Turkey Coma Hangover!

December 1, 2014

Dear Family & Friends,

Sadly...I forgot my camera...so no pics this week :( SORRY!! But Thanksgiving was awesome!!! We went to the Millers for breakfast (sausage, gravy and biscuits, YUM!!), the Rainey's for lunch (with a caramel cream pie, MMM!), and the Clinton's for dinner (MORE turkey!)...By then I was pretty shot. I gained a few pounds, but no big thang!

My Reynad's is okay, although my feet and hands turn blue on occasion...

Yes, as missionaries we are doing something called the He is the Gift Initiative! Were we give out cards with the link to the video and then report each week on how many of our investigators came in contact with it.

I am so sorry to hear about Josh, he is so strong and his family is as well during this time of uncertainty and struggle. It's so weird teaching people about the Plan of Salvation and having them not believe or even doubt it, when I know that the truth reflects back to them whether they can grasp it at this time or not. All things are done in the wisdom of God, whether we can see it in this life, or not. But I know that He has a plan in which all may be edified in and through the matchless Gift of His Divine Son!

This week, Chris and Tye are progressing well, although they weren't able to come to church this past Sunday due to work and illness. Tye was so excited to go she had us help her pick out skirts to buy for the occasion, so we are working hard to help her commit to coming this week! Chris is so excited about his baptism, he opened up a bit more and we helped him understand more of the Savior's atonement in his life. We moved up his date to Dec. 20th because he has been progressing so much in so short of time.

We were able to meet a lovely family through the surveys and they are willing to have us back in their home later this week. We are going to finish teaching them the Plan of Salvation. Adam has his doubts, but his girlfriend Krista is more open to it.

Claire has been cutting way down on her smoking! We had a great lesson in the Jacobson's home and were able to teach the Word of Wisdom more clearly and powerfully. Sister Jacobson is an amazing fellow shipper. Claire ended up wanting a blessing and Brother Jacobson and Brother Williams were able to administer one. She is sleeping on Cynthia's couch right now and is having to deal with a few men who are always over threatening her and doing drugs. She is surrounded by it frequently, but is staying strong in the face of it. She said drugs are starting to look more and more repulsive to her, as she is seeing the difference without having to rely on them to cope with emotional stress. She invited us to her sister's baby shower and was able to meet her family! YAY! I think they are more open to her meeting with us now that they have gotten to know us better.

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and wonderful thoughts!

-Sister Weaver-

We Do Need To Clear Our Vision And Remember Our True Path

November 10, 2014

Dear Family & Friends,

I love that pic too! How true I'm sure it is! I'm glad you were able to hear such inspired words from Stake Conference; we DO need to clear our vision and remember our true path. I love what Elder Holland said in his talk "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence," "If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is right now. Don’t give up when the pressure mounts." We need to always remember the good things that we have already received as truth, when we come down from our spiritual highs and enter the perils of the world, yet again. I HIGHLY encourage you to read that talk, it is one of my favorites that I always go to when discouraged.

For sure I will most definitely cut up my old card once I get the new one. The weather HAS been pretty cold here, too. It is ridiculous how fast the temperature drops, but I am most happy that the weather turned out better today where the sunshine is concerned  (sorry, that is the closest thing I could find to a sun :)

I have discovered how horrible I am at initial contacting, so this week Sister Rousseau has been helping me overcome my fears of talking to EVERYONE I see. So far, I am seeing the fruits of that endeavor :D. Earlier in the week we flagged down a man who was getting into his car and I was so impressed that Sister Rousseau did so, because he expressed how grateful he was that we stopped him, because he was on his way to do something he knew he was not supposed to. It goes to show that you never know WHAT people are going through...I thought we missed our moment and it was awkward and forward and creepy knocking on someone's window before they pull out, but after our experience, I am grateful we did, because I know that he needed it...and he did too.

After Zone Conference we found a man named Earl, who we have an appointment with tonight, through using the Book of Mormon Map Challenge that your wife encouraged us to use. He has a lot of questions and so does his roommate, but he said he would be baptized if he knew the doctrine was true!

