[Mason] Amados hermanos y hermanas mios

Ok everybody, the east coast wins for the snow this last week between where we all are. michigan clearly wins with the 10+ feet they got. but here we seriously were dumped on. its almost like the clouds decided to fall to the earth, because we were hammered. I have a pic of a few days ago when it was still snowing. but we seriously got like 2 feet in chicopee and in other parts there is like 3 or 4 its insane. But due to the snow and temperatures we pretty much had a P-WEEK because we were inside most of the week. it sucked so much especially because i was tapped inside the Ludlow Elders' apartment, and man these guys are gross.  I'm talkin like a mens lockerroom 24/7.  I wore the most clothes, and that was shorts and a tshirt...man, I'm not looking forward to a four elder apartment.

So Wednesday after emailing we played this boss game in our gym.  It can be compared to wheel-chair basketball, because we took rolly chairs and played basketball on them.  It was so much fun. we then headed out and had an appointment with a member. 

Thursday and Friday were snowdays, so we didnt do anything.  I read in the book of mormon, for our challenge, and i caught up. I read like 40 something pages in like 2 hours...it was insane...because its in Spanish.  I have set a goal to learn Spanish with all of my heart because I am stuck in a groove of not being able to because of this and that.  Anyways these days can be compared to "heck" because I tell you now, that these guys are sick. 

Saturday...snow stopped the night before and so we went out to help move the Halls in my ward. and man was it good work and fun, because they were so organized and it was great. while moving, we had to drive to the new house which is about a mile away. I  get out of the car when we arrive, and I back up my companion into a nice parking spot and as I'm doing so, I totally slipped. there was a sheet of black ice everywhere, and I literally flew up and onto my back...it hurt so bad...man I didnt want to get up, and the best part was that there were two deacons who saw it and they through snow balls at me while I was down...boy did I get them back...White wash baby...only a light one though because I'm still the  "cool elder" in the ward. then we had district meeting and met the new sister that is in our district. we then had to go with the ludlow elders and move a couch...a massive one...and we had to move it down a icy flight of stairs...it was sketchy. we then took it too one of the ludlows investigators who was baptized this last sunday, and then we helped them teach a lesson on the commandments and had the baptismal interview. we then headed home to do our studies that we weren't able to do earlier. 

Sunday, o ayer, fue iglesia. [or yesterday, was church] and man was it a great day. the church building's heat was out...and so it was the same temp as outside...brrr=). we then proceeded to teach sunday school to the youth and then elders quorum..on familys and strengthening the family...boy was it weird. but it was fun. we then went and made visits with Brother P.... who is puerto rican. he is so cool and fun. we then went to bishops house and had dinner to wrap up the day. 

Now we are here. Monday. P-day. and so I'm doing great. i ordered a pack of harminicas from amazon for the different keys, because you cant play sharps or flats. and i can play hymns and pretty much any song now. and actually the other week, i forgot to tell yo all, that for Zone meeting, the s]zone leaders asked Trujillo and I and sister Scott in amherst to do a musical number...and I was on the harmonica...we played I am a child of god, and it was great. im getting pretty good at it, but my harmonica is a cheepo one and so it doesnt sound to good. if you find any send them to me...I would appreciate it..

So as i have been reading the book of Mormon in Spanish, many things have been standing out to me. 1. is whenever they speak of the God and his word, such as "the word of God" i learned that that has many meanings, but it seems to have a hidden meaning or one that people don't focus on. now when people say this is the Word of God, talking about the BOM or bible, yes its it is the word of God, as in it is his word given through ancient Prophets and what not. but also it is the word of God as in it is, especially the old testament and most of the BOM, about Christ and prophecies of Christ, and when I say Word of God, i mean it is words or scripture pertaining to God or Jesus Christ who was to come for the first time, and now when we talk about the Word of God, it can be put into terms of "this scripture is about our savior Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven and about the coming of our savior again."...sorry just  something that popped into my head while studying. also 2. is that they say that "surely as the Lord liveth,  this will happen or this is happening or this is real or whaever it will be" and it made me think that that In the scriptures it testifies in many different ways. the Lord does live, and so everything that follows is true and it makes me smile at the scriptures even more now. 

Anyways I hope everyone is doing well.

con amor a todos [with love to all]

Elder Mason Scott

Be Better not btter

[Mason] Amados Hermanos Mios

How is everything back in the west?, because I certainly hope its not too cold. I have plenty of it over here, and so I'm willing to share,if you want some. like, I'm  not kidding at all.  It's so cold here all the time, but its certainly a blessing to have a car. (but only a blessing of warmth, because I'm not walking at all...if you catch my drift). anyways, transfers are now this week, and they were supposed to be tomorrow, but we have a massive storm coming in, so it has been changed to tonight. however, I'm staying, and so is my companion, so it doesn't affect us to much.  So, yeah life is pretty great over here on my end...so don't worry about a thing. and by the way, that Saratov missionary kidnapping video is intense sounding, and quite freaky, honestly, because there are a ton of Russians over here in my area, and its pretty weird yo.

