[Weston] Anaheim Weekly October 27, 2014

Hey Guys!

So this past week was very interesting, for the most part. We taught a few lessons, and we are trying hard to teach stronger and more powerful lessons. Something I have found, is that when you have a new companion that does not speak much Spanish, he can accuse you of just chatting during a lesson, or during a dinner appointment. Not so. It has been a severe struggle this week, more that others. I cannot explain over email how overwhelmed and stressed I feel. I have been called to train Elder Fonnesbeck,for a reason I still know not. I am trying very hard to be patient. This week I dove more into zone Christlike attributes section of Preach My Gospel in order to see what it was that I immediately could do to work on. I read over Patience and humility. Both of which I desperately need and want right now. I am at a road block with knowing what do to with my companion. 

We had district meeting this week, and I had the privilege of teaching! Sometimes I feel like I am literally the worst teacher, but hey, maybe that is not so! This month we have been focusing on teaching for understanding, and diligence, and shorter lessons (basically everything fro, chapter 8 in PMG). I decided to use the notes I had taken from a zone conference in May to create district meeting. I taught about teaching and expounding on everything we teach, explaining scriptures, and asking inspired questions. It seemed to go pretty well. For some reason the AP's came and joined us for our meeting, which does not normally happen. It was interesting. On Thursday I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Tanner in his area, and spend some time with a former companion. It went well, we talked about everything from our past companionship, and also about what I can do to improve as his District Leader, and what I can do as well as a trainer. 

On Friday night after planned and everything we went out to see Brian our 9 year-old investigator. He was not home, but his grandma Jaquelin who is a recent convert was. We sat and talked with her for a while, just a simple conversation, and we talked about her life, and different things she has gone through. We flat out told her that we never come by to drag people to church (she is less active and a recent convert). We asked her some personal questions, and we testified to her of our role as missionaries, we testified very powerfully as well of church, and the importance of following Christ, and that we must accept him and all He has done. We mentioned that Christ needs to be first in our hearts and in our lives, and that we must put Him over all other things, and trust in Him. The Spirit was incredibly strong, and it really helped me to realize my role again here as a missionary.

I think that the overall lesson I am facing and learning right now, is to trust and rely on the revelation President Taggart received for me to be a District Leader and a Trainer. I sustain my leaders, and so I sustain their actions. It is still hard for me though. I am learning to rely on the Lord, and the decisions He makes for His vineyard. I am just a servant, and I will do what I am asked to do, the best that I can do it. I am here to sacrifice everything, my time, my thoughts, my life for this work. I am starting to understand more about losing myself in this work.

Thanks for everything!

Your Favorite Missionary! :)

Elder Weston Scott

[Mason] Buenos Dias

       This week was legit just so all of you know, and the reason behind it is because of many things, but the main thing is that I have found my absolute favorite story in the Book of Mormon. It is found in the book of Helaman. And it is not Samuel the Lamanite, but instead it is Nephi, son of Helaman. It's a sweet story of defending your faith and being bold and knowing your stuff and trusting in God.

    Anyways, this week was pretty slow it seemed, planning District meeting, making sure that everyone is OK, and helping everyone get motivated. It is hard to be a leader sometimes, because when you love these people so much, you don't want to see them struggle or see them fail of even fall at all, and it happens, and it just kills me. It is hard because I can only do so much, and go on exchanges and stuff, but sometimes it's not enough.  So it's hard to be a leader but it's a blessing, because you learn how to love people more.

I absolutely hate seeing people struggling. I really wish I could help every single person succeed and get through the failures and make them all be super successful. I feel like that is my duty here.  Ever since the first interview with President Packard in the Mission Home, I have felt like a major part of my duty here is to help missionaries know their stuff and know how to do their stuff. I have been striving to do that ever since.  Now that I'm actually called to do that, I feel lost in how I can.  I want the best for everyone here.  I want flourishing areas for all of them, so they never have to feel down, because when a missionary has nothing to do, he or she gets sad and depressed, and it hurts me.  I want to cry sometimes when people say that they don't have anything to do, or when they come home frustrated for reasons that nothing happened that day.  It makes me so sad.  I want to just go in and work work work and find new people and talk to all the members and set them up for life.....but at some point, I realize this now, that they have to fall before they will get picked up. I'm planning on jumping and helping everywhere I can as soon as I can.   Part of this is also in my own companionship.. we have been struggling to get on the same page.  I have desires to work as hard as my body will allow, and even skip all the meals and everything, because I want this message out there. but he takes things at a slower pace, a little more timid pace, and not as much direction in terms of work load and how much we can actually do.  After the last few days of me jumping on the wheel 150% I showed him the true desire of the work we had 10 appts planned for after church yesterday.  The day before that several more.  We were heading towards the goal I have of teaching 32.  This is a milestone for the Lynn area, but also for the whole zone. Now my companion has caught fire of it.

