New Address for our missionary!
Elder Zachary Steven Weber
1214 Lakecrest Ct.
Fort Collins, CO 80526
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Monday, January 25, 2016
WEEK 76 - DID YOU THINK to PRAY?
Hello, everyone! It's me, Elder Z.S.Weber, reporting in to you from
the Prairie Ridge Ward in Fort Collins, Colorado. It's good to be back
again! Yep, I've got a bit more pep in my step than I had last week,
which is good. Depression, no matter how small it might be, just
doesn't go good with me. So, knowing that I've managed to reclaim my
spark of happiness over this past week is reason enough to celebrate.
And after what I discovered this past week, I have even more reason to
pass around the bubbly (aka Martinelli's). It was as I was at the
Mission Office for Transfers, and my new companion, Elder Anderson,
dropped the bomb on me.
"Oh, by the way, you're the District Leader."
Brown had a discussion with his Assistants, one last check-over on the
Transfers to see if everything was in order. And, after some
deliberating, they decided that it was a better idea to send Elder
Muir to be with his future companion, Elder Wangsgard, in Cheyenne,
rather than bringing Wangsgard down to Fort Collins. So, that meant
that Elder Anderson and I would be covering both the Prairie Ridge
Ward and the Taft Canyon Ward. Crazy, I know. However, in addition to
that, there had to be a new District Leader, then, as Elder Wangsgard
was to be the District Leader. So, as the most senior missionary in
the District, the calling fell to me.
So, yeah, this past week has been pretty stressful, all things
considered. I mean, I'm seventeen months out, and so far the only
leadership I've had was Senior Companion, and that was with Elder
NeVille. Even then, I let him make most of the decisions. So to go
from that to being a District Leader gave me a little bit more than a
start. However, over this past week, I feel like I've bounced back
from that shock. I'm still not certain if I'm okay with the
transition, nor do I think I ever will be, but I'm at least going to
do the best that I can in my new position that I can in the time that
I have it. So, with that news, let's move on to the week!
The week started off with Tuesday, with tearful goodbyes to the Ward I
had been quickly loving, and moving on to whatever insane world the
Lord had in store for me. There, at the Mission Office, I met Elder
Anderson. Now, last week, I said that Elder Anderson was from Canada.
I must say, though, that I had heard wrong, and that he's actually
from Alabama. He's a fairly nice elder, though he's only been out for
three months. Though the 'greenie fire' burns bright inside of him,
he's able to contain it for the most part. He isn't as relaxed or
'chill' as Elder NeVille, Hale, or Buchanan were (if you remember
those last two, at least), but he's a great elder nonetheless.
Tuesday was mainly spent moving into our new home with the Lambournes
in the Ward and getting ready to get work. However, the work moved
slowly, as the very next day, Elder Anderson came down
with...something. I'm not exactly certain what it was, but it put him
out of commission for most of the day. We were able to catch the
world-wide Missionary Devotional that morning (which, by the way, was
totally awesome!), but about an hour or so after the devotional had
closed and we'd left the meeting, we ended up spending the rest of the
day at the house, waiting for Elder Anderson to get better. When he
didn't, I gave him a quick blessing of comfort and healing, and he
spent the rest of the evening sleeping it off.
so was I. The morning started off with some light stop-by's with some
of the potential investigators we had on our lists. After we weren't
able to get in with anyone, though, we had a break from our labor, as
we went to a Zone Lunch at the Stake President's house. After
listening to a very instructive message from President Foster (the
Stake President), we went back out and got on to work. The rest of the
evening was spent with more stop-by's with the other potentials on our
list (which were, again, unfruitful efforts) and...tracting...cue
shudder. However, the evening ended well, as I was able to finally
meet and talk with Brother and Sister Lambourne, the couple that are
housing us, and are among the kindest people I've ever met.
Thursday led into Friday, and it brought with it a great and
much-needed change in pace. As many of you know, I absolutely love
doing service, and Friday brought with it a lot of great chances to do
Elders Christenot and Chan, and headed over to the Stake Center to do
service for the Bishop's Storehouse, which is basically distributing
food to families in the area that are in need of support. It was
great, being able to distribute the food and most basic of commodities
to others that needed this service, and seeing them so filled with
happiness and joy from the service we gave. It filled my heart with
joy.
