Ripples

Hey guys!
All is well here in Gabriela! We are running around everywhere here in the sector trying to find the news [investigators that will accept baptismal invitation] that we are going to baptize next month. The thing is that we have a goal as a mission. 1469 news in one month! Thats pretty high! Our goal as a zone is 145. Its pretty ambicious, especially for a zone like ours, which is kind of tough. As a zone leader, it is an added pressure because you dont just answer for your dats, but the dats of the entire zone. Its a lot of pressure sometimes, but we just have to keep pushing forward and try to do the best we can. Last week we found 9 news, and hopefully all of them will soon have baptisimal dates this next week.
We taught one family Sunday night: Gustavo. We got into the house and started talking with the family. After a little while, we found out that both the mom and the dad are members, but they are super inactive. The mom thinks that she is Evangelica now. We taught the family and showed them the restauration video. They liked it, but didnt seem to change their views on much. The daughters, however, were pretty impressed. Carol and Nicole. They are the ripple.
Everyone is a drop of water. We act every second of every day. Each of those actions gets placed into the logs of history forever as an action that we have taken. This action can have various consequences, and we are in someway partialy responsible for those consequences. We sneeze and someone gets sick. We help someone take up some groceries and it makes their day better. Every action has this effect, a ripple, we could say, that travels in an out of the lives of those it affects. Nicole and Carol are a consequence of a ripple that their parents started. Now they can choose to act on it, or let it pass over them. In the end, its their choice. We just want them to understand the importance of this drop of water that is their lives so they step carefully, because every step is going to show.
I have learned a great deal on the mission. But one of the greatest lessons I have learned is that it continues on. Life is learning. Learn well and act accordingly and the effect we create will be a marker for others to follow. In the end, it is to matter. To make a difference because you have lived.
Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me and for those who havent as well. I love you guys a lot!
Con Amor,
Elder Westover

The Weekly Update...updated weekly

Hey Everybody!
Things here are going great! Today we went up to San José de Maipo with Matias, someone who just got back from his mission a few months ago. It was a lot of fun! We ran across a rickety bridge and went through a really spooky, and smelly, tunnel. It was pretty cool to be able to just relax for one P-day and not have to worry about whats going on with this person or someone else because honestly, we really dont have anyone to teach. See? always a bright side to things!
As scary as it is to think about it, the time is drawing nearer and nearer till I finish my mission. There have been about 5 million things Ive learned and keep learning. To summarize everything would be very difficult, even though I am going to have to try and do just that when I get back. But I feel like to summarize it all to one sound byte: "Do it, do it well, never regret, love it". I will definitely have to work on that one, but that pretty much sums it all up. I'm going to come back home a completely different person, but I guess that's okay. Sorry mom, I still might be too relaxed for your tastes. But now I at least get the job done and get it done well. Probably something I would have learned in sports that I had to learn on the mission.
Sorry that the emails are kind of small. There really isn't a whole lot to say when your sector is tiny and you've been knocking all day with little to no success. Planting seeds. That's all we're doing. Planting seeds. Thanks for everything guys! Let me know if you have questions about anything.
Con Amor,
Elder Westover

Walking and Knocking

Hey everybody!
Well things here in Gabriela are chugging along. Its difficult though. We dont have any investigators and the ward is very small, so its out in the streets and knocking. I feel like a pioneer in a sense. Little missionaries knocked as they walked and walked and walked and walked aaaand walked. Its hard work but somebody has to do it and I feel like I am taking a lot out of it as well. The difficulty always has rewards. I feel very blessed to be able to be here in a time where I can grow up with my investigators.
Being a zone leader has been a lot different than I thought it would be. I really dont feel like its a whole lot different from being anywhere else. I feel just like a normal missionary, but for some reason everyone thinks that you know what to do. I feel like I am just doing what I need to do to stay under the radar, but for some reason, there are always people who need our help.
I have four months left in the mission. I am officialy old. I really hope to just keep going and push through as hard as I can for this last stride of the mission. Thanks for everything that you guys are doing for me!
les amo!
Elder Westover

Changing...for Better or Worse

Hey Everybody!
The mission is a cruel thing sometimes. You can be so caught up with being in one place that you forget that your world is bigger than just your sector. That is what happened to me in Tocornal. Yesterday we had changes, and Elder Bowen, Elder Chapman, and I all left. We got the call when we were in Omar and Veronica's house. When I walked in the kitchen and saw the 8 year old daughter Fran crying, I was slightly angry that God would separate us like this, especially someone as loving as Fran. It hurt me a lot. Veronica was also in tears, as well as Omar. We were also a little bit leaky eyed leaving them. It made me realize how much I had grown there in Tocornal.
But change always comes to hit you smack in the side of the face. I have been changed back into my old zone, Gabriela. But this time, I got put in charge. I am in the sector Gabriela as the zone leader with Elder Welling, a super cool guy who seems like a great match for me. Its not exactly what I was expecting, but you take what life hands you I guess. I am very excited but kind of nervous I guess. I haven't really been in any kind of leadership position until now. I am really going to miss my old sector though. It was like ripping out part of my heart. That little plot of land in Puente Alto in Santiago Chile is a little piece of Zion for me. I don't know how I am going to make it, but Im sure the Lord has something in mind for me here in Gabriela.
Well, its time to get crackin! thanks for your support and everything that you've done for me! I love you guys!
Con Amor,
Elder Westover

