MLC

 

 

September 5, 2016

Chapter 58: The Week I Lost my Mind.

 

Alrighty ladies and gents, be prepared for some good ole stories!

And for the record, I didn't loose my mind because you can't loose something you never had. 

So this week was filled with all sorts of meetings and as the designated driver, that means lots of driving!!( Driving wears you out!) first up we had our MLC conference with all the zone leaders and sister training leaders down in Nashville. That was a drive!  Nashville rush hour is evil. We had some really good trainings and lots of great changes being,adequate in the mission by President Stone. He's the best thing since sliced bread. We then got to see the new mission home. It's in Brentwood which is one of the richest places in the world. The home looks like a castle, no kidding. He funny part of the day is we have split companion leaders going on so the STLs are in two different companionships and we had to send Elder Carlson on an exchange. The problem was nobody had the phones to get ahold of each other's companions so Elder Basham and I were stuck on our front porch in the heat for a good two hours. We all literally went crazy. True torture as a missionary is having to sit and do nothing. Finally we got everything situated and everyone got back safely. We then sent Elder Carlson off to Nashville and got One of our Assistants for the day. We had a good time with him and we got to prepare some trainings. Thursday we had a very hot and sweaty zone meeting in Kentucky, I say hit and sweaty because the AC was tore up( country slang for busted). I have my training which was good, Elder Basham gave his, which was better, and then the sisters gave theirs which was best. We then went back to Tennessee. Friday was weekly planning and then Saturday was the one normal day we had! Yes! But in the end we actually were able to teach some people. Our baptism dates all fell through. Yeah I know, it's sad...BUT! We found 4 children in less active families that want to be baptised! Goldmine! So that is quite the blessing. And the dates we had aren't gone forever, they just need some time. They will be redeemed soon. I am so happy though that I get to represent my savior here in this area. Even if we don't teach and baptize everyone we see and seem to struggle in the hard times, at least I get to represent Jesus Christ and wear his name. That's good enough for me. 

I love y'all and I thank you for thinkin of me and cheerin me on. It's well appreciated. 

Take care and sure love ya,

 

Elder Weight

 

 

 

 

Zone Meeting

 

Training

August 31, 2016

Chapter 57: After the Trial of our Faith

My wonderful friends and family,

This week was filled with all sorts of wild and interesting events. It was also a pretty trying week. But it is on these weeks that we grow the most. 

Earlier this week we went to stake Correlation in Hopkinsville, Kentucky and met with President Craig. He is awesome. This stake has come a long way and is getting better and better. We also talked about great deal about our missionaries. Sometimes I feel bad because I think I love our missionaries more then our investigators at times. It's hard not to. I love the missionaries we get to serve with here in Hopkinsville Zone. We didn't get back to our area until 8:30 or so and Correlation ate our whole day. we had planned to go visit a less active member and had just enough to time to go and visit them. But something even better happened. We found this young guy at the house the less active was supposed to be at. Apparently there never was a less active who lived there. We talked to go Skylar, the young guy, and we invited him to read the book of Mormon and he said he would be down. Layer in the week we went over and taught him the restoration lesson. We invited him to be baptised and he said he would. He is actually sincere in doing it. At the end he said the most beautiful and heartfelt prayer I've ever heard. We were all almost in tears. Answers to prayer most definitely. God us way good. This young man was the answer and best reward after a long and hard week. I am grateful to God that we found this guy at the last minute on a Tuesday night. God will make up for all the lost time you put in to doing His work. No effort is wasted if the effort is to do the Father's will. 

I sure love y'all. I really really do. If you don't believe it, to bad, cuz it's true. I wish I could have time to talk to each of you individually. Dont feel bad if you don't get your special Elder Weight time. In about 10 months I will try to make it up. Haha.

Sure love ya,

Elder Weight

 

August 22, 2016

Chapter 56: Pig

Hey my friends and family,.

