April 18, 2016


Chapter 38:  Mechanicin' 101

What up my bruddahs and sissdahs!!!!!!!!

I hope y'all are having a fine and dandy start to your week. Can you believe this weather? It's getting way nice. I'd take hot over freezing cold any day. If there was a way I could get a box of Arizona heat in the mail that would be sweet. I'd save that for those cruel winter days. Apparently they do snow in a can. They send it to missionaries that serve in places that don't get snow. You crack it open and it starts snowing. 

Anyway let me tell you about this week.

This week was pretty mellow, at least throughout the main part of the week. The coolest part was this right here. We have this boy that we have been talking to. He is pretty young actually. We have been teaching him and also inviting him out to the Thursday night basketball. On the way home from basketball on Thursday night, we were talking to him in the car and we were asking if he had read any of the book of Mormon. He said he has and he really was getting into it. We asked what he thought of Joseph Smith and he said, ya know, I really think it's true. I believe he had that vision like you said. After that me and Elder Overfield just look at each other and we're like , did he really just say that!? It was really neat. We encouraged him to keep reading and praying. 

What really happened that was major was we went to help our investigator Audrie put a new transmission in her pickup. So we head down to Monteagle and we find her pickup out behind the shop with flat tires all grown over with poison ivy. So we ran to the truck stop with her husband to get some tow straps and snapped them trying to haul it out from behind. So we cleared a path to tow it by the front which involved breaking holes in an old boat and...well anyway we never to to the transmission but we did get to ride in the beastiest Cummins so it was all good. 

Other then that it was a sweet week. Hopefully here is more stuff next week to tell. But hey, remember Jesus, he is your friend. Let him help ya.

Sure love y'all. 

Take it easy

 Elder Weight

The District

April 11, 2016


Chapter 37:  Operation Satan Storm

What up my brothers and Sisters! 

This week was fantastic! 

Monday: we went golfing down in Jasper. It was pretty fun. That sport can get frustrating. I think by the end I have ended the game with a score over 100... 

It was good times though. Something that we will definitely remember.

Tuesday: we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I got to go to Cookeville again. It's been awhile since I've been there. I haven't been there last since I've been in Livingston. Man I miss that place. As we drove I saw so many sings that said Livingston is this way. Made me wanna go back. We got to teach some amazing people there. Here was this one guy and his girlfriend we taught there. She was talking to the missionaries and he was a less active. It was cool because we got to set a date with the girl for her to be baptized. Then we got to talk to the guy about all sorts of stuff. He was excited when he got to show us all his cool stuff he had. Haha it was pretty good. 

Wednesday: this day was our last district meeting for the transfer. It was very powerful. We had trainings on how to teach people and not lessons and how to make the most of studies. The spirit was there man. One of the best meetings we have had in a long time. We then went over to Walker's and got the zone leaders walker burgers. They are gonna have to ride bikes for weeks to recover from that one!

Thursday: This was one of the coolest days this week! We got to teach Megan and her husband Dalton. They are the married couple where he's a member but she's not. We've been going over there for awhile and we finally set a date for her baptism on may 7th! She's almost there, she just needs to read the book of Mormon with and without Dalton and pray about it some more. They both are on fire. Dalton is working on becoming an elder and he is really pumped for that one. After all this hard work the fruit is starting to show on the trees! We then had our Thursday night basketball and had a ton of people show up to that. Half weren't members! We got to go and pick up a boy we were teaching and he loved it and wanted to come back! Booyah!

Friday: After struggling through an intense weekly planning session we got to venture out into some of the deep woods of Grundy County. We found a ton of super nice log cabins but they were for vacations and nobody was there. Unfortunately not much went down Friday but we were able to get in and see a couple of folks.

Saturday: We went our members, Brent and Betty to go out to Gruetli-laager again and catch Andrea because we really wanted her to attend church. We show up and she was gone. We then head down the road and this other girl we have been teaching was gone too. Shoot. We then went back towards town and taught Drew who we have been working on a lot. He wanted to come to church but wasn't able to get there. It was a tough day. But like Elder Holland says, we get credit for trying.

