March letters " I’m going to keep working hard and making everyday count until the end"

March 30,  2015

Hey what’s up guys!

Glad to here you guys had a good enjoyable relaxing week! It sounds like you have some fun plans for Easter weekend. My week has been pretty normal; the cold weather has continued to stay around a little bit. It looks like this will finally be the week that we can say good bye to the cold weather because everyday looks like it will be in the 60s.

So we are currently down to one investigator who is doing really well. The finding efforts have been tough for our whole zone for the last couple months. We have to potential investigators who look very promising and want to get taught, we just have to touch base with them and meet up with them.

Sunday was a good church service and Sunday night we had the big inter-faith Easter program at our church. More people showed up to it than at stake conference, it was pretty awesome. Most of the program however we were ushers and security detail ha-ha so I didn’t get to see much of the program which was fine.

I’m going on exchanges tomorrow with my buddy elder J from Park City so that should be fun. We have a lot of service set up for this week (yard work) for members so we will be doing a lot of that. This is the last full week of the Transfer and I’m pretty sure I’m getting transferred and I think it will be nice for some new scenery and probably my last area. My guess is on the Columbia zone were the mission home is and that area because I haven’t been to that area yet but who knows.

Anyways, Conference should be awesome; all the men are going to a buffet before Priesthood session on Saturday so that should be fun. This will be my last one on my mission and in the fall me and dad can go hit up Crown burger or something before we go together :) I hope you guys have a fun relaxing Easter weekend. I’m sure mine will be nice as well; we are going to my ward mission leader’s house for dinner that day. Anyways I love you guys! Talk to you soon! 

Love Wes

March 23, 2015

Hey guys!

Wow not much to say about this last week ha-ha! I don’t know how it is in Utah but a lot of people are sick around here! It must be the last but before spring and summer hits.

We had zone training on Tuesday which was good, I didn’t have to instruct so that was nice to just take it easy ha-ha.

We dropped all of our investigators except R who is getting baptized in April and D and G. So we only have two investigators that we are currently working with but its cool we are going to find some more these next few weeks.

With our new Bishopric we currently have, our ward is tearing it up and getting everything going with missionary work and visiting less actives and everything. Our awesome bishop had us over for dinner and went out stopping by fewer actives with us. And the second counselor brother L who a stud is taking us out for lunch at Cafe Rio on Thursday and driving us around and stopping by a ton of less-actives. So we are staying busy and doing work and going hard in the paint ha-ha.

Anyways that’s pretty much all I got for this week. I look forward to your package or whatever it is. I will probably get transferred in two weeks from Brunswick and move to probably my last area. I’m going to keep working hard and making everyday count until the end. I love you guys! Have a great week!

Love Wes

3/16/15

Hey guys!

Great emails this week, thanks!  Anyways glad to here you guys had a super busy week that was full of fun things. Thanks for the pictures you sent! I loved them all and dang that tie I gave Dad is a good looking tie ha-ha, Go tar heels.

Anyways this week was super good and pact for me too. I had leadership on Friday and I was the second oldest district leader there which was so weird. Everyone is now a lot younger than me. Our ward is tearing it up and inviting all there friends and stuff to church and we are picking up new investigators left and right. R is doing so well and will get baptized in mid April.

Our new bishopric is FANTASTIC and the ward has improved so much since I have been here and is one of the hottest wards in the mission right now. Life is good and everything is going well. We were so stinking busy this week that I can’t believe its Preparation day today.

I did a baptismal interview this week for a girl the sisters are teaching who was baptized on Sunday and that was awesome. Over 75 people came to the baptism. It’s warming up here slowly but surely. I’m hoping we will see some 70 degree temps here this week.

I have been working out pretty dang hard in our apartment complex gym every morning. We wake up at six and work out hard for an hour doing lifting, curling, planks, abs flutters and doing lots of trap and lat work outs as well as running. I have got my curls with 30 pound weights to 25 reps without stopping with each hand. I stopped drinking soda altogether and I haven’t drank any mtn dew or anything for about a month now and I have lost about 2 to 3 pounds off abdominal area which is the hardest thing to lose for everyone on a mission ha-ha but its still a work in Progress.