Then, after lunch ended, our District met up again to give service to
this family, the Johnson's. Their son was going to be moving to New
York (I think...) in the next few months, and so they needed to get
some of his stuff moved out of their house and his apartment across
town, and get it stored away in a large storage garage. The work was
mostly fast, and actually didn't take much effort to do, so it gave me
a good chance to get to know my new District-mates. Apparently, Elder
Christenot has been out four-and-a-half months, Elder Chan has been
out for three months, Elder Anderson has been out three...and I've
been out seventeen. The gap in mission-maturity between me and my
fellow District-mates is shocking.
However, the best moments of my week was probably spent in teaching.
Over the past week, I've had a great chance to teach this kind woman
named Beth, who is planning on marrying a member of the Taft Canyon
lesson with this couple, Robert and Crystal, who are very interested
in the lessons. They were referred to us by a member of another Ward,
the Terry Lake Ward, so he came and helped us out with teaching the
first lesson. However, it went really well, and I'm looking forward to
having more experiences teaching them.
So, yeah, that was my week. Thankfully, it was much more upbeat than
last week's, which was quite the downer. And I don't like downer
weeks. However, with this week, I have had a chance to grow some more,
and so it is time for the Spiritual Thought.
As I've already stated several times, I was very against the decision
to send me to Fort Collins. With the work progressing as it was in
Mariana Butte, and the friendships I had formed with the members and
missionaries in that area, I just wasn't ready to leave just yet. That
feeling of animosity that I had only grew when I found out that I was
going to be serving as a District Leader and covering two separate
Wards. So, for the first few days while in the Prairie Ridge Ward, I
was just inwardly writhing in anguish and throwing a silent fit.
Immature, I know, but that's just how it was.
During that time, I would go to bed each night with the same prayer in
my heart every time—Lord, why did you do this to me? Why did you take
me away from my area to here of all places? Then, one night (Friday, I
think), I had a feeling to change the way I was praying. Call it the
spirit or me finally acting mature or whatever, but I decided to
listen to that thought, and instead of having a pity-party for my
prayer, I asked Heavenly Father to change my attitude towards my
Transfer to Prairie Ridge/Taft Canyon Wards, and help me come to love
the area.
That next morning, I rose with a noticeable spring in my step. I still
wasn't fully happy with the transition yet, but I was willing to make
the best out of my situation. And so, my message for y'all this week
is to simply pray. Our Father will always listen, and so long as our
desires are good and are to help His plan come forth, He will help us
receive the desires of our hearts. I am a witness of this truth, and
as such can promise you such. I know that our Father answers our
prayers, and leads us to the answers we need. This I bear solemn
testimony of, in the name of His Firstborn Son in the Flesh, Jesus
Christ, Amen.
—Elder Z.S.Weber
Sent from My iPad
WEEK 75 - FoCo MISSIONARY
Hey everyone, it's me again, Elder Z.S.Weber. Once more, I am
reporting in from the Mariana Butte Ward in Loveland, Colorado.
However, by the end of tomorrow, that will have changed. Yep, you
guessed it—six weeks have come and gone since the last Transfers, when
I got Elder NeVille as a companion. Now, the Transfers are on us
again, and the news has left me pretty depressed these last few days.
So, sorry if I don't sound as excited as I normally do today, or if I
choose to just glance over the actual events of the week. I mean,
between getting packed up for the Transfer and pushing through this
cloud of grief floating around me, I won't have a lot of time for
emailing this week.
Anyways, on to the week. To be honest, though, there wasn't much that
happened this week. I mean, we all knew that Transfers were coming up,
and that some among us would be leaving. So, we in our district—one of
the funnest and hardest-working districts I've ever served in—decided
to find as many chances to spend time together and hang out. On P-Day,
we all went to Fly-High and just spent the afternoon bouncing around.
We sat and chatted amongst ourselves for a while after District
Meeting on Wednesday, and on Thursday and Friday we all went to a
fast-food place to eat (Chick-fi-la on Thursday, Freddy's Burgers on
Friday). Then, on Saturday night, we all met up again at the Taysoms'
(a senior missionary couple that work in the mission office) to hear
the Transfer News.