So...tragic news this week...well not tragic but sad for us...is that Da.......  has told us he doesn't want to meet anymore...it stinks and he was progressing so well, and he was so great and even reading the BOM, but now he is done with us, and it really stinks.

But its all good, we planted a seed in him, and if that's all we can do for now then we did a pretty great job. but to move on, Shuqi has kind of been in a stagnant pool of water, because her husband, B.... (a Member) is literally on his death bed...which really stinks. and it is hard to see again, especially because 3 months ago, the guy was super strong in the head and what not, but he has declined drastically in the past 10 days. but we and Elder Yu( the chinese elder) are doing our best to comfort her and teach her the plan of salvation. Our other investigator, J..... , is a veteran, who has severe PTSD...and its quite scary to meet with him. he is always cursing, but he is cool.  He doesn't believe in God, because he cant see him...and so its hard to get the point across, and the spirit is there but not super strong because he isn't focused and has a really hard heart and head.  but we are doing our best with him, he has a lot of anger and it is really scary.

We have plans to go out and contact some of our media referrals and what not and so we are not down on our luck, because we have so much to do already. there is not enough time in the day.

Anyways, our weeks are generally the same, but this past Sunday was super special...does anyone know Elaine Dalton...aka the general young women's president of the church, well her daughter came and spoke to our stake in a fireside Sunday night, and it was great and to top it off, we went over to the whites home, where she was actually staying this last weekend. we had dinner, and talked it up...it was so crazy. she guessed where i am from, right down to the city...it was weird. she is like a prophetess...jk...but she was fun to talk to, and now i can say "I Know People." because I do.

anyways great job on the Mini-mtc, it sounds like it was great. im happy to hear that it was successful, i sure wish i could have helped out and been there, but i currently have another assignment i need to complete before I can go home and do that.

For the missionarys purpose and D&C 4, its hard to learn all at once...unless you have been given power from on high to do many great and wonderful things, because I memorized that sucker in 30 minutes or so in the bathroom at our apartment the second day in the field with Romero because i had to recite it later that day for district meeting...God works in mysterious ways yo....but I'm happy to hear that all those boys had fun..

Snow shoes...WDC...why is it that the stuff that the young men do all of a sudden becomes cool when you age out.

Spiritual wisdom this week comes in the form of a parable.

So a certain man had two sons...nope wrong story.

So picture this, Satan is running a store ok. so at this store, there are many harmful objects and tools here that satan has used on people around the world, and he is selling them to his minions. and so he has some old rusted tools, and some new shiny tools, but they are all used in the bringing down of man. now, a minion walks into the store, and starts to look around, and sees a bunch of these different tools. and the store manager, aka satan, says "can i help you good sir?" and the minion responds, "well, im trying t find something cheep but not too cheep, that is pretty new still. do you have anything that fits into this?' and satan replies "oh yes, we have a few but, this one is my favorite"...he holds up this shiny tool, that has a few scrathes on it and worn slightly, and the minion says "what is that", satan responds "this, this is lies, it works well if you use it right, and its only $30", the minion decides to take it.

  a few minutes later, another minion walks in and and picks up this new tool, that is super shiny, and asks "what is this and how much?" and satan responds, saying "that, well that is addiction, and its $150, but its pretty expensive because it works really great, and it helps you take a person down slowly but surely."  the minion says "awesome, ill take it" and so he payed satan and went on his way.

    after about 20 minutes passed, another minion walks in and, looking for something cheep,  went over to the old section where the old and rusted up tools were stored. he picked up this big one and asked the store manager how much it would cost. Satan replied "oh that, that is $5000," and the minion was startled a the price and asked "why so much, this tool is so old and rusted, it surely cant be that expensive!, what is this thing?" and satan replied "O yes, that tool is $5000, the reason behind that is because it is one of my absolute best tools here. it can take several people down in a matter of seconds if you use it right."  the minion says " what is it then?" and satan responds with his head high saying "discouragement, it is discouragement." the minion says " ok, i will take it, it sounds great, thank you so much."

Discouragement is one of satans greatest tools because it keeps us from progressing. when something goes wrong, or somebody leaves, or whatever it may be, we cant let that affect our progression in this life. because if we do, satan can get his hands on us. We can be slowed down by satans other tools, but through discouragement, he stops us and it is hard to keep going. Remember, that our Savior Jesus Christ suffered all manner of pains and afflictions for us, and this includes what ever causes us to be discouraged.