Just  a shout out real quick to my brother.  I read through his email, and he said was talking about a training on keeping appts shorter and getting to the point and establishing our purpose and fulfilling said purpose as missionaries in these appts. and I have been trying to figure out what this district needs.  I know what it is and it is this. So thanks Elder Scott for helping me out.

I'm excited for what is to come in this district, because I have 3 different languages....English, Spanish, and Chinese.....so it is going to be fun when I have to go do interviews in the chinese side....I don't speak that....

I'm sorry for ranting about the previous stuff.  I am just passionate towards the Lord's Work. I can't bear the thought of Wasting the Lord's time anymore. there is not a second that he hasn't given us and so im just thinking out loud over email....

This last week we were able to teach our investigator, Sanchez, about prayer and also about why we read the book of Mormon....and he told us that he read the first ten pages of the book and he knows it is true.  It was sweet. He goes to institute on Fridays, but he can't make it to church yet, he is on fire.

Ummm so if you have any ideas on how to motivate people to want to improve constantly, please respond asap because that where I'm at.  I feel like I need help in learning how to motivate others to be better every second

I'm doing good otherwise, and I love this area.  Everyone is saying that I'm going to stay here through Christmas now,.. I'm hoping so....

I love you all, and have  great week

Elder Scott

[Weston] Anaheim Weekly October 20, 2014

Hello!

This week was so fast! I cannot believe it! My birthday was this past Tuesday for those of you who did not know. I will go over some interesting details of the day. So, we started out by taking my bike to the shop because it was having some issues, and that ended up being almost a hundred dollars in replacement parts, no biggie, and then I went to have a doctors appointment for my shoulders. At the doctors, I was evaluated for my pain in my right shoulder specifically and was given a cortisone shot. That hurt quite a lot! It was not very pleasant for a couple of days because the next day I literally could not  lift my right arm. Fun stuff! We got to have interviews with our Mission President this past Wednesday which was absolutely fantastic! I also got to teach District Meeting and I taught about the importance of teaching shorter lessons. It was pretty good, especially because President is going to try to get me some physical therapy to help me make it through my last year in the mission. Now, is it me or am I always writing home with a new ache or pain each week? Definitely not me right?

Our Ward mission leader Hermano Badillo is now the Bishop of of our ward, and so on Sundays I am the teacher for Gospel Principles. Kind of fun? Haha not. However, I speak Spanish way more fluently than I have ever given myself credit for! It is really cool to see that I can have a full on detailed conversation just about anything now! It is truly a blessing! Specifically I taught about talents, and the importance of developing our talents. I enjoyed the topic, but I only had ten minutes to prepare to teach the lesson. This week Elder Fonnesbeck and I got to do some actual knocking which turned out very well. We had an hour and a half, and we taught three lessons and got three new investigators in that time period. It was pretty great! 

Towards the end of the week, my companionship hit a rough spot, rougher than I have ever had on my mission, and we straightened it out completely on Saturday Evening. I have realized what it takes to truly be an effective leader, and I am trying to change the methods I was using beforehand. Everything is going smoothly now!

Thank you so much for all of the birthday wishes! I truly appreciate it! I can feel the support and love from you all sustaining me out here. Thank you!

Your favorite Elder in So. Cal.

Elder Weston Scott

1) Mine and Hermana Trujillo's birthday party! (And cake) she invited me over to share our birthday together.

2) the cake I made for my birthday. It came out super well!

[Mason] the most exhausting week of my mission....and the best

Ok so to outline the week, I will use bullet points and then go back and explain them

1. Jesenia's hectic baptismal date

2. Jesenia's baptism and confirmation

3. My birthday

4. My birthday is celebrated every day by the members

5. Too much freakin cake

6. I have felt nauseous all week long.

7. Transfer Texts

8. New calling

9. THE HOSPITAL NIGHTMARE

1. Monday we had Jesenia meet with President packard in the temple, and there, she was interviewed by him, passed, and her desire to get baptized changed immediately.  So we talked to her that night and she asked to get baptized on Sunday.....So WOW. we then got to work and so on Tuesday, my B-day, we asked her a few questions with regards to the baptismal service and she was like "can I get baptized on Saturday?....and actually I want to get baptized tomorrow!"....so we got everything set up and then she is like, "actually Friday will work best for my schedule", so then we were like "OK, we will get it set", and then she texts us and says...."actually I need to wrap my head around this whole baptism thing".....and so then she dropped the date.  We then, on Thursday night, receive a text from her, at 1030pm, asking if she could still get baptized on saturday...and so then we set that up....its was a nightmare...because she didn't what anyone to come, and the branch is getting after us and yelling at us and it was ridiculous....but we dunked her after 3 days of planning it.   Let me just say that that was the shortest turn around from date to dunk I have seen out here. holy cow!.