Which brings me to the main point of my email. Like I said before,
this news has left me pretty depressed these last few weeks, and let
me tell you why. Never before have I had such an awesome district as
the one I've been in these past few weeks. We all get along really
well, work hard, and know how to have fun while on the mission. I
would've loved to stay another six weeks, especially with Elder
NeVille—who has very little similar to me besides a love for Country
Music—as my companion. In fact, I was certain that me and Elder
NeVille would be together another Transfer, and that it would be
Elders Thompson and McMillan that would be separated. But, sadly that
is not how the Transfer News went.
Starting Tuesday of this week, so the nineteenth, I will be the senior
missionary in the Prairie Ridge Ward in the Fort Collins Stake. My new
companion is one Elder Anderson, a fairly 'green' missionary from
Canada. There are some familiar names in my new district (Elder
Wangsgard and Elder Muir...where have I heard that second name,
though...?), but for the most part I know very little about my new
area and fellow missionaries. Meanwhile, Elder NeVille is staying in
the Lakeside District, which hasn't really changed all that much
besides losing me. Even Thompson and McMillan are still companions,
which is a complete shocker considering how long the both of them have
been in the area. Elder NeVille's new companion is Elder Mortensen
(you might remember him from my Boulder Days), so life should be fun
for him.
So, yeah, that's the run-down on Transfers. Like I said, it's a little
depressing. I mean, not only am I losing an awesome district and
companion, but for the first time in a long time, I've started to see
a lot more forward progression in the work. People are starting to
show interest, we're starting to get in with families and
investigators, and just at the start of the change...I'm taken
somewhere else. I'm sure Heavenly Father has a reason for me to be
going to Fort Collins now. If He didn't, I wouldn't be going there. My
one question in my mind, though, is what I accomplished in Mariana
Butte Ward that fulfilled my work there.
Well, that's it from me. Sorry it's so short—hopefully next week's is
longer and more upbeat. So, until then, hope to hear from y'all again
soon and have a great week. Stay Epic, My Friends.
—Elder Z.S.Weber
WEEK 74 - READY to HARVEST
THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!!!
...sorry...think I'm getting ahead of myself here...anyways, Good
Morning, America (and any other nations that may be reading this)!
This is your totally epic missionary serving in the Colorado Fort
Collins Mission—Elder Z.S.Weber! I am here reporting in to y'all from
the Mariana Butte Ward in Loveland, Colorado. And, as I prematurely
said above, this week was indeed 'awesome'. I mean, so much happened
this week, that calling it anything other than 'awesome' would just
miss the mark. P-Day of last week, straight up to the Church service
on Sunday, this week was just filled with awesome and incredible
moments I hope to never forget. So, with that said, let's get this
week-in-review email started off!
To start off, let's go to Monday of last week, and the P-Day we spent.
Last week, after all of our chores for the day were done (laundry,
cleaning the bathroom, cleaning the bedroom), we got a call from
Elders Thompson and McMillan from the Long View Ward, asking if we'd
like to go to Fly High, the indoor trampoline park, with them for
P-Day.
So, we went over there, and right from the get-go I thought
something odd was going to happen that day. When we pulled into the
parking lot, I thought I recognized some of the cars. When we walked
in, I knew I recognized some of the cars. Inside the park was half of
the Loveland Zone Missionaries. None of us knew that the others were
going to be there, and so we ended up with half of our Zone all
bouncing together in the park, purely by accident.
However, it ended up working out for the best, as it gave us a chance
to talk with the Zone Leaders about that friend of Lindsey Laws, the
returned missionary I talked about last week. They had been invited to
have dinner at the Laws' house, and then teach her friend about the
Restoration afterword. Meanwhile, we were supposed to just sneak off
and get to our work for the evening while they got to teaching.
However, somewhere along the way of enjoying the dinner and dessert,
we forgot to prepare an escape route for ourselves. So, the rest of
the evening was spent teaching Mondo (Armondo, Lindsey's friend) the
Restoration of the Gospel with Elders Blackburn and Lete. It was
actually a very powerful and spiritual experience, and I was happy to
be a part of it.
