"Sol" Searching: Monday, November 10, 2014

Well, to those who don't like my emails, it's that time again.... to those who like my emails, IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN!!!!!!

This week has been amazing!!! On Tuesday, I was able to meet my new companion, and my "son", Elder Millward! We had a big meeting and it was super awesome. Elder Millward is just awesome! He is from Grantsville, Utah, and he has such a big heart and is so loving and giving, and he is just a great guy. I'm super excited to be able to work with him, show him the ropes a little, and teach some spanish.

Our week has been real busy. We've been hitting up a lot of new people that we have been contacting. We contact everywhere we go. You know how I am, I love to talk, so everywhere we go I am talking to someone. Like for example, we were pulling out some copies of photos in a photo store, and I just started talking to the workers. We were laughing a lot and I asked if they wanted to hear our message. The guy didn't live in our area, but the girl did. So I asked if we could stop by, and just yesterday, we were able to find her and contact her. What went from a woman I talked to as she was making copies of my photos, she is now a new investigator, and a strong one too! We have already asked her if she finds out what we teach is true, if she will be baptized, and she said
" OF COURSE!" We see big potential in her, and we see it in like 6 other people we found this week, including a couple of people that randomly had shown up to the church. The Lord prepares these people in all sorts of marvelous ways.

Yeni and Nicolas, our star investigators are getting their papers together for their marriage. They both shared their testimonies this week with us that they know the church is true and that they are willing to make sacrifices to follow God. They really strengthened my testimony. They are really poor, and they have an autistic kid that they really can't control, yet regardless, they always walk to church, which takes them about 30 minutes, and they sit in and soak up as much as they can, even with two kids. They do everything they can to follow the Savior. That to me is faith. I am so honored to see that, and to be a part of that.

A cool story this week: We watched another child of God be baptized this week! His name is Wellington! Elder Catmull and Elder Mortensen were teaching him! He got baptized at 12 on Saturday. Why so early? Because the ward was leaving to go to the temple at 2 that day! So we did it so everyone could come! Then after the baptism (pictures to come of that), the bishop called us upstairs to his office, and said to us that he had called our Mission President, and the President had granted us, as missionaries, to go to the temple with the ward. I was stunned! And I think I almost tinkled myself! I got to go to the temple!!! So we all hopped in a big bus that they had, but there was no room inside for me, so I got to do something awesome, and 100% Dominican. I got to hang out the door the whole way to the temple!! (Pictures to come of that too!) It was awesome! And when we got to the temple, we didn't do a session, we went and did baptisms and confirmations, so I was finally able to see the baptismal font of this temple! It was BEAUTIFUL. Stunning, and I never wanted to leave. However, missionaries are not allowed to do baptisms, so instead, I got to do confirmations... but when I say do, I mean the temple workers made me do the actually confirmation, as if I was a temple worker, and it was all in Spanish. So I was able to confirm over 100 people in the spirit world that day as a member, and I gave them, by the power of the priesthood, the Holy Ghost. It was a neat and forever amazing experience I will never forget. What a special testimony to me. I love the temple. However, funny part to the story, as we got out of the temple, our bus, and all the members, had left. So us four missionaries were stranded. But we were able to go to the CCM (MTC) and say hi to all of our old teachers, and our MTC President! That was amazing and something I wanted to do for a long time! They were all so shocked to hear I could speak Spanish, and how good it was! After visiting for a bit, we went to McDonald's to eat, then took the subway, and made it home. Amazing way to end an amazing week, and I think it was an amazing way to start a mission for my new companion. I hope he loves the mission, because it's the best two years ever!!!! Although his Spanish isn't great, I can feel his true love for the gospel, and his testimony is such a powerful thing, even in broken Spanish. His Spanish is constantly getting better. It's just neat to see his whole process, and he is teaching me as well.

I would like to give some quotes, that I call the Elder Weiss quotes, or just things I say:

"Everything can be a challenge, but it will never become impossible."

"I have only one focus, and that is to make sure that everyone can feel the happiness that the gospel can bring, the exact same way that I feel it."

"Sister, by any chance, is there anything other than rice and beans that we can eat?" hahahaha

"Don't let anyone change you, unless that person is God."

"We must make the choice today to be able to be better tomorrow."

"Scriptures are just like food, you indulge some days, and other days, you aren't that hungry. But either way, you must eat, and you will end up feeling satisfied."

that is all I got... sorry if they suck. I will try harder next time. Haha

I love training! It is super fun and we are doing hard work! Prepare yourselves for a week of tons of photos! haha Love you all! I pray for you always. :)

Con amor,

Elder Weiss

Mother's Note: I told Parker that we have a picture of him on the fridge and we have started adding quote bubbles to his picture of things he's said. So I asked him to give me some more quotes that we can add each week and that's why he gave these quotes to us. :)