2.  So we dunked her and confirmed her this week. Elder Vizcardo baptized her and I Confirmed her....it was legit.  We then proceeded to be yelled at again by some of the members for not inviting them....ugh....not my fault.

3.  So let me see...we had a really busy day on Tuesday....and it was sweet....we had cake like 4 times....and the classic mordida where you bite the cake and they hold you down and push your head into it..... I smelled chocolate for like 24 hours afterwards because it was in my nose.

4. Since the members of the branch found out it was my bday...they wanted to all celebrate it....separately....and so every appt  I had, there was caked and singing and laughter and a stomach ache....ugh.....it was ridiculous, but I love the branch so much

5. Too much cake. Period.

6. I dont know what's been going on, but my stomach has been aching like I'm nauseous, but I can eat still, and drink, but its really bad in the mornings and at night time....and its awful...but I think it's from all of the cake.....we will see.

7. So I'm not being transferred...I'm staying to tackle my 6th transfer here in the city of Lynn.....WOW.....its crazy!.....but there are a lot of miracles happening here though and so I'm glad I can stay.

8. I am now the District Leader here in this district, and so I have a district of 10 people and it shall be exciting and adventurous....and productive as it had been.  I am excited to serve in this new calling.

9. Now its time to share the hospital nightmare.  As we know there is a classic phrase that goes like this...."there is opposition in all things." there is a lot of truth in that.  Now, we had our baptism Saturday night at 6pm...at the same time there was a B-day party for a 5 year old in our own chapel in Lynn, where there is no font.  So we couldn't make it, nor Branch President Fuentes.....While at the baptism, President Fuentes' Daughter, Ashley, did a hand stand or something, and fell and broke her leg, and I mean she literally broke her leg.  She broke the Fibula AND the tibia. they are both broken.  So she is driven to the Salem hospital but the doctors couldn't do anything....and we are at the baptism unaware.... because our phone was on silent and President Fuentes' phone was in his truck....So we all after the Baptism go get dinner for like 30 min, and while we are there, I check the phone because it was odd that nobody had messaged us or called us in the span of 2 hours....so I see several missed calls...and I return them...and I then find out the situation.  We then take off from there, and since we don't have miles to go to Boston with the President, who is the father, we ride in his truck.....We arrive at the massive Childrens Hospital in Boston, and we actually arrived  before the ambulance did, but she arrived and she was in so much pain.  Not one ounce of the morphine was helping it seemed....and it was so sad. So we gave her a blessing, and so Elder Vizcardo anointed and President Fuentes was going to seal it, but Ashley asked me to do it, so I did. and she went from screaming and crying to calm and sleeping and only a little pain by the end of it.  It was amazing to see the Lord step in and help her.  The hospital was so busy that night, that there was not enough orthopedic surgeons or nurses or anyone or even rooms,and so there was a massive wait.  We went, as I already mentioned, with the President in his truck, and so we were trapped there until he was able to leave....So at about 2AM, Brother Reyes, a high councilman, came and picked us up and brought us home.  Sister Fuentes called him.  It was awesome that a member could come and help us out.  Especially at that early in the morning.  But it was a sad night, because the Fuentes' didn't know what was going to happen, Sister Fuentes doesn't really speak English at all and so we were translating for her to the doctors and vice versa.  But the whole night was insane.  My companion ate some food at dinner, because her was starving, and President Fuentes and I decided not to because it was too late in the night, and so we both went without food for the entire night. but the whole day helped me understand more about my Savior and what he went through and that he felt that pain and any other pain that  she will feel, or any of us will feel,and it makes my heart fill with joy and peace, because I don't have to worry about my pain, because Christ knows how to take it away.

Anyways so this was my week in a nutshell.

Santos has a Baptism date for January 4 2015 and so that will be a cool way to start of his year, I think.

Our new investigator Sanchez was in institute the other night, and said to the teacher, that nothing else can be said to  convince him that the the church is true, he knows it is, from reading the first 10 pages of the BOM...and so all we need is another miracle to get him to church.

Thanks for all the support.

