Week 1 in the field

What’s up everyone??

First off I’m still alive just in case anyone was wondering haha. Second off I take back anything bad I ever said about living in the U.S. things are so different down here it’s a whole new world here.

We got here Monday night at about 9 or 930 and then went to the AP´s house to sleep for the night. As you probably all saw we had a huge group because of the missionaries that we met up with from Guatemala. Because it was night time when we got here the humidity wasn’t quite that bad but it hit me as we were going to bed. The AP´s house is pretty small and we had about 20 missionaries spread all across the ground about the size of our laundry room so it was packed and smelled awful! It was bad we stayed there the next two nights. I don’t think I slept at all because it was so hot and humid in there. The second night I was here I was stressin big time so I prayed for comfort and like immediately after I said amen I just felt at peace it was so cool.

Tuesday we went to the mission home and went over a bunch of stuff and then went to the temple for a little while. We didn´t get to go in but it was still nice to go to the grounds. It´s so beautiful I love it! I think we´re gonna try and set up a p-day to go there but idk when it will be. It´s so green here it´s crazy! I don´t think I’ve ever seen this much green in my life! Then on Wednesday we had changes where we met our trainers and found out where we were going. My companions name is Elder Echeverria he´s from Guatemala and he´s a way cool kid. At first I was pretty nervous because I was like oh no I have a native and he probably doesn’t know any English. But he actually speaks pretty fluently in English and is a champ at Spanish so that´s been a big blessing. He´s been helping me out a ton so it´s been nice.

My area is called Arraijan I think, I can’t remember how´s it’s spelled but anyways it´s pretty much where they send a most of the new missionaries. It has a ton of hills; they get pretty tiring after walking up and down them every day. Our house is about the size of the upstairs living room in our house, maybe a little bit smaller though. When I walked in the place was a mess! So I’ve been cleaning it up in my spare time this past week. It was so bad. Mom thank you for teaching me how to clean and sorry for being such a rebel at keeping things clean, ha I knew this was gonna happen. But its super small, Echeverría says it´s probably the smallest one in the mission, but it keeps us dry from all the rain so it´s good. It rains so much and so hard here it’s crazy! The other day we were walking up on this ridge to try and get to an appointment and a thunderstorm passed over us, it was kinda scary. We saw this huge flash of lightning and then immediately heard just this deafening roar of thunder. It was nuts!

My area is said to have one of the highest baptism rates in the mission as well. Elder Echeverría was telling me about the investigators we already have and he said that we´re going to be baptizing a family of 4 on like the 8th so that should be sweet and then we made 2 more baptism dates this week. It´s awesome! Except I don´t understand anything anyone is saying. ha They all talk so fast here! I’m getting better I think but idk. I can talk about things, but when they reply I’m so lost haha. But I’m getting better I think, the other day I was having a super hard time and getting frustrated so I just prayed and plead with the Lord to help me and after that things started going better. It was awesome, I know that he hears and answers our prayers and will help us with anything. But basically right now in our lessons Echeverría does most of the talking and then I just bear my testimony. ha I think this upcoming week I’ll be able to participate more in the lessons though.

I don´t think I’ve ever prayed as much for help as I have since being here in the field. It´s so hard because I can´t understand anything but it´ll come, I just gotta put my trust in the Lord! And I gotta keep reminding myself that I’ve only been here a week so be patient. You should see the people’s reactions when I tell them I just barely got here last Monday they´re like I shock haha but they´re patient with me when I don´t understand them and when I speak.

New missionaries at the temple

This is the hardest but probably one of the best experiences I’ve had so far in my life.

Anyways I think that´s about all from me. I love you all! Thank you for all of your support and love.

Elder Westwood

2 for 2!

Hey everyone!!

So I'm guessing your wondering what the 2 for 2 is. It's because I've sang in the choir 2 times and both times I sang we've had a member of the Quorum of the Twelve come haha. The first time it was Elder Holland and this past devotional Elder Ballard came! It was so awesome!! ha I love being in the presence of the apostles because the spirit is so strong!! He spoke about a lot of things but one thing I liked was that right now as missionaries we have the best resources in the history of the world for teaching so basically we need to get to work! haha It was awesome!

I cant believe I only have a few days left here its so crazy! It's actually gone by a lot faster then I thought it would which is good! Yesterday we did this thing called in-field orientation and basically we just did workshops all day it was actually pretty fun. It was super helpful and super motivational. I loved it!

Next time you see Scott Kiesel tell him I met a kid here at the mtc he knew on his mission. His name is Elder Samuel Dantas he said that they were really good friends while he was on his mission.

