Final Pictures from Eugene Oregon

Lola

So this week was pretty flippn' awesome.  It was really hard to leave Eugene but Medford is awesome.  My new comp is pretty awesome too!  He is from California and his name is Elder "H", but if you have been writing Elder "D", could you still do that?  That would be good.   Just think of Elder "D" as a new adopted son :). 

Elder "H" and I are having some fun.  It's nice to be with a missionary that has been out longer than me and that I can learn from.  Kind of answered my prayers and helped me figure out how to be a better missionary.  The ward I am in now is way good.  The best missionary run ward I have ever been in.  Granted - I have only served in two other wards but this one is good.  The ward missionaries actually teach the recent converts and they give them callings.  They also take care of us and help us with lessons. I love it.  Oh - and I drive a MINI VAN!  How cool is that. Her name is Lola  [Ben always names his cars - haha]  and she is a stow n go.  We have to drive people every where, so we get it.  Pretty much awesome! 

Also this week we were able to set a baptismal date with a 17 year old kid named Sergio.  His mom is a member but she is only some what active.  We meet with him and taught the "Restoration" lesson and the spirit was so strong -  the power of the spirit.  

Also we have been focusing a lot on using the Book of Mormon and showing members how it is a tool that they can use to help their friends know that the church is true.  So the other night we were able to share that with a family and they started making a game plan on how they can share the Book of Mormon with their friends.  Pretty much a great fantastic week. 

I am thinking the mission office will let me call sometime and let you know when we will call on Christmas  That's what they let us do on Mothers day.  Not totally sure, but I will let you know.  Hope all is well. Love you all. Thanks for being awesome.

Elder Woestman

Medford, Oregon

What is up my family.  So apparently you all knew before i did that i was going to be a zone leader.  Not going to lie - I am really nervous but the companion I will be with I have been told is AWESOME,  And the temple in Medford is in my area. How cool is that.  I hopefully will be able to go. 

This past week has been crazy.  We found out that Elder "D" and I are both being transferred and another set of missionaries will be covering our ward and another ward.  The cool thing is one of them is Elder "H" my past companion in Albany, so that's pretty cool. 

We had an amazing miracle happen on Thursday.  We went over to a sister's home to have a lesson with her inactive daughter.  So that morning in companion study we felt prompted to teach about how we are the spirit children of our Heavenly Father and because of that we have the the making of greatness.  So when we got to their house the daughter didn't want to meet with us.  And the member who was supposed to come so we could go in didn't show up.  So we thought that the lesson was going to be a bust.  We went to their house not knowing if we were going to share a message with the daughter or not. Figuring we could always just talked to the mom on the porch.  Turns out that's what needed to happen. The mother told us that she just got back from the hospital and found out she had cancer and didn't know what to do.  We were able to share with her our lesson and able to share with her that she has the ability as a spirit daughter of our Heavenly Father to be able to figure this out with Him.  It was way spiritual and way cool to see that we actually were listening to the spirit that morning lol. 

Well I have to jump on a bus to Medford so I'll talk to you all next week. Love you all

Elder Woestman

Zone Leader in Central Point Oregon

A note from Ben's Mission President:  Your son was called as a zone leader. He will be transferred on Monday and this is his new companion. He will be serving in Central Point. We love him and you. He is great! Merry Christmas! President and Sister Young

The Spirit

This week went very well.  Pretty much a spirit week.  The coolest experience happened to me on Monday.  We went to go see a potential investigator and she wasn't home.  But her 19 year son was home.  He let us in.  He told us he didn't believe in God but was open.  We taught him about a loving Heavenly Father and then promised him that if he prayed he would receive and answer.  So we knelt and he started to pray.  He got half way through the prayer and then he just went silent   We didn't move for like 5 min.  The spirit just filled the room.  It was like a spiritual bomb exploded.  After the 5 min he moved and said that was the warmest he has ever felt in his life. SO COOL. These things just build my testimony. It blows my mind every time something like that happens. I love it. Pumps me up. 

We also had a chapel tour and we had two members who are converts come and help us. The investigator who came wanted to just sit in the chapel because she felt the spirit so strong. The spirit.  . . with out it nothing is possible. 

This week was great. 

Love you all, hope all is well. 

-Elder Woestman

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving.  I love turkey day.  Ate way too much food.  It was awesome. Hope your Thanksgiving was awesome. 

So this week was way good.  On Monday we had a normal day pretty much because we switched our p-day to Thanksgiving.  We had a specialized training thing this week and Pres Young took me aside and said I would be leaving in two weeks at the end of the transfer.  But. shhhh.  It's a secret.  I am pretty bummed out because Eugene is awesome, but it wil be an adventure to go some place new.  Who knows, . . . 