Tuesday was mainly spent moving back into the Andersen's house, so not
much else happened that day other than getting moved back in, and me
getting a postcard from a very dear friend of mine. The day after,
Wednesday, was mainly spent in our District Meeting, where Elder
Thompson was on exchanges with Elder Blackburn. For the District
Meeting, Elder Blackburn gave a rather interesting lesson on the
importance of actively finding new investigators throughout the week,
and then had all of us get up in front of the District and practice
our door-approaches with him. It was...interesting, though I don't
know how much I actually got out of it. Afterwords, Elder NeVille and
I decided to go to Wendy's for lunch...where we ended up meeting some
of the other elders again.
It was just Fly High all over again...
Thursday soon followed Wednesday, and Thursday brought with it a
wondrous opportunity. I believe in the past I've mentioned Billie, our
ten-year-old investigator that we've been trying—and failing—to get an
appointment with. Well, after much deliberation and discussion between
all parties involved, we finally got a time we could teach Billie...a
time that fell right when I'd be leaving the area for exchanges with
Elder McMillan. So, while I was off in the Long View Ward, Elder
NeVille and Elder Thompson taught Billie the Restoration, which I
heard went well. While a bit saddened that I wasn't able to teach
Billie, the evening went well for me as well, as I got to visit with
Marylin Macreena, the girl I and Elder Proffit had been teaching about
a year and a quarter ago. Seeing her and her mother again, still
staying strong in the faith, was a very great and wonderful moment to
behold.
And then it was Friday, and Friday brought with it snow and ice. So,
Elder McMillan and I got bundled up and we headed out with shovels to
start clearing drives and sidewalks. It was pretty funny, as I'm a
missionary from South Jordan, Utah, and he's a missionary from the Big
Island of Hawaii. So, though it was just barely under the freezing
point, and Elder McMillan was far more bundled than I was (I just had
a scarf and a sweater-jacket), he was always complaining about how
cold it was outside, while I was just enjoying the nice, almost-warm
winter day. It was interesting, seeing the stark contrast from someone
who grew up surrounded by beaches and water, to someone who grew up
surrounded by mountains and actual seasons. All in all, though, it was
a pretty nice day.
And then came Sunday (because Saturday was actually pretty bland and
not worth speaking over). Now Sunday brought with it the epicness of
the week. So, as some of you might know, us missionaries attend the
early morning meetings with the Ward Leaders to get coordinated in our
efforts. Well, during the meeting, the Bishop pulled us to the side
and told us of a call he had randomly received from this couple that
is living inside our Ward boundaries. A few days ago, they had just
woken up and decided they should start going to a church again, and
felt impressed to try, as they called it, "the Mormon thing". So, they
went online to find out which Ward they'd be meeting with, what time
they'd be meeting, and who the leader of the congregation was. They
gave Bishop Laws their story, and told him that they'd be there that
Sunday.
And be there they were! Jeff and Amy Schissler (like Sizzler's, but
with a sh- sound at the beginning) they were called, and they were
incredible! They ended up going to Gospel Doctrine class, rather than
Gospel Principles (someone grabbed them and dragged them with them, or
so I believe), but from what I heard they were commenting and really
understanding the lessons being taught. In the Elder's Quorum meeting,
Jeff added some of his own thoughts to the message being taught
(meekness), thoughts that sounded incredibly member-like. Listening to
their story, apparently they've also started reading the Book of
Mormon digitally, and are about half-way through already. We talked
with them, and they said they'd love to take the missionary
discussions, but in due time, once they've been learning on their own
for a few weeks.
How awesome is this?! I mean, if you read my emails every week, you
know that people like this don't just show up all of the time. If they
did, more of my emails would actually be about the missionary work,
and less about what us missionaries do to kill the extra time we can't
seem to fill. However, I feel that this is a true blessing from God,
that this is His way of telling me and my companion that He is proud
of the stalwart patience we've held in spite of how little work we
have. Because of that, He's giving us more moments to teach and spread
the gospel to others, like with the Schisslers, and with Billie
Vincent.