Sunday: It started off with a letdown. We went with a member to pick up four people for church and nobody was able to go. Bummer man. But we had one if the best testimony meetings I have ever seen. So many people got up and shared what they knew was true. That always makes the spirit flood in. We got a chance to talk with the bishop and he said that Glen could definitely get baptised in the coming month! Oh yeah, I don't know if I mentioned it or not but Glen had a heart attack and went to Vanderbilt to have a quadruple bypass. He is doing great now and we got to visit him at home yesterday. He is cracking jokes and being funny as usual. He seemed completely normal. That's awesome how fast he is recovering. He said he wants to read the book of Mormon but can't because he can barely see it. His wife offered to read it to him and he liked that very much. They are in fire!

So that was what our week consisted of. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that transfer calls on Saturday and...........wait for it.........

I'm staying! 

So I can get to say for the baptism! Well I love you all. Please take care and may God bless you. Also don't be ashamed in what you believe. Be proud to be a saint. 

Y'all be careful

Elder Weight

Golfing!

Golfing!

Elder Overfield with a member's goats

An outhouse

April 4, 2016

Chapter 36:  Conference

Heeeeeeeeyyyyyy!

How are all you beautiful people doing on this fine day? 

Let me tell you about the week. This week we only had to bike for the first couple days.  Later on we finally got the car back. This week was general conference. So many good talks as always. You pay attention a whole lot more (at least I do) when you go to the church to watch it. As missionaries a general conference week is hard because that takes two of your proselyting days. But thanks to the Lord we were still able to  reach our goal of 21 lessons. Woo-hoo! I don't have,I have to say in this email except share my testimony with y'all. I love this church with everything I've got. I didn't start that way though. I had to figure it out for myself if all this stuff I've been taught as a kid is true. The key is the book of Mormon. Just like President Monson said, if you've not read the book of Mormon...READ IT! Those simple answers you hear every day, read and pray. Don't over look or underestimate that! Do it. And if you have, do it again! I promise that blessings will come. Also look at the latest conference talks! 

Today we went golfing and it was quite the experience. 

Well I gotta go. Love ya! 

Elder Weight

Northcut Chapel in Altamont, TN with President and Sister Andersen

March 25, 2016


Chapter 35:  I Love the Rain!

Hallelujah! Praise Jesus!

Have you heard the news? The Lord Jesus is risen just like he said. He triumphed over death and over his enemies. 

This week was for sure a faith building experience. A while back we had to switch out our car because it had too many miles on it. So when we got the new car, the elders that had it before us used almost all of their allowed miles for the month. So we had the privilege of riding our bikes. Woo-hoo! It was...well... I felt like a real missionary. Let me tell you that Tennessee is not designed for fat people riding bikes. Hills everywhere. The first day was good. We were actually able to teach quite a few people. That was a miracle in itself because all my experiences on bikes have consisted of rude people. We didn't really have that so yeah! 

The day after which was Thursday was not so fun. We left the house and it was cloudy and we were happy because it's been heating up. But five minutes after we leave, it just downpours. And I mean it really poured. We biked about 8 hours that day in the rain. It was pretty miserable no lie. We were not just drenched, we were straight swimming in our shirt and ties. We stepped into this one families home and they got us towels to stand on and we were dripping the whole time. Did we want to go home? I'm...YEAH! BUT! We didn't. We stayed with it and just kept going. And you know what? We had five lessons that day. The record for lessons I've had a day on bikes. God didn't leave us out there to get soaked. He was right there with us. One of my favorite sayings is from Elder Holland which says, "When your rejected, when your cast out, or Spit upon or mocked and made a hiss and a byword, know that in those moments you are standing shoulder to shoulder with the best life this world has ever known." I like to believe biking in the rain is included some were in that statement....

The rest of the week got easier on the bikes though. Turns out the thing that hurts the most is your rear from sittin' on that seat all day. 

Easter Sunday was super sweet! Our ward went down to the old Northcutts Cove Chapel and had their service there. I'm amazed that more then a hundred people could fit in that building. That church is more then a hundred years old! It was like reliving history.  It was cool because the bishoprick talked to us. The second counselor gets up and shouts hallelujah! Jesus is Lord! Haha, I'm totally gonna do that for my homecoming talk. It was an excellent meeting all about Christ. We even had President and Sister Andersen come to it! Very good very good.