So a couple weeks ago we ran into this guy named Andrew.  Awesome guy, super interested, great questions, pretty much the most golden guy ever...... or so we thought. He was a Jehovah Witness that decided to "ninja" us.  We went over to his house and then he just starts pulling out all this stuff and being a jerk. and this is way i love Elder "D" so much.  He just asked the guy if he had ever read the Book of Mormon.  He said "no". Then Elder "D" said; "We don't expect you to believe us.  We invite you to read it and pray and ask our Heavenly Father if it is true."  He wouldn't do it.  People blow my mind.  They yell and scream that something isn't true, yet they have never read it or even opened it. Crazy talk!  Then he said he would txt us all the reasons it wasn't true.  Elder "D" said, "how would you know if you have never read it."  hahaha.  

Also this week we went on an exchange and Elder "D" was able to stay in our area and show his skills.  He went to a member's home and had a dinner lesson with one of our investigators there.  He said it went super well and the member told me that it did too. So building member trust and getting Elder "D" to take over the area - things are going good. 

We have pretty much had to start over with our teaching pool because people are at a stand still.  The people here are hard to have progress.  So Elder "D" and i are trying to figure out ways to get people to keep commitments.  One sweet miracle is that our investigator Marcus, who is a member's husband, is doing well.  We were able to teach the Restoration and he is reading and praying. !!!!!!!   Also our ward mission leader has had one of his friends coming to church the past three weeks.  We haven't counted her in our teaching pool yet because she still doesn't want to meet with us yet, but this week he talked to her and things are looking up.  Loving it.    

This week I have been really trying to figure out a way to make it so i don't hit my climax now. i am afraid that I will plateau, and i don't want that to happen.  So I have been praying and making game plans so I don't flat line.  Things are going well. Loving life and loving the mission.

-Elder Woestman

T M I . . .

This has been a weird/ crazy/ awesome/ fun week. i will tell the non-spiritual stuff first because it's pretty funny.  So on Monday last week I woke up with what I thought was a bruised tail bone.  I went on my day doing my normal thing.  Got a new suit, which looks pretty fly if I say so my self, and then played some foot ball with other missionaries.  Then the next day Elder "D" and I woke up to do our normal morning run - what I thought was a bruised tail bone had gotten bigger. and hurt.  We went for the run and then when I went to go jump in the shower I noticed that it had started to leek out.  Gross I know   So I called a nurse in our ward and she said that it was prob a cyst. (I thought I was going to die) and then told me that if the puss was yellow it wasn't infected but if it was green it was infected.....................................it was yellow. (At this point I figured that i wasn't going to die today, just in a week now).  So I drained it out -  Which hurt really bad, and then went about my day doing my thing.  I had to go on an exchange so I went on an exchange that night with another set of missionaries.  That next morning I was hurting pretty bad. haha ( I blame dad for my hardheadedness about calling a doctor.  To many things that had to get done) but I finally called my mission president's wife who handles all of our medical stuff.  She told me that I need to call this member who is a doctor in another ward.  I call him and set up a time that night to have him do his doctor stuff on my tail bone. I get there and he has me go into his bath room and he put this coolant stuff on it and then he started cutting it with scissors. ( Don't worry it was all sanitized stuff) this hurt really bad. But I took it like a man haha.  Oh man did it hurt.  (Like now I know how the pioneers felt.  So with no drugs or knocking out stuff, I had this half dollar thing cyst cut and now I am suppose to just let it drain out. It looks a lot better now. Not completely gone but a lot smaller and not as red. hahahaha  A story of a life time.  Just thought I would let you know - ha.  I am all good. No worries.

We had some way cool miracles happen. During my little doctor visit Elder "D" and i went on exchanges so he could go to our lessons while i was with a member.  I was happy because this was his first time out by himself and he had to take charge. and things went great!  He is a way good missionary and kicks butt!.   This Friday we will meet with a part member family and we asked the husband (who is the non memver) if he would want to be taught and he said yes.  They are a young couple and they just got married this past September  so we are the first missionaries to meet with them.  Pressure. haha. But it should go very well. lets see what else. 

I have an AP coming with elder "D" and I so we are freaked out haha. but - oh well.  Oh - we meet this one guy named Andrew who is so awesome. He knows that there has been an apostasy and is waiting for the restoration of Christ's church.  Can you say holy cow!  He is very learned in the Bible, which is good because we get to learn some stuff from him but then show him how the Bible and the Book of Mormon work together, and that Christ's church has been restored onto the earth. Over all pretty good week. we are having fun with the rain haha. 