And that is what I'd like to share for this week. The scriptures
always say that the field is white, ready to harvest. However, there
are few moments when we actually get around to the harvesting. In my
opinion, from what I've seen on my mission, this is because we as
missionaries spend much of our time planting the seeds and nurturing
the crops rather than actually pushing all the way through to reap the
blessings of missionary work. There are those people, those who are
ready to be taught and baptized, all around us. But sometimes we fail
to see them due to various reasons, be it prejudice,
narrow-mindedness, or just a slothfulness. However, if we step out and
seek them out, our brothers and sisters that are ready to partake in
the gospel today, we will find just how white the fields truly are.
This I bear witness of, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!
—Elder Z.S.Weber
WEEK 73 - GIVE OUR ALL
Happy New Year, Universe! This is Elder Z.S.Weber, reporting in to you
once more from the Mariana Butte Ward in the Colorado Fort Collins
Mission. Once more, I am here again with my epic copilot Elder
NeVille, ready to go over the epicness that came over this past week.
However, before we get to that, I'd like to say real quick—where did
2015 go?! I mean, seriously, wasn't just like a few weeks ago that I
was sitting here telling y'all about how I would be going to Nebraska
to serve with Elder Tapia? Now, twelve months later, here we are! So
much has changed. I'm now sixteen-and-a-half months out in the
mission, I've had four companions since Elder Tapia, two areas since
Nebraska, and years worth of experience crammed into one year. And
now, here we are—the year I go home. Crazy it's already here, right?
So, how did our first week into 2016 go?
Well, let's start off with Tuesday, which probably brought with it one
of the strangest situations in my missionary life. So, like all
Tuesdays here in Mariana Butte, Elder NeVille and I went to do service
at Hearts and Horses Stables. Then, after we had finished whatever
work they needed us to do for them, we go home, get changed, and start
hitting the streets trying to find people. Well, at around five in the
evening, we got this call from an unknown number asking if we were the
missionaries. Apparently, Bishop Laws' daughter, Lindsey Laws, had
come home from her mission on Monday, and was going through what we
missionaries call 'the post-mission blues'.
I mean, it makes sense, right? If all you do for two years is knock on
people's doors and try to share the gospel with them, your first day
free of the responsibility probably feels a bit weird. It was her
request, though, that left us feeling a bit...awkward. She asked if
she could join us tracting and going to appointments. Now, for those
that don't know why this left us awkward, let me explain. For two
those two years on the mission, we aren't supposed to be alone with
any sisters or single women. So, when she mentioned that she would
like to go tracting with us, and had even already found two
investigators for us to teach, it left us with a hard decision on how
to reply. After a while, we decided to tell her that we'd love to
teach her investigators with her, and then referred her to the
English-Assigned Sister Missionaries in our Zone.
It ended up turning out the investigators were also Young Single Adult
age, so we also missed the chance to teach. Good luck there, Zone
Leaders!
Wednesday came next, and Wednesday came with our District Meeting for
the week. Because of the New Year starting on midnight the next day,
we decided to do our District Meeting on the day before the day
before. The meeting actually went along fairly quickly this time
around, as it was mainly about setting the goals for the oncoming
week. I remember we had some trouble in communication, though, because
in the past weeks, we had put the totaled goals for the District up on
the board. So, if someone thought they could get five new
investigators, and a couple other companionships thought they could
get three, and another thought they could get four, then the total
would be 15. Instead, the District Leader decided to put the average
for the District up on the board—which, in this case, would be 3.5.
So, yeah...we had a lot of headaches from that. It also begs the
question as to how you can get half a person...
Then, it was finally Thursday. The day before the New Year. They last
day of the year 2015. Because it was the New Year, we were actually
discouraged from going out and doing missionary work. Apparently,
missionaries in the past have run across some very colorful
individuals on New Year's Eve, which often led to troublesome
circumstances. So, rather than go out and do missionary work, we
decided to celebrate Elder NeVille's birthday, as December 31st is
also the day he was born. And, because he had received a bunch of
Buffalo Wild Wings gift cards for Christmas, and neither we nor the
Long View Elders had a dinner that night, we decided to hit B-Dubs for
dinner. It was surprisingly empty for a while—the only people there
besides the workers were us...and the Zone Leaders. All in all, it was
a nice evening.