This means that we have a Brother and a Father that know perfectly what we have gone through, are going through, and what we will go through. they have their arms reaching out to us always, and so remember that. Satan wants us to stop because all of his other tools can take us down when we are stopped. Jesus Christ and our father in heaven know we can get through whatever we are going though, so "just keep swimming" and you will be ok.

(I hope this makes sense) but if we get discouraged we become weak and vulnerable so keep your head up and progress.

Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well back where ever you are and I love you all

Elder Mason Scott

-Be Better, not bitter

[Weston] Anaheim Weekly - February 11, 2013

Hey!

This week was awesome! Well, okay mostly awesome! We got quite a lot of stuff done this week! I learned quite a lot about myself this week. It was good.

Monday - We had P-day, and were late pretty much to everything we had planned, the usual though. We got to play basketball so that was a highlight. I love basketball, and volleyball too, oh and do not forget football, and soccer, and every other sport that we are able to pretty much play here.  Vincent took another ball directly to the face and got another mild concussion. I got to drive for another couple of days though! So that rocked! We used Facebook, then went and taught D.... our 9-year old investigator.  It was good, he is finally starting to pay attention. Yes!!!!

Tuesday - Lets see.....(I forgot my old planner so I cannot remember everything. My bad....) We did our studies in the morning, and got out the door at about 1pm. Then taught some peep's here. We used Facebook, then went to the church to meet A.... and sit and teach him there. It was mutual. I still go to mutual even on the mission. That is what's up.  Mutual is so important for everyone, that is where investigators, non-members, or even members will establish a relationship with other people, and then have a stronger root in the Gospel because of it. I believe and know that mutual is one of the reasons that A... is progressing so much! Everyone, Go to Mutual!!!!! :) Okay Bueno. Yo Dije mi paz. We taught A... the about repentance, and went over the baptismal questions with him. He is so ready.

Wednesday - We had a district meeting early in morning, and so had to travel around and rally the troops. Well really only the other Elders in our district because we still had the Corolla (man, what a nice car...).  It was a good meeting, it was funny because Elder Vincent was so worried that President Bowen was going to come and sit in during the meeting, and guess what..... HE DID. It was awesome, he was so nervous.... Partly too because of his concussion.  Sister Wade, one of the office sisters, was out of town, and so I could weigh myself in.  We are doing a sort of biggest loser here. I am winning so far, I have lost 9.5 big ones. Boom, I had put on more than that though....... Still, I am the ganador [winner]  right now. I can not quite remember what else we did, except for use Facebook and do our studies as well. Wednesday night we taught the Preach My Gospel class for the members, and specifically taught about talking to everyone. From chapter 11 in PMG I believe, the last blue section..... The members where good about practicing, all two of them that showed up. Fun...... But, I was told that my Spanish is bad from one of the members that was there. How awesome right? What a confidence booster! :) Eh, I shrugged it off, it truly is hard learning a language.

Thursday - Well, we did our studies, I think, and used Facebook, we also used Facebook for an hour. Thursday night was leadership calls for the transfers, and Vincent stayed as a district leader, and the other elders in our district, Arevalo and Richards were called as district leaders, and then another sister was moved to be a sister trainer leader also. There was so much movement in the Spanish program.  It was crazy, we had a lot of people go home this transfer. Good news, I am not training. Dodged that bullet....... for now..... That was pretty much the day. Wait! We also taught A... about the Restoration again. Well reviewed it, he knew it for the most part.

Friday - Normal Friday, we studied early and then started weekly planning. That took a while because Elder Vincent was not focused. He was thinking about all kinds of things, mainly trying to think how transfers were going to be. We taught A... again, and it was a great lesson, we watched a general conference talk with A... from President Monson, and he was so into it. It was on obedience from this past Aprils general conference. It was powerful. A... knows that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God.

Saturday - We had our coordination meeting at 9am which was basically just a ward council meeting, the bishop pretty much is changing a lot of random stuff. No big deal. But his wife said something incredible, she was talking about how missionaries are" Primarily responsible for the before baptism teaching, introducing the doctrine, and as members, our job is the after and forever.  Our jobs as members is to provide a that social conversion and a continuation of teaching and building up that foundation of the Gospel for the converts." It truly is the responsibility of the members, to provide that support, and sense of welcome to all. After the meeting, we had a language study with Hermano Sw.....  for an hour or so then used Facebook. During lunch I took an hour nap, which was awesome.... Yeah I needed that, then we studied and later went and ate with a member whose name escapes my brain.  At 10:20ish we received our phone call about transfers.  Wow. There were so many changes in the Spanish program. Elder Vincent was leaving, and I was staying.  That is what I focused on, and yeah, pretty exciting.  Every companionship in our district got a new companion. Crazy. I have been in our ward now the longest than anyone else in my district. I am the one who knows the members now, hard stuff now haha, lots more Spanish is coming my way!