Love it here. love you all

Elder Ben Woestman

Bible Bashing vs Bearing Testimony

This has been another fantastic week in "The Eugene".  Life is awesome.  We have had some pretty sweet miracles happen this week.  First one goes with a family, parents named TJ and Niki.  They are two less active members that the elders quorum president told us to go see.  So we went over a couple weeks ago and then were able to help them with a washer and a dryer instal.  Then they said that they would feed us in return.  So this past Wednesday we went over to their house for dinner.  While we were there we invited them to find someone for us to teach.  They refered us to one of their neighbors.  We went over to the neighbor's house and right when we said that TJ sent us the neighbor got a big smile on his face and was way nice.  Then later we found out that he went to TJ's house after we talk to him and now TJ is all pumped up and is in missionary mode!  So this will be good because we can help two families here.  Love it!!  Missionary work is so awesome.  Every time something awesome happens it just renergizes you and gets you pumped up to do more work. 

Like another cool thing that happen was that we went out finding and the first door we knocked on was this guy named Richard.  He let us in right away and then we were able to teach him the first half of the Restoration.  Cool miracle right there.  We have been praying that he can keep up the desire. 

Now there was something funny that happened after that visit:  The next house we knocked on was a guy named Todd.  For a pass time Todd likes to Bible bash' missionaries.  He pulled out a copy of the Book of Mormon from the 60's which he had marked up proving why it was wrong.  Right when he did that we went into 'game on' mode. Now,  we did not start yelling at each other, I don't like that so I don't do that.  But one thing that a person can not overcome is a testimony.  So Elder "D" did well in his first Bible bash situation because he went straight to his testimony which Todd could not argue with.  Then we asked him if he had ever prayed about the Book of Mormon,  He said no.  Then we invited him to read it and pray and ask God if it is true.  He didn't know what to say. Love it. The power of a testimony. 

Just heard that Nakai V. put his papers in or is working on them so that is way sweet.  Hope all is well. 
Love you all.

Elder Ben Woestman

Chapel Tours

So this was a great week.  Elder "D" and i have had a pretty funny week.  So one cool miracle that happened was that we had an investigator come to church that we weren't expecting. His name is Bruce and this past Monday we had a chapel tour and then i guess that made him want to come to church.  The power of the chapel tour - can't beat it.

Also this week has been way good because we have been able to take the young men out to lessons.  The high school here has a bunch of open minded people which is way good because that means they will talk. lol.  So we have ran into a lot of teenagers and  we are having the kids in our ward talk to them and then come with us when we teach.  We are going to use the power of the church dances to get kids to come.  Love it.  Once you go to a church dance your hooked haha.  The young men in our ward are pretty good too,  We have the jocks, band geeks, and chill kids, so we are ready for any situation.

Oh - I almost forgot about Halloween.  We passed out candy :). but we only had one kid knock on our door so he got it all hah he was pretty pumped. I love it here.  This next transfer is going to be awesome. miracles are going to happen.

Love ya, Elder Woestman

What's Up?

SWEET. Great to hear that Anna and Samuel are moving to Michigan.  Everyone is slowly moving back.  That's whats up! 

So this week was a way good week.  I will still be staying in Eugene so thats good.  The ward here is amazing and we have been working really hard and we are finally geting people to church.  We had a way cool miracle happen this week.  Actually alot.  One was that on Thursday we went finding and the one guy we talked to opened the door, said that he was busy but that his wife just died a month ago and he wanted us to come back the next day. So we came back the next evening and had an amazing lesson that was just Spirit filled.  Elder "D" came out and testified which was way cool because he doesn't talk too much and he came out and the Spirit filled the room.  This just built my testimony that when you pray about a spot to go the Lord will put you in the area He needs you to be to help His children. 

Also this week we had the primary program which we all know is the best thing ever.  We were expecting some oof our people to come but when the opening song was starting none of our investigators had come.  We sat down and then for some reason I looked at the phone,  It had been on silent and it was one of our investigators calling. He was out side and didn't think he was allowed in,  He even brought his family.  So that was a way cool miracle. He is arabic and couldn't really understand what was hapening but it was still pretty good.  

Over all - pretty good week. I am way pumped to hear that Anna and Sam are moving to Michigan.  They need to get a house on the lake :) Happy Halloween.  We are allowed to pass out candy so I am pumped lol

Love, Elder Woestman

Wickedly Cool

So this week was awesome,  We had some wicked cool miracles happen this week.  One is that even though it has stunk biking hills (lol), all the members are seeing us and they are making positive comments about seeing us work, which always is good with building member trust.  I have been liking the bikes. 

Also this week on Saturday night we ran into this kid named Adan. Yes, that is Adan with a n.  He is 17 and is from South America.  He is here going to the University of Oregon and speaks awesome English   Because he isn't 18 and speaks great English, we get him and the Young Single Adult or Spanish branch doesn't lol.  FInding him was a cool thing because we were unlocking our bikes at like 830 at night and he walks by and the grocery bags he is carrying tears in half.  So we helped him carry his stuff to his place and then we asked him if he would want to come to church and he said yes!!!! and he did!!!!!  We were able to pick him up and all the members just took him in.  It was way sweet. 

