Monday, February 28, 2011

Hey Mamma!
 
How has your week been? I got like 3 or 4 letters from ya this week! Not a bad thing, I didn't expect it! Thank you! :D So Lissa had her baby? Thats awesome! Caden and Ryan you said came to the 11 year old boys now? Ah I miss those little guys. I am happy to hear everything is going well there! Really glad to hear bro. miles is doing better. That has to be very hard though the medication not helping the whole four hours. You gave them the letter I sent right? Glad to hear you are feeling better too mom! I am now starting to feel really under the weather, I don't know if its allergies or what but I am coughing alot so I don't think it is. Things this week have been so busy! We taught 34 lessons, and got 4 new investigators. Our goal is 40 lessons cause we have the 4 of us but alot of things fell through! We didn't get in our weekly planning which is reallly bad! We have been super busy though. The lady getting baptized is doing okay, she still needs to quit smoking and drinking coffee but she is making progress. I met this guys Brian this week who I think he is a single dad, I didn't ask but it seemed that way from what I saw, anyways, we were tracting and ended up meeting him and talking with him, turns out he has met the missionaries before and they all taught him Lesson 1 The Restoration, and we didn't know that at first, but we felt prompted to teach Lesson 2 The Plan of Salvation, and he was super surprised he had never heard that before! He agreed alot with what we taught, but the whole lesson there seemed to be something missing, I don't know what it was, but something wasn't there that should have been, I think he might have been drinking before we came by, and that kind of halted his reception to feeling it. I don't know though, he was a good guy, good hopes and dreams and expectations for his kids. Then Dorris an older lady, who took a history class in college recently and learned about Joseph Smith a little bit, so she was interested in knowing more, but her husband she doesn't think will, we are trying though. We made progress. We had great progress this week in our companionship! We do "I love you because and I'm sorry because" everynight with one another and this has helped alot, the first couple nights only Elder Dame and I wanted to do it, and do it right. But Vaughn and Johnson were tired and wanted to skip it. Anyways we did it cause we made the commitment, and it has been great since. Elder Dame and I can work really well together now we are much better friends. There is alot of good going on out here, I want to work harder and harder though to see more progress come. All in the Lords time though right? Haha I love ya mom! Thank you so much for your support! Thank you to everyone else too! Oh mom can you post some of those pictures on that CD on my blog? If you can. That would be neat! I'm fixin (southern folk talk) to send you another CD I just gotta get it to the post office to pay for it. I'll do it today! I'll send some more letters too! I am sorry I am losing the habbit of journal entries and letters. I will do better :D Oh have you heard anything from Samantha or Sam? I really would like to hear from them and see how things are going. Can you try Samantha again on Facebook for me? I love ya mom! Thank you so much! Everyone here says Peanut Butter Cookies! :DD I love you mom! I love you all! Have a great week!

Monday, February 21, 2011

New post on Monday, February 21, 2011

Hi Momma Bear!!!
 
I am sorry you're not top notch yet, I thought you were feeling back to normal last week? Did you end up going to the doctors? I hope you get over what ever it is fast.
 