Sunday - There was meeting at 7am so I got up at 5:30am for that. Church started at 9am and A... showed up for church which was awesome, he has come about 8 or 9 times now, which is amazing! We went back to the apartment and studied a little bit, while Vincent packed. We pretty much just visited members all day long, and visited other investigators to say good bye for Vincent.  B.... one of our recent converts was so sad! She was on the verge of crying! It was hard for Vincent to leave but, B.... asked for a blessing because he legs have been bothering her again. It was an overall good day I guess?

Monday - Transfers. Holy cow. The whole chapel was packed. I gave the opening prayer and almost couldn't because I have not prayed in English in so long! I couldn't remember how to speak! Hay Carramba! It was a struggle! But the meeting was quite great. Some of my favorite elders here are leaving now, they are finishing their missions like tomorrow. They are "on their death beds now". It is hard for them, nobody wants to go home. Which will be true for everyone because this work that we are involved in is so powerful, true, and the only important thing we will ever be able to do at this time in our lives. We ended up having another van, but a new one, so that is cool beans. We might be getting a new apartment because of the cockroaches. They are everywhere. Ay! We had a lot of stuff to do with the cars, and then getting suitcases transferred, and then bikes and so on and so forth, so we did not have time to email. But it was an overall good day.

I am excited for these next six weeks. I got a fresh companion that does not know that much more Spanish than myself, so we are going to learn a lot I am pretty sure. Exciting! Something that I learned this week was about the Plan of Salvation. In the Preach my Gospel section about the Plan of Salvation, there is a little road map if you will. It says at the bottom "The atonement of Jesus Christ makes the Plan of Salvation possible." So true. We are nothing and can be nothing, and would never be anything unless we had the Atonement. The Atonement is what makes everything possible. I know that it is true, and that it works. Rely on the Atonement, rely on our advocate (D&C 45:3-5). Remember that Obedience is also a choice. We must choose with our agency to be obedient. I love this Gospel, and am grateful for all of your support! Thanks!

Your favorite missionary in CALI,

Elder Weston Scott

P.S. There are some pictures attached. Cool beans.

[Weston] Anaheim Mission Weekly February 3rd, 2014

Hey all!

This week was pretty amazing! Well sort of, there was quite a lot that happened. Not to  much teaching went on, but yeah overall good week. I found some awesome scriptures this week, and I go to be the senior companion. Week 11 in training is when the greenie takes over. It went pretty well. Everyone says that I am going to be training this next transfer, uh please, no. Not ready for that if you all know what I mean. Anywho, the language is coming along pretty well. This is the day by day report:

Monday - We had p-day and didn't get to do a whole lot. We played Basketball and volleyball (on man, I am super good at it now haha, I wish you could see my serves now!) Anyways, it was good. Elder Vincent is prone to getting concussions. Remember how everyone would always tell me or Elder Scott (Mason) to be careful when playing sports, well the tides have changed. Elder Vincent got a concussion playing Volleyball. He hit his head pretty hard. But good news happened because of that. We taught D.... that night, our 9 year old investigator, about the Plan of Salvation.

Tuesday - Well, because of Elder Vincent's unfortunate volleyball accident, I was made designated driver until he was better. I got to drive the swat Van (dodge caravan) for the day. Boo yah. It was fun. It is a piece of junk though I will tell you. It is the oldest car in the mission. But we had lunch with Hermano M..... , who made us carne asada, again. He is a butcher, and he gets great meat! It is so good! But I got to stop eating so much! I have actually lost 9 pounds in the last 2 weeks. Only 40 more to go............I will be honest, I have gotten a little carried away with the excellent food I get here. Lets see.... We taught B.... , our 75 year old recent convert about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it was great, she is so awesome! She is just like another Grandma, except, she speaks Spanish faster than anyone that I have ever met in my life! We also got to teach A.... , about how he can improve his relationship with his family so that he can get permission to be baptized. We talked about forgiveness with him, and how he can apply it in his own life. It was a good day.

Wednesday - Well, the Van the previous night, kind of well, started smoking. Something wrong with the engine again. Super thick nice smelling white smoke was being exhaled by the van. Yummy! So I was still driving, and I picked up everyone for the District meeting, and after the meeting, we got a brand spanking new 2014 Toyota Corolla. These things are sick! It is a V-4 with an Eco-boost, but they are so incredibly fast. Guess who got to drive? Me. It had 4 miles on it when I turned it on. Oh yeah. Mmmmmmm. It was so nice. We only taught one lesson the rest of the night, everything fell through, but we taught E...... , a less active member who is 13 years old. He is uncle is in the bishopric in another ward. He was so open, and new so much. We talked about the Restoration, and he was so great! It was awesome. Elder Arevalo's bike seat was stolen as well. Rough.

