[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

[Weston]Stripling Warrior Weekly....... :)

Hey everyone!

How goes it? Espero que ustedes esten bien!  [ I hope you are all well! ] Can I say, holy heat! It has been so hot this week, I am scared for how hot it will be after Winter time is over. Oh man, I could die. So my Broncos are going to the Super Bowl huh? That is killer news! There are several members here that have tried to get us to sit down and watch the games with them, and it is so hard not to, but we have not yet. Only one game left, so I think that I will be safe. Anyways, pretty much everything here is going great. We had stake conference yesterday, and it was awesome. One of the Sister Training leaders posted on Facebook that there were going to be Apostles there and that they were going to speak to us. All of us Elders that saw her post were like, "uh... you crazy, it is stake conference. Not general Conference." So we all show up in the bigger of the 2 chapels that are in my building here, and Presidente Villegas empezo el reunion. [ started the meeting ] We sang and then had a prayer, and then he got up again, and said in Spanish, "Brothers and Sisters, this broadcast will be in English as well in the other chapel, if you would like to listen in English, we invite you move into the other chapel. Almost all of the Missionaries stood up, and moved to English. The broadcast started, and guess who spoke? Elder Neil L. Anderson and President Henry B. Eyring spoke. All of the Elders looked at each other and we were like, "Oh shoot, how did she know?" I sweat, the sisters always know things. We elders get jipped on details haha. But, los discursos [ the talks ]  were awesome! It was also awesome because I got to hang out with a bunch of other Elders. I sort of break from Vincent. Only three more weeks with him. I can make it I hope.

We got some bad news this week with one of our Investigators. Ar....., he pretty much dropped us. It is super sad and I am mad about it because he told us in a sense, that he was grateful for us coming over and teaching him, because it helped him rekindle his testimony about the catholic church, and that he wants us to keep coming to help him learn more about how his church is true. He missed the part on how, because of the Great Apostasy, we know that the only true church on the Earth is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It has been hard, because he just will not read the Book of Mormon, or pray. Two simple things, but he wont do it.  He makes a lot of excuses, it is frustrating. Sometimes I wish people did not have Agency, so that they would just do what we invite them to do. If people would just follow through on commitments. HAY CARRAMBA! But, we are keeping our heads up, because Al... is finally ready to be baptized. It is going to be this week, hopefully. He told us that he is excited, and ready, and wants to do it for himself and not because of his girlfriend. He has been reading the Book of Mormon every day and praying every day. He received an answer and knows that it is all true. It is exciting because he really wants to be married in the Temple. (after a mission of course ;)) But the only thing holding him back right now, is his mom. She drinks so much, and wont meet with us to get permission. Ugh! Al... is deeply discourage about that. He is so ready, and to see him have to continually wait, it is hard for me and all of us because we care about him so much! He is so cool! Anyways, we are doing our best here. Let me give you a rundown of the week alright?

Monday - P-day, we drove around for hours trying to get Elder Arevalos bike tuned up because he had a free coupon. When we finally picked it up, they said come back because there was nothing to tune up, but it took 2 hours to check? Uh? Thanks! But we played a little bit of Volleyball! So that was good!

Tuesday - We studied for 4 hours, the usual for a greenie like me! But I am so close to finishing that! 3 more weeks! But we also used Facebook for an hour, and taught 4 lessons over it. I also finally took my driving exam which was 9 weeks overdue. My bad...I also took my Spanish Grammar test, and got a 80% on it. Boo yah! Elder Vincent took his again next to me, and got an 84%. Oh yeah! I am coming along pretty good now I would say?! :)

Wednesday - District meeting, then we did Facebook because we had a scheduled lesson with a person I messaged on Facebook last week. He didn't get on, but read what I was typing out for him. Facebook truly is interesting, I am still sort of "iffie" with it. But I am doing my best. We also did out studies, and the taught Alex. It was such a good lesson! Oh man, I love that kid! He has changed so much since I have been here! Whew I can not even explain it!

