potentials tracting so I'm hoping for the best with them, too. We showed the Stoll's the Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration movie and they loved it. Bill didn't seem like he did at first, but then started to cry as he talked about how well it was done. Luella liked it very much as well, so we hope that it will help answer some of the questions they have about the church.

Yesterday we visited with a less active woman named Lori who was kind of shut-offish at first but then opened up once Sister Trent asked her about a painting on her wall. She is such a gifted artist and we encouraged her to keep up this beautiful talent. She then asked us about patriarchal blessings and what they are. I told her how powerful they were, and when she asked about why women do not hold the priesthood, I bore testimony about how we all act under that authority, which is not men's but God's and about an experience I had being healed by God through it. I hope she continues to open up to and trust us so that she will feel comfortable at church once more.

Painting by Lori of the Holy Spirit
descending among a grove of trees.
She is amazing!

Also, we are in the process of teaching a woman named Amina who believes in Greek mythology (a.k.a Greek gods). I am wondering if you have any advice on how to approach that.

That is crazy the speakers were coming loose. No bueno. We had an interesting Sunday, too...the sewage overflowed in the bathroom :) So...we got to skip last hour. But as missionaries who have every single thing planned, we had no idea what we were going to do...we never prepare back-ups for church. But it all worked out and we visited with some people. (Our church is at 10:00 BTW)

Today we played sports and I didn't stink too bad, making 3 baskets. (Dunno where THAT came from...people must have felt sorry for me so they let me shoot). We are going to Brother Fulmer's tonight (who conducted mission-prep yesterday and asked us missionaries to participate) for dinner and we get to see his studio!!!! I have heard SO much about him from Sister Silcox: he wrote and illustrated a book about all of the once-mentioned obscure characters in the BOM and shared their stories. He thinks about the BOM in such a way that I never thought possible, but it makes so much sense. I'll send you pictures.

This flower is called
a King Lomoni...
go figure :)

I'm sorry Da was so sick. But glad he's feeling better. Tell him that his pictures are so beautiful of everyone, I can't stand it.

I am sorry I sent back my snow boots :( I didn't wear them at all this winter and stuck with my other two pairs. You do not have to send anything back...I have all that I used this last winter. I am sorry I sent so much back...I accumulated ALOT more than I thought from the free rummage sale a few months ago (and it was all FREE). I'm glad sissy now has school clothes. Thank you for everything you have sent me these past months, but I did not end up using all of it :(

Me and Scotch-a-roos we made
(the peanut-butter, rice crispy,
butterscotch, chocochip bars)
mommy makes, yum!

To keep the getting in trouble merriment going, I kind of sort of almost maybe got a text telling me to slow down around the corners while driving last week. We rarely used the GPS, so Sister Trent was pointing out where to go and TIWI, the automated missionary-control-your-driving-thing, yelled at me too much. Well, now I know. I've never had a TIWI before.

I knew the modern-day prophets were boss, but no idea HOW boss. We stole (borrowed) the presidents of the church DVD from the church library and have been watching them at lunch. WOW!!! All of them pretty much saw God and had crazy divine help from the other side all the time like the prophet Joseph and his dad were petitioning for George Albert Smith (or Heber J. Grant) to become the next prophet and all kinds of coolness. I wonder if President Monson has talked with God face to face or not? If he has, I'm sure he wouldn't go telling everyone unless it was truly necessary. I have a testimony that modern-day prophets are ordained of God, despite the objections of those who oppose the church and its order.

Bless YOU!  I love you most!

-Sister Weaver-

P.S. And yes, the 'squatters’ are not cool. Our legs look like they have chicken pox :)

I Got Transferred To Sun Prairie

July 21, 2014

Dear Family & Friends,

Thank you for the package!!!! And the treats, they sure do help my blood sugar ALOT! That is so great that a young lady is coming to church. Hope she keeps it up. Yay that Sister Olsen is getting sealed, she deserves it. Craziness with the weather in Rexburg!! Sister Trent, my new comp, is from Idaho Falls so her family told her about it too. That's so cool that everyone is helping out. Go Mormons! As for our favorite cuz: grill him Mom and Da!