Also we meet a guy on the street who is from Kent Ohio and was being taught by the missionaries there so we were able to get his information and we get to go over there on Tuesday -  miracles!!!  I love it. Life has been good.  Transfer calls are this weekend so I am hoping that I get to stay.  There is a lot of stuff happening now so it would be a bummer to leave right now. 

Today I am making my own CTR (Choose the RIght) ring at a members home.  How awesome is that?  After today i will know how to make my own rings. and we took a tour of Autzon Stadium which was way sick.  

Love this place, love you all

-Elder Woestman

Maria

So this week was crazy wicked awesome.  We had a lot of cool miracles happen.  The high light of the week was that we found a lady named Maria two weeks ago and she let us teach her the "stop smoking" lesson. Then she called us on day four and told us that she failed- and she told us that she wanted to gain more faith.  How cool is that.  So we were able to teach her the Restoration lesson this week and she said she would read the Book of Mormon. 

This area has been pretty tough because its really hard to keep people but the Lord always puts miracles into our path so that's awesome. I am going to keep this way short because elder "D"  hasn't had anyone write him and so he is just sitting here feeling like poo.  If the whole family could write him regularly that would be amazing - hint hint..  Same address as me - which is at the top of this blog.  Mom I was wondering if you could write him a letter once a week too. But he is a democrat so no Romney stuff hahahahaha. thanks guys. i love you all and life is a party :)

Love Elder Woestman

This Is Eugene:

RATS!! What a week.

So this week was so weird.  Pretty much the week went to dumps haha.  Nothing went through.  We had a bunch of plans and nothing worked out.  Everyone canceled or just wasn't home or didn't show up. and then to top it off Dominique dropped us.  We went to his house and there was a note on his door that said to never come back and to not call him.  We had given him a blessing a couple weeks ago and ever since then he said that his life has gone to the toilet.  His car was stolen and everything was just going crazy, so of course he says its because of us. That really hit me hard because he was supposed to be baptized this Saturday.  Satan works hard on people and it's way sad to see when he beats them . It just means that we need to work even harder. We aren't going to let him go.  We are going to have some members he likes talk to him.  He didn't say they couldn't stop by. hehe. 

Oh - and then we got our car taken from us hahaha.  Some senior couple needed one so they took ours.  So we are officially "full bike" in the hilliest place ever (hahaha) which is OK  I don't mind it. Riding bikes is actually way nice - I can see why bob likes it.  There is this cool bike shop right by our house and it's like a car auto place for bikes.  It's pretty legit.  

Also this week we were walking back to our apartment one night and ran into this girl named Alicia.  She is a pro yo-yoer - haha - and was showing us some awesome tricks,  She was way cool. And we are going to give her a chapel tour on Tuesday -  pro yo-yoer who knew those really existed.  ha. 

Also we had found these less-active member college students a week ago and they said that we could come back for dinner this past Wednesday.  They hadn't been active for like 5 years and when we went to their place, which is where everyone at the University of Oregon goes to hang out (haha) - like they are the party house - we were able to have like a big lesson with like 6 non members. And everyone was just listening.  Man I wish I could be in the Young Single Adult Ward hahaha.  It was fun to see how they all are willing to listen and now they all know that we aren't weird and they want to know more.  I love being a missionary.  It's so fun and the coolest things happen to us.  People might say random things happen to us but its random things guided by the spirit.  I love it.   

Fun story of the day is that i woke up on Sunday and found a dead rat in my toilet!  How nasty is that.  So I want to move.  I do not want rats on me.  I called the office, they are going to figure something out.  I will send a pic of it :) hahah 

Love you all,

Elder Ben Woestman

This Is The Way I Live

Another day in paradise - haha.  This place is crazy.  So - I will start with a cool story   Elder "D" and I were talking to a guy at the bus stop.   The guy is like an old school hippie guy, and he was way nice.  Then in the middle of our conversation this other guy walks up, sits down, and tells us that we need to do something better with our lives.  Before we could say anything, this hippie dude starts getting on the other guy for 1) interrupting our conversation, 2) he said we were good young men, and 3) that all we are doing is trying to help people. haha  I was standing there like "Go Hippie Guy!"  Made me happy to see someone not of our faith stand up for us.  The one guy had no ideas what to say, and he felt totally awkward.  That is what he gets, but we still told him we hoped he would have a great day.

So we had a couple awesome miracles happen this week.  The first one is that the power of teaching the restoration payed off again.  We prayed about a family to teach the "restoration" to.  Then when we taught the family, we promised them that by the end of the lesson the name of someone would pop into their mind, who they should have be taught by the missionaries in their home.  The cool thing is that they all had the same person come to mind.  How cool is that!  So they invited her to church and she came!  She is 16 and her ex-stepfather, who she is really close with, is a member of the church in California.  So that is way cool.  Then we knocked into a part member less active family that said we could come back today.  They are feeding us dinner and want us to share a message.  Love it!