Thursday - I started putting together my bike with me hands, yeah that is right. Then we went to the office for Elder Vincent to work on his college Application. Oh man, he is o clueless with this kind of stuff, I do not know how! I have concluded that I will never use the phrase "do you live under a rock?" because it is evident that my companion does, and was born there to haha. Oh man.  But we also found a new investigator named Ma.... , he is somewhat interested, but I don't know yet. We taught him the Restoration at his door, because we had training that we just need to teach and keep teaching for as long as we can last with the people at their doors. It works pretty well so far. We ate dinner with the ward mission leader, and I helped one of their sons with his homework. Reading comprehension. I felt like dad when he used to help me, you know, not just give the answers, but make them think of it for themselves. It was fun. We also had our weekly coordination meeting, where this old man who is a ward missionary was just ranting on Ef.... and Ia... who are new converts, and how they are not doing what they were supposed to be doing. This old man named Hermano Ci...... is such a Punk! Oh man! He gives all of our investigators and new converts crap for not being perfect. We never take him to lessons with us for that reason. Nothing we can do though.

Friday - I had a Nine-week follow up meeting for all the greenies that came out with me. I am the only Spanish speaking missionary that came out so yeah, everyone else was English and new each other. I did not even care to be around the English Program people. They are rude! But I met Elder Quito, who was the missionary that I was supposed to arrive with, you know dad, the one president Bowen said I would be arriving with, the one from Peru? He is so awesome. We die together! I finally met another missionary that I am going to die with! I hope we will be companions! We also had to run around for hours to get new bikes for the sisters in out district because somehow they broke the axles on their bikes. I don't know how that is even possible. We started exchanges that night.

Saturday - Exchanges! Elder Arevalo, the quietest and most reserved missionary I have ever met, came with me in my area. He is from Florida and his parents are from El Salvador, he is fluent. He didn't help teach at all. But, I truly saw how much my Spanish has grown this day. I was speaking and understanding so incredibly well. It was awesome! We were on bikes, and it was pretty fun, I nailed this huge lip in the side walk. It reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite, because Elder Arevalo tried it after me, and hurt his groin. Haha. It was awesome! But overall, exchanges were good, I like them because I can get away from Elder Vincent and see how other missionaries are. We went to the adult session of Stake conference, because Elders Waite and Castaneda were talking, they introduced to the members how they can use Facebook better to share the Gospel and help the missionary Effort. It was great!

Sunday - We had stake conference, and I already relayed the story earlier. It was super good. We tried to go see Al...'s mom, but she would not come out and see us. Which was not fun for us or Al... , he was upset. We later studied and finished our weekly planning, and then ate with the Ca...o family. We practiced with the ward choir. Oh my gosh, one thing I have found is that the Latino community in general can not sing. Wow. Tone deaf much? Elder Mason Scott would have died laughing, I almost could not hold it in.  After, we taught Ef... about the Priesthood. It was so great. He is such a strong convert!

This week was good. I learned a lot about how to be a successful missionary. I am loving it here. I cannot wish for any thing else!

Mom/Dad - Tell Grandpa that I am so excited for him! I emailed President Bowen to see if I can have permission to do that, He will probably say yes! He has to other missionaries so far. My stomach is doing a lot better, and I agree with mason. Why did Grandpa have to wait to start the lessons until after we left haha? Oh come on! :) The proclamation to the family is so incredibly powerful. I love it! I wish I could play in the snow too . . . But that can wait, I got work to do right now! :)

I love you all and hope to hear from you all soon! Have a fantastic week! :)

[Mason] Book of Mormon stories that my parents told to me....are about the lamanites of ancient history......catch my drift?

Dear all who it may concern...aka y'alls... I have officially realized that when you put your shoulder to the wheel, you get tired...ha. especially when its a ton of spiritual work and physical work each day...but its a good tired because its something i signed up for..

Anyways my past week was great, but it was not as busy as it was the week before...and it was slightly depressing because we would find ourselves without something to do after appointments and then we had to just make visits to less/in active members and whatnot. but its was a good week.  Our investigator Ro...... is getting baptized on Sunday and so we are  in crunch time this week, because we have to teach 2 lessons still and have the interview...and write the program for it...but its awesome...he is progressing so much.  I think I will be baptizing him as well, so it will be even cooler.   Our other investigator Wa.... , is kind of a dead end...and we received info about him this week, that he and his member wife have been taking advantage of the church over the past 25 years or so...and so we are going over to teach him a make/break lesson about having a broken heart and contrite spirit. so we are in a tough situation because they want us to help them, and pay this and that, and we cant and so we are caught in this situation but we are just going to talk to them straight up...and they aren't looking for help anywhere else, and they don't have jobs...arghhhh!!!!!!!....but um yah. our investigator Sh....  is doing great...but it is hard to assign reading assignments in the scriptures because neither of us read Chinese and she cant really understand English too well, and the Chinese elder doesn't skype so...its hard but fun still. we picked up an older couple to teach with one of our ward missionaries, brother Li..... , and its awsome...we also have a potential investigator named will, who is praying to see if he should take the lessons. Springfield rocks...and I'm happy that it is ghetto here in places because it is legit...I see drug deals every day...and its hilarious...my comp always asks what do I think they are doing...and my response is usually a drug deal...and its so true... anyways. I love it here.

