My Trainer Sister Anderson Is So Close To Getting Married!

February 19, 2015 Wausau Zone Conference

February 19, 2015 Lunch at Zone Conference

February 23, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

Poor Da, send him my love :( That's awesome that Chris is getting married!!! Yay eternity! My trainer Sister Anderson is so close to getting married...I warned her that she better wait till I get home so I can go...even if we have to make an extra pit stop on the way home haha. Speaking of which...if we are staying in Nauvoo, I think you have to get reservations for a hotel or whatever we are planning on doing...I wish I had the internet sometimes to see when the pageant is. The Baetens from our ward are actually in it!! So I'll get the deets from them :)

I will send something to Deb, this world is so crazy right now, there is no doubt that the time is at hand for the Savior to come and cleanse it!

YES, the Hmong here are hoppin'! I am surprised how many. We have tracted into a few Hmong people who speak pretty good English, but it is so cool learning more about their culture.

There are so many blessings that accompany those whom and with whom you serve. Nothing gives me more joy than seeing that hard shell of defensive misunderstanding melt away around the heart of someone we come in contact with when the Spirit touches their soul in some small or big way, unknownst to us. We met a sweet older lady tracting in the dead of night a couple of nights ago. We knocked on her door and she answered in her curlers saying: "And what in the WORLD are you two doing at this time of night in this freezing weather??" We mentioned we were doing a survey and when she asked "why? I'm not changing religions." We said that we want to understand people's beliefs and what makes them happy. She said "Fine, but I'm watching a good movie so make it snappy..." We ended up talking to her for almost an hour about her family and her Christian beliefs. She lost her son when he was 11 and has been relying on the Lord for all of her strength. She has been through so much, but has the most glorious countenance that made me just want to keep smiling. She opened up so much, laughing and we couldn't help but laugh with her, and although she was not interested in the Book of Mormon or anything, she genuinely said how thankful she was that she got to talk with us. I look forward to meeting with her again.

This week the power of member-missionary work was apparent, not only in our area but many others as well. After we offered a training at Zone Conference about the importance of getting to know and serve the members of our wards (for only then can we earn their trust and the work fully move forward) we employed the service of the Hoens for our investigator Kelly, who has been investigating a long time, to give her a blessing to help her quit smoking...she still desires baptism so we will be working with her to make a plan to talk with her doctor about options to help her quit smoking. We also brought Sister Chandler, who is new in our ward, and Mai Lee the recent convert who came to Zone Conference, with us to a couple of lessons and they were so excited for the first time going out with the missionaries and meeting new people. I believe many miracles will continue to develop from their service.

I think the members are starting to trust us more...the bishop's wife invited us over for dinner for like the first time EVER after stopping by and getting to know them a bit better. We have been reviewing the Ward Mission Plan with families in the ward and the young men also made all the missionaries care-packages, which were so amazing to see, and many youth are asking questions about missionary work!

Sadly no investigators came to church yesterday :( They were either sick or "busy" so we will work extra hard this week to make sure our baptismal dates and the others we are teaching GET TO CHURCH! We have also found a few promising potentials this week so we hope and pray that they will turn into solid investigators this week.

Thank you for all of your steadfast devotion towards the Lord and the support you give me and bro and all the missionaries. Because we need all the help we can get...

Love you more than the icy cold loves turning snot into icicles!

-Sister Weaver-

Taking Over An Area After One Transfer Is Not The Easiest Thing In The World...

February 16, 2015

Yup! I got my package!  

Thank you so much FAMILA!!!

Dear Family & Friends,

That is so cool to hear about that sister who conquered her fears and got baptized. I am so happy for her and all the work she will do in Salem, OR for her fellow brothers and sisters! Can't wait to meet her!

Not gonna lie: this week has been rough! Taking over an area after one transfer is not the easiest thing in the world, but I have definitely been kept on my toes!! But it will get better. (It has to!!!)

During transfers on Wednesday, I was left at the transfer point in Steven's Point for 4 hours with four elders...alone...luckily I already knew them all or it would have been very awkward. It is so weird not having a comp. for that long! We may or may not have made some videos...It made the time go by fast. I was saved when the Steven's Point sisters came and got me for lunch, we could only snack on Elder Draper's candy stash for so long.