We got invited to our Bishops parents house for Dinner. They have got an enormous family! Elder Overfield and I sat on the swing outside and had a good conversation with Madison. She has autism. She's a funny girl. Later that day we set out on our bikes again. We got to our less active we were going to see and we talked a good while. After we got out of the house, it dumped again. We were getting soaked all the way up the road to visit another less active. Along. The way, the guy we just saw and Bishops parents come up in their vehicles and ask if we needed a ride. We said no because we were almost there but we kinda wish we said yes after we get there and find that she wasn't home. It was okay because we talked to her daughter who is also less active. 

On the way back, bishop picked us up and we went to visit an elder couple that has been members for ages and we gave them blessings. That is definitely where we needed to be that day. We also went to see Glen. Apparently had open heart surgery and had a quadruple bypass. We went to go check up on him and he is doing great! He surgery on Wednesday and is already home and pretty active! He's crazy! I'd be down forever. But we had prayer with him and that was the end of our Easter. This Easter was very different then the most I've had. I got to spend it serving Jesus. How many people can say that? Not everyone gets to bike in the rain on eater for Jesus. I'm thankful for what little ways I can serve my lord. Even if it's small, nothing is too small to him. 

I love y'all and pray ya do well. Y'all are powerful people and I've got faith in ya. Be good and love your life.

Take it easy and write me always.

 Elder Weight

Elder Weight, Mickey, and Elder Richins!

Elder Bednar

Nashville!

March 21, 2016

Chapter 34:  A Celebrity Guest Star!

Guess what, we gotta meet Elder Bednar! 

And also Elders Christiansen and Meredith. All three of them were incredible guys. When Bednar walked in, the spirit hit ya like a freight train! I was expecting a fireside type deal were we would just sit and listen to him. But this guy was like, oh no, I ain't doin that. He made it like a question and answer session. It was really neat. He is a real funny guy. He was cracking jokes left and right. He bares an extraordinary testimony! He definitely is a true witness of the reality of Jesus Christ. The coolest moment is getting to shake there hands. I'm never washing my hand again. Haha. Definitely a sweet moment. 

This week we have been trying extremely hard to make thirty-four lessons again just to see if we could. You should have seen us Sunday, we were hitting up everybody we knew and could find. It was actually funny. We were doing extremely well and I got a little cocky. I started realizing it when everybody we tried to visit just wasn't home. I then apologized to the Lord and ask for his help and thanked him for his help then everybody started coming out of nowhere and we had amazing lessons! We ended up getting 40 LESSONS!!! that was totally awesome. The lesson is don't forget who helps you in everything. In reality we are nothing. God makes us everything. 

My brothers and sisters I am grateful for this chance I have had to speak with you today. Before I close my talk I want to conclude with my testimony. I know this church is true and I know that the book of Mormon is the true word of God. I know that there are prophets and apostles on earth today and that I got to meet one of them this week.  

I love y'all and hope for the best.

Take care,

Elder Weight

Fixin Trucks

March 14, 2016

Chapter 33:  Demoted

Hey y'all. Hope yuns had a great week!

This week I was able to go to Jasper on an exchange. The fun that too place there was plentiful. We were able to teach quite a few lessons there. I even got to go to Alabama and teach a lesson there since Jasper is so close to the border. While we were there we were showing this crazy video of elder holland on the gospel library. It's called testimony of the Book of Mormon. It is crazy! He lays it all out on the table and states it plain. Look it up. It's cool stuff!. 

We be had a really great lesson with one of our most potential investigators. She is a mom with two kids and the one girl is really autistic. She s trying to get into a church that fits her family and she described alittle bit of her ideal church and it really is this one! W met her before and she said she really liked what we told her. Weave back and she said that she has been having nightmares and in those nightmares she is told not to talk to us. She says that that right there means that this has to to be right. She wants to talk more.i am very grateful for his woman. It seems like the more we endure to the end with being obedient and teaching the people we already have found, more new investigators with a true and sincere desire to learn the gospel come to us and we begin to teach them. We are truly working hard here. God sees that and he is trusting us with these people to teach.

We got our pickup taken! It wasn't 50,000 and it was time to be retired. So we got a 2014 Jeep Compass. It's a good little car with 4x4. It just sits really low. At least it feels like it after being in the truck. 

We are all very excited to meet Elder Bednar this Saturday. I will try and get a picture with him. Haha. 

Sorry for the short email, we are pretty busy today. But I love y'all and hope life treats ya great.

Keep on trucking

Get 'er dun.

 Elder Weight