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