It truly is a tender mercy that so many people are letting us into their homes. We met a retired Methodist minister named Gloria, who knew the sisters before and let us in to share with her more about the Plan of Salvation. We knocked on our former-investigator Patti's door and were thrilled when she invited us in for pizza. She was having a sign-making party for her run the next day and Sister Edgar was there! It was meant to be! We helped her out and met her friend Lisa, who we met street-contacting once but now is much more open to us coming to visit.

We saw Latrina as well! We were finally invited into her home and she and her daughter are very interested in Personal Progress, so we showed her how to access it online and also helped her download the BOM onto her phone. She expressed how excited she was to have us back, despite her having to cancel appointments so often.

Sadly, neither Claire nor Dominique came to church on Sunday :( despite their commitments to do so. However, Claire came to the Music Night we sang at last night and brought her sister! I was so happy to see Bill Stoll there as well! He has been asking more questions about temple ordinances and sealing’s.

Haha we wrapped the Elders into singing with it and us all eventually turned out...the poor dears. But the Spirit was there and I am happy we did it.

You are so wonderful; Momma and you continue to be every single day. I love you ALL so very much and hope and pray that everything will work out for your good!

With All the Love that My Heart Can Muster,

-Sister Weaver-

Our Zone Conference Sisters!
It was so funny;
each one of us had a camera
we needed to take a pic with
so all the Elders in the Zone
lined up and took a pic each
...it was hilarious.

Me holding a baby-like dog
at one of our Spanish
investigator's house, Martha

I'm Glad To Hear You Guys Had A Fun Halloween

November 3, 2014

It Snowed

Dear Family & Friends,

I'm glad to hear you guys had a fun Halloween of vegetation and tube-watching...I admit I sometimes dream about watching TV...SOMETIMES). Halloween here was so fun...Sister Pink, a less-active, invited us to her house a couple of weeks ago, and prepared so many things for us to do like carve pumpkins, make caramel apples, the works! The SP Elders had nothing to do that night, so we invited them and we all had a pumpkin-carving contest (Theirs was pretty legit, but ours was pretty boss too...y'all be the judge). Sis. Pink and her husband have been going through a lot of hardship, since he just got back from the hospital...and she was so happy that we made him so happy. When his nurse came at the end of the night, he kept on raving about how awesome our pumpkins were. I almost cried :) 

Sister Pink 

The SP Elder's Pumpkin

Us proud of our amazing work

Our awesome pumpkin

Kentucky-fried...that brings back pleasant and disgusting memories. While we were carving pumpkins at Sister Pinks', I told her of my OCD and she really appreciated that I shared it because she struggles with it as well. She said that it is good that I am out here offering hope and empathizing with those who struggle with it. That truly is one of the reasons I love serving...I am surprised how anxiety affects so many people, both young and old.

Yup, Sister Rousseau is my new comp. She is ridiculously agile about missionary work, so it is good she keeps me on my toes.

...Nope, Kyle Ames doesn't seem to ring a bell...maybe I dunno, I can't remember much of my life before the mission haha

I love that quote from Elder Uchtdorf. He is boss. Thanks for the poem too; the sacrifices of those who have gone before us have paved the way for the greater good that affects the entire human race in this day and age. This morning I read in Mosiah about Abinadi's example of such and admire his courage and attitude: "And now I say unto you that the time shall come that the salvation of the Lord shall be declared to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people...I say unto you, I will not recall the words which I have spoken unto you concerning this people, for they are true; and that ye may know of their surety I have suffered myself that I have fallen into your hands...Yea, and I will suffer even until death..." (Mosiah 15:28; 17:9-10)

Our AP's sent us this message that ties in well to this: "Because Abinadi stood boldly for truth what was the effect that that moment had on the Lamanite nation? Alma was Converted and thousands of Lamanites. Not only that but generation upon generation were affected because of one man. That can be you.  'Pray as if everything depended on God, then work as if it all depends on you.'"

