[Mason] The Weeks layout

So, to start off, Elder Silva and I had a great beginning to the week. we hit it hard on Monday teaching some investigators and it was real great. we then on Wednesday, went on some exchanges and I went to Goshen, CT with Elder Chen, and it was a blast. We ended up eating a bunch of food, which didn't help at all. we worked hard and enjoyed the opportunity to settle in to the English program for once. Elder Chen has only served in the Chinese program, though he is from Taiwan, via Utah, and so it has been hard. but that night he finally became accustomed to it. it was great. Thursday I felt absolutely terrible, but we needed to teach our Investigators, and so we went out and taught and tracked down some LA's and just worked. 

Friday we had Zone Conference, where President Packard taught us all about Repentance....and it is something I cant explain to you in words. it was magnificent. This, however, will be His last zone Conference seeing as he Leaves in 3 months...and we have it every 3 months. its insane. Sad. and unnerving. Saturday we went out and worked again and taught our Investigators and I finally got the hang of things on the digital Mission side, and so that is now cranking away, I should have some Skypes here in a few days with some people in Spain and in the South America region. its so cool. God has prepared so many people and there aren't enough missionaries in the world to find everyone. and everyone is online anyway, so we are going to them. It is so awesome. no lo puedo explicar. [I can't explain ]

Sunday was branch conference, and we had 5 investigators at church, not all of them, but some is good. and we also spoke with the new Stake president, President Ellwell. He is like mid 40's or so, and he is so cool. He is ready to do anything. we have a meeting with him and president Packard on Thursday night where we will present the zones goals and the missions goals...it is exciting. 

Recently in the Hartford zone, we embarked in the service of God, and all of us have some how increased in stature, but not in the way that we would have desired. so we are playing biggest loser with a twist. and the twist is that it is by companionship and if desired you can go for gaining weight instead.  So its more like the biggest Loser or biggest gainer.  I've lost 3 so far, but we have a about 12 work out days left in the transfer....so lets go!!!

anyways, 

Love you all, have a great week and feel free to Read the Book of Mormon. it will change your life. If you don't believe me, ask everyone else who has and they can show you how it has, even as i can show you.

Elder Scott

[Weston] Anaheim Weekly March 23, 2015

Hello!

This week was another hard one! But is well I suppose. I will share the weeks events with you all. On Monday evening, our only lesson canceled, and so Elder Quito my companion refused to go out and work. Nothing new, I understand completely, he has been struggling a ton lately. We ran to the store because he was sick, and bought some cold medicine for him, as we checking out, President Taggart calls us, and we asked him if we could call him back a few minutes later. We finish checking out, we walk outside, and some random member from Arizona waves us down. Him and his family were visiting Disneyland, and he hands us twenty dollars to go and get some dinner, and we were like, "uh....we can't accept money straight, but we could go inside with you if you would like to buy us dinner." We walked inside, we didn't really have a choice, and we met his wife, and his 6 sons. All boys. Whoa. Lots of blessings! Boys rock! Anyways, so we got some food to go. We call President back, and he proceeded to tell us that Elder Quito was to fly out back home in the morning and that we needed to be at the mission office at  6:30am. We were a little shocked, because he was to meet with the psychiatrist Tuesday afternoon. But Missionary Medical sent him home. So we went home and packed everything, and we woke up early and drive to the office. We got there early amd seminary was going on inside the building from my old ward! Santa Ana 10! So I popped my head in to see if my convert Axel was inside. He wasn't, but I made eye contact with the teacher, a good friend I had from the ward, and she starts yelling, "Elder! Elder! Ven! Elder!" So I walked in and she had me bear my testimony and answer some questions. It was fun. 

Elder Quito and I at the Airport. His last day.

President showed up along with some other Visa waiting missionaries, and then we took the Giant Mission van to the Airport, I got to ride with them, which was good, for Elder Quito. We got his ticket and everything ready, and we sent him on his way. It was very hard for President and I to just watch him go. He was such a great missionary. I miss him a lot. 

