[Weston] Anaheim Weekly September 15, 2014

Hey!

Well, another week in the books. Time is flying by here on the Mission, and it really is quite freaky.  I really do not like it. But I love my mission, everything is going well here! We worked hard to find new people to teach this week, and we have just a couple people now that have some potential.

We met these two guys on Wednesday night on one of our very Hispanic streets called Maple. They were both over 50 years old and very aggressive it seemed, we had planned just to go around them, and avoid "all appearance of evil" but we got stopped by them. Fun stuff it was! Haha, they preceded to tell us that adding them together, they had spent over 50 years in prison. They started telling us about all these things they had done, and were getting sort of excited for us to be there, and so we kept talking to them, talked about the plan if salvation a bit, and about repentance, and the we had a prayer with them. During the prayer, one of the guys, Rick, grabs my shoulder tightly, and just holds it, in my head I was saying "not a knife please not a knife" haha. We left afterwards, then on Sunday we went back to remind them about church, and Alex the other guy told us that Rick got busted that night, and because he already had had a warrant, he will be spending a couple more years in prison now. Interesting right? We feel like these two guys have been lying to us the whole time, but who knows right now.

Doctrine and Covenants section 50 verse 22 states, "Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together." This principle taught it very real. I had one specific experience this week with that as we were teaching Gina. We were talking together about the Spirit and about how he influences our lives. Then we watched a Mormon message title "My new life" and talked about how even in the darkest times of our lives,  our Heavenly Father reaches out to us, and shows His never ending love for us. A thought came of my mind as we watched the video.  In fact I know without a doubt it was the Spirit testifying to me. I sat there and thought, then finally said, "We must accept ourselves as we are and who we are with all of the weaknesses we have, before we can ever be triumphant over our trials, and before we make our weak things become strong unto us." I have thought long and hard about this for the past couple of days. What is the one weakness we all have? Imperfection. We are human, once we accept the fact that we are a fallen people, once we accept that we cannot overcome the natural man alone, at that point, we will receive guidance from the Spirit. I know that weaknesses are given to man so that we truly may be humble and know of our need for help. God our Heavenly Father loves each of us, and so we must accept ourselves as He accepts us.

During Gospel Principles on Sunday, we talked about tithing, and offerings, and during it I sat back and thought to myself, wow, I literally am understanding 100% of what these people are saying. I felt great, and super confident! The Spirit works wonders. That is for sure. We got leadership and transfer calls this week. Interesting. I love you all, thanks for the love and support! Have a good week!

Your Favorite Missionary in So. Cal.!

Elder Weston Scott

[Mason] I'm stressed.

This week has been a nightmare. My Best-Friend left to go serve in Framingham, and I am left here with my New Companion who I am training, and Honestly I have felt alone. I'm doing my absolute best to help him get teaching experience, but everything this last weekend fell through, and on top of that we had the Elder Carvahlo, an assistant to the President, come in and observe us during the day yesterday, and so acting like I'm not stressed made me more stressed.  It seems like all the forces of negativity and forces of inability and inadequacy to train all came in at once.  And I truly have felt alone until U got on the email today, and I remembered all of you, and that you have my back.  And then my heart softened and I realized that yes it is hard, but I have been prepared to do hard things.  And then I thought back to the 1st lunch appt we had Wednesday morning before transfer meeting.  Now we were sitting there waiting for Sister Arreaga to come in so we could start the lesson, and the little boy on the couch, Abner, turns on the TV, and the show that he turns on was Thomas the Tank Engine, and it made me think, that "I think I can, I think I can"....and you know what?  I can do this!.  its just going to be hard, and it times like this I have learned, and even more so now, that its not by my hand that the work gets done, but by the Lord's, and so I need not worry about the crazy crap that goes on, because I cant control it.  I can only choose to accept it.  Is that easy, No, but is that the right course of action, yes, because in the moment I choose, or in the moment when we choose, we receive the blessings from God, because we chose him and His Son.

Anyways,

My companion is from Peru, but moved to Utah at the age of 9, and so he speaks English, which is a relief, and his name is Elder Vizcardo. he is 18, and it's very interesting.  He corrects my Spanish 24/7, but hey, hopefully it will improve.

Favorite part of the week, last night, because we went to the House of Sergio and  Maria, where we chatted for a few minutes, and ate some Sandia (Watermelon), we started a conversation about why Sergito, the son went to church by himself yesterday, and then it lead, to me asking Sergio, for the 100th time, Will you guys come to church as a FAMILY this Sunday? It will bless you more than you think. God will help you through your divorce, so that you can marry Maria, and then she can get baptized. "Look Sergio, the fact is God wants you back....."

