last letter

Dear Family,

Thank you for the letters, we had a good week. I hope you have fun in Texas mom. On Tuesday and Wednesday we had normal days, on Saturday and Sunday there was district conference and President Carmack came it was really cool. 

On Thursday we had our district meeting and at the end of the meeting we sang ''God be with you till we meet again'', while I was singing I could not help but think of all the missionaries I have seen leave and the many great examples I've seen in my mission. I'm sad I will have to say goodbye to many great missionaries in the zone. Today I talked with Elder Rasmusson and Elder Rivera and I had a really good talk with them, there both doing great. 

Today for P-day I finally got to watch meet the Mormons, I felt strange watching the missionary leave his home at the end.

My plans for this week are 

Monday at night I'm leaving to the city and I will get there tomorrow morning.

Tuesday go with Elder Kipp to visit my second area and have dinner with a family.

Wednesday eat with the President and have my final interview and go to the temple.

Thursday ?

Well I don't know if you have read this scripture but I think it's a funny way to end the mission.

2 John 12 

Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.

Thank you so much

I love you

Elder Weston

back to Puerto Armuelles

Thats awesome that it snowed in April, I hope you have fun in Texas Mom. I don't know if you got my flight plans, I will send them to you right now but I'm leaving a week from Thursday and I'll get to Salt Lake at about 7:25 PM. 

So this week has been really interesting, on Tuesday and Wednesday I was in Puerto Armuelles, but on Friday two Elders had to leave the zone. And to help there companions I went to Puerto Armuelles again and my companion stayed with another Elder who was in our same branch. Basically I will be working here until the end of the change. I'm with Elder Cintigo from El Salvador he's a really great missionary.

 

The power went out on Saturday but I have a funny story, we got to the house and the power was out and there was hardly any light, as we were planning the power came back on, so we were happy. Then we ended with a prayer and I thanked God for the light and right after I said that, the lights went out again. Not even one second after I said it they went out, because we were still praying I prayed that the power would come back on.

The branch is really small here, and on Sunday the 4 missionaries in the branch gave talks. We basically all gave talks about missionary work and I used the example of Abinadi and how one person can really make a difference. Abinadi went to teach the people of King Noah, Alma listened and Alma baptized 204 people, Alma also taught Almulek and they established the Church in many cities with the Nephites and the Lemanites, everybody was blessed because Abinadi when out to teach, maybe we won't see all of our work, but we can make a difference. 

These last few days we have been able to talk to a lot of people and it has been really cool.

I love you

Elder Weston 

coldest part of Panama

Dear Family,

Thank you for your letters, it sounds like you guys had a good fast Sunday, I going to download all the talks from General Conference to listen to them again. 

Having President Obama here was a pretty big deal, everybody was telling me that your President is here in Panama, and on the news it was explaining all the security features his car and plane have.

This week we went on divisions and I went to Volcan (Volcano) it's the coldest part of Panama. It was really cool going up there because it felt like fall for a minute, which was weird because I haven't felt a season change for about 2 years. In this area there are 2 great missionaries they were both assistants and they help the missionaries out in this part of panama. At night I used a jacket it was really strange it's not like being in Panama.

In the Book of Mormon I read in Alma 24 about the Anti Nephi Lehies it's amazing to read about how much faith they had in verse 21 it says, instead of fighting they just got on there knees and started to pray, and many died but when the Laminates saw what they did they were so moved that they joined the church. Before doing anything they prayed to God, they were not scared. I think this is one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon. 

Also today, I was a little frustrated so I started to listen to the old General Conferences and after a little bit I really felt the Spirit and I felt a lot better. I'm really grateful for living Prophets and Apostles. After listening I felt more patience and more at peace.

I love you all a lot,

Elder Weston

General Conf

Dear Family,

Thank you for the letters, it was a great week. I loved general conference. I thought it was interesting the many talks were about religious freedom because here in Panama thats not a big issue, but it sounds like it's a big issue in the states. I really enjoyed a lot of the talks, I liked the talk about the indian who said I can teach how to dance, but you need to hear the music. I liked that talk a lot because we can go to church and do everything, but we to ''hear the music'' or enjoy the gospel and love it. I  also liked the talk by Uchtdorf about grace. When the Spanish people spoke we changed rooms and watched it in Spanish. The jokes are a lot easier to understand in the native language. That joke by Elder Uchtdorf was pretty great when he stated to speak in German.

The conference also spoke a lot about the family, and having an eternal persecutive. I'm  really excited to listen and read the talks again.

On Wednesday we had the leadership meeting and I got to talk with Elder Rasmusson again which was really cool.  My companion and I are doing well, he's from San Miguelito and he has 11 months in the mission. 

We had a few investigators come to the conference on Sunday, and a few less actives also.
That was cool to hear 3 more temples to be announced, and the Payson Temple will soon have it's open house. 

It's fun watching General Conference with other missionaries because everybody is so into it. 

Well I hope you all are doing well. 

I love you all
Elder Weston

Interview with the President

Dear Family,

Thank you for the letters this week, this week was great. 

I had an interview with President and during the interview he asked me '' so what do you have planned when you get back home'', and I was like ''I plan on going to school but I don't know where, I was going to talk with my parents about it'', and he told me '' would you like to call them right now?''..... Sorry I didn't call you ha ha but I thought writing you guys would help me stay focused. But I would like to go to Utah State in the fall.  I looked on the web page and it says that the deadline to apply is the 1st of April, so if you can could you apply for me? I still have quite a bit a money in my bank, and I think I could get a scholarship there, so if you could apply that would great. 