Mom thank you so much for your letter just now! I really needed to hear that. Thank you! So this past week we got another companionship in our ward. We all live together and also, instead of splitting the ward areas, we have officially become a 4some! It's so sweet! We got one guys Elder Vaughn who is a Brazil missionary waiting on his visa to get here, and Elder Johnson, who has been out for 6 months! They are great guys! I am so glad Elder Johnson is here, he has so much love in him. He is a great guy! Elder Vaughn is a great guy too, me and him were on splits yesterday and we went tracting, the first and only house we did was Gary and Christina, first thing Gary says is, "My wife is sitting here tellling me not to screw with you guys." We told him we don't want to argue for fight but on the way up I saw a snake cage and right before we were leaving the opportunity was presented to ask him about that, so I did, and he brightened up, he kept telling us about them, and even invited us in to look at his snakes and tell us all about them. He had 3 snakes, 2 cats, 1 small lizard, 1 HUGE lizard, and 4 dogs! They love pets! While we were in there talking to them they fed the huge lizard a mouse! Ah! It was so sad, the poor mouse was crying and so scared! Then we heard the lizard crack the mouses neck! Ah! It was crazy! After that we talked about them and he is in the reserves getting ready to do a tour in Afganastan(misspelled). They have 2 kids one is a marine, the other only 10. Well Gary has been through alot and has seen and done alot of things. We were about to leave and he walked outside to smoke, while he smoked, we tried to get on the topic of the gospel, but he wanted to tell us stories about how he used to scare of religious folk who came to his door. They told us there feelings about the Bible which were the same as ours, its been translated alot and doesn't contain the original things. We gave him a book of Mormon, I bore testimony, he completely felt the Spirit, and so did Christina his wife. He accepted the Book of Mormon and I told him to read and pray, he said he would like something to read on his next tour. That was Elder Vaughn's first experience in tracting and events like that show me the Lord does prepare people. Although its not statistacally the best, we can find people. We don't have a return appointment, but we will be going by to visit them again. Great things are happening out here! Saturday we spent about 4 and a half hours at a members house for dinner, Elder Dame got his haircut, lots and lots of wasted time. So that night during planning, Elder Johnson expressed how he felt and wanted to know how everyone else felt about the time we spent there, Elder Vaughn kind of agrees with them and what they say, Elder Dame felt it was time worth while. But, I did not feel it was acceptable. So I spoke up and expressed my feelings and view. There was alot of tension in the room, I really felt like I was all alone, and there was no one to back me up, but Elder Johnson listened, and we all came to a conclusion, it was not at all necessary to spend that much time there. I told Elder Dame I didn't want to do it because it goes against what Preach my Gospel states and what the White Handbook states. I know the Lord wants us to do it his way. So we all got back on the same page, and we then went around saying what kind of missionaries we want to be, it turned into a wonderfully spiritual evening. I really am loving the people, trying to get along with my comps. But the lessons and people make everything so much better! I love you Mom! Thank you so much! Please take care! Thank you again so much for your words of encouragement! Have a great week Mom! Love ya! Love ya all!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Hey Mom! I am so sorry! I wrote an email last week, but for some reason it didn't go through I got an email today saying something went wrong, I resent it just now though. Alot of those questions you asked are answered in there! I am in Pensecola, Perdido Ward, with Elder Dame, I am so sorry you're not feeling good mom, I hope and pray you're better now. :( GET BETTER! I love ya!
 
So is Tina okay? After that surgery? Thats crazy, did they make it to church this Sunday? Missie is finally jumping the fence! haha we kinda saw that coming! Crazy dog. I don't know what you could do except for raise the fence. That would be a little hard though, just a thought. I was just thinking about Buddy, I miss that guy, Sadie too, we were tracting the other day and we saw these folks walking their dogs and turns out they were corgies, look alot like Sadie, but Sadie is so much cuter. haha they wanted nothing to do with the gospel though. Oh well, move on!
 
 
Transfers will be in mid march so I am definately here until then. Turns out we are getting two bike missionaries in our area to help us out cause the work is going well, they will be living with us, one is a visa waiter going to Brazil, the other has been here for about a year. But that will really help the area, we will spend alot less time with other members though who live close to us, there are alot of cool families right down the street from the apartment too. But the bike missionaries will need the inner part of our area so they don't die from riding too much.
 
