Fwd: [Weston] Week 3

Hey everybody!

I cannot believe that it is already [starting] week four! Its flying by now! I am having a blast, and learning so much!!! My companions are great attached is a picture of them and I in front of the Mexico City Temple! Today we did our first temple session in Spanish! It was so cool, hard, but I understood most of what was said.

Spanish is coming along so great, I can talk in Spanish all day if I choose to, we call them English fasts, and My teachers are great too! Hermano Rodriguez and Hermano Salazar only speak Spanish, but I understand everything that they say! I have had a million spiritual experiences this week and since I have been here. I have received many answers to prayers though my scripture reading, which I now am in 3rd Nephi Chapter 11. I read so fast now, even though I only have 1 hour a day for personal study! Once scripture is in Alma 38:5. Its a good one.

The teaching is great! I have two investigators both of which we have committed to coming to church with us this Sunday, also we are about to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is my favorite lesson! My Spanish is a lot more advanced than that of my companions, so I end up getting carried away during lessons because they can't speak very much! I am starting to get frustrated when I write in English because I switch some words around on accident, my journal has a lot of bad grammar and Spanglish, but I cant help it! I truly understand what it means to teach with the spirit and it is so incredible!

Dad - that bag will be perfect for me! thanks for sending all that stuff to me at my mission home! My wrist hurts constantly, and I have fell on it a few more times, what can I say, I am my fathers son. Oh well though, everything is okay.

Tyler HAPPY BIRTHDAY sorry people bailed on you! ;) The doctor is not scary, Mason is just a pansy. I have also become a master at Ping Pong since I have been here, which is super important..... ;)I am getting more excited by the day to enter the field.

The weather is strange, it was cold for a while and rained for a long time every day, but now it is just HOT and sunny. No me gusta. It is hard to think of all the things that I want to share with you! Today at the temple, right after I ran over to the Zarahemla store, which is sooooo cool, and bought these sweet scripture cases and also a fat Mexican tie. Now I am at 23 ties! oh yeah! The food here is pretty good, especially the nutella and peanut butter sandwiches when the food is not good. My district makes fun of me because I have to go to the bathroom alot but I am not the worst anymore! Our old district leader has to go more often then me! HAHA! Finally right!? They also make fun of me because I drink about half a gallon of milk every single night. What can I say, its good stuff. I am super good at futsul now and can even juggle the ball a total of 5 times now. New record! haha.

I wish I could just talk in person, emails are hard, especially on this super strange Spanish keyboard. Oh before I forget, that laundry bag you ot me Mom, yeah I am going to need a new one. I picked up the first week for the first time, and I tore the length of the bag. Cool right? I didn't even mean to do it! I have never enjoyed reading the scriptures as much as I do now, which is awesome! My district and I just bought these new authentic Mexico jerseys with our names and a number on the back! They are black with gold and red stripes! Woot Woot!

I am officially the only one in my zone that has not received mail. Elder Wharton one of my companion gets mail almost everyday, so I have forced him to let me open the big boxes. Not cool. please send letters!!! UGH. My testimony is growing everyday, and the hermanas in my district have said that every time I bear my testimony that they almost cry. I guess that is a good thing right? I also have dads gene if you know what I mean. hint hint.

Tell Kalani that I could swim like I can because I am a man.

Spencer, congrats on your reassignment to Roseville, CA thats exciting! Sorry about the Visa problem, everything will work out in the end, besides,  now California will have have the two BEST missionaries right?

Victoria! I hope everything is going great at school! Write me please!

Chuck- everything is amazing, and I bet that it was super weird coming home and it being a ghost town! I only have one hour allotted each week for emailing, so sorry for not splitting up the emails! I am incredibly grateful for all of you and hope to here from you! Please send letters please. I love you all!

With love,

Your Favorite Missionary

Elder Weston Scott

P:S: Please send letters. Thanks.

[I think he wants letters, what do you think?]

[Mason] More pics

Oh and I lost a bet and had to get my head shaved...mistake ha.

[Mason] Re: Week 3

What is up my freaky family dudes! Man this place freakin rocks...tell everyone that if they get the chance to come here they should...cuz it rocks. mi español is muy bueno, yo puedo hablar solamente en español con nativos y puedo enseñar todos las lecciones ie español tambien. quiero ir a Boston, entonces tengo tres más semanas...matame. me gusta hablando soloamente en español porque puedo obtener mucha experiencia cuando uso la idioma que usaré en un mes. [ My Spanish is very good, I can speak only in Spanish with natives and can teach all the lessons in Spanish too.  I want to go to Boston, but I have 3 more weeks.  Kill Me!.  I like speaking solely in Spanish because I can get a lot of experience when I use the language that I will be using in one month. ] 

Anyway I should probably speak English because I know that most of you don't know what I am saying. My investigators are great, they both seem to be engaged in what we are teaching them which is so fantastic...but its tough to move on in the lesson each time because they don't follow through on commitments.