Anyways everything is going well glad to here you are doing well. Thanks for all you guys do I love you guys. You are all seriously the best. Keep on working hard! Have a great week!

Love Wes

March 9, 2015

Hey family!

I hope everyone is doing well this great week. This week has been a roller coaster of weather here as well. It was cold all week until Thursday and it snowed 7 inches. Friday it got up into the 40's and since then it has been in the high 50s finally! It looks like the good weather is finally here to stay. Normally, Maryland winters don’t last as long as Utah winters and snow in April is not a common occurrence so I'm crossing my fingers that the snow and cold weather are finally over. 

This week we were able to see quiet a few less active members which were good. Three of them came to church on Sunday so that was really good to see. We had a good lesson with D and G and brother M, our ward mission leader came with us and they are still trying to make the commitment to live the Gospel. Our other 3 investigator appointments cancelled because of sickness and the weather. We have all our investigator appointments set up this week and the weather is good so we should be able to get the ball rolling on baptism with a couple of them this week.

The rest of the week was pretty decent. It was stake conference weekend here so we had the adult session Saturday night and Stake Conference on Sunday which was both really good. The stake Presidency here are a bunch of studs and President and Sister Richards both spoke as well and elder Gerard of the Seventy who is a stellar seventy all spoke so they were really good meetings.

Today was fun, we got some good sleep and then we got to play basketball with a lot of missionaries. The other Fredrick zone got permission to come over and play so it made for some games and decent competition.

That’s about all that's going on. I have Leadership on Friday. I hope I get released leadership soon. President has already released a lot of leaders in my group and the group before me. I have been a district leader for almost 9 months now! Crazy! Thanks for the letter you guys sent to me this week and for all your support. I am planning on writing a letter to Grandma and she really wants me to write to M and his kids too so hopefully I can find some time to do that soon. Anyways I love you all very much! Have a great week!

Love Wes

March 2, 2015

Hey family!

I hope you guys are doing well and you guys are staying warm. I don’t know why you guys are worried about me, it makes me nervous when you say your worried about me and I have no idea why ha-ha.

Anyway I am pretty ecstatic right now. We have 2 investigators on date. Both young men and doing excellent. Our bishopric was changed on Sunday and I am so stoked about the new people in the bishopric. They are all very missionary minded and the work here in the Brunswick ward is starting to take off.

Our ward mission leader has been taking us out a lot and has been giving rides places since our cars have been grounded because of the massive amounts of freezing rain we have been having.

My new companions name is elder W.  He came out with me and is from Farmington, Utah.

Anyways our week has been really good even with the terrible weather we have been having it has been super cold and it’s rained and snowed and we have had freezing rain and it’s been insane. Luckily today it was in the 40's so it felt really good and all the snow and ice is melting off.

Wednesday was a little weird day sending my companion home and seeing the sisters who came out with me. But it really wasn't anything too crazy. I'm glad I wasn't going home, I still have a little bit left to do out here until I go home ha-ha. I'm stoked about our investigators, and a lot of less actives we have been working with have been coming to church to, so the ward is really happy with all the good stuff going on :)

Everybody knows I’m a University of Utah fan in this ward, so on Sunday everybody was talking smack about BYU beat Gonzaga because I gave everyone a hard time when Utah smashed on BYU earlier this year ha-ha. Anyways that’s about all that going with me. Anyways I love you guys, I hope everyone is enjoying school and you guys are having fun. When I get home things should be fun for sure. Have a great week!

Love Wes

Feb. 23, 2015 letter...Snow and Shoveling out

Hey whats up family!

It has been an interesting week! it was freezing cold everyday this week except for yesterday which was like 50 (today the high is 20 again). We spent A lot of time walking around and shoveling people. Our cars were grounded 3 or so days this last week. It snowed about a foot of snow here and everything in Maryland pretty much shut down. We shoveled so many people out it was pretty crazy. In total we probably shoveled 30 plus people's houses or cars out. 

We met a lot of cool people including a really cool Brazilian guy who knows a lot about the church and is pretty interested. We were able to get a lot of return appointments from all the service so hopefully they will turn into some new investigators soon. 

