Sorry I'm not sending an email this week, we´ve got a ton to do to finish up the mission!
See you guys SOON!!
[Note: Paul comes home Tuesday morning, June 28!!!!]
Monday, June 20, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Time Passing By!
Hey Everybody!
Today I did letters to send to people in my old wards, so I didn't end up with much time. I hope you guys are alright! I am way excited to see you guys in a few weeks! I cant believe these two years have flown by so fast! Thanks for all your love and support in my time here in Chile. It has been a time that I will never forget.
Jessica and her family are progressing great! So are the familia Leon. The dad is trying to stop smoking so bad, but the temptation is hard! We are working way hard to get them in the water on the 26th! Everything will work out, hopefully. My companion, Elder Krewson, is great! He is a hard worker, but he knows how to have a good time and is a great example for me. I am so glad to have this opportunity and the wonderful time I'm having here in Chile! 2 weeks!
Love,
Elder Westover
Today I did letters to send to people in my old wards, so I didn't end up with much time. I hope you guys are alright! I am way excited to see you guys in a few weeks! I cant believe these two years have flown by so fast! Thanks for all your love and support in my time here in Chile. It has been a time that I will never forget.
Jessica and her family are progressing great! So are the familia Leon. The dad is trying to stop smoking so bad, but the temptation is hard! We are working way hard to get them in the water on the 26th! Everything will work out, hopefully. My companion, Elder Krewson, is great! He is a hard worker, but he knows how to have a good time and is a great example for me. I am so glad to have this opportunity and the wonderful time I'm having here in Chile! 2 weeks!
Love,
Elder Westover
Monday, June 6, 2011
Am I Qualified?
Hey guys,
so I'm sorry that I didn't send an email last week. The main reason this happened was shortly after writing my long and pain staking email, it was horrifically eaten by my computer. It was sad....
Well, We have been having some great success, but some very sad disappointments as well. Ill start with the disappointment first.
Our two great families, the family Leon and Jessica´s family (I will never remember her last name for the life of me), didn't show up at church yesterday. In fact, no one showed up at church yesterday. Not one convert from this year came. It was bringing tears to my eyes, thinking about all the work I have put, trying to get them to come. After church we went by a few of the people who didn't come. I shared Moises 1:39 "Esta es mi obra y mi gloria; llevar a cabo la inmortalidad y la vida eterna del hombre." I told them how in a sense, they are also my work and my glory. We glory in our hard work. Yet, if they choose to not follow the commandments of the lord, it makes me feel like my work is gone to nothing; having no point. I related this to our father in heaven, who also has a work; all of us. When we dont obey, he is sad, with the same sadness that I had at church. My work and my glory... Moses 7 relates a similar story of Enoch, who saw everything that would unfold in the world. While he was watching the story play out, he sees God cry. Enoch asks God: "How is it that thou canst weep seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity? And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations. how is it thou canst weep?" God responds by saying: "Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands. And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father." As this life rumbles on, the training ground, the university of gods, we come to understand more and more how He feels and how He wants us to be.
Sometimes, I feel that things happen that are way over my qualifications as a missionary. Being a missionary for lots of people makes them think that you automatically know how to fix any situation. For example, the family Leon. They have marital problems. Some kind of serious ones. The other day, the hermano came out and laid it all out flat on the table: he had cheated on his wife two years ago, and she still cant forgive him (I cant imagine why). Then he started asking me advice about what to do. I told him the best way to overcome feelings of doubt and pain like that it through the book of mormon. But he kept asking me for advice. I found myself telling him how I got over fights I had with Ashlee when we were dating (of the very few that we had), by just listening to her, making her feel that everything is going to be alright, and instead of just telling her to get over it, be a simple sympathetic listener and show that you truly care. Now, I have no idea if that is going to work, but it was all I knew. We read a talk a few days later about the healing power of forgiveness by president faust. The spirit was so strong, and by the end reading the talk, the hermana and hermano gave each other a hug, but one of those hugs that they should have given each other a long time ago.
I love the changing power of the gospel and the tender mercies of the lord. I feel his power in my life and every time I exercise the power of atonement. I am very very far from perfect, and I hope to make up for all of my mistakes. I want to rectify every wrong I have made and be at complete peace with myself at the end of it all. I see the imperfections the more I strive to be perfect. It is essentially a never ending process, but its a process that makes us increasingly happy.
7 baptisms are now scheduled for the last day of my mission. Lets make em count!
Love you guys!
Elder Westover
so I'm sorry that I didn't send an email last week. The main reason this happened was shortly after writing my long and pain staking email, it was horrifically eaten by my computer. It was sad....
Well, We have been having some great success, but some very sad disappointments as well. Ill start with the disappointment first.
Our two great families, the family Leon and Jessica´s family (I will never remember her last name for the life of me), didn't show up at church yesterday. In fact, no one showed up at church yesterday. Not one convert from this year came. It was bringing tears to my eyes, thinking about all the work I have put, trying to get them to come. After church we went by a few of the people who didn't come. I shared Moises 1:39 "Esta es mi obra y mi gloria; llevar a cabo la inmortalidad y la vida eterna del hombre." I told them how in a sense, they are also my work and my glory. We glory in our hard work. Yet, if they choose to not follow the commandments of the lord, it makes me feel like my work is gone to nothing; having no point. I related this to our father in heaven, who also has a work; all of us. When we dont obey, he is sad, with the same sadness that I had at church. My work and my glory... Moses 7 relates a similar story of Enoch, who saw everything that would unfold in the world. While he was watching the story play out, he sees God cry. Enoch asks God: "How is it that thou canst weep seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity? And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations. how is it thou canst weep?" God responds by saying: "Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands. And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father." As this life rumbles on, the training ground, the university of gods, we come to understand more and more how He feels and how He wants us to be.
Sometimes, I feel that things happen that are way over my qualifications as a missionary. Being a missionary for lots of people makes them think that you automatically know how to fix any situation. For example, the family Leon. They have marital problems. Some kind of serious ones. The other day, the hermano came out and laid it all out flat on the table: he had cheated on his wife two years ago, and she still cant forgive him (I cant imagine why). Then he started asking me advice about what to do. I told him the best way to overcome feelings of doubt and pain like that it through the book of mormon. But he kept asking me for advice. I found myself telling him how I got over fights I had with Ashlee when we were dating (of the very few that we had), by just listening to her, making her feel that everything is going to be alright, and instead of just telling her to get over it, be a simple sympathetic listener and show that you truly care. Now, I have no idea if that is going to work, but it was all I knew. We read a talk a few days later about the healing power of forgiveness by president faust. The spirit was so strong, and by the end reading the talk, the hermana and hermano gave each other a hug, but one of those hugs that they should have given each other a long time ago.
I love the changing power of the gospel and the tender mercies of the lord. I feel his power in my life and every time I exercise the power of atonement. I am very very far from perfect, and I hope to make up for all of my mistakes. I want to rectify every wrong I have made and be at complete peace with myself at the end of it all. I see the imperfections the more I strive to be perfect. It is essentially a never ending process, but its a process that makes us increasingly happy.
7 baptisms are now scheduled for the last day of my mission. Lets make em count!
Love you guys!
Elder Westover
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