Hey everyone! How is everyone doing and how is life? :)
This week has been really interesting... about a week and a half ago my leg started hurting a little big and started swelling up a little as well.. at first I just assumed it was because I had rolled my ankle and not really noticed it or something... But then after awhile I showed my comp and he didn't know what was going on with it and I showed the old couple here and they insisted we go to the doctor because it kept getting bigger and redder. So I went to the doctor yesterday and they don't know yet what is wrong. they made me get an x ray and have a blood test and now we are just waiting for the results to see what is wrong. Lol kind of interesting. :) So we will see..
Something else really interesting happened this week too... I don't know if I have explained this yet but when we have lessons we almost always meet our investigators at the church and we have our lessons there so we are usually at the church all day long with lessons. Well this past week as we were waiting for a lesson to come to the church someone came into the church and just sat down... it was wearing a big coat, a dress, and the shoes of a man... but it just sat there and put its head down so we couldn't see whether it was a man or a woman. We tried to talk to it but it didn't speak english or Russian and was talking in Kazak. Luckily we had an investigator there who speaks Kazak and he tried to figure out a few things. We figured out that it was a guy who had traveled from west Kazakhstan to Almaty to try and find work and he came here and lost everything. He came in the church to rest for thirty minutes. He didn't say why he was wearing a dress but my and I ran back to our apt. to try and get a few things like pants and socks for him but when we came back he was gone. So I really don't know what happened with him.. it was just a crazy experience though!
Our investigators are doing great :) This past sunday we committed one investigator to baptism! It was great and he is planning on being baptized on march 6th! I would write his name but honestly I don't know how in english.. lol but and then Nona is still progressing.. she refused to pray about the book of mormon to see if our church is true until she has read the whole thing but she reads 16 chapters a week so she is cruising and is already halfway through alma! Other than that we just have a lot of investigators whom we teach english and the piano lol.
The work is going great and the language is coming along slowly but surely lol I am trying to make sure I still grow spiritually as well as in the language and not just focus on one or the other and I think that will help me to be a more effective missionary! I miss and love you all! Remember who you are!
ELDER WEIHING
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday February 10,2010
Hey family! How is everything going??!! Thank you for all of the love and support!
This week has bee very tough and yet a great week! It started out really tough because I felt really sick. I had a pretty bad headache for a few days in a row, I couldn't eat much because my throat was killing me, and I was constantly nauscis lol I have no idea how to spell that.. it was tough to keep working while I felt like that! It was really hard to focus on Investigators and their needs instead worrying about when I was going to throw up next or something like that. It was also though because I could tell Elder Nutt was getting a bit frustrated with me being sick.. I can understand why, it would be annoying dealing with a sick companion on our busiest days of the week. Overall he was very patient with me though so that helped me out a lot! But now I am finally getting a lot better and feeling better everyday! We all know how it feels to get over a sickness.. you feel like you are on top of the world! So I feel really good right now and am just trying to keep that energy and joy for as long as possible!
This past week has been one of the coldest weeks since I have been here! I can only remember the temperature for one day and it was 0 degrees F! But I think there have been a couple colder days than that!
So I want to tell about something that I think is really funny here.. the taxi system! They have just regular taxis or you can just go out to the side of the road a wave down a car and offer to pay them money. When we need to take a taxi we always do it this way. At first I was really hesitant because I didn't want to get killed and it seemed really weird, but now when we do it everything seems natural and fine. I just thought you might think that was interesting.
Well I ate one really weird thing here this past week and it is the dreaded food among missionaries! It is call halladets... I don't know how to spell it in English. It is so nasty! Basically what it is is all the fat and oil from meet mixed with gelatin and cooled down, they put a little meat and few vegetable in it and then they eat it. Basically it is a jello full of meet and fat.. it is horrible! But when you eat at someones house here it is very rude if you don't try everything on the table so I have to try it.
Haha well the language is still coming along everyday. I still cannot say that I understand everything or that I even understand most of what is said. But I can say that I am progressing! :)
We have been working really hard on switching over our English investigators to Gospel investigators. It has actually been going a lot better than I thought it would! It is amazing how the Spirit leads our conversations and lessons with our investigators! There is one English Investigator in particular, his name is Farhat, he has no religion but has a very strong relationship with his family. So this past week we decided to share with his the movie Together Forever in English and help him understand it... it was amazing! After they movie I just felt so strong to testify how strongly I feel for my own family and it led our discussion to the Plan of Salvation.. Now when he comes for English practice he always has questions about our religion and is interested in learning more. It is amazing the way the Spirit works and when it works especially in the times you least expect it.. I love this work that I am apart of and I only hope that I can do my part to make my Father in Heaven proud. I hope I can represent him in a way that he would have me represent him. I hope I can be sensitive to all the feelings and promptings that I get and can act on them with boldness! I am grateful for this gospel and I love you all very much! I miss you of course but I also love where I am! thank you for all that you do once again and I pray that you will be able to feel how much love I and our Father in Heaven has for you!