Thursday - Elder Arevalo is super good with computers and technical stuff. He and 9 other missionaries from our mission were chosen as technicians to start the Ipads in the mission. Elder Arevalo now has an Ipad mini, and the things that we can do now, oh man, it is going to be so hard, but so much more effective. This is going to be crazy. I should have my own here within the next few weeks. But, President Bowen told us personally that we would get to take these Ipads home after the mission, but the Brethren have decided that it will cost to much for this to be possible. So, I do not get to keep the Ipad after the mission. Dang, but oh well. So anyways, Elder Arevalo had a meeting for the training on them, and so we were in a trio for the morning, and for the afternoon. It was fun. We got free lunch from the office, so that was nice. We then went to orange county to get a new bike seat for Elder Arevalo. That took forever. I still got to drive the new car though. So fun. We taught one lesson at the door, of a new investigator, whose name escaped my brain. But it was a good day. This week was hard to get a lot of teaching in.

Friday - We did studies, but Elder Vincent somehow plugged our toilet and so, I almost died all morning. Most of you that read this know, I pee a lot. Not my fault. That is just the cold hard facts. I can not help it. But, that was awful. I didn't go to the bathroom for close to 7 hours. Long time. We did our studies, and weekly planning. It was good. We taught A... that night. We read in 1st Nephi in the Book of Mormon. Chapter 3, about Nephi, and how he was obedient. It was great! A... loved it, because I realized that it related perfectly to his life. Right after our lesson with him, we had some dinner (sopes) it was awesome! They were so good. But Elder Richards had to leave and go to a funeral, so I got dropped off, and rode his bike with Arevalo. Two minutes into it, by shoe folded over on itself, and my food slipped off the pedal for a ....well.... gruesome attack on my groin area. If you catch my drift. I was stuck going about 15 mile an hours on my bike, being racked with my feet dragging on the ground. To say the least, I was "racked with eternal torment" it felt like. Oh man , that hurt so bad. Still does, I got a nice bruise up and down my legs. Awesome! Good day!

Saturday - I was still driving, and we had our missionary coordination meeting at 9:00 am then language study with Hermano S....... at 10:30am. He is awesome. I learned how to use "vos". Which is pretty much tu form of talking, but cooler! And a lot harder! I also got to work on commands. We taught one lesson to B.... , and taught her about the Book of Mormon. She cant read, but she listens to the CD's every day. She rocks! We ate dinner at Red Robin with D.... , who is a recent Convert from the sisters in our district. He is so awesome. Such a good friend, he is only 21.. He rocks!

Sunday - Ward council at 7:00am, and so I got up at 5:30am because we live so far away. We were late, Vincent gets ready like a girl (no offense to the women that read this) but he took over an hour to get ready. Absolutely Ridiculous. But I drove again. So that was nice.  Church was good, well it was okay. Some members give me a hard time because I have the car, and the sisters don't. They don't seem to understand, that it is not up to us who has the car, but the Mission president, and that they crashed their car. So yeah, a little annoying, but it is bearable. We taught D.... again, about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I also found the story in the Bible where the donkey speaks out loud to his master. Numbers chapter 22 starting around verse 22. Pretty cool. :) Oh and crazy story, we went to visit this part member family, and this woman that lives there is schizophrenic. She tried to give her daughter, daughter's friend, and niece to Elder Vincent and I. She was literally trying to get us to leave with her daughter. It was incredibly strange, scary, and well, unnerving. Ahhh! We are not going back there. Ever. The sisters can go over there....

Sorrry, kind of a small letter this week. This week was good. We did not get a ton of time to do actual missionary work, but we did the best that we could with the time that we had allotted. It was interesting. Things here in Santa Ana are going pretty well. I could not ask for a better place to serve my mission. Transfers will be next week! Exciting. Well I love you all, and am grateful for all that you do! Keep up the good work! I still like letters!

2500 North Bristol Street

Santa Ana, California 92706-1409

Write me!

Your favorite missionary in Cali!

Elder Weston Scott

[Mason] Buenos dias amada familia mia

How goes life back in the old Colorado? life here on the East coast is pretty darn exciting...kind of. well this past week was pretty slow in terms of missionary work. quite a few of our appointments were cancelled, we had interviews this week, and la reunion de estaca [Stake Conference], which was great, but none of our investigators or less actives showed up, even for the non member/ new member meeting. it stunk, but all we can do is try a little harder. we taught our investigator, D.....  , and he is invested into truly finding out if this is true, and its great, he is very receptive to what we are saying. he is ACUTALLY READING THE BOOK OF MORMON!!!!!!! and he is so straight forward with us..he says "guys,I  don't want to be wasting your time, but i want to learn more, and I want to see if its true before I do anything"....Mind Blown....its so fun working with him. R..... is doing OK, he has been off and on with contact with us but we are sure he is doing ok.