Elder Scott,

Be the change you want to see in the world

[Mason] Hello everybody.....

Ok sorry this is coming so late, we were at the temple all day today. We did a session de investidura [initiatory] and then we worked in the laundry room for like 2 hours after.  It was great. the best part though was what happened during all of the temple experience.

So this last week was really slow and we had several meetings, and the first one was monday night, and it was sad because we met with Jesenia and Santos, and Jesenia said that basically she was done investigating.  She had a really hard week after committing herself to being baptized and now she put two and two together and it results as the church being the one to blame.  So it was hard for her to even pick up the Book of Mormon. and so we went home devastated for we knew not what to do.  We then had a meeting so called RETURN AND REPORT where the new missionaries gather and discuss how training is going, and their concerns,...but the trainers have the same meeting.  It's real fun, I tell you what.  It was so funny.   So during the meetings I was having a hard time paying 100% attention because I was still thinking about what I can do to help Jesenia. I then had this amazing epiphone while listening to I  think it was Sister Packard speak, where we need Jesenia to meet with President packard ASAP. So we made that happen today at 1030 in the temple of to the side where we as missionaries can have lessons and meet with non-members.  Now President Packard has hinted to us that she is doing much better and wants to get baptized and so we will find out here shortly hereafter. 

But this is the highlight of my week.  Wwe after that meeting however were able to attend the temple and do an endowment session and so I attended 2x this week.  It rocks.

Um just trucking along here, not much to say and not much time anyway.  We have transfer texts this week so we will see.

I hope to chat next week I guess, and BTW what is Weston's address?

Thanks for the mail everyone,  I appreciate it.....and really mom....Lobsters!?....with the months i have left.....talk about t.r.u.n.k.y.n.e.s.s. ahaha jk. I love it though. 

THe crowd here new I ddon'tstand for the darn ssurpriseparty and I was expecting one, and so what they did was they went behind my back and did it on Saturday night, this last Saturday....and it caught me off guard....so I already ate the cake and celebrated...I will include a pic. 

I am stoked this week for yet another week to work my tail off and one of these weeks I will be able to teach up to 35 lessons.......I can do it....I just hope my COMP is ready.....hehe

Also I was given the opportunity to baptize a little boy who turned 8 yesterday, His name is Henry.  I absolutely love this little kid so much.  He is so awesome.  During church yesterday, he came up to me and asked me..."you are baptizing me right?  My response was "only if you want me to"  He smiles and says "yes!!!" and then he gives me this bear hug.  It was awesome

#LET'SGO

#I'MPUMPED

#ONLYONEMOREYEARTOMAKEANAMEFORMYSELF

Have a great week

Elder Scott

[Weston] Anaheim Weekly October 13, 2014

Good afternoon!

I sincerely hope all is well with everyone! I just emailed about four days ago, so I do not have a lot to say about the work. Elder Fonnesbeck and met, saw, and taught a lot more people this week, and now we are getting into the rhythm of the work. It feels great! On Thursday this past week (my year mark) we went out at 6 because it was our p-day and we went to find some of the members we had not yet met, but they were not home, and so we stopped by a member named Vilma, and we talked about temples with her, and then we ended with a prayer. Then went upstairs to see a recent convert named Jaquelin who stopped coming to church, and we taught about the importance of keeping the sabbath day. I remember making a simple comment, "the temporal things of this life are not and never will be as important as the spiritual truths which we know as members." It made me think long and hard as well. It is so true.

On Saturday we had exchanges with our zone leaders, and Elder Nixon came with me in my area, fun fact for you, he is one of the missionaries that got transferred out of the area this transfer, and he spent his whole entire mission there so far, 5 transfers, (yeah he is younger than everyone and is a zone leader, #nextAP) and so we went around meeting people and talking to members and the investigators that he had been working with. It was very effective. We then went to a wedding reception, which was super fun! We got a true of the food to take home on Sunday after church. So much chicken and rice hahaha. Free food! It was a good exchange though!

At church it was fast Sunday of course, and so I decided to bear my testimony in front of everyone, and it was funny because I just do feel good on fast Sunday, and so I got up there and I realized that I was like the grumpiest guy ever trying to bear a testimony hahaha. Funny to look back on. 

The district is struggling a lot lately, but we are keeping up our excitement, well, at least trying to. Thank you for all of the support! :)

Your favorite Elder in So. Cal.!

Elder Weston Scott

We tried to look stupid hahaha! It worked!

We were tired on Sunday.

[Weston] Anaheim Weekly October 9, 2014

Buenas Tardes!