So this is gonna have to be quick again, sorry about that..

So the main thing that has happened is that we are now in a trio! We picked up our greenie on Tuesday. His name is Elder Carlson. He is from Seattle. Well, Renton Washington but close enough. He is really solid. He knows alot and is super bold and brave. Just the way we need 'em. The other great news is that our finding rate is going up. We found three people each day unlike last week where we found probably 3 people total last week. Other then that not much has happened really. We are planning later on to have a cool Fireside about Jesus on October 9th so more about that later. 

So sorry for not much info. I will try to find more to write about later. 

Sure love ya! 

 

Elder Weight

 

About to conquer the jungles of Tennessee...

 

 

 

Our District

 

August 15, 2016

Chapter 55: Training

 

Hey y'all,

This week was really...wet. We got rained on 6 out of 7  times while tracting. It was pretty crazy. And that is the majority of what we did. 

We had some good lessons though. We had a great lesson with the Jones again. That's the lady who almost cried when she got the book of Mormon. Her and her daughter really like the lessons. They are really feelin the spirit and that is great.

The best news that we've got this time is this....

WE'RE TRAINING A NEW MISSIONARY!!!!!!

Yeah! And we are still gonna be zone leaders at the same time so we are gonna have a trio.  We get to pick him up tomorrow. I will let y'all know own about him later on.

Sorry that this is short but we are busy today. I will talk more next week. But I love y'all. Keep on keepin on. 

Sure love ya,

Elder Weight

 

This guy's front yard.

P-day today

 

Fried PB&J burger

 

 

August 8, 2016 

Chapter 54: Tearin' it Up

Hey y'all, what's up? Hope ya had a good week. What kinda interesting stuff went down with y'all? Here's what happened with us.

     Most of our week we spent tracting. Tried our best trying get some people to hear us out in what we had to say. Fortunately we did get a few. I think Saturday we tracted somewhere close to three or four hours and one of those was in the pouring rain. It's always funny when someone talks to you in the rain because when you try to give them a book or a pamphlet it's soaked and they just look atcha like your crazy. I heard from Elder Majzer that Ron and Pam Bess, people him and I and Elder Overfield had taught were baptized on Saturday. Booyah! And also all their kids are supposed to be baptised later on too! Work is still goin strong in Altamont. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see the baptism because we were tracting in the rain. 

     Saying that reminds me of probably the biggest thing I had learned this week. During the week Elder Basham and I have had to make some difficult choices and make some sacrifices. Some of them were no small things. But if there is any principle I might have learned this week, it is definitely this one here: A sacrifice for God today is a blessing from Him tomorrow. One of the many great lessons I have come to learn as a missionary is that being successful is not about the number of lessons taught in the week or the number of baptisms you have racked up or how perfectly you can remember your scriptures and so on like you've heard before. Exact Obedience is the price. But by obeying the commandments exactly you are greatly rewarded. The things we give up for God are never EVER vain sacrifices. I believe that God rewards each sacrifice one hundred fold. This scripture to me puts it best.

24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Sometimes in order to reach a higher plain God asks us to let go of things. But sometimes God has to bring us low so He can then lift us higher. 

His gifts are better then the world's. 

I love y'all. Hope ya know that. Keep on. If you've got questions, I've got answers so let me know what's on your mind. 

Sure love ya,

Elder Weight

(random story* We pulled into our house and this lady was trying to bust into her house because she locked herself out. After Elder Basham ran me over with the van, we busted into her house for her. #mosiah2:17)

District Meeting in Russellville

Haters gonna hate!

 

The greatest driveway I've ever seen!

 

August 6, 2016

Chapter 53: Just Swing

 

Today was the day I realized that instead of counting how long I've been out I now start counting how long I have left. Seriously, where did the time go? I could have sworn I had another two years left. These next 11 months are gonna be intense. Gotta make 'em count.