Response: "Elder Scott, I'm not going to lie, in the past I have told you, yeah I will go, with the intentions of not going, but I am telling you right now, that I will be there on Sunday.  I will be there.....and it made me think back, again, to my Patriarchal blessing, and it amazed me how true blessings can really be, when you seek for them.  I love the fact that I have the chance to stay here and train, though its tough, because I get to teach a Peruvian how to be Dominican and Mexican, and Guatemalan, and everything else, and I also get to grow these friendships here and that is what is so cool, because they are friendships that will last a long time.

Um, I don't really have much else to say now,

so Adios....

Elder M Scott

[Weston] Anaheim Weekly September 8, 2014

Hey!

Feliz Lunes a todos! This week was another huge success! We got to teach Axel couple times again, and one of the times, we basically had him teach us the Restoration, which he got everything down almost. He is a very intelligent young man, and so very committed to the Gospel. He wants to know everything right now! It is great, the lessons we have with him help me as well to learn more about the principles we teach, because I explain them in ways I never thought of before. He was confirmed on Sunday at church by Elder Orozco, and afterwards he just came up to us with his father and they both thanked us a ton for all we had done for them. It was great.

We had another Baptism this week, right?, 2 weeks in a row, this time for a woman named Gina. Gina is an awesome member of the relief society, she is a good parent as well. She has Ben a member for 20 years as well. She was baptized when she was sixteen or seventeen, and her record does not exist. I have worked with her and her husband for six months now, where we baptized her husband in the end of April. This past Tuesday we went by her house, because she had a baptismal date for Sunday, and so we talked and talked for a while, and she told is that she probably would not get baptized unless she was baptized the day we asked her, she wanted spontaneous. And so during the lesson, my companion Elder Orozco challenged her to get baptized other following day, and she freaked out, and said no no no no no, better on Sunday. I will get baptized on Sunday. And so it happened. We got her. It has been a long hard struggle with her to get her realize that she needed it,

The coolest parts about this whole thing were first, Thursday night we went over and she asked who was going to baptize her, and then told me that I was going to, because her husband and her decided together on that. I was surprised, I thought for sure that she would be baptized by her husband. But I guess not. It was pretty great! Friday she had a baptismal interview, and went we were driving home, Elder Etchart shared with us that Gina shared with him the dream she had Thursday night. It went as follows, she dreamed that she was getting baptized, and as she came up out of the water, she heard someone, not knowing who, say , "that was your test, your trial, and now everything will become easier than it has been." Imagine that. Here is a woman that suffers from severe depression, and she has this wonderful dream, Gina was so happy the rest of the week, and very happy for her baptism.

On Saturday, the Spanish Stake here had what is called Dia de Hispanidad. It is a huge cultural event, that the church puts on in Hispanic culture (as far as I was told). Basically it is a giant party or pachanga for those that know Spanish Slang. Tons of delicious Hispanic foods, drinks, and sweets. As well, there was a show, in which each ward participated. The youth, relief society or whomever performed Traditional Hispanic dances. Axel participated in our wards activity! They did the Salsa, and did a great job! I do not have any pictures unfortunately. Next year I will get some though! I did not
have my camera on me. Dang. However, it was a great experience.  Basically we are at ground zero now. We have nobody literally to work with. We will be hitting the pavement hard this week, again. It has been hard to find new people lately. But we will this week. 

Thanks for the support! I love you all!

Your Favorite Missionary in So. Cal.!

Elder Weston Scott

[Mason] God has a Sense of Humor

OK my freaky peeps, This week has been a fantastic week, with one very exciting yet scary change.

Friday morning, Our apartment was full of chatter about whats going to happen today for Transfer texts. so we are all guessing that Bradford is getting transferred....obviously he is finishing his mission...so we guessed who would come in...and now its a digital missionary that is finishing the training with The Greenie, Elder Kelly.  OK so next was that the guess was that I was leaving.  I have been here for 6 months (4 transfers) and that's quite a long time, at least for missionaries in this mission OK so then we bet that Penn would serve with somebody else, like Elder Wenner, or Elder Miskimens or Elder Wharton...somebody from my era. OK so every Time there are T-Texts, President makes phone calls in the mission to assign new callings and make releases to callings held by missionaries (ie...DL, ZL, STL)...OK and so at about 9:20 in the morning, during COMP LESSON PLANNING, and I distinctly remember that there are a ton of missionaries heading home that are holding a calling, and so President is probably calling right now...and at that moment i looked at the phone...which wasn't in use...with a black screen....and in that very instant I looked down,....The phone lights up with the Classic vibration and it is President Packard....I answer the Phone, and its goes something like this...

 -"Hi this is Elder Scott and Elder Pennington,"
- "Hi Elders, this is president Packard here, Elder Scott, could I talk with you for a second?"

 -"Sure what can I do you for President?"