Spiritual thought of the week comes form the Book of Mormon...and i mean the whole thing...since President Packard challenged the whole mission to read the Bof M in 2 transfers, marking all references to Christ, I have learned so much...there are pages where I have found over 30 references and there are some that have 5...but there is not one page that does not contain a reference to Christ. This book truly is another testament to the Divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. and i have been reading in Spanish...which is so hard because I still don't know it...ugh....but this Book of Mormon is the true word of God, and  I know it, and nobody in this world can tell me otherwise. also when you get a chance...maybe even for your sharing times or something mom, or for priest quorum, share this video.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/youth-videos?v=2816242068001

We need to spread the message of Jesus Christ through how people see us as well. this video is one of my favorites and the Attributes of Christ are what I am trying to develop. Christ is our perfect example of how to act. The Attributes of Christ are a testimony to me of how I must act to truly be a servant of God...granted I'm a teenage young man, who wants to have fun, but if  I and you truly humble ourselves and "becometh a saint" we can be perfected in Christ.  

Anyways, I will send drew a letter and same to ella...yes please on the allergy eyedrops...my eyes are so bad..and yes i got the cards. No aunt Natalie has not emailed me yet, um Grandpa...what...he waits until we freakin leave...sheesh man...this guy ...but yay for him,....

We actually watched the game...yesterday...with a member because he asked us to come over...however there were about 4 non memmembers there and so ya... I felt really bad...and Trujillo was like don't feel bad...ugh... I feel more like I let myself down...but its ok. Broncos vs Seahwawks...here we go...and the seahawks are going to win because of their running back.....but I'm still rootin for the broncos. 

anyways  I hope all is well over there on that end of the country, as well as in Idaho and Cali...and love you all

Elder Scott, the better one....jk

[Weston]: Woot Woot! Another week full of success!

Hello all!

It was super good to hear from most of you today. There is a lot going on back home isn't there? Sheesh! :) Here the weather is warm most days, with a slight breeze, making my life just about great all the time! My arms and face are getting more and more tan every day. I don't get cold here, but I will tell you all, I miss seeing snow. There are less people on the streets when it is snowing. Driving here really is not fun at all! Especially riding shot gun. I am working on trying to change that though. It turns out that my companion should not drive, he has post concussion syndrome, and forgets where we are going all day every day. Fun right? Makes more sense now why he forgets everything. It doesn't mean he shouldn't drive, but it means that I should have the right to drive, so we don't waste so much time every day right? Alright Bueno. :) Anyways, I am loving it here in Santa Ana. We are using Facebook now, but please, do not message me any of you that I am currently friends with. If I can message you, then I will, but otherwise, please refrain because I can not look at the messages. Thank you!

Facebook is super cool though! We teach people on Facebook now and have real lesson, because soon we will also be using Skype on our I-pads. Yes, we get I-pads really soon now! So close! The only thing I do not like about Facebook is that literally everything we say or post, has to be read and approved by your companion, which is sort of a pain but oh well. I am trying to think of what to say now..... The people we are teaching are doing so fantastic. Elder Vincent and I have been teaching really well. Ar......o, he is recently divorced, and has to move from his apartment. We have been teaching him for a while. This past Tuesday we taught him about the Word of Wisdom. He struggles with Alcohol, tea, and coffee. He said he would try to do his best, but he said he really didn't know what would help him. We asked him a very inspired question, and asked him if he would like a blessing, that would help him overcome his addictions. He left for a minute 'or two and came back teary eyed, and said yes. He asked me to give him a blessing, because "[I] look more powerful". I have not given very many blessings before, but I did so. When I said amen, Ar......o was choked up, and I can honestly say, that I have never felt the Spirit so strongly in my life. It was incredible. It changed my whole entire view on missionary work. It reaffirmed my desire to be here. It was so incredibly powerful. Ar......o has been sober and had no problems since then. He has almost been a whole week! It was awesome though, because we checked up on him on Thursday, and he said, "Man, I don't know why, but since you gave me that blessing, my hair has not been right. Your burned the hair on the back of my head." It was awesome! I love the guy so much. He has changed so much since I met him.