Because of the weather T and a part member family we are working with canceled there appointments with us so we did not get to see them. We did see another awesome part member family though that we had a good lesson with. We plan on giving her and T dates for baptism this week. 

As far as Transfers go I am staying in Brunswick and you know elder B is going home. It has been really weird to have a companion I am with going home. 

My new companions name is elder W who I will get on Wednesday at transfers. He came out with me, I don't know too much about him other than I heard he is nice and has a lot of energy haha which is probably something I could use more of haha. 

The three sisters in my ward are getting shot gunned out. Sister Bl who is in my district and the rest of the sisters that came out with me are going home. Elder V in my district and is the zone leader is getting elder J as a companion who is my buddy. You might remember me talking about him. 

So a lot is going home a lot of people are getting transferred but I'm staying put. I really hope this transfer is good, I have a lot of new missionaries to get to know and help and so my plate will be pretty full this next six weeks.  

I am starting to get really sick of this cold weather so I hope march brings some nicer and warmer weather. So that's about all that's going on with me. Sounds like you had a packed week with E's kids and all. 

I didn't realize that E is old enough to be that big and [L] looks a lot older too! I'm glad you guys had fun and were able to spend time with them though. I did send (Aunt) E and her kids a letter a couple of weeks ago but I guess they never got it. 

Anyways I miss you guys...have a great week and stay safe! 

Love Wes

Feb. 17, 2015

Hey family!  

Thank you guys so much, for the valentines package! I got your package, T&T's package grandma P's and J's pacakge and a letter from Grandma D with money in it all on Valentines day so it was awesome. I'm pretty loaded up on candy and stuff now so thank you guys so much for thinking of me! Thanks for all the emails and pictures as well you guys sent me, it sounds like you all had a pretty good Valentines day and I'm glad yours wasn't as cold as mine was haha.

 

Saturday was terrible haha. the overnight low with the wind chill was -31. We had a white out with 60 mile an hour winds and our cars were grounded from 6pm until the end of the night. We walked around in the 60 mile an hour winds and it was about -12 while we were walking around trying to find people to get it with haha. Me and elder B stepped into a doller tree to warm up and we bought each other chips and mountain dew as Valentines day presents hahahaha. It was unreal cold outside though haha. Last night we got 6 inches of snow but its a nice bright day and the snow is starting to melt a little even though its still wayyyy cold outside.

I don't think its going to be warm here anytime soon haha, so enjoy the good weather you guys have. Anyways that's cool you guys guys saw pictures of me at the Fredrick Rescue haha. Some stake rep came in and took a bunch of pictures of us for some news paper article and I guess they ended up on the website.

 

 

Yesterday we got to go the temple and do an endowment session and the temple so that was sick. Although we got the... 1980's... version of the video for some reason haha. We were all a little ticked haha but that's not as important as the point of the session so it was still really good.

After that we went to some all you can eat chinese buffet and it was TERRIBLE and we all felt sick the whole rest of the day afterwords haha. Today we have to do a lot of our stuff because we didnt get much done with us going to the temple. We had some really good investigator lessons though this week with our investigators. The 18 year old kid T we are working with is now on date for the second week in march so that is awesome.

 

Anyways sorry to here Dad lost is basketball game, that sound like the stupidest loss ever... Anyways thanks Dad for the all star weekend info. A member had it on last night and I wanted to watch it really bad haha. Thats cool that J is going on another mission though. Those kids names you met sound familiar but they are not in my ward so there is no way we would really know each other. I definitely know president cooke though so that's funny that you met them. I will ask the Fredrick ward elders if they know who they are. Anyways that girl didn't email me but its cool. If shes in tune with the spirit she will write me, haha just playin. 

Anyways thanks for all you guys do for me I love ya! Oh and PS my comp  has to go home to get surgery so he will be going home next week at transfer meeting, which is really only 2 months earlier than he would have gone home anyways so that probably means I will be staying here in Brunswick for another Transfer until April. Anyways I love you guys, have a great week!

 

Love wes

Feb 9, 2015 Letter

Whats up!

