Tuesday - This begins day number one of when Elder Quiñónez caught the chinconguya! Got it early that morning. So I stayed home all day, which turned out to be a real blessing for a couple reasons. One, the gangs were going nuts in our area and I wasn´t outside to be caught in any of it. Two, I finished the book Jesus the Christ. My second favorite book, other than the Book of Mormon. Man, this book answers so many questions. Three, I got to learn how to be my brother´s keeper better, because I tended to every care of my companion all day. Didn´t bother me. Service is amazing and I was happy to help him out. He was so bad, he couldn´t even open his eyes. I expect everyone in this country will get this disease. It is bad.
Wednesday - I stayed inside again, all day, because my companion still had the chinconguya. I cleaned the house all day and reorganized everything so that when the other Elders got home, that wouldn´t come home to a filthy home and wondered what I did all day. I also read a lot in the scriptures. I am in Mosiah right now, marking up these amazing verses that are in there. He speaks with great power. I love the stories too. Just amazes me how much more I capture when I read if I start and end with prayer. If I just jump into it, I get carried away in other thoughts, or things distract me, but when I pray, I am focused and the verses just fill my head with knowledge. I don´t know the scriptures perfectly, but I understand the Book of Mormon a lot more than what I used to. My favorite part? It is like a giant story. It´s a story book, without the pìctures. Who doesn´t want to read that?
Thursday - I was still in the house. This chinconguya killed my companion. So I cooked for everyone, read some more in the scriptures, found some deep doctrine to study, and ended up giving myself a headache for how much I studied. But it was good! I learned a lot, and I got to in depth to explain the deep doctrine I learned over email! Let´s just say....dang. Good stuff.
Friday - I woke up and my hands and feet were swollen. The darn chinconguya attacks me again with symptoms. But my companion is a little bit better. He is like a walking zombie, but he wants to work. So we went out and worked for a tiny bit. Only taught Dominga, who was going to get baptized this week, but she told me she hadn´t been reading in the Book of Mormon, she still drinks coffee, and it was a little bummer. She is a prepared person, she just needs to do the things that she knows is right. I know she can do it. I won´t give up on her, but as of now, she won´t be getting baptized this Saturday (12 of July).
Saturday - My companion and I were still suffering from the symptoms of chinconguya, so we worked at what I thought was a slow calm pace. Turns out we ended up having 10 appointments that day. It just goes to show, we don´t need to run to get our message to the people. The Lord knows and is preparing a way so that all will be able to hear this glad message. Even if it comes from two young boys walking at the pace of a grandma on her little motorskooter. (No offense to any grandmas, I love you all, that was just how fast I was walking that day)
Sunday - My companion recaught the chinconguya, so we went to church and then came home and stayed home. But we did go to all of our meeting through the day, which were important. We are trying to get the Missionary work more in progress in this area. It is a long process, but it´s necessary!
Monday - My companion feels better now. Still has some symptoms. I am less swelled, so we went to the beach with the Zone Leaders and the Sisters in our zone, and their District Leader. Had lunch there and had a way good time! Super fun day! Now I am here.
That was my week! I didn´t get to work a lot, but man did I learn a lot this week! I am so happy that I was able to help out my companion this week and to learn more about the beauty of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and all the blessings he has given me! I did have lots of time to think this week as well, which isn´t always a good thing for me, but with lots of prayer, the Lord is keeping me on the right path. I am happy. Things are happening in my life. I am changing. It´s weird. I think differently, I see things with a different view than what I did before. I see changes happening in my life, but at the same time, I still see the same me. Just a better me. The Lord loves me. He loves all of us. I feel his love every day and I just love sharing it. Having Him in my life is a true blessing. And to know of this gospel, the true gospel on the earth, is amazing. I will stay firm in this foundation until the day I die. I hope all of you have a good week! I challenge you all to pray every morning and every night this week, to really feel the love of your heavenly father! I love you all, and I continually pray for you!
Con mucho amor,
Élder Weiss
Extra email sent to his mom:
Wow sounds like a very full week! My week has been good! Don´t be worried about me, the gangs have settled down now. There are less fightings and I haven´t been hearing too many gunshots lately. There was a fight on our street again, but it was short and no one died. They were just shooting in the air to freak each other out. Still dangerous. But we are okay. The President is aware and has asked us to be careful. If it gets to out of hand, we will be going in earlier like at 7 or 8. But for now we are fine!
I am glad the week was good, sounds like you had a lot of fun! The fourth of July here was eh... there were fireworks, but I thought they were gunshots and freaked. Turned out they were tiny fireworks on our street, but I am a different person now. I think differently. Fireworks scare me. The noise is like a gun, and I have seen way to many people with guns in this country. We didn´t do anything to celebrate sadly. I am the only American in my house, so to the others, they just were like eh.... although I did make some delicious banana bread (AMERICAN) with the help of Elder Peña, so you could count that. Hahah
This week was good. I will explain a little more in the big email, but I have no complaints. I still love my companion. It´s nice to be with someone like Elder Quiñónez. He is calm and willing to learn, and I love that. He has less time in the mission, so he is always asking me to teach him new things. Which is strange, because I would think he´d know more, showing that he SPEAKS THE LANGUAGE. But guess not! Hahah but ya the week was good.
Thank you for the pictures! The other elders didn´t believe I was a wolf for a part of my life. Hahah. So ya. Oh and I hope you continue to feel better. I hurt real bad but it is the side effects of Chinconguya. In my hands especially. They have been swelling up and I can´t close them. Hurts, but you live with it, right? haha. And tell Sydney awesome job on making the competition team! That will be so cool!!!
Mom's note: I was able to email "chat" with Parker for a while which was sweet! We talked about getting medical care but it's 6 hours away and he said the president is aware they're sick and told them what medicine to take. His feet and hands have been swollen. Hopefully that will help. The "wolf" comment came about because he wanted me to send pictures of him as the mascot at his high school. We talked more but nothing worth sharing with the world. :) Thanks for keeping him in your prayers!
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| Elder Weiss named him "Loopy" for Cantoloopy |
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| His 4th of July Banana Bread |
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| "Hello bird, have you heard about the Mormons?" |
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| CRAB! |
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| Elder Quinonez and Elder Weiss |
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| Wish we could surf. Elder Pena, a surfer & Parker |
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| Hahahaha Wipeout! A native surfing. |