This work that I am doing right now. It is so incredible. I can not even explain it you all. It is such a blessing to have this opportunity to be a missionary. I love this work. Let me break down the week for all of you.

Monday - P-day, so studies, cleaning, laundry, and emailing. Then volleyball, dodgeball, and scatter ball. I won dodgeball and scatter ball almost every time.  Go Water Polo?? I think? And I got a few letters to open. We also taught Da...y  who is nine years old. He is the younger brother of I...n, whom we baptized on Christmas Eve.

Tuesday - We had a very pleasant trip to Pep-boys to fix up the van. It turns out that Elder Vincent likes to run over nails, because we had one in each tire. That was a 4.5 hour ordeal. Fun Stuff! I totally recommend it! :) Not... Then we went to the office for Elder Vincent to start applying for college, wait sorry, I mean I did half of it for him, he doesn't know what he is doing. Anyways, then we went and taught Armando, and gave him a blessing. We also taught Da...y again. It is hard teaching a 9-year-old. They have no attention span haha.

Wednesday - Zone meeting, and then studies. We had a awesome dinner with the P.....ni family. They are so cool! And then we had our first class with the members. We are now teaching a class to our ward members about Preach My Gospel. And how they can use it themselves, and how they can better help us during lessons. It went well!

Thursday - We had another zone meeting about Facebook. That was a long meeting. During the meeting I got a phone call from a less-active named Vi....r . His mom had just had a Heart-attack, and needed us, but he was in Riverside, over an hour away, and outside of out mission. So I gave him the mission office number to get some missionaries down to him. He is struggling a lot right now. We then did our studies, and had dinner at In-n-out and sat with this Homeless man who proceeded to tell us his life story. It was interesting. We gave him a card. We talked to him because as we were picking up the food from the counter, he read my tag, and was like "Does that say Jesus? Come over here and talk to be about Jesus!" It was so awesome! We taught Ar......o , and checked up on how he was doing with everything. We then went to our weekly missionary coordination meeting with the ward mission leader. It was a good meeting. I love speaking Spanish, Can I just say that? I love it!

Friday - We studied, then weekly planned, then went to the Microsoft store to use Facebook. We the went and taught Al...x, directly right after and he was struggling a lot. He told us all of his problems and things that have happened to him in the past. I mean all of them. It was good to hear his doubts. We also taught Ar......o, and the wife of out new convert Ef....n. Her name is Ro....o. On our way back to the apartment, Al...x called, and it turns out that he has to wait two more weeks because he has been drinking coffee. So we taught the Word of Wisdom over the phone.

Saturday - We studied and went to the temple tour. It rocked! And we taught Da...y  and Fr.....co, a less active. I tried my first papusa.

Sunday - We had church and taught Al...x, Be...y, and Ef....n. It was an overall great church day.

This week was amazing. I learned a lot and strengthened my testimony a ton. I love this church, and this time I have to be a missionary. Have a good week all! :)

Your favorite Missionary in CALI,

Elder Weston Scott

[Mason] Building ZION one brick at a time

Hey y'all, what is up with you people? Because I can tell you what is up with me.  a whole freakin bunch.  This last week we set some small goals for our key indicators, that would help us both begin to build the trust and unity in our ward and companionship that we need.  When I was with Romero, he refused to set goals, or to even bother planning anything with me, and so we didn't have a clue of what to do during each day.  Now that we have goals, we have a starting and ending point. anyways we completed these goals midway through the week...and it was awesome.

Monday....p day as usual, we went to the library to email, and the store and hung out with our Zone leaders, elder Funk and Sutherland...who are hilarious.  We then had a dinner appointment with the bishop and our investigator, R....o, and had a lesson with him...the 1st lesson, the restoration. and during it we had the strong urge and impression from the spirit to commit him to baptism...and I DID...for January 26th...and he accepted it and it was great.  I was so happy and the lesson was so great.  and after we went to the M...s family for a birthday party for their son. 

Tuesday...a regular day, with studies and what not, and then we called so many people to set up appointments for the week. and it was so long, I was about to die...and then we went out to visit families who we had contacted.  All day and all night after the calls we did this...it was fantastic. 