My most spiritual experience this week was when I was teaching R, my morning investigator. We talked acerca de oración [about prayer] because she didn't feel worthy to talk to God...I don't know what the heck is said but she was crying and so was my companion. I generally teach most of the lesson because I know a little more Spanish, and lets face it, I really love talking...who knew? Anyway, we had to pause in the middle of the lesson because people in another room were being irreverent, in a place where it is almost required, and R, our morning teacher, went out and like completely like almost yelled at them..it was awkward. but we continued the lesson and she said the closing prayer. I pretty much told her that God will look past what she has done because He wants her to talk to Him, I then asked her straight up if she would offer the closing prayer...it was so awesome...I wanted to shout for joy. D, my other investigator is bueno tambien [also good]. We have been trying to teach him the importance and role of el libro de Mormon and why its important in our lives. He is a non-active Católico [Catholic], which makes it slightly easier when i can use Ezekiel 37...palo [stick] of Judah \ Ephraim, which is such a great scripture to use...I love teaching the gospel...and I'm not scared.

I went to the temple today, and it was solamente [only] in español, which was so hard, but I understood almost every word...it was so great. I got some sweet new scripture cases for my Spanish copies, because I didn't find one here. I am not losing weight anymore, but I'm like losing size...My shirts are so huge on me. Es bien [It's good] though. My ankle is still hurting but the doctor is scary here, so i will not be going. i can still lift, play b-ball on it, and even play football, or cage soccer. yesterday i was playing against an elder from Norway...he is like 2 feet taller then me. anyway, I stole the ball from him, as i do every time (and he is so good at soccer) and I just kicked it with my left foot. I was just trying to clear the ball form my side (I was on defense) and I kicked it straight into the goal. The goals are only 6 feet wide. It was so cool and now I'm the cool Elder on the block..hehe.

I've decided that I'm going to try to lose 15 pounds by the time I leave, 20 days!!!!, which is going to rock.

That shoulder bag in the picture rocks...please get me that one.

Mail typically takes 11 to 12 days to get here so please send some before its too late. make sure it has my mission on it though, in case it comes late..

Dad, Escuchame ahorita [Listen to me right now] ...this is for Priest Quorum....you must incorporate that in every lesson.  this aint no option. the priests even, the teacher and deacons, must start using that and knowing it. do role plays once a week or so. teach them the lessons and then have 2 priests role play each week for 10 min. if i can teach the restoration, plan of salvation, or doctrines of Christ in 5 min and less for each in Spanish, they sure can do it in English.  This is so important. btw please tell Brother Coleman again how much I love him for everything.

I'm glad Bro Wandry said that about the atonement. it truly is more that the ability to overcome the natural man of being a sinner. The atonement of Christ is a power that we can all have and it truly enables us to make our lives so much better. through it, We receive blessings from God, and we also receive the power and strength of God and Christ to help us not make that bad choice again.

i bear testimony to you that i am here on a mission to help people understand and use the power of the atonement.

Dad, I encourage you to pick up your old Spanish scriptures and work on getting the language back..I know you can and it would be so great if we could talk in Spanish on the phone in two months, and when i get back. i don't use my English any more, except when we are doing an English activity. Its so hard but it is a test of faith, and i believe it was President Monson who said "the best way to learn a language it through reading and studying the book of Mormon in that language." aint nobody got time for English no more.

I hope all continues to go well, thanks for the Pic of my primary class, they are so awesome. i am proud of them. keep up the good work with hockey dad..if it hurts it is good for you.

Scripture of the week...Moroni 10:32...i encourage you all to take this to heart. go to lds.org and watch the come unto him...attributes of Christ video. its under youth messages or something. you will know which one it is when you watch it.

I love you all so much

ELDER [Mason] SCOTT...the cool one!

[Mason] RE: Week#2

MY DUDES, how is it going? life here really kind of [stinks]. I love the food, I love the gospel, I love Spanish?, but nothing new ever happens. at night is when we do some pretty dumb stuff, like ultimate sit up pranks, or water boarding...we are stupid..., we also do card tricks. My companion is so good at them. I am learning them but he will do one trick like 70 times, and every time he gets me...I'm so dumb.