Us saying goodbye to everyone

At transfer Point with
Sister Anderson, Sister Weaver,
Sister Silcox and Sister Gonsalves

Me, Elder Hubert, and Elder Kimzey got transferred out. It was quite an adventure traveling here to Sun Prairie: the transit to the first transfer point was pretty epic with Elder Schvaneveldt and Elder Hubert chatting it up. And then we got into a fender-bender on the way to the second, but we were at a roundabout so it was just a graze (thank goodness). The poor woman who was driving was very shaken up, but I told her not to worry and that we were all okay.

Sun Prairie is awesome. It is so farmy compared to the congested streets of Waukesha and the air is so CLEAN I don't know what to do without the smell of weeds contaminating our apartment. Everyone here is so...normal...and...nice? It's weird. But we ran into our drunk neighbor the other night and had a very creepy conversation, so I felt better haha I think I'm starting to understand what Sister Silcox was feeling when she came to Waukesha and said she felt unsafe...How can I feel unsafe with safety? Oh well I'm sure I'll get used to it soon (I hope :)  I've been able to eat (somewhat) at least enough to call it a meal. Today we went to sports with the elders and some of the youth. It was fun, but no one can replace the Waukesha group of crazies :).  The Elders say they miss Sister Packer, who I'm replacing, so I feel loved. 

Me being me

On Sunday, one of their investigators said, in front of the whole class that he likes hanging out with the brothers and looking at the sweet sisters. The elders had a laughing attack so bad they had to leave. OOOOOh yeah, at dinner on Saturday, I bonded with the Clawsons' daughters over Avatar, Dr. Who, and the whole nerdy universe! It was epic.

Me and the coolness of Sister Trent

My new companion Sister Trent is so great! It is scary how well we get along. We have seen every movie, watched every YouTube video, and sang every song that the other has. There's allot to bond over. She has been helping me implement more family history into our finding.

This week I was introduced to many wonderful less actives and recent converts in the ward. I was also able to meet with the legendary Stoll's (eternigators of the faith and of the REFORMED Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...so we have to be cautious with them) on Saturday and learned more about them. The wife said she had been praying and fasting about whether or not what we are teaching is true, and she said that they didn't really fast with real intent. She also said that she still hadn't gotten an answer to her prayer yet and was wondering how/when it would come. I related to her Richard G. Scott's talk about receiving answers to prayers and said that God withholds answers when there is more to be done on OUR part. I testified that in order to receive or recognize answers to prayers, we must search more diligently and delve deeper into the commandments and scripture God has given us to receive those answers. If we have done all we can, then God will surely do the rest in a way that He knows will help us understand the answer He gives us. I also met an amazing less active member named Sandy McFadden. She is a former actress-turned-film producer who worked with Gene Hackman and Michael Landon and was also one of the writers for "Touched By An Angel," so you can imagine how I ate that all up. We showed her the "Courage" Mormon message video and she said that it takes such great courage to come out on missions and that with every hardship or person that turns us down in the work, God is preparing us that much more for the one person who will say yes. She is wonderful!

I am so happy we got to see Kat last night!! Every Sunday we have bible/deep spiritual conversations with her. She is an RM who is like 30 and I met her when she came through Waukesha to take Sis. Silcox to the temple. She takes care of all of the sisters and she is preparing to teach/counsel children at an LDS High School in Mexico, but she has to interview in front of the WHOLE board of Education with President Monson and three members of the first presidency, so she is a bit nervous. And she should be, it's a big deal! But she'll do great, I have no doubt.

We are hoping and praying to find new people to add to our teaching pool. It is pretty bare. We are hoping to do so with the goal in mind that the President has set forth: to baptize one new person in each area of the mission before the October General Conference. Thanks for all of your prayers in our behalf; I can always feel them coming our way when witnessing the many miracles of missionary work.

Love you all so much! Thanks for all you do and your marvelous missionary work at home!

-Sister Weaver-

I Am Getting Transferred to Sun Prairie!