Wednesday...pretty much the same as before, and we also visited a man named W... S..., who is a nonmember married to a less active member, and they actually came to church the previous Sunday, and so we are trying to teach him...but he is very blunt about everything. and they don't have any money for anything at all, and we are pretty sure he is a drunk, because he calls us and talks for hours and hours and is very mean sounding on the phone. and we were told he is a drunk too by somebody else in the ward.   We didn't have to make calls for appointments this day though and we set a baptismal date for him as well, for February 9, and it was great. 

Thursday...studies into weekly planning....into dinner appointment and family visits after. this day was so exhausting, because we sat for hours during studies, and then we had to plan...for hours and hours but we got some good stuff to do this upcoming week. the family we visited after is the Jenkins family, and their daughter is dating a boy named W... and he is interested in the church. So we committed him to praying about taking the discussions because we don't want him to join the church because of the girl...and he has a really hard home life...as in they hate Mormons, except for him...but we believe he will be able to do it. we can see this young man serving a mission. 

Friday...studies into zone meeting, which rocked...and then we had to leave the Zone lunch early because we had a visit to do with the G... 'i family, Samoans, and it was such a spiritual visit. there names are Pu.....na and Pu....no, or Pu.. and Fa... They are getting a divorce, of which we found out after everything. its really sad. Fa.. is not taking it very well and the reasons are because Pu.. thinks she has a chance to find someone else. Fa.. is crippled due to gangreen that he caught a while back, and he had to get his legs amputated to above the knee. he then got leukemia and some strokes and some other things happened as well, but now he cant speak, unless he tries really hard. and he is in bed all day long because he cant do anything...he has no immune system now too, and so he has to be careful with everything.  He is so awesome though because of how strong he is in this. Pu.. is just frustrated because her husband has had this happen, and now he cant do anything and she just takes care of him. its really sad...and so we shared the Mormon message called "The Will of God" and also..."Mountains to Climb" and it was the best visit ever. i love this guy. then we had correlation meeting with brother Kirkpatrick, our ward mission leader, and during it we received a call from W...S...'s wife, Ja..., and she was wondering when her food order was to arrive. and i guess the ward forgot about it...and so we all of a sudden focused on that. Elder Trujillo and I were up all night and morning trying to get a ride to take us to Worcester where the storehouse is.   man Mom, how on earth did you do this, sheesh...food orders are insane...

Saturday...wake up still worrying about food order....and Brother Ma... offered to take us...man I love him so much...and so this whole day was full of service. and what not..

Sunday...wake up...got to church, make sacrament visits and go to bishops house to have dinner and share a message...and we focused on missionary work...it was so great.

Anyways this whole week has been packed...it doesn't seem like it...but on this end, it was and we went home every night exhausted yo, exhausted.  But its a good exhausted, because it was with SMILES(2nd Nephi 9:39) and its great.

My message of the week is found on mormon channel...called "The Will of God" and then also "Mountains to Climb"...please watch them and help those in the ward who need this message ok? thanks. 

 Love you all, and Stay Classy my Friends

Elder Mason Scott...el mejor Hijo......jkjkjkjk

[Weston] Good Afternoon All.

Hello everyone!

I hope that everyone is doing well! How is the weather back home? I hope there is some snow, because there is not any to be seen for miles here. The weather is super nice here, 80's most of the time, which was so incredibly strange for the new year. Usually it should be, I don't know, Cold? But I guess that is what I have to get used to now. I can still not wrap my head around the fact that I have 3 months already done with my mission. I have no time left! Ahh! It is funny here though, because any of the missionaries with 1-3 transfers left have a very hard time when someone brings up, "so when do you go home elder?" It is quite funny. They get very sensitive about it. I did the math and found out that I am not going to get a full 2 years on the mission. I am 2.5 weeks short. I am going to get jipped half of a transfer. What is this? Guess what I did this week? I hacked Facebook, for the past month we have not been able to use it, because it locked us out. I found a way to get pass all of the Facebook junk that was going on, and now am using it just fine. I helped a bunch of other missionaries do the same! I felt accomplished because I used a computer. Dad, are you proud of me? Bam. I owned Facebook. Facebook I will be honest, is so incredibly hard. Staying on missionary focus is so hard to do with Facebook, but I have found what works for me. I go to LDS.org and find something that I really like that speaks to me, and would also help some investigators, and then I change it all to the Espanol language and post it on FB. I send a couple messages to investigators (under the direction of my companion, we can not put on or send anything or do anything without the companion checking it), and I look for 1-2 investigators. We get an hour each day for Media time now, and I leave my facebook account on the whole time, while I am reading on LDS.org, and try to teach lessons over facebook if someone responds. It is quite interesting. It is quite useful for contacting investigators, but also finding people. I like using it, but like I said, it is a difficult and serious temptation. No problems yet though. I can not wait until we get I-pads (or surface-pros). They are not sure yet.