Spanish is so much fun. I had a rough day this week because my companion and I were the first in our class to a door approach...in Spanish. We had to do it 3 [] times till we could even talk, and she didn't let us in. She "had to go to work",  but the spirit was so strong. I struggled with accepting the fact that every other companionship succeeded in their attempts. But I read in DC 46, 7 to 26, and my mind was instantly at peace and I knew why this had happened to us. Teaching is so fun, and I love it so much. I just wish it was in [] English, I could say everything...and they would understand everything that is said. but its all good. our last investigator is now our night teacher, he is so much fun. Class here is so fun...but its hard to focus for 4 hours at a time.

I am learning to play ping-pong which is so much fun. I'm stopped at losing weight, but I'm gaining my muscle back again. I climbed a palm tree, and got a picture of it. It was so hard. it has rained so much and man its so great. I'm sweatin like a toasted cheeser. My companion is in the grey shirt in one of the pics.

There is a pic of the Mexico temple in this email, with my whole district...all 8 of us. we have tons of fun together.

Spanish is coming so great, I'm able to say pretty much whatever, and I'm able to understand the native speakers\my teacher when they go hard core speaking fast.

I'm trying to read the Book of Mormon and El Libro de Mormon, Elder Kotipoke style, or side by side. Everything is getting better in the language. grammar to vocab, ITS ALL EXPANDING. I am so glad I'm learning Spanish. my investigators names are R, who I teach in the mornings, and D, who I teach at night. I teach D for the first time tonight, which is going to rock. Its so hard to prepare a lesson when you don't know a single thing about the investigator. Es bien though. we will most likely teach him about the restoration, and try to indirectly commit him to baptism, or whatever the spirit directs us to do. Each lesson i have literally waited to say something, then once I open my mouth,something else comes out or Spanish that i didn't know I knew come[s] out. its so weird. my companion is struggling because of this factor, and he claims to say that he doesn't know what the spirit feels like. por favor, pray for him.

Anyway, everyone gets excited when mail comes, and I'm sort of craving some...tell people to send me mail...but have them add their emails to them. its like Christmas.

I would love it if i could be sent that ankle brace that Wes used when he hurt his ankle. I sort of kind of did something stupid playing basketball. all i did was bruise my ankle, and it was worth it. I stuffed the [*] out of an Elder that won my team the game, and I kind of kept going forward as I landed, es bien though.

The most creative meal this week will have to have been the chicken. it was legs and wings, that were not quite skinned all the way. by this i mean they were hairy pieced of chicken. it was so gross, but i and my companion and I were so hungry, we didn't even care. a lot of the food has been fighting back on the surface because it is so sloppy. It just drips onto your shirt and then you to make that awkward trip up to pretty much any hermana, and ask for a tide-to-go like a 4 year old. its so embarrassing.  I had to change my shirt twice in one day because I spilled on it twice, and  after I changed, later, somebody dropped there food off their fork, and guess what...it splashed onto me. my luck sheesh. anyway needless to say I could us some of that oxymagic spray stuff. its magic. the stuff I have don't work at all.

That laundry incident from last week I took care of. I have one complete pair of pink colored garments complements to a star-burst prank...I was pretty...um...ill-tempered because those who did it left a note. I read the note, and guess who it was. the natives...who left two days [] earlier to go to the field....I was so mad i was laughing. it was such a good prank, because I cant get them back.

Anyway, I love it here, its so great. I don't want to be anywhere else except in the field.

Dad, in priest quorum, go over each lesson in predicad mi evangelio y teach them how to role play. Its so effective in learning how to teach, and learning the gospel. commit them to read the book of Mormon. have them read D&C 46 and that they all have different talents and that we cant be anybody else. We can only be like someone else, and that should always be Christ. always us predicad mi evangelio in your lessons because the fundamentals of the doctrines of Christ can be found anywhere in the manual. Para tener un testimonio, necesitamos actuar en nuestro fe en JESUCRISTO and rely on him and our Father in Heaven for help. El poder de Dios ayudaranos a hacer todos las cosas.

Please tell my Primary class that i love them and i hope they are enjoying their new teacher. I miss them and look forward to seeing them baptized when I get back. please tell Karen and the other Pugas that I love them and am grateful for their support. Tell Scott C that I am grateful for the suit again. And please tell all those who miss me, that its only two years, and I will be home then. tell the Rotheys I love them, and am grateful for their support as well.

Love You ALL MY DUDES

Remember: SIEMPRE FUERTE CON TODOS COSAS

Elder SCOTT

[Weston] Re: Week #2

Mis Padres!