When we returned, the other two Elders in my district, Elder Bickmore and Elder Encinas, picked me up, and we became a trio at that point. We moved all of their stuff into my apartment, which was not easy got situated. We now cover the biggest Spanish area in the mission. Pretty awesome! We have so many people to follow up with, and not enough time to do it. We already have about twenty lessons planned for this week. The real struggle is that I am training now. This is now my third transfer with Elder Bickmore, and we are both training Elder Encinas. The trainee is very interesting. He seems to complain about everything. The car, the iPad, the apartment, his old area, and don't forget my friend Elder Quito. It has been rough for me be patient and just listen to it. But I understand why he is like that. He has had a very interesting home life.

It has been interesting the past week as a trio. Friday was super interesting, because Elder Encinas some how exploded ketchup all over his shirt, then a Elder Bickmore ripped his shirt pocket. You would never guess what I then did. Elder Encinas was pushing my buttons, and like a 6-year-old stole some stuff off my dresser and ran into the bathroom. I unlocked the door, and slammed the door, with him behind it, against the wall, and ..lol....l broke the door off its hinges. Huge mess. Awkward phone call I made to the Housing Coordinator. I somewhat fixed it. Anyways. Awkward moment. Trios are hard, that's all I can say. My patience is definitely being tested right now.

Mariscos... Yum!

Saturday we ate lunch with our Ward Mission Leader's mother. She made us "Mariscos" I will attach a picture. My good friend Elder Maughan described it one time. I quote, "it's like they take a square foot out of the Ocean, and serve it to you, salt water and everything." It was intense. Elder Encinas is still new, and freaked out, and didn't even touch it, it was so rude! I liked it. Especially the tiny octopuses that were in it! So interesting. Ha!

We were in the ward choir for our Ward Conference, which was super interesting, because we all sounded so terrible! Yikes! I thought my ears were going to start bleeding haha. 

Something that I realized this week, is how close of relationships I have created with a lot of the members here in this ward. I feel that the members trust me a lot here, which I am grateful for. I love my calling, and I never want to give it back. I will forever stay Elder Scott.

Our investigator Emilio is doing awesome! He has been praying a ton! Yesterday shared with us a ton of experiences he has had and seen of our Heavenly Father answering his prayers. He committed to read and pray specifically to know if the Book of Mormon is true.

This morning during my personal study, I found a scripture that I had been looking for. It is 3 Nephi 12:6, "And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost." It's an action. Simply put, we must act on our testimonies to feel the Holy Ghost. Have a great week!

Your favorite missionary in Anaheim!

Elder Weston Scott

[Weston] Anaheim Weekly March 9, 2015

What an eventful Week?

We had a lot of stuff happen this week! Wow! I have a new companion! Basically with a major situation going on in the life of Elder Quito, I met with President and had Elder Quito as well, and after a weekend of some very spiritually exhausting counseling, President Taggart made transfers. My new companion is Elder Quito, and my companion will finish training Elder Encinas.  We swapped companions in my district. I am super excited about it. There is not much time to write today, as well as, I am not feeling well at all. But, the exciting news is that I have a brand new iPad, and we are being trained extensively on how to stay safe on technology! I am so excited! ;)

Elder Weston Scott

Sister Larimer was in my district for the past four transfers now.

District photo

[Mason] WHAT A WEEK

Monday...I don't remember

Tuesday...I don't remember

Wedensday...MLC and Temple session...woot woot

Thursday...District Meeting w/ 5 hours of zone meeting planning which wasnt enough at all. then splits with our Elders Quorum presidency!!!

Friday...Doctor at 8am...Zone meeting with breakfast for the zone...that exchanges

saturday...baptismal interview with Elder Jones my district leader...

Sunday...CHURCH!!! and Baptism of Harold Banegas

So as you can tell I just can't remember everything that happens. Elder Silva and I are working as hard as we can.  We have some really good candidates for baptism who we are meeting with tonight and tomorrow and hopefully our family of 5 will be ready by the 29th and also Juan Diaz and maybe even our Man Domingo Rivera.  We are aiming for the baptismal service of the year....aka Waters of Mormon...because the Bloomfield elders and the Hartford elders also have about 9 lined up for that day as well!! we can do this.

So with the zone, we didn't come back from MLC with anything with regards to a zone meeting, but we felt like the zone needed it it.  So upon planning we all were stumped with what we were going to do....we had this giant plan, but it felt like something was missing...but we didn't have time to keep planning  so we went on our splits....and upon being on splits, Kelvin, our EQP gave us some divine inspiration.  He told us of our divine nature as set apart servants of the Lord...and how we are able to bring the Miracles down from Heaven and then he asked us the Question....Elders, how do you go to Heaven to bring those miracles down? it probably doesn't make sense to any of you.  But it was what we needed.

anyways.