Well this week has been interesting, kind of hard. I went to teach the Whites again, a less active family we talked to a week before, we met with again, they have a daughter Audrey who is about to turn 8 she wants to be baptized, well this last Wednesday we taught the Plan of Salvation to her, and the Spirit was so strong there. I already really love that family. They commited to church on Sunday and they came, but were late, brought some friends. sat outside the chapel, the speakers didn't work so they couldn't hear the talks, the children were running around playing, so they had a bad experience, and left after sacrament meeting, but they kept their commitment and came, turns out the husband has mentioned to the wife about going to the temple. He knows they need too, he has served a mission and everything, I hope they will be okay, and come back into the fold. They need it. They are moving in a few weeks too so they are gonna check out the ward they will be moving to this coming Sunday I hope they enjoy it there.
 
There have been a few disagreements this week with Elder Dame and I, well...alot. It has been a hard week, it seems everytime anything is brought up he gets defensive about it, but he really has helped me to understand myself better. He really wants to help. But he also does have great advice, he has been kind in helping me learn. There are alot of rules I think we can easily start following better which have been shrugged off in the past, but I want to keep, small ones are easier to keep, why not keep them? But anyways he feels I am trying to take over operations down here which I am not, but I don't know, a few disagreements on those things. We both are very prideful and think were right, so were working on it. Things will get better. :D
 
Okay so today I was studying Pres. Benson's talk, " Beware of Pride", Oh wow! Great talk! Totally reached me, he states, the very center of the sin of pride is enmity. Enmity toward God and/or our fellowmen. This struck me today. I think it would be great for you all to read this talk. It is by President Ezra Taft Benson in the May 1989 General Conference. "Beware of Pride" http://lds.org/ensign/1989/05/beware-of-pride?lang=eng thats the link, check it out! So things are good, we got two baptismal dates for march, this lady Catherine and her daughter McKenzie who Elder Dame loves. We brought Sis. Presley and her daughter Athena to a lesson with them after church yesterday and Sis Presley and Catherine like to talk...alot! Haha but the lesson was more of a conversation for them two. It lasted almost three hours. WOW! haha Catherine gained a new friend, she commited to baptism, Elder Dame is so excited, I am too, Catherine is a sweet lady who has gone through alot. Sweet lesson. Then the Ruth family, I met the wife this last tuesday and that Friday we went over for dinner, and I fell in love with them, they are less actives she wants to return(the wife) and he is having troubles, he didn't really want anything to do with the lesson, but at the end we challened them to read the Book of Mormon everyday, and he is in the Coast Guard and is gone for most the week to the ship, so we asked him to read while he is gone, and he opened up, we gained trust with him, bulit a relationship, great familiy! Great things are happening in Pensacola! I haven't eaten any weird food, this is like the only place we don't get strange things ha! Okay I love you all! Thank you so much for the support and prayers! I pray that all will be well! Momma I am sorry again my email last week didn't get to you, I promise I sent it. I hope you got it today. I love you mom! I pray you'll get better! Get to the doctor! I am so grateful for you mom! You are the best! I miss you! Have a great week! A better week! :D

Letter from February 7,2011

Hello hello! How has the week been? I just got the package in the mail, I haven't opened it yet cause we came straight to the computer room at the community college down the street from our apartment. It is so cold here! It's like 40 or 50 with super high humidity and it just reaches in you and freezes! I love it here though! My trainer is Elder Dame I thought it was Elder Dayne but was wrong! Haha he has a similar past as me but he is so good! He has been here for 4 transfers and the members love him. We are in the Perdido ward of Pensecola city, there are 3 or 4 military bases in the area so lots of navy and marine folks! It is a car area, pretty big place to be, members are so helpful! Elder Dame has really earned the trust of them all! They feed us every night! Just as I got here the mission started up a goal of teaching 20 lessons a week, to members, non members, and less actives whoever! They are doing this because we are one of the next missions to be having a mormon.org party here! Now let me explain, the church did some testing in two different missions, one is the highest baptizing mission, the other the worst, what they did was send a whole lotta mormon.org commercials, advertisements and etc. through those areas and now those missions are the highest ranked baptizing missions. So we'll be next, they want us to practice lots of teaching so we'll be ready when that happens. I met a family the other night when we went on splits, the White family, we were tracking down less active familes and we were gonna go home but decided to do one more name on the list and it was the Whites, they let us in and turns out the have a daughter Audrey who is about to turn 8 and really wants to be baptized, the parents had a disagreement with the bishop and got offended, but they let us in and we talked, we set up a return appointment and we'll be seeing them this wednesday. It was the first miracle I experienced on the mission, but there will be lots more. We serve at a lighthouse here on one of the bases it is so cool! Things are great! Thank you so very very much! I gotta go, I need to email my mission president real quick before I run outa time! :/  Love you so much! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!! Love yal! :D Oh no grits or nothing weird yet! :p