Everything is going so great! The food is super uh interesting??? haha it is all fine. Mason gets pranked a ton haha its funny, because he has tried twice to prank me and my companions, both times ending in a failure! We got him figured out haha. I got my cast off this past monday, and that was so not fun. It was an 8 hour ordeal! AHHHHHHHHH! So monday morning at 8 I was supposed to leave to go the hospital to cut off my cast (arm) and they had no idea, but I talked to them twice last week about it.  So they told me to come back at ten. I did, and I left with three other Elders in this small nissan with Hermana Sanchez, who speaks like maybe ten words in English. When we arrive, I had no idea what to do. The appointment that doctor christianson set up for me fell through, so we ran over to the ER and oh my gosh that was so not fun. So then she left me there after they called my name, and one other Elder came along with me, he knew spanish a little better than me, he is a paramedic. Anyways, to take the cast off, I had to strip down and put on the smallest hospital gown ever! But it gets better, they wouldnt cut the cast off without an x-ray with me in the cast. Hospital policy is that they dont remove casts until x-ray and doctor discussion. AHHHH! it was so frustrating and embarrassing because I wasnt allowed to walk anywhere either, they pushed me around a Mexican ER in a hospital bed. When they finally went to cut off the cast, they used like the oldest tool ever, it literally looked like Dad´s handsaw. The doctor spoke a few words English, but mostly Spanish, all I got out of it was, Dont move or you will be cut badly. YAY awesome, quite a thrill for me.  At one point in the hospital trip while in the ER I was left completely alone. But I had my spanish dictionary with me haha! Everything is good now though. My wrist still hurts, but man can I play ping pong now! I am so good at it! I play soccer or baskteball almost every day and yeah everything is great. I left my camera in my room so I can not attach any pictures this time sorry! We had a member of the 4th quorum of the Seventy come and talk to us on Tuesday night but other than that no visits. I pray so much while I am here, and It has seriously helped me so much. I have received countless blessings, and received answers to my prayers. I also have read more than half the BOM in less that 13 days, with only like 2 hours a day to read it. I am perfectly healthy again, no problems with that. Teaching is seriously so amazing. The gift of tongues is real, it is. Even though I do the most teaching, because I know the language the best. You know that they say, 2 is better than 1! I love my companions they are funny and serious! Mom, I serioulsy think about that quote by Uchtorf all the time! I love it! I wish we got more personal study time each day, I love reading my scriputres, it is my favorite thing to do. Oh and I sent you a letter! good look reading it, it is all in spanish! hahahaha! seriously though I love my mission so much. I am tired all the time, but its not bad. I love this gospel. I know that it is true and that the atonement is real. I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon and I know that I am going where my Heavenly Father needs me! I know this and miss you all! Love you!

Elder W. Scott

P.S. Everyone in my district has received mail, except for me. Write me a letter, I sent you one. Also email me Scott Coleman´s Address. Thanks

[Weston] Re: Hello

MOM!

The food is eh okay, I am sick today because of that, or because I accidentally swallowed some water when brushing my teeth two days ago.  The Cast is awful, smelly, and super annoying. I do not see mason much, which I did not think would be hard, but it is. Spanish is not a concern, lots of opportunities to practice! I get my cast off on monday at a nearby hospital in the city! I guess the hardest part is just not getting to talk to you everyday and you know tell you what happened that day. Elder Dallin H. Oaks at out devotional said that it is our privilege to serve a mission, and that our time our bodies our everything are property of Heavenly Father for these two years.  I miss everyone a lot and it is hard but I am learning a lot. I have challenged myself to read the BOM in 6 weeks while I am here, not hard when I can read almost the whole book of nephi in a couple hours. I hope that time starts to fly now as everyone has said does. The Mexico Temple is so amazing. It is huge!!!!!!!! I did not get a lot of pictures but I will attach some!

Elder [Weston] Scott 

[Weston] Re: Happy Birthday!

Hola!

First week has been long and hard, The language is coming, I am a lot better at listening than at speaking but I can have a full on conversation with the Latino elders! Its awesome! I have one investigator right now, and two new ones next week.  It is going well, we never really teach our lesson plan, its always by the spirit, and I do most of it, my companions, yes companions, are not to good with the language yet. My original companion never showed, so I was put into a threesome, which is hard to teach with but it is all good. I am a little homesick still, but that should pass after today! I get this cast off on Monday, I am leaving the CCM, or MTC, and going to a nearby hospital in the city, ahh! Spiritual experiences, uh just when ever I teach, I just never have to worry about what to say, its a good feeling. I have challenged myself to read the BOM in the 6 weeks I am here. I do need a shoulder bag, maybe one like a TIMBUK2 or a bag that has waist straps as well. I am also sick now, today I woke up early to go to the temple and was fine, but not a serious sick, [rather a ] stomach sick.  My companions rock, and I love my district! NOS VEMOS!

Elder [Weston] Scott