Hola mis amigos!! ¿Cómo están? It was great to hear from you guys last week! Sounds like everything is going great with you all! Well another week has gone by for me, only 102 left to go haha! I now have one more class online and then I have graduated from the at home MTC and will be headed over to the CCM on Tuesday! I will finally get to meet my district and my companion in person! I have looked forward to this for a long time now!! Spanish will also hopefully be easier, since I won't be learning it on a computer anymore! I will finally be able to be engaged and in person! Only a few more days and I will be in Mexico!!
This last week was just the same routine as always! Waking up, getting ready, getting a little bit of a personal study, then classes all day long. Of course I had to get some golf time in between haha, I'll put more pictures of that in this email. I have gotten so good at it! Just ask my dad, you all know my dad golfs and I SMOKED him playing some putt-putt on the green! It's okay I can embarrass him a little, I know he can handle it! But other than playing putt-putt all I do is study, study, study! I am really hoping to get this language down, I know the gift of tongues is real and it will help me so much! But in order to receive it I have to show the Lord that I am willing to work for it and stay worthy of it! I know it is real because I have already seen it happen to me at times. Sometimes I will just say things in Spanish without even realizing it! Just ask my mom how much I annoy her because I just speak in Spanish to her! I have seen it in class for example, we do a lot of role plays to help us with the language. This one time I did a role play with one of my teachers, Hermano Rios who is a great guy and I can't wait to meet him at the CCM. Anyways in the role play he was a taxi driver in Argentina, taking me to the mission home and I had to have a conversation with him for 7 MINUTES!! It was truly incredible because I was able to say things to him that I wouldn't even have known to say if it wasn't for the gift of tongues! After the 7 minutes was up I said, "Alright Hermano Rios, tell me how bad I did!" He told me, "Elder Weese, you strengthened my testimony of the gift of tongues, thank you." When he told me that I couldn't help but laugh and cry all at once. I had only been at the at home mtc for a week and a half at that point, and was able to communicate with him and understand what he was telling me. Heavenly help is real!
On top of that amazing experience, I had many more to go with it! We have devotionals every Tuesday that we watch as a district. This last one had to be my favorite one, and it was from Elder Gong and his wife. I had a few quotes that I wrote down from that devotional. One from Elder Gong was, "You can be imperfect, and still have faith." I needed to hear that quote really badly, you all know how hard I am on myself and how I hold this bar of perfection above my head. Which is impossible to reach! Another quote from that was, "You don't need to tear out the whole plant to see if the roots are still growing." How many of you at times worry that you are not progressing because you may not feel like you are? I will raise my hand to that question! Always remember this when you are struggling with that, the Lord loves efforts. All he asks you to do is try. If you are trying, you are progressing, I promise! Another quote from Elder Gong was, "Stop self-inducing defeating behaviors." I have talked about this topic a little bit in my last email, we need to be kind to ourselves! Love yourself! Look in the mirror and see yourself the way that God sees you. I can tell you how He sees you, He sees one of His children in whom He is well pleased. He sees high potential. He sees somebody who He loves unconditionally and wants the best things in life to happen to them. I promise He sees that in every single one of you! Another thing I really loved in the devotional was the scripture that Gong quoted and it is 1 Samuel 16:7 and it reads, "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature....... for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." I am here to tell you all that the Lord knows the intentions of your hearts. He truly knows who you are. How comforting of a scripture is that? We all have our struggles, we all are not perfect. Don't ever think that because you are not perfect, that the Lord only views you in the way that you sin. He knows you are trying, He knows that you worry about things, and He will always be there for help. I know that because I have seen Him help me get through some very hard things.
I want to tell you about one more experience that I had. In one of our classes we watched a video about missions being hard. Elder Holland was the one who was talking and he said this right at the beginning. "Missions are hard, because Salvation is not cheap." That quote doesn't only just apply to missions, it applies to life. Life is hard because Salvation is not cheap. Throughout the video it showed the Savior atoning for us. Holland went on to say how when we go through hard times, "isn't it amazing to know that we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the Savior?" When he go through hard times, think of it that way. Think of how our Savior knows EXACTLY how you feel! He atoned for us because He wanted to help us get through those hard times, and to find peace through Him and His Atonement.
I love you guys! I love the support you have all shown me! It has truly helped me throughout this experience. When you are all going through trials, and when it gets hard to be a member of the church, or whatever it may be. Just remember this from me, IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT! Have a wonderful week y'all! I will talk to you all soon!
Love, Elder Weese
PICTURES
1.) This missionary schedule is EXHAUSTING
2.) Putt-putt and awayyyyyy
3.) My cute girlfriend and her sweet soul! :)
4.) Congrats to my big brother Parker, and Courtney but I don't have a picture with her hehe
5.) Couple of Rhinestoned Cowboys
6.) Mi distrito minus Elder Mordy, sorry man I still love ya!
7.) Get the study in kids!
8.) Mi compañero and his chicken!
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