Interviews...such an interesting day...we had to be at the Amherst chapel by 2 on Friday, where we had a long training given by the Assistants to the President, and then we were supposed to have the interviews during the training...and be out by 530 or earlier...not the case at all. we didn't leave until 620 and we were late to our dinner appointment, and then late to our lesson with D.... . But its ok. during the interviews, he asked about Elder Romero, and so we privately discussed what happened during that transfer, and it was slightly nerve racking. but then he gave me time to ask him anything I wanted...but I  had nothing to ask. he then shared Alma 38:10-13, where Alma is counseling his son, Shiblon, and this made me laugh, because the night before we had a very serious Companionship inventory, and I laid out all the Crap that was going on, and now we are fine.  The counsel given to Shiblon was kind of along the same lines as what i needed to hear and what i started to do. anyways, interviews are not really interviews, they are Q&A sessions with the President.

The Scary event of this week is definitely scary, and hard not to think about...but we received a call from a sister whose father is in our ward, but is currently in a retirement home, about to go. and she said that he told her "Call the missionaries as soon as you can and tell them as urgently as you can that Satan just jumped on his horse and is coming for them. they need to prepare for this, he is coming for them"...and she relayed this to us, and it made us kind of trip in our though process, and it was actually me who heard it first because I wasn't on speaker, and so I had her say aloud to speaker, and we were actually with our zone at the interviews when we received this call...it was so freaky. but we are trying to brush it off, but coming from this brother, though he is slightly delusional, it was still unnerving.

Anyways, this week we have quite a few appointments which will be great, we are really trying to fill our planners with appointments, and what not, because we had a week where we were exhausted from the work we did, and we had so many lessons and appointments, but its really slowed down, and granted, I'm still tired every day from the work, its not like it was.

Spiritual thought of the week comes from what I really took in from stake conference, and it is actually what president Packard said in his talk that really intrigued me.  and he said that for missionary work with members, and also for missionaries, we need to begin asking the question "Heavenly Father, what would thou have me do right now to help one of thy children come closer to thee and thy son Jesus Christ?" and this really made me think about what do we need to be doing. We can make plans by ourselves of how we can help do missionary work, but we need to make sure that first, we ask our Father in Heaven what he wants us to do, because it is HIS WILL, not ours, we are merely tools to help bring his children to him, and if we let ourselves get in the way of that by not being willing to do what he wants us to do. We simply need to ask this question, and let the "Mysteries of God" unfold though us to our friends and neighbors. the Gospel is a gift, and I'm pretty sure that all people in the world like to receive gifts, and nothing beats the Best gift that anyone could receive, so share it. To change form the question now, God gave us and still gives us gifts in our lives not only to bless us, but also to bless those around us. Think about this, if everyone(Members) who ever gave a present to anyone realized how easy that was...giving a gift....and realized that the Gospel if a gift as well, and it will help people out more than anything else, then i thing that people would share it so much more. But people get scared, and they feel that sharing the Gospel is just Hard work. we need to understand that sharing the Gospel in gift in and of itself, and as we give it we also receive it. As we share the Gospel each day with our friends and neighbors, we also receive a stronger witness of the truthfulness of the gospel. now i know this message is a little all over the place, but to put it in short words, Missionary work is not a burden but a blessing, and that to begin our duties, we must ask our Father in Heaven what to do. Asking Questions in prayers allows us to receive revelation that will help us in our lives. pida con un corazon sincero, con verdadera intencion [ask with a sincere heart with real intent],  we will receive the knowledge of what we are to do. we have to desire the knowledge of what we should do, and then also have a desire to act on that. we cant simply receive a witness of the spirit testifying to us to that the gospel is true and just say "oh that is a nice feeling I like it" and then not get baptized or whatever it may be. We must ACT on those impressions and sign, because they will lead us to serving our fellowmen and serving God!

Sorry the EMail is kind of empty in terms of my week, but I didn't feel like that is something that was too important this week.

Dad, for Priests Quorum, make plans with the priests to go out with the missionaries, because it is blessing to see the work, and also it will help them increase in their desires to serve.

Thanks for the wonderful package btw, the shirts fit nice, and they rock, thanks for the FOOD, but im kind of trying not to eat that stuff, like I just finished off the Christmas goodies you sent me.  But its still great. Thanks for buying me the thermals  and um tell Karen thank you please. Tell Drew I'm proud of him, and I sent him a card. oh, and T-TEXT [Transfer text] is next Saturday...I may be getting transferred, and I feel that way as well. but, Pday will be Wednesday next week so just a heads up.

Con Mucho AMOR

ELDER MASON SCOTT...

be better not bitter

[Weston] The Stripling Warrior Weekly........ January 27th.