ELDER WEIHING
This week has bee very tough and yet a great week! It started out really tough because I felt really sick. I had a pretty bad headache for a few days in a row, I couldn't eat much because my throat was killing me, and I was constantly nauscis lol I have no idea how to spell that.. it was tough to keep working while I felt like that! It was really hard to focus on Investigators and their needs instead worrying about when I was going to throw up next or something like that. It was also though because I could tell Elder Nutt was getting a bit frustrated with me being sick.. I can understand why, it would be annoying dealing with a sick companion on our busiest days of the week. Overall he was very patient with me though so that helped me out a lot! But now I am finally getting a lot better and feeling better everyday! We all know how it feels to get over a sickness.. you feel like you are on top of the world! So I feel really good right now and am just trying to keep that energy and joy for as long as possible!
This past week has been one of the coldest weeks since I have been here! I can only remember the temperature for one day and it was 0 degrees F! But I think there have been a couple colder days than that!
So I want to tell about something that I think is really funny here.. the taxi system! They have just regular taxis or you can just go out to the side of the road a wave down a car and offer to pay them money. When we need to take a taxi we always do it this way. At first I was really hesitant because I didn't want to get killed and it seemed really weird, but now when we do it everything seems natural and fine. I just thought you might think that was interesting.
Well I ate one really weird thing here this past week and it is the dreaded food among missionaries! It is call halladets... I don't know how to spell it in English. It is so nasty! Basically what it is is all the fat and oil from meet mixed with gelatin and cooled down, they put a little meat and few vegetable in it and then they eat it. Basically it is a jello full of meet and fat.. it is horrible! But when you eat at someones house here it is very rude if you don't try everything on the table so I have to try it.
Haha well the language is still coming along everyday. I still cannot say that I understand everything or that I even understand most of what is said. But I can say that I am progressing! :)
We have been working really hard on switching over our English investigators to Gospel investigators. It has actually been going a lot better than I thought it would! It is amazing how the Spirit leads our conversations and lessons with our investigators! There is one English Investigator in particular, his name is Farhat, he has no religion but has a very strong relationship with his family. So this past week we decided to share with his the movie Together Forever in English and help him understand it... it was amazing! After they movie I just felt so strong to testify how strongly I feel for my own family and it led our discussion to the Plan of Salvation.. Now when he comes for English practice he always has questions about our religion and is interested in learning more. It is amazing the way the Spirit works and when it works especially in the times you least expect it.. I love this work that I am apart of and I only hope that I can do my part to make my Father in Heaven proud. I hope I can represent him in a way that he would have me represent him. I hope I can be sensitive to all the feelings and promptings that I get and can act on them with boldness! I am grateful for this gospel and I love you all very much! I miss you of course but I also love where I am! thank you for all that you do once again and I pray that you will be able to feel how much love I and our Father in Heaven has for you!
ELDER WEIHING
Friday, February 5, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Well everyone sounds like they are doing great! Life sounds like it is just crazy back in the good old USA! I really have been blessed with family and friends that I truly feel I don't deserve! You all truly inspire me and give me great advice that makes every week so much easier and better! Thank you so much for all of the love and support and all of your letters! Sorry for how long it takes me to reply! I love you all and am grateful for all that you have done for me!
This past week we had Zone Conference. First one in the field! It was great! President Wooley and his wife came down and we also had some baptisms while they were here.. :( unfortunately none of them were Elder Nutt and I's investigators. For Zone Conference we learned a lot about Islam because that is the majority of the people that we are teaching.. it was so interesting! It really is crazy how similar our religions are in many ways... it gave me a new perspective on how I can teach our Muslim investigators or at least get them to open up and talk to us a little bit more.