That is so good that you are striving to help those in the church who have distanced them selves. We definitely need to work on that again. Less-actives are easy ones to have slip through the cracks, but I love the new YW in Excellence theme: "Observe, then Serve," it fits it perfectly!

This week was Stake Conference! One of the speakers was an RM named Elder Leanhart (or Lenhart, don't remember), but he just got back from serving in Glendale, AZ!! I wanted to ask him if he knew the Weavers, but a bajillion people thronged him after the service, so I didn't get to check. You guys will have to ask Grandma and Grandpa if they knew him. I am SO excited that Claire and Eric came to Stake Conference! Claire thoroughly enjoyed the first speaker Sister Korales's testimony and conversion story because she said that she could most relate with her. Eric enjoyed the choir and we gave him a notebook to write down his questions...which he used throughout the whole meeting so we look forward to help answer his questions later this week.

We are also teaching a secular humanist named Andrew, who likes to argue allot of things regarding religion. I hope that his heart will soften more to the gospel message the more we meet with him.

Dominique and her family came to the Trunk-or-Treat!! I am so happy she brought her two daughters and two members of her extended family. They arrived late so we gave them a tour of the church while people were cleaning up and Brother Edgar, whom they were talking to, came along and helped answer questions about the church. They really felt the Spirit in the chapel and sang a couple of hymns with us :)

When we met with Brother Stoll, he said, "If we were to join the church, would Luella and I have to be married again?" and then we explained more about temple sealing’s and how priesthood power binds families on earth and in heaven. I am so happy he is starting to ask more questions without fear of offending us.

I am so glad that you all are so firm in the faith, I wouldn't be here if you weren't! Love you all and 2015 is gonna rock!! muah!

-Sister Weaver-

November 6, 2014 in Sun Prairie Madison East Zone

Sisters Weaver, Rousseau, Martin, Brewster, Bennett, McIntyre, Arnold, and Clawson

You Guys Just Made My Halloween (ew)

October 27, 2014

Yo Familio & Friends!

Well as luck would have it, you guys just made my Halloween (ew) all the brighter with your package of sweet treats! Elder Stephens said that we have to be in by 4:30ish on Halloween so hopefully we'll be able to get some appointments in (yeah right, on a holiday?) haha but all will be well :)

Brittany and a mysterious boy...interesting :) haha I hope she waits till I get home to get married! Make sure you let her know.

Sad to hear about Josh, he is truly a fighter and will continue to be, I know it! I'm sure this was a good decision for Jessica...she is strong as well.

I heard about Allison...sketchy, but I applaud how she handled it, she is wise and beyond her years.

I hope that your week is going well! Dominique is progressing very well and has been completing much of the scripture reading suggested in the back of each pamphlet we have given. We are going to strive harder to get her into a member's home this week so that she can receive more fellowship from members while preparing for baptism. We had to push her date back to November 29th, seeing as she won't be able to come to church next week, but is committed to come the week after. She grasps the Gospel of Jesus Christ very well and looks forward to her continued work ethic and progress in her quest to find truth.

We set a date for November 22nd with Claire Castleburg, the 21 one-year-old with a 3 year-old daughter, and she has been feeling the Spirit enrich her life! We have taught the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation in the Williams' home and they are both so wonderful in offering their love and support as she strives to make the changes necessary to prepare her self for baptism. Neither her parents or her roommate are supportive of her being taught the gospel, since she has been raised non-denominational, but she cannot deny the witness of the good fruits of the gospel that have already helped her start to overcome the affects of the sin and guilt that have so often plagues her life. She cried during our last lesson, when she felt that she was worried that she could never become clean, but Brother Williams boldly testified to her of the reality of the Savior's Atonement and the Spirit was SO strong! I love members and the sweet Spirit they bring! Claire has only 2 weeks to find a new place to live, because her roommate won't let her live with her as long as she keeps seeing us, so we are not sure how to best go about helping her with that.

We went on a church tour with Ken! The Catholic young adult that was interested in learning more. He was able to meet the bishop and asked some very inspired questions regarding the Priesthood (it seems that we are getting a lot of Priesthood questions lately). He said that he would be baptized if he received witness that the church was true!