Elder [Mason] Scott

[Weston] Anaheim Weekly March 2, 2015

To those who read,

How goes life in the other realm? I hope it is swell! This week was pretty good. I am going to start with a joke. ¿Por qué la ballena no come? Porqué ballena. (Va llena). [ Ok I don't get it. ]   For those that understand Spanish explain it! It's super funny. Hahaha. Anyways, to the good stuff then.

So, in my apartment building live the men's and women's U.S.A. Olympic Volleyball teams. On the men's team is a man named Ben Patch. He returned from his mission a month ago. Anyways, he invited us over to his apartment to eat dinner with him and his volleyball teammates. So that was pretty fun! They are some very tall creatures. I feel like I am on my knees when "standing' next to them. Ya dang tall humans. Haha.

Physical therapy is moving along, I feel some improvements, and the therapist says I have come a long way over the past month and a half. I just wish it would improve faster.... But whatevs.

I taught District Meeting again this week, it was super good again! I feel that I am getting better at it every week. I can definitely see the improvement in my preparation, and how I teach! I love being district leader, because I love having that chance to teach and inspire other missionaries. This week we discussed the phrase, "Begin with the end in mind." Specifically we talked about How to Begin teaching as mentioned in Preach My Gospel. But his concept is really cool. Just look as the scriptures. They for sure begin with the end in mind. Look at Moses 1:39, "For behold, this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." What is the end? Immortality and eternal life. This concept and principle has helped me plan more effectively for my investigators and the less-actives we teach. One of the last actions we always take before we end a teaching visit is to extend a commitment. Commitments help others to repent and come unto Christ. This is our purpose. 

When I plan lessons now, I first start with the end. What will I commit the person I am teaching to do so that they can grow and progress in the Gospel and build their faith? Then I plan what to teach according to that. It works. It is more effective. I use it for my district meetings. I will use this for the rest of my life now! I am learning so much about how to teach effectively. I am so grateful to be a missionary.

As I may have mentioned a few weeks ago, I and some other missionaries have been training and now we are certified Red Cross volunteers. Elder Bickmore and I had the opportunity to volunteer this week for it. It was fun! We get to talk to a ton of people, not about the gospel, but we are setting a first impression which is great!

We had a ward activity this week. It was a disaster. Nobody came. I repeat, nobody came. We tried so hard. We were supposed to start at 7pm. And Hermano Lima our Ward mission leader was supposed to be there early to set up his projector and everything,mp and he showed up at 7pm. He fidgeted with his crap for an hour so we ended up starting at 8pm. Which pushed back what we had planned to teach about the Book of Mormon to the point the point where we didn't get to teach anything. The whole thing just turned into a movie night with like ten members present. Our Ward Mission Leader is giving me a serious Headache. Yikes. I am done with him haha. He just does not understand missionary work, yet he served a mission. I am not going to start on this actually, because I don't have time to write about it.

I gave myself another haircut this week, so that was super fun. It looks interesting. I kept the sides short and blended it to the best of my ability and didn't even touch the top of my head. New look I guess. Weird. Elder Encinas is begging me to cut his hair now. It's so funny how there are so many missionaries that ask me to cut their hair.

There was a funny 10 minute period Elder Bickmore and I had this week. We were meeting the Gaytán family for dinner at Subway, and we walk up to subway, and there is this gentleman that stops us and asks if we know these two missionaries, and we were like yeah! And we though he was going to start asking questions, and talk to us about the Gospel, but he just started ranting about life then about how he hates everything and does not believe in God. Then member walked up and was like whoa....... And awkwardly walked out of the conversation. We bore our testimonies then walked off and as we were walking, he said and I quote, "Burn in Hell!!!!" So that was interesting, during this chat with this guy, another lady walked by U.S. and was like "hello how are you?" And we were thinking yes a normal person. Then she walked farther off and said, "My, you are looking handsome today." It was so flipping funny! We were like what?!?! Then immediately after a homeless lady asked us for money. (This was a span of 5 minutes). We ate, then when we walked out we saw another lady we had seen a two months earlier. She started the conversation responding to my question of how are you with, "I am pregnant! Two months now!" (Now started the second span of 5 minutes making it ten super strange minutes of funny missionary life). 