This last Monday I played basketball for the first time in ages with other missionaries. We actually have people close by! The only problem is I forgot that I'm terrible at basketball. So we then played volleyball which was cool because we were all terrible at that. Haha. We got to go on exchanges with the Elders in Sango. I got to take Elder Jessop back here with me and git 'er dun. We had a difficult time because all of our planned appointments got canceled so we were kinda freaking out abit because we weren't sure what to do. However after a lot of praying I remembered a story I had heard about golfing. It's a long story but the moral of the story is you will have more fun if you just go out and start swinging and not focus so much on being perfect at getting the technique down. So we applied that to our day and we just "started swinging" . Lots of tracting was done but in the end we found the coolest lady who was immensely happy to see us. She said she wanted to read the Book of Mormon and she didn't know where to get one. We handed one to her and I swear she almost cried. Gods plans are better then ours. So what I learned was when everything falls to peices, go out and just swing.

I also got to learn alot about being saved. It's funny because if your read the salvation section in true to the faith, it is specifically for the South almost. Have you been Saved?! We can respond with a "yes, but on conditions." We are all saved and unsaved in different ways. We are saved from death automatically because of Jesus but we are not saved in the kingdom of God until after judgement and prove by our works that we have been fitted and tested to belong there. So yes and yes we are and can be saved.

I also had a neat experience after reading the talk given by elder Anderson about faith in 2015. My answer to my questions on Joseph Smith were answered after reading that. He says that faith in something doesn't come out of nowhere. Faith is by choice, not by chance. You have to happen the desire to belive and hope it is true before you can find out that it is. So that can be applied to Anything! You gotta want it. But now I can truly say the Joseph Smith is a prophet and all the things that he did were for the good of the church. The book of Mormon is absolutely true. No doubt about it. 

How cool it is that I can say that with even more power. I knew it before but I know it even better.

I sure love all y'all. Never loose your country spirit. 

Git 'er dun.

Sure love ya,

Elder Weight~

Two random things that were cool. We saw a ton of deer this week and I may or may not have chased one with the car and I had five guys for the first time. Way good.

July 25, 2016

Chapter 52: Kentucky

Hey y'all, it's been awhile. Some pretty interesting stuff went down this week so listen up!

This week we had the opportunity to do an exchange with the Russellville Elders. I got the chance to go up to Kentucky for a few days with Elder McCoy. I was pretty excited because Russellville is like he Kentucky version of Livingston so I was ready for small towns and farms again. Booyah! I also got to ride my bike again which is something I desperately needed to do. The first day we rode bikes it completely down poured on us for two or three hours. It was intense. A couple times ere were lightning strikes so close to us and thunder so unbelievably loud that it freaked us out. So we were riding through this wet field at this park and decided to go under the pavilion with these other guys. We sat there for a minute and I started talking to them and before they had to leave we were talking about the church. We never did give them anything because they're ride came to get them. But you never know how a small and simple seed like that could grow one day.

To be honest that's the thing that has hit me the most this week. You never know what could happen. We tracked a lot in Russellville and in Clarksville this week and when we handed the Book of Mormon to people they had to go or shut the door right quick. This one instance this guy came out and we taught him the whole restoration and he loved it but he said he was leaving Monday to go to Iraq for the military. That bummed me out alittle. We also so this less active family and taught them and the wife had a friend over and we asked her if she's heard of the church before and come to find out she's a return missionary visiting from Gatlinburg. We even tracked into this guy who so kindly invited us in which was weird and taught him and even helped him and his wife move they're fridge but they weren't all that interested in having us back. After all those attempts to teach and find new people and it never seemed to work out, it got us alittle down. But you never know how much good comes from your efforts. Preach my gospel says no effort is wasted. God makes the most of every attempt made by us. 

But to finish up what happened in Russellville , we found some new people and we did service on a members farm. Picked some corn, shucked some corn, fed some catfish, fed some horses. It was all good. Even if I got some cow mess on me it was worth it. 

