DyC 9:7-8

Hey family!

   We woke up to rain this morning, which ruined our desires to play soccer with the ward members who are on winter break, but that means more time to clean our apartment!!  This week we´ll have transfers and I´m pretty sure that I´ll be sent off to a new area to finish off the mission.  The truth is that I would love to open up an area or something similar but if I have learned one thing on the mission it is that the Lord usually has something else in mind that will allow me to consecrate even more than what I can imagine. The truth is that I will truly miss the members and friends here in Valparaiso if I am needed in another sector especially due to the life changing experiences we faced together.  I never would have thought that experiences so spiritually impacting would have happened to me here in Valparaiso but I have come to understand the purpose behind every experience that I have had and each one has led to me trust more and more in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. After having seen how the Atonement can change peoples lives, I now know what I must continue doing throughout my life in order to accomplish my purpose as a child of God.

Love you all!

Elder Weidman

Helaman 15:6 - Unwearied Dilligence

Hey family!

   The title of this email has a lot to do with what happened this week. In the moment, we don´t have many investigators so we have been working extra hard on finding news and the zone has also been passing for the same situation.  Realizing that the lack of investigators was a problem all over the stake of Valparaiso, the Stake President, High Priest assigned to the Mission Work, and us met together with the Bishops of every ward in one huge meeting in order to develop a Stake level plan of how to involve members more in the work.  A stake mission plan was made that consists of two sides: the ward council side and everyday member side. Here is the first part of the plan: First, members of the Ward Council, accompanied by the missionaries, will visit every single active family in the ward and will explain the ward mission plan with great detail.  Second, the Bishopric will do divisiones with the missionaries of their ward at least one weekend of every month. Third, all the members of the ward in organized groups will spend one Sunday afternoon of every month visiting the less active member families that have at least one person over the age of 7 in their home who is not baptized to encourage the family to return to church.  These are the 3 actions that the ward council has the responsibility to bring to pass. 

   The second part of the stake mission plan is for each member and focuses on helping the members make the participation in missionary work be a natural part of their lives.  Every member will be given a Preach My Gospel (fulfilling Elder Ballard´s invitation) and a hard cover Book of Mormon.  The families will focus one family home evening of every month on Preach My Gospel so that they can apply the teachings and see the blessings. It will be a family goal (like seen in this video  https://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/special-broadcast?lang=eng#media=16902107223790014226-eng) and they will always have a Book of Mormon available to give out.  The ward and full time missionaries will pass by often to give brief training and answer any questions had.

   It´s a very spiritually inspired and thought out plan that is difficult to write in an email with the little time that I have.  But like I said before, the main purpose of the plan is to have the members develop personal testimonies of the Work of Salvation so that they too can participate. 

Love you all!

Elder Weidman

Mosiah 7:18-19 - Put your trust in God

Hey family!

   I can´t believe that I am already writing another email again. The days are going by quicker and quicker and I have no way to make it pass by slower.  This week I went to the area of one of our missionaries who has been struggling a bit lately with the disobedience. In my time in the mission, I have come to realize that there is always a reason behind the disobedience that is not seen.  Some missionaries who see these disobedient missionaries immediately  judge them without trying to know nor help them.  This is not the way to do it and many time this will cause a missionary to be even more disobedient. The best way to help this type of missionary has two steps (from my own experience): 1. See them in God´s eyes (President Monson´s talk in the October 2012 Conference) and 2. Dig deeper and find the iceberg underneath the disobedience (Preach my Gospel). The iceberg may come from homesickness, lack of faith, frustration, a misunderstanding about the rules, or even at times lack of sleep.  Now I will return to the experience that I had with this elder.  I went to his area with desires to help him change.  I have about 6 months here in the zone and he has 4.  When he arrived, there was not even a lick of disobedience (does that make sense?) but through the past months, we noticed that he was changing.   I knew and had seen his true potential and was praying, practically begging, that this interchange with him would help him in his conversion process of the mission.  I already had a strong relationship with him, so I straight up told him about what we had seen, and how we desired to help him due to the love we felt towards him.  While walking in the street, he told me that the disobedience had come from frustration.  Frustration in not seeing results, especially from the contacts in the street.  Our Mission President always has promised that if we do 20 contacts each day, we would be blessed with results.  I helped him realize of the blessings that he had been receiving before when he was happily doing the 20 each day, and of the blessings that he had lost when he stopped.  He expected that the blessings would come through more investigators, better numbers, more baptisms etc, but we talked about how he personally had become spiritually strengthened during those contacts.  We then offered a prayer so that the Lord would show us even more blessings from the street contacts and then set the goal to do the 20.  Let me tell you that our prayer was answered!  The Lord seriously placed about 5 people in our path that day that truly were striving to make a spiritual change in their lives.  One of the best days of my mission.  That was a day when we saw miracles in the street.  We must have the faith that those days can happen everyday, and not get discouraged when it doesn´t happen.  There is always a reason why!