The stash we snacked
on for like 4 hours.

I think the sugar got to us.

Elders Draper, Vang, Stewart, Wiscombe, 

and I decided to make a visually dynamic

dragon video.  I turned out pretty good 

(for the resources we had).  

Sorry it won’t send…

probably a good thing.

  Don’t worry, we did stud…yay obedience.

Elder Vang being Asian.

But Sister King is so epic it is ridiculous!! She will do so many miracles here, I can feel it!

...yeah...

She’s in the New Era.  

My comp is famous!!!

This week we already have had many miracles finding new investigators through searching for members on our ward list! Neither Sister King nor I have met all the members of the ward, so, in order to implement our Zone Vision of working better with the members and seeking referrals, we have tried to meet at least one new member a day. So far, it has become very successful! We passed around a sign-up for people to come out with us and were AMAZED at the response. A lot of people in our ward keep to themselves when it comes to missionary work so GREAT changes are happening. We also distributed the Wausau Ward Mission Plan during Relief Society, so we'll be following up with the members when visiting about how they want to implement it.

Although we have received no solid referrals yet this week, we have been able to meet many people and find new investigators at the homes of those in our ward who don't live there anymore :) Two new ward missionaries, the Hoens, have been called and they are phenomenal! Always willing to help and fellowship!

Sadly, two of our new investigators who had a lot of promise, Joe Marie being one of them, dropped us and we have had to push back Gloria's date because she has had a hectic work schedule and we lost all contact for a few days :( But she will get baptized!!

We invited a family to be baptized! They are willing to read the Book of Mormon to know it is true and we hope to get the Rickert’s in there to start fellowshipping them soon!

Kelly wants to work towards baptism once more, but she is worried she can't kick her smoking habit. She has expressed her desire for a priesthood blessing so she will be receiving one this Saturday.

Thank you for the many people you have helped to come into the gospel. I am so excited that you will be able to be my comp. in 5 months...AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for that scripture, I am going to have to mark that one up :)

-Sister Weaver-

...is that a half-smile I see??
Saying goodbye to a
return missionary.

Words Cannot Express...

February 9, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

Words cannot express the joy I feel when reading the words of your testimony about hope, love, and family unity that exists within the bonds of ours. It is truly amazing, the strength of those within the gospel. My heart goes out to Anna, but I am so thankful that Allison was there to lend a support of empathy to her.

Regarding the trials Anna and Allison and the Pukahi's and the bajillions of people who struggle with the nasty oppositions of this world, I echo the words of a sister who spoke in our ward this last Sunday about the frailties of human nature and the power the Lord gives us to look beyond them to our purpose here. She is overcoming cancer, herself. And has felt the burden of being weighed down with this personal trial. She says: "We are here to learn godliness; not to be trial-free, go to heaven, and then live a life of eternal bliss without a care in the world. We are here to learn how to become like our Father in Heaven...If our spirit is healthy, it can carry our bodies along no matter how frail or battered they are." And then, we will live a life in the kingdom God has prepared for us and see Him, and know Him, and be joined there with our families to continue on where the work never ends, but the trials that come with human frailty do.

I think it's safe to say that tears filled my eyes when reading about Josh's funeral and the numerous concords of people who came in attendance. I love our family. I love the gospel. Put them together, and I love the fact that we can be an eternal family.

President said that you all could come but usually the Stake President does not want us staying longer than a week. You will probably have to check with our Stake President to make sure it's okay...because it just extends the release time. I'll have to set up everything with Sister Carter so she won't book me a flight home and send me my itinerary. If you have any questions about it, you can call the mission office and ask for her.

Cathy!!! Had I known you were here, I may have been tempted to skip town :) Haha and yes I heard about the groundhog. It figures...and RIGHT after I left too.

I'm glad sissy had a wonderful birthday! I can't believe that two birthdays have come and gone with the twins while I have been here in Wisconsin!