Also had zone conference. First time I role played infront of everyone like that. 

One of the best parts of the week was that Sean came back to church and loved it. He is making friends with the members and even the bishop. He is coming along really well and he is making great progress. We also have been finding some new people! Praise the lord on that one. Even though some of them dropped us it's okay. We're still pluggin' away. 

On a side not we have been getting a lot of people questioning Joseph smith. That's the south's biggest problem is Joseph Smith. People seem to believe everything we teach except him. I do have to admit, there's a lot of shady things in the church history that can make people question. But we know threw prayer we can find answers. So Elder Basham and I have been trying to gain a stronger testimony of Joseph Smith. I know that he did many great things in helping the church get were it needed to be today. He suffered a lot of crud to Dod it to. That has to mean something, right? Right.

Well it's time to get back on the trail, but I love y'all. My thoughts and prayers are with ya. Keep walking on.

Sure love ya,

Elder Weight

 

 

July 18, 2016

Chapter 51: God Answers Prayers

Man, what even happened this week... It's all just a blur. I'll do my best to tell y'all what went down. 

So the beginning of the week was pretty alright. Nothing crazy happened. The only thing that was supposed to happen was MLC but that got pushed back to Thursday because president had to go to the hospital with my old companion Elder Powell. He busted his leg and had to head on home. Don't worry, he'll be coming back to finish up. We were finally able to have district meeting now after all the conferences so I got to finally meet some of our missionaries. We've got some good ones here and we are all in it to git 'er dun! So that was one of the highlights for that day. The rest of the day consisted of tracting some more and going to about three different bathrooms repeatedly because we had taco bell for lunch. Thursday was MLC. It was weird headed towards Nashville from the other side. The east side is where the ghetto is at so it was like being in Altamont again but not as many trees. We talked about using the ward council and getting member help which is right on the money for us so booyah. 

I've got to tell you about the two main highlights from the week. The first was we got to teach one of our progressing investigators in a members home and the lesson went way well and he came to church and loved it! Yes! Prayer answered. The other was... Well...the only thing me and Elder Basham can explain it as is interesting. We tracked this one side of the street and had no luck so two days later we come back and do the other side. We had already had a rough day because our lessons fell through. We began tracting the street and people were jerks. This one guy especially yelled some pretty cruel stuff. After that I just felt like we needed to pray so we stopped in the road and said a prayer and the prayer was as simple as, please help us do some good here on this street today. We kept going and didn't get any answers. Then as we kept walking we found this guy and girl working on a vehicle. We ran over and asked if they need help and they accepted. The guy was so thankful he said he was definitely going to be in church on Sunday and that he knew God sent us to him. The guy didn't live in town but we talked about the church and gave him a pamphlet and the church website. He said he'd check it out. Right there was the answer to prayer. God answered it really quick. Even though it was simple we were able to help in a way that I loved. The rest of the street was full of ups and downs. We had people tell us to leave and keep walking and then, my personal favorite, we knocked on the door and the guy on the other side knocked back. Every time we knocked he would do it back to us. He never answered so we just walked away laughing. 

So I have one reminder and one lesson learned. 

Reminder: prayers are always answered.

Lesson learned: appreciate the tender mercies.

Life consists of ups and downs. Sometimes we forgot that even the good times we need to remember the Lord. As we take the sacrament each week, we promise to always remember him that we may have his spirit to be with us. What a simple yet profound promise. If we feel an absence of the spirit maybe it's because we are not remembering him enough or at all. I testify to each of you that the spirit is real, God is real and Jesus Christ is our savior. We have prayed that this area would experience a great change in the right direction and we would have the opportunity to teach mire people and slowly but surely we have. We have been fine ding new people and things are going to be much better. God answers prayers. That's it. End of story.

I love y'all. Keep on keeping.

Git 'er Dun,

Elder Weight~

(my new saying I've picked up is git er dun)