Love, 

Elder Weidman

John 14:26 - Purpose of the Holy Ghost

Hey Family!

   Well I spent too much time thinking about my answers for the survey and now I have practically no time at all to write the email.  I´ll give you all an update on the recent converts that have been baptized in the past 2 months.

Makarena- Remember how she began coming to church after her house burnt down?  Well she has been continuing strong and yesterday she had an interview with the Bishop so that she can go to the temple in Santiago on July 5th and do baptisms for the dead!  She is loving the Young Women´s program.

Veronica - One of the best converts of my mission.  She has taken everything in and now is working super hard on her Family History so that she can perform the baptism on July 5th.  A quick miracle: She thought that her mom, who is Baptist, would never give her permission to be baptized for her grandmother, but after a long phone call where she shared her testimony about the family history work, Veronica obtained permission to be baptized for her grandmother!  She began crying when she told us that experience.

Camila - She was confirmed member of the Church yesterday and passed her temple interview with the Bishop right after the meetings!  Her favorite passage in the Book of Mormon up to this point is the mourning of Nephi in 2 Nephi 4.  She printed out the verses and framed them on her wall.

   I have loved being able to be in Valparaiso for 6 months because I have been able to see the personal progression of every single one of my converts.  I will be able to apply the examples and teachings that they have left me in my entire life!

Love,

Elder Weidman

Alma 31:34-35 - Power and Wisdom

Hey family!

   This past week we had the special privilege to listen to Elder Robbins from the Presidency of the Seventies in a Mission Conference held on Tuesday.  Here are some of the notes that I feel the need to share with you:

1.  The missionary agenda has a picture of a compass on the front. We read Alma 37:38-42 and he had us replace the word compass with agenda.  He also testified to us that the agenda is a spiritual tool made by the First Presidency to help us truly be led where the Lord needs us to be. My companion and I have put this into practice after the conference by planning more slowly and listen to what the Spirit tells us in our planning sessions and the difference is too obvious.

2.  He spoke to us also about the two different ways to be obedient.  Nefi was obedient, but Laman and Lemuel were also obedient.  They were obedient to the Lord when they left Jerusalem, went back to get the plates, cross the sea, and in many other things but what was the difference between them and Nefi?  They would always murmur while Nefi would obey without delay or complain.  That is the difference between an obedient missionary and an exactly obedient missionary.

Well my time has ended, but I hope that those 2 teachings will help you this week and the decisions that need to be made.

I love and pray for you all!

Elder Weidman

Jacob 4:10

Hey family!

  I´m staying in Valparaiso for another 6 weeks of rain and wind!!  This week was super crazy due to transfers and the baptism of Camila.  Let me give you a quick summary of the week.

   On Monday night, we talked with Camila and spilled the beans that transfers were coming up, which probaby meant that I would be leaving.  For the past month, we have been looking for rent for her and her family who live a bit up north from here so that she could leave the house of her ex-boyfriend, live with her parents and siblings, and be baptize.  The search for rent for that many people was turning out to be very difficult and a long process, so when Camila found out that transfers were coming, she told us that she would be willing to find a small rent and live alone with her daughter until a bigger apartment was found.  She wanted to do this so that I could be present in her baptism.  We ended Monday night realizing that we only had 24 hours to find a rent, move Camila out of her house, have the baptismal interview, and plan the baptismal service.  Just call us the Jack Bauer missionaries.