And then it was 2016. The New Year. January 1st, the very first day of
the New Year! It's honestly a little hard to believe that we've gotten
here. So much has happened this past year, and there is so much more
to come in the twelve months ahead of us. So, with that thought in
mind, I'd like to share a very special Spiritual Message, to start my
last calendar year on the mission off on a high note.
This message comes from thinking over Lindsey Laws' situation.
Starting today, she'll have been home for a week. The very first day
that she was back home, she craved going back into the missionary
work. You can tell that she lived her mission to the fullest, to the
point that even after she had been released and the mantle of
missionary-ship had been lifted off of her shoulders, she still had a
deep desire within her to do the missionary work. I've been thinking
about this often this past week, and wondered whether I would have
that same reaction coming home. I can tell you honestly that no, I
would not. I know that the day after I come home, most likely I will
be glued to the living room sofa, with a laptop in front of me, a 3DS
in one hand, a Wii controller in another, and catching up on all the
nerd and pop-culture phenomena that have occurred over the past two
years.
Now, that's fair. I mean, all missionaries say that that's what they
envision themselves doing. If it's not catching up on the pop-culture,
then it's going out on a date—finally!—for the first time in two
years. However, there is a lesson to be learned from the interactions
with Lindsey. That lesson is that no matter how devoted to the mission
you are, no matter how much you have given up in service to the Lord,
you can always give more. There is no 'stopping point' on the road of
discipleship in the Church. You never reach the ultimate destination
while in this life—not unless you've given your all to God and to the
work that He has given you.
Back when I was with Elder Hale, who along with being a hard-working
missionary was also a skilled poet, he shared with me this poem of a
man sitting on a plane. On this plane, seated directly across from him
and just up the row from him, are two missionaries. One wears a fresh
suit, has a clean hair cut, and has a broad 'greenie-fire' grin on his
face. The other is wearing a faded-out suit, wore-out-nigh-soleless
shoes, and is bearing a very haggard expression. The first is a new
missionary, eager to get out in the field. The second is a missionary
who is ready to go home, a man who gave all he had in the service of
his God and is now ready for his duly rewarded rest from his labors
for a season.
It is the second missionary we aim to be on the mission, and in life.
To give all that we have—to God, to work, to family—so that when we do
leave our past life behind, we can say with honor that we did the work
our Father gave us to do. So for this New Year, at a time of change
for all of us, may we promise ourselves to give our all in our lives.
Let us give everything to the Master, and see the wonders He will
perform through us in our lives. I know that these things are true, in
His Holy name, even the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!
—Elder Z.S.Weber
WEEK 72 - MEMORIES of the PAST YEAR
Merry Christmas, one and all, and a Happy New Year too! This is Elder
Z.S.Weber, reporting in to y'all from the Mariana Butte Ward in the
Colorado Fort Collins Mission. We're here again with another quick
update on how this past week in the mission field has gone, as well as
another inspiring message that I hope will touch the lives of those
who read it. And what a week we have to share today! Last Friday was
Christmas Day—the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. The day before Christmas—Christmas Eve—also marked the
beginning of the last full week of 2015, and all the memories that
came with it. Not only were these days momentous, but even the days
leading up to them were filled with wonderful and hilarious memories.
So, with all that being said—let's get started!
To start the week off, we actually have moved from our humble home at
the Andersen's. Because of the holiday season flourishing around us,
the Andersen's were going to have their daughter over for Christmas
and New Years. And, because most of their entertainment options are in
the basement, where we formerly lived, we had to move. After much
trouble grappling for a new host family, we finally found a couple
that was willing to house us for the holidays—Brother and Sister
Demke, a nice couple that are actually working on refurbishing their
basement into a missionary dorm. Until then, we're living in their
upstairs guest bedrooms, which are very nice and accommodating. Not
only that, but it turns out that the Demke's are related to a young
family I knew down in the Coal Creek Ward—the Prices! What a
coincidence!