We have been working with Daisy a lot and her mom just returned from Mexico so now we can continue working with her. They still have not come to church, so it is getting hard to continue with them! I don't know how much more emphasis we can put on going. 

Church was so funny. Actually all of Sunday was hilarious. Ward council was funny because the elders quorum president was trying to rip on Bishop and get after him about something, which there was nothing that caused such a reason to do so. The whole ward council exploded, it seemed, defending the bishop. We the missionaries felt awkward being in there. During gospel principles our WML taught false doctrine about prayer. So that was fun, and so I sat there finding scriptures to back up the real doctrine. During Elder's quorum we learned how to give a blessing and how to anoint. Actually, sorry, we learned how to do it the wrong way. I wish that the leaders and the members would read the manuals. I couldn't believe what I was hearing during that hour. I talked with one of the high councilors and now will be talking with the bishop about it. Fun!

However! We had success with getting people to church! The Herrera family which we have been working with lately has come to church two weeks in a row now! They are coming back! Woot! Woot! Maria another investigator came, and than Zeltzin a less active member came as well. That was the biggest success. For 6 months, since I have been in this area I have tired with my companions to get her to church. Finally she came yesterday. It was great! 

Anyways! This week was great! Slow, but great! Never forget to begin with the end in mind. Apply it to everything! 

Your favorite Elder from So. Cal.!

Elder Weston Scott

in Anaheim Hills

[Mason] What a fantastic way to start off the new transfer!!!

Alright, this week has been so great. Sad because my companion Elder Anderson left to Lynn, MA, but fantastic because now I'm serving with Elder Silva and we are killing it out here in Hartford.

As many of you know, this last Month in the Hartford zone we made a goal to find 100 investigators in a month, and that is something that has never been done here, the most was like 90 something, but I am proud to say that this zone stayed faithful and true to her goal and we found 100.  But let me just tell you something, we found more than that, we accomplished the goal with 2 days to spare, and so we actually found 115 investigators in February. It is insane. Elder Silva and I are super happy about it and super stoked to report it to the mission at MLC on Wednesday. 

Elder Silva and I set some Monthly goals this week that are requiring us to go the extra mile and even much more so. we plan to baptize 6 people this month,  including: Harold ,Juan , and Juan V. and his Family...Ginet, Elvia, Elvis, Kelvin....and so we are super excited and really focused on this. We know that there are so many more people who are ready for this big step and are ready also to make this covenant with Our Beloved Heavenly Father.  Please keep them and this Mission in your Prayers, as we are still striving to fulfill our Goal of 420 baptisms by July.

Elder Silva

The mission has seen some trials and challenges recently with the Snowfall and the church services being cancelled, and its been hard, because it has set us back on our goal. But I, a Disciple of Jesus Christ, know that God will work many mighty Miracles here if we only do what he asks of us. We must put or Shoulder to the Wheel and give our everything to him.

Elder Silva and I know that by ourselves we can complete any goal we have set. for this reason we have decided to lay some sacrifices of things that hold us back from reaching our potential on the alter. Its going to be hard and at times I will struggle, but it will be so worth it, because I know that it will not be in vain. 

Our Sacrifices are to enable us to show God that we have Faith and a desire to do his will. I know that we will Baptize at least 6 individuals.  It is more than possible. its all just a matter of us. everything always falls on us.

Getting ready for the day

My invitation to anyone who may find himself or herself reading this email, is to find what is holding you back to become a better disciple of Jesus Christ, or a better member Missionary, or whatever the case may be, because it is all related in some way, but let us find that one thing and give it up as a sacrifice to our Heavenly Father to show him that we want to help Him in His work here on earth in preparing His Children to live with Him. I am serious about this. Sacrifice is something that at times is over looked as something that i personally can do to make my plea with Heavenly Father stronger. We just had our Fast Sunday here in Hartford and my companion and i enjoyed the time we had to give up physical nourishment so that we could help our God in His important work. 

I have a testimony of this. That Sacrifice brings for the blessings of Heaven.  its not just lyrics written on a page that we often find ourselves singing or humming, it is a promise.