My week was pretty boring but it was good enough. We have had this kid named T who's been coming to church for the last couple of weeks. 

He's 18 years old and he finally agreed to take the missionary lessons, so were teaching him tonight in a members home so it should be good and he already wants to be baptized, so hopefully everything works out and he does end up getting baptized. 

We dropped one person as an investigator this last week, so were hoping to find some more investigators as always haha.  We have a bunch of solid potentials so hopefully they work out; one of them is even a family of five so we will see.

President Richards announced this week that elders and sisters are no longer allowed to ride in the same car together, and me and elder B share a car, slash car pool with two sets of sisters so we were in big trouble.  The zone leaders talked to president and the office and got us a full time car. So we are pretty stoked about that. 

The weather here has been rainy and still pretty chilly but not too bad. 

This week we have zone conference so that's about all that's really going on with this week. 

Anyways tell B I say hi, that is cool he is back and served a full mission and has matured a little. 

Thanks for the sports updates and everything, I hope you guys have a good week and hopefully we can get some of that weather your having  back over here in Maryland. 

I love you guys have a great week.

 

Love wes

February 2, 2015

Hey family!

It sounds like you guys had a pretty packed and crazy week! I couldn’t help but laughing at moms terrible luck this last week. Her day full of cancelled appointments and disappointments sounds like many many days I have had as a missionary ha-ha. I’m sorry you had a bad week I’m sure this week will be a lot better, it sounds like you for sure are trying to accomplish a lot in your days ha-ha.

So Dad do you have to go to Ward councils in the morning? What are the ward councils like back home? Anyways my week was not the greatest either ha-ha. It was funny how you both wished me good health because I have been horribly sick since Friday. I had body aches, headaches, stomach ache, horrible sore throat and cough and I’m pretty sure a sinus infection. My ears wouldn’t pop for like two whole days! Anyways so that was pretty miserable, we had to cancel a bunch of good appointments we had and we didn’t get to do a whole lot especially since elder B had the 24 hour flu on Tuesday and was throwing up ever 40 minutes or so, sound familiar?

We missed church and ward council yesterday but our two solid investigators were at church anyways, so that was exciting. They closer and closer to being ready for baptism each week.

So I pretty much didn’t even think about the super bowl and all these last couple of days ha-ha. President sent out a text a couple days ago that absolutely no one was allowed to watch it this year ha-ha (good thing I got to watch it last year ha-ha). So yeah it has been a very slow boring uncomfortable week ha-ha.

Today I feel much better and were having a zone activity of going to an all you can eat pizza buffet and then playing dodge ball and basketball at the church, so I’m pretty pumped for that.  Hopefully you get back to health so you can ball so hard this week.

Nothing much on the agenda this week. I am just looking forward to getting back in the swing of things. We got a new ward mission leader and he is the man! He is getting things done and he is finally starting to get us dinners again! We haven’t been fed much at all this last month, I was scraping the bottom of my agency card this last month ha-ha. So were excited to have him and hopefully get the ward members more involved here in Brunswick. As far as school goes though I will probably do Slcc for a semester and then transfer to Utah state or UVU (most likely Utah state though). So anyways if you have any other questions let me know. I love you guys and hope you guys have a better week! I’m glad my boy silver got a ring. Go Copper hills! Have a great week!

Love Wes

January 26, 2015

Hey family!

Looks like you guys had a fun week going up to Sundance and birthdays parties and stuff. 

It's currently snowing here and its pretty cold. Considering I talked to you on Wednesday not to much happened since I talked to you guys last. Elder B had a boil on his lower back that he had to go to urgent care and get it looked at and cut open. He has some other previous medical issues that made it a little dangerous for him so we had to go to the surgeon the next day so he can look at it. 

He will be fine but will need a surgery when he gets home in 4 months. I have spent so much time in the last 2 weeks in hospitals and doctors offices that I never want to go into one for the rest of my mission haha. 

Anyways its been snowing a little bit on and off but the snow luckily keeps melting. This year has been really good so far, we haven't had much snow and its only been horribly cold a couple days so far. 