Thursday, February 3, 2011

January 27, 2011

Hey Momma! How ya doing today? How is everyone? Mostly everyone forgot about me I see! :p just kidding! This week has been really fun! It's my last pday here! Out of the two total! It's been great, has passed by so fast! I will be leaving to Florida with the other Elders next tuesday morning should be in Florida by 4 oclock I think it said! It's been a wonderful experience here, definately learned alot of new things, and I feel myself and the others I am with growing! Such a wonderful feeling!  I'm so sad to hear about Ted, that is horrible that had happened, I wish we knew before so we could have helped them out maybe. I am glad to hear Aryan is doing good, I hope he really is okay! How are my brothers doing? I haven't heard from any of them? Thanks Mom for being faithful in writing! I love letters they make everything even better! Plus it feels good to know when you are loved. haha On Tuesday we had Elder Evans from the Seventy come and talk that was a great experience! I felt like I was floating when I left. The temple here is beatiful! I still like Mesa's more! How is Karla coming along with that whole marriage thing? haha Oh mom tell Caleb Larson I haven't gotten a letter yet, and he owes me one, we had a deal! Tell Lory to write me back to, that was a big surprise to hear from her but a good one! How is Che? I wrote him today, I put a few letters in each envelope, can you disperse them according to name? :D We have had the opportunity to teach this old lady name June as one of our "volunteer investigators" and Joe we teach him again tomorrow! It has been great practicing and getting to see what I need to improve on! Last night the Elders in the same room as Elder Levi and I prayed together before bed and we all shared our  testimonies with eachother then told one another something we liked about them, this way we could form more unity! It worked! So powerful! These are some really good guys! We have a long way to go though! I heard from Mark finally! That was awesome! I emailed dad last week, he didn't respond, can you get his address for me? I wanna make sure I have the right email and address. Time has flown by! Please tell people to dear elder me or send me letters! Anything! I need to hear from everyone! haha ;D Mom please extend my love to the Miles as well as Tina, I wrote a letter for Tina, Aryan and RJ but I don't know if I will have time for the Miles, please express to them my love! Please tell the boys in Primary to listen good and I miss them! Oh Mom this Sunday I want to fast for Tina and the boys, I know its not fast Sunday but I feel it would bring great blessings to them, and they need it. So I definately will be, please join :D I'm sorry things have been pretty hard mom, you're doing great with your calling and with helping Tina and the boys, don't give up! Tell everyone I love them and I am not just doing fine, I am absolutely wonderful! The Lord definately blesses us as missionaries and our families too! Things will get better. I am so thankful for you mom! I love  you so much! I can't send the pictures cause my envelope is too small, but I will send a lil package with a CD with some of them there, all the airport pics so you can do with them what you want. :D My testimony has grown alot out here mom, thank you so much for your support! CJ! Thank you for your example! I love you big brudha! I love you Mom! I don't know when my pday next week but I will be sure to email you when it comes around! I pray for you all everynight!
 
With Love,
Elder West
 
P.s. Mom you asked me how the food was, I don't remember if I told you or not but....its pretty darn nasty! haha but we get ice cream from the BYU creamery Wedneday and Sunday, thats super good! Oh I saw Chase yesterday too when he arrived way cool! Tell everyone I love them and wanna hear from them!