Bugs and Missionaries

Hey Everybody!
Things here in Tocornal have been going great! I guess the biggest news that we have is that of our missionary, Pamara, who is going to the northern part of Peru. Its basically jungle. She is very excited to go and we are all very proud of her and for everything that she has done for us. The other cool thing that is going are our little mini missionaries. Two young men from our ward has come out with us for the whole week this week. Its been an awesome experience! I love seeing how they are growing as they come with us to visit all the people here.
The other cool thing that has happened is our trip to the rio clarillo today. We started out just going to see a river but instead uncovered a lot more. It first started out as the fact that we are still little boys at heart that would love nothing more than to just poke at bugs with sticks. The second was that right when we entered by the place, there were about a million lizards running around. We unfruitfully chased them down for about half an hour until one rock we tried to uncover to scare out the lizard had another occupant: a tarantula. We squealed for joy and immediately looked for something to put it in. This event happened again and again until one rock, we found who we now call Shelob. We turned over a rock and found a tarantula about the size of my hand with hundreds of tiny little newborn babies. It was gross. So we caught it. It is now in our pension and I have photos uploaded to my Walgreens account with me holding it. Its actually really laid back. Even though I dont like spiders, its pretty cool.
In all, we collected about four tarantulas, two scorpions,and one frog; but not one lizard. aww...
I hope you all had just as an exciting a week as we did. Haha, take care everybody!
Con Amor,
Elder Westover

Missionary Helps Out Mission

Hey everybody!
Everything is going pretty well here; we are just waiting for the heat to cool off. The rest of you guys are probably expecting the exact opposite. Things are going pretty well in the sector, but we really are running out of people to teach. I feel like at this point Elder Chapman and I are just basking in our success and watching each of our converts stroll into the church each sunday. I think its time that I leave the sector. I feel like I am getting too involved in the sector and its becoming too much like I really do live here and less like I am just a gringo with a plaque and tie. Not to say that thats bad, but I just feel like its my time to go.
I guess the big news that going on right now is that Pamara, one of our good friends in the ward, is going on a mission. She had a LOT of obstacles to go out on the mission, and it was a really hard process for all of us to get through, but she is finally recvieving her call today. We are going to find out where she is going tonight. I am so happy for her right now, I feel like it is worth three or four baptisms to me, but I know in the end, it will be worth much much more.
In the end, theres not a whole lot to say. Things are going really great and I love being with my comp, despite all the differences that we may have. Its a great time to be a missionary!
Love,
Elder Westover

PS- just so I have a I told you so, I call the next big earthquake in chile! Apparently we are going to have another big one sometime soon! Get ready, chile!

The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning

Hey Everybody!
Have any of you ever started out one day with an idea of how it was going to go, and then it turned out completely different from how you originally wanted? That very thing happened to me today.
P Days always turn out to be one of the most hectic days on the mission for a number of different reasons. One is that we are always going to get groceries, or we are running to get something we forgot or trying to scrape up lunch. So Yesterday I decided that we were going to have a completely chill day and nothing was going to happen so that we could go back to the pension and take a break. And that's exactly what happened until we went out of the pension for just a little bit to buy some bread.
We rounded the corner of Pedro Duarte and see that the sky seemed a little dark, like it was going to rain. It seemed odd though, because it was actually pretty hot outside, and rain was not predicted for at least a few weeks. That's when we realized what it really was: smoke. A house about a block down had caught on fire and was belching dark billows of smoke into the summer heat. We at first walked with an interested gawking sort of a way. Then as we got closer and we realized how the fire had just started not two minutes ago, something happened in my mind. A switch, a light went on that changed my entire basis of thought. We all started running over towards the house. Without thinking about anything else, we barged into the house and started yelling to see if anyone was there. Luckily, the family had all gotten out and people had started to take things out. The Firefighters got there at about the same time as we did, but the only difference there was the water pressure. To understand that statement, I need to explain something about Chile. In Chile, being a firefighter is an honor, but it is voluntary, not paid. So they didnt kick us out or anything, they just let us help them hose down the burning building. We took out a lot of the possessions, and tried to salvage as much as we could, but we had to leave because the roof was going to come down from the weakness of the wood from the fire and the weight of the water. The last thing the lady (the owner) asked me to get for her was a frame of the last supper. I kind of had to run through a bunch of rubble and fire house blasts to get it, but in the end, I got her precious heirloom. We were one of the last people to leave out of the volunteers, and we left as inconspicuously as any dirty gringos with ties, plaques and backpacks could.
The last thing we did before we left was give her a book of mormon, promising her that all true peace and happiness resided within the pages of that book. I learned today the true value of integrity and how selfless service is the fullest kind of blessing that we can ever hope to receive. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to serve. I hope I can continue to serve until the very end of my mission, o sea, when I die.
Thanks for everything guys, you really are a great support for me!
Con Amor,
Elder Westover