I still can't believe I leave Monday morning! it's so crazy! I think I'll probably call that morning when we get to the airport in salt lake. I don't think we'll have very much time when we get to Atlanta but I'm not sure how much time I'll have for sure so I guess I'll just play it by ear. I'll try and call everyone.

I love you all! thank you for all of your support and prayers. This is where the fun

part begins! It's gonna be hard but it just means that I have to have more faith and work harder and I'll be alright! I know I will. I love you!

Love Elder Westwood

9 Sept 2011

Before I get to the travel plans I just gotta say mom it was awesome talking to you this week, I loved it!! Sorry if it made you cry the rest of the day. But it was awesome!! I love you!!

Ok back to the travel plans.. I’ll be traveling on the 19. My first flight leaves from Salt Lake at 11:10 A.M. we fly to Atlanta and get there at 4:50 PM. Then our flight from Atlanta leaves at 5:53 PM and we arrive in Panama City at 9:10 PM. Then for some reason it has another flight on October 20th and we have to fly back to Miami, I think it has something to do with our visa's but I’m not sure. I’ll let you know more when I find out.

That’s so crazy I can’t believe I’m leaving so soon!! I love it though! I can't wait to get there. We thought that we were gonna get our travel plans yesterday but then we didn’t and we were all pretty bummed but we got them today so it's all good!! This week’s been pretty good, nothing to exciting has happened except for hosting that was pretty fun. It was so funny when Cindy and Kim pulled up. They both jumped out of the car and I was like can I give you guys hugs and before I was done Cindy already had her arms around me and was like of course we can, we're family! haha it was sweet. Hosting was pretty fun, getting to see all the new missionaries, I think they said there were 350 that came in on Wednesday, we got invited to do it again this upcoming Wednesday so we'll see how that one goes too.. I’ve seen Sister Converse quite a bit actually and she seems to be doing really good. I also saw Elder E J Stevenson and one of the Bickmore twins.

I can't believe Elder Gust is gone now. It’s weird to not have him here, but I know he's doing awesome in Florida! He was ready to go and I’m sure he's loving it! This week we talked to another native at the TRC it was so fun. I was able to understand most of what she said it was sweet!

The choir was actually pretty fun but I didn’t do it for this past devotional because I was sick. Oh ya I got sick this week I guess that was something new. I actually got to go the outside world it was sweet ha-ha I forgot what it was like outside the MTC walls. It's good to know that it's still there. Basically I just had a super achy body and my temp was like 102 and while I was at the Doctor I decided to ask him about my heel because it was hurting. They diagnosed it as plantar fasciitis it think it’s called, ha idk how to spell it though but I should be getting my new orthotics on like Tuesday I believe.

Well sorry that's so short, if you have any questions about my flight plans let me know and I’ll try and get a letter home to you guys. Next week my p day will be on Saturday so don’t get worried if I don’t send anything Friday.

I love you all! Thanks for everything!

Elder Westwood

Hey Family!! Another week down and only a few more left!! I’m so excited haha

This week was awesome!! But mostly because of the devotional Tuesday night. Guess who the speaker was? Elder Jeffrey R Holland!! It was so sweet!! We all figured we were due for a member of the Quorum of the Twelve sometime soon because there hasn't been one here for a while and it finally happened! As soon as he walked into the room you could feel the Spirits presence even more it was so cool. For about the first half of our lesson he basically commanded us to make sure that when we get home from our missions that we stay strong in the church and that we don't have the right to fall away. He also said that when most of the world views the missionaries they see them as perfect and we don't have the right to tarnish that image or to do anything that would make someone think otherwise. For the last half of his talk he answered questions which were asked by missionaries here in the mtc it was pretty cool. I learned so much it was amazing!

Tell Kyle not to freeze up there in Alaska! That’d be so cold haha. Tell him to study Preach My Gospel as much as he can right now. Colton leaves on Tuesday! That’s so crazy ha it's gone by so fast. He’s really excited to go though.

Next Wednesday my district gets to host all the new missionaries that come in that day. So who do I need to watch for??

Sorry this one is pretty short, Elder Johnson can't log on to his email so I’m gonna let him use mine for a bit.

Have fun if you go to the cabin this weekend! I wish I could go, I made a friend up here, his name is Elder Aagard who lives in Fountain Green and went to school at North Sanpete so we talk about it all the time haha. But anyways have fun if you go!

Love you all!! Be happy! Sorry it's a short one

Love Elder Westwood

p.s. guess what? I GET MY TRAVEL PLANS NEXT WEEK!!!