This past week and a half have been super great! The missionary work has been incredibly slow, and it has been hard to get our area going, it has been a really great! Elder Fonnesbeck and I are on bikes officially, and it is going pretty good.  It is incredibly hot here though, so.  It is not exactly my cup of tea sprite, but all is well.  Training is going alright.  My year of experience in the mission sometimes does not give me any credibility apparently for things I do and certain ways I do things.  Apparently I have no idea what I am doing, which is of course, false.  New missionaries haha, all is well though.  I am doing what I know how to do, and I am following the Spirit, so that is what counts.  We are starting to meet more of the investigators that the missionaries were seeing last transfer.  We met some members, whom have family that are not members.  We received training last Wednesday from our zone leaders about the places where we are finding investigators, and how we are trying hard and working hard as a mission, but not looking and working in the right direction or area.  Part member families, less active families, and recent convert families is where we have to focus our efforts.  We learned a lot about how to work more efficiently with members.

On Thursday and Friday our zone got invited to go and do service at an elementary school for their parent teacher conferences. Can you guess what they needed help with? Translating! Elder Fonnesbeck and I went on Friday with Elder Sorenson, the other district leader in the zone, and his companion.  Because Elder Fonnesbeck is exceedingly new, he could not translate, so he sat with me at the tables while I translated the conversations from Spanish to English, and he looked up words in his dictionary for me.  It was quite fun to translate, it was hard, and I did not know a lot of school terms in Spanish, but it went pretty well. The gift of tongues is incredibly real. And I am very grateful for it!

Now to general conference. It was so sick! [and that's apparently a good thing] The coolest part was the fact that the speakers got to speak in their native languages! It was so cool! I learned quite a lot, I thoroughly enjoyed Elder Richard G. Scott's talk. Four simple and powerful tools we have - prayer, the scriptures, the temple, and ....(the fourth escaped my memory at the moment) but I enjoyed it! I also really enjoyed Elder Eyring and his remarks on personal revelation.

This past Wednesday I taught district meeting, as I am the district leader, and it was flippin awesome! Our mission has been struggling more than I would like to admit, and so we have been trying to discern what it is that we are lacking. Obedience, diligence, and faith. Three attributes that we all need to improve on, and I can say that studying and constructing the district meeting was incredibly powerful for me. I learned so much. I am not a perfect missionary, nor even close, and now I have goals to be more diligent, obedient, and faithful. I think one specific principle that spoke out to me was actually part of the mission call letter that states, "You will also be expected to devote all your time and attention to serving the Lord, leaving behind all other personal affairs. As you do these things the Lord will bless you and you will become an effective advocate and messenger of the truth. We place in you our confidence and pray that the Lord will help you meet your responsibilities in fulfilling this sacred assignment."

Looking back on my year of service so far, and this quote above from my mission call letter, I realize that I have not laid all of my personal affairs and everything about me on the altar of sacrifice. It is a hard truth to accept, but looking forward now, I have been given the blessing of understanding this. I have one year to serve as a full time missionary, and the rest of my life to devote my time and efforts and talents to my Heavenly Father and Savior.

This past Tuesday Elder Quito came with me on exchanges. Being District leader we are supposed to exchange with each missionary in our district each transfer at least one time. So Elder Quito came with me. Fun fact about Elder Quito, we go home together from the mission, yay! I love this Elder so much. He is a very hard worker, and one of the most humble guys I have met out here. I know he supports me in my calling, and he manifests in the way he fulfills assignments and in how we communicate with each other. 

Monday night we went to see a family who is less active, and of course we got lost. Until one of the daughters came out recognized us as missionaries. She helped us find our way, and we met the entire family, and the mom is super cool beans her name is Hermana Trujillo. She has the same birthday as me! So she invited us over for our birthday on Tuesday night for some cake. Super fun!  

Let's see, we went to the temple today, and it was the most spiritual visit to the temple that I have ever had. Very personal, so I will not share, but afterwards we headed to Olive Garden and got some decent eating in. I mean, special occasion right? Year mark! 

Well that's all folks! I am very grateful for all of the support that I receive, and the prayers on my behalf. I am excited for the last year of service I have to give. I will hold nothing back! I love you all! :)

1) I cooked some fish on exchanges, it was alright, not the fish I would normally choose, it was found in our freezer, it was a huge peace of yellow trout. Kind of gross, but whatevs.

2) The cutest kids ever from a recent convert. I want them for my own children hahaha! They are so great!

3) District Photo in front of the temple!

4) Elder Maughn and I (my best friend out here)

[he forgot to actually attach those referenced pictures]

Your favorite Missionary,

Elder Weston Scott