Also we found this kid and his dad.  The kid is 16, named Carson.  When we went back to their place, just Carson was there, so we taught him in his garage.  He ended up saying a closing kneeling prayer  - so cool.  He is an amazing kid.  He is trying to find a new set of kids to hang out with and he wants to change his life around.  Eugene is just crazy awesome.  The funny thing is that Pres. Gordon B Hinckley said that this place is the modern-day Sodom - haha - and it is.  So many people here don't believe in God - it is sad, but that is why we are here.  Watch out Eugene!  Elders Woestman and "D" are in town.

Love you guys,  Elder Woestman

This Week In The Mission Field

So this week was the bomb.  I get to train again.  His name is Elder "D" and he is a cool cat.  He was born in Haiti and moved to Florida when he was 12.  We get to kick together and show Eugene what is up.  On the serious side - the cool thing about Elder "D" is that he is not afraid to talk to people.  He gave a Book of Mormon to the first person he saw, and this week we were able to find 13 new investigators.  How awesome is that!!

We went over to this RLDS guy's house.  He is about 22 and going to school here.  He is way nice and said we could come back this Wednesday, so it will be way cool to teach him.  The hardest part with him is the whole "who holds the right priesthood" deal.

Fun fact for the week; Remember Johanna and Job Whelling - I'm sure you do - Elder "D" and I went to Pres Young's house last night to be a part of a conference call and Pres Young's son was there so we talked.  It turns out that the Young's have an aunt who lives in upper Arlington which is where the Wheelings live.  Well - the Young's used to go over to the Whelling's house all the time when they were in Columbus.  So - I thought that was funny that they know them and it shows how small the world really is.

I don't remember if I told you that we joined the ward choir.  It is way fun.  We are already seeing miracles happen from it.  The members in it like us even more because they see that we want to be a apart of their ward and aren't just "passing through".  Building ward trust.

Our investigator Dominique is doing awesome.  We pushed his baptismal date back to October 13th but that is because his whole family is in town and they all smoke so he is having a hard time quitting.  So - after they leave we can do the stop smoking lesson.  He is just an amazing guy.  He is going to cook a lot of food for after the baptism and he is going to have a big party which will be way cool.  Life is good.

One cool thing is that we are at the start of the school semester and everyone lives in our area.  So we get to talk to a lot of young people.  The reason I like this is because students are a lot more open.  Older people are more closed minded most of the time, but the young people aren't.  Oh - and we were able to teach our ward's seminary class and our seminary teacher told the other wards' teacher so she called us and had us teach her class this week.   haha - it is way fun.  We also teach a lot at the Institute building here because it is in the middle of our area and it is easy for people to get there.  And - we get to talk to the Church Education System guy a lot .  That would be a way awesome job - to be a CES guy!

So  I just think it is the coolest thing that Michael S got baptized back home.  It blows my mind.  When I saw the picture of him in the white clothes I got pumped.  That is just way cool.
Well - Love you guys,  Elder Woestman :)

There is a prophet on the earth today!

So, this week was awesome! It is transfer week and I am staying in Eugene. I will be training again, so that will be fun. Life here is awesome. (So I got like 2 hours of sleep last night because Elder "C" was packing 'till like 3am, so I am very out of it - hahaha - so this might be a weird letter).

But his week went great. We meet with Dominique again and man - is this guy the elect! He is amazing! he just accepts everything because he knows it is true. It builds my testimony every time I am with him. He is just so willing to change.

Also this week, it him me how no one knows that there is a prophet. We will talk to people and say that there is a prophet and people will be like - what? But it really gets their interest and they really like the idea. Who doesn't like the idea of having a prophet? It just makes sense. Why wouldn't there be one? Every day it hits me how blessed we are.

Life here is awesome. The people are amazing. We are able to work and have fun. Oh - mom - get this: My stake president was Marie Osmond's home teacher. How cool is that? I told him you were a Donny Osmond convert - haha and so he told us all these stories about the family. How cool . . .

Well - love you all.

-Elder Woestman

Well . . . Hello!!

What is up, my family? This week was another amazing week. It is crazy being a missionary. The other day Elder "C" and I were talking about how easy we have it - haha. We get free food every day - and a lot of it, and I have not had a bad dinner yet. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Also we have a pretty awesome Ward Mission Leader and Bishop that help us, and good members who will help us.

This week is transfer calls, so I might not be in Eugene for very much longer, or I could be here for another 6 weeks. I love it here so I hope that I stay. We have that bomb investigator Dominique. Yesterday at church he was talking to us about his baptism and how he is already taking work off and is going to have a party after the baptism . . . how awesome is that. We are going to party. . . . His wife is reading the Book of Mormon in Chinese so Sam, I will try to telepathically barrow your knowledge of Mandarin Chinese - lol. This family is way sweet. Dominique called his mom and she said; "why do you sound so nice?" He said: "Because I am Mormon now." She said;"If I would have known that being a Mormon would have made you nicer, I would have made you Mormon years ago!" haha Love it!!