-"Well Elder Scott, A lot actually. I have a calling for you. I need you, well, the Lord needs you to be a Trainer for a new Missionary. Could you do that for us?"

-"Sure thing"....

It goes on from there, but my heart went from the regular BPM to like twice the speed, skipping several beats in between.

I am now going to be a trainer here in the Lynn Spanish area. And I get my Greenie on Wednesday @ 4PM.....

 I realized this week that God Really does have a sense of Humor. He wants me, Elder Scott, To train a new missionary here in the MBM, when I still am getting trained hahaha!!!!

So this is the news....

My clavicle is better. i can do my push-ups in the morning again, as of Saturday, i can run, sleep, fall on it....so please send them to me

We taught some very powerful lessons this week such as the restoration to Rolando and Soila. it was really great.

I felt like a dad yesterday in church. A mom had to drop of her 3 kids all under, 10 7, and 5....and so I decided to sit with them, because everybody was getting annoyed by them...they are really crazy. so then, another kid, Henry De oleo, comes over, and says....can you come with me to bear my testimony.....so I went up and helped henry to bear his testimony, and then I bore mine. Henry is the same age as my own class...it made me so happy...I love bearing my testimony and I love the primary kids.

anyways, I'm excited for this change in my life as a Trainer....and it will be fun, hopefully he is a Native, but either way, life will be good

Elder Mason Scott

Pase lo que pase, y disfrutalo [whatever happens, happens and enjoy it]

[Weston] Anaheim Weekly September 1, 2014

Friends and Family!

This week was quite fantastic! I absolutely love my calling in the church, I could not ask for a better one! Changing lives is so uplifting and encouraging, and this week I got to see another life change.

Axel Castro is the name, and he played the game well! I met him about 9 weeks ago, and since then, he has kept every  commitment, every single one, until yesterday when he was baptized. Yes, baptized. He is a part of this ward now, at just 17 years old, he fits in well with all of the young men. He is socially converted, and most importantly he is spiritually converted. During one of the lessons we had with him, he prayed for all of us Missionaries, and specifically gave
thanks for the way he felt about the church and also about the change of heart he has been able to have. It was a very humbling experience.

What truly was the icing on the cake for me this week, was when we asked Axel who it was that he wanted to baptize him, and he said that he would take it to The Lord and ask in prayer. Awesome right! When we went over for his baptismal interview, he looked right at me, and asked me to baptize him! I said, "that I can do my friend!" So we had Ezraa baptism! (Pictures will be attached).

Not only was this Sunday great because we had a baptism, it was fantastic because it was the fifth Sunday. Pheromones in our ward and in our stake, Sacrament Meeting becomes a missionary themed meeting, and so the missionaries were asked to plan everything for it. Elder Pace, one of my zone leaders, and myself were asked about four weeks ago to speak during sacrament this fifth Sunday anyways, and so we coordinated with the ward mission leader and we got everything figured out. Then about 5 days ago Elder Pace and I both changed our topics. No big deal though. I spoke first, and it went very well, I think, (I feel like nobody would ever tell you of you did bad) I spoke on personal conversion. Basically I started off by talking about what is conversion, then how we obtain it, and then led in to how truly personal conversion is centered around one's love for God and Jesus Christ, and if we love them, we must serve them. I read Mosiah 2:17, and explained about serving others is service to God, and that the best form of service is to share the Gospel with others.
It was pretty great! I read a ton of talks and materials to understand more about conversion, and there were two profound statements that I shared in my talk. I believe it was Elder David A. Bednar that said, "The repentant soul is the converted soul, and the converted soul is a repentant soul." I thought it was powerful, repentance is the key! President Bowen, my former mission president, said "conversion is our feeling towards the Savior, and what we are willing to do for Him." I know that conversion is what we all want in this life, it is a process that will last out entire lives. As we keep the commandments, fulfill our callings, and do as the Savior would do, we will be converted. Our individual testimonies are the foundations for conversion, and I believe our conversion is what we choose to do with our testimony, and how we act according to our testimony.

This week was also very good because we found some new streets to work on that have never been touched, and they are pure Hispanic! I am so excited! On one of the streets we already have been working on, we taught this guy named Eddi. He is so cool! We set a baptismal date with him for the end of September. We taught him the Restoration, and towards the end of the lesson led it into baptism with restored priesthood authority. No other church has the authority to baptize! I truly love teaching the Restoration, because it just makes so much sense! Of course! How can this church not be true after you go through the span of events that happened before and after Christ. I know this church is true, and I am incredible grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I know we can be forgiven and clean if we do as The Lord commands. In PMG it says something along the lines of, "as you grow in understanding and knowledge of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, you will increase in your desire to share the Gospel. Be converted, and share your testimony, because you never know how valuable your testimony is until you use(share) it!