   On Tuesday, we began the day by asking President Kahnlein if Camila could be baptized the day right after moving out of her ex´s house and he asked us why it was necessary so quickly.  We told him of our worry that I might leave, and he agreed that it would be a great idea to have the baptism before Wednesday afternoon.  That comment made us believe that I was gone for sure so we began the search for a smaller apartment. The Lord guided us the whole time because within an hour we had found an apartment that at first was too expensive for Camila, but then when the owner found out that Camila would be a member of the Church, she lowered the price.  Blessing #1  - Lowing of the price.  Then we realized that we needed a member to help us move everything out of Camila´s old house to her new house.  We immediately called a member who has a truck and he said that luckily he was free that night. Blessing #2 - Free night of a member. Camila then had her baptismal interview but then something happened that we weren´t expecting: she needed to have another interview with someone with more experience in the Church.  Due to transfers, President Kahnlein had no time that night, so we decided to cancel the baptism for Wednesday morning yet continue with the apartment move in the night time.  The move went excellent and there was no problem with the ex-boyfriend. Blessing #3 - Ex didn´t do anything to stop her from moving.  The night ended and we all thought that I wouldn´t be able to be there for the baptism.  We all knew that the move had to happen that day so that Camila would be free from her Ex, yet we were a bit sad for how things turned out.

   On Wednesday, I receive a call that I will be staying for 6 more weeks in Valparaiso!  The Lord knew that Camila needed to change everything on Tuesday and I believe that President Kahnlein was inspired to make us believe that I would be leaving or Camila would never have left the house.  The rest of the week went amazing and, as you can see from the picture, Camila was baptized yesterday. She is true pioneer that has left almost everything in order to follow the Lord´s instruction.  She through herself into the Lord´s hands and trusted that He would do His part.  She even fasted to find a way out of her problems so that her only desire could be fulfilled. This is the Lord´s Work of Salvation and He truly directs it.  

Love you all!

Elder Weidman

D y C 43:16 - Sanctify Yourself

Hey Family!

   Remember the video chat that we had on Mother´s Day about when I go home and all that jazz?  Well after much prayer, thought, and reading of my Patriachal Blessing, I´ve decided to come home 2 weeks early so that I can prepare for the semester that comes in BYU.  My original date was to come home on the 27th but now I will be coming home in the middle of the week of the 11th - 17th.  I´m still not sure which day it will be but just wanting to give a heads up so that plans can be made and all that. The truth is that it was a hard decision and I wanted to feel 100% sure on my decision therefore I know that it is what the Lord needs me to do so that I can accomplish my true potencial.  I really had the need to stay in the mission for 2 years because I felt that my mission wouldn´t be fully complete without that but then I felt the Lord tell me that He is the One who decides whether or not the work done was sufficient.  The time spent in the field doesn´t matter nor the number of converts. What matters is the dedication and consecration that you place willingly in the Lord´s Hands.  He knows what I must do and I can truly say that this is the decision that will lead me even closer to His presence.

   Now enough about me.  Camila, our investigator who is just dying to be baptized, continues progressing quickly.  She can´t be baptized in the moment because she is living with her ex boyfriend and can´t find any rent due to all the victims who are were effected by the fire that are living in rents.  We even did a fast with her this week to find an apartment, and we continue looking with faith. The Lord will definitely provide the way because this is a meaningful step so that Camila can enter into His Church.  Within in the second of finding rent, she is going to have her baptismal interview and be baptized.  We have changes this week, and I really hope to be here in her baptism but that is my personal desire that doesn´t matter in the end.  The important thing is that she can make a life changing promise with God that will never be forgotten nor broken.

 Love you all!

Elder Weidman