This week was pretty good. We taught a ton of lessons, and used facebook productively.

Monday- We had P-day, and transfers also happened. That pretty much took our entire p-day. So yeah. We also taught our investigator named Ar....o , who just went through a divorce, actually on Monday so yeah this day. He love the BOM but just wont pray. We don't know why, it is hard.

Tuesday - We had a pretty good day, we taught Ar....o again, and also visited I.... , he is doing super great. He will receive the priesthood soon. That will so bless his family, and bring his mom and dad back to church. We also stopped by Ef...'s house and talked to Vi....r - a less active member-  and that was the day. We had a member with us for most of the night. A small older member named Hermano Mi.....z , He is shorter than 4'10". He is so cute! It was a good day. New years eve!

Wednesday - New Year's Day! Normal day, we studied as normal, and also taught a few lessons. It was great. We taught A...x our 17 year old investigator. I bet you cant guess what we taught him! Only the most awkward lesson and doctrine you can teach a teenage boy. Yes. We taught Chastity. He said he would totally follow that because it would bless his family! He rocks! He has a baptismal date for this coming Sunday! Woot Woot! Elder Vincent is going to baptize, and another hermano in the ward is going to confirm him. That is what he chose I guess?

Thursday - We had our district meeting, and now I am officially not a newb. New missionaries showed up. Oh yeah. One transfer in the field under the belt. We taught Armando again, and used facebook to teach another investigator of ours. Is...o , He is super cool, and receptive, but his wife is reluctant to accept or do anything we ask and invite them to do, she is determining what they do. Ugh. I do not like when that happens. We also had our coordination meeting. It went really well.

Friday - We had to go to pep-boys, it turns out that when you drive the oldest car in the mission, there is bound to be problems right? The tires are slowly deflating all the way around the car. We are supposed to get a new car eventually, but I would personally rather just be put on the bike! We taught A...x again, we taught about following the prophet, but also chastity again, we told him about how it I the little things that leads us to doing serious things. He understands now the law of chastity, which is so good! I love the kid so much!

Saturday - We were on exchanges. Guess what, I was the senior companion. I got to take the new Elder in our district, Elder Richards, and take the reigns in my area. We were on bikes to. It was awesome. I know a ton more Spanish than I give myself credit for. Elder Richards ran over a 3-inch nail too. It put a 2.5 hour hole in our day. My area is huge for a bike area, and we ended up having to ride at the end of the night, 45+ blocks in like seriously 20 minutes. We were out of time. we were barreling down the side walks haha. At a stop-light, some one said, "Jesus love you Bother!" It was so awesome! I am still not sure if He was a member???!! We taught a lot of lessons though! I am being trained pretty well, I never got lost once, and yeah, I did a fine job leading out the area! Woot Woot! It was fun!

Sunday - Uh, Holy Fog, we now have church at 9am, and meetings at 7am so we have to get up at 5:30am to get ready and leave for the meeting. We walk outside and could not see 15 feet in front of us. It was scary driving. It is scary regardless with Elder Vincent driving anyways, but with the fog, I thought I was already dead. We finished our studies after church or should I say started them, and then had dinner with the Lo...z family, they rock hard core! They are finally starting to come back to church. We had 3 investigators at church with us, which was incredible! N...o ( handicapped 35 year old man - Lo...z family ) passed the sacrament! It was awesome! He rocks! I love the man! We also taught Ef...n.

There is not a whole lot more I can say I guess.

This week went by super quick. I am scared about how fast the week is going by. I have changed so much. I cannot even begin to express to all of you how the mission is changing my life. This is seriously the most difficult thing I have ever done or probably ever do, but it is the most rewarding work I have ever done. I found a scripture this week that really rocks for me. It is about how we need to show respect to our Heavenly Father, and follow all that he commands. Hebrews 12:9. I also read over Alma 32. That chapter alone can change the world. Read it, ponder it, apply it. The same goes with all of the Book of Mormon. I love you all, I know this work is truly rewarding, and that I am here for a reason. I love my mission, and hope you all have a fantastic week.

Tengan un buen Dia,[ have a great day ]

Su misionero favorite en California Sur,

Elder Weston Scott