July 14, 2014

Dear Family & Friends,

Thank you for that quote and message from President Uchtdorf. He is in the words of Dad, a stud. I HIGHLY recommend you ALL read President Holland's talk: Missionary Work and the Atonement. It is sooo amazing!

I'm not sure the iPads are just a rumor or not now because we haven't heard anything else about them...but I'll keep you posted.

Yay! I am so happy you got a job in the school district. It sounds like a great fit for you! And way to invite so many people into the waters of baptism!  I am so happy there are people at home willing to make and keep sacred covenants who are in the care of such good missionaries, set apart and not :)

Unfortunately our transfer email hasn't come yet....wait....we just got it!!!!! Now my computer's frozen!! Now all of our computers are frozen...Now we are gathering around Elder Wise's computer...BAHH!!! I am going to Sun Prairie (where Sister Silcox just came from!!!)! Weird! I hope that Sister Trent is nice...Sister Packer, whom Sister Silcox trained, said that they didn't get along too well :( Oh well! I'm stuck with her so I might as well TRY!

Our Eternal Investigator...Dee

We were able to say another goodbye (since I'm leaving) to Dee yesterday and THIS time we were able to center the core of all of our frustration. We had all prayed about it and received the answer that she needs to step back for a little bit and not invite so many voices at once for a while. I told her that I would always be her friend and that I would be brutally honest with her if ever she did have any questions. She has had a lot happen in her life where authority acted as the hypocrite. I am happy I was able to leave on a good note with her.

This week we had THREE investigators at church (more than I have ever had before)!!  WOOHOO!!!! Josh, Angela, and surprisingly one of our new contacts, Charles, all came and they said that they enjoyed it. I was happy that sacrament talked about the Atonement and that the lessons at church centered around baptism. They were very inspiring and Josh fit right in as many of the men fellowshipped him who said they would beforehand :) Charles took notes during sacrament meeting and Angela stayed for all three meetings.

This week was mainly centered around service, especially for some members both active and less or in-active. We are striving our best to meet the goal of sharing our ward mission vision with every member we come in contact with.

I am happy for the opportunity to move on to a new area, but hope to strive to keep up with the progress of those whom I have come to know and love in Waukesha!

Love you all!

-Sister Weaver-

P.S. Tell Butterscotch I say hi, too!!

P.P.S I have accumulated ALOT of stuff so I sent off two packages that should be arriving shortly :)

Sister Silcox surprised me
with breakfast yesterday :' 

I thought Sissy was so cute! 

A 4th of July Parade On Main Street

July 7, 2014

Mi Familia!

Thank you for the quote, Mother, it is going on the wall. Yes, I will for sure pray for Josh and fast for him! I truly hope that everything goes well with the biopsy. Christopher! our long lost cuz! And in response to that last statement from you...No, it does NOT sound familiar. Haha. Well, I hope that he finds out his feelings for her and that they get married and we have little...what would they be called? Nieces and nephews?

 

[Sorry I keep asking for stuff, but can you send me 3 or 4 short-sleeved shirts from my dresser...it is getting HOT! maybe my hot pink one with the flowers on it...or whatever matches brown, white, tan, and black skirts? <3 Thank you <3.]

I'm glad you all had a good 4th! On the 4th, we were surprised that Main Street was blocked off and little did we know that there was a cute parade planned so we took the time to try and contact people around there before it started (since there was no doubt that EVERYONE in Waukesha was there). We sat next to a nice woman named Katherine who introduced us to her family and took our cards, but didn't want a Book of Mormon (darn it!). But the parade was a great place to get the church's name out there.

Sister Silcox and I scouting out
people before the parade started 

People getting ready for the parade

Waukesha Veterans holding flags
of their branch military

Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty

Oh yeah, on Tuesday, we had a power outage from the wind storm the day before that lasted the whole day and on top of that they shut off the water to our apartment :) We felt like the pioneers! It was cool to live like missionaries in other countries for a little bit where it is just second nature to them.

This may be my last week in Waukesha! I've been here 6 months, so there is a good chance that I will be transferred this next Wednesday. I'm not sure how I feel about it, I love the people here (even those who try and bash sometimes :), but if it's time, then it's time.