Hey all,

I sincerely hope that you all are able to thaw out this week. Sounds pretty rough having to deal with all that snow. I will propose a trade. You send me snow, I will give you California Driving. :) I think it sounds like a pretty even trade? Alright let us make this happen. People seriously drop their brains when they drive here. This includes the companion Elder Vincent. Haha. I am so surprised I have not been hit yet! I sincerely hope I can drive soon! I know my area literally like the back of my hand, especially since I have been on Bike 3 times now in my own area. It pretty much rocks. However, we don't have mountains to help me know which direction I am facing, but who cares right?

So, a couple of things happened this week. Which were really hard I guess. Ar.....  our investigator, we ended up officially dropping him. We taught him this past Tuesday, and we literally did all we could. It is sad, because I know that he knows the truth, and that he was simply just scared. He is moving this week, and so I may never see him again, but I hope that he does eventually act on those feelings that he had. It was awful for me that night and the next day. It was the first person we dropped since I have been here. Also, both of our recent converts have gone less active. Which is depressing. They make little to no effort to go to church now. The one, Ef....  does not have transportation, and still reads, but really is not doing anything about his dilemma about not having a car. It is sad. However, we got to teach Al...  this week, and we talked about his duty and responsibility to his family, the fifth commandment (honor thy father and mother....) and about some other things that will help him. We saw him a few days later and he told us that he was truly trying his hardest to improve his family life. I called his mom to let him know here he was (that was a serious problem for this mom, I know how important that is too, Mom, sorry about those times I didn't.....) so he called her, and told her where she was. She told him, "ok mijo (mi hijo) te amo." He told us that that was the first time in several months he had heard that from his Mom. It was so amazing. Al...  truly has a desire to follow Christ and be baptized. It is so incredible! :) That was a serious pick-me-up for the week!

The week:

Monday - P-day as usual, but, with a twist! We went bowling! It was so fun! I realized that I am so incredibly bad at it now because of my weak wrist (yes, it still is not strong, but I am working on it/ dealing with it)! Yeah! I never even got a strike! I did however, get a killer score of 79 points! Oh yeah! I wore my hamburger socks. I will attach some pictures, it was entertaining!

Tuesday - We had an appointment with Ale....... , but she didn't show, so that was fun! But we went and used Facebook, and taught a few lessons with that, and also taught Gu........ , one of our really true and promising investigators, who is stubborn though. She has no time she said to be baptized. "Siempre estoy occupado elders..." It is so hard! She believes everything that we have taught her, and reads occasionally and prays too. But wont commit. We talked a little bit about how it is a commandment, and that if she truly desires to follow Christ, she will be baptized, and she agreed. But then she says the same thing again, "siempre estoy occupado elders" Hijole! (Dang it!) It is frustrating but I think it will all work out! We taught Al...  as well (what I mentioned earlier) and then dropped Ar.......  that night.

Wednesday - We had a district meeting about the righteous pattern of teaching which is Teaching,  Testifying and asking an inspired question. It was pretty good, I am the only one that ever gives input! How frustrating right? What are we deacons? Come on! ;) We also had to go apply for college for Elder Vincent, and do our studies, and then we had dinner with the oldest member of our ward. Hermano Cif........ Oh man, this man, he is a ward missionary and all he does is get on us about everything.   He doesn't understand that there are certain things that we can and cannot do   He and pretty much the ward get on us all the time about how the Sisters in our district need a car, because they are on bike.   Well, they crashed their car, and President Bowen said that they cannot have another one.  End of story, and besides, with how far away we live from everything, they could not possibly have the van. It is very frustrating. Constant nagging. Thanks ward members! :) ugh... Oh and we also taught Da.... our 9-year-old investigator, we watched the Restoration video.

Thursday - Studies, umm....., we used Facebook, and then taught one lesson to Be... , who is now feeling a lot better. She had a ton of medical problems, and she had a blessing, and now everything is better. She can pretty much walk again. Yay! We also used Facebook, and applied for college again.

Friday - We got several new referrals, but we had to weekly plan in the morning and then get to Elder Vincent's doctor appointment. It was an hour long, but I studied and wrote a couple letters, to Kalani and to Grandma and Grandpa (with a little note to aunt Natalie). Yes you Kalani! Hope to hear from you soon man! But anyways, we were supposed to meet a member from another ward at this hamburger place to eat, and meet his less-active nephew. That was a bust, he was an hour and a half late, and so we had to reschedule for later that night. But we were late to dinner because of it, yes we were going to eat twice.... nothing wrong with that... :) I love food, remember? So that was a lot of fun!