The Baptisms were great! Basically for baptisms here we just bring in a huge tub in the Church and fill it with water. It was very interesting and new for me! But, it was very spiritual and uplifting! It is amazing to me the things that people give up to become members of the Church.. many have been shunned by their families because of their new found belief. They have such trust in God and never deny the feelings and promptings that they get to be baptized despite of the judgement from family and friends... It has been a very humbling experience for me to see that. It makes me think about what I have given up or sacrificed.. I feel so blessed to have grown up under the covenant and I have taken for granted such things that I now realize are the most important in life. I have been blessed with amazing family, friends, the opportunity to live in a free country, the privilege to grow up in the one and only true church on the Earth, and the greatest opportunity to give up two years of my life to serve my Father in Heaven and give every second I have to Him. I can never give enough thanks for what I have been given...
Well the big news of the week! I finally received my permission to preach! It only took about five weeks into my mission but I can finally preach the gospel! This has actually added a lot more obstacles in the missionary work.. before I just had to worry about talking to the people which the spirit tells me to talk to, now I have to be able to recognize what the Spirit wants me to say to people and preach to them! I am working really hard to do this!
My companion Elder Nutt and I are doing great. We are finally getting used to how we work together and we have been trying to get more organized in our missionary work to become more effective with our time and more persistent with accomplishing our goals.
At the moment we only have one investigator who is really progressing and that is Nona. She is still reading the Book of Mormon and I think next week is when she plans on praying about it to see whether it is true! I am so excited for this because I know that she is going to receive and answer! she has worked so hard and I think just wants to do everything the right way.. she is doing great!
We have ton of investigator for English and piano and we are working really hard to slowly get them involved in the gospel. This week we had a lot of success with two English Investigators in the gospel and I think that they will be interested to start taking gospel lessons with us as well.. I hope that I can to my part to keep them interested!
Well that is really most of what has happened during this past week! once again thank you for the love and support! I am so lucky to have such amazing family and Friends! I love you!
Love,
Elder Weihing
Well everyone sounds like they are doing great! Life sounds like it is just crazy back in the good old USA! I really have been blessed with family and friends that I truly feel I don't deserve! You all truly inspire me and give me great advice that makes every week so much easier and better! Thank you so much for all of the love and support and all of your letters! Sorry for how long it takes me to reply! I love you all and am grateful for all that you have done for me!
This past week we had Zone Conference. First one in the field! It was great! President Wooley and his wife came down and we also had some baptisms while they were here.. :( unfortunately none of them were Elder Nutt and I's investigators. For Zone Conference we learned a lot about Islam because that is the majority of the people that we are teaching.. it was so interesting! It really is crazy how similar our religions are in many ways... it gave me a new perspective on how I can teach our Muslim investigators or at least get them to open up and talk to us a little bit more.
The Baptisms were great! Basically for baptisms here we just bring in a huge tub in the Church and fill it with water. It was very interesting and new for me! But, it was very spiritual and uplifting! It is amazing to me the things that people give up to become members of the Church.. many have been shunned by their families because of their new found belief. They have such trust in God and never deny the feelings and promptings that they get to be baptized despite of the judgement from family and friends... It has been a very humbling experience for me to see that. It makes me think about what I have given up or sacrificed.. I feel so blessed to have grown up under the covenant and I have taken for granted such things that I now realize are the most important in life. I have been blessed with amazing family, friends, the opportunity to live in a free country, the privilege to grow up in the one and only true church on the Earth, and the greatest opportunity to give up two years of my life to serve my Father in Heaven and give every second I have to Him. I can never give enough thanks for what I have been given...
Well the big news of the week! I finally received my permission to preach! It only took about five weeks into my mission but I can finally preach the gospel! This has actually added a lot more obstacles in the missionary work.. before I just had to worry about talking to the people which the spirit tells me to talk to, now I have to be able to recognize what the Spirit wants me to say to people and preach to them! I am working really hard to do this!
My companion Elder Nutt and I are doing great. We are finally getting used to how we work together and we have been trying to get more organized in our missionary work to become more effective with our time and more persistent with accomplishing our goals.
At the moment we only have one investigator who is really progressing and that is Nona. She is still reading the Book of Mormon and I think next week is when she plans on praying about it to see whether it is true! I am so excited for this because I know that she is going to receive and answer! she has worked so hard and I think just wants to do everything the right way.. she is doing great!
We have ton of investigator for English and piano and we are working really hard to slowly get them involved in the gospel. This week we had a lot of success with two English Investigators in the gospel and I think that they will be interested to start taking gospel lessons with us as well.. I hope that I can to my part to keep them interested!
Well that is really most of what has happened during this past week! once again thank you for the love and support! I am so lucky to have such amazing family and Friends! I love you!
Love,
Elder Weihing
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