I love you all,

Elder Mason Scott,

[Weston] Anaheim Weekly February 23, 2015

This week huh?

It was another packed week. IT was difficult being a District Leader this week by the end.  However, we all got through it! How about the rundown of some key things that happened? 

To start off, we had exchanges this week, I brought Elder Quito with me, and sent my companion off to work with Elder Encinas. It was a good day, we taught quite a few lessons which provided the exact environment I wanted for Elder Quito. It was a very busy but relaxing day where we felt the spirit. He has been struggling with stress lately, and needed to take a load off. The reason it was hard to be a DL this week was when we had an emergency exchange on Saturday as well for about 4 hours. I cant go into details as you know, but I definitely felt the Spirit work through me to counsel the Elders in my District.

This week was District Meeting! It was super Boss! I love teaching District Meetings so much, especially when it impacts every member of the meeting. I have never received so much positive feedback from the district about it before. We talked a lot about Companionship Unity and what it truly means to be unified. My own brother even helped out on this one, in a journal entry he taught us more about the importance of it. Thanks Elder Scott for being present in the meeting! 

One of our investigators named Daisy is doing well. She seems to really enjoy what we are teaching, and is trying to apply it all. She has not been able to read in the Book of Mormon yet, but has prayed a few times, and even taught her sister how to pray as well. It was fantastic! We are working hard to get them to come to church, it is so hard with them! Our last lesson with her was last night, we taught about Prayer and the Spirit, it lead to the receiving the Gift of the Spirit. 

We didn't do much service this week, but we did have a chance to help an older couple in our ward, the Cachos. We were playing with vines that were choking out a bunch of trees around their home. Vines are so thorny. The gloves he gave us to use, literally did nothing because they were knitted gardening gloves, o sea useless. We found these small creatures while we were there, in Spanish they are called "Niños de la Tierra." They have these giant fangs, and are super poisonous. I killed two of them! Woot Woot!

I interviewed a baptismal candidate this week, it was actually my first one, and unfortunately she didn't pass. Now for some background information. I speak Spanish right? So I interviewed her in Spanish. Guess who she was taught by? English teaching  Elders. She does not speak hardly any English, but the Elders would not pass her to Spanish, and now is trying to get her baptized into the ward, but she does not comprehend hardly anything. They requested special permission from the Mission President to have the interview in Spanish. I know a lot more about the situation to add, but it is ridiculous. There is a Spanish stake for a reason. 

Dinner from Saturday

Saturday was full of food, food, food, and more food. Wow! We started out with a less-active family who invited us for breakfast. It was so good! Weird pancake crepe things. Super delicious, but it filled me up to the brim. We then went to Ward Coordination where we normally eat lunch, but we talked to the Ward Mission Leader the night before and he said they weren't going to make anything. False. They made some tortas for us. Now we were even more stuffed, and for dinner, just about three hours later, we ate a giant plate of Enchiladas. Super delicious! So full...... . But we conquered. And won. Now we are all good.

Another Fun-Fact for Saturday: We lost our phone all day! Okay, to be honest we knew exactly where it was, we left it at Ward Coordination. So that it made it an interesting day. So flipping hilarious. I will admit, it was my fault. I have never truly lost the phone where we had to get another, but I have definitely left it somewhere about a dozen times.

Sunday was amusing as well. We had success with church attendance, finally! But after church is where everything turns upside down. We were leaving the church, and what we have concluded after retracing our steps completely, is that Elder Bickmore left his iPad on top of the car when we drove off. Terrible right? So funny haha. Everything will be alright, hopefully. We get our new personalized ones next Tuesday anyways.

The cool note for this week is that Ana, the 10 year old we just baptized a month ago, her dad asked us to come back and start teaching him again. So far so good! We taught him about prayer and spirit! He shared some very spiritual experiences he has had with prayer. 

The principle that I learned and focused some of my time on this week was prayer! President Thomas S. Monson has taught: "If any of us has been slow to hearken to the counsel to pray always, there is no finer hour to begin than now. … A man never stands taller than when he is upon his knees." There is not taller man. I add my testimony to this statement. I know Prayer is a principle of power and the only way to communicate with our Father in Heaven. Fight with your knees!

Your Favorite Missionary in Cali!

Elder Weston Scott