So we've been re-reading the BOM as a mission by Christmas...underlining everything pertaining to the doctrine of the Atonement in red and then how we can access the Atonement in green. It is our gift to the Lord this Christmas and I am SO excited :) I read the parable of the Olive Tree AGAIN, but I think that I am FINALLY starting to get it!!! It's about us! It's about the work we have and must do in preparation for what is to come! I encourage you ALL to read it and underline the heck out of it, because it really is, in essence about each and every one of us as we seek to bring more of God's children unto Him! Please do this, I know that it will bless your and everyone else's lives who you are working with.

Love you all! Stay strong, stay pure, stay spazzy! Thank you for everything!

-Sister Weaver-

Me and Sister Rousseau being spazzy

Sis. R being Muslim

My Anticipated Mission Release Date Is July 28th!

October 20, 2014

Dear Family of Awesome Adventurers and Epic Kingdom-Builders & Friends,

My anticipated mission release date is July 28th, so you can either come down and get me and we can all go to the Nauvoo Pageant that ends August 3rd or something like that OR I can come home then we can all go on the awesome church historic/mission trip that is our goal for this summer. I hope we do get to see the pageant though, I hear it's phenomenal!

For sure, the weather here is getting COLD!  And rainy, like home :) I sent an email to the Pukahi's and I did get the address thank you so much!! Josh continues to be in my prayers as well. I appreciate all of the love our family has for one another and the amazing opportunity we have to learn more about families. I don't think I have learned so much abut the importance of families than I have thus far on the mish (besides the beautiful experience of having the best family in the world, of course :)

THIS AREA IS ON FIRE!!  We have 4 baptism dates and the Elders have like 12! (One of them from us, an awesome guy named Scott, who's totally ready for the gospel, Thank you very much :) We're working with a couple of new families, one with a baptismal date. In one of them are Rena (who has stage 4 cancer), her husband Byron (who is struggling with a drinking problem worsened so by his wife's declining health), Trisha (their granddaughter who was our initial contact), and Kiesha (who we have met with the most and takes care of Rena a lot). We were not sure whether or not Rena may survive past her scheduled baptismal date, so if she cannot make it to church 3 times, we hope President will let us know how to go about preparing her. The other one we have taught the Restoration to both of the sons, but have yet to teach it to their mother Krisha. She is very interested in changing churches and appreciates our visiting them since her grandma passed away, whom she was close with.

We met Claire and Tyler, sisters, at one of our less-actives Cynthia's, and they were very interested to learn more. Tyler is a pregnant transgender and Claire is 21 with a 3 year-old daughter. She wants to find a church that she can raise her daughter in and realizes that baptism is something that should be important, since she's been baptized twice trying to find the right one. She was iffy about how the church judges people who have had children out of wedlock. We told her the story of one of the women from Meet the Mormons and how she was able to raise her family in the church, even when she too had made that decision herself. They were both really excited about the movie and said they'd see it before our lesson with them and the Williams family on Thursday. 

Set a date with Dominique who is very excited to work towards baptism. She knows that there are many things she has to get in order before she does so, but she is willing to work towards November 22nd.

One of our investigators, Eric, came to church on Sunday and although he wasn't comfortable with how formal sacrament meeting was, he enjoyed the discussion in Gospel Principles and Priesthood. The Garcia's, especially Brother Garcia, fellowshipped him wonderfully.

Jessica, Nick, and their mom Chris, are hilarious. Chris, who is not religious at all by any means, has such great questions about the church and missionary work. We told them of our purpose and Chris expressed how miraculous it was that after Nick had posted on Facebook that if God was there, he could really use the help, not two days later we met them! I hope that things continue working out for them. Jessica has been reading a little of the Book of Mormon and also more about Mormons. We referred them to lds.org and urged them to continue meeting with us, praying, and reading on their own. Even though they have not set a baptismal date yet, if they continue on this path I know that they will discover the truth for themselves and what a blessing it will be for them!

Thank you so much for everything, sorry this is so short, I will write more next week!

-Sister Weaver-