So on Tuesday, and Wednesday I was on Divisions with a really fun Elder, He and I had two great days. On Thursday we had the interview with President. The zone started being interviewed at about 4:00pm and it ended at 10:00 pm, I was the last person to get interviewed, I started at about 9:30pm.  While the others were getting interviewed I went with one of the assistants to see how clean the houses were. Our house was pretty dirty so I ended up cleaning it the next morning. 

The President in his interview talked about small goals, goals every hour to help me stay focused and motivated. I talked about the zone, how I was really impressed with the missionaries we have right now, and how many things I've changed. I got my temple recommend renewed (only lasts 3 months he said).

I'm super excited for General Conference this week, I was also on divisions on Saturday and the Elder I was with was also really excited so at about 8:00pm we snuck into the chapel, general young women's conference, to see the last talk by Elder Eyring just to get a little taste of how great the conference will be.   I just want to say,  I'm doing good and I'm staying focused. 

I love you guys,

Elder Weston

It's official, April 30th

Dear Family,

Thank you for the letters, this week I talked with the secretaries about when I was leaving, it was really tough to decide I tried praying a lot, but I saw my entire group was leaving on April 30th and I felt like it was ok to leave on that date. 

I stayed in the same area, but my companion had changes he went to Bocas del Toro. My new companion is named Elder Rodriguez he is from Panama, it's really weird because he's the only Elder in the mission from Panama serving in Panama. We are doing good. 

So when there are changes sometimes they need to send the new missionaries from Panama to Chiriqui and they need to take the bus alone to the area... Well the assistants put brand new missionaries on the bus at about 7:00 pm Tuesday and the ride takes about 8 hours. We got to the bus stop at about 3:00 am to wait for the new missionaries  so they would know were to get off. So we waited for about an hour and they didn't get here, so another Elder and I took a bus to the border (Costa Rica) the last bus stop, to see if they didn't get off there (a 45 minute ride) and they were not there, so we took another bus to the city of David (an hour and a half ride) and we found them there at about 6:30. They had been waiting there for about 3 hours and were really tired. We learned the missionaries who helped them did not put them on the right bus. We then finally got back to the area about about 7:30, a lot of traveling for one day. It was a crazy morning and the rest of the day we worked. 

This week we had a lot of investigators in the Church, so that was really great to see them all there.

This week we are going to have interviews with the President, I'm really excited because I haven't had an interview with him since August, or September. 

That's great that Michael got his patriarchal blessing, I continue to read mine, it helps me realize what kind of person God wants me to become.

I'm really grateful for the Book of Mormon, I am more and more impressed by the examples in that book. Just reading has really helped me feel peace. I always try to read a least one chapter every night even if I have studied in the morning, it's always a great way to end the day.

I love you all so much,

Elder Weston

cerro punta

Dear Family,

Thank you for your letters and the pictures you sent me. I saw the little video of Jenny's baby, he looks cute, and Karen and James had another baby! Tell grandpa, happy birthday for me and happy anniversary Mom and Dad. It's strange seeing seeing Sarah going on dates. Tell Sarah she looked pretty, and Michael to, ha ha ha. Also I got the package last week we ate all the Swedish Fish in like 2 days thanks for sending that to me. I asked president in my letter today when I'm leaving if it's in the end of April or the 10th of Jun, I will see if he answers me. Changes are on Wednesday we will find out if I'm staying or going tomorrow, I bet I will stay.

Today we went to a very beautiful place called cerro punta I will sent you pictures.

This week was good on Wednesday I went on Divisions with an Elder from Colombia is said his family used to live in Tulua and now lives in Medillin It was really great. and the next day the sister missionaries had a baptism and I got to baptize there convert..

On Saturday we were in a very far part of our area and we were walking to a less active when we found some members from Panama city visiting there family who lived in this tiny town, it was lucky they found us because we only have walked around there 1 other time in my 4 months and they asked us if we had oil because their mom was sick the the Hospital, we ended up going to the hospital with them and gave a blessing. The funny thing was we had plans of going to the hospital latter that day to visit a member who had did something to her foot. So we left the hospital and returned latter that Day with the son of the member who was there,and gave her a blessing. Then we found out that there was another Elderly member who was in another room and we gave him a blessing also. So we ended up giving 3 blessings in the hospital that day.

Something I learned this week was a little about what it says in Ether 12:6 the testimony comes after the Trial of our faith. I know as missionaries we want everything to move faster, but all things require trials. I that about Nephi who left is home, was walking in the wilderness and also had family problems. I thought about Alma who had to teach in secret and didn't have a home and for a time was a prisoner. I learned that no Prophet had it easy but it says in Matthew I believe in chapter 11 that we can take the yoke of Christ and everything will be easier. Christ calls the workers and he tells them they will find rest. This rest is not physical rest but spiritual rest, that we may fill good and little my little God will bless us. I fill sometimes my life has been really east, I haven't had to suffer a lot like those prophets but I know many people have made sacrifices for me, my family and ancestors. I really grateful for the many blessings I've received in my live.

I love you guys

Thank you
Elder Weston