I Love The Kansas Wichita Mission!

Flying to Wichita

July 15, 2013

RE:  Oi! Como Vai?

Entao,

I LOVE THE KANSAS WICHITA MISSION! So far, I have taught about 3 different people. Sister Harris is a lady in her 70's. She reminds me of Aunt Sandi. She his hilarious! She calls the missionaries "her boys." She has been receiving lessons for about a month now. She reads the Book of Mormon and her only hold-up on Baptism is that her kids don't want her too. They're super controlling, but it sounds like she wants to join the church regardless! She went through chemo this year and so she has a few wigs she calls "her girls." She seems to be doing a little better now. She maintains a positive attitude despite having a heart condition.

We taught Boney. Boney is a Seventh-day Adventist. So, he attends the institute and church. He loves the Book of Mormon and believes it to be scripture. He has a problem with worshipping on Sunday. He feels that Saturday is the Sabbath day (since he is an SDA). He said, "I'll worship both days if I have to!" So, we're doing our best to help him work through that so he can be baptized and partake of the restored gospel!

Anne. So, I wanted to organize the area book because it was in bad shape (Dad, thanks for teaching me that the Lord's House is a House of Order, and for teaching me to be orderly). So we were tearing it up in the Area Book and we wrote down names of people that stood out to us that we should visit. (There were a lot of people who were dropped or were not continuing to have an updated teaching record for no reason! Crazy! Missionaries need to understand the responsibility they have for God's Children.) Anyways, my companion and I went on splits (they call them "Team-Ups" down here, but I don't really like that name) with a member named Shane. (Shane is less active due to anxiety issues he has with large groups of people, but we got him to come to church this Sunday!) So my companion felt inspired to visit this one person named Anne. She let us in and told us how she had just finished surgery and wanted to come to church! She had a Book of Mormon already and we are going to attempt to visit her this week even though she has many doctors’ appointments. So, we returned to the Area Book to review her teaching record, and it said she had received a witness of the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon! She had only not committed to baptism because of her previous impending surgeries. And when we looked for her address it was not on her teaching record! We still don't know where my companion got her address! This is nothing short of a miracle.

Gabby! Gabby! Has been meeting with the missionaries for a while now. She was fellowshipped by her boyfriend Brandon. I got to teach a lesson to her with 5 other missionaries. So cool! We went over the Baptismal Interview questions with her and obeying the law of the land. She set a date to be baptized for next Saturday! She had wanted to wait until it felt right to set a date and she said it feels right!!! She has so much faith. Brandon has been deployed somewhere far away so he won't be able to attend but he is so supportive and wants her to continue with her commitment to be baptized whether he is there or not. She has a two-year old daughter. Sister Cluff was also there helping teach the lesson! Member present lessons are always so gooooooood! I cannot stress how important it is for members to work alongside full-time missionaries.

My companion's name is Elder Holbrook. He's been a pretty good trainer so far. He's from Utah, a town called Farmington. He is the complete opposite of Elder Cervantes. Elder Holbrook will talllllllkkkkkkkkkk all day long if he can! He is super funny though and his enthusiasm and talkative nature will be good for me as I prepare for the remainder of my missionary service. It's funny because he actually just barely finished his training and now he's training me! With the number of missionaries out now, this will probably become more common than rare. We have 3 sisters serving in our ward as well. Sisters McKay, Christenot, and Tenney. Sister Tenney is waiting for a Visa to Brazil as well. We practice our Portuguese a lot with members of the ward who served missions to Brazil.

Also, I ate dinner with the Howards last night. Brother Howard served in Portugal, and his wife is hard of hearing. So! I got to speak Portuguese with him and I used ASL to communicate with her! It was way fun.

I got to go, but I Love Y'all!

The pictures are of me and two angels the Lord sent me. One is named Elder Noll, the other is Elder Critchfield.

Press Forward Saints!

Elder Weaver

Elder Noll & Weaver

Elder Weaver & Critchfield

Elder Willett doing his "Blue Steel" Face. Sister Sirmans and Elder McKnight are in the background.

Elder Reinhardt and Elder Weaver

Elder Cervantes and Elder Weaver 

Nosso Distrito

Elder Michael Truman Capawana. This man is both a gentleman and a scholar and he is one of the funniest people you will ever meet!

Elders Wilson, Weaver and McMaster, My Roommates

The Lone Angolan (Elder Whittaker) and I

The remnants

In the quiet misty morning when the moon has gone to bed, when the sparrows stop there singing and the sky is clear and red!

P.S. Also,

I'm in the Ward where the mission home is so I see President Bell all the time! It's so great! I thought you'd like to hear that. The members have been feeding us super well. (In fact I wish they'd lay off so I could actually learn how to cook, but that's alright.) I Love You, So much!

Thank You for sharing your scriptures and thoughts. I Love You. Your Portuguese is coming along, I see ;) One scripture I have been thinking about lately is in 2nd Kings chapter 6. It talks about how the servant of Elisha is frightened and then the Lord opens the eyes of the young man that he may see. And he sees chariots of fire, angels, and multitudes of heaven there to assist him. Even though you are distant, I have never felt you so near. 

I Love You, Mom.

Elder Weaver