Tuesday was also a day we planned to be filled with much hard work and
labor in the Lord's vineyard. After finishing our service at Hearts
and Horses Ranch (which consisted of moving several large tables from
one end of the ranch to the other), we went out and sought out some of
the less-active members the Bishop had assigned us for that week. We
had some rough time getting around because of how iced up the roads
were, but we eagerly went about our task, and then stopped off at the
Church to plan out our lesson with Billie (I believe I mentioned
Billie in the past), which we finally were going to get around to.
Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen circumstances, we had to hold
off on the lesson until next week, after the holidays had finished
rolling through. Sigh...
Wednesday was an interesting day. Wednesday, we were out doing some of
the runs, trying to check in on some of the less active members and
try and set up appointments for Christmas Day to fill our time. Well,
we decided to head out into the boondocks of the area, back in the
less-traveled roads, and ended up on this one road that was covered in
ice. Feeling that it was a bad idea to keep going on the road, I drove
the car up to this turn-around area and made to go back the way we
came. As we got out of the turn, however, the wheels lost all traction
and we ended up rolling off the side of the road. It's okay, we're
alright! We almost hit a tree, and we almost fell into the stream, so
we were lucky. We just had to call some other elders to come push our
car back onto the road, and we were good to go!
Thursday was a rather bad day for us, though. Sad to say, but both
Elder NeVille and I were hit pretty bad by sickness. We think, because
we were working on pushing the car out of the snow, he got a cold. As
for me, I don't know what happened to me, but I just was bad all day
long. However, the sickness left us on Christmas Day, and that was
what was important! Christmas this year was great! We had monkey bread
for breakfast and watched 17 Miracles with our host family, the
Demke's.
Then, that afternoon, we got to the highlight of my week—the
Christmas Skype home! Oh, it was so wonderful talking with my family
again! I got to see their smiling faces, and I got to hear their
laughter. It was almost as great as being there in person. Almost.
So, yeah, that was my Christmas! So, now is the time for the message
for the week!
...Sadly, I don't have much time here. We've got a lot of things that
need to be done today, so I'm going to have to keep this short! My
message for all y'all today is very simple. As a missionary, I'm
hoping to gain a lot of life experience and growth from my mission.
With this being the last week of the year, I've looked back over the
past year and thought over the many exciting things that have gone on
in my life. I can tell that I've grown a lot from the young man that I
was at the beginning of my mission. I stand a little taller, speak a
little stronger, and have more confidence in myself and my own
abilities. So, the message I want to leave you with today is—what have
you learned about yourself over this past year? How have you grown
from the person you were last year? And how do you want to grow by
this time next year?
Sorry it's a bit rushed, I wish I had more time, but I got a lot of
things going on, and not a lot of time to do them all! Thanks for all
the support you give us missionaries, we really couldn't last out here
without you! Stay Epic, My Friends!
—Elder Z.S.Weber
WEEK 71 - SPOILER ALERT!
Merry Christmas, Universe! This is the ever-impressive Elder Z.S.Weber, reporting in to y'all live from the streets of Loveland, Colorado. We have only four more days before the epicness of stocking-unstuffing and present-unwrapping begins! Are y'all ready for it to go down? This last Friday, I finally got around to mailing out all of my presents for my family, and over the course of the week I got wrapped packages and sealed envelopes from family and friends near and dear to my heart. And speaking of this past week, what a week it has been! From the Christmas Zone Conference Devotional to the Ward Christmas Program, this week has just been one big warm-up to the Christmas chaos to come! So, with that being said—let's go!
The week started off on a fairly slow note, as on Tuesday and Wednesday, Elder NeVille and I went out and attempted to get some new investigators. I say attempted because the entire effort was rather unfruitful. It's odd, because according to President Brown, our mission president, Christmas is the best time of the year to talk to people about Christ. The Spirit of Christ is in the air, everyone is so cheerful and joyful, they're feeling genuine love for their fellowmen. Now that's usually true—but it's only any good to us if people are home. It seems as though every house we've knocked, they're either out of town, or in a very anti-Christmas mood. Which is just wonderful to experience first-hand via knocking on someone's front door.
Luckily, the Lord has this funny way of blessing us with Spiritual highs after we hit rather rough lows. And our Spiritual high came from our Christmas Zone Conference Devotional on Thursday.