Saturday - I was on exchanges with our Zone leaders, and especially with Elder Janne.  He has no sense of smell! Weird right? (you can kind of tell....... if you catch my drift.........;)) But it was good! I got to talk with him, and we both vented for a while about a lot of things.  He played rugby before his mission, he is 23, but his dad played for the New Zealand All-Blacks. Yeah That's right, crazy no? He is so cool, but he also blew out his knee 4 times.  He tore his ACL and MCL 3 different times in the same knee, and then his meniscus in the other. Wow right? It was good to work with him.

Sunday - Church was amazing. We were late though, thanks to Elder Vincent, he took an hour to shower and get dressed. I do not know why, but yeah.   So we, the missionaries walked in late. Que Chevre! Not. Not cool! I was not happy about it. Especially because we were singing in the ward choir. Oh, sorry did I say choir? Haha, I meant something along the lines of, the tone deaf group.  Maybe a good name would be like the Deaf tones.  I think we should call us the deaf tones. I think it fits nice.  But we got to wear these boutonnieres with the choir. They were real red roses. We looked so good! Oh yeah! It was an overall good day! We ended up teaching Da.... again, to top off the night.

It was a pretty fantastic week. I learned how to deal with the companion issue. It really is dependent on how you view the situation and how you choose to respond. It is super hard. I am trying to be as patient as can be. The only way that we will teach effectively is if we have complete unity. I have learned to let go. For the most part. Of course there will always be things that bug me, but I can not let it hurt me or make me lose my focus on the work that I have been called to do.

This work truly is amazing. I love every second of it. Prayer works. The Book of Mormon is true and does contain the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know this to be true. Not a single person alive can take that knowledge from me. Have a good week everyone!

Yours Truly,

The Elder Weston Scott 

[Mason] Buenos dias amados hermanos mios, que pasan?

 Esta semana pasada fue muy divertida y muy rica con la obra misional.[this week was very fun and rich with missionary work] I mean to say that we had a baptism and it was so great. Ro.....  finally was baptized and it was so funny because his knee came up when i was baptizing him and so we had to go again, and he was like "what, did it not work, why do I have to go again?" it was pretty funny. and yes I baptized him, and it was so much fun, and the font was cold..., and when we started to fill it up, the water was in between warm and hot, and we checked it periodically to see if it was still warm...and it was.  t seems to me that fonts don't like warm water...they always seem to be cold. arghhhh, but it was so great and fun. this whole last week, Ro.....'s whole countenance lit up and every time we saw him, he was so much happier. and he would tell us of these things that happened and how he got through it and some of them were hilarious and he was laughing his butt off of the dumb circumstances of opportunities that presented themselves that he turned down or got out of.

Anyways other things that happened this week were not as significant as the time we spent with Ro.....  in preparing him for his baptism and what not, but we have a new investigator named DSD... and he is such a great guy. He actually reads the Book of Mormon, and we committed him to baptism, but he said not until I know both this gospel and this book are true and it was awesome. we dont have any spanish investigators right now, and so my Spanish is kind of stagnant, and it stinks, but we are trying to reactivate some less actives that are Spanish so we can practice teaching in Spanish. P day was fun this last week, we played a game called Settlers of Katan, with a member, and it was so fun, I don't know why it was fun, it just was. i think we gave like 7 blessings this last week, and it was crazy. and we had a lot of unexpected things happen this last week. the Gu....  Family had a loss in their family and a personal trial, that I will not not share, but we went over and we talked and set goals with them and they are a less active family, bu ti think with this trial, they will no longer be on that list. and last night, we were on our way home from a retirement home, where a member lives, and we had this sudden feeling to stop by the Gu....  house, as we were driving by it, and so we went. and the whole time walking up to the door, I was thinking to myself, I wonder if Jo..... is here...side note- Jo.....  is pregnant and about to pop in 2 weeks-...and so we knock and go in, and the family is much happier than earlier in the week. and on the back of my mind is Jo....., and normally she likes to be there when we missionaries are there, and all of us in the room hear a bottle fall to the ground...and we were like what was that. and we brushed it off on the Gu.....'s son who is in bed already. we heard another one and a big sound like somebody fell over. it was Jo..... and she fainted in the bathroom...it was so scary. but the whole family was in the family room with music blaring and it wasn't when we showed up because they turned it off. now i don't know if that would have happened or not, but that doesn't matter. we had to call an ambulance to check the baby and we haven't heard back yet form the Gu.... family. it was so ....nerve racking though last night, and we couldn't help because she was ...indecent in the bathroom, we just stood there and we wanted to help but we couldn't. we are going to go over tonight or tomorrow to give a blessing most likely.

I spoke in church this past Sunday about hastening the work, and it was fun, I was asked on Wednesday night to speak because the youth speaker bailed on Brother Va...... everyone said I did good and that it pumped them up...which is good.

I love you all so much and ya

THE ELDER SCOTT