Hopefully we can make it through February with nothing too crazy and I should be home free for the rest of my mission, then I can send all of my cold weather stuff home or trash it. 

Anyways my interview with President Richards was good, but we really only talked about the concerns of people in my District and things like that and he didn't even mention anything about going home or anything like that. Hes really caught up in a lot of business right now so I don't think he is even thinking about him going home or anything. 

There should be another interview in about 3 months and I'm sure that is when we will talk about that stuff. But for now I'm just planning on staying out until the last week of July or August or whenever the Transfer ends. 

Anyways things are going well here. We just got a new ward mission leader in Brunswick named brother M and he is an awesome guy and should do good as the new ward mission leader. Today we are going to play some basketball for P- day with a ton of missionaries so that should be fun. Tonight we have dinner with a multi-millionaire so that should be fun! 

Anyways that's about all I have to report on for this last week We're still working with our investigators and two of them are really solid and should get baptized soon they just have to make church a priority. 

Anyways I love you guys very much, thanks for all of your love and support. Have a great week. 

Love wes

January 21, 2015 letter

Hey family!

First of all thanks for the package, it was nice to get something in the mail for once ha ha. So before I even begin I just wanted you to know this has been the craziest  and weirdest week of my entire mission hands down. I didn't email yesterday because we absolutely didn't have time after zone training yesterday so I'm emailing today. 

So first of all I'm not training a new missionary. I got called last Tuesday the day before transfers from President Richards that my companion went home in the MTC as well as another elder from the same district. So me and elder B who was also supposed to Train ended up being companions. 

So President shut down the area he was in and sent him to Brunswick with me. I was a little bummed but since them I have been pretty glad. Elder B is a hilarious missionary from Payson. He has been out for 20 months. So you could say between the two of us we are a pretty old companionship. 

So besides all the crazy people we ran into this last week our week got even crazier. Saturday night were eating at T bell when I get a call from elder O a spanish missionary who lives in our apartment complex. He asks how close to the apartments we are and told us to meet us at his apartment as soon as possible. So we hurry over and they just come pealing into the parking lot. Elder O's companion who just got into the mission field 2 days earlier is doubled over and in serious pain in his stomach. So we help him into the apartment. 

He cant even sit down or stand or anything so while hes half curled up on a ball on the ground me and elder O give him a blessing. At this point we know we have to take him to urgent care or something. So we strart calling President and sister Richards phone like crazy and they don't answer.  

In the mission field there is a very strict rule about only taking people to emergency room or anything like that only when you get permission to do so. So finally after 20 minutes of us calling everyone does sister Richards call us back and lets us go to the ER. 

So all four of us are in this car and I'm driving the car like I'm in the fast and the furious weaving in and out of cars. And we roll up to the ER and rush him in. And we find out from the Doctor that his Appendix just burst. So were all the hospital waiting there for 3 hours. Trying to figure out what the heck was going on. President calls us and tells us that one of us needs to stay with elder F who is the one in the hospital. Elder O his comp, is really bad with blood and stuff and faints at the sight of anything like that so Elder B stays with him and I take elder Orton back to my area with me. 

So it was insane weekend. After church the next day we went back to the hospital and visited them. Elder F had successful surgery but was still being closely watched. So President came to the hospital and everything and spent some time with him and elder B came back and we did a trio while elder f is recovering. 

So most of the weekend and Monday we were going to the hospital and back to our area to go check on elder f and it was nuts and I'm sure it wont be a week I will forget in a long time. Anything else in the week I don't really remember in all the craziness. So that was the gist of my last week. 

Glad to see you are all doing well and that you guys are having a good week. As far as thinking about college I think I will probably just do a semester at Slcc when I get home and then go to Utah state in the Spring of next year. But I'm sure when I get home I will be driving to Logan and places a lot to go visit my friends so that is my plan so far. 

Anyways thanks again for the package it was really nice to get. I bought a sweet Real Madrid jersey on Monday with the remainder of my Christmas money. It was originally 100 bucks but I got it for 40 bucks at the this indoor soccer complex so it was sweet and now I'm decked out when I play soccer. 

Thanks again for the emails hope you have a good week and I love you guys.

Love Wes