Now, there are several reasons why I love the Christmas Devotional so much. Like all other Zone Conferences, we get a chance to gain some spiritual knowledge from the Zone Leaders, Assistants to the President, and President Brown. This conference, however, we were blessed to be able to watch a discussion some of the church leaders had for their training before the General Conference back in October. The message being presented was the importance if keeping the Sabbath Day holy, and what advice the leaders could give from their experiences growing up.
Along with the Spiritual nourishment, we also get time to enjoy a nice lunch with all of the other missionaries attending. It's a great moment to reconnect with old friends in the mission—though it's also quite terrifying, as it's a constant reminder of how long out you've been out. I swear, more than half of the missionaries I was trained around are back home enjoying life. The half that aren't home are going home at the end of this Transfer! Realizing something like that can be quite sobering—especially when you see them standing at the podium at the end of the Conference, bearing their testimonies to the Zones in attendance. Some of those Elders were only out about six months when I came out, and they're already saying goodbye! Heck, the sisters that came out with me are saying their farewells!
Ahem...anyways...
The rest of the week went by rather quick, after we got our Spiritual strength rekindled by the Zone Conference. However, though the week was over, we were still able to leave it on a high note. This past Sunday—so, yesterday—was our Ward's Christmas Program. Now, all Sacrament meetings are great in my opinion. I mean, we get a chance to renew the covenants we made at baptism and we get spiritual nourishment! However, the Christmas Program has always been wonderful, because of the wonderful Christmas talks given and beautiful Christmas music that's played. And in a Ward that has a fairly skilled oboist in their ranks (not me...can't play for another seven months), it was certain to be a beautiful program!
And, so that's my week in review. Which means that it's time for the Spiritual Thought. Now, last week, I mentioned something in my letter that bothered me, and others, in how it was presented. I said that those who seek to do good in this world are few. Now, that was an exaggeration—I obviously don't truly believe that Gods children are that outnumbered. If anything, I believe that all people are born being innately drawn to good. It's only after they've experienced the world, and are raised to believe the ways of the world, that they start to seek to do that which they believe is good for themselves, which isn't always in line with the gospel. Still, I believe that most of the world still has a desire to do that which is good.
However, this has got me thinking seriously over the week about views, and points of view, and interests. And with Star Wars: The Force Awakenscoming out this past week, something that's come to my mind is spoiler alerts (bear with me here, I'll explain it as I go). I mean, everyone loves reading epic stories and watching awesome movies—Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars. However, whenever a new book in a series comes out, you always have those few people that finish the book faster than others and spoil the ending. To be fair, a lot of the endings were pretty much known from the beginning—Harry kills Voldemort, Frodo and Sam destroy the One Ring, Luke blows up the Death Star. Really, what people are getting upset about is the fact that they can no longer wonder about how the story ends. When they read it, they'll start to see how everything lines up for the ending.
Now, here's the spiritual side of the message. God is a spoiler when it comes to endings. In the Book of Mormon, He told Nephi that his people would dwindle in unbelief and be destroyed 1,000 years before it happened! He revealed through Isaiah that his Son, Jesus Christ, would sacrifice himself for all of humanity 800 years before it happened! He told Joseph of Egypt that the gospel would be restored through Joseph Smith approximately 4,000 years before it happened! So, what is the greatest 'spoiler' God has ever given us? Regarding the war waged between Satan and his followers, and Christ and his followers, this is the ending God has revealed to us since the beginning of time?
Good will conquer all.
That's it. That's the summary of the entire war being waged. It doesn't matter what happens in these last days—it doesn't even matter how corrupted Satan will shape the world, because we already know it's going to be worse than it is even now! No matter how bad it gets, God will always win. So here's what I want to get across. If you knew how all of your favorite books and movies ended, would it change the way you approached reading or watching the story? If you knew who would win the Super Bowl, would it change who you root for? We know the ending for our story—so the question remains; whose side are you fighting for? The victorious, godly side, the one that never loses, or the side the rest of the world is following, the side of the devil, the side that never wins?
I leave this simple message with you all, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
—Elder Z.S.Weber
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