Guess what?? Elder Kimzey said that next month we would be getting iPad Mini's. I'm not sure if I'm thrilled or disappointed seeing as how we have to pay out of pocket for them. BAH! $400.00 I believe... They said if we don't have the money, then the general mission fund will help pay for them. Just FYI

This week we were able to get to know more of the members of the church on a missionary-minded level, thanks to Sister Wood's diligence in her new calling as Missionary Dinner Coordinator. When meeting with the Stevensen family, we tracted in their neighborhood and found one of their neighbors, Sue, receptive to the Book of Mormon! We informed them and even though they do not know her too well, Sister Stevensen informed us that she would invite her to church-related things and informs her more about the gospel!

Sister Griffin, Me, Sister Gonzalves,
and Sister Anderson on Exchanges
(It was Sister Anderson's birthday!)

I had fun finger-painting during lunch

Exchanges went great! Being my first time leaving Waukesha in 6 months, it was wonderful to meet new people and enjoy the company of many faithful and progressing YSA's. I learned so much from Sister Griffin about street contacting and have a firm knowledge that enthusiasm is contagious :) I was happy to see the YSA Sister Anderson and I met a while ago, Derek, and how he was still meeting with the missionaries.

We were able to find a lot of faithful people when finding this week. Fasting sure helps us be receptive to the Spirit: yesterday, while contacting a possible investigator (he ended up not being interested :( ), we almost got into our car and who should pass but a young man named Charlie who was interested in what we had to say! We hope will read the Book of Mormon and come to church next week. He believes in a higher being, not necessarily God, but we read with him in Ether 12:4 and he said that he liked it and would study the Book of Mormon further. Then it was my turn to figure out what to do until dinner, so I prayed to know and then while driving, after seeing people sitting outside, I pulled the car around and I was prompted to go down that street. So we said hi and they said they were definitely NOT interested. So, with hope still alive, we headed down the street further and saw another woman sitting on her porch named Sherri (who I nearly scared to death when we approached her door step) who believes that one must have a personal relationship with God. I was impressed to share with her the story of Nephi, a wonderful example of courage that Sister Griffin used a lot when contacting when we went on exchanges, and how he desired that as well. It's funny how the Spirit prompts us to do one thing and, even if we get shut down, if we continue to follow the prompting, we will be led to someone receptive :) I am thankful for the Lord leading His children in His work. He is one boss who loves and helps His employees.

Sadly, Josh didn't come to church yesterday :( But he is still progressing through the Book of Mormon and asks us questions about it from time to time. Angela was not able to come to church either, nor has she been able to meet with us on account of family commitments. We are beginning to feel that she is stringing us along; while she does some of the work we ask of her, we feel that the desire still is not there, in regards to how she can benefit from this gospel. We will keep on trying to ask her inspired questions that can get to the core of how she understands this gospel and what she wants to glean from it.

Love you all! Please let me know if I can do anything for you!

-Sister Weaver-

This Last P-Day Was The Most Relaxing...Ever!

June 30, 2014

Sister Silcox's One Year Mark.
Spring and their family bought her a cake!    

Dear Family & Friends,

I'm glad you found my charger (I really had no idea where it was, but I'm glad it was there :)

Can Dad check to see how much I have in my savings? I need to know how broke I am as of late. Thank you! ...Not that I've been blowing 70 more bucks on shoes. Really, though I just wanted to make sure :)

Yes! I saw David Archuleta's homecoming picture on LDS.org last week :) I am so happy that he chose to serve.  Friday P-day was the most relaxing p-day I've ever had. Sister Griffin, the new STL who is AMAZING, said we should get pedicures. So we went to a cute spa place near the college and after the 2-hour chair-massage-foot-buffing-design-nail-painting spa treatment I thought we would get charged an arm and a leg but it was only like 25 bucks!! Then we took a long nap :) 

My pedicure :) (gross feet I know)

She showed me how to do parking-lot contact at Walmart and we were able to give away a BOM and pray with one woman who said that she is very impressed with us and urged us to always stay true to what we believe in. I love how excited Sister Griffin is about sharing the gospel and I hope that I will be able to exhibit that same excitement as I continue to invite people to read the BOM.