Also this week we had a sweet miracle that happened - we felt prompted to see a lady in our ward directory. When we showed up at her door she said she had been trying to get a hold of us. She just moved in and she wants to get her kids into the church. She had been inactive and wants to be able to be temple worthy again. How cool is that!! I love this mission stuff. Just the coolest things are happening. Eugene is way fun because people are always down to talk and explore. A lot of the younger people are willing to listen.

I found out about family history indexing. The kids here love it. They do it all the time. It is easy and they are helping the church. You should bring this up in your own wards and have the youth get involved. Also the church has a cool website called "Helping in the vineyard" at www.vineyard.lds.org. There are lists of 5-10 minute service thing that you can do that the church needs help with. Gives people who have 10 minutes the ability to help the church with things on the computer.

Doranda is pregnant! Holy cow, that is awesome. Number 4 - looking back over the past that means that everyone else is due to have another one, right?. hahahahahahahaha

I love you guys,

Elder Woestman

Better late than never . . .

I only have like 5 minutes because the library was closed Monday, Tuesday, and today - so we found some 15 minute computers on the campus - so yeah, not to much time. This week was awesome.

We have 3 solid new investigators. We got a referral from our zone leaders for a man named Dominique. He is from Armenia and came to church this Sunday, telling people he is going to be baptized. How great is that.

Also we had a referral for a young couple and they are super awesome. They just got married so they could get baptized. They had gone down to Salt Lake City for a work meeting, went to Temple Square, felt the Spirit, and now want to be members. MIRACLES!! I love it here!

Something that has hit me hard these past few weeks is that it is hard to do all that we are supposed to, but when we do what we have to do the Lord will bless us. Some missionaries out here have no idea why they are here - they do this because they will get a car when they get home, or they can marry a certain girl when they get home, or . . . To them these two years are pointless in their minds right now. Which really kind of irks me. So Elder "C" and I have been working on being those missionaries that take it to the next level. Working our butts off with no regrets - talking to everyone. It keeps life interesting. haha

I love this stuff. The mission is the "BOMB".

Love you all, Elder Woestman

Life with the hippies :)

So this week was AWESOME. So I think I already said this, but we found a lady named Jannet last Saturday and she came to church on Sunday. Well - on Tuesday we were able to meet with her and she now has a baptism date of September 29th. How awesome is that! She came to church again this weekend loved it. It is way cool because this will be Elder "C"s first baptism and we found her. He will be able to see someone he found get baptized which is always something to be happy about.

Otherwise, life in Eugene is crazy. We don't have that big of a teaching pool so we are doing a lot of finding - working through the past investigators, finding part member families, and using the members. We are seeing a lot of cool miracles happen because of that too.

So as you all should know Eugene is full of hippies - haha - and weed. So we run in to a lot of hippie people - people who are stoned, people who try to be hippies, hipsters, you name it - it is here. Lots of different kinds of people. So on Wednesday Elder "C" and I were walking and we saw these two people just sitting on the lawn talking. Naturally we went over and talk to them. One was a girl around the age of 23 and the other was like a 40 year old dude. The guy was a little weird to say the least, but the girl was interested. We were able to teach them part of the Restoration and gave them a Book of Mormon. They told us where they lived. It was a cool experience because I could just see the Spirit whisper to them that we were telling them truth - and I could picture them in white. A pretty cool experience that I don't even know if it will make sense to you, but it made sense to me.

Oh - and last night we were walking and we ran into this guy named Chris who was skating. I sure am glad I skated in middle school because I can now talk to people about it so they feel more comfortable. Anyways, Chris was way cool. We were able to talk to him about prophets and how if there was a prophet on the earth today, he would want to know about it. Chris leaves for Washington in two days, but he said we could come back to his place in two weeks when he gets back. Then after we talked with Chris we ran into a less active member guy named Chris also. Go figure right - lol. So this guy has not been to church in years and he now goes to a catholic church. Right when we walk in and sit down he says; "So let me guess - you are from Utah!" I was like; "Nope. I am from Cincinnati and I went to a catholic high school." He looked at me weird and then we were able to talk and we were able to connect pretty well. It is so awesome to see how the Lord helps you connect with people. I am truly grateful for my parents raising me the way they did. It has helped me so much - from watching cartoon scripture videos to going to Elder High School and seminary - and then just making me knock doors as a paper boy when I was 10. It has truly helped me here. Thanks so much Mom and Dad :)

I am pumped to hear that our neighbor Michael is getting baptized this weekend. That is legit-ly the coolest thing ever. Tell him I am pumped for him and cannot wait to see a picture of him in his white clothes. It is cool to think that when I get home I can see him at church! Miracles, they never stop happening.