Your Favorite Missionary in So. Cal.,

Elder Weston Scott

[Mason] Wow...tough week.....but good

Monday...p-day...played ball.....covered the legendary member from the Lynnfield ward so called Brother Stokes...a former CIA member.....and it was real fun....Penn got his nose hit again...we then had a lesson with Beatriz and Santos where we just had a Q&A Session and all of there Q's were about the next lesson, Plan of Salvation

Tuesday....we had a great day lined up, but we went to the urgent care for Penn's Nose and it turns out that it is fractured.....but its in the right place. we had some good lessons....and then we went on exchanges that night, and i went to Cambridge, with Elder Packer, the Greenie.....who is also the grandson of ELDER PACKER....if you know what I mean. it was fun...

Wednesday....Exchanges.....so we were knocking doors and visiting people...and it was the first time on the mission where i was confident in my spanish abilities....because I had to be. And it turns out i did really well....like 99% and I realized I am almost fluent....I just need more vocabulary to improve my speech....it was a great day and I realized how my Patriarchal blessing is really accurate and really true.....anyways, people they had be teaching had never opened up, and they finally did, and they relly really opened up and it was nice. we got past some barriers, and now they are progressing better.

Miracles happen on exchanges

Thursday....Weekly planning.....thats all I remember and it was awful.....it really burns me out. [Planning for 19 investigators is challenging]

Friday...DM...a real good one, and then exchanges again....I went to Lynnfield....and I was with Elder Calvert....Kalani's Cousin....it sure was fun. The guy was sick and so we all, as in all of the zone, gave him a blessing, and so then we left for the exchanges...and let me tell you....the faith in our zone is real strong. the guy went from fevers and body aches to 100% lets go attitude. but that last part happened at night.....so anyways, we taught about tithing, and also the restoration, and it was real good. we got two new investigators there. it was real good...and the thing is. My ACL is a real good analogy/story to convince people that they can do hard things....

Saturday....we went to 3 amigos, a restaurant owned by a member....it was real good, we then headed back to our areas. 

Sunday...just a normal day....starting off with a disaster and we have to fix it....computer stuff.....and guess what....im the one in this companionship that is better....fancythat.

This week was good, but the topper was Exchanges, they were real fun.

I'm doing good. still working on letting my ankle heal...its hard when I want to play sports and exercise

Hey but you know what.....I really do enjoy the mission. I dont have a message this week...sorry.

Elder Scott

[Weston] Anaheim Weekly August 25, 2014

Hey!

This week was so awesome! Several exciting things happened, as well as we got to do so much service! It was great! I guess I will start off with the service? Suena bien? Okay! Muchas gracias! So, on Tuesday and Thursday la Hermana Silbas asked us to come over for breakfast and help out with painting and such for her house. So all of the Elders that serve n our ward (6 of us) headed over and we scraped paint off the house for hours and hours, and we sanded, and we painted as well.  Both days we worked for about 5.5 hours, totaling our service for 11 hours this weeks it was fun, because the whole time we were dodging these giant wasps. They had about 6 different large wasp nests in their backyard. Super fun! We got a little sun burned, and now we look more acceptable to the people we teach here. Basically we are not white skinned anymore. La Hermana Silbas cooked breakfast and lunch for us both days, it was pretty awesome, from tortas to enchiladas, to guaraches, to some other good stuff. Well worth it!

This week was fantastic in the work of salvation as well. We had a very spiritual lesson with Axel this past Wednesday, where we talked a lot about personal/conversion, and the importance of praying and having a desire to change. We read in Mosiah 2 and discussed it for a while. It reads, "And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually."

I have not words to describe how strong the spirit was in the room. El Hermano Solano accompanied us for the lesson, and it was just so humbling to see this 17 year old kid feel the spirit. Axel said that he knows the Book of Mormon is true. He is going to be getting baptized this upcoming Sunday the 31st of August.

GIna another member that we have been working with has change a lot this week as well. Her depression has started to become easier for her to deal with, and it is such a blessing to see her be able to open more up and trust in our Heavenly Father. I love the area that I am in, and I love the people here.

I thought a little bit this week about a saying that one of my Zone Leaders use to say quite often. "So goes the mission, so goes life." I strive for success in the mission through obedience and faith, and the principles that I learn and ultimately the conversion that I am growing in is what will sustain me through out the rest of this life and into the eternities. I know who I am, and I know what I want. The Gospel is the most real thing about our lives. It is truly the only thing that matters, and will ever matter.

I found a scripture this morning during my personal study in Alma 26:22. It reads, "Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing--unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance." I love being a missionary, and I know who I am. Have a fabulous week.

Your Favorite Missionary in So. Cal.,

Elder Weston Scott