Yeah, I heard about that sad case of the women's "equal-rights" group who wanted the priesthood. Sister Silcox and I had a discussion about that. Whatever woman does want the authority to become a bishop or a stake president or whatever, does not understand the eternal power that IS the priesthood. God's acts could not have come to pass nor His plan if that WERE the case. Look at Adam and Eve, if she had the priesthood, then what would be her role in the plan?

This week we have been reading with Angela more from the Book of Mormon and asked her how she feels about making baptismal covenants. She responded that she wants to read the whole Book of Mormon in order to know for a certainty that baptism into the Church is the right thing to do.

We had the first discussion with Josh, our new investigator, with Sis. Phillips and he asked many great questions about the church and what he wants to know more about. He is very nice and open to come to church!

Next, we taught the Restoration to Randy, who is going through much hardship with his wife's health and depression right now, regarding the fact her legs have been amputated. He said that she really needs this gospel right now. I think that maybe he wants the gospel more for his wife than for himself. We talked a lot about how the gospel blesses families. His Catholic friend who was over helping him out, Chris, decided to sit in and asked more questions than Randy did. It was miraculous to hear Randy defend our faith and although Chris wasn't too harsh about his questions, Randy seemed to understand the importance of our message. We invited Chris and Randy to read the Book of Mormon and then to do as Moroni directs and pray to know if it is true. Chris said that he does believe that God can answer prayers, so he said he would meet in a couple weeks and tell us what he thought of the book. I really hope that teaching Randy this gospel will open the bridge of trust between us so that we may meet with and eventually teach his wife as well.

We had one final dropping of Dee yesterday. We were going to anyway, but she did first so it all worked out. Sometimes I think I become so frustrated with proving her wrong, it frustrates my missionary purpose a little bit. She expressed her frustration at the fabricated, missionary robot motif that so many of us have...and I don't blame her. In order to be real as missionaries, we have to root ourselves even deeper in the testimonies of Christ and his gospel, not just testimonies of the church's truth. But she must understand that in order to teach by the Spirit, the listener must be also willing to listen. When they do not, then we are truly wasting our time. Towards the end of our meeting, her heart softened a bit and she said that even if she wanted to join the church, she couldn't get past the fact that our church is run by imperfect people (like how Brigham Young was racist & a bunch of other stuff she has "studied" about the Mormons) and that many of us go forward with "blind faith" in them. The fact of the matter is, is that no matter what the prophet's in this dispensation have chosen to do...whether true or not...they did not teach or instruct God's people to accomplish those acts. If they did, then there is no way that God's church would have lasted this long in this dispensation. Look at Moses: he took credit for some of the miracles he performed, and God dealt with him as He saw fit. But Moses did not instruct others to commit his mistakes. Sometimes do, as I say not as I do rings true for even God's anointed. This is all just pure opinion, mind you. I may not know all about the unsaid history of people in the church (whether true or twisted), but I do know without a shadow of a doubt the history of my own testimony of the truth...and that is that the only person I have faith in is Jesus Christ, all else are just appendages. Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of the world and that we ALL will be held accountable for our acts on an individual basis, not as a collective group. I KNOW that God chose Brigham Young as a prophet and that through him; much good and eternal truth was brought to pass concerning the children of God.

Yesterday we taught the Restoration to a Venezuelan woman named Mary, who is SO nice, at the invite of Brother and Sister Cutler. She came over to dinner with all of us and wanted to meet with us and learn more. I am so grateful for members and their efforts to introduce the gospel to their friends. She said that she was very impressed with this gospel and that it is "beautiful!" She agreed to meet with us again in a couple of weeks.

I am grateful for this gospel and the opportunity the Lord has given us to teach so many wonderful people this week.

"...Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4: 12-13).

Thank you for continuing to urge me onward in the cause of Christ!

Love you to eternity!

-Sister Weaver-

Mother, I have been eating SO much Mexican!
My colon has never been cleaner.
Have you tried Rachata (or some Spanish
version of what I'm trying to say)?
 It's rice water with cinnamon (SO good!)