Love you guys,

Elder Woestman :P

Eugene is beautiful with Lots of Trees and Hills!!

SKYLINE!!!!

That green thing is a bean that grows on the trees out here. HUGE!!!

Life is a party, haha

This week was way cool. So many things to talk about. I had my first exchange as a district leader and I went to a place called Cottage Grove. The elder there that I was with was way awesome. He is a really good beat boxer. That day we prayed to be put into someone's path and we walked into a guy named Bill. We started talking to him and then we taught him about The Restoration. And then we asked him to be baptsized on the spot. He said yes! The power of the First Vision is amazing. He is on his way to getting baptized on September 8th.

The other cool thing was we had like 15 minutes that night before we needed to go to our apartment so we went on a "walk of faith" (I love these because the coolest stuff happens on them.) Well - we ran into a less active guy who wanted to meet with us again and then while we were talking to him these two 15 year old punk kids walked up to us and started making fun of us. The other elder said; "Do you know what I did before my mission? I was a professional beat boxer" - then he started beat boxing. Then I started rapping about missionary work. The kids' minds were blown. They had no idea what to say. It was way cool because we were able to change the way they thought of missionaries.

Also this week, we had Elder Neal Anderson come and speak to us. And we got IPADS. . . . . . . just kidding. That would have been way cool though. It will happen. But Elder Anderson was awesome, He is one funny guy. He made jokes for like 45 minutes - haha., but we also had Elder Rasband and the Presiding Bishop there - a power house group. This was my first time shaking hands with an apostle so I was pumped. We learned a lot about how important it is to stay clean for the Spirit. It is really amazing to me the power behind their voice. They speak so boldly and lovingly at the same time. That is something I am trying to implement into my teaching skills.

This place is awesome. The people here are way amazing. Elder "C" is amazing at following the Spirit. Life is good. Oh - and mom you will be happy because I bleached my whole apartment and made it way clean.

Love ya all, Elder Woestman

I'm in Eugene!

Hey, sorry about not writing last week. I got transferred to Eugene, so I am in the heart of the "Mother Land". This place is totally different than Albany - haha. The cool thing is that Elder H is now training - so I have a "grandson." [When a missionary trains a new missionary, the new missionary is referred to as a "son." So when someone a missionary has trained trains someone new, that someone new is considered the "grandson" to the original training missionary.] Right now I am following up training Elder C. This kid is awesome. Elder C doesn't talk a lot but when he does he talks by the Spirit. It is pretty cool to watch.

This ward is totally different than the ward back in Albany. It feels weird leaving Albany because I was there for so long and knew everyone. But this is just another adventure on this things called a mission. When I got here we did not have very many investigators. There is this one kid named Kyle who we are teaching. He was supposed to be baptized the week before I came, but he bailed out because he had not told his parents that he wanted to be baptized. He is 18 and is afraid they will not approve. He leaves for college in a week, so we are going to get him set up with the missionaries out there.

The cool thing this week was that Elder C and I did a lot of "finding". We were able to find 7 new investigators that will hopefully turn out well. We are really going to be working hard this week on getting our teaching pool bigger. This ward is way supportive. The cool things was that Saturday Pres Young called Elder C and I on the phone and we had a prayer over the phone. That day we found two families, how great is that. One family was a referral from one of the members which is always good.

We got 3rd place in the chili cook off, so thanks mom for the skyline chili spice packets. And thanks everyone for the cards for my birthday. Love you all,

Elder Woestman

Look at all these cookies we are making!!! Yum!!!

Here is the foam house

Awesome Pow-Some

Thanks mom for the Skyline Chili packets for the ward chili competition. The ward here is not going to be able to handle what is about to be made. haha. Watch out - Albany Skyline is coming to town!!

Anyways, this week was the awesome pow-some. We had a way cool specialized training this week with our mission president which went way good. He is such a good guy. He just radiates with the Spirit. We were taught that we need to leave our baggage behind and get to work - that we need to change now, and not wait. Which made me think of what Dan told me before I left about how when the Spirit gives me an idea to improve I need to do it then and not wait until the next transfer and stuff like that. Over all it was a way good training.

So the best part of the week is what Elder "H" and I call "COOKIE DAY". Pretty much we came up with this idea about how we should make a bunch of cookies and take them to all the people we teach - including less actives, investigators, and past investigators that we might be able to get rolling again. So on Saturday we literally made over 200 cookies (haha). We had to make all the dough first - yes, we made them from scratch and with love - it is the only way to do it. Then we went to the church because it has two ovens and we could bake them faster. Literally - the most cookies I have ever seen. We did not even use all the dough, so we still have a bunch of cookie dough chilin in our freezer. This turned out be be a wonderful miracle because we were able to set up a lot of lessons with people. We made contact with 29 people. How cool is that. Who can say no to a cookie, right!