Transfers are upon us once more! Sister Jardine is going home, her 18 months are up! So she's of course freaking out and I've been helping to sedate her with the phrase "It'll all be okay...some day" over and over again. But seriously, she has been such a strong missionary and she has so much good to do upon returning home to her family and friends. And I am SO psyched to get Sister King as my new companiera!!!! I came out with her and wondered when she would be going STL, she is so BOSS!!! My first companion I have known! Woohoo!!!!!

Thank you for all you do! Sorry this is a shorter email, but there's a LOT to get done before Wednesday! BAH!

I send all the love from my heart and soul to each one of yours!

-Sister Weaver-

P.S. OH NO!!!!!! I left my camera cord! ...Next week...

OK here are the pics:

It was an amazing cereal party
with the Veseley's...
and then went nuts.

We all volunteered our services 

at a less active’s snake farm!!

 It was tight!!!  

Over millions of dollars of snakes.

  SO COOL!

Me with a baby one that was just born.

A cool gecko!

The Jones family: 

they are so getting baptized!

  Kathy (to my right) hasn’t 

drunk coffee in three weeks!!! Woohoo!

In the cold.
  In answer to your question Mom.
  It is never too cold to go out :).    

If Anyone Messes With The Cubs, Momma Bear Is Comin Out!

February 2, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

Yup, Sissy knows what she can handle, and it's good that she is taking the steps needed to keep it under control. Haha when you said "Mama Bear" you reminded me of one of our less actives Lavona...she said yesterday: "If anyone messes with my cubs (us), Momma bear is comin' out!" with the ghetto attitude she says she has :)

Yup, I'm feeling better thank you, and no I did think about getting a blessing if I didn't improve, but it only really lasted a day or two. The Lord is truly merciful :)

Thanks for that talk. EVERY MEMBER A MISSIONARY!! It reminds me of the studies I had today. I replaced the word "he" with "I" in the following verse in 2 Nephi 26:33: "For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for [I] doeth that which is good among the children of men; and [I] doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and [I] inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and [I] denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and [I] remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile." Now let's change it to "WE" because we ARE one body in Christ with different roles and missions in life, with different responsibilities the Lord has called us to. We cannot afford to be held accountable for anybody whom we did not take the opportunity to share the gospel with. Who are we to judge if they won't accept it? For they have accepted it before...Therefore, we should share the gospel with everyone with the expectation that they WILL accept it.

If you guys can help get the word out about the mailing policy that would be awesome! My address is 1202 Monroe St., Wausau, WI 54403

I will talk to president about you guys coming to pick me up during interviews this week :)

We found a new family on exchanges! Xia is excited to learn more about the gospel and teach her family. I hope that we may continue to see them progress. Exchanges went great! I went with one of the sisters who have been really struggling though; she needs to re-discover her purpose of coming out here, so we've been trying to help her.

During testimony meeting in light of everything happening with Josh, I bore testimony about the reality of the Plan of Salvation and how infinite and real is the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that Jessica and the rest of their family did their part in teaching him what he needed to know to prepare him for the hereafter, and the time when he would be re-united with them once more, with our Lord and Savior. A lot of the missionaries in our ward bore testimony on the importance of families and God's plan afterward, this has been one of the more spiritual testimony meetings I have been to...I could feel Josh there.

Nancy finally came to church!! After inviting her for so long! She said she enjoyed it and a lot of people said hi to her. Gloria and Kathy also came to listen to the testimonies that were borne and said they definitely felt the Spirit. Kathy said she's been abstaining from coffee!!! Yay!

We are teaching a lot of new people, so we are planning to get more contact with the Home and Visiting Teachers of the MANY recent converts we've been working with and coordinate with them when to help teach the new member lessons and receive more fellowship than just the missionaries. This was discussed at Ward Council and as part of our new ward mission plan, I am eager to see this implemented.

I love you all so much! I wish I could come to the funeral and offer my support, but know that my heart goes out to the Pukahi's...and our WHOLE family. It truly is miraculous to see how unified our family is becoming!

-Sister Weaver-

Mai Lee (who the Hmong Elders
have been teaching) got baptized
by her brother (who just
got baptized last week!!!)
it was so cool!    

We may or may not have pranked
the Elders car during the baptism.    

In my defense, it was 3 to 1...I lost.