Also, this week we found out that a less active member wants to come back to church and she has 2 kids who are not baptized that want to come to church too. Miracle. The work is going great here. It is crazy to see how everything just works out when we do what we are suppose to. Transfers are this week and I am scared that I might leave because this place is awesome.

Something else that is way cool, there is this house we found that is made out of foam. It is made to look like a mountain or something, so of course when we saw it we went and knocked on their door. We ended up talking to the owner's son who lives right behind the foam house - and he wants us to come back next week.

Also - we have been going to this older couples house who are less active and working with them for the past 5 months. They finally came to church yesterday and loved it. It was way cool to see how not giving up on someone and working with them at their pace gets them to make steps. Life lessons are learned everyday. That is something Elder "H" and I talk about - that the mission teaches us so much if we pay attention. We adopted the song from the movie "Sister Act 2" as our motto; "If you want to be somebody, if you want to go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention." How true is that! In lessons if we pay attention, and watch, and listen to the people, the Spirit will teach us. -And people say you can't learn anything from a movie. haha

-Love Ya, Hope all is going great, Elder Woestman

My First Baptism

So this week was another AMAZING week. Something cool that happened was that we were able to teach with President and Sister Young. Those two are amazing and are jam-packed with the Spirit. They came to a lesson with us to a lady named June. She is the Jewish lady that we are teaching - and it went great.... Sort of . . . lol. The lesson did not go at all as planned. Elder "H" and I did not get to say much at all - and neither did our president and his wife. But June was able to tell us some of her concerns. It was just really spirit lead. Can't ask for anything better than that.

We also had a way good baptism this week - which was crazy sweet! I was able to baptize Bryce. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. We could both feel the Spirit. That kid is just "too cool for school." His dad came (he is catholic) and he came up to Elder "H" and I and gave us a hug and said "Thank You." He had tears in his eyes. Elder "H" and I both got the feeling that we need to work on him next. He is an amazing man who loves his family.

Yesterday we pretty much had "finding" planned for the whole day. We had the best time ever. We walked the streets of Albany and just made friends and then taught. We were able to get a couple potential investigators out of it. I love talking to people on the street. To me it is a lot easier and a lot more productive than knocking on doors because people are not as "stand offish". Being a missionary is just way too amazing. Miracles happen every day. It still amazes me now that can happen.

Love you guys, Elder Woestman

Pizza Party with Randy

OH-KAY . . . .

We went to dinner at a member's home who is a hunter and a bee keeper. The first three pictures were taken at his house. I am setting on a real elephant foot made into a stool!! The last picture is of a hot air balloon that flew over our heads one morning as we headed out of our apartment.

School Clean Up Day

So this week was great! We were finally able to meet with Anna and Joyce again, and a miracle happened. They both agreed that they would be baptized on August 4th. Which is way cool! And Joyce said that her 24 year old son is going to be coming back in town this September and he wants to go to church with them. Miracles!

Also, this past week we had to hand off one of our investigators with a date to be baptized, to the Singles ward missionaries because he will be going to their ward. We got him to stop smoking this past week - which was very awesome. That stop smoking workshop that the Church has the missionaries do works wonders. It is pretty legit!

Also this week, we finalized everything for our investigator Bryce's baptism. We had him teach us the Plan of Salvation yesterday and he pretty much had it down. The kid is awesome. The cool thing is he asked me to baptize him this coming Saturday. I have never baptized any one before, so I am pretty excited for this Saturday.

Something funny that happened was that we txted everyone in our phone who we did not know and asked if they would like to meet up. This one guy named Erick said "yeah" and for "Thursday @ 7 @ the park off of 4th." So we go and we txt him which bench we are on and he says that he is there. We call him and while we are trying to figure out where each other are, we realize that he is in a different town 30 minutes away! haha. So we were at two different parks. I thought it was pretty funny.

Also this week we did a lot of service. They have this thing in Albany where once a year they get all the churches in town to team up and help redo one of the schools. So of course, we go, and there were so many people there. It was way cool to see everyone in town team up, fix, and paint this old school. Elder "H" and I painted one of the outside walls. It was a good missionary opportunity too. We were able to talk to a lot of people and a lot of the pastors don't hate us now :) -which is a plus. I love this town. The cool thing about being here for 5 months is that I pretty much know everyone, lol. Today we fixed the roof of one of our investigator's home. He was talking about how he was doing a job with this other guy in town. He was describing him and I was like "Is his name Adam?" Gary was like "yeah". Haha - we have been teaching Adam too. Small world!

The mission is the "bomb". I love it. Nothing better. We work hard and always try to stay busy which brings miracles flowing. Our miracle wall is getting filled